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uh for the second session uh where you can learn about the work we uh the office sustainab Innovations is doing to advance sustainability within the local food business Community as well as here from the local food entrepreneurs who are reducing landfill waste and advancing a more circular regenerative food system um and then uh We've extended the deadline for the uh to to submit for the a20 community cookbook uh to March 1st so please consider sharing your favorite sustainable recipes to be Fe featured alongside an arbor chefs farmers and Community Food leaders uh to Showcase just how good sustainability can taste you can go to OSI a2gov.org cookbook to submit your recipe for more information um the only other thing is rebates but I believe they covered that during the presentation on all the new updates there so be check out the website to see all the new new things or watch the rest of this recording from earlier that all for me thank you Joe much appreciated on all fronts um as always um okay we will move on to the reports from other commissions and councils and if there's we'll start with a report from other commission first and then um I think the environmental commission and then move on to report from Council U if I may um I have a question about uh for Joe um Joe can you give us a status update on the green rental housing program it was was presented to the commission four months ago we approved a resolution of support with some requested um actions to be taken um this affects more than 50% of ant Arbor households and when when when does this go somewhere yep yeah we're currently going through the um the the final feasibility review for the administrator that goes just through all the impacts to our you know budget Staffing everything like that so they have a full um understanding how that goes with the hope of going to council within um either later this month or early next month is the is the goal so soon thank you um so as far as the environmental commission um is concerned um there was one primary agenda item and that is we received um an overview of plans for the um comprehensive um storm water management Plan update um so Jen Lawson presented that um is the process um actually started um last year but um the community is going to start hearing information about this um very very soon there's going to be um an Advisory Group that's going to be set up there's also going to be stakeholder meetings that are going to start to take place um it's a really holistic approach it's claimed to be the first of its kind type of uh comprehensive Plan update um in the Great Lakes region so hopefully it's uh something that is can be um replicated in other communities um so if you have any interested interest in that you could look at the presentation that was posted in legistar for um that particular topic that's it thank you much appreciated um we'll move on to updates from Council Members happy to provide a little update um we had Council Administration Comm meeting today um and something that would probably be of interest to this group is um for those folks who've been following the municipal energy utility Phase 2 study um that was postponed um to ensure that there was strong community support for that as well um and um it and then reaching that sort of piece goes back to council ad Administration committee which um anyway it got voted to move on to council so it's going it will be back at Council for consideration on February 18th um the phase two to understand kind of what the cost would be of setting up Municipal energy utility that would come along also with a companion resolution um that would uh begin uh instructing legal staff to be considering kind of uh elements particularly in relationship to um putting something on the ballot for November of 2026 um that would require a millage um to fund the litigation um so uh anyway for folks who interested you can kind of encourage you to read more about it it'll be up for consideration and folks should reach out whether they're in support or in opposition of this so there's that also unrelated but since um the was mentioned and links were mentioned um in this just folks should know if you're trying to find anything on the city's website right now website's having some issues there was there were some updates and um not if you Google things you often get to a broken link right now um even if you're searching on the city's website you end up at a broken link it's in a process of updating we think it's going to be better within uh the next couple of weeks it's apparently a Google interface issue we're not um is how it's been explained to me but um it can be it can be frustrating if you're if you're looking for something in particular right now but um hopefully it'll be up and working properly soon thank you okay um I think now we're moving to our second opportunity for public input um this is an opportunity to speak for up to three minutes if you're watching on CTN please call 888 78899 or 877 85352 47 and enter meeting ID 956 8718 7876 this information is also displayed on the meeting agenda and video Feud City staff will select callers that have raise our hand one by one using the last three digits of your phone number and to raise your hand indicate your desire to speak please press star N9 on your phone and you'll hear not anmated announcement allowing you to speak um please move to a quiet area and so that we may hear you clearly and please state your name and address at the beginning of your comments Joe do we have anyone on the line no callers at this time okay we will um now move on to items for our next agenda um and see and I'll just open this up to any um suggestions on um future agenda items we have a a few sort of in the in the queue that we have been discussed last couple meetings um but if anyone wants to add anything else at this Mo at this time we can um feed that in we we typically try to meet um to discuss an agenda usually the week following our um commission meeting and sort of arrange for whatever is needed to to um pull together items on the agenda whether it's presentations or information um to help support that agenda um over the following weeks to to prep you all so just to give you a sense of the sort of timeline and how that comes together commissioner mki if um yes a question and a request the question is uh we had considered in 2023 a resolution drafted by Ken Garber um regarding the assessment of a carbon fee um through zoning um G um chair harp um you and I and Ken Garber um had uh done quite a bit of work in um the last couple of months looking at that is that on tap or what's the status of that um as far at at this point I I we haven't seen an updated um resolution um sent to um either Joe or any of the chairs as far as I'm aware um it was sent to you by K about a week ago for the next uh okay um we can put that on the next uh agenda the next meeting agenda um I believe that we had sort of planned potentially for that to come up in March and or April um uh as the as the case may be and so and then um thank you for that because I that that can be clarified and I'll I'll I'll reach out to Joe too to follow up as well after and and I I know that you um there's going to be some discussion of legality and things like that and precedence um I know that um commissioner Levan also took a look at this and has some opinions he may want to share um so you know there's um a couple of different layers to that topic the other question that I would appreciate being addressed um in we addressed it um briefly in the last meeting but also in some discussions after the meeting is what is the future of the energy commission and the environmental commission um I had mentioned that we are not billing uh backfilling openings now for almost two years um in the environmental commission the environmental commission has also I I don't know how it was delivered but essentially been told also not to backfill openings and I you know it's pretty common knowledge for those that are sort of in working with each other between those two commissions that there's discussions quite going back many years of combining the commission so I think it it would just be appreciated at least from my perspective if we get um yeah someone who really tells us honestly what's going on and what decision ISS are being made and which ones haven't been made and that we just are are dealt with openly and and fairly that's that's my CR so that can either be done tonight or that can be done in the future meeting council member Briggs you wantan to yeah I'm happy to speak to that latter Point um you know I think I appreciate you raising this John um is we've kind of had separate conversations around this um it's those those conversations are happening it is been a situation where there's been a lot of exploration and conversations and internal conversations with staff around how this might work as well and so and among uh commission chairs and trying to make sure that you know seeing uh before anything is discussed or presented uh that we actually have some level of uh you know proposal that has been vetted that uh could be presented so it has taken a very long time to come to something but I anticipate that it's it we're very much primed for having a conversation about this soon um and so um sorry that it's been such a a lengthy process but sometimes things it's been a you know it's it's just taken a long time to to sort through some of these different ideas so um there's no no desire to to keep any any commission members out of this or to keep anybody in the dark but rather to make sure that when we should you know have put it into the light that it actually is something that is worth having a conversation around other items for next agenda okay I anticipate we'll be able to follow up um in the next few weeks with with the updated agenda for the for the next uh next next few months I think there's a few different topics we want to to revisit um one included also I think um an update on sort of where we are might be at with respect to the seu um proposal or seu process um potentially as well so we're going to take a look at that probably next week and and and try to follow up with y'all okay um let's see I think that now it is um 7:41 and um as chair I can declare the meeting adjourned thank you everyone for great meeting and look forward to seeing you next time um we'll follow up with anything over email much appreciated thanks all have a good night for

on Thursday night uh our girls wrestlers attended the sectional meeting last um sectional tournament last Saturday I think we qualified three to go to the state tournament our boy sectional tournament is the Saturday in pacin and the state tournament is going to be the following weekend down at uh Veterans Memorial Coliseum so that's it to the point right now thank you I'm just curious appreciate all the efforts from all the coaches parents that support the kids it's a lot of effort it's a lot of hours spent supporting your kids next item on the agenda is call to the public we'd invite the public to come and address the board about anything they'd like to like you uh comments to be limited to three minutes you can't really seed those to person um operating rules are basically uh just let us know which how you're feeling but not so much personality uh attacks and if you could uh give your information who you are and what not to Mary Ford it'd really help us so we can put you in public record we have a taker today thank you hi there I'm Rachel Thompson I'm one of the advisers with the bluid high school student council and and uh we are just wondering if we can have a recommendation to approve two fundraisers through blid high school student council um one of them would be Splash a senior and then that would be so for example I have Brooklyn in the back she's one of our seniors um maybe I want to go and splash Brooklyn towards the end of the year we would have four different size buckets and then like the smallest size bucket would be $1 the next size would be $2 so on you know maybe I want to Splash Brooklyn with the $4 bucket and I would dump it on her and that proceeds goes to the senior class and then our St Patty's Day basketball tournament um Brooklyn do you want to explain that one this one would be soon next month yeah hi okay so the senior class wants to do a St Patrick's Day basketball tournament because basketball's really popular in the area um it would be March 15th through the 16th and it'd be in the High School main gym and small gym um we would have a men's division and a co-ed division which is men and women playing together um 10 teams per division 12 players Max per team um $200 team entry fee it'll be a double elimination bracket um and then we have prizes for the championship team and the runnerup team um and prizes for the MVP player and the altery can I ask who's going to rest your games just um let me can I help out just a second so the board can't address you because it's called the public and they can't take any action on any of the requests if you're just kind of pushing information and saying hey heads up this is coming that's fine what you'll need to do is get that information to your administrator and let them get that to us as soon as they can and then we'll review it to see if we can if it if it works and then we'll take it to the board on the 18th if you have a time sensitive item um we we typically have to have it a couple of weeks in advance of the board agenda Mr web do you have a you want to work with with them on that or yeah definitely we'll work with them okay there there were a couple that were we'll have to look back cuz there were a couple fundraisers that were missing from our list here so that's I think the ones that they're prefacing correct that so we're going to have to dig into and see if what what happened with those couple fundraisers okay if if they if they look pretty straightforward depending on the fundraiser and its complexity anytime you have facilities use involved in people from the community there's Insurance request requirements and other things that complicate that but straightforward fundraisers are pretty easy and if it's something that typically the board has approved um they will give me the authority to kind of do it and then ask for their approval after the fact if it's very straightforward and pretty simple but if it's complex you're probably going to have to wait and present it to the board and give us time to do the research thank you we would love to have engaged in a conversation but leg we can't so next month but I'm sure there's a way to work around that if you work with the administration any other items that would like to come before the board in a call to the public scenario all right if not just an announcement that our next board meeting will be March 18th at 5:00 pm um any questions from the board any anything from the board that you would like this the superintendent to address in the next board meeting or anything like that that you'd like to inform Dr Wright or cimberly that we'd like to address I already I already spoke with Dr Wright but um maybe just uh and I don't know if we need to do this in in this meeting or not but just to talk about a possible work session we can uh put that on the agenda the next to talk about the timing and and have a discussion yes sir thank you we'll put that that you would like to put on the agenda next time this is perfectly okay to say hey let's do a work study or something like that and we'll discuss that in the next board meeting once it's on the agenda okay anything else you're not going to talk about our trip to Hawaii we're just going what that's a joke for the record that is a joke so uh if nothing else can I have a motion to adjourn motion from Bridget to adjourn have a second second for Michael

so if you know any potential future kindergarteners or people that might be interested in open en rolling here at Continental please send them our way and if they're not able to make it please give them my contact information which is also on the weekly the cult family news you can give them emails or have them call the front office so we can set up guided tours and answer questions and I want to thank our third graders are do we have any third graders in the house that were in the musical on Friday let's give them a round was amazing so if you haven't been able to come out to our our musicals for elementary I highly recommend that you come out and see all the work our students do they memorize their lines they memorize the songs they memorize their movements I was I was in the back of the cafeteria and we were jamming out with you guys so thank you so much for putting on an amazing show and thank you all for being there to support them as well and I'd like to take this time to thank the Continental School District Educational Foundation for 25 amazing years some of you sit on our board and if any of you are listening um from our foundation we want to thank you for your continuous dedication passion and inspiring us and supporting us if you don't know about our foundation they do fundraisers and the biggest fundraisers for their annual fundraiser is the sweethart Gaya if you've never had a chance to attend I highly recommend going out next year it was at the historic canola Ranch it was amazing they have silent auctions they have yummy appetizers live music our students perform and it was a beautiful night for a great cause our foundation does so much and they give so much back so when you walk around our campus and you see playground equipment you see the musical playgrounds the instruments that our students play I mean there's benches that some of our foundation um board members come and and make art work with them um on their eighth grade year and those benches are out in the back they were just put out on the back playground under the tree if you can see it's beautiful artwork artists and residencies we have our um third fourth I believe third and fourth grads that are going to be with the artist in Residence who's dance a dance instructor and she comes and she's going to be her name is Mrs Sherry she's going to be working with the third and fourth grade classes to put on a beautiful dance show that's going to be happening um in April or the end of yes the end of April so we'll make sure to put that in the qut family news but all of these amazing things that happen wouldn't be possible without the foundation and without all of your help many of you attend the sweethart Gayla many of you donated prizes and and baskets for the sweetheart Gaya all of that goes back to our students and our teachers and they have the opportunity to fill out Min Grant applications so that they don't have to be spending money out of their own pockets teachers have amazing ideas but many times how many of you have run into teachers at night at Walmart shopping for things I'm sure you see them because they're always shopping and trying to do projects with the students so thank you so much for your support and we thank our foundation thank you thank you now for our students if you could start lining up and you'll bring your certificates with you parents please make sure that you're not camera sh you can come up and record you can take pictures like to thank Jaa because they have they give uh certificates or little cards for them to get free ice cream and then please make sure if you want once once we read through your certificate if you'd like to meet your child at the table to pick out a shirt you can help them with the size shirt that they're going to get [Music] okay students when you come up you'll say your name and your grade okay [Music] Luke completes his assignments with a smile he is helpful and kind to his peers and to me he always follows the safety rules on the playground and in class he has improved drastically academically and with his behavior in the past few weeks I love teaching and having Luke in my class Miss lorine Gracia congratulations [Music] Hannah is such a joy to have in library she comes and excited to check out books Hannah follows the rules and helps remind her classmates to also follow the rules she's always willing to lend a helping hand to her friends and help them pick out a book if they do not know what to get Hannah you are an amazing kiddo thank you for being such a wonderful Library friend but she has another written by her kindergarten teacher Mrs tessle so that was from Mrs Le in our librarian Mrs tesso writes Hannah is a wonderful and kind friend she makes everyone feel welcome to play Hannah is very responsible to do her best work in kindergarten she's a great friend and helps others when she is finished it is a pleasure to have her in my class Mrs tesle congratulations Hannah my name is Tatiana and my grade is first grade Tatiana is an exemplary student she always shows how kind and respectful she is she always looks out for the well-being of others she is responsible for her chores in the classroom and she's an excellent helper thank you Tatiana for being an example to others Mrs Negi [Music] congratulations first grade Axel is Cult of the month for January 2025 Axel is an amazing young man with a big heart his laughter is infectious his smile makes others want to smile he loves to read books and share and read with others in the reading Center he is responsible for himself his supplies and works hard in the classroom I look forward to seeing what you can accomplish the rest of this year keep on shining bright Axel congratulations Miss [Applause] my name is Jam I'm years old second [Music] grade it is such a pleasure to have Jameson in my class he consistently demonstrates kindness responsibility and a strong work ethic he is always willing to help his classmates creating a positive and supportive classroom environment his dedication to completing all of his work is truly admirable and his friendly considerate nature makes him a joy to be around Jameson is a wonderful friend to others and always approaches every task task that they can do attitude I am so proud of all that he accomplishes and look forward to seeing him continue to thrive congratulations Miss Janette [Applause] [Music] Hannah has shown so much strength and growth this year she has work hard to meet her academic goals as well as building positive relationships among her peers when faced with a difficult situation Hannah chooses to rise above and do what is Right Time and Time time again I am so proud of Hannah and grateful I get to be her teacher this year congratulations Hannah for Mrs lane third [Music] grade shall we shows kindness and respect to everyone at school she helps others when they're in need and assists in class daily Shelby always follows our school rules without reminders and encourages her peers to do the same she's a wonderful example of what it means to be a leader at our school congratulations Mrs Lane [Applause] [Music] by Nature Layla already has an amazing kind personality she's always willing to help everyone and is so respectful towards everyone not just her teachers lla works extremely hard in the classroom and she completes assignments in a timely manner she has such a she is such a go-getter mentality and is a very caring person congratulations lla for Miss way my name is Ren I'm in Ren is an incredible helper in class and throughout the campus she's a very caring student that puts in 100% % of her effort in all school work she is always one of the first to ask to help or guide students to a destination if they need Ren has set something some amazing academic goals and I know she will accomplish them Ren you are a rock star in our class thank you for having such an amazing love for school and for your classmates way to go congratulations Mrs HW [Applause] gr Jasmine thank you for being such a hard worker I see how much effort you put into everything you do and I hope you continue this you always come to school ready to work and and in a good mood if one of your peers needs help you are there to help however you can your positive attitude will continue to help you succeed keep working hard in being a great example of what a cult should be congratulations Jasmine for Mrs [Music] monya Isaiah Cisco came into our school as a new student this year he brought with him a positive attitude and a smile he is always polite and kind to others he participates in class and is willing to help others Isaiah always follows the rules and gives others a gentle reminder when needed he is a great addition to the Colt family and he was nominated by the middle school teachers congratulations my ranata is the kind of student who leads by example she approaches her studies with a deep sense of responsibility and dedication her assignments are always turned in on time and more importantly they reflect the care and effort she puts into her work she doesn't just complete tasks she strives for excellence consistently delivering quality that showcases her commitment to learning we are proud and nominate rata for January's Cult of the month congratulation to the SCH congratulations if we could have all our pults come up here for a picture and then if they can remain while we just give two of our staff members their um Awards [Music] parents if you want to come up closer and take pictures that would be the time [Music] to two three ask [Music] so every month um here at Continental School instead of having employee of the month we have the golden hor award um since we're the Continental Colts and so the way that these uh staff members are chosen is they're actually chosen by their peers so every month their peers vote on who they think is gone above and beyond which happens a lot because our our staff here is amazing so without further Ado we're going to introduce um the January um golden hesho Award winners so the first one is if she's not here Mrs Haiti ponds we she is a programmatic assistant for our special education department so she works one-on-one with students and she is amazing and we will make sure she she was very on HED and very touched and she said I don't do anything for recognition I do it for the kids because I love them and um she's excited for us to be able to give this to her tomorrow in front of the students in class but her team or her colleagues that nominated her and this is a bunch of their comments put into one summary Hai Pond goes above and beyond for all her students and other students she puts their needs before her own she Plus she always lends a helping hand to other staff members when she sees they need it Katie is always so helpful and positive the students love seeing her on campus and enjoy talking to her she brings so much shine to our campus and is always ready for any Adventure congratulations Miss and the next award goes the next recipient that was nominated by their colleagues is Mrs Tina Casey and Mrs Tina Casey is our primary one of our primary special education resource teachers Tina has been a tremendous asset to our special education department she is always willing to roll up her sleeves and dig in never pawning tough stuff on to anyone else and she does it all with a smile she's a continental gy from day one she's gotten right to work and they they said you roll up your sleeves and got right to work she's always helping out when needed she's positive friendly and funny from the first day of school Tina has been Allin 100% despite challenging situations that arise she's positive and nothing seems to ruffle her feathers she's very good at what she does and is a great asset to the Continental teaching staff also Tina is fun to be around and his witty she's fantastic digs right in and does what needs to be done she's Smiley positive and funny Tina is flexible and she rolls with the punches even if things aren't going as planned congratulations Mrs Casey [Music] Round of Applause well with that we'll take a short break youall are welcome to stay around for another hour or so or feel free to take off thank you for coming I have to tell you this from the parents can we have a round of applause too for our parents and families that came out tonight [Music] spe what you're asking person [Music] signment who's [Music] thank you thank you so with that it is Andre consent [Music] agenda this is an action item case you forgot motion approve it I make a motion to approve that agenda I'll second any discussion on any of the consent items M yes Mrs Allan Mr and that takes us to new business open [Music] enrollment so again um the district is required to make a yearly determination for space on open enrollment and um to have the board approve the letter so you have the information there before you March 1st 2025 is the first deadline for the applications and um they'll open up March 1st Clos on April 3rd and we'll get letters up by May 1st and again we will no later than July 15th for new student applications to let them know since we wait for our current students and students move into the district to be registered and our website has been updated with the current information as [Music] sorry I didn't about how many open enrollment stud currently I don't know 40 40 students that includes staff and 8% okay M Le yes Mrs Allen yeah Mr AUST yes and next is to approve our um deing board goals for this 2526 Year I'll make a motion to approve the board rules 2526 Year mber yes Mrs Allen yeah Mr a yes [Music] and next is to increase the art Club fee from $5 to $6 student I'll make a motion to increase the Fe of from five to $6 second yes Mrs Allan yes Mr a yes and from which been waiting for the first read of the policy new policy advisory this is just discussion and information they are attached for your reading so that next month we'll be looking at second read approv and it looks like we get to hear from Greg again hey I know it's been a while since I've had a chance to speak so um here's your District Finance report um as you can see in the report on page one here we got about $ 45500 th000 left within our ml budget the majority of that money is still going to have to go towards unpaid benefits with within payroll so that's your Finance report for today our um insurance that you negotiated last time they that's a multi-year it is a onetime it is a onetime deal so I've asked them if if our rate increas is less than 2% or less than the 5% if we can hold on to our 5% guarantee one more year yeah um I haven't got an answer back I couldn't remember if that was but for the upcoming year we have a guarantee no more than 5% awesome okay that's that takes us pretty much here almost to the end you need still need make a motion to approve the district financial report second Miss yes Mrs Allan yes Mr a yes and as you can see there's a ton of events where we could possibly have a quorum um and when I was at the bolts meeting we discussed and this is the right way to post for a possible meeting so with that um any information discuss question Laura KY I would like the discuss the possibility of US changing our our informal procedures um we don't have written down or anything but to change our discussion period around items to before we make motion inad of our physical practice afterwards what do we think yep I was at the bolts meeting and was talking to you know Chris from Bale kind of the he's really into um the what is that called um the the law the Parliamentary procedure yeah the parliamentary procedures and stuff and he says it's perfectly legit to talk about it before there's an actual motion which I've always had me too I have struggled with it too so he said we could just make it more of a policy so do we need it's not a formal policy we can just decide prce for discussion first then the motion after the discussion yeah and we can still discuss after the motion a good one and is there anything we need to um anything formal we need to do in regards to the minute um and our um version good so at the bolts training they also stated that if you have the meetings recorded either just virtually or just being recorded um not online but just like the recording the voice is recorded you do not have to do minutes so we're kind of doing we're doing both where it's usually one or the other I would say I'm formal a formal change we need to make or it's not it's already in policy that we can do um that if the meetings are reported that we do not require written minutes um but we brought it up a few years ago and uh the past board preferred the written minutes and didn't want to go the route of just having them um live stream so at this point we could decide if you decide that just the minutes on the live stream is sufficient yeah then that'll say Jenna to work smarter not harder and have to cor take all the minutes but it would still need to have the approvals the minutes approved at each we yes it just wouldn't be a I think it sounds like redundant work right now so I think that would be great so what would you I'm trying to visualize how that would look on the next minute the next meeting to approve last month's minutes would you just have a link to the video in there if we wanted to watch it so that we can go back and look in the agenda in the agenda would you just have to link in yeah I can attach the YouTube link to so that we when we get our agenda we want to go back and look at it if there's something that we wanted to question before we approv that's good idea I'm all for that good okay it's good news now we can work smarter not harder yes yeah you said it works smarter not harder we need to make a motion to change any of that no it's already can do it that way we just um also just one thing I I do have a conflict with uh June 10th board meeting um it's Tuesday June 10th and I'm proposing that we either have the meeting on the 11th or the 12th which is Wednesday or Thursday and Greg does have to submit our budget by the 15th um I would I would prefer be on a Thursday rather than the Wednesday just because it's my late dat okay the 12 is that that's everybody okay Kelly June 12 June 12 right that's the Thursday yes I'm good okay perfect so we'll move the June meeting to the 12th and then at our next board meeting we will have the schedule for the upcoming board meetings for next year so with that everybody's still good with having them on Tuesdays Tuesday okay yeah okay Tuesdays it gives us a little bit more time to get the reports uploaded and and to be still in a Tim so with that we'll take a break and sign some paperwork Kelly you'll be in in the morning toight correct yes okay am I okay to yes yes okay thank you have a good night okay by bye [Music] prepared [Music] for I don't know does have any you're going to have you're going to get gra no just the regular web page [Music] and we did talk probably Joe we talked about showing the [Music] when did it stop I seear District info so there wasone that but therea [Music] have you have a new vend this I know you're [Music] have looks different right are you doing I did have you want you I don't know just let me know open tomorrow oh and we are are now adjourned at 58 and 41 seconds good job I got wait

on February 11th Tuesday for the committee of the whole for Creek 2011 School District board meeting here okay we got it who has it you got you taking aoll thank you taking a roll call yeah okay can I have a roll call please by our interim board secretary Dr Hall Mr Albert here Mr Brown I guess I did you last butos not present Paul is here swsh here Z zus not present wol folk here what I say next that's it okay let us stand for the pledge led by Mr Nelson Al Bert and followed by our mission statement read by Dr Hall aliance 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 our mission statement is to engage and Empower our students to positively impact their community and future thank you both any time right all right any ritten or present public comments if not we do have one one just came in is that the same I think that's the same oh yes you made it okay okay that name Z Zak okay got a Miss malissa Zak and the front is nice and big sure should be able to read it all right good evening my name is Melissa Zak and my daughter I'm mess that up geniv vanr is a senior at Creon High School noting the change in Immigration enforcement I would like to know the district policy regarding protecting our students I read that other local school districts such as KY and Chicago Heights have spoken out in support and protection of their students while in District care I urge District 201u to do the same declaring that our schools are a safe Zone will give students the opportunity to focus on learning please note the following and excuse me please note the following in ply versus do 1982 the US Supreme Court established the right of all children to to a free and fair public education regardless of immigration status that's bullet number one bullet number two family educational rights and Privacy Act f f I think that's God excuse [Music] me sorry apologize limits Isis access to private data with students including immigration status title six of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a federal statute which provides that any entity receiving Federal funding including School District receiving funds from the US Department of Education may not discriminate based on race color or national origin mckenny V bullet number three the mckenny V vento homeless assistant act requires that schools enroll children are who are considered homeless including migrant children children regardless of migration immigrant State immigrant stat status and number three four the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution protect students from unreasonable search and seizures and allow schools the authority to demand a Judicial warrant before being given access to any students the fifth bullet the Illinois trust Act of 2017 provides further protection bearing local and State Police from honoring ice detainer requests and Ice warrants please provide a clear policy which 2011 you schools will follow to ensure that all staff and students know what to do if US immigration and Customs Enforcement attempts to enter our facilities and that should be the only public okay all right do we have any board updates I apologize I apologize for being late sorry everyone that's right I I I the only one I have I think is um we had uh chire had their spectacular event here with which was pretty amazing so we had 17 schools 17 teams from I think 13 different schools come so it was really a great Saturday junior high levels High School levels okay now where was that at it was here it was at the high school not here in this building but at the high school wow wow it's awesome huh yeah it was good and they start their season Saturday so I know some of the other winter sports are going already and I think I saw something in the flii about um the girls bowling and our Athletics are doing very very well this this winter wow great news thank you Bill anybody else anyone else and I did receive an email just before I came here today and it was just a taxpayer out there that I guess this was this was for to me by um a previous board member and she saw this on Facebook it was a safety matter just a concrete bumper that was upturned with the two rebars sticking up over at Creed Elementary me the medium and I just wanted to share that in public if you see anything unsafe you know uh contact the district contact the principal contact the school that if the sooner we know about it or any school staff or employee knows about it the faster we can remedy the issue so so there was it definitely is an unsafe issue at Creed Elementary and I'm sure we didn't know about it else we would have hopped on it all right thank you and there was no on the board updates I don't think so okay no sorry okay and uh my visit with myself and the principals you know visiting the building I think board members for joining me in the superintendent I did sneak in the one at the middle school they think it was going to happen so there's no need for us to move further on that unless board members want to go on an indiv individual basis I did have had opportunity to sit down 45 minutes or so with the principal Miss cruso at the middle school so that leaves us with one more toala okay but I do want to add I thought about driving here I would like to add uh Kelly here do that too okay this ELC and that'll be two we'll talk a little bit off schedule but offline we've got an issue with tomorrow oh we do okay all right yeah uh T tala was on the list a month or so ago but I principal could not I had some issues going on and could not make it but we're knocking them out thank you board members all of you for participating and again all you do really appreciate it and we moving forward with the kids Summit had a meeting with Dr Perkins and her team just a couple days ago and I'm just so elated on how things are going and looking to possibly kick that off hopefully stting next school year right right Dr Perkins all right okay keep it going anything we can do for you to help you out please let us know or don't call me I'll call you all right that should be it if there's no other ones that love to extend their voice for any board updates moving right along to administrative up should we do um the the reason why our uh seventh board members is not here uh you know what and I meant and and you want to do that or actually or different I actually I don't know if it's appropriate I meant to have a moment of silence for her is that appropriate can I do that now yeah okay I would like to have a moment of silence for one of our dedicated board members who lost uh their loved ones her husband definitely a shock definitely shock and you know the family is grieving and we just want to reach out to them in any manner any shape or form we could so and I just want to let her know we're here for you anything we can do let us know so I'd just like to have a moment of silence for that for that those reasons thank you thank you Alex all right administrative updates so um as many of you probably already know due to the weather I was just going to let just remind everybody that uh we were able to uh swap out one of our early release days for um an early release day tomorrow so it's not going to cost us an e day so uh we did call that for the weather and I know a lot of other districts did as well so we hope that our staff gets here safely and home safely as in um tomorrow and hopefully Thursday we'll be uh all cleared so that we can get everyone back on Thursday um earlier this week we had our second annual safety Symposium uh we had 70 people registered this year uh that was probably times three that it was before um we had you know at least half of that actually did attend it was very well attended we have 12 presentations that took place here and um we were able to videotape that and get some good responses I'll be sharing that with you as soon as the video comes in and I we'll be able to push that out on our social media as well you know again it's just another way of showing how communities and districts are coming together to share and network with one another um about the good things that are going on and I just want to reassure our community again about the good work and the safety that we have put together here for our students and our staff has been very successful so I just wanted to uh give a shout out for our staff we had quite a few of our uh principles uh participating and of course um Robin Tobias was at the at AE uh helping to present so anyway that was really well attended so I just wanted to give a shout out for our staff on that yeah that's all that's it y um do you want to go oh do I want to number two yeah okay sorry so item two um we just wanted to put on there to have you aware can't believe it already but um we've got Board elections coming up in April it's just a matter of weeks and um we wanted to make sure that we could create a date to install our new board members for a reorganization so we will need to create a special board meeting on May 6th uh because I think our committee of the whole was going to be a little bit later so um I just wanted to open up that for discussion about creating a an extra board meeting that that that week so would we turn May 6 into the committee the whole and just make it a special meeting or would you do three in a row either way doesn't matter but yeah the only reason why I did it um well usually with the committee of the whole I always have to make sure that we don't have any business items because anybody coming in is not going to know what they're doing or voting on anything so I think we could decide to do either way um good point just having a meeting if we do at a committee of the whole we could do any business items that need to finish it off and then do the reorg after that yeah going to say I don't think during committee the whole we don't do business items basically as far as discussion we don't vote on anything correct so yeah we could do that so we don't have to have three that month so maybe just move that Committee of the whole meeting from the 10th to the 6th I mean that that certainly works is that good for everybody uh I think you would need to install the new board members first because they're already going to be elected do the do the restructuring at the beginning do the reward first y okay and then we can discuss and again remember committee the hold is just disc that way they can participate in the discussion if there are discussion it ask questions all right we'll take care of that you've got that show right we'll we'll just do the whole reorg that day when when do we have to do it by law 40 is it 45 days 45 days I believe yeah and I think that's what it counted out to so this is way way within that yes it is because it's early I think a April 1 45 days from the election not correct 45 days from certification okay do you remember that yeah because I know we we spent some time doing accounting on that okay and like I said moving that up one week the committee the whole if we move that up one week this is our discussion time I don't think we're not voting we're not being pressured than anything and then that'll give us two weeks to talk about any of this that'll give the new board members two weeks to then ask questions amongst us right that are already seated or you or your team to see if they to make a decision so let me ask councel um if we're going to take action with the reor does that make it a special board meeting I would think so or just a how do I word that on the agenda no you just you no just part of your agenda would be the reorganization part of it just like when we do um a review of budgets you know part there's part of your committee hold meetings that you know our budget meetings so but that's not an action would you do we we're not voting on that well no but you don't you have to do you appoint um we do we do yeah we do vote so my thing is I just assume it would be like the August board committee the whole where you we make get a special board meeting so that we can take action for Dr Eric so that he can get employees in state stated earlier right I just assume the same thing yeah is action with the Tak some actions to voting on who's going to be in whatever role on the board yeah we do take action on that and vote on that that's what I said so it's just special board meeting right that's that's what I'm saying one a special and they want a special special special and regular yeah I got it we'll just we'll eliminate just the committee the whole okay that was all I wanted to add it's May 6 I don't know what day that is I might that's a Tuesday so we're saying the 6th and the 13th or the 6th and the 20th 20th Sixth and the 20th okay thank you let me just double check yeah the 20th we would leave the business the same date that'll be our regular board meeting yeah yeah we could do the six and the 20th that would just leave a week in between so okay all right that's all I had okay Jason you're up yep good evening president Brown other distinguished members of the Board of Education Dr Cara koganes I'm here to open discussion regarding the proposed uh repair for cre Elementary roof um this would Mark the second consecutive summer uh last year uh we identified 14 sections of the roof that need to be replaced um we were able to complete six sections of their roof um actually with a pretty late start Keith correct me if I'm wrong it was began in Late July correct yeah and we were still able to repair the those six sections uh without any Interruption to Student Learning or teachers returning to the building um initially this was proposed as a three-phase plan over three Summers um me went out this year and due to getting out in advance and the familiarity with the contractor through the Omnia uh Co-op um they're proposing that we complete the project and do the remaining eight sections of the roof uh this summer so um pricing was obtained through the national Cooperative contractor Network administered by trco and Omnia so this is just uh open discussion looking to take action next week and then this will complete the roofing project at Creet Elementary uh the summer of 2025 and not leave anything to be done in the summer of 2026 so we'll be done a year early yes sir and are we still within or under budget yes we're within budget it's going to go up about 83 about $93,000 from the most recent short-term plan um but we're looking at replacing a lot of sections and initially was a kind of a repair restore section um after getting in there and taking a look at the roof that old um you know we noce notice some things that probably weren't going to be good for restoration if for this this type of money so recommend replacing all those sections in at least one section I believe it's section J um and the amount of overage you're talking about on the on the total contract amount is very little correct and everything came in within the contingency and also when I update the short-term facility plan um I will have a 10% contingency in for the roofing project and that'll fall within that contingency yes sir perfect Jason do you know do we have any guarantee or or what's the life expectancy of these roof and if you could you don't have to answer this now but if you could go back and see the roof that we replac did we take it down to Bear we have other layers there or these are I guess bamus type of roofs and just how long the old ones was before the need to replace them I'm just curious to see what's the 30y year 20 year I I know yeah I could you with the manufacturing and installation warranties cover I do that um you know going back since the other one had 14 different elevations I could try and source that information from you I could tell you that we got a lot more years out of it than probably what they planned for but um I can definitely look at the new information for you yeah yeah don't don't break your neck try to get it but I'm just curious to see is these 50 years 60 years or the roof's going to last longer than the building or do we get 10 years out of these I don't know I'll be sure to look into that including the FYI okay thank you thank you for coming in early on this too you say we finishing up 2025 yes sir we're going to start in uh probably second week of June and the way they got after it last summer um they were honestly a pleasure to deal with um real great communication through our weekly meetings and I anticipate uh the same result okay thank you any question all right thank you Jason I'm actually up for oh you oh you got number two you got number two okay I don't no you're not getting away that easy uh here to open a discussion just regarding the resolution directing the sale of the property Mony education center located at 5154 West Main Street in Moy Illinois via the sealed bid process in accordance with the provisions of section 5-22 of the Illinois school code um uh Mr Gleason's office has prepared the resolution they've also prepared the bid docks I spoke with him he will be prod uh producing the notice to bid um for me and my intention is if approved next Tuesday to have the publish publication ready to go in the Daily Southtown and must run for three uh successive weeks um and we will also advertise the minimum floor bid which as we discussed uh or uh 90% of the appraise value so we're going to look for a sales price of 615,000 and then the minimum floor uh that we would be willing to accept would be $553,000 in the event that we don't get any bids we can uh see what other options are and revisit that but my intention is to go out with publication on the 19th and have a bid opening on March 13th and then hopefully take action on sale at our board meeting on March 18th are you going to have any type of mandatory bid meetings prior to I'm not necessarily going to have a mandatory bid meeting considering that we're selling the property as is okay what I'm probably going to do is provide about a 4-Hour window for any prospective buyers to come in and you know bring in line up any type of inspections that they would like to just to take a look at the property but as I said we will not be obligated to do any repairs because it will be sold is okay are you looking to do any questioning and answering for the public if they have some question give them a time frame of a week or whatever and put it out there that's typically some things you do but if not that's not a problem you know people might have some questions and they you can answer them and and put it on the website for everybody to see what those questions were and what those answers was yeah I can treat that similar to our transportation bid if need be okay great thank you making some progress on this get this off our plate thank you you don't need to cut the grass to some all right okay do we have any old business I actually have something Jason is there any way um we can contact the bus company and prepare them for Monday Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday some of the highs are in the teens so that means it's going to be zero at night preparing the buses because I don't know how many e-learning days you have but there's three or four consecutive days where in the morning these kids it'll be 0 degrees minus two with no windchill so making sure the buses are prepared whether they're brought in uh they're they're plugged in the diesel engine should be plugged in but as long as they're prepared for it I'll be sure to communicate that with the regional supervisor okay that was old business or new business that was old I just cuz we talked about it I think in the last month I just want to chime in on that it's a bus issue I saw on TV uh day before yesterday I believe or yesterday that one school district could not they have to shut school down and take a e-learning day because can converters catalytic converter termites got out there human termites got out there and stole so many of the 30 buses they took in one night wow so I'm just curious even though we don't own the buses but I'm wondering what type of Safeguard our company that we use have to protect their buses because it is an impact yeah I'm sure that it's um I I haven't heard bus fleets being hurt like that I've heard of U-Haul parking lots you know or U-Haul stations getting hit like that scho school district and shut the school district down for that particular day yeah no I mean to be honest with you if you lost 30 catalytic converters and you could actually procure those and get them all replaced the following day that's a that's a pretty tall order but I'll also inquire about that R yeah what what type of security they have out there watching their buses again that's not on us but it does it does affect it affects us it would have yes big time you know where that where that occurred at it was re it was it was closed it wasn't far Troy Troy yeah it was Troy right yeah and Illinois passed something whether it was 30 or 60 days ago I there was something I I don't know the time frame that you can no longer uh a junkyard can no a scrapyard can no longer accept the catalic converter without um I think the vom like there's a procedure now and if they get caught it's a I think it's a federal offense wow because of that wow electric buses okay um I've got another old business go ahead um in one of the January FYI um there was a comment about that Will County Clerk had uh said the district was able to capture another $500,000 or so um to the levy to 2024 Levy and this amount is designated to make the district call for any tax refunds resulting from assessment Appeals if the district desires to Abate the amount of from the levy a resolution must be passed in later than March 18th and I know the last two years we've abated it we have abated it yeah my recommendation this year would be not to given that we've got a budget shortfall so thank you be so just I and when I'm agreeing with Nelson except for one thing if there's a possibility you you know your team could put together that we're maybe at the end of our fiscal year will how would that help us and impact us um basically half the amount would be applied to our Levy so of the 9,000 Nelson uh mentioned um that would be applied in June so yes it would help us uh more importantly when it comes to something like this if you don't capture it then it kind of follows you every subsequent year as it keeps going cuz this the only time to capture it so um yeah if you don't then you do lose that Levy amount in perpetuity I still think before we vote on that I think we should at least look to see if there's a possibility of a baiting because it is you know it's it it's money to the taxpayers and we've been doing it I think we did it three years three time at least three times I yeah at least three where we baited it back where we didn't accept the money so I would really like to see how much of a financial impact that would because if we can do that um it would be great but if not and you in in the need then I think Mr Al's right I think then maybe we move forward but at least a better forecast on what your projection is for the end of the fiscal year yeah and I'm hoping we have a balanced budget that's our intent very close to it yeah after we amend the budget I'm sure we're looking to do that but it's not a whole lot you we talk about $500 when it's dispersed out right you know average family might get 2030 but that's it's a lot more this I think it's a lot more this year than it was I seem to recall previous years it was like 200 250,000 that much per person 300,000 something like that it was lower yeah yeah but at the time we were on budget too yeah so and person and and again I'm not downplaying this you know every penny is important to families so but if we can if we have it out that's that's our goal right if if if it's important to help get to our B balance budget then that's really important so then then I think Mr Al's right yeah we have when did you say March is that's March we need to take action on it by March 18th because it needs to be submitted by April 1st is that may could be yeah we need look at our we could maybe try to do something preliminarily their eyes can is Right want to okay and you know I still again yeah we may have a because March 18th is the regular board meeting yeah that sounds like it but I would like to if we split the difference just again showing good faith to the taxpayers both ways it shows good faith and part of so the next part is new business and one thing I was going to bring up which is exactly what mr's talking about is it in our FYI we had the life safety breakdown and that total is about 542,000 and if we understand the last life safety took what 12 years to 11 years to accomplish you know and it was holy it was really big will you say 12 years 11 years to accomplish to finish well remember we did we had our study and then it took us a long time because we had started a a a you know a facility plan by law by law technically should take 5 years right to address the life safety is yeah cuz I think it was a 201 13 it was a 2013 technically 2014 so 5 years 2019 we should have been finished with all over and I think we started in 22 maybe yeah we got we got a little step behind right know so with this one it's 542,000 a approximate cost so meaning if we can achieve that type of goal that is that's with that type of with with that then that may wash itself but that's what I want to bring up tonight and actually whether I didn't mean to jump to new but that kind of goes hand inand there because the numbers are very close was that 500 some odd thousand that was cumulative yes aggreg yeah between the six buildings and that includes uh architectural fees and 10% contingency that you say it does yes it does 500 something half million dollars about 542,000 give or take some change for all of the schools that's required under 10 years yeah for the six buildings that are up it' be ELC tala Balmoral CSK um uh middle school middle school it's everything element the high school and and mon I know which ones aren't included more than I do which ones are that is awesome compared to what was it last time about 14 million yeah right I mean 14 million you talked about that an awful lot on how we were going to achieve that yeah and this facility you know that we did for three years achieved that that is even though it went longer it achieved it but this number is something we don't want to linger right yeah absolutely that's that's my intention and my communications with Keith is that since it is so small and knowing what you guys did previously and address something that was kind of put off for a little while we want to take care of this as soon as possible to be hon but we got to watch because we have to put a plan together and we have to crit depending on it's predicated on how critical it is okay the most critical first year to the least critical the five five years after that so it's a 5year plan that we have to share with the regional superintendent and they share it with the state or vice versa right for the life safety survey right so if five years I mean we can short cycle it but we do have five years and still sooner than later I would think that if if anything we break it into two come with a plan and say we'll do these three this year and these three the next year we have the money so that we have it already budgeted out and it's all done right but we just want to say you know we do have five years to to do it so good excellent thank you thank you for getting that too Jason getting that done excellent all right any other old business uh new business I had sent the board some information a couple weeks ago regarding the Immigrant issues and with ice and a possible resolution that may be coming our way I sent a couple documents regarding the policies that we have already in place as far as protecting our students in a safe manner eco protection under the law for students so on and so forth so we had a board member that sent a resolution out as a copy a draft bless you on and we heard the public comments regarding having our school as a safe haven and having a res a resolution incorporate incorporating those things that we need to do within the law and I took that draft and we had our by they submitted by one board member and we had our Council look at it they fine-tuned it and everybody have a copy of this uh the fine tuning came in late this afternoon is this on here is the fine tune yes this is fine tune yes okay so I just wanted to know um have a little discussion on this and and ask the board you know how they feel about incorporating the resolution I feel strongly about it personally and I'm sure the board member if you want to talk on it how you feel about it have at it and open for discussion what's your thoughts on it I guess my question my on um does this add any new policy or any new any new protections that we don't already afford all students under our policies or the or the law yeah I I can I can our office reviewed it yeah I think I can unequivocally say uh the answer to that is is no um this is not a um statement of new policies ored new protocols I think this is a reinforcement this is a reinfor forcement public reinforcement of all the protections that are already afforded to to students and their families the enforcement meaning it's just going to be another it's a resolution on top of a policy I Think It's On Again best I could I talked to council and superintendent and I talked to council a couple weeks ago prior to me sending that information out to to all of you just kind of tidbits of the conversation and reviewing those policies I believe I sent you a couple of those policies to say you know we kind of in the spirit we're doing what this resolution is saying it's just we got a policy here we got a policy here policy here and couple with some little caveats here and there I think all of our policies protect us it meets the spirit of this but this kind of just bulletti or centers all of those issues with the policies or what I want to say issues but those policies does for us and for our students kind of put it all in one one document here so that's again as Council alluded to there's nothing really created different than what we kind of already so prior to the resolution no one can come into any of our buildings and take any of our children right right we have we have procedures that are in place reer but they're already in our policies right they can't do that correct regardless before this is even here they they can't come in and do anything right and it's without a warrant and it's spelled out in our policies that way yeah without a federal warrant warrant not a administrative warrant but without a federal warrant and you can speak more than that I mean I think what what to I'm sorry I mean here's where I get at I understand the the the public comment but we already have stuff in place to protect our kids that's what what having a policy and having uh having that's what the seven of us do so there's no like I don't the only thing I don't get is why are we we're kind of doing a double thing right if we already have it in place to protect them employees right and students sorry go ahead I I mean right I correct me if I'm wrong I I think we we already have everything in place the resolution I think reads is a reiteration of um and like board president said of like having everything together in in in one document of things that truly you either have place by virtue of board policy or a restatement of law um you know like the school student records act and and furpa um you know and and a restatement of certain state laws um that the district is obligated to follow by virtue of it being a school district yeah I think what's important for us is the procedures that your team that you put together for your team more than this right cuz the procedures need to be followed so that nothing happens right so that that's that's my thing I just want to make sure that you know the theana was commenting on that almost like we haven't don't have anything in place but we do do we do we know what the pro uh procedure is with the policies no the procedure procedure yes those procedures were so you know you know what the procedure is I do okay so can you tell us what the procedure is all right so I think starting if if somebody comes to the school you know uh our policy does allow people to come into the school they are held they State their business um Administration is called in it depends if they have a warrant for C certain Within name on it then we would then call me and I call our counsel and there's a discussion on how that is uh relayed um no students taken out with without first notification of parents sure and so forth if they do not have a name on a warrant and so forth they are not allowed to enter the building they cannot walk through the school and they are stopped there in the I think there was some like challenges yeah yeah actually there's there's it's a little more robust than that as well yeah just to to round it out I mean the procedures also are very clear that no Student Records are given out um no no identifying information about individual students no information about immigration status is ever given out um and that's regardless of who coms to the the building our kids are safe that's regardless but they have and specifically like you are one of many school districts that have request our office to draft procedures and and and I know the school district has has implemented those procedures so they've been specifically spelled out in the last several weeks and now uh on top of the school the building with the administration and everything do we have any policies uh in regards to uh students getting off a boss because um you know say a bus gets tailed and then someone that looks like me walks off the bus can they then I I mean I don't know it's I think it's too hard to track that and I because and no different but even if it was a bad adult trying to do that with a kid I I think that we you know the district can only put safeguards in place but once they're off the bus I mean think that be really challenging our responsibility where is the line drawn where's the line techn if I'm wrong we're we're technically responsible from port to port right well I well if you haven't already I mean I I I presume your contract with the with the uh transportation company says that they're responsible for getting that CH child to the door the bus stop and so where you say to the door door to to their home right Tech most what my understanding is is port to port door to door that's I mean not that the bus has but the district is responsible if there's a the stop is your port cuz there's no way if they walk two blocks to that yeah my son did when he was in school got dropped off whole block no no I get that I'm saying my I'm trying to clear up my understanding when they say port to port because you know you walk I get that um is it from our door to once they finally walk into their door or just the bus stop the bus stop that's consider okay I get yeah cuz the bus stop is our technically our responsibility that corner wherever they the pickup Point got it yes okay excuse me I do just want to share that all the protocol that was shared with the secretaries at each building was also shared with the bus company and the bus driver so there aware of the protocol they also have my cell phone number Dr Cara's cell phone number and Mr Robin tobias's cell phone number in addition to Katie Cooper to notify us immediately if there's anything like that occurring at a bus stop and again I don't think we're looking to do anything outside of our policies and we're not looking to break any laws whatsoever we're not looking to circumvent things here we're just looking to abide by our policies and and and the laws of the land to protect our kids and there was one question came up as well Dr koganes as far as single point of contact so if for example if ice came to the middle school and wanted to apprehend a child there who's a single point of contact is it the principal or do we direct them to or is the principal direct to direct them to you or is it the single point of contact to address their concerns they would call me immediately the mayor and then they make the phone call me or some my executive team okay so technically you're the single point of contact per se okay they're not to be directed to come over come over to your central office right you address the issue do there at the school probably where they stand wherever they think they're trying to conduct their business contain right okay board members okay with that I just I'm a little concerned with the resolution because I think the public I think 50% of the public will think this is great I think there's another the other half will think that we're going out of our way they're not going to understand that we already provide all these protections and they're going to look that we're somehow providing favoritism to a certain you know Co cohort well I think I'm thinking it different way I think they're going to be frustrated that like you didn't have this in place already I mean look at the the the public comment kind of thinking we don't have nothing to placee already that's kind of the the to me it's already in our policies and it's law to me it just seems like something we're doing it's almost a virtuous signaling so that's my personal take on it does it's perception it's like everything we've been dealing with for six years we need to get them you have to get the message out and send it out constantly your kids are safe like you know I mean I understand tala experience you know a down but that was our responsibility uh the administration team to get that word out that this is what this is what it states it's safe here your kids you know blah blah blah that's that was really that's really our thing the school districts uh that's our responsibility to relay that message kind of like everything we're doing with you know getting the good stuff out right so we have an incident a week ago in the high school and someone posted a video from six years ago so that's a problem right so my thing is it's it's about relaying it's about us as a district relaying it to our family saying this is our space regardless of what happens and and express that now I know it it shouldn't have to be a resolution because my concern is that person there that sends in has no idea that we already have that in place yeah and that's the thing is the perception isn't there I agree and I go ahead Dr I I guess I'm uh a little confused what what the like I'm trying to put the best way like what's the the ISS is there an issue with redoing State just stating this just pointing out to the public um I don't I mean I I'm trying to understand what's the the I guess the understand if you printed this out and sent this out to the public that would be great let them know this is what we have in our policies and stuff but we're creating a a resolution right I mean it's kind of it's kind of like I that's just the part I'm not understanding creating a resolution to that communicate it out to our parents so basically it's like we already have something in place yeah so do we have to create a resolution or could we just pull it and just point it out and say this is what we have and explain the procedure if something happens you know this is what's going to happen make them feel like you know hey this we don't care what's happening out here but here you when you send your kids or when your husband or wife comes to our district there this is what's going to happen they're going to be safe really I mean I think yeah and I I look really that message is more important to me yeah I look at it we you know we are a very diverse community and as Alex alluded to he said people that looks like him and they're feeling the impact of what's been going on and this is just to me this is a resolution saying we resolve this that we are here for you even though we have this policy over here to say says this this policy that says this this policy that says that I personally don't see any harm with just a document and ended of itself a resolution be it resolved all right we're saying here we're here for not only you you you but we're here for you too even though it appears like you know everybody turned their back on you okay that's how I'm looking if I was a person to look like Alex I was probably thinking you know hey if it was African-Americans U being you know possibly taken out the school I would definitely want something to say you get you got my back you got my back here by your policies whatever now could it be to make it easy I would say something like this the intent out there with all of our policies yeah it's out there we are meeting it and that's the letter that I sent you guys we're meeting the spirit of this resolution so if I again was someone to look like Alex he as he alluded to hey you know what Alex does this make you feel better man it does and people don't you know that look like you that you have came across it makes them feel better be important yeah and I've always been told if there's an initiative out there that doesn't negatively affect one person but posit positively affect somebody in one way and doesn't NE negatively affect the community and I don't see this affecting the community personally but it positively affect at least one person it's a good initiative it's a good policy that's what I've been taught so I'm for it personally and just want to know the consensus no just one way or another for me here's here here's my final thought on this it's all good it's paper MH but if the procedures aren't followed yeah Absol it doesn't mean anything absolutely absolutely it's only as good as the ank on and again we've had stuff in place here right yeah and procedures sometimes haven't been followed in the last six years so our policy and our whatever we did you know we take a lot of heat for that because the procedure wasn't handled right have a question can you just share what the communication plan has been since um the executive orders and what our communication plan will be for the rest of the school year can you share I can tell you what we did in this okay I can tell you what we did initially because we did respond as quickly within 6 hours of that day as I recall um because it did come as a shock I think to many of our families uh we did send a letter out to our Spanish-speaking families that this was impacted uh we shared a um information with our administrative team and the administrative team shared it with all of their F uh all their staff about how we were going to address that um that is basically what we did there any plans to further communicate I guess to your point sometimes you have to hear things a couple times to make me feel at peace about a situation that may be hyper sensitive to a specific Community is there plans to continue these conversations I I think we we were kind of wait to see what was going on like I said this as Mr elre pointed out no matter how we do this we're going to have 50/50 so I think we wanted to wait to see what the needs were in our in our schools for example you know we've been watching the attendance carefully um you know the attendants initially was down and then we started seeing students coming back into school feeling a little bit more safe they're still experiencing uncertainty in their lives um so I think we're we're monitoring it to see what our next moves are I think that's kind of where we're at perspective are are our policy is any different than any school district to say that ice is not allowed to just take a child out of the school premises that way are our policies any different than any other school district I guess I'm trying to understand how come this is the state responding and then are we umbrella umbrella underneath them to then further secure our people's emotions does that make sense know the school I know the state board has responding in some manner in in general for all of the school all 800 and some OD school districts here in Illinois so are our policies different than other school district probably so but for the most part they are incorporating a lot of the what you should press plus and things like that that come our way to say hey we get things from our Council and say we need to make sure we got this policy here and there so there are some general policies that all school districts share but every school district is a little different on their policies but isn't it illegal no matter where you go according to some of the things establishment law and things like that that's of the 14th Amendment you know those are legal binding constitutional rights there and I'm sure I don't say I'm sure but I would hope all school districts have things such as that that's part of our that's a policy we have and we incorporated that statement into the resolution so and again we're not trying to circumvent any laws or anything but just kind of giving some type of insurance for those students that as Alex said it looks like him and saying that we're not trying to do anything illegal but just ensure that we're following the law and we're going to adhere by the law best we could to protect you so I guess where I'm going with all that questioning is about our position and being proactive as opposed to reactive and if we have any opportunities to just be extremely transparent extremely communicative to the community um Alex's Community is not the only immigration issue that probably has stemmed some fear you know so I just imagine that it might behoove us to want to be proactive and transparent as possible and just share to rest assure the communities that we serve that's my two cents thank you yeah like like Nelson said you're going to get a split out there you're going to get you know we we're very unique dist School District in more ways than one and that's why I'm so blessed to have a UniFi very diverse board here and we have to look at both sides of the fence but at the end of the day we have to do what's right following all the laws all of our policies and definitely adhere to some Balancing Act best we could and this is kind of challenging us here so will this be on the agenda for a vote next week yes okay okay if you guys see anything you may want to change or add to it please send it to the superintendent okay all right thank you any other new business hearing none we do have a reason to go into Clos session for the appointment employment compensation discipline performance or dismissal of specific employees specific individual can I have a motion to go into close session for reason stated wait a minute is that the only reason or do you have another one that's it it talk about the are we talking about MEC talk about the building MEC I don't think so okay I thought I thought we were um um we do it's going to take about two hours and they have a motion no no we didn't we did we had that okay so you know yeah okay so uh move by Bill by Dr Hall any questions or comments if not how long roughly 45 minutes we will be in closed session in approximately 44 minutes and we will not take any action thereafter afterwards thank you public for joining wait roll call we are roll call I sure have a world call I you all me on that something all right uh Mr Al hi uh Mr gagos is an I uh Mr swales hi uh Miss Wolk I Dr Hall I president Brown I we are in close session thank you thank you public for joining appreciate it you can always

I'd like to welcome uh everybody that's online uh and some of our board members online unfortunately sickness and illness is prevalent out in the district and uh so as you can see we have four cting board members but I would like to also acknowledge tonight with us M Barbara mcleen is here he our director of people Services Mr Jeff Moore is here is our Middle School principal Mrs Rebecca Corto is here is our CIS principal uh Mr a ammer is here as our Cherry Brook principal and Jeff delmastro here on our it side so I welcome all you and thank you for taking time time out from your your homes and your dinner tonight and uh Dr Gman assured me we'd be out of here by 6:40 so all right with that said can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance please I pledge allegiance to the flag the United States of America and to the Republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for okay tonight's meeting is really uh most of it is going to be on the superintendent's presentation of the 2026 uh budget but we're going to start with public comment and um we will open it up to anyone in the audience and I don't know if we have anyone in the audience who would like to speak in public comment and hearing none I think we'll go to online is anybody online would like to make your comments if you do I'd ask you to give us your name and your address and uh keep in mind that we try to keep public comment to about 3 minutes if that's possible thank you Kira I do have a raised hand from Aubrey Bley so I'm going to allow her to talk Aubrey you should be able to go ahead and speak now good evening Aubrey I'm good thank you how are you why don't you just stay sure Aubrey blachley Bart Drive um I wanted to thank you guys for your work on the budget I know it's a difficult job and you put a lot of thought and detail into it and um I'm I wish there were more people in attendance online or um in in person and I wanted to encourage the public if they are listening to get involved in the process early um I look forward to hearing about the budget and as you begin this process I would make a request that um as you work on Crafting your final budget you ensure you are appropriately addressing ing the critical security needs for our district and that you're exploring all possible sources of funding for that purpose um beyond that I would just like to make a comment about the minutes from the last meeting um because I think a few things were missing that I thought were important um Margaret Lynch spoke she made comments about RF radiation and that's reflected in the minutes but um what's not reflected is that it was in relation to pending legislation I think there's a there's proposed Bill 90 which is an act to prohibit installation of cell towers near schools and um what I gathered from what she said was she was requesting that the representatives not only support that legislation but also consider amending it to increase or provide a safer distance away from schools um and additionally the summary in the minutes of my comments um only states that I asked the board to continue to offer meetings hybrid which I did ask um but I did also ask the representatives um I spoke to them about the difficulty of passing a budget in town when the special education costs Drive the budget so high and I asked them specifically what they were working on to help our district with special education costs and whether they would support any of the pending legislation that has been proposed that is seeking to reduce special education costs generally and that are passed down to the towns um I know that might seem nitpicky but I think it's important that the record reflects that there were several members of the public that did make an effort to speak to the representatives to ask them um to continue to work to help our district specifically and um that isn't reflected here um that's all I have and thank you for your thank you thank you for those comments um I I will say something about um communication and trying to get more people out this meeting I know Lisa kagan's made a great effort in trying to get people to come to this meeting uh through social media I also sent out a townwide uh notification about this meeting I also used social media myself and I had like 700 folks on it not often can't but uh in any event and we uh I know we ized it in other way so uh we have been making I think this board of education has been making a great effort I commend that uh unfortunately um it just it's not resonated yet so um I think as we get towards the end but one comment I won't accept down the road is that we have not been transparent and tried to make any effort with the public to get them out to these meetings we have workshops that are scheduled we publicize those workshops coming up so I'll just make that comment to leave it at that anybody else online who would like to uh speak public for public comment I don't have any other raise no other ra stand okay with that I'll close public comment we'll go right to the uh the Chairman's corner and um what I the one thing I would like to say was two things one is regarding prism's concert I just thought that that was fantastic I when I see our entire Orchestra out there I mean it has to be 90 kids strong I would think uh just a phenomenal job and I know that Juliana was one of the producers and um I think we look forward to that every year so great job and uh Kudos uh to Mrs antonucci for all the work that went into that and the rest of the staff the second thing I'll bring up is uh the CIP uh the capital Improvement plan um I did put together a a memo it's not here but I'll make sure the board gets it electronically uh to the board of finance and to the Board of Education uh to the board of Selectmen regarding CIP and uh our CIP has been uh moved along uh it's it's with the board of Selectmen and just so you know tomorrow night at 6 pm I'll be making that that presentation on Capital Improvement to the select at the select meeting so if anybody would like to attend that any Board of uh uh education members um would like to attend that would be great so we have small Capital which you're going to hear tonight from uh Dr Gman that's in our budget and then you'll see the capital Improvement things that we're we're uh moving forward and then there's also the bonding issues that we're thinking about so if you can make that meeting it's at 6:00 tomorrow at the community center those are really the only things that I have uh from the Chairman's Corner any questions for me from board members okay with that I'm going to turn it over to the superintendent for his announcement thank you Mr Dan it's good to see everyone thank you for the administrative team for being here this evening and actually our evening the president is here also Chris so I thank her uh this has been a very busy couple weeks uh getting the the budget prepared based from our forecast budget to where we are tonight with the administrative proposed budget and there was as Mr Daniel said a lot of exciting things have been happening in the can pooke schools ranging from our Athletics program who've been doing a great job for can high school and I know the students will speak about that and then last week with our prisons concert which was just tremendous and tomorrow night for those of you that are available 7:30 we have our Coral concert here at the high school and hopefully we want school on Thursday so the CIS staff can play the the CIS students that that gym I went last year um it is louder than the high school gy for athletics um so it it'll be a fun event and then next week I've also been told that there's a CHS science night at um here at the high school the Mr Bishop and I actually attended last uh last year and then we go into hard budget workshops which we'll talk about in a few minutes I'll take any questions out of the superintendent's office at this event any questions for the superintendent any questions online from uh board members hearing none we'll move on to the assistant superintendent report thank you for the opportunity to share and I'll share briefly our schools are working incredibly hard I want to be able to share uh briefly some gratitude for the hard work and Cherrybrook with the uh soft launch of Benchmark Advance uh that's the new uh reading core Ela program that began uh in the middle of this last month uh we held a parent meeting um Abe and Kathy Watson and Chris Woods did a phenomenal job presenting also with a representative from Benchmark Advance who came up to be able to to present as well but we had a number of uh folks who came up to be able to hear more about the program and learn it uh learn about it we also had a professional development opportunity for staff to be able to work with Consultants from the program to as well uh again trying to work through a a thoughtful U continued progression of the program so that we can have a a really strong launch going into our second but kudos to the Cherry Brook team and to all of our staff with great any questions out of my office questions for the assistant super any questions online okay thank you Mr Bishop M Robins oh I'm sorry student reps I crossed you off before I quick sorry so Maggie you want to start tonight sure I'll start us off I'll be reporting on CIS so CIS had their Pat night which was a huge success thank you to the PTO and Mrs Costello for all they did to plan and prepare for this one event and they had over 100 people in attendance fifth grade students went on their field trip to the Old State House and the State House staff provided many compliments and were very impressed with the behavior of the students the CIS quiz lit team competed in January at Sedwick middle school and represented CIS very well CIS celebrated two students at the C annual celebration of the Arts and today guest speaker at Ed met with students in assemblies and shared his messages of gratitude dreaming big setting goals and having a positive attitude and this week CIS is celebrating random acts of kindness week and we'll end the week by participating in no one eats alone day through sing of props very good very good Juliana um so I'll be reporting on Sher so on Friday uh January 24th uh Cher reld their fifth all school meeting um the theme of this meeting was connected to their cultural employment around um developing the their necessities and at this meeting the everyone students and staff watched the video of the third graders that were modeling their Necessities um to this point they uh schoolwide has collected 2,000 positive cards I'm sorry 2000 2,000 positive cards wow which is quite good um the on February 6th cheer book celebrated the 100th day of school and this included the 100th day food collection which is where all the classrooms try to collect 100 items which can be donated to the K food and then on January 29th Cherry Brook hosted The Benchmark Advance uh orientation and then coming up on February uh 25th at 6: p.m.

will be the kindergarten uh parent orientation great very active Lucas all right I'm reporting on the middle and high school so in January uh the Thursday the 23rd to Saturday the 25th a group of just under 40 students that are all members of the model un Club the high school went down to Yale for their annual um committees and it was super successful everybody had a ton of fun and we all enjoyed it um all CHS students will be registering for their 2025 2026 classes this upcoming Friday the 14th um there's a choir a coral concert coming up um tomorrow uh the 12th at 7:30 um this past Friday the Jazz Band went and performed at yukon's annual high school music festival um the prison's concert was on the Saturday the 1st uh some exceptional choir students were able to audition for All State also on February 1st basketball senior night was this past Monday the 10th um science and astronomy night is this coming Thursday not not um like next week next week Thursday not uh two days on the 20th um for the middle school they will also be registering for their classes very soon um this last February 5th Miss Mrs Swagger Mr dep pipo and Dr Kidwell met with e8th grade parents to talk about the process of registering for high school classes Middle School uh chamber singers will be participating in the high school concert tomorrow um there was recently a middle school dance PR by the CMS student council and bus driver Appreciation Week starts next Wednesday led by the CMS PTM that's great so when do college acceptances start coming out starting to hear yet or yeah yeah they're starting to come out I think um early decision and early action are pretty much out okay regular decision comes out around March okay great everybody's hanging in there fingers crossed okay any any questions for the student reps great activities thank you for those reports appreciate it now I get to go to Mrs robins and uh let's hear about our financials great thank you um this evening where we are um reporting on results for the month ended January 31st um we um are winding winding down uh in the business office getting ready for year end if you believe it um and we are forecasting unfortunately an unfavorable um year end at $613,000 um general education is forecast to be favorable 75,6 37 which is also slightly better than the previous month special education I'm still unfavorable at 688 728 which is uh just a hair better than the previous month like under $2,000 um still um we have movement in the following accounts on salaries and benefits um we are to had to slight movement there um due to some um long-term sub needs um we do have a couple of vacancies there um as well in a in the par educator um category purchase Services um projected to be under budget um and that is due to a special education change um with a um a reduction in some nursing Services Legal Services continues to be higher um than budgeted um and specifically at in special education at this point but regular education is up close behind facilities repairs and maintenance is projected to be over budget this is a consistent category um which we hope to rectify maybe with a CIP budget for next year we have had hot water heaters boiler sections Etc in that area that um have given way due to age transportation and tuition um um the category is a major driver for the special education over budget condition but there is some Savings in the regular education area in both in fuel and in Services um and general supplies is um generally um it's slightly over budget and that is due to maintenance as well um but we have um adjusted the forecast in several categories based on a midyear review of spending to include savings where possible um these categories include conferences and travel heating oil du and fees Postage and supplies and Student Activities um and then lastly during the month of February all the Departments um will be um be put the request out to submit requisitions um that remain for the end of the year um and that exercise will assist us in more accurately projecting our year- end results um for the financial close for February and March so as you can see we already starting our activities to start closing the year um we're pass the 100 day Mark um and closing in on the end of the year okay I I will say thank you for that report I will say today at the finance committee meeting which we'll go into that report later but um Jordan attended that meeting um Kim was at that meeting felici was at that meeting Russell was the chair so the financials were thoroughly beted and some of the comments that were made by Mrs Robin Stewart um questions and and I think um did a very good job Dr brosman any comments on the as I mentioned last month I'll mention it again the the overages due to um special education relative to the state underfunding excess cost where we budgeted at 72% which was supposed to be 88% and it was 72% and they came in at 62% so that's a short call right there 370 students or $370,000 and then as you recall from the beginning of the year we we did our budget and then we had new students move in that we didn't forecast for or project for that was another $3 to $400,000 so right there um I want as the board knows know what theity know it has nothing to do with for budgeting or po planning it has to do with being underfunded by the state and with excess cost and new students moving into the district and the board of Finance has been totally updated on this from September right and uh very grateful to uh this morning at uh at our 8:30 meeting uh Board of Finance member Tom Blackley attended so they're very much in tuned and plugged into where we are so I'm grateful for that any other questions from Mrs Robins okay thank you very much for that report um so we move right into the budget presentation Dr BR super thank you um Mr Bryan's going to pass out budget books to the Board of Education members and K maybe you can help her out and uh PowerPoint and then to the administrators that that are here pass out a budget book also this will be going up online so those that are you you guys get okay for the people that so the people that are online people that are online uh kir is going to show you where the budget book can be found and where um the slide that can be found for tonight so it's on our K schools website under District it right there under district and then budget and then all the materials are there okay so K if we could just put up the slide deck I'm going to ask the board members if you could just stay with me in the slide deck and then I'll explain to you the the book it it gives me great pleasure to present administrative team proposed budget for 2526 FIS school year I want to thank the entire administrative team for being here and again I want to thank our teacher Union president uh Chris for also being here this evening I do want to uh put a special thank you to Mrs Robbins our business manager for putting together and her assistant Hannah Bryant for putting together the the documents and and of course Claud and nardy for just putting everything and making it look really good without the complete support of the administrative team that is here and those individuals um I would not be sitting here today presenting the budget this budget is grounded in the vision of the K public school's graduate creative thinker Communicator collaborator critical thinker compassionate Citizen and most importantly the budget is grounded in the Board of Education goals board goal number one student growth and achievement board goal number two partnersh Partnerships and Community engagement board goal Three Financial sustainability and efficient operations board goal four learning environment and belonging board goal 5 embracing equity and board goal six Workforce Development what I'm very excited about next year when I'll be presenting this budget not only will it be grounded in the Board of Education goals but our 5year strategic plan the administrative team budget priorities when we were putting this together was one student achievement in all areas across the district maintaining class size according to the can Board of Education policy and guideline focus on teaching learning professional development and social emotional well-being of students and staff provide a safe and healthy school environment and propose a physically responsible budget that aligns with the cam Board of Education goals this tonight to the Board of Ed I'm going to present a lot of information to you through the presentation I would ask you to write things down as we're going through and let me go through the presentation and then throughout our budget workshops we'll answer as many questions as we possibly can it's so important though to talk about the successes of the C public schools and where we are and what we're trying to build on for the 2324 school year Cher Brook primary school was recognized as a school of Distinction by the State Department of Education in 2022 Cher Rook was one of the best element elementary schools by the US News and World reports it was ranked 149 out of 575 best elementary schools in Connecticut it was ranked 42 out of 158 best public elementary schools in the Harford area and Canton Intermediate School was awarded among the 2025 best middle schools in Connecticut per US US News and World Report in Canton intermediate school ranked 48th of 212 middle schools the school performance index which we've spoken about before improved 11.4% over the previous year with increases in each of the 13 indicators and the K Middle School awarded also among the 2025 best middle schools in the Connecticut by US News and World Report it is working in partnership with the Commissioners Network approved by the the Connecticut state board of education the school performance index at the C Middle School improved by 11% making K Middle School the highest performing Middle School in the Farmington Valley on state assessments K Middle School showed growth that brought it or above the durb average its science performance math and its math growth for high needs Ken High School Ken high school was ranked in Connecticut as a 20 4th best high school in the US News and World Report in number nine in the Harford area in 24 combined sat reading and math of 1070 for the class of 24 in 24 130 students tested in a total of 205 AP exams across 17 subject areas and 35 students were designated AP Scholars with 10 students earning AP scholar with distinction recognition in 83 students earning a passing score of three or higher can high school has earned silver recognition in the 24 apor role as 58% of the class of 24 Experience One AP course before graduating we have a lot to be proud of here in the C public schools in this budget it is the hope of this administrative team that this budget will reflect this and will move our school district forward for many years what we need to understand and we've discussed this before is that student enrollment is changing within the can Public Schools district enrollment is projected to decrease over the next 5 years and this budget reflects that with growth projected primarily at the middle school level by fiscal year 30 District enrollment is projected to decrease from the present by 121 students the projected prek through 12 District enrollment of 1383 in fiscal 26 reflects a 34 student decrease from 25 while specific factors contributing to these Trends may require further investigation this overview provides a snapshot of how enrollment has evolved over the past 15 years so you can see in the chart at 2425 we currently sit at 400 1,417 next year 1383 but in 29 to 30 will'll be down to 1296 and that's if you remember in the forecast budget I mentioned to you that I Envision that we are going to be decreasing in staff non-certified and certified projected class sizes average class sizes vary this graph represents the variability of class size based on class population in number of class sections over time varying bars indicate average class size for the past 12 years across grades K through 12 in adherence to the class uh guidelines the black bars indicate projected class sizes for the 25 26 school year and then next chart you'll notice on page nine this is the one that we often look at of how many sections are we going to have prek through six so you'll notice in fiscal year 24 we had a total of 54 sections fiscal year 25 53 sections and you will see in fiscal year 26 we're going to 52 sections we're projecting and we actually got the number to very appropriate we're projecting 85 students in our kindergarten for next year that would be a five sections at 17 and if you remember the nzda and the Peter prow report had that number up into the 120s we're going at an actual data point of what we have in the Cher Brook staff is collecting this year's kindergarten is in five sections we're anticipating that next year's first grade will be in five sections and then you'll notice in second grade we'll have six sections third grade six sections all the way down fulfilling within the class siiz guidelines I'll bring it up now and because it may be a question and we discussed it during last year's budget process that grade three that is at 15.8 in six sections that is the kindergarten class if we remember from 2 years ago struggled in the area in kindergarten with academic achievement and behavior that is a class that is progressing along nicely from a student in achievement so it's been the recommendation of the uh the the principal of the assistant superintendent to keep that class size um where it is right now expenditure and performance it's always good to look at per people expenditure and how we perform the camp Public Schools ranked 76 out of 165 reporting districts and agencies and per pupil expenditure our per per pupil expenditure is 22334 which is below the state average in the next chart we start comparing us to our Durk very difficult to compare Kon within der B if you recall last year we were in dur c a lot of smaller districts are in dur a lot of bigger districts than us are in dur B so when you look at our per pupil expenditure we're at 16 at 22335 out of 20 reporting districts but you will also notice that we are what do we say Mr Bishop the third smallest um District in that chart so it's it's a difficult comparison per people expenditure because it's not like every kid is costing us 22,000 it's an average so if you have more kids in your school you could do a lot more with less money per people but that's just how they average but you could see our students are performing well based upon the per people expenditure that we are 11 out of 20th in that dir and if you recall when we did our presentation if we were in Dirk SE which we're not but if we were in Dirk SE we'd actually be number one in Dirk SE as we reported um when we did our accountability index in the next slide just shows you per pup expenditure in our accountability index in the upper left hand corner realistically showing the lower PPE with the higher accountabil accountability index that we are scoring really well for the amount of funds that that we we uh put forward in the next slide we did when I presented the forecast of budget I asked Mr Bishop to there was a a lot of uh questions that we received in the the beginning of the year related to inflation that our budgets were increasing at a higher rate of inflation and Mr Bishop actually did an analysis and that we did when I presented the forecast of budget I just wanted to remind you that the analysis was that across the 14 years that we looked at this the two rates are within a 01 so we didn't out see out exceed the inflation rate we actually right within the the inflation rate over that period of time now this really goes in to where we are the next slide this chart should look familiar but I'm going to take some time really going into this because it it it's very important for you to realize on December 10th I proposed a forecasted budget at 5.97 over last year's budget and I said to you at that time that I didn't think I'd come in at 5.97 I didn't know if I was going to be above I didn't know if I was going to be below but it's always good to get a forecast and get you in a a mindset of of where we were at on December 10th and at that time if you remember salary benefits Insurance profitability liability Transportation electricity which we would refer to as fixed costs were alone 4.56 and we did reduce some uh funding in special education at that time $41,000 lower than what we're spending this year Athletics and all the other things were about a 1.4% and that generated a 5.97 the number on that chart that I really would like you to pay attention to is the benefits that benefits was at that time a $476,000 increase of 1.36 that is that was at that time a 7% increase that's what we were budgeting for so now I will bring you to where we are right now and that's the next slide you can notice in the top there's a big change and there's a big change in the health and benefits this is a number that I am given to in our business managers given by the town in December 10th that number was $476,000 now that number is $989,000 which represents a difference of $577,000 in a percent it is now a 3% increase of our budget you may ask well what is that that's a 20% increase so I went from a 7% increase to a 20% increase so that category went from a 4.56 to a 6.28 that's a big difference and you may ask why did that happen well in help me out here a little bit we have a fund that is a self Insurance Fund and the Self Insurance Fund didn't have as much money in it as needed that you need to regenerate that fund so that's why there's a difference between this 7% which I was given on December 10th by our brokers in the town to now 20% so now you start looking at that chart and the chart start starts looking different the special ad we reduce that a little bit more which I'm going to talk about and the the line items below with Athletics educational technology .12 new Personnel it's actually negative 32 and then what's different also is we had to add in small Capital anything under $25,000 in of capital items is now in the budget so now you can see the number that I'm at is 5.88 I'm going to give simple math here if I didn't have to add in the 20% number and was able to keep it at 7% if we didn't add in the small Capital this is a budget that would actually reflect under 4% the insurance really brought that number up so coming out of the gate after December 10th if you go to the next slide I had to add in for my proposed forast the budget to where we are now the administrative team had to add in [Music] $577,000 for health insurance increase different from the forecast we had to add in 72555 for small capital in some Union negotiations of 4500 so right out of the gate my budget wasn't 5.98 I had to increase it now to by $654,000 which added another point and a half so now I'm up in the upper sevens from the difference of what I did with forecast so I knew as one of the goals that we had was we needed to be a little bit we needed to be more fiscally responsible so that's when the administrative team and myself we got together and we started to make reductions we did have an extra section in the forecasted budget for classroom teacher at Cherrybrook and we're going to go with the the sections that I proposed so we're able to reduce a classroom teacher a special education pair professional we reduced an non-certified staff there the there was a request from the town to have a new maintenance employee next year I want to make this very clear it was a new position that was proposed in the budget for 71,000 that was reduced we did have some teachers uh uh announced that they were going to be retiring at the end of this school year that produced a $75,000 we reduced software and INF structure by $42,000 we remove soft from here of 242,000 and put it in open choice you may be asking well that would increase our open Choice number I'm going to show you that in a minute there was a request to put in middle school basketball we reduced that we reduced $20,000 of professional development reduced $5,000 of Board of Ed supplies and recognition we had a savings of Social Security and Medicare a big thing that I want the board and I'll probably say two or three times we have a preschool at CIS right now a classroom and we have a preschool classroom at the Cher Brook the recommendation to save funds for transportation is to move the preschool from CIS to Cherrybrook we have room now because we have one left section it doesn't solve our space constraints because the goal was to move some tutoring into a classroom but we need to save some money so that's $46,000 we proposed playground equipment of 12,900 we won't need that at CIS we move some Personnel to various grants such as the Commissioners Network Grant district meeting in travel 5,000 and I've mentioned this to you before um and we'll give a slight presentation in one of our budget workshops that I've worked very closely with Mrs McAn and we have established we're pretty close in signing a contract with um an organization that we are going to create another program similar to thrive for different set of population of stabilization for children of bringing them back from out of placement schools and creating our own School within the cam public schools that our kids could go to at a cost savings next year of $55,000 with the possibility of it being more than that and Mrs mle will be at one of our uh workshops to explain that program and then the next slide is we did have to make some changes to our open Choice budget we moved the dishwasher out of the open choice and move fits a small capital for 16,500 I want to let everyone know this is not a dishwasher for our house this is a commercial dishwasher for class there's a big difference so when you see 16555 it's not a dishwasher that we we have in our HS technology replacement we move $330,000 for our Chromebooks for our seventh graders into the commissioner Network BR another positive relationship of being part of the commissioner Network our teachers and residents program if you remember this is to increase diversity with than our staff we reduce the $60,000 for that line item number one uh because we may not have a position for the person with our role going down Human Resources Specialists we put in the grant for human resource specialist we reduce that by $75,000 the two mtss par Educators that Mr Amry proposed for kindergarten 43,00 ,800 total reductions of 225,000 and if you remember I had to move software from the operation in to choice so I needed to get a wash there so you may be saying well what's new in this budget not much not much from a Personnel standpoint the three new staff members which we mentioned this before is a05 FTE districtwide social worker to to support our Thrive program if we don't include this in the budget it will be in the special education budget because a student will have to be uh outplaced um for this so for us it's cost savings and then our three after school campus supervisors to help with Safety and Security one for after school and then two for chair Brook and CIS these three total 929 00 so any new staff is $92,900 the next slide you'll notice and it's pretty simple that 80% of the fiscal year proposed 26 budget 80% is salary and benefits and you'll just see the breakdown of regular education non instructional special ed but 80% and then the next slide really breaks down what makes up this budget and you can see that salaries again is 80% but it really gives you a line item analysis of this is not a budget we use the Consumer Price Index and this is not a budget of supplies that if a board of education ask me well where would some of the cuts be it's not going to be in supplies because the administrative team did a great job putting things together of not being uh too much over from where we were last year and then you'll notice on the next slide with the small Capital here are the line items that we moved into small Capital the permanent Mountain gy wall padding a cherro primary school that's safety bathroom Renovations at Cherrybrook 10,1 each year syn and fixtures only there was a question on um would it cost $10,000 to to do this yes because there there's fixures and there's different things uh of the cost I correct on now this is Robin this was all quoted out the family consumer science room two dishwashers we discussed this before commercial equipment to clean maintain floors as Mrs Robin explained we're looking at a lease ceiling tile issues at the middle school the high school CIS the AC piping for the library roof and then the District maintenance garage for a total of $ 72,5 155 so if you take the $92,900 and the 72 555 which is new money small capital and staff it's a total of $165,000 and then our large capital [Music] projects as Mr Daniels said we have a committee made up of the board of Selectmen Board of Finance member is an exop ficio and the Board of Education coming together with our large cap a list and these are all this list it was agreed upon of $515,000 will be proposed in the selectman the C's budget and then um we'll have to go from there athletic tur and field place the driveway bathroom updates for the high school middle school the library AC handling you've seen this before Library room at CIS schoolwide public address system add water for sink at the the high school and then HVAC project of getting it the AC at the auditorium which is the majority of that money is coming from the ARA funds the highlights of this budget is we will continue to refine student performance establish this responsive technology Improvement plan alignment of culture and climate practices will occur collaboration with State and Regional Partners professional learning and responsibilities provide continued Safety and Security of the school Community Trend analysis of our budget history you can see where we were in 22 and where we are in 26 5.88 with a total operational request of $ 34,848 which is a 5.88 increase over last year's budget and if I had to give some thoughts of what's driving this budget as I said its benefits and Satur and and key budget workshop dates for the board and the public February 25th we budget Workshop February 27th budget Workshop possible adoption of the Board of Ed budget March 4th a board of ed Workshop if needed adoption of the budget Mr Daniels will present the board of education budget on March 19th March 25th the Board of Ed budget Workshop dependent on if there's Board of Finance reductions annual budget hearing on the 28th of April May 8th is a budget referendum on the last slide I would request as we always do February 18th I believe this next Tuesday if you could submit any questions to uh Mrs nardy Mr Bishop myself and Mrs Robbins and what we will do is we'll put a presentation together of all those questions that you may have on this budget what I'd like to do right now is just quickly orientate you with the budget book and I'll go right to the table of contents you can see what we try to do and this was one of the reasons that it won an award is we try to tell a story with our budget and really explain Who We Are are and what we need but what I do want to share with the board is on page 17 is a Personnel summary that was asked by the board of Finance last year and Mrs Robbins and her team W done that you will notice a 1.5 addition in staff and that's a net and it's because of three positions that we have with the social worker and the three campus supervisors if we didn't have those as you know we'd actually be reducing staff and then you'll see on page 18-9 line by line operational and then what's new to this budget book this year and I think Mrs robins and her team on page 20 to 25 you will notice again a breakdown of blind Adam but explaining to the community and to you what is in each one of those and what makes up that account and then on page through 33 is a [Music] 5year line item detail of how we've spent money over the past five years I want to caution the board that when you see something at 160% Inc increase it may be $500 because we didn't ask for something last year for example or if it's an equipment repair we need to repair something so when you see 160% please look over to the dollar Mount again I want to thank the ministrative team and the the business office f guardy for putting this budget together it's a budget that I feel will move the the District forward U the only new program that I would say that we have in this budget would be the possibility of creating uh another um special education program but other than that it's to move the district forward of what we have now in moving the the district F I'll take any questions at this time so uh the idea behind the questions are uh just any clarifying points any deeper questions I'd like to hold those to the next Workshop as Dr Gman mentioned to submit those so that we can uh have a deeper dive conversation at the next Workshop I I am going to make a comment on the uh on the U Self Insurance Fund so that was that was a Miss somewhere down the line it was a Miss uh it was something that the town was managing and I'm not casting aspersions on the town it was more from the broker the broker should have been informing the town better about that account and uh what happened was because we are a self-insured fund um our funding of those claims have come to a um a very low level and to get them up to what is a an appropriate level is the reason for the increase now um that that's not over with we're still meeting with the broker there's there's a lot of conversation going on about this problem I don't want you to think that it's it's not being discussed and and U we're laying some wood on this thing um going forward so I would just mention that uh the other thing I would just say is as you go through this budget there are things that you know like things you don't like there maybe things that you think um might be trimmed and there may be some things where you think should be added back in that that's that's the board's prerogative to go through this and to take a look at it as I mentioned earlier to you by way of just U over overview of this meeting uh that's something we have to decide and then it's up to the board of Finance uh to tell us what the to can for from that point and then we have to roll up our sleeves a little bit more so um that's what we'll be doing so are there any clarifying questions things that you might have misunderstood in what the uh what the superintendent said and I'll go online first Felicia quick question um for after school campus supervisor did you say three positions no there's a total of three there's one at the high school for after school high school middle school and then the other two would be at charer Brook and middle school I said it wrong when I first said it and then I corrected myself after so good catch on that part um okay so the total but the total amount listed is the total for three or it's that times three 19 19,800 * 3 you're asking for three we're asking for three okay got it okay thank you online anyone else no so I'll go to the board any clarifying questions I one quick question so on on the PowerPoint on page the budget for fiscal year 25 differs from page why 15 date December 10th December 10th the chart is where I was on December 10th okay February 11th is where I am today the top number the open okay different on February okay what say okay thank you no M information very very excent yeah two reps any questions digest it all some you're going to sit in this seat so you got to be ready all right I think that was a great presentation thank you very much we will submit our questions we'll be ready uh at the next budget Workshop which is the 25th I think yeah we like I said we'll have um dependent of on the amount of questions that we receive Mrs mcen will ien run have uh she'll either be with us on the 25th or the 27th just to give us a 5 to 10 minute update on what we're thinking what we can share does not need board approval because it's a special education program but we just what's that okay um then we just want to give you a high level view of things that we're thinking about I have one more question sorry when will we have an answer on the benefits we we'll have more information I tried to actually get some information today but she didn't return my call we'll have more information tomorrow and I'll share with the board uh any any significant changes when that comes out that's a good question okay uh we'll move along we're going to go to reports if you folks want to go home and catch your dinner totally understand yes okay uh Finance Russell's on Russell's a little bit on the weather Russ do you want to just give a quick overview or you want me to do it's up to you um I mean there I think we pretty much covered everything with Anna and in Jordan today that was the bulk of our meeting was going over the budget and going over our our January 31st financials so I don't think I have too much more to add on that that's fine thank you I agree uh policy uh we met uh for a shorter time today um decided that we would focus on bylaws and try to get that all cleaned up in the next meeting or two so we work through about about half of the bylaws are not terribly complicated there few these pieces we need think through and discuss we hope to have that uh down for the March meeting correct and the uh no update on the cellone policy the new regulations have been implemented that's coming was there any thought I know we discussed it but um Jordan stepped out but any thought about maybe doing budget Workshop you want to try to can can you get would it be helpful to have policy meeting before before before the yeah February discuss that yeah sure we can do that John can you just work with CLA to be able to make a special meeting if we needed to okay that'll be February 20 25th the clean up policy if we can clean up to byw yeah that's what I mean bylaw exactly okay thank you anything else no okay curriculum there uh yes we met end of January um we had a group of various Specialists and coaches from each School in ela and math and science um I did a informative presentation of the assessment processes and the data um from each building we did a deep dive into interim assessment blocks iabs and Fs focused interim assessment blocks um but it was really interesting because we uh were able to hear you know just compare from each school and then and the ELA versus the math and look at the data so quite important are you anticipating any changes coming up to the curriculum or anything that the state is mandating that we have to be worry of not yet we usually do that at the beginning of the year usually like September's when we address state state guidelines or mandates coming through unless John do you have anything else to add not that I'm not that I'm aware of things they change yeah and if they do I'll be sure to let youall know as soon as we know that okay um I'll take up different time that's fine okay thank you thank you so much Communications I know we're challenged on getting the message out for our budget as hard as we tried for this meeting uh we really didn't pull in what we were hoping for but what do you think Felicia well we met on the 29th of January try to brain brainstorm different ways um to get the word out I know there's a few things in the works we're checking on um cost to see you know what those are um I know we paid a lot when we had other people mail things to us so we talked about having a printed version of information um in the schools and also within the community at local areas like the post office things like that to get the word out so we're still kind of working on that our next meeting is the 24th of February but I've been kind of going back and forth with John just to kind of see what we can do to get the word out and also utilize social media when we can um I I would just remind you I'm John I got J sitting for in my desk for you but uh the C Education Foundation would be an Avenue that you can go to for um to get the message out about the budget I see that as an educational function you can go to them for grant money if there's money you needed for that I don't know if that could cover the entire but uh I I know we're probably leaning on staying lean and not maybe maybe more electronic than we are print but anyways just an idea of for you thank you appreciate that thanks for that update um that's it on on um standing committee reports the calendar of events you know you have when the next workshops are any questions on upcoming meetings events hearing none okay so let's go to the consent agenda I know on the TW we made some changes to the 28th uh hand was nice enough to make those changes did you get a chance to look 28 uh minutes was 4 14 oh the 14th right 14th there was a recommendation to um by m yeah to do that and I think you could approve that if we add those in y we can so yes Lou there's also uh Margaret Lynch who wants something amended from the am minutes well I know Aubrey spoke about it but margar has actually sent in a specific email for for the ones that you're talking about for January 28th yeah it's aach is it yeah so let's stay with the 14 let's get to the 14th is there any changes to the 14th kid that you're mentioning no okay so on the 14th we made we made the changes where I you see in red inquired about the $300,000 from the town I think that was Jordan's uh does that me your yeah and then added on Anna's description as well was right and then on page there's there's an additional description so everybody good with uh the um the minutes of the 14th everybody's good okay so we just accept those we don't need a vote on now all right let's move to the let's move now to the um 28th minutes if everybody return to those Mrs blad made some recommendations we have those um we have those recordings can we just incorporate those uh from from the recording a little bit yeah she I think Han all we would have to do is write a few sentences on that she um spoke about um with the legislators regarding more funding for special education be specific about that and then take um the Marv Lynch comments put them more specific relative to um and she sent an email an email specifically about that so maybe I had that are you talking about so we don't by according to our attorneys we don't need to put the email into public record in the minutes but what we do need to do is she did speak about that and we should summarize that better that she was speaking about the um law we could do that we totally could do that but that's not in the minutes the attachment is not in the minutes minutes no it's not in the minutes that are posted yeah it's not so we need to add summarize that y all right so we'll summarize that better secretary you can make sure that happens Hannah and I will discuss it and we'll um she'll have we'll have it readying we'll bring that out at the next meeting y yes so so we've approved the 14th the 28th is pending is that fine with everybody yes okay are we adding in for Aubrey as well Sheed that we add in on the yeah Margaret and yeah said she's taking thank you okay with that is there any other pardon me you got okay uh I will take a motion on the financials to approve the um the February 11th financials provided by Mr robberts I have a first from Erica second from Jordan any discussion on the financials any question issues hearing none all those in favor proposed unanimous from who's here I is also voting by raised hands thank you Peggy the only missing member tonight is Cindy Muller right absent okay thank you for the record okay with that any other business for the Board of Education with that I move up I will adjourn the meeting at 7 uh 7:35 I have what do you have 73 6 7:36 we're Jour thank you for coming tonight everybody go home here

is by Zoom or by phone by calling 852 5247 or this information is also available on the published agenda in the public meeting notice is section of the city website and on the broadcast of this meeting on CTN Channel 16 AT&T channel 99 and online at www.a2gov.org CN the volunteer resident design review board appointed by the mayor and confirmed by city council Foster excellence in an Arbor's built environment design and advises applicants on meeting downtown design guidelines first the applicant presents their proposed project for 15 minutes then the board discusses the design after that members of the public can comment for up to 3 minutes each and if you could do the roll call Mariana I will call you all by last name and please indicate if you're here Perkins here Burns here Singleton H Le here Mitchell here karski here Ranson here all right we have a quorum thank you for that uh next item on the agenda is approval of the agenda so if I could have a motion in a second no moved think that was Wendy that moved was it I supported Wendy moved and uh Bill supported any discussion about the agenda or the motion all those in favor signify by saying I I I I post same sign and motion carries moving on to approval of the minutes this is the minutes of the December 11 202 for design review board meeting um if I could have a mo a motion in a second I'll move all support mov by dick supported by Bill come on you guys wake up it's a big commitment it is discussion any discussion on the minutes uh all those in favor signify by saying I I I I post same sign the motion carries the minutes are approved I noticed that in the packet uh Mariana the minutes said draft um I hope these have been shared with the petitioner prior to our approval today just so they're on board with what we did they have been shared with the petitioner and if you had had any changes um right now then we would update them but what is in the minutes was already shared with them all right good thank you uh on to moving on to Communications there are a couple of items in our packet um we don't usually discuss these but I would like to take a moment to comment on at least one of them uh but if anybody has any comment um please feel free to do so um the one in particular that struck me it was actually addressed to me because I'm the chair of this board but it's from Mike Martin at first Mar Corporation and Mike is concerned about he he's not expressing that's concern about the project that we are looking at today except to the extent that they are being treated differently than his um Hotel project downtown was treated several months back and I guess the question for you Mariana is um they as I understand it and as memory serves me they had originally proposed handling their Solid Waste in a certain way on their site and that got shot down in the solid waste department and this project that we're looking at today is handling it in precisely the same way that first Martin wanted to do it and um so I guess first concern is um why the change um why not equal treatment for the two and secondly some uh I guess whether it's appropriate I mean it's up to First Martin to request reopening their site plan approval I'm not trying to get into that but my concern is why the uh different treatment for the two projects um I I'll say that this project has not yet been reviewed um by any of the city departments it hasn't been officially submitted it's coming to the design review board first so um it will go through through the same process that everybody else goes through when they submit a new development to the city um and solid waste has not looked at this or officially approved anything yet okay well then I then I suppose that makes sense then because what Mike Maron is saying in his letter is not that he has any objections to this project but a warning to these developers um who I guess we'll be hearing from shortly um that uh they're proposing in their site plan may not fly thank you for that and anybody have any other comments about Communications um on the agenda right normally wouldn't we treat those two Communications as a discussion item as we discuss this project or after the discussion I mean one is a a letter of support right the other is a issue of concern right um it's a good point build um and usually I think we just note that we have the communications and let it um uh let it let it um sort of speak for itself but so I'm not sure um I I'm not suggesting it I'm just saying that would we're doing a little out of order but it we've acknowledged there are Communications related to this maybe that's all we need to do yeah yeah um do these communications get shared with the petitioner uh Marana they were published in the agenda um and are in the packet and can be found online um and if the pioner would like us to specifically show them where they can find it we're happy to do so okay all right good thanks Bill and now we move on to the first public comment section uh to speak during public comment please use the raise hand feature in Zoom or call 877 5247 or 888 8 78899 full free and entering meeting ID [Music] 9412 and Alexis uh will promote callers we have no one with their hands raised at this time all right well there will be a second opportunity for that later in the meeting so if uh somebody is is watching and wants to call in I encourage you to do so uh moving on to unfinished business um there is none uh and then moving on to regular business we are looking at Dr 25- [Music] z001 it's 300 West on Street um the the proposed project is located 3 and west hereon on the corner West here on in first um it is Zone D2 downtown interface um 57,8 79t five-story building will be 111 room limited service Hotel um the main lobby entran is at the corner West Chon and First Street primary building materials will be brick veneer and fiber cement panels the project will have a single driveway from First Street or solid waste access only and will have no on-site vehicle parking uh Marana um if you would take it from here yes I am promoting the um applicants to panelists and they will be able to do their presentation first hello everyone welcome thanks for having me before you start is there somebody else that um will be joining you or is it just you today um nitt and Patel should be also tell he's with Elevate um Architects um is the architect for the project um I don't know if smear Patel is going to be able to join the call here with Hawkeye tells if he is be great to promote him if not we will continue on hey everyone how are you so we will let you um share screen and present um we cap the presentations at 15 minutes but I'll give you a heads up at 10 minutes great fantastic share my screen here all right can everyone see my screen yes fantastic yes yep all right um well good afternoon and and thank you Bard for for having us here today um just quick introduction uh my name is Brandon Cheney I'm the project manager with nateral um I'm also joined by nitt and Patel with Elevate Architects um sadly Samir Patel was unable to join the call um he's the developer of the project with Hawkeye hotels uh and today just going to quickly talk about um our proposed project here at 300 West herum the Fairfield in and Suites um so some of you may recall that we have gone before the drb it's been about five years now um since we last presented before you guys um things have changed quite a bit obviously the the economic conditions um have changed since the last time we presented before the drb there also have been some fairly significant zoning changes too um that have prompted us to to re-evaluate um and look at how we want to uh reapo the project itself so let me go to just an overall um plan here just looking at kind of a Google map of where we're at so like I said 300 West hon so we're at the northwest corner of hon and First Street um it is just east of the Delana Center um just for some additional context here you also have the the live um nightclub just to the South um we also had the Flag Staff in arburn news and mli building here just the East and then a block over um fairly similar use you also have the residence um in uh the Marriott Hotel um just looking at the site kind of in three dimensions here again so you're kind of looking at Northwest across the site again like I mentioned you have the Delana Center um the Flagstaff building with the residents the live building um and also then the fairly new uh City Club Apartments here to the South it's fairly significant piece of construction just south of our site here um just wanted to provide this slide here to give some context of what some of the surrounding um structures look like um and how we've taken that into context then too as how we've apply that to the building and the types of materials have been proposed and two all right and then just an overall quick layout here I'll I'll jump to the other one it provides a bit more detail but just helps you kind of understand in terms of where we're gaining access here off of uh North First Street uh with no curb Cuts here off of West Kiron all right so this slide here is showing U the overall site layout plan um internally you're looking at the first floor orientation of the building um as I mentioned here along the south side is West hon streat um West hon streat that right away um amenities have actually been recently approved within the last handful of years um with some nice DD standard um raised planter beds um and bike hoops and Street lighting so the thought is um in terms of what we'd be proposing along here on street is fairly minimal um and keep most of the improvements intact U we would look at extending um the proposed sidewalk all the way up to the building um to create a nice Street wall along here on Street then along First Street um I should also mention too with West hon there was at a time before the demolition had occurred on the site so those of you don't know the old relax station um was located here along with a handful of other Office Buildings I believe there's a law firm um roughly where my cursor was that has since been demolished um and so the site kind of sits right now as a green site um there was an existing curb cut along here on Street um that we would look at be um look to be removing um and then First Street um to we'd be reconfiguring the curb Cuts here so the idea and this is what what with the original layout and what we like to do here with the new one like to provide a guess drop off here off of First Street um again try to meet the DDA standards in terms of RightWay so we'd be improving um the Landscaping with some nice raised um landscape beds both north and south of the drop off area um First Street will be where our main entry into the building is going to be so it's right where my cursor is here at the southeast corner of the building and then at the North End I did hear that this being this being brought up so um those of you familiar with the previous project um there was a proposed curb cut here where my cursor was um to enter the enter the site and then a proposed curb cut here on the south side to exit the site for both parking and trash service um that has since been reduced to one curb cut along First Street and uh the intentions for this curb cut parking has been removed um and so this would be solely for any sort of delivery services and trash and recycling pickup I do want to note and we can obviously discuss this um in more detail um but we have had some initial discuss s with trash service knowing that that would be one of the major changes um and major obstacles as we move forward with the project and so far we've received um some preliminary good feedback from the city obviously we still need to go for um the planning department as well as Planning Commission for site plan approval also here happening at the North End um we are proposing um some covered bike bike parking spaces um you'll note too we in some of the ground mounted equipment um such as the generator then Transformer um out of the sight of anyone walking down First Street um trying to think what else um like I said just overall we're looking at trying to to maximize um maximize the site um improve improve that Street walk condition um the the walkability is going to be vastly improved for both here on and First Street for pedestrians walking by the sidewalk will be significantly wider than it currently is um also we'd be providing some additional plantings here that First Street currently does not have too so and with that I'm going to pass it over to nitton to talk through all of the floor plans and elevations sure I thank you Brandon and appreciate the um the rundown on the site um so thank you everyone for joining tonight as well so I I'll walk everyone through the internal guts of the building and then you know go over the elevations and the rendering um you know this this floor plan you see here is it you know it's it's going to be fronting West hon W West hon is going to be at the south side of the page um so with because of the grades uh at the intersection of West hon and North First Street you know we we we experienced a pretty significant grade drop which gives us you know real good opportunity to incorporate a basement to sort of house our back of house and support spaces and this really allowed us to maximize all of our public spaces on level one which on the next slide you'll be able to see um yeah level one so this is our main primary floor this is where our guest entrances will be our hotel check-in our breakfast areas so we were able to maximize this as much as possible to be able to create as much transparency uh especially at the corner and along North First Street um all of our public amenity spaces are fronting that so we'll have storefronts um you know a lot of natural daylight coming in and then the rest of the spaces are uh our our guest rooms uh we have a fitness area that overlooks a small little Courtyard um and then we have a little bit of back to house space mostly it's going to be food prep and that's mostly you know active uh between the hours of 6:00 and 10 uh that support space has to be there adjacent to the public space primarily just due to uh being able to serve the breakfast and then put everything back off uh once once the uh serving time is finished up and then of course we have the trash room that was noted by Brandon earlier to the upper levels so the upper levels are primarily um guest rooms um again we've we've noted um on there where we have the building step back at levels three through five nothing changes except for that on the lower level on level two we have Queen Queens because naturally just they're because they're two bed units uh they're deeper and then we transition to King units uh one-bedroom uh one bedroom hotel rooms directly above it so that way you know all of our bathrooms and everything stacked it's just the change in depth of guest rooms which also provides and meets the requirement from from the D2 Street wall zoning requirement and then this is our North First Street main elevation um I think Brandon mentioned earlier you know the surrounding context has a pretty heavy significant use of brick and masonry so here you know we we decided to kind of follow the theme of our surrounding context um so we're utilizing a brick base with uh an accent color at the windows and then we're switching to metal panel um at level three where the step back occurs uh the at the corner of North uh first and West hereon uh we're we're accenting it to sort of signify the uh the hotel entrance and then West hon elevation um pretty much the same language as we turn the corner as you can see that's where we experienced that that the gray drop off where West her on is sloping down which gives us U the opportunity to get that basement in there again those are mostly going to be support spaces um but uh we have the you know we're continuing the storefront elevations all throughout level one along both streets I'm just letting you know that it's been about 10 minutes okay great and this is the north uh this sort of the side and rear elevations so you know we're continuing the brick all the way through and then we're wrapping the metal panel uh around the side and then we're transitioning to a fiber cement panel with sort of a fry uh it's sort of a trim system that it's called fry reglet uh so it kind of mimics metal panel we're going to be matching that same color that we utilize for the metal panel to create sort of that seamless transition um between the two materials but on the back side and the and primarily on the back side we're going to be using fiber cement panels that matches the the metals in the front and this is the west elevation again this is primarily guest rooms you know with a brick base uh sort of a muted brick base with just one color and then transitioning to the Fiers cement panels um on on levels two through two through five here we have our building section um this kind of gives you a good picture of how things stack up from you know all the way down to Bas level all the way up to our level five and Trust bearing uh we have the five foot step back noted there um and U of course we have the basement back of house as well next slide you'll be able to see our um all the materials we're proposing these are primary materials we have the brick veneer uh the accent brick veneer which is going to be an a tan color uh the fiber fiber cement and metal panels which are both in dark gray and gray and then we have metal panel primary that's that's utilized just at the corner uh where the hotel entrance is um we will be utilizing a metal canopy I don't think it made it in the elevations of the rendering but we are going to be utilizing a metal canopy directly above the main entrances um and then uh you know all of our uh storefronts and hotel guest room windows metal coping all that is going to be um dark bronze to Black to sort of kind of go with the theme of the entire hotel and this will all be better depicted in the next slide which is the rendering um so as noted before you know we wanted to utilize that brick base and you here you kind of get a good idea of how that's uh all translated into the rendering uh so we utilized a brick base to sort of ground the structure uh to make it nice heavy and bold at the first two levels and then we wanted to lighten the material and the colors at the step back at levels three through five and then you know you you'll note that the corner uh stands stands basically all the way up to the property line and then goes uh stand taller than the rest of the building while still maintaining our building height restriction and that sort of uh you know to sort of to signify the predominant corner and then also the entrance to the hotel thank God I think that's all I had um so we can turn it over for any questions comments thank you um I'm going to before we get to questions and comments I'm just going to go through um some of Matt's staff report um I will try my best to answer any questions um but I'm also happy to send things along to Matt if there's something that he knows that I don't um so just a few things um as the applicant mentioned a similar project Was Heard by the design review board in September 2020 um and that was approved by Planning Commission in July 2021 um but the site plan is now expired um so this is a new proposal for this five story hotel with 111 rooms um noted is that fiber cement is prohibited by city code to be a primary building material um so Matt may work with you on that to make sure that the materials revisions um are all up to code um in terms of zoning the project as I mentioned has not yet been reviewed by staff um it will need to undergo the usual development review process and it is a site plan for planning commission um but based on a preliminary review it does comply with the D2 zoning regulations um Matt pulled out a few of the design guidelines that are particularly relevant in particular in site context and site planning um and staff found that the design team has assessed the character of the adjacent streetscapes and buildings and is in keeping with the recommendations of the design guidelines they have Incorporated some positive characteristics into the proposed project such as providing no on-site parking and service areas that are accessed off of a single drive from First Street to help enhance the streetcape along hereon um for the design guidelines for building staff has found that the building Mass includes some of the suggested design guidelines and strategies to visually visually divide the mass and provide clear definitions and a sense of scale for building elements um staff has found that the design does achieve some of the goals of the design guidelines for building elements um particularly with wall surfaces primary entrances window design and placement um and building operational systems and then um for General comments the massing and design scale are similar to the project that was previously reviewed by the design review board and approved by the Planning Commission the most significant change is an improvement for the overall design which is the removal of the ACC of the through access drive and the on-site parking um I already mentioned the fiber cement um that is not permitted as a primary material but is permitted as trim and accent materials so that can um you can go through that during the review process as well to make sure that that is all good and uh yes after the design review board meeting this will go to Planning Commission we staff review and then Planning Commission all right I think that's all for me and we can turn it over to U questions and comments from the board all right thank you to the development team and to you Mariana uh so at this time comments from the board uh dick you have your hand up yeah I just to clarification for Mr Patel um the one one of the Elation showed that can levered canopy and it didn't make it into this rendering we're looking at but is it just over the the double door entry or is it that whole glazed store front turn cor yeah we what we would do is we would span it over that entire storefront and wrap the corner so the the two silver the two silver pilasters that go up and frame that entire Corner we would take it from that side to the other side and wrap the corner with it and our thought was uh based um our thought was to put maybe some Channel lettering on that as well to have more of a pedestrian signage there for to Mark the entrance uh the upper signage is primarily obviously for the vehicles um driving by that's what I was hoping you would say thank you yep bill um just to alert everyone I own the building to the on this Elation on this this rendering I own the building to the right the Phoenix West building um so I have some interest in uh site Logistics and I would like to ask Mr Patel since this is quite a transformation at the main floor level and and eliminating the driveway that went around and interior parking what was the motivation for that so overall I mean so I'll be honest the the one of the biggest challenges that we've had on this project uh since the beginning even the first iteration was was the was the trash uh services and kind of how we dealt with that um as Brandon mentioned earlier you know there's a lot of there's there's been a lot of changes since you know this first project when it first initially got approved there was you know we dealt with all the tariffs for a little while then inflation so that's sort of the biggest reason why things kind of got stalled out uh once we once we had the advantages of um some of the shifts in in the zoning change zoning code we were able to sort of maximize this and have have have it make a little bit more economic sense so we wanted to maximize the potential of the site um while still keeping to the original design and the character and the materials um that was the reason we wanted to we we really wanted to try to see if we can do away with the drive-thru um and to be honest with the grading and all that it just it to us it didn't feel like a say because of how you know safe how busy West Heron is it didn't feel safe for us as well for people to be able to driving uh driving through the site and then having blind spots there as well so just from the beginning I don't think we were too happy with the way things were laid out this provides an opportunity for us to be able to maximize a site and then as well as um still you know having a good uh entrance for service and deliveries and whatnot so those were the main primary focuses that we that we took upon when we started to reinvent this project sure and my concern as you can imagine is whether when folks coming checking in checking out and so forth don't have a place to go to park other than what looks like maybe two spaces on first um that they'll end up on my property on the parking lot and we would have a a nightmare of of maintaining order there it one question I had and maybe it's just a matter of terminology in the hotel industry but when it's a limited hotel is there is this one of the hotels where I've been stayed in where there's basically no front desk so all the checking in is done electronically and there there really is no I I public says public amenity spaces so my question directly is is there a check-in desk there is somebody a person at that desk 24/7 there is a there there will be one to two attendance there at uh at all times 247 so this is not this is not you know I think what you're thinking of is a little bit more Extended Stay in terms of terminology for the hotel industry but this is limited service in terms of the offerings that the hotel gives to guests like for for example there's not a full bar and kitchen um that's that's the bigger difference here other than that you still walk up to a desk there's a full uh there's an attendant at all times behind the desk um and it'd be it would be 247 have you set up an agreement with the public parking I think the only nearby public parking is the large lot that's Kitty cornered across it's the southeast Corner that large site that is there an agreement you have with so the guests could park there or they just sort of on their own to find a place if they check in um that would uh Brandon do you have a little bit more background on that one yeah yep and there's no agre formal agreement put in place um but what we're trying to do is is put the practices in what the city's really tried to reorientate themselves you know in promoting multimodal Transportation right so we're not trying to promote um just your classic um arriving to to the to the to the use by by vehicle but but rather other other modes of transportation like local um the Tria AA but routes that are nearby um also leveraging some of the existing um public parking spaces too and I imagine um Hawkeye hotels um and the loc and the uh and the management staff would provide um some recommendations in terms of where the best fit would be in terms of parking nearby I should also note too that we didn't indicate in these plants here but deed with a property um are um a handful of parking spaces just to the west of the Delana Center um and most likely those would be intended for for employee spaces so I do want to also note that too that those will be um at least available to us um at a at a limited capacity yes and just point of clarification I own those spaces too okay all right that's good to know just like to redirect the conversation back to the design and the design guidelines please thank you I was relating as much as I could to the design guidelines and my recollection of what parking situation should be it's not part of the design guidelines but it would affect the overall appearance if they were change from two entrances to just one so I'm done with my comments thank you Bill Wendy sure um in it's great that the building on Hon is up to the property line or one foot way um my question is there are four residential spaces with windows that um if you're a pedestrian walking down and there is that slope there it seems like the views into those rooms would um not be the most private uh is there but I understand the interest in having the windows all kind of uniform across that Frontage but I just wonder if that's the best way to approach um windows with those four rooms you speak to that because I I don't have um uh Dimensions here but I imagine you know as you make your way down the hill that eye level is going to be at the bottom of those windows yeah and and one one thing to note is is inside the guest rooms obviously we we we'll we'll have curtains we'll have the blackout uh curtains available for guests to you know close and open but I obviously that you make a great Point uh one thing to know on the uh on on the storefronts that are specifically for the guest rooms the bottom two feet um the where right where that cursor is uh the bottom of that bar will be all louvers for the for the for the PTAC unit that's the AC units in these guest rooms so you know that that in itself will increase the amount of um uh height for people to be able to see into the guest rooms and then we'll you know obviously couple that with the uh the Privacy curtains inside there'll be two layers one with the blackout and then the uh Shear cover for that are available for the guest inside of the guest rooms and I know you brought up the elevation change so um moving from east to west along here on we lose almost 9 feet of elevation from this corner to to this corner so by the time we get to these last handful of of Windows um it would be above I level right thank you for that explan all right Wendy thank you Tamara got it um and I know this is a a technically a new project but we've reviewed it before and um there was a lot I liked about the project before um and I see a lot of that missing now we made a lot of suggestions and you know quite a few of them were taken um into account um and I think it was an improved design um this design honestly feels like it's dumbed down from what you had before there is a lot less character in the windows in the brick work um you say there's going to be another I don't you know I don't know what that's going to look like um but there was there was a lot more character in the old design than there is now I have no issue with expanding the footprint of the building um that's not for me to comment on on the parking and the um trash pickup and all that um uh I I mean it seems Seems like it work would work just fine but um just as a pedestrian walking by this building um you've taken away a lot of the interest of The Pedestrian a lot of the ins and outs and depth of the facade um used to have some uh some interesting detailing in the brick that's gone so I would like to see that you know if there's any you can bring any of that back and um do something more interesting with these windows which have now become quite boring um I guess that's uh it seems like all the materials are um similar to what You' provided before at least along the main facades and I know there's an issue about the cement board but um glad to you still see there is Brick at The Pedestrian level I think the I don't know the the corner entry just seems a little awkward it's like you go in you go into it sort of to the side but it's not very well defined um it's just sort of a big gap underneath this heavy piece at the corner um and maybe the awning will help that but anyway I wish you would um it it just it's just lacking character and is feels very much dumbed down from the last [Music] design no I appreciate that I I will note um the and it might it's it's on us to maybe better depict it on um on our elevations but I think I think some of the detailing that you're talking about is maybe those linear strips between the windows on the base on the first levels that we had the brick colors and the brick selection are still the same um so that that's uh that has not changed and then the uh in terms of the ins and outs I think we had another low roof that was popping out on on the first floor to have a better you know uh I think it just worked a little bit better with the footprint that we had at the time but once we went through our construction documents phases a lot of this is kind of based on Lessons Learned for us as well the more low roofs that had obviously an arbor experiences a lot of snowfall um we in Atlanta don't so we I don't think we were thinking through that as much um and then you know kind of taking all those factors into consideration that's why we were we were wanting to eliminate you know some of the low roofs uh that we had initially in our previous design um but I but I do understand what you're saying and and we will take another look in terms of the brick detailing and seeing how we can enhance it and kind of get it back to its original character thank you thank you uh John I'm going to jump in in front of you because I'm going to Echo a lot of what Tamara had to say and then you can go um I a really agree with Tamara and maybe this is the unfortunate situation you find yourselves in because you presented something to us 5 years ago but I wouldn't call this dumb down I'd call it stripped down and a lot of elements that were attractive about your building before um which I believe that you came through in two phases with us and you listened to us before so I hope you will listen to us again but a lot of the elements that you had Incorporated in the design before are just gone um The Marquees around the first story uh public areas are gone those were a real enhancement to the facades for both the First Street and the hon Street exposures um the treatment of the five-story corner where you brought the windows right to the corner was a very attractive element and that's just gone um I don't know why you pulled those windows away but it really uh weakens that whole architecture element um Tamara mentioned the fenestration uh the windows that had kind of an attractive uh kind of an asymmetric um molan treatment in them before and this looks to me like they're just huge horizontal sliders which I think is is awful um couple of other design things that I noticed was corridors that run all the way to the end of the building um an opportunity to bring natural light into those corridors and no attempt has been made there to to do that um as well as the not sure which if it's the north stairwell another opportunity for bringing natural light into the stairs and no attempt has been made there to do that so um maybe these are pretty rugged comments but I really like the design that you brought to was 5 years ago and it's just gone this is a very um a very plain uh it's just an unappealing building to me and I'd like to see the design team like I said you listened to us once before hopefully you can take some of this commentary back um I think the the idea that the canopy is going to wrap around the corner that I think nitton mentioned i' it'd be nice to have been able to see what you had in mind there in this rendering so um at any rate um if you can you you did pick up six I I understand the comment about what's happened with our economy I'm a general contractor uh believe me I I understand that but you picked up six six rental units um that so I think your site work expenses are going to be significantly reduced by the elimination of the drive drive through which that's another element that I'm sad that that's gone um so at any rate that is my feedback and um I don't know that there will be an opportunity for you to bring this back to us but when you finally end up at the Planning Commission um I hope you'll be able to uh take some of this into consideration and then I'll just wrap up by saying that um there were some comments about uh the method uh by which you intend to handle your uh Solid Waste um and another developer has brought up the uh notion that they were denied um for that exact um approach to solid waste removal so just kind of a tip off to you that um that that may not work and um so if that's uh of any help to you as you go forward in dealing with the solid waste folks um and take that for what it's worth uh that's it for me Lori no I was going to go to John next that's okay go to Lori and uh I can I can I can come after Lori all right Lori sure I am apologize for my tardiness today um I will concur with the other feedback but move on to just talking about um streetscape and landscape around the building I think um I think fortunately your renderings are showing very small trees and hopefully those will be canopy trees that will be many times that size in their growth to help improve the Street Experience um with that I will say this is a very tough living environment and I hope that your design and engineering team is providing um good underground soil conditions for those trees to grow to full maturity um like silver cells or structur soil mix um because we don't have a lot of landscape here as you're showing it and um I need to do everything we can to make sure that those are happy and healthy and with that I would suggest adding an additional tree in the 25 foot long planter that you have to reinforce that um that's on the right side of the image you have one plant in there but um those hopefully will all be very durable um irrigated and good soil condition underneath it's a small cost for um the survival of that tree because it won't make it otherwise um secondly I would love to just see additional softening even at the face of the building you know there's not a lot of movement to and from except at the entrance and the um drop off area so if the setback area at the face of the building would allow some level of Greening or planting I really think it would help the experience around the building right now the street Edge is green and it's all getting filled in with concrete so um I don't believe you spoke to the storm water requirements and what you might be providing and I know you don't have much surface land to do that but reducing the amount of pavement as much as possible would certainly be beneficial and um would help with the experience of moving around the building and Lori I think you bring up fantastic points I should also note too that this rendering is not directly embla of what the final landscape plan will look like um I actually believe per code we're required to plant Three Trees along First Street so um those will be looked at um and we'll certainly look at opportunities in which we can soften up um some of the streetscape space on both here on and First Street thank you all right thank you Lori um John um well first of all I'm the leison from the art commission so my comments are more about the aesthetic and but I would have to Echo what I'm hearing uh from Jeff and Wendy that it seems a a stripped down plain vanilla kind of building not very exciting I don't think uh in particular The Pedestrian experience I think that uh uh that tamaron and Wendy uh uh talked about that if it's going down here on uh and those are guest rooms um uh and and there's windows uh I don't think it's going to be very pleasant um and if what you're saying if what I understand is there there will be air conditioners uh uh sort of at the bottom of that window uh uh it does it doesn't look that um appealing from a pedestrian point of view uh so um uh I I I I hope that you take these comments constructively that um you know we're we're proud of Ann Arbor and it's the aesthetic and and so we treat our buildings like public art and uh we would you know we we'd like you to uh if you can um uh use some aesthetic design that I think most of the the board members saw in the in the previous um uh design um and uh let me just ask a couple of direct questions about public art are you going to incorporate a public art into this project and could you describe it a little bit to me I know we've investigated opportunities um on the previous project um I let nitton I wish I wish the Meir was here um from the development team I think he'd be the best to be able to speak towards that but maybe nitton might know how something like that would be incorporated yeah John I I'm sorry I again I would Samir unfortunately had a family emergency um and could not make it but uh I I know we were planning on incorporating on the first round we did not have a chance to discuss it on this one to be completely honest so um in regards to the guest rooms along the first floor um you know one of the things one of the things that kind of brought this project back to fruition was was the fact that we were able to add some guest rooms um you know and it's just it's one of those things where what what Jeff was kind of alluding to earlier in terms of the hotel industry and right now with financing terorists escalations of the cost of materials I I know obvious that's a secondary thing but it is something that we have to factor in in in terms of be being able to put in as many guest rooms as possible um one thing I do want to note out is that even on the previous one we did have guest rooms facing uh Weston Street so um there's not a huge change in that while you know obviously the amount of guest rooms that we do have facing Weston has changed we did have guest rooms on the first floor yes I'm not talking necessarily about the use of the of the rooms but it's The Pedestrian experience that I'm talking about uh let me ask about the the solar and and the wind I know it was brought up from staff uh are you planning to uh uh to do anything with alternative energy on the building no no uh we won't be the only the only thing that we would incorporate um is perhaps an energy recovery wheel uh for the guest rooms depending on and that's kind of something that we would have to dive into with our mechanical engineer during construction documents um but as far as solar or renewable energy we we are not planning to at this time that that's all I have Jeff thank you all right thank you John Lori is your hand still up okay uh dick let me get that uh just to continue with uh John's comments that this rendering we're looking at the the five blank uh metal panels below the word uh Fairfield and two three and four would sure be an opportunity to add some interest color liveliness to the facade that any westbound car on Hon's going to be seeing um there might be an opportunity there all right thank you dick uh anybody else have comment speak now or forever hold your peace thank you to the Developers for your presentation um we will have minutes of this meeting published fairly shortly a draft of them um so that you have that going forward and uh thank you for uh bringing this to us yes thank you um we appreciate the constructive um feedback and we will certainly be taking that into consideration um as this project progresses excellent thank you all right moving on to the and I sorry before we move on can I just I have a summary um that I'd like to read to the board make sure that I've accurately captured your comments yeah thank you it's not in my narrative and I almost uh went past it but yes please no problem um so comment about considering the ground floor windows for privacy for guest rooms and also for The Pedestrian experience um thinking in general about a more interesting design for The Pedestrian perhaps with more detailing in the brick work Marquees or more interesting Windows um considering bringing natural light into corridors and stairs uh thinking about reducing pavement wherever possible and adding Greenery and making sure to think about the um underground soil conditions for the street trees um and then there is an opportunity to add details and elements in the metal panels that are below the Fairfield logo does that sound right or is there anything that you would like to add or take away from those I think I'd like to add just confirm that there'll be a canal lever canopy on both first and here on at the I guess it's the southeast Cor corner of the building M yeah and at the risk of sounding like the building designer which is not my intent but um I'd like it noted that the windows on the second third and fourth floors at the corners being brought out to the corner to meet one another is a much stronger design element than what we're looking at in this rendering right I've noted both of those anything else I'm sorry I might have missed it did you mention the um to reconsider the brick detailing to be similar to that okay great I did yes thank you all right Maran I think you captured that pretty well thank you for that um and now we will move on to the manager report I will um also I guess before we do that um I'll just say to our petitioners thank you you are free to stop sharing screen now um and you can stay on if you'd like to hear the rest of the meeting um but yes um planning manager Brett Leonard and Deputy manager Hank Kelly are in budget meetings right now so I will be giving their report um and they would like me to tell you that there will be a proposed amendment going before the Planning Commission on Tuesday February 19th um that proposes to eliminate the design review board um this is per the city council resolution that was passed in April of 2024 um I'm W I'm happy to take any comments or questions that you'd like me to pass along to the managers um I'd like to thank you all for your dedication um and for being part of this board um there will be uh you know public hearing and such on the 19th um and then after the motion after there's a recommendation from Planning Commission this will go to city council and in terms of having another meeting um if this proposed amendment stays on track um it will likely go into effect in June um so depending on if there is another project um in the downtown that is proposed before then there may be another meeting um there may not be Mariana did you mean to say the Planning Commission meeting is Wednesday the 19th I think you said February 19th um so missed the day of the week but the 19th is the date okay thank you so Mariana I assume that someone is creating a staff report for this do you know which planner is creating the staff report um the staff report will be published um by the end of the week and uh Alexis can answer any questions about that sure um it is my name on the staff report actually um however it's more of a transmittal memo um from items that were previously prepared by planning manager Brett Leonard and taken from John for former deputy City administrator John for's transmitted to city council so is there going to be any analysis other than what um uh for's report said uh like you know extra time it takes or any of that uh or is it just the recommendation um it is it is just um the ordinance changes and the following the recommendation in the resolution I believe it's R 24109 well that I have to say that's disappointing uh that uh recommendation has not been followed up with uh data and an analysis by the staff um be that that they may it looks like that's what's going to happen so um could we request that the staff report be transmitted to design review board members uh as it's completed on Friday absolutely I will make sure that um um when our U Ministry of assistant Courtney Manor transmits the transmits the agenda with attachments to the planning Commissioners I'm I'm I will make a special request and I'm positive that she will also CC the design review board members okay thank you yeah I I have to say that um it's pretty disappointing to me um this recommendation came from John fornier and he's not here anymore which is so flipping common in government situations nowadays it's it's like being the general contractor on a on a uh a project like a like a church no offense Tamara because we're working on one together but it seems like by the time you get around to the end of the project the building committee has completely turned over it's all new people not the people that were there in the beginning The Architects basically at the end of the project uh not fulfilling uh much of a function at that point the only people that are left on the uh on the project um to yell at are the uh are the general contractor and um so we have a recommendation made by John and he's not here to present his rationale for that um honestly I don't think we have any support in the planning department by staff to keep this board um I've had the sense all along that um yeah you were going to keep us in the loop but I didn't feel like that there was anybody really pulling for us and I think the only people that are pulling for us our ourselves and the original Council that wanted to design review board in the first place um I think we made our pitch uh dick wrote a very um I think sort of an not a sort of he wrote an impassioned letter um stating why he believed that we should continue and it's a huge disappointment to be um it's been expressed many times by Hank and by Alexis that you appreciate the work that we have done and uh um I'm grateful for those words um but I'm really disappointed to see the city of an arbor go down this path there's still a lot of development that's going to occur in downtown and um I just think this is the wrong way to uh treat this process so that's my sermon I could say something Jeff I will second what Jeff said and um it's it's sad that the city in oner's recommendation is casting aside all the professionals me excluded who are in the design World um that are giving of their time and their expertise in critiquing uh buildings an example today The Architects on the in the group here made some very uh considered suggestions which quite possibly will be accepted they were good suggestions they were critical to some of the design that will be there long term and I compare that to the review that was done in house which basically was a glowing Report with no suggestions for changes I think that's what you're going to find in the No No aspersion at at Kowalski whatever his name is that isn't on the uh Zoom but he made no particular suggestions of changes similar or even vaguely parallel to the suggestions were made today which I think were all considered good design suggestions that's what you're getting here is better design suggestions for better design whether they're accepted or not it's up to the developer but I think the city is missing a massive opportunity and I'm not sure quite what the effect will be it it isn't like what's happening nationally it isn't like this is going to cause a lot of extra cost by holding this group together with the city because it's it and as far as developers I've talked to aren't particularly concerned about the extra step if that's what was supposed to be inherent to the rationale of closing this down that would slow up the developers I think that's a specious argument upet uh Jeff I'll I'll just add you you being one of the people that went all the way back to when the guidelines were written at the request of council by a number of us that Council and that City administrator were expressing a concern about design quality and then that was the purpose of our formation and the Pendulum has swung and the current administrator and current Council have a Keener interest in expediency than they they do design is what I take from this they have not bothered to respond to our letter or talk to us or try to understand what it is we do so and and that's their right the administrator can can try to change the process and uh he has the right to do that but I I think trading designed for expediency is [Music] unfortunate thank you especially when you don't necessarily get any expediency out of it and thank you Bill the the the aspect of it that you spoke to that um and no no aspersions cast toward staff whatsoever but the but if you read the report these are the kind of reports that developers are going to get from planning staff going forward and dick you may not be an architect I'm not an architect um but you know good design um your comments have been uh beneficial over the years and um I don't know if I know good design or not it's sort of like the guy that said uh he couldn't Define pornography but he knew it when he saw it and so uh at any rate it's been a real pleasure Tamara invited me to this board um way back in at its Inception and I have enjoyed each and every meeting that we've had so and I've enjoyed working with every single one of you and um so don't know uh dick referred to it earlier as our swan song we maybe we'll have one or two more opportunities to get together anybody else have anything to about well think you've covered it all um and I think can't speak for Alexis but I know um she's been a great proponent of us over the years um maybe in a difficult position but um I know we we've done a lot of studies of how much better we've made these designs and I know the memo we sent to Dick put together you know really outlined all that we don't have to go over it again but it's it's not you know doing the design ourselves um it is just making it better and um and I think this one like you said Jeff the one we just looked at is a great example that five years ago we had a lot of examples that or sorry suggestions that made it better and and today we had more and um you know a lot of the developers will take some of those suggestions and it makes a better building that's going to be here for the next 50 hundred years and and these buildings keep getting built with absolutely no character and that that's this is a I I'm standing by dumb down it's uh it's going to sit there um with no character yeah I think it's important to acknowledge that the design guidelines are still a baseline they're not demanding the specifics of Excellence they're demanding Baseline guidelines that get you closer to that and the additional feedback is about how you're missing the mark you can meet all of the requirements and still have the terrible building and that's the distinction so if we're reviewing it against those strict rules and that's all we're expecting that's all we're going to get and if we feel like that's the only line that we can you know speak up to that's all that we're going to get and I think even over the last couple of meetings no offense staff but the staff comments are let's stick to the design guidelines comments only talk about these things and that's where we miss the opportunity to actually make something better it's the point of this to provide that added expertise and nuance and the you know the recognition of that value has already diminished so um you know I think having this be successful has to be a partnership there has to be advocacy and support across all of the aspects that make it work um and when that's lost the value gets lost you know I I think that that's just a reality of some of the situation that we've been into and having sat through the meeting where they discussed this I I would agree that there is wasn't a lot of advocacy within the city about the importance of what this group has accomplished over the years but I too have really valued the time and respect you all immensely and I'm thankful that I've had the opportunity to work with you on behalf of the citizens of an arbor if I can extend this one more comment sorry Jeff but Lori made me think of something I forgot there there are two aspects of the of this design review process and the first is the guidelines and the second is this group uh making commentaries based on expertise and it's important to point out that the decision to rely on the guidelines and have uh staff up apply them is fine but it we all believe the guidelines are dated and we ask 15 years ago to update them and and that never came to fruition they need to be updated so just looking at the guidelines as a staff member isn't enough and I I think what we add to it outside the guidelines or On The Fringe of guidelines as our comments during these meetings is what you're losing and I think that really enriches the review process the guidelines need work and I wouldn't like to see staff or whoever is reviewing projects be reliant on just those guidelines they're outdated a good point dick um anybody else we do have a public comment uh second uh round of public comment I think did we already do that not yet did we already do the second round of public comment Mariana no okay we need to do the second round um so to speak during public comment please use the raised hand feature or call 877 85252 47 or ID 974 [Music] Alexa uh we have no one we have one guest and we they are not raising their hands um and we can give it one minute for people to join or raise hands but it's looking unlikely okay well let's just stand by for a moment and uh see what happens there have been no new updates since then there are no College raising their hands all right thank you Alexis all right um so we are on to adjournment um if I could have a motion in a second so moved second was that was that Lori that made the motion or camera all right moved by tamaron and seconded by Bill any discussion all those in favor signify by saying I hey hi oppose same sign we are adjourned thank you very much everybody and uh maybe we'll see you next month

you e e e know e e e good evening Welcome to our February 12th special meeting um at this time I'd like for us oh wait wait wait in accordance with open public meetings Act njsa 10 4-6 adequate notification of this meeting has been provided by advertising in a record uh please stand for the flag flag United States the IT stand nais jcece please stand for a moment of silence I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the passing of Richfield Park detectiv Steven Fernandez Stephen had numerous ties to the city of Garfield he not only had friends he was not only friends to a number of police officers in our department but also had numerous employees in our district also I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the 20th anniversary of the passing of Mr Angelo Peta Mr P was a lifelong resident fireman DPW employee and part of the fabric of this community May these men both rest in peace thank you m dich please take attendance Mr Taylor Mr Munos present Mr folino present Mr Gaba Dr pivor Mr Moo present Miss Sanchez Mr KES Mr Ramos President we have a quarum okay since this is a special meeting we're going to go right to the resolutions so the only thing we're here to vote on is um 10.1 can I have a motion Mr president I'd like to make a point of order I i' would like to make a point of order uh I'd like to make a motion to resend resolution 10.26 named approve determination of participation in the state help program [Applause] Mr G is there something that we can take care of today Mr folino as you're aware this is a special meeting and as advertised the special meeting had one agenda item which was the change the vote uh the changing of the voting dates um for the Board of Education and as you are well aware that because that was the only item that was published there would be a clear violation of the open public meetings act if this board took any other action at this I believe the notice also stated that there other action can be taken Mr ferino I couldn't understand what you said could you please repeat it I didn't hear what you said I believe it also said other action may be taken at this meeting not other Mr folino I stand by I stand by my position it is advertised as a special meeting with so now ladies and gentlemen if you just look at the website you have a posting of all our regular meetings this date was not one please if you would let me finish if if we're not going to let me finish and we're going to interrupt we're going to end the conversation if you want a legal opinion I will give it to you however if you want to Banter back and forth my decision is final however if you want an explanation I will give it to you so it right now our published meetings are on the website this was not one of the published meeting dates that we had this was a special meeting set forth for one agenda item because we had pending litigation with regard to the election very simple and again I stand by my position as non-advertised as any other agenda item it would be a clear violation of the open public meetings act Madam Mr pres back and forth hold on ladies and gentlemen this is not a back and forth with the lawyer Mr what this is this is my legal opinion and this is what the board chooses to take action according to my opinion or not what the board chooses Mr it's a legal opinion is what I give the opinion is wrong because when I was on the board we we took other stuff Mr GTO with all due respect you seem to understand how to take legal action if you believe it's wrong put my feet to the fire sir will Mr President will ready M Mr President Mr President can we have the board secretary read the announcement for the public to understand it better and so I [Applause] can outside the micone we can't hear you can we read the announcement announcing this meeting so we could have a better understanding as to how it's worded quite frankly there's no need for it my opinion is my opinion if you wish to read you can read that's up to after he has to come through the president ask question looking for a motion understand what so we're for motion right now 10.1 point of order Mr President I'd like to make a motion to Mr ferino you're addressing points of order you're addressing points of order through me that goes through the president so we have proper chain of P okay Mr guer I would like to make a motion to move the public speaking session now so the public can have a voice at this time about what we're voting on today yeah so I mean that's up to you whatever whatever you wish to do yes he can make the motion all right um second so we have a motion on the floor by Mr folino to allow public comment portion of this meeting to occur prior to the vote is that correct Mr folo that is correct is there a second all [Applause] right guys bang the G with no second let's go on to the resolutions no second on that motion to go into 10.1 I make a motion motion by Mr Malo second second so go to motion 10.1 is there a second Mr second all right roll call I'd like to discuss what are you voting discuss resolution 10.1 through the chair I believe that but I'm actually going to request uh board members to go against this resolution to save money uh Mr fita hold on we're not we're not even there there was a roll call for a roll call vote at this point there were two motions and opening up for discussion you that would be through the president Mr folino okay you not the president no no I so it's all Mr President discussion please discuss go ahead I'm going to request that the everybody clearly I'm going to request that the board members not go in favor of this resolution and maintain the April election date for the Board of Education in order to allow our community to have a voice on the issues affecting our schools when the election was in November when the election for the Board of Ed is in November the issues get of the school get diluted amongst the gubernatorial the senatorial the assembly the other elections that are going on and I and presidential last year so I am going to urge our trustees to go against this resolution and support the community speak please public you will have your chance to speak please do not interject while board members are commenting that's not the way a meeting Works done just second at the moment please correct me if I'm WR did you get voted in November or in April Mr focarino both okay so was it diluted when you got voted can't hear can you please get him out of here was it diluted when you were being [Music] voted us I feel it was because but but you got in there I do feel that the ballot for the Board of Education was two or three pages past the initial page on the voting machines that we're using now which I don't agree with either so yes we get deluded okay do you have anything else Mr F at this moment no Mr valo do you have anything else Mr Vino can you tell me how many districts uh have April elections in this in the state of New Jersey there's at least five of them and how many districts are there in the state of New Jersey about 500 I think uh it's 600 and there's only 13 that are dueing April elections okay so what are you what are we proving here what are we proving by doing it in April well so any coms the any other comments from any other board members any other comments all right Mr munz no wait are we still discussing discuss can make sure we make sure we what we're voting on correct we're voting on so so to answer Mr malo's Question uh basically there's 500 plus different districts are voting on than education Garfield item 10.1 so we started the roll call yeah all right Mr ferino no Mr Gaba I Mr Meo hi Miss Sanchez Mr Ros hi okay motion pass that's it now have agenda items that was the only agenda public comment all right at this time we're going to open up the floor for public comment read the read the read the read the on before we start ladies and gentlemen before we start public comment there are a few guidelines that uh need to be addressed um the Garfield Board of Education recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express themselves on school matters of community interest please be advised that the following guidelines shall apply members of the public who would like to address the board must state their name and address each member of the public will be limited uh to offering no more than 5 minutes of public comment no participant shall speak more than once as this is a public forum and public comments may not in any way be disrespectful vulgar or threatening toward any member of the Board District faculty Administration or staff if any public comments violate these guidelines the speaker will be asked to refrain from offering any further public comment regardless of whether they have time remaining in addition the speaker may be interrupted in his or her privilege to comment terminated if the speaker's comments are disruptive or otherwise violate these guid guidelines um we thank you in advance for your anticipated cooperation ever GTO Jr 51 juw Street Garfield New Jersey Mr gisler it it St States right here on on what the Garfield Board of Education puts out and I'll read it to its entirety agenda formal action may be taken the purpose of this meeting is for the Board of Education to consider potential change in its annual election date the board reserves the right to relocate the meeting to a more suitable venue if audience uh if audience size necess uh necessitates the Board of Education matter related to Personnel negotiation litigation Andor contracts may be conducted in closed session pursuant to the board resolution the board this is the important thing here the one that you said you can't do the board reserves the right to amend agenda to address any urgent matters that arise between the publication of this notice and the meeting date so you're not respecting anybody's urgency to speak about something else other than what's on this agenda is that correct it clearly states it could you're not going to answer my question mrto now in all do respect very nice very I'm not looking for Applause I'm just looking for an answer to my question I'm going to tell you is you sat in this seat right here you know how public comment Works finish and I will respond the last meeting that it didn't work that way for the superintendent he he interjected 25 times during the meeting why didn't he wait to the end you should Practice What You Preach Mr superintendent you don't of course you don't know what I'm talking about I do I got it on tape I'll show you okay let me ask you something counselor my question to you is today you just and correct me if I'm wrong you just voted to change the meeting back to November correct election the election rather right correct now let me ask you how do you do that when I know you just filed an appeal against a final Judgment of of our our decision which said it's staying on April now you're bringing up to the Appel of division but it still says it's April as of now how could you vote on that that's a violation of the court order no Mr Geer yes it is is it is it not when you are finished I will respond so let's get all your comments out and I will respond I I truly believe it is a violation of a court order how could you vote on something where we clearly have a judge saying after two different appeals that it's staying free actually that it's staying to April now I know you you just put in your appeal to go to your pellet division you you you did that but there's still no decision as of now as of now clearly states on the Judgment a election is on as of now how could you vote to change it when you didn't even go to the appella division yet thank you so hold on if if I may through the president I know we're going to wait until the end but okay respond yes so Mr guo we did hear back from the Appel Division and in fact the Appel division granted the stay which a copy is here which probably was about an hour and a half ago the pet level pellet judge stayed the injunction meaning they allowed us to vote and it's clear and explicit in the order we will then have oral argument and hearings set forth going forward however at this point we were granted permission to have this vote today here's the order so yeah so I mean it's it's a public decision it's on the appet website it's available for everybody to see it was granted earlier today I would say probably 5:30 I don't know Dr maybe 5:00 um it was an emerging order the emerging order granted to stay for the uh injunction um and we will arum before the appell division when's it going to be heard Mr G uh there's a briefing schedule on here I'm going to tell you 18th approximately the 19th okay that's too late got one more question before I'm done and this question is uh going to be directed toward uh the superintendent Mr Tomo my question to you is you quoted in the paper that you really don't care when the election is for someone who doesn't care when it is why are you fighting so aggressively hard to keep it in November I want to answer it so Dr if I if I may I would ask you not not to respond um oh he he Mr Garo if if I may also you had indicated you were done with your public well I still I still have more than I still have my time your time is your time is out Mr M stop act shaking your head like you're like you're I will I will address the whole point as far as Dr Tomo fighting the election this this is a it was a simple question I understand it's a it was a simple question for somebody that don't care why is he aggressively fighting to keep it in November why answer my question I'm going to say I know I know and again I listen I'm advising everybody up here because it's pending litigation not to speak I'm I'm I'm a uh a firm believer of when there's a question like that and there's rhetoric involved in the question which I I can't finish if where's a rhetoric question my question is a r why would you answer right here is rhetoric this is our rhetoric so very simple um again my biggest issue with this whole thing is that your resolution that you put forth does not have the truth in it it's very simple which again and and was said which was said here you said that um the taxpayers should be voting on the budget and yes back in the day in April that happened but you were misinformed by your attorney and you guys wrote the wrong resolution so if you're going to now put something together in front in front of these individuals that are supporting that that that should be the right thing so again nothing should change or what you should have done was sit down and talk with everyone and say you know what let's move it to next April and not worry about the election but I honestly feel that that's what's happening now you you put up candidates that lost and now you have the momentum who put up candidates I guess you your friendica put us candidates I didn't put no p i just answer you put I'm okay that's fine be a man then stand up for it if you did it be a man and stand up and say you did it if you did it that's all I am a man bigger man than you and I didn't know I didn't know I didn't [Applause] it's okay Mr oo you've been out of line the whole meeting yelling comments so next hello I'm Justin Peter suroso I am the President of local 3977 the Garfield Federation of teachers [Applause] I'm not here to discuss the election but something different I'm here to discuss what happened at the last meeting on agenda item 10.26 and I'm here to address the email the staff was sent afterwards um we received an email that said quote from this uh from the board president stating I'm directing the postponement of the move out of the state benefits until alternate plans can be introduced to the board in other words there will be no change in healthcare plans at this current time so I do have a question uh since uh we have a lot of people here and we have an attorney here is that email legally binding email legally Bing we're not having a question and answer right okay so that's my first question um the next statement I want to make is that it clearly states on the website which we see every day when we log in to take care of our students that the board reserves the right to amend the agenda to address address any urgent matters that may arise between the publication of this notice and the meeting date in case you can't tell I've been the President 8 years now an employee 20 years I've never seen this before now two meetings in a row here with all of my members many of my members who are concerned and yet we're not going to address this so there's nothing legally binding here and when you're given a chance to bring this up and vote on it you're not doing it so that leads me to believe that this is a false [Applause] [Music] promise and when this kind of trust is lost it's never regained so I'm going to urge you to do the right thing and vote it down here tonight revisit and resend please let's get this District back in order [Applause] answer's not answering it's fine okay Michael backo uh grievance chair uh AF New Jersey vice president on Monday the gft emailed the board president asking whether the board will be resending its prior action at the upcoming meeting obviously no they're not excuse me uh on agenda item 10.26 from the January meeting of course that's coming onone at this point in time we know that you're not doing it at this meeting but Mr Ramos we sent you that email and we're asking you again Mr Ramos will the Board of Education resend its vote from the J um January 26 excuse me January agenda item 10.26 was that email just fluff or actually going to be a man of your [Applause] word anyone else yes aren't you to answer we will answer he said the answer at the end we will answer at the end there's a lot of people that need to speak so in all fairness to the public that has come they let them speak and then we will [Applause] answer I don't understand you keep changing the rules for each person Tander Raymond 93 spring Street Garfield I'd like to inform the board you probably don't know but you're so lucky I was appointed delay is on from the council to the Board of Education which means Dr TOMCO I will be in touch with you we will be having some meetings there's probably some things we can do together and there's some things I would like to inform you of what's going on with the council and I would appreciate the same from you now that email that went out the the about the benefits I did see doctor and and I'm sorry president Ramos sent out that he was thinking about it it was going to be postponed or whatever why wasn't it rescinded tonight I want to know that and Dr tonco you said in our uh legal brief that we didn't have true facts you're wrong I didn't know you had a law degree the lawyer we have is a very competent lawyer but I will say in your appeal you you failed to mention all the positions that you've created and and gave out to family and friends that's not in your appeal that's going to have to be argued before the judge when uh they go before this appeal that you just filed I guess that's going to be coming up in the near future now it's my understanding the ballots are printed they have to be printed by the 18th of February so how could this appeal be held on the 19th that's a question Mr Geer for you also Dr TOMCO after the last meeting when I left I would appreciate if you got something to say to me say well I'm here you said my position wasn't refilled well guess what you have a nurse in the school district and it's needed you have a nurse in the school district that's pursuing her supervisor certificate because she was promised by the board members she's going to get the job so maybe some of them are not honest with you president Ramos yes we're up at Rules of Order Mr Gaba at the last meeting seconded uh Mr folino's motion you totally ignored it no we the vote what sorry sorry oh okay I would like an answer to that and if there's a deficit I want to know from this board you're you're claiming that there's a deficit Dr Tom I'd like you to answer this question please when I'm done is it true in October you were thinking of doing this because you would save $1.2 million if you took the benefits but you didn't do it because it was too close to the election is that true I want to know if it's true and you know I expect I would expect true answers from this body especially you president Ramos since you're a man of the Lord make sure you tell the truth and my last my last statement is if there's such a deficit how do you justify hiring all these positions taking secretaries and giving them $30,000 raises to created positions that never existed assistance to assistance which we never had before and at the end of the year if you come up with a deficit what are you going to say like you told Mr rojack you're going to have to cut 45 teachers you better not you better cut all those other positions before you touch a teacher let's remember one thing the teachers are the spinal column of this school district without them there is no school district you have quite an exodus of teachers leaving this District how is that going to look you serve on the committee in Trenton for for the committee on the shortage of teachers how are you going to explain from your District all these teachers that are leaving many of them are leaving not because they really want to because they're afraid to lose their benefits it's a shame that you've done this to these people that have worked and dedicated and committed themselves to this school district this I have one last thing I have to say I've been active in this community for 40 years I was a young mother if I had a child in school now you'd have a picking line right around that board office trust me when I tell you this is the worst board I've ever never seen [Music] sirf I got one more thing to say it's time Mr folino on behalf of all of us thank you so much for standing up thank [Applause] you how you doing good evening Dominic dagostino Dr Dominic dagostino 96 man RAV [Music] Garfield well well this is what I would like to do I would like to um State some facts about switching from Blue Cross Blue Shield to Etna Insurance okay I'm speaking tonight as I'm not as a teacher afraid of losing my best benefits ever I'm te I'm speaking as a doctor doctor who has dealt with Etna and blue crus blue shield for over 25 years I'm speaking as a physician who deals with these insurances and I'm going to tell you that the Etna plans that have been presented are not the same or better and I'm going to State why I have reviewed the four plans that were presented and they're not the same or better because as a treating physician I deal with thatn insurance and they are much more difficult to deal with than Cross Blue Shield I can assure you that I understand these insurances better than anyone sitting up there tonight and anybody probably in this audience tonight as well Etna may tell you on paper or they may show you on paper that it's the same or better but I can assure you that they love to exercise based on medical necessity and then they deny delay and depose which sounds very familiar when a United healthc Care CEO was just murdered in New York City that's the reason Etna Insurance has the same practices as United Healthcare Blue Cross Bruce Shield does not give heartache to their insured clients most Specialists are out of network with Etna and that is for a very good reason this will make it difficult for your employees sitting in this audience to find good honest doctors in n workor Specialists prefer to be out of network with Etna they themselves do not want to deal with Etna Insurance and what is that tell you I'm a specialist and I am out of network with Etna this means that the 100 to 150 School Employees that I treat will now have to find an in network doctor or they will be paying me out of network fees deductibles and Co Insurance these ET the plans that are being voted on are not the same EOP plan as the city of Garfield has for the police department and the DPW it is totally totally different and if you didn't understand that please speak to me because I will point out what's different it's totally different than what they gave the cops and the DPW so after hearing from a longtime treating physician in Garfield I pray that you guys make the right decision and leave the insurance benefits alone and look elsewhere if the money if you need to save district for the money the money for the district insurance benefits should never be negotiated to save money cheaper is never [Applause] better Jennifer roselli 275 South Boulevard Saddlebrook New Jersey I'm a teacher for 21 years in Garfield and I'm here to speak tonight on behalf of the staff and faculty that are afraid to get up and speak in front of you and I'm not here to offend or put anybody down I just want to speak to the public as a teacher I'd like to First commend the students who had the courage to speak at the last meeting it was an honor to see you give the staff such immense support and I speak on their behalf when I say thank you from the bottom of our hearts I'd also like to say it's an honor as a teacher when you've taught in this District long enough to see some of your former students that are now employed by the district because there is no better teacher than experience so when they see how much we have sacrificed and what we do in our classrooms and now have to do with themselves it's difficult it's a great challenge but I feel that they maybe hopefully think it's as worth it as we do many staff members have been Paralyzed by the fear of political retaliation for speaking out to stand up for ourselves and defend our rights but you should stand up for yourselves and stand up for our students because they stood up for you for far too long we've remained silent while continuously providing for these children even though it's their responsibility to do so we received an email from Mr Ramos claiming to have listened to our concerns at the last meeting yet several times they left into Clos sessions refusing to listen or answer for the nepotism and the selfish decisions they made on behalf of our District at our expense behind our backs you directly insulted Us by claiming the benefits promised to us in our contract would be the cause of your financial deficit how dare you deciding not to change and I quote Mr Ramos Health Care Providers at this time will be detrimental to the needs that staff member students in the community have charged us with repairing are we supposed to feel guilty about them violating our contractual rights to compensate for the irresponsible manner in which they spend the budget money our voters entrust the Board of Ed to properly manage funds for the benefit and Welfare of this community not to be gaslighted by them for their inability to do their job effectively while remaining dedicated only to their friends and family you want to know what dedication is look around this room at the staff here tonight who continue to serve this District despite its corrupt conditions teachers who dedicate themselves educating your children every day volunteering hours after after hours at their schools buying their own materials and supplies and working far beyond the obligatory contractual hours so I speak to the parents of this community so that they can understand how we uncomfortably have to ask for donations for tissues pencils Etc this is not just about our health benefits they've been taking away from us at every possible angle and it has to stop we the teachers are the ones proudly serving this community with integrity and dedication not you we the teachers we the teachers are the ones financing our aesthetically decorated classrooms not you we're buying our own paper because we're limited to one re a month we're supplying content curriculum in our classrooms for multiple subject areas to ensure that our students receive a quality education that they deserve and were promised not you we accommodate multiple Lev Learners on a daily basis differentiating our instruction to meet their social emotional and academic needs where our needs continue to go unmet we painfully watch students struggle despite how hard we work we Supply materials for strategic intervention and remedial materials for tutoring and then we're often accused of not meeting grade level expectations because this board that stands before you limits the number of students we are allowed to leave back or retain forcing those incapable of passing on to be promoted anyway continuing to struggle the following year we the teachers listen to the parents inquiring about accommodations and modifications which we can't always provide due to a shortage of specialed Staff yet there's certainly no shortage of assistance in the board office we're tired of unreliable Wi-Fi struggling daily to integrate technology into our classrooms as required while Mr TOMCO gets an allowance for his Wi-Fi working from the comfort of his own home does any staff member in this room remember getting reimbursed for their Verizon bill during Co when when we are expected to overturn our lives and alter our living conditions while we taught remotely within two short weeks of notice neither do I and other districts got bonuses just for showing up we certainly have a lot of professional development days that take away from our instructional time with our students I'm sure those professional development presenters are quite costly to our district but yet we're being blamed for money that's mismanaged and misspent we don't need extensive PD to make our teachers better we need supplies and support neither of which they have been forthcoming with yet they managed five minutes finish it for me finish it right here you don't have to read Mr P finish this this and the end okay Dana Guzman 10 Cottage Place I'm also a teacher in District uh we don't need extensive PDS to make us better teachers we need supplies and support neither of which they have been forthcoming with yet they managed to download our Wi-Fi eliminate educational website memberships to cut cross change our Data Systems known as real time the list goes on somewhere behind each and every change there's someone receiving financial compensation and they still had the audacity audacity to violate our contract and attempt to deny us our health cover they need to do the job they were hired to do meet our needs by spending the budget money properly they have a legal obligation to provide us with what we are entitled to we're not asking for favors like their friends and families we're asking them to respect and honor the contracts to be righteous and fair to serve this community with the honesty Integrity that they swore on oath when they were accepting their positions to to reflect the same dedication that we the teachers have shown this community on our school website Mr TOMCO was Spotlight in education weekly in 2023 for exhibiting innovative solutions to fix some of the most pressing challenges facing K through2 schools in this critical period of our history this is how you did it by taking more and more from the hardworking teachers and raising taxes for the community while you so generously gave away our funds as impressive salaries money that we were entitled to to better serve the community parents and citizens of Garfield we want to give our children your children the education they deserve we as a faculty want to serve you the best of our ability we are hard workers dedicated workers but we are not miracle workers we need your support there is strength in numbers when we unite for just the cause we need your votes to elect trustworthy competent and committed members of our Board of Education your child's future depends on it we ask you to do the right thing when you vote during the next election Nancy Cuts up 484 van buam Avenue I respectfully urge the Board of Education to give careful consideration to the following pivotal issues that directly impact the future of our students Educators and Community number one respecting the intelligence and strength of Garfield residents it is imperative that the board recognizes engages with the Garfield Community with the respect it deserves the knowledge and dedication of our res residents Run Deep and past attempts to undermine this awareness have not been successful transparent open communication is essential to meaning trust and fostering collaboration the p a portrayal of a community apathy or disengagement presents a false narrative Garfield is a town rooted in strength and resilience with a proud history of determined citizens when provoke Ed the strength of our people is undeniable I ask how do you plan to respect protect and Empower Garfield residents shielding them from adversity that continues to plague Us number two enhancing teacher morale and retention our educators are the heart of Garfield's success their commitment is undeniable and they continue to provide exceptional education despite facing numerous challenges Garfield High School Educators have equipped our students with the skills to succeed at the Collegiate level even as they contend with an with very limited resources however there's a growing concern that current policies risk driving these invaluable teachers away the loss of these Educators would not only damage the quality of education but also harm the support systems for Student Success furthermore the early college program years in the making has been a essential pathway for our students to earn college credits thanks to the dedication of teachers who advanced their qualification to serve as adjunct professors any actions that undermine this program or the commitment of our teachers would have have a detrimental impact on our students Futures we are already seeing damag system with the lack of a proper chemistry teacher Also let's not forget the critical role played by our elementary Educators who laid the very foundation for lifelong learning what concrete steps are being taken to prevent a massive Exodus of our teaching staff third focusing on datadriven Improvement while optimism is very important we must confront challenges head on with honesty and rigor as someone trained in data analysis within an abbid District I fully understand the value of performance through acate accurate and actionable data it is crucial to identify areas of weakness and address them without delusion delution or distraction the board must commit to initiatives that have direct tangible impact on student achievement superficial measures may offer temporary com Comfort but they will not s solve the core issues facing our district what is your substantial long-term plan to ensure Garfield students Thrive that we continue to protect and support the Educators who make a meaningful difference every day in closing I challenge the board to demonstrate unwavering commitment to the issues at hand the decisions you make today will shape the future of our students our Educators and our community please ensure that the best interest of those who matter most the students and educators are placed at the Forefront of every decision I would appreciate your response to my questions I will provide you with a sheet for of them in case you don't remember them thank you so my name is alexandraa I 152 Sherman Place Garfield New Jersey and I'm just a parent some of the teach know me so I have concern about meetings I tell you from this St you suck especially you Mr okay over the past year I have closely followed the decision made by by and I Love You by our Board of Education yes I remember numbers which one you were throwing last year I love you so again over the past year I have closely followed the decision made by our Board of Education particular regarding financial management and our tax dollars are being spent during multiple board meeting I ra a critical issue our school district is willing to pay a superintendent salary that is approximately 40,000 higher than that of superintendent in neighborhood cities and Mr Ramos that time you told me that $40,000 is nothing it's yes you go check the recording check the recording you say you were chewing gum and you say that check your recording instead of addressing this concern responsibility one board member exactly you publicly dismiss it stating that this amount is nothing if $40,000 is truly insignificant to them why not take it directly from the board members person personal funds and invest if our teacher instead last year our school taxes were raised and it was suggested that there will be no increase this year however according to the New Jersey state regulation School tax L levies should remain below 2% C if we are searching for additional funding perhaps the superintendent should focus on evaluating the performance of teacher who have faced parent complaint for many years rather than blindly approving salary increase for some of them GFI has long struggled with finding and retaining quality education this issue is further exacer I'm sorry exagerated thank you thank you exagerated when the Board of Education chooses to act aset for superintendent V this as responsibility Ste stewards of taxpayer money when leadership dis disregards Financial pro pro I'm sorry prod prod and allows an individual to dictate the decisions and checked the results is a District that prioritize personal interest over the well-being of students and education for example and now is the legal question hiring Mrs buika as a transportation assistant for almost $98,000 who had do not have direct driver license he was driving under influence you know and was arrested for insurance fraud so I would like to know if this is legal because as a fact as a parents I am scared another major consenter is the switch to Etna for district insurance plans this change has not result in better coverage for teachers and staff in fact atna continuously modify its medication PL plans based on production cost rather than ensured stable quality healthare services a good insurance provider should guarantee consist benefits not Shi coverage unpredictable to maximize profits this change does not benefit the hardworking teachers or families who rely on this Healthcare Services additionally want to say that my husband is in un and we have this Etna Insurance yeah they're constantly changing the medical plan and I have narcolepsy and lupus I constantly have to change a lower level medication because Etna constantly is cutting the the Garfield Board of Education must be held accountable for its financial decisions taxpayers deserve transparency fiscal responsibility and Leadership that prioritize the needs of students and education Educators over personal agendas we cannot continue to accept excuses and mismanagement while hard ear tax dollars are funneled into unnecessary expenditures and policy decisions if we truly want to improve our school we must demand better leadership a commitment to responsibility budgeting and a focus on students successfully rather than administrative IND Indulgence it's time to put pressure on the board of education to make decisions that benefits the community not just those in power and Mr T you have a ethic some kind ethic ethic uh education um no you don't you are not acting like don't chew gum that's first if you're chewing gum because I noticed you know when we saying pledge to the flag we don't chewing come Mr Mr R thanks God you stop doing that thank you but I still don't answer the answer I would like to hear you like answer no no thank you your attorney say to us very clearly at the beginning that he want to he want to respond on each question my question was about the hiring this personel oh you don't answer thank you very [Applause] good hi uh my name is Lorissa Assan I live at 27 Garden Court North um I just have three questions you like to publish the supposed administrative and legal fees for opras but can you tell us how much you spent in legal and administrative fees appealing the election change uh to specifically when do you plan to resend the decision to change the School Employees Healthcare benefits which you promised in the email and three why have last year's recorded uh school board meetings been removed from the gbo website and uh YouTube and will they be returned they are documented inconsistent ancies between the recorded votes and the published minutes and I believe they should be returned to public access to ensure transparency and uh accuracy thank you is there anyone else Jus Rodriguez 149 Midland Garfield I don't need a mic new Grandpa new grandpa I got five minutes to say whatever I need to say right great guys and this is amazing I'm not a teacher but my wife is and I know I know for 23 years what this should go through with all this BS that's going around B system not what you're thinking bad system is BS Mr fuo thank you it looks like you the only one that have the conscious right but not to say something else kind of a little funny I asked my wife yeah I could be a a comedian right to see all this circus going around the city with a lot of clowns animals you name it puppets puet puppets oh my God how many puppets now I have one question a couple of questions let me breathe because you know it's hard to be a grandpa especially when you're holding that baby but it's a bless let me tell you right T oh Mr Raymond with all this respect if you left hand and cause you to sin cut it off this is serious deep stuff man some of you know what I'm talking about some of you have no idea know if you I ca you to sin go get out right now all of you guys the only one is Mr focarino and the lawyer Mr guys skirt that we've been here for many years thank you for your patience because let me tell you it's not easy but I'm here as a taxpayer right so I have the right to say whatever I need to say now the same way we put you in there if the elections in April this year next year November we don't give up whatever you want to fill the blank the same way we P you in we're going to take you out you know what we tell you this man I spent 30 years of my life with this BS in this city which is a great city until uh 68 years ago maybe after whatever happens and if you raise my taxes which I know it's going to happen every all the time you can't bulling me oh sorry because you know it's it's the truth and then what I need a job can you have a yourphone assistant assistant of the garbage do you need an assistant to dump the garbage matter of fact I volunteer how's that I volunteer for that how much time we have left 3 minutes to five still so guys think about it how do you sleep at night oh in the M firm where BS you're conscious I don't know how you guys could go with all this that's going on and be able to rest at home oh that's what it is I never been there here but I need a haircut definitely no joke anyway we going to cut a lot of stuff here guys listen I feel you it's been a long time I don't stand here come and say anything because I'd rather have this good inside of me so I'll be able to help others to see and open your eyes man you guys have to do the right thing and you guys know me all of you know no not all of you a few of you knows me and I know that I'm passionate about what I say how I I say I really at this time of my life I don't give a blank because I'm not running for nothing but I'm a taxpayer and I know it's coming get ready guys it's coming but tonight you guys are going to vote to have the election until for April right no November oh from November why why what are you so scared about five minutes 30 seconds what is it we want to see the budget because that's my money that we pay you guys and you me tell you something to the board who's the boss he's the boss of the administration he's not your boss we are your bosses and you better do the right [Applause] thing hello my name is Kyle Oaks I'm I'm 11th grade who spent all my life in Garfield schools and I'm from 120 Hartman Avenue first of all everyone is here to see not this change not go through no one wants their insurance Swit to atna this change isn't just unfair it's wrong this change was so shortsighted and nobody was prepared and given the choice with that email you give such short notice you may have thought that this was right for the district but what about the teachers and their families so I asked the board reverse this decision do the right thing listen to the the teachers the students in the community thank [Applause] you how you doing Frank Barber 262 Evans Place Saddle Brook um so I was watching this comedy show from home and I was like I got to get here definitely had to get here um so the first thing I want to say instead of cutting hair we should start cutting these higher up positions I know you guys created a bunch of positions I'm sure you could save money there um myself and Mr GTO we talk all the time and some of the things that we've seen in the hirings it's it's hundreds of thousands of dollars over the last few years Mr TOMCO I did some research with Belleville it seems you have a track record of doing this up in Sussex there's a lot of things that happen yeah your name's been around um you know and not not for good reasons you're you're on the you're on the state committee um for to try and keep teachers and I I see like what your guys are doing with the benefits and I think half the problem is not one of the board members up here and I'm Mr fol you're out of this conversation because you're doing the right thing are Educators not one of you have I think stood in front of a classroom at least in Garfield and know what they go through and to take these things away is is um irresponsible on the board's part um I heard Mr Moo saying to Mr folino about moving the election and that was a big talk right you you say it doesn't affect anything the board sets the budget probably what like around March so that me that vote would be in April fresh in the Public's mind you want to push it to November because it kind of falls to the Wayside people forget and then these people who run can keep the power in November now and also one of the biggest problems here and the reason that you guys stay in line is because of a a guy by the name of Mr Bea who's behind it and I can Mr TCO don't you yeah you know who he is um so Mr malayo when you say and and you went after Mr folino openly so I I'm I'm assuming I'm allowed to address you with this about moving the board election and did it matter it does matter it does matter because instead of putting everything together it's one Focus the Board of Education and guess what Garfield's budget is through the roof 100 what is it 35 million 135 million 150 million now so to me that's the thing that's why the People Want it in April so they can get the budget it's fresh in their mind they can vote on it as far as changing teacher health benefits you know what Mr Ramos why don't you give out free haircuts then why don't you reduce your prices no I'm saying for everybody for everybody you know what I'm saying if it was up to me in order you're touching their pockets and touching their lifestyle I would boycott your business I said it on my podcast I would you do construction I wouldn't hire your company this is how this works yeah but I'm just saying like you guys you you guys don't understand how this is affecting this is all this is all a Personal Agenda set forth by the powers that be behind you the money follow the money you'll find the answers whose money how did you run how did how did you run Aaliyah I heard you said who money what are you following Mr Bea financed your whole campaign that that's the money how many Flyers were sent out during that election n 12 13 probably about $100,000 in Flyers were sent out over $100,000 in Flyers were sent out probably and it didn't work I mean you're still here bottom line is I I hope this election gets moved to April and yes you I wait Mr TOMCO you were talking politics that he supported a ticket and they didn't win well guess what next time I'm going to support a ticket strongly and I can say whatever I want and I will expose every single person up here what they did I won't let them forget I won't let them forget and as a matter of fact I was thinking of calling all you guys because you say your number is open call you any time I should call you live on my podcast we can answer questions all right huh what's that I I I know oh you wanted you could talk with me but you wouldn't answer his questions I just want to know when is this when is this going to be rescinded for the teachers when he sent out an email I saw it when's it happening Mr Ramos you set you set the agenda with with the superintendent am I correct do you set the agenda I asked you the question you were voted in by our people you don't ask me questions people not huh do you set the agenda with the superintendent okay so you have a say in what goes on too but you say nothing at all and I get it Mr gisler advis you guys not to say anything but the these teachers want to see you do something take action an email means nothing means nothing five minutes that's good that's all I got to say do [Applause] something there anyone else keep piling on good evening my name is Eric PA Castro 102 Kon Avenue and I want you to write my address down because I'm going to ask you to do me a favor before I leave three years ago actually I'm sorry two years ago I almost lost my wife have you ever hold the hand to somebody that's dying and you're scared out of your mind and you have to lie to them to tell them that everything's going to be okay the only thing in my back pocket that I could rely on was my insurance because my wife went in for one procedure found out that she had a pendis and the doctor was confused as how she got to the building because as he said two days two hours two minutes this was ready to rupture he said if this had ruptured in the emergency room we'd give her a 50-50 chance 10 years ago I was in a car accident I have the for discs in my neck I have three cracked vertebrae L3 L4 L5 I know one of you is a chiropractor so I heard I show up to work every day in pain I'm back in physical therapy Etna won't cover that for me to do my job for me to stand for me to be with my kids I need to go and see a specialist my my wife because of her health issues has to see a specialist there's no reimbursement through Etna if this was you if this was your family could you look yourself in the mirror and say it's okay that we're doing this it's hurtful because Dr TOMCO when we first met at the um uh in the be no no no it was in the beginning of the year when we had all the schools together you talked about the business model of schools if you take away the insurance what is there to attract new teachers to this town now I'm not here to rehash anything but Dr TOMCO you and I had a meeting in June and one of the things I saw in your office was a big sign that says it is what it is and it made me smile no no oh please it made me smile because that's something my grandfather used to say all the time when he got diagnosed with cancer he said kid it is what it is the insurance will cover it after our meeting and after the events of what happened it caused me to seek Mental Health Services because I was having panic attacks and we won't get into that but the one thing we will get into is the fact that Etna will not reimburse those things I work with some very wonderful I think anybody that laces up their boots and comes to work as a teacher is a calling but most of pretty much everybody has a sad tale whether it's a spouse themselves their kids children we talked about children being the greatest asset of this town some of these teachers have kids that need Specialists that need these need these doctors that etot won't cover so when you figure this out like I said I ask you guys write down my address you come to my house and you tell me what the value of a human life is thank [Applause] you Michael we passing my voice is very bad so excuse me but I felt like I needed to talk and I started my own time I've already said at the last meeting how plans are different how they're not the same or better if there's anybody here that doesn't understand that I'll be happy to meet with each and every one of you at any time any place and go over it with you I echoed the words of Dr D de austino because I've dealt with him also and he's telling you the truth listen to him this plan this proposed plan is nothing more than lipstick on a pig that has that has been attempted to pass off as a unicorn it's not because when you take the lipstick off it's still a pig if there's anybody that has any questions at any time I'd be happy to sit with you at any time to discuss this but if anybody needs a review you could look at the last meeting I think I've said everything I needed to say but if there's any questions you know where I am thank you [Applause] Joe Joe Delaney here 15 G Court North I I I've been going to to Council meetings Board of meetings Freeholder meetings for all types of meetings for over 40 years and on every agenda it states that the board deserves the right to change of the amend the agenda so you have the right to amend the agenda you do right now as a matter of fact when I sit down all you need is a motion and a second to vote to be send that resolution that's all you need you need one motion and one second to Res send that resolution you could do it it's been done so and after listening there is to come out here and to vote on the one resolution where affects three people running in the election instead of voting on a resolution that affects hundreds of the employees thousands a lot I mean but these people got to wake up tomorrow morning and realize do I have benefits or not they have no clue how would you I mean just waking up with that every morning it's you know it it really me it behooves me and I use that word behoove who always said behooves Dr Kenneth KY that's right all right Dr Kenneth KY who's who's looking down right now at this board of education and he's turning in his grave right now because that that's one thing the bo event member is your your employees and there's no Reas okay now I seen the email so you say you want to look at different options whatever so why not weend tion until you look at different options it's not that hard it's really not that hard all it is takes a motion and a second and with regards to uh the city the city did change it its program I was on a council member then you know what it took us six months because we met with every single employee and made sure they were satisfied with the program that they were getting we just said rush it in one night or wi month we took months to make sure that they were happy we took their consideration before our own and it did work out and with with regards to the election you know what I fought to have the election move to November because there'll be more people voting I didn't fight for it to get two people to raise thousands of dollars to support three individuals to win an election you know and that's what's going on if you really care if you think the people's going to forget between April and November what's going on right now they're not going to forget they're not going to forget so so really get a second get a motion and a second right now you could open up the meeting again and we send that resolution you could do it it's not that hard is there anyone else anyone else left to speak good evening my name is mine Flores 292 Leonard Place pamis New Jersey I am here because during our last meeting um the live feed was cut off and it didn't record what I had stated in the last meeting um we are being told that that health insurance is equal to or better however in the email that we received from Dr TOMCO it states this is coming from the plan benefit document review we have received the requested New Jersey Educators Health Plan and New Jersey state educators health benefit program and matched it as closely as possible to the etos Choice POS and open access management choice we have listed here those benefits that we cannot administer that right there tells you that is not equal to and it's definitely not better okay but we have to believe you the board I pay $1,800 a month in benefits okay $1,800 a month out of my pocket for benefits because those are benefits that help me and my family I have a paralyzed vocal cord I have to go to New York to see a specialist who wouldn't be covered under Etna my cardiologist is in New York who wouldn't be covered under Etna have you ever had a needle stuck into your throat while a camera is down your neck down your throat okay to fix your paralyzed vocal Court while you're awake no my son has five upcoming surgeries five upcoming surgeries now I don't know if those surgeries will be covered but according to you Dr TOMCO the $800,000 that you're saving you will help us figure out how those surgeries will be covered right because the board will have the money to help us cover those surgeries right yes yes that's what was said at the last board meeting was it not yes right so where is the savings saving in that explain that to me we received an email from you Mr Ramos and I've respected you since you've been before you got on that seat and you know that yes you do okay we received I've always seen you as a man of your word okay a man of the Lord and I and you sent out that email saying that you were going to back you guys were going to on this vote so why can't you resend it if you really believe re there's a reason there's a reason and there's a reason why we're here there is a reason why all these teaches are here because we're not fighting we're fighting for our livelihoods okay if I'm paying $1,800 in health benefits I want it to be for health insurance that is going to help me and my family and all these other families I ask you to resum the vote thank you is there anyone left to speak so I can respond is there anyone left to speak so I can respond all right so at this point I'm going to close the public session Mr President so hold on Mr folino let me speak first and then you can do whatever you need to do one second please so there's a reason is what I was trying to say now I don't know if the community understands but I'm a lifelong resident I rais my family here I live here I own a home here I run my business here okay so I do take all these things personal no my children my no no no no no um respected you when you were speak where do my kids go where do my kids go okay Mom just checking nope my one daughter is in charge of school currently currently currently she was supposed to to the middle school but that's not that's not something I need to discuss with you yeah where did your kids go all right all right so rather than the back and forth okay so so so I don't appreciate I mean there there's certain things going on in the community okay a lot of the things that have that have gone on a lot of the things that are important to you guys understand that just as well I take them personally regardless of you know the little uh things that are going on on the little side Antics and stuff that are unnecessary by grown men um there's something that we need to understand yes I did send out an email the only reason that nothing else is going on tonight is because we're missing board members and I wanted those board members to have their say because of what happened during the last meeting can I finish can I finish can I finish last time you didn't let me speak and things that I needed to say weren't said so since everybody you they need to cut me off you know it's hard for me to get a point across so to further State I am a matter of my word everything was recent nothing was sent to where it was and those that of you that reached out to me know that has to be factual okay so the email um was not legally binding I'm guessing so the email is delayed for stopping the implementation the resolution yes let me finish so with with everything being done there was a call for a boycott of my barber shop you know by the you know the great Mr the great Mr Barber because you know I get my money from the community you know I I don't receive anything from a taxpayer there's no Kickback or anything coming in my pocket so does it I'm not coming livelihood okay all right so so with everything said um one of my ideas before we before I further anything so one of the ideas was to create something that if in the future there is any discussion of doing anything with healthare we would have Community involvement teacher involvement and not any administrative involvement so that way those discussions could be had there's also other things that we could possibly do that would be like some kind of um sending uh questions to try to be answers if they're ethically allowed to be answered but with that said Mr folino I'm looking for a motion to resend the vote [Applause] I will gladly make the motion to resend from the last meeting resolution 10.26 regarding the health benefits you like a second Mr go okay SC it up all in favor we got roll please Mr yes Mr Mr M Sanchez mramos yes motion car [Applause] okay I need you to understand a lot of you in the room have had my children in your classrooms I've gone to school with you I understand what it is to be in this city I understand the struggles that we go through on a daily basis and I appreciate all of my teachers I apologize for the way that things were done I don't believe that they were done you know in a in a manner of malice you know it was just that money the amount was hard to deny but in in all due respect I believe that the process was tainted and it shouldn't have been done the way it was done okay now with that said with with that said you know I I do have to make a statement towards a lot of the things that I'm hearing so I believe that as adults we set the tone for our children and we set a set a tone for the things that are going on I don't appreciate being um portrayed as a criminal being portrayed as everything and anything humanly else that's being posted online I raised my family here and the fact is that my children bring this to me it's not something that I go online to look for it's my son that brings it to my attention because he wants to know why his father is being villainized I'm a man of my family I'm a man of my business and I do what I can for this community whenever I can for this community and I have my entire life there's not a moment that somebody is it comes to me in need and I deny them so the fact that you don't understand or may not see that this is just as home hitting to me as it is to you guys maybe not as hard because I don't have health care I'm sorry I don't you know I have to go for charity care whenever I go to places so I don't have the amount ofy people may think that I have you know I run a struggling business right now but that's not even important so I want you to know that from this point forward I am trying to develop certain Avenues to where the community has more input on these agendas on these issues that affect the community overall this is what I was trying to get across the last meeting when everybody was aggressively speaking over everything there's things that I would like to see I don't want to see the community like this I love that everybody is taking part in what's going on in the community I love that everybody came to the mic I just wish that I would have had the chance to speak before everybody came up here to beat me up and not understand where my heart was at my heart has always been in this community my family's always been in this community and my family wouldn't want anything done to hurt this community because they love this community they died in this community and some of you in the audience know that to be the person that I was to becoming that I am is the values that I hold whether I get made fun of from my faith Jesus is the only reason that I am the man I am today and he's the only person that I can accredit for the things that I have today so regardless of how comical that might seem to some of you I hold his standard to a higher level than man I'm sorry because that's that's something more important to answer to and that's something that I can't run from that's something that I can't go into another room and say he can't see me so yes I hold Bible studies in my in my barber shop on Thursdays and I teach the word of God and I am a man of God I am a flawed man of God I make my mistakes at times I make court judgment calls at times I make spontaneous decisions that's my flaw as a human that's what my faith is for to correct the things that I had wrong with my spirit to correct the flaws that man has had since the beginning of time that I'm sure every person in this room has but it's easier to attempt to point out the flaws in other people and people that are attempting to do the right thing for other people I'm sorry if I'm speaking too long okay I thank you for your time thank you for everything Mr President I like to make a motion to resend resolution 10.1 from this evening's meeting oh he's talking about the no second we have to move forward I have a two-year-old that's looking for me so if we can speed this up yes know yes please speak I'm actually come out here I don't know that many of you know me I'd like you to listen to me and not comment you know I'm not going to cross TI here because we do have a pastor here but who there with the least faults can throw the first stone okay we're all guilty of things we're not perfect beings and I'm not here to talk about Christianity or prosing as I said but that gentleman there apolog have your name Eric nice to meet you at the age of 48 I had a beautiful wife three great kids in college she had just finished her Masters was teaching English in Princeton was a marathon runner only ate organic and was a swimming instructor in Spring Lake yeah I lived down Shore I had a great house five bedroom house 3 4,000 squet okay because I listen to everyone else she got diagnosed with cancer she got diagnosed with cancer I had to spend $500,000 in order to try to help her okay excuse me I'm showing you that I'm passionate compassionate for what you're going through okay I have a compassion for you're my experience beemp by you yours you're just onesided that's what it sounds like you're onesided at this time we' like to take a motion toour second toour all all in favor I I no than

e e I'm gonna call the meeting to order at 5:30 yay um I would like well welcome everybody it's early huh half hour early um we're gonna I need a motion to um adopt the agenda I move to adopt the agenda as presented need a second I second all right all in favor I I I so motion carries five to zero but what do we need to do oh now it goes okay we're doing something a little different so you guys got to just kind of bear with us for just a minute we good yes oh God I thought that that that their little music was like oh guys voted good I really wanted the music though okay um yeah I need the music please okay thanks like Yay good job guys okay we're gonna go ahead and do the pledge but I do need to call up some um some students Dayton Fuller Gemma Matthews and Oriana bear come on up and you're gonna lead us in the pledge okay any questions on the meeting minutes no all right I'll need to take a motion on the meeting minutes I move to approve the meeting minutes for governing board January 2025 okay I'll take a second I second the motion just regular board meeting 4.1 all right all in favor I I motion carries 5 to zero l oh I'm I messed up where is it okay this is going to be all right bear with us yeah all right are we ready so um any um any questions on Executive session all right I'll take a a motion I move to to approve the board meeting minutes for the executive session on January 22 2025 I second okay um all in favor I I so all right so it should all right you know that doesn't come up on our stuff like it doesn't come up on mine it just comes up there okay so it was uh motion carried five to zero okay um so then we had a special board meeting on January 22nd um any um questions on that board meeting or that that meeting minutes on that if not I'll take a motion I move to apport the board the board meeting minutes on January 22 2025 as presented I second that motion all right all in favor I I motion carries all right motion carries five to zero okay so 5.1 we have a superintendent's report thank you madam president uh lots of different things happening we want to start I'm going to move some of these things around that's up on your screen but we want to start with the the boy soccer uh having their best season in the history of the school they uh are 10 and two and ranked 11th in the 4A they actually play this Friday at six o'clock for a playin game to the playoffs if they win that game they'll be in the in the playoffs um they've scored 46 goals this year and just 14 allowed uh a significant increase from last year where they finished 30th um in the in the um state so it's been a great in uh a very successful season JB's also having a very successful season so coach Mike Holberg has uh really done a good job with the kids a lot of them have been playing since they were freshmen and the longer you play together the the better off you are uh Leah Patterson up at the high school uh received a nomination for excellence and resiliency in mathematics teaching uh award by mid for mid-end career veteran teachers uh category um uh through the center for Recruitment and attention um so we want to congratulate Leah marketing department received an honors for uh honor with a merit award from the Arizona school public relations Association for the video that we did with Career and Technical education um we sh showed that last fall I believe it got done so we showed it to the to the board and we've actually showed it in several um different U uh events we've had like our when our foundations come so it's uh good job on the behalf of Mr scrogum uh for his efforts and and with CT being highlighted tonight it's kind of a double highlight of of what's going on and also thank you to Mandy for all of her help with uh getting the uh the the video made the drama class the drama students uh received uh Superior rating um at the regional theater competition got 21 Superior rankings and eight excellent rankings um and they're going to be invited to perform at the international thespian Festival cta's building Comm community community uh they're working with uh uh Central Christian Church based on the Community Cafe that we had a couple uh weeks ago um and Central Christian Church will be working on their school guard and they also have um a successful Kindergarten Roundup and some new enrollments the Trap and Ski Club clay clay Crushers uh did a fundraiser uh on the 25th of January at Ben Avery uh shooting range and the funds will be used uh to help the team um I don't have the exact dollar amount but I'm sure Mrs Hargus might we we made $15,000 after all bills were paid so that's that's a a good positive uh thing that's happening there under their spring season um at Ranch Elementary they participating in read to finals which is aimed to Aspire all AR Arizona third graders to develop a love for reading uh they shared that the students uh surpass the average of 5 500 minutes each and are embracing the challenge um and they are continue to get uh a number of different uh gifts as or prizes uh for the job they're doing uh CHS math uh the math team participated in Scotts Sil Community College stem field day uh it was a new opportunity for the for for the math team it's a brand new um club that they have congratulations to drexon Clair for his top performance um stuco is working to support uh Athletics clubs and other programs they recently funded a 250 minig Grant to support these ex extracurricular activities um they also helped out when the Coles Middle School 8th grade students came up for a high school visit on the 30th along with link crew and other student leaders gave the tours shared information and welcome the class of well this will make you feel old 29 um congratulations to our poetry out loud winner winners uh first place went to Emily Matson second to Laur Lee risland and third to Anastasia wo and the Esports team continues to be ranked number one in the State uh and began their uh spring season uh with a victory for all four teams band continues to to be successful Matthew rera his upright base performance earned a third place State finish with over 500 top level students auditioning um that's a significant uh accomplishment uh he plans to 10A isue to continue his pursuit in Musical musical performances and at a recent Festival Jacob Brighton and Riley Maguire earned a spot on the All Region Ensemble only 50 students were chosen from the 800 who auditioned uh out at Simington uh they had festivities for the 100th day celebration uh embrac the theme they embraced the 100 Day themes by uh dressing as if they were 100 years old some of us resemble that remark um class pictures were taken for each uh of the home rooms and capturing a great uh event Orchestra students delivered a successful concert um and the sixth graders uh were excited for their opportunity as the sixth graders around the district visited Colmes Middle School to tour and learn about um what's going on at Colmes Middle School I was there for one of the groups of students that came in and again what was fantastic about that uh particular um event much like what was going on at the high schools was student L and so the students helped show the new students what uh seventh and eighth grade's all about so that's always really nice to to see um let's see uh C uh CCS pathway of services through ART the pathway of services through art program continues to make a meaningful impact through its Community focused projects they've created blankets for rescue animals at a at a local shelter providing Comfort to pets in need designed alphabet learning games to support Early Childhood uh education over at the head Start program uh and their student advisory council is working on uh drinking uh drinking vending machine uh at the uh at the school so exciting things happening and I am G to I didn't read one but I wanted Mrs Ridge to come up to read a special little presentation as part of my report for CMS first um good afternoon board presidents member of the boards Dr Wyman and of course our guests um I love talking about all things CMS so I am excited to share um another celebration taking place in our district um we have a person who started out as a volunteer with with us for I don't know how many years throw it up six years volunteered um his own time to help our wrestling team and then there was a change in personnel and he took over as our wrestling coach and in his first year um he has been named Canyon Athletic Association Junior High girls wrestling coach of the year [Applause] your mom's to take a picture so oh one more not embarrassing so really quick um just a shout out to the leptic family in general his mom um has been our math teacher and been my partner at CMS the whole time that I've been there and just a family that we're lucky to have have that oh look there's more oh I'm supposed to be quick but come up girls we had two girls on our wrestling team and I don't know if you've ever been able to see girls wrestle sometimes they don't always have female opponents which means they had to wrestle the boys and when I tell you I am from Englewood and I don't want to run into them in the Hood um so just super proud of them as well so again just great things are happening at Colmes middle school and thank you for sharing the success with us and Mr leptic thank you for not only working for free for a little a really long time but for when you get paid being the coach of the year [Applause] nice okay school and staff recognition I'll go ahead start with that uh we do have some people we want to recognize this is a time of the uh meeting where we recognize those uh individuals that work in a specific area as um each month obviously we have uh days of the month that Rec recognize different individuals or months in total and and CT and some of our staff is not here today because they have the sickness that's going around that many of your kids may have so some of these people won't be here but uh February is CTE month CTE is Career and Technical education and Governor Hobbs proclaimed uh uh February 20 25 cent technical Education Month and it helps to CTE help to helps to equip students with essential Technical and professional skills through practical practical meaningful application of core subjects fostering academic success leadership and Community engagement our CTO program CTE program has 14 different Pathways uh they must be aligned to either a terminal degree meaning they can get a degree at a higher education or to certification so that when they leave uh our school um they will go ahead and be prepared to to join the workforce um and we also provide opportunities for some of these students to uh go over to uh evit e valy Institute of Technology so we actually give kids two different ways to get um uh to work on Career uh development so we just wanted to recognize our students or excuse me our teachers we actually uh start working with career Pathways all the way down the elementaries uh and then move on up into the high or the middle school where they get to to work on some Hands-On activities and then move on up into the high school where they actually pick a pathway that they want to go on and they uh go through a two or threee program to go ahead and get trained up so I'm not sure how many are here but I'll call them up anyway we have at the middle school Craig Palm from C CMS film TV stagecraft and career exploration teacher I don't know if Craig's here at the mid at the middle school Renee baldenegro for digital [Applause] photography yeah we'll take a picture at the high school we have Amy Stewart for the medical assisting and Sports Medicine teacher we have Mr Michael uh aventage uh agriculture science teacher [Applause] Mr Brian Taylor who's not here because he's ill film TV digital communication teacher at the high school Mr Paul shrill graphic design teacher of the high school and Mr Chris Wood who's also audal at digital photography teacher at the high school again these individuals work in CTE and they do an amazing thing to spark the fire and our kids as they choose their passion and move forward with that passion so thank you so very much for everything you do at the same time we also have the first week of February as National counselor's week we want to recognize our counselors I'll see who's here and then say a few words uh Sabrina weart she's here Kim chartr over at the high school Heidi Durant at the high school Jolene Peterson at the the High School Elizabeth Nala at the middle school Kobe Edwards at the middle school Julia Goden at CCS um Shannon kuu at the CCS Latasha Roble um Michelle camt they're all busy tonight John grafing Christina tandler and I know nisha's here Amisha tanni so she gonna come up by herself [Applause] and what I will say is uh there's a lot of things going on in our society today and coming out of um covid and some other issues we know there's any number of kids that struggle uh and these counselors do an amazing job to help kids as they get through all the different things that are happening in their life um and they're there for these kids on a daily basis to help them through um any of the struggles they have to give them some guidance as they move through in in life um and so uh they do something that's valuable we don't always have we have different crowd every month uh but there's just a lot of things that happen in public school and a lot of different ways that we help your kids and this is just one of the many ways and so we really do appreciate and thank our cers so thank you what's that who did I miss okay Mrs F I'm sorry I didn't have the name there so if uh she at least be recognized where she at yeah I don't know that and now we'd ask Mr Quinn to come up and uh do a little presentation on Ranch I'm truly blessed um all my staff members know how nervous I am and so they're here to cheer me on except one who said she wants to make faces at me while I'm talking um Madame President esteemed board Dr Wyman Miss Judy and the amazing comes Community um thank you so much for allowing me this time go Birds um this year this year Ranch Elementary partnered with Arizona major events in an effort to spark a lifelong love and interest in Reading uh we are currently in the top 68 schools in the entire state in their read to the finals initiative I am pleased to introduce Dayton Fuller Jemma Matthews and Orie bear to speak about read to the finals and how it works to build up our readers please come [Applause] up hello my name is d and I'm going to talk about what read of the finals is read of the finals is a free reading challenge for Arizona third grade readers the goal is to become a long life reader read to the finals is important so I can read and get my reading rate up benefit to so I can read better and become a long reader so that I can read more and be smarter at Reading you should try to do it too it really helped me read more to 154 to 186 thank you for listening to my speech have a good day and I'm really looking forward to reading more now because I read to the [Applause] finals hello my name is Oriana bear I go to Ranch Elementary I going to to talk about how read to finals helped me it is a reading challenge for third grade students to increase reading skills and to become an informed reader reading to the finals I think it is a really cool program because it makes kids want to read to have fun and I think reading to the finals is good because it can show you where you are at in reading and I think it is very important to do reading to the finals so that you can read many genres of books reading helps increase your knowledge it can also open your mind to Adventure magic and a world of imagination thank you for letting me be here and share my love of reading hello my name is JMA Matthews and I go to Ranch Elementary School I am in third grade and I love to read today I would like to talk to you about read to the final read to the finals is a free reading challenge for Arizona third grade students the goal of this challenge is to help students like me become a seful reader I believe read to the finals is an important program to help students practice reading and encourage them to read more too students get to keep track of their reading minutes and help win prizes for their school that makes reading even more fun when you get to see how far you have comes as a reader I hope to encourage other students to read to the finals and challenge themselves to become a better reader I hope to inspire them to fall in love with reading too I would like to thank the school board for allowing me to me me the opportunity to talk about read to the finals it's a wonderful program for me and my fellow third grade classmate thank you so much I can't wait to read to the finals with you third grade [Applause] rocks thank you guys amazing job um this is my first year being part of the road runner team at Ranch and I have been blown away by the team there and their love and dedication to their craft the following individuals I am proud to present to the board consistently making a positive difference in the lives of students in the community at Ranch we are truly lucky to have them as part of our team and the amazing work that they do for their students it is with great pleasure that I am here to present the blue Apple Awards to the following Heidi Fardo please come [Applause] up Heidi is one of our first grade teachers and has had so many amazing moments this year the way she has implemented station rotations even with such a large class of squirrely Wiggly first graders has been so much fun to see she was nervous at first and was extremely diligent with her instructional coach Dr peoples to make sure that she had a great plan going forward and oh boy did she the kids love it and they have been getting so many great supports throughout the lessons this was shown directly through our middle of thee assessment where every student showed growth in their assessment I'm going to repeat that every student in her class showed growth in their middle of the Year assessment where one first grade friend friend even moved up a substantial amount of a 100 points from the beginning of the year assessment seeing the response on his and her face when they got to share that news showed so deeply the impact she has had on him and the passion passion she has for what she does thank you so much Heidi for pushing yourself out of your comfort zone and trying new things in the classroom I'm glad you get to see those dividends [Applause] it's my one goal not to drop an apple okay support staff member Jacob Garcia Jacob [Applause] Jacob has been a recent addition to our family at Ranch and has been an absolute joy to have on campus though he is new he has jumped in with both feet and has been extremely proactive responsive and thoughtful for everything that he does he connects well with the students and staff and works hard to provide the best campus for us all we work to throw a lot of different experiences for our students from lunch on the lawn Awards ceremonies Battle of the books PTO events special guests and so many more no matter what the special setup is for the experience Jacob is quick to work to transition between usual setup to whatever is going to best serve our students and the experience we are extremely lucky to have Jacob and thank him for everything he [Applause] does got aure I'm Letting Go this is on you now I'll bring theat our resource teacher Christine [Applause] purle Christine is a resource teacher extraordinaire for us at Ranch this year a lot of challenges fell onto her plate and she has conquered each one with absolute upom she has been a huge support to the other resource room general education classrooms families staff and most importantly her multitude of students anyone who watches her interact with her students quickly sees the immense impact that she has on them she provides a multifaceted support that goes beyond just academics but also physically and emotionally Beyond tailoring instruction to the individual needs of her students she Advocates and fosters complete accessibility for each unique student she serves by consistently offering and listening ear and caring connection she helped students build resilience and self-esteem for themselves she is a blessing to her students and us here at Ranch thank you so much Christine for all the support you offer to every one of our stakeholders you are instrumental in the reason so many successes are felt each and every day [Applause] I would also like to recognize one of our amazing volunteers we have at Ranch Candace [Music] Alton I should say I should say very quickly none of them knew that they were getting these I tricked them and gave them false pretense why they had to come to the meeting today and yes thank you Miss Fel for your help uh Candace has been an incredible asset to our kindergarten class she always comes in with a smile ready and eager to work with the students her willingness to help in any capacity whether working with small groups assisting individual students or creating crafts with the class has made such a positive impact the students absolutely adore her and are always excited to see her constantly asking when she'll return Candace makes it a priority to get to know every child personally allowing her to provide the best possible support for their needs we truly appreciate C Candace's dedication enthusiasm and the genuine care that she shows for the kindergarteners and all of us at Ranch her presence has made a meaningful difference for both of the students and Ranch Elementary Candace is a great representation of parent partnership with ranch and we are so grateful to have her [Applause] thank you [Applause] all good evening Madame President and members of the governing board and Dr Wyman and members of the community tonight is our favorite night as we recognize Stu our students and some of the great work they're doing this month we are focusing on global awareness for our students of the month so I first want to invite down next to me um Lisa Garcia from comes High School Lisa can't be with us so we will find another time to celebrate her at the high school how about uh Andrea Neo and this is from combes I'm sorry I said the Middle School com Center for success and this is exciting Andrea is an early graduating [Music] senior who has demonstrated dedication both academically and through service she exemplifies kindness acceptance and civility qualities that we all need more of in today's world CCS looks forward to seeing the positive change that she will inspire in others congratulations if you go right over you'll have a [Applause] picture all right now from comes Middle School Aurora [Applause] Mills Aurora always wants to know the why behind everything discussed in class teachers report she is quick to understand different perspectives and cares in spreading knowledge and different points of view to her peers even advocating recently for a school newspaper to increase awareness and knowledge Aurora thank you and congratulations [Applause] our next student comes from comes Traditional Academy Jack [Applause] munes come on up Jack Jack is a hardworking kind and enthusiastic learner who always gives his best effort in classes he is conscientious about his work he's a great friend to his peers always willing to offer a hand and offers a smile to everyone around him thank you for being a shining example way to go [Applause] Jack and next is from Ellsworth and this is Christina philong all right right we will find a time to celebrate Christina at Ellsworth from Harmon Isabella [Applause] Orban Isabella has hi it's good to see Isabella has shown a remarkable enthusiasm for exploring exploring and embracing cultural differences demonstrating a deep respect for diversity she approaches new experiences with adventurous Spirit eagerly trying new things and encouraging her peers to do the same congratulations Isabella all right so you're GNA go right on [Applause] over our next student is from Rand Elementary Braxton [Applause] barup Braxton is a sixth grader and the sixth grade team has nominated him for this award as he has made significant contributions to the school as the student council vice president he inspires students to take care of their environment and demonstrates leadership and responsibility braxon [Applause] congratulations and last from simonon James [Applause] Lily this is what simonon has to say about James James takes an interest in a diverse range of subjects always eager to learn learn and participate in class discussions he is mindful of others feelings and situations showing kindness and understanding toward his classmates and teachers he wants to make a difference in the lives around us [Applause] congratulations as James is getting his award one more hand for all of our students congratulations we will take about a five minute break so that you can get pictures those of you that want to leave can leave and then we'll continue the meeting in just a few minutes so thank you e e e okay all right we're going to go ahead and start we um any um governing board uh updates anybody have anything I do okay um in January I was able to attend several of the comes High School soccer games for J AV as well as Varsity um my son plays on the soccer team so that was really exciting um Dr Wyman already mentioned the success that they've had and it's just really neat to see the camaraderie um that they have coach homberg and Coach Vasquez they really have done amazing things with that group of boys um so that was fun to attend and see the basketball games the cheerleaders um I also have a daughter that's on the che team so of course I was also at basketball games lots of basketball games and one of the things that I wanted to share was um it's so it really is so neat to see we're so close to Phoenix yet we're kind of out there right and we're Rural and you don't always see kind of it's really kind of like a sense of family that you see at Colmes high school and and I would imagine when you start attending um other events at the other schools as well but particularly at one of the basketball games we had girls that were coming back from their away soccer game we had boys that had just gotten done with their practice out at the football field um and people were just slowly coming into the gym and we filled up all of the stands and that is so neat to see the other students supporting one another you don't always see a high school band at a basketball game the band has been at almost all of the recent basketball games that's really cool um so so there's just been so many things to celebrate um at the sports not just the actual Sports themselves in the competitions but just to see the sense of family and support that they all have with one another so that's been really fun to see um student council also was mentioned in the superintendent report and they have been amazing at supporting the sports and one another um they they just got a real great Community there um the mascot shows up and if you haven't seen the mascot I don't know who purchased that if it was student council or who it was but they did a really Stellar job that mascot outfit is it's really good um I also visited uh Ranch Elementary as well as comes high school as their liaison um the facilities just great the children the staff um just seeing the learning happening in the classrooms it was great um they are the PTO is doing a or or planning to do a fundraiser for a new playground um so it was kind of neat to see you know what are they working on what are the needs what's what's happening there and at the high school to be able to see and and we alluded to it the uh career in technical education and they have you go in and it's like a real emergency room um for the health assistance and just all of the different things that you see I have a background in TV and radio and so to go in and see their setup that they had was it was really impressive I have to say it was really really impressive and so um hats off to everyone for all of the work that they've done to build these schools up these children up in the community to where they are um finally I was given the opportunity to visit the I have a small farm in the area with goats and donkeys and horses and chickens and everything and so some of the kids at the high school they were excited to show me their setup and so I was able to see the FFA and a science land lab and it is very cool and if you ask them to see their baby pigs and you think you're going to see cute little Charlotte's Web like I don't know like little tiny pigs they're huge just yeah they are some big boys out there and girls so it was really neat to see what they what they've built out there um and that that is it so I've just been super impressed by by everything that I've seen um just in the last month all right thank you anyone else all right um public comments think we have one so I get to read this now um this is time for public comments the board invites viewpoints of the citizen throughout the district and considers the respons the responsible presentations uh of these viewpoints vital to the efficient operation of the district members of governing board may not discuss items that are not on the agenda and will be limited to directing staff to study the matter for further consideration of possible decision at a later date um so the procedures uh any individual Desiring to address the board shall complete a form and so that's I have that board president will keep three minutes that you have three minutes to to speak uh questions or comments on matters under legal review will not receive a response members of the governing board may not discuss items not on the agenda personal attacks are discouraged highly um at the conclusion of all of a call to the public individual members of the board May respond to any May respond to any criticisms made by an individual who addressed the board um the expectation of the governing board and district is that everyone treats one with respect and that the speaker presents their viewpoints in a civil manner um so at this point I have Ali Ali Day come on up uh good evening everyone uh members of jomes board superintendent and community community leaders my name is Ali day and I am honored to serve as the president of Santan Valley little leag um I wanted to express my deep gratitude for the unwavering commitment this district and especially the leadership at comes middle school has shown our community's youth comes middle school has become a true model of Community Partnership every week 600 to 900 community members come together on campus in a safe well organized space where children families and neighborhoods can grow connect and grow the level of dedication requires Vision leadership and Heart for Service qualities we see in principal Ridge and Steve the ranger thank you principal bridge in recognition of this commitment to our youth and Community Santan Valley Little League is proud to donate a new set of outdoor bleachers to comes Middle School oh wow awesome more than just seating we hope these bleachers become a gathering place where families create lasting memories and the spirit of community continues to thrive as our league continues to grow we ask that all the schools receiving our rental requests consider their impact on the community while we're we've been offered F fields at American Leadership Academy and previously rented from Florence Unified School District we chose J comes because it's truly represents Santan Valley and we by bringing our athletes into campuses right their own neighborhood right in their own neighborhoods we increase exposure to your outstanding facilities and the opportunities available within your schools that thank you for your leadership generosity and commitment to putting Community First it's Partnerships like these that create a lasting impact and we are honored to stand with you in service our youth thank you thank you [Applause] okay awesome all right so now we have we we go to the consent agenda um do I have any questions does anybody have any questions on anything on the consent agenda no okay are we ready to vote here soon are you guys ready I'll take a motion to approve the consent agenda I move to approve the consent agenda as presented okay I'll take a second second all right so all in favor I I so motion carries five to zero oh somebody did a I I don't know what happened it's oh there sorry it's okay all right there we have it so we're going to go to um 8.1 discussion consideration of approval of the education technology Consortium agreement with NAU yes Madam president this is an agreement that we've had with na for significant Mitten amount of time in the district uh it just uses uh some of the software programs uh to help with Personnel supplies and others items necessary to maintain computer systems networks for data processing so we've worked with any I believe probably since uh about 2010 so this is just a renewal of an existing contract it would go into place March 1st and run from uh this year through to basically the end of February on 2030 so I would recommend uh approval as uh presented okay do I have any any questions comments concerns okay if nothing I will take a motion I move to approve the education technology Consortium agreement with any as presented I'll second that motion all in favor I I I motion carries five to zero I'm just gonna say this vocally and it'll come up on here you guys can see all right 8.2 discussion and consideration for approval of the memorandum of understanding the chos for LA that early huh um oh childhood development program this is another approval of an existing uh agreement we have with uh Cho sport lalsa uh and uh it works with our Head Start program down at CTA it's it's been uh working uh with our district for again very similar to the previous agreement for a number of years uh and so we're just looking to move forward uh they work with uh the Head Start program and preschool class classrooms in there uh in down at CTA um and it gives us a chance to work with uh students um birth to three years of age uh it's a positive uh partnership uh that's probably been going on I know with Head Start we've been going on for uh at least 20 and so this is just an annual agreement update so I would recommend approval as presented I move to approve the memorandum of understanding with chosa as presented second okay all in favor I I I motion carries 5 to zero thank you guys thank you all right so now we get to .3 discussion and information regarding changes to policy recommendations of telecommuting second reading yes this is a policy we brought forth because we have a as we've come out of Co there's been uh obviously changes in the workforce and how the workforce uh moves forward with any number of of different jobs both in terms of trying to find people as well as keep people and so uh we've gone ahead and moved forward with a telecommunity uh policy Series in actuality uh you guys are responsible to prove the policy uh we also have a regulation that has much more detail in in it and an exhibit that would go with it the exhibit would be the form that anybody that was requesting t commuting uh would fill out uh so the discussion tonight is uh approval of this policy if you choose to approve this policy then tomorrow I would send to you as well as the leadership team the actual regulation and the uh exhibit um what we have is again uh at times finding people for jobs uh is difficult and so we have a couple situations that um we felt that it was in the best interest of the district to have them work remotely um but we also realize that there's not a policy I know we're having a discussion at the end of the month between asba and and the trust neither one of them have a policy for telecommunity um and so what's happening around the state is different districts are are creating uh telecommunity policies across the country quite frankly some districts have done it but a lot of districts are still debating what to do what where we started Dr Middleton uh started was to take a look at what other districts were doing across the country and across the state and then we crafted um uh a policy regulation exhibit that we felt uh took PL took what we needed for our district um and uh we've had it reviewed by asba as our policy Services Group as well as by legal counsel um and they've both reviewed it and and believe that it it fits the needs while still being in compliance with either other policies within our policy manual any any and any existing laws that they need to comply with so I'm open to answering any questions but at this point I would recommend approval as presentative you had a question what are the specific examples where that you're talking about where it came up uh we have a uh in it we have an individual that actually moved to Ohio that worked for us um and because he was doing work that could be done remotely relative to Ohio or excuse me relative to the job he was doing we have him on on remote Jacob Jacob Harden is his name uh and then we also had a nursing situation where we couldn't have a lead nurse and so this lead nurse is helping clean up um uh our nursing situation we have a part-time person that that shares the job she's not on full-time and she's working out of Oklahoma so those are the two main ones that came up and it was just over a shortage of individuals uh that were present uh the way the regulation will work will be limitations obviously there has to be a job that it works for uh and so many cases quite frankly teachers would not qualify for this because they're supposed to be in front of kids every day so you can't necessarily be there uh there's probably more jobs if they Cur that are potentially district office jobs uh uh business services for example could do some things from uh from home if we had a a situation or a problem there's a process where they have to ask we have to review there's some conditions on whether we would accept it in terms of of what they have for internet capacity and and computers there's language to hold the district uh uh not liable for anything associated with with the computer technology that they have um but there'll be certain jobs that just won't apply a bus driver obviously we're not going to do to uh that telecommuting um so it's it's limited in its scope uh but we just felt uh to be consistent across the board we should bring a policy and then a regulation exhibit so if anybody asks then we would go ahead and and be able to follow the same process for everybody the policy as well as the regulation gives me the authority if something is not right within the structure that I can go ahead and and stop the remote uh the telecommuting at any point in time so if they're not delivering on the expectations for what they should deliver then we would go ahead and stop it I have another question um how does so if they're telecommuting and we hire them do they still have benefits as in health benefits how does that work if they are if they are a full-time employee they would still have health benefits um associated with us if they're not a full-time employee and and by full-time employee um it varies whether it's a a um certified staff versus support staff um but it's essentially about uh 28 to 29 hours a week might be 30 um above that they get benefits below that they don't get benefits um uh and so in the case of a certified staff tends to be 75% of the job so that's a four fifths three three and a half fifths um so yes they would still get benefits okay I'm just wondering how the benefits work like if they're in a different state I'm not sure and but there are benefits packages through correct me if I'm wrong Julie but I believe it's United Health care and so there it's a it's a national okay um it's a national uh uh group and so there's there is out of state out of network coverage out of state coverage and so they may pay a higher premium uh in one case one of our employees is not fulltime so I don't believe they would have those benefits in the other case they are and so I believe they have the benefits uh associated with it okay I have a couple of questions one of them would be concerning monitoring um with the Advent of a lot of work from home positions we've seen this a lot during Co um depending on the nature of the task there are applications that can be purchased whether on a monthly basis or annual basis um so that there's some sort of monitoring whether it's just seing constant activity on the computer or what not um I think that might be something that's advantageous to looking into um in regard to the policy um so kind of more of a comment and a question on that one my other would be uh my concern would be to request um that if this does move forward and is approved that similar to our regular suspensions report for example that there would be something to the board whether it be on a monthly or a quarterly basis so that we can see what positions our um telecommuting and for how long what the position is um obviously we would assume that everybody's you know doing the best and trustworthy and all of these things um but I think that it would behoove us to know that we have certain individuals that have been or certain positions that have been you know why is this person Telecom communting for so long so that were aware right the two people that that did go to telecommunity that was in the uh in the consent agenda for the hires when it when they took place because it took place in the in the spring or excuse me in the fall but yes we can go ahead and give the names of any addition people um we'll address each one and then and then communicate to you what's what's going on right now we currently have two and then we just wanted to make sure we had a process that was was there for all employees okay any other comments questions concerns all right wait yeah sorry okay I just think it's a slippery slope that's all no and I understand I'll be honest with you uh I would have said the same thing uh probably a year ago um and we had that conversation but when we start to take a look at recruiting and retention uh and we have good employees that work for us and there's an option there that could maintain that um with the the tough job market that's out there I I probably spun a little bit um uh in the opposite direction but I had that same concern especially uh coming out of Co I think the other issue is we we've tried to do our due diligence to make sure and again the policy is related to the law to the extent when you get to the regulation and exhibit it's meet on the bones so when you get the if you pass this when you get the memo from me tomorrow morning you'll see that the the regulation I believe is five or six pages long so that tries to address and deal with all the different things that people may be asking a question the form follows up in lines to that uh to try and address the concerns but I do understand your your concern Mr Ray like I said uh up to a few years ago or up to about a few months ago I should say I probably would have the same concerns but given what we could do with some of the people that we thought were beneficial to the district we decided to move forward with this and right now you only have two correct we only have two and we wouldn't anticipate uh the other one that might help out with this would be um and we have to be very very careful with this but if there's a a situation within family uh medical or otherwise that they may be for a period of time a short period of time that we would be allow them to do uh and when we say telecommuting rather than work from home because depending on the requirements for what they need to do with uh with technology it may be that they don't have it at their house and they may have to to work from a parent house as an example but we may be able to work with our staff to to make it so that we don't lose them uh and we can meet their needs that that may be going on with the family situation and it may be for a short period of time one month or two months type thing and so that that's the other group that we'd be looking to to get at but because there's a process it's not an automatic and we would review it uh uh very carefully before before we made any additional agreements I don't have a problem with it at all having done it a couple different times working from home this also gives us a a greater pool of people if we have a position that doesn't have to be done in office we can broaden the talent that we can be looking for it's going actually give us a chance to find more people for a job than just being local for our current people okay let me get this straight so we've already hired them they're already working the these two so this isn't asking us whether we want to hire a just giving guidelines giving us yeah it's it's the guidelines to do it we we put two people in place but if if you told us no and this was voted down then obviously as we go into the new contract year those two individuals would not necessarily receive a contract in the new year um if you voted up then we're just having a process in place and again we did it because it was the best interest and they were working for us but then in hindsight we said we need to put this into a process which is why we're bringing this forward at this point so why wouldn't they be rehired at this point they would but if you say no to a telecommuting process and the telecommuting policy then we'd have to say are we going to bring them back because the board directed us not to do telecommuting and so therefore they potentially wouldn't if we have this policy in place because what we're trying to do is make sure that any person that comes to us with this request is treated the same so that we don't get the notion of oh you like this person and you don't like this person and that's why you gave it and so as a board we're asking for permission to move continue to move forward with it this if you said no we do not want this then we would honor the contracts and agreements with them through the end of the year but then we would have to assess the fact that the board has directed us not to do telecommuting and we would go ahead and publish those positions and look to replace them I guess that doesn't make sense to me okay I mean why why they would not continue as a job with a job I mean that's the way they were hired I mean is there a way to well I mean if the board directs that we can again I'm assuming just vote Yes and then they can continue right but but but yes we'll find out what's in the right but if if if the motion is to say no we don't want the policy but you're directing Administration for the two people to continue to work with us and now they'll go ahead and have a contract um or tell me to bring it back as as a contract that we would hand out to them when we hand out contracts then I'll hand it out I'm assuming if you vote no you're telling me you don't want this to occur then that's why I would remove them but if you want to to allow those two people to continue then we can address that in the when we hand out contracts and the list we bring to you in March that says these individuals will get it I will highlight those two individuals so you know who they are and then I would go ahead and move forward I'm making an assumption and we know what happens when we make assumptions so if you give me different direction I'll do something different I I can see the reluctance um that many people would have um I telecommute I do marketing for a national nonprofit Prof um and there is a lot of freedom in that as an employee of a company um we also own businesses and we hire individuals that telecommute um my husband and our family um so I've seen both sides of that coin um I do think that there are some concerns but I do think with a couple of um items that might be able to be added such as monitoring on an as needed basis perhaps not every position would need to be monitored um with a service that they have online for you to you check in and you clock in and they're monitoring your activity um some of them also have video cameras so it's it's it's as monitoring as much or as little as as needed um and in some situations maybe not at all depending on the task but then to have complete transparency and instead of the position or what not is mentioned in one of these meetings such as we're at right now now um but with a consistent report so that we're all consistently aware of positions and who and what they're doing I don't know if that would ease any Minds um or if there's other ideas that anybody on the board has um that would be a potential catch so that we could not let things happen that should maybe not be happening I I just want to make sure that so is this going to open up the door to the our staff that we have on campuses right now to where they say oh I just I'm going to work from home today no and that's part of the regulation and again the the the detail of the regulation goes to five or six pages to deal with that um but the board's Authority is only for policy so I have to get you to approve the policy so when I send you the uh when I so a couple different things when I send you the regulations tomorrow morning and you read through the five or six pages you'll see that we've tried to address many of these issues if you believe we've something then please reach out to me as a regulation or an exhibit the administration can go ahead and make those changes and all they have to do is share them with the board so you see it but like I say you'll see I think it's a five or six page document that tries to address all of those issues and I can tell you that your specific question is addressed and no you can't just say hey I woke up today and it's a little bit late so hey I'm going to tell commute today summer yeah no they have to have they have to ask for permission ahead of time fill out the forms go through their supervisor who then goes through to Dr Middleton and myself to have a conversation so there's a whole process that says that this is going to take place we've asked I believe I could be off a little bit on this a two or 3 week lead time on when this is going to occur so no it's not just a wake up this morning okay you have to do a two or three week lead time that says this is what's happening in my life and therefore and oh by the way no it can't be your vacation so you can't say hey I'm going on vacation we'll use coming up we have a three-day weekend and so I'm going to go ahead and telecommute on Thursday and Friday so I get a five-day weekend no that doesn't work either so we've tried to address address that in the regulation this is just the policy that the regulation would follow um and we're just following the the practice within all school districts that you guys deal with policy and then we show you the regulation that exhibit uh as an administrative uh charge so I guess then I have another question so maybe I'd feel better if some of those regulations were in the policy what what we've done is again uh based on legal council's advice we've shown them the whole ser Series so we haven't just shown them the first series and and we've crafted the policy and the regulations based on legal advice we can make that change and I can bring it back but so when we went ahead and said okay this is what we want to develop um that's why we've been working with both asba as well as uh legal counsel to say take a look at what's else is out there uh tell us what other people are doing and then we'll craft this we can go ahead and add more to the policy But but so if you have a concern based on what's in there and you want to add let us know but that's our starting point was to say this is what we're trying to do and legal council came back and said we believe this is compliant with what you need to do we can make changes but that's how we started where we started from so can we see the can though we only approve policy and not regulation right can we see the regulation before we approve the policy if you would like we can go ahead and push this to March and and I can share with you the regulation yes I'd feel great about that okay I agree okay so we're um is every is anybody is everybody in agreement that they'd like to table this till March I would but that's me okay I'm good with it now but I'm gonna make a motion that we table I'm gonna make a motion that we table this until March till we can see the regulations I will second that okay all in favor I I did you got would you two I yeah yeah okay so motion carries so we're going to have to make a new motion on that one right it doesn't prevent them from working right now and it gives us a chance to be comfortable with the policy that's I think it's a good choice I will go ahead and send out the memo tomorrow morning so you have a full month to take a look at it it was stepen no problem Steve have you ever worked from home under extreme duress under extreme duress I got to do it a couple different times and I thoroughly enjoyed it all that the motion carried 5 to zero okay um 8.4 discussion and consideration of approval of The High Ground um political consultant and con to conduct a Capital Bond and M override Community survey oh is this wait a minute are they doing an M override survey as well no I in writing the in writing the um agenda item I I want broad as possible um uh based on the conversation uh we would we would do some follow-up conversation they may not pres present the m&o piece what this is is as we we as I've told you we had Steel make the presentation which our uh bound uh uh individuals that do our bond work they presented to the board in January the tax rates and the implication of the tax rates the biggest issue with our bond because of our to make it simple because of our increasing uh uh property assess valuation in the district and our decreasing debt as we pay off our debt uh we are in a position that we can go upwards of $80 million without raising taxes we would keep the same tax rate 100 excuse me $110 uh for uh the next uh depending on how much money we went out for upwards of about 10 years and then it would start to fall down that doesn't preclude what may happen when uh LG the LG plant uh comes on board because that'll impact the taxes for the taxpayers in a positive way but I don't know what those numbers would be we currently have a bond committee taking a look at all of our potential needs uh and they'll be coming back with a uh a recommendation at the same time we have to go ahead and look at a community survey and and so we went out and asked for six different individuals our companies to see if they would do a um survey for us two responded uh primary consultants and High Ground we brought them in for an interview with a team and based on that interview we're making the recommendation for High Ground to do the survey they would go ahead and meet with us after tonight if you approve them uh and based on that we would look at and finalize what the survey looks like they would go out for the survey probably mid March to uh end of March and then come back with us in April with the numbers we went and used High Ground back in 2020 um when we looked at this topic uh they have a if I remember correctly they have a line in the sand so to speak if you don't have a 60% uh favorability rating in the survey they would recommend that you don't go out the board has the right to go out or not go out irrespective of the of the survey um but they will go ahead and ask uh High efficacy voters voters that have voted in multiple elections it will mirror the makeup of our district so they're not just going to go out for D's or not just go out for RS they will look and say what's the makeup of Republicans what's the makeup of Democrats what's the makeup of Independents and it's a phone interview uh that they go ahead and do the interview ask a series of questions and then we'll get the data what our goal would be is that in April uh there's a chance we will need to have a special meeting in April just to deal with this issue we would look at what the survey said as well as what the committee made uh to then have a conversation about what you guys think of all of that based on that conversation if the decision is to continue to move forward we would look to bring forward something in either May or June for approval to go out for a bond if the numbers don't pencil out relative to the survey then it may die at that moment in time and then it becomes a moot point but this survey is probably the most important portion of it because it's going to give us a flavor of what our community thinks about what we're looking to do um and obviously the key question I don't know how it'll be phrased but the key question is going to be if you did not raise your taxes would you be supportive of a bond and and they will ask questions about the different items that the bond would would go for like safety School Safety and Security it could be extracurricular it could be infrastructure it could be curriculum uh they will ask those types of questions and then come back with it and uh the both primary Consultants who was not chosen and um High Ground are the two preeminent pollsters uh for school districts Beyond school districts but for school districts in the state and so I feel very comfortable moving forward with this uh survey the funding of this survey will come out of our donation uh account rooftop fees not out of m&o um and so I would recommend approval as presented it says that budget resources M I know I T that's my ER I apologize I talked with Julian we we decided that uh uh rooftop fees would be a better Source what what percentage of the community do they um poll the the Comm the polling is for 400 um 400 people within the community that mirror those that voted um last time it's a 15minute uh 15minute uh uh phone interview so it's a phone interview it's not a it's not a u Internet or texting type thing it's a call to uh 400 uh in uh individuals in our community so here's my main question if you were to call me I would say how is that not going to raise my taxes right and the the series of questions I don't know what they are because we haven't finalized that uh there would be a series of questions that would potentially try to explain it part of it will be that we will have to do the job um and the and the Pol political action committee that will be formed if you decide to move out on for a a bond will have to explain that as we go around and talk to our community in a 15-minute um uh survey you're not going to be able to um go into all the detail because they're trying to have the same series of questions for everybody um and that's part of it if if there's a I'll use the term don't want to use it but I'll use it but if there's distrust of the district and therefore to your question as you just said I don't trust you telling me that I'm not going to raise your taxes and I'm going to tell you that I wouldn't vote Yes for it and everybody that they call or the majority of people that they call come back and say that then um we'll have to come up with a different strategy um to figure out what's going on the reason we're moving forward with this Bond as I've said to you be to to the board before we're getting to the point with declining enrollment and budgets the way they are in this uh State um that well I think we've done a very good job with our Esco and other things to fix all of our facilities but it's getting to a point where I'm not exactly sure how we maintain our facilities given the current state and so we have to look at other options but if if the community as a whole uh does not feel like uh that's what they want uh then we move forward but you won't get all of that answers out of there because the only reason why I'm asking that question is because you said one question though I say is if would would you would you vote for a bond if it didn't raise your taxes right so that would be like if you called me that'd be the first thing I would ask how is that not going to raise my taxes and again I don't know how the the question will be framed because I haven't seen it I'm giving you the again steifel was here and I know you weren't on on there but but their 35 slide with detail Way Beyond my scope uh and knowledge level basically in very simplistic terms because we're growing so much out here and the primary or excuse me the secondary assess valuation continues to rise therefore it's increasing at an a average of about 10% % annually we just got the new numbers for the tax rate from panal County this week and it's another 10% increase over what the secondary tax rate or excuse me secondary assess valuation was last year because you're growing at 10% but you're also paying off your debt the gap between the two is what determines how much a district can go out for and that's going to determine then whether you whether you increase your taxes because that Gap continues to change you're not going to have to go out increase taxes issue that's going to be there is you're not going to get that long-winded um explanation because it's 15minute uh survey and so and you got X number of questions so you can't sit there and have a conversation each time so the data we get is based on the on the survey but it may lead to some questions like you have that other people have that's where we'll assess what the survey says and then decide whether and there'll be a presentation to you guys in April it's not it's not just going to be I'm going to come in and throw a number at you we will have uh Mr B he would have been here today but he had a prior commitment and and couldn't make it but Mr B who will do the work for High Ground will be here to explain the survey results he will also explain the survey results to the committee so that the committee will make some decisions uh moving forward and so again the committee may come out with a decision that we don't think it's worthwhile to move forward because the negative uh perception of the of the survey or we think it should move forward because of positive perception of the survey all any other questions if you don't have any questions I'll take a motion my motion to approve The High Ground political Consultants to conduct a capital Bond mmin override Community survey as presented I'll take a second I second right all in favor I I I motion carries 5 to Zer we'll wait till it gets up on the board check my work check your work okay 8.5 uh discussion and consideration of approval of the 25 26 school year fee schedule Dr Fountain have you come up and talk about that one thing after Dr Fountain discusses this please make sure that the recommendation or excuse me yeah the recommendation is read specifically from here this is in statute so you must read this recommendation the way it's written so that we're in compliance with the state statute so we can't say as presented no you can't say as presented just make it sure all right this one's pretty straightforward and simple um you should have the course fees in front of you very very minimal differences from last year we're keeping relatively consistent probably going to have to look at some increases next year but we were trying to avoid that as much as possible um couple of additions because of new courses being added keeping those consistent with um previous course alignment um the big thing that you will note uh that that is different on there is it's been the last couple of years um previously we were able to use some Esra dollars to support summer school programming uh given that that money is no longer in place we're in a position where we will um need to charge for summer school in order to be able to provide those offerings um we have kept that consistent with what it was in years past I will tell you that's pretty significantly below what some of our neighboring districts are are charging um and again probably something we're going to have to increase as we move forward um but those are the big notable pieces on there for the course fees everything else is staying staying pretty consistent in status quo any questions on this um I have more of a comment as opposed to a question um between my two children and I don't know if this was already existing with the $400 cap per family regarding the athletic fee um just with my two I paid over that which I'm happy to do and I don't want my money back I I love buying gear at the at the book store sweatshirts and things like that um I don't know how well known that is so for families that it might be a hardship for them and that they would benefit from having that knowledge especially if they have multiple children that are in multiple sports for them to be able to um receive that $400 limit I think that that would be great to to get that word out whether it's posted in the bookstore that's where you usually go to pay your fee um so that they're aware of it sure and I would say that that's not a piece I'm overly familiar with either on my end I would abely uh defer to the high school on that to know what their processes and procedures are but we will check into that because if the board is approving a $400 cap and the reason for the $400 cap is because it's aligned to uh tax credits and families that put in tax credits that's a very consistent uh cap that's put in place by most districts so if we're not doing that uh then we need to be doing it because you're approving a 400 cap and although we appreciate the fact that you would not like the money back the reality is we have to give the money back uh because there is a cap there that's been approved by the board so I will look into it starting tomorrow to see what what's taking place and if there's been some errors we're going to have to correct those errors uh but that $400 cap has been done consistently across the state in every District I've been in and it's aligned with the tax credit that a family uh could use parents could use as part of their tax credit so we would need to make sure it's capped at $400 that's good to know um is it I know a lot of people pay online is there a way that when they pay their fees online that it's something that it's said there on as well also something we could look into I don't and it should be that we should set up the software program that should automatically right come up and say you're Capp and so if you have four kids that pay the $100 in the fall season then you shouldn't be paying anything for the rest of the year okay any other questions comments concerns all right if not I'll take a motion I will motion to approve the 2025 2026 fee schedules and authorize the principles to wave the assessment of all or part of the fee assessed if created economic hardship I second hold on does she have to read it verbatim what it says was she okay okay the major part that comes in is the law auth the authorization of principles to W the assessent fee all in part uh If it creates a hardship that's the portion of the law that must be read all right okay so um I'll need a second on that I second okay and all in favor I I motion carries by Z all right there we have itoo okay we have um discussion and consideration of approval of the district's 2324 audit Madame President members of the board Dr Wyman and community members I'm happy to announce that Clifton Larsson Allen has finally completed our June 30 2024 Financial audits electronic copy was attached um the annual comprehensive financial report was attached to the general uh agenda item the bound copies that I normally present to you are still being bound by Clift and Larson as soon as those arrive I'll make sure that you get your copy the annual comprehensive financial report or acfr is the 120 page narratives overview and Analysis of our financial activities in The District in Conformity with our General accepted accounting principles or what we like to call Gap the single audit reporting package is a review of our internal controls over financial reporting and compliance in accordance with gap standards the FY 24 single audit reporting package noted only one item this year so we're very happy about that the one item is in regards to the internal controls over the preparation of our Capital assets listings and reconciling the capital asset listings to the prior period audit this item has been on our single audits since I've been with coms however Karen Finn and I have been working with Clifton Larsson Allen over the last several years and this finding has been reduced from a material weakness to a significant weakness to me that sounds really backwards and I told Clifton Larson that but it is a reduced weakness of our internal controls and we do feel confident that this will go away like the other two items this one will go away next year the final item is the uniform system of financial records compliance questionnaire unfortunately Clifton Larson has not finalized this document so I was not able to attach it however if there's any areas of note I will make sure that I come back at the next meeting and give you those items in the discussion forum it's not really something to approve but it is an informative item on compliance throughout the district's uh various areas these it items are all being brought to you for your review and acceptance but as a reminder in February 2021 Arizona revised Statute 1594 914 se8 H amended that school district governing boards shall publicly accept all Audits and compliance questionnaires by a roll call vote so I do need Acceptance in that fashion tonight are there any questions I'm really sad that Bob's not here yes so these books that you're sending to us they're public record right yes sir they are for anybody yes sir we will load you you can send mine to Bob they're on the board report tonight they will also be loaded on our website they are loaded to the ad they are loaded to Emma for financial pliant so they are everywhere for I'm sure that if I know Bob he's already looked at them but I would like him to have a nice bound copy right I I can give him my bound copy okay any um any questions on this Con comments considerations um okay if not um so I'm going to take a motion I move to approve the 2023 2024 annual comprehensive financial report and supporting documents as presented a second okay now I will do a roll call Mr Beach I yes Dr Valena I Mr Ray I Shelley haras I Lisa horn I all right thank you motion carries 5 to zero all right are we good okay all right discussion and information on estimate of excess capacity for open enrollment acceptance for 2526 this is an annual item that we have to bring to you uh it just tells uh the public what our open enrollment capacity is the numbers have not changed from previous years a couple things just especially for the new board members that I'll I'll remind people of um this is done at the the the district or excuse me the school level which is figured out by looking at the school facilities board it's now the schools facility division of adoa um but they have a number of what each of our schools are uh it's done at the grade level and it's also done at the programmatic level I say that only because number one um you may have a situation where you have capacity at a school you may have a situation where you have capacity at a grade level you may have a situation where you do not have capacity in a program so you could have a family wanting to come from outside to our district and they may accept the third grade student who's in third grade because we have capacity they have a fourth grade student that's a special needs student and we do not have capacity in special needs therefore that would be denied if they're denied they're placed on a waiting list and if um we uh uh have room then there's a process that we would select people on the waiting list uh the other piece that's there is just because we have um uh a ratio so 1 to 27 in second grade um any student that lives in our boundaries we have to take so it doesn't matter if our ratio is 1 to 27 if we have two grades or excuse me two classes in a gr in a at second grade in the school and they're both at 27 if the person moves into our boundaries and they're going to that school and that ra raises it to 28 then it means we have 28 we don't automatically hire somebody because we exceeded our capacity right if we got up to 35 or 36 kids in that class then we would we would start to look at and it might be even 33 or 34 quite frankly we'd start looking at replacement but if you take two classes that means you're going to be bringing in about 10 or 12 kids before you start looking at at increasing sometimes people confuse that um now if we at the 1 to 27 and outside our boundaries someone from Florence wanted to come then we could say no there so I would recommend approval as presented because it's what we've been using for the last number of years all right any questions comments concerns okay if not I'll take a motion a motion to approve the estim of excess capacity for open enrollment acceptance for the 2025 2026 as presented I second that motion all in favor I I I motion carries 5 to zero okay 8.8 discussion and approval of air quality monitoring site agreement with panal County this is another one of those agreements we've had in this case we've had it since uh 2000 the site is down at CTA and been there since 2000 so it's just a renewal of agreement that we've always had with them that they do air quality and so I'd recommend approval as presented anything all right I'll take a motion I move to approve the the I move to renew the air quality monitoring site agreement with pel County as presented second all in favor I I motion carries five to zero so um 9.1 is just discussion and it's discussion information on the srl role and responsibility at CHS and I'm sorry that you had to sit for so long but we do appreciate you we've been waiting for you for years and so now come to our Podium please that was a that apology was to you Deputy monso not us [Laughter] yes good evening uh president harus school board members Dr Wyman Mrs Winger colleagues Community um we were very blessed at the beginning of the second semester to have allocated to us a deputy from pan County Sheriff's Office to join us through the school safety program Grant and he is now our seventh SSP Grant funded position within this District the other six are counselors or social workers next slide I have so here um just to capture briefly the school safety guiding principle so I'll let your eyes um land on that screen of the intent behind having an SRO on a campus principal lus and Deputy munsa will speak more to those but I highlight on there the law for kids symbol because that's the training platform that uh principal Loftus Deputy munso have already completed the mandatory annual training they have to do all of our SSP Grant funded positions and the administrators that house those positions have to do the um law for kids um framework to do their training I do want to note that when it comes to student handbook policy violations campus administrators take the lead on that when the conduct though violates a law that's when they would invite in Deputy mslo into that conversation and with that I'm going to pass the podium over over here is that better thank you so much for letting us come and share the exciting news about having Deputy M mslo on our campus I would say in just the first six weeks that he has been on Jes it has definitely his visibility and student interactions is very much noted um our students welcome him to our campus and want to engage in conversations with him I would say the most popular conversations oftentimes led by him and sometimes led by them is how was the game last night how's your lunch and then the number one topic of conversation is either does tasing get hurt or does it hurt and and or if I get pulled over how can I get a warning instead of a ticket um and listening to him share that information I think we might start an elective class on that topic so don't be surprised if there's not addition to the course catalog next year that is led by Deputy mslo so that's I'm sure he'll be excited you might be surprised he'll be asking for a pay raise he gives some insightful um uh information um one of the other positive interactions is have his availability um just like Miss Thompson said his available to availability to Administration when unfortunately unlawful happenings might happen on our campus he is readily available prior we would have to give a call to pcso and it could be 15 minutes or it might be two hours now it's five minutes because he's just across the way or he's down in the cafeteria or he's walking campus so he can come and respond to to that um and give some insight and respond and and make a report if needed on that incident um and then beyond those positive interactions we're very excited um as we get towards the end of the year one of the things that we hope to do is look at our own incident data and look at what we might want to achieve on our campus um one of the things that he's also already done in inviting one of his um deputies to campus along with him has done an assessment of safety of our campus and making sure that what we have going on there is the safest possible campus that we can have of course there's areas that could be improved but those things cost money and that's something that we don't have right now so but I'll let him speak to what he's experienced so far on our campus good evening um I don't want to talk myself out of a job but one thing I have noticed compared to the other high schools you have very few problems the issues that you have are the same issues that every High School is experiencing um some drugs and obviously The Vaping and those are the two biggest ones nobody has a solution for that there isn't a technological solution it's simply just engaging with the kids so that's what we're doing every day um but on a whole from the size of the campus um where I was was in Elementary in Middle School much more of it there than you have here um that was about 800 900 kids it's about 1300 so if that's been my biggest surprise is honest ly the lack of discipline issues and the things that you have going on um that being said what I really want to start focusing on is the Law related education um right now getting here in the middle of the Year wasn't exactly the best time to come uh teachers already have what they want to teach and obviously walking into their educational environment disrupting it isn't what I'm trying to do but trying to get them to where they can get some time in there where if we have something that we're concerned with fentanyl vaping whatever that might be and also the what to know 18 the class that all the students have talked to so they really want to want to get to know but it's trying to find the time in the schedule so we can actually get those classes done so that's what we're kind of working on now and as soon as the teachers start to engage I'm sure my calendar is g f nice I all I know is that I was already approached by um staff and parents and even some students that were like did you hear that we have an SRO it's awesome like we we love it like some of the staff is like we can tell already like a little bit of a change and I was like oh that's great so yeah welcome we appreciate you thank you questions any questions um I don't have a question more of a comment um first in gratitude that we have you here at the school um I have mentioned it before that I do have two children that attend comes High School um and I'm ecstatic to have you there I've also heard lots of tons of positivity um my only comment would be that in order to maintain the respect for the position that you have and that um just your presence makes a difference I that's this is that's just my personal opinion I'm not speaking for the entire board um in order to maintain that especially with the youth um then I ask for the district to support any decisions that are made um at the site level when it comes to disciplinary actions um so that they don't undo any of the things that are being done does that make sense yeah there's an IGA so there's agreement between Coles the district and pel County Sheriff's Office that does lay out very clearly that uh discipline issues at this at the high school are completely under the purview of the high school anything that comes into a criminal activity is completely under my purview I am very cautious with that because I do understand that arresting people on a on a high school campus is going to have a number of phone calls to the school and as there's an image issue with that so I'm very cautious about how I use my law enforcement Powers if I need to obviously I'm going to but I do understand that and my role out there that I can put you guys in a very bad position where you're Fielding phone calls and that's never my intention So within the obviously the Safety and Security of the the students and the staff comes first um and then after that when it's a Law Enforcement issue um M County Sheriff's Office gives me discretion to use my best judgment on how to how to address things um if if somebody needs to be taken out of the campus and removed then that's that's appropriate if it's a a citation and release then that's appropriate but um I'm very cautious about making sure that yeah I know I don't get you guys and anybody into some conversations that we don't want to have and also understand how that's going to affect the the sheriff's office I appreciate that and and really what I'm speaking to is if there's a student that they are suspended for I'm just going to for sake of conversation say 10 days or eight days or whatever it is um and a parent is is upset and they don't think that their child should have been suspended that the district needs to support the decisions that are made at at the site level I I I would like those parents to come talk to me because I I I I have dealt with those parents I understand what they're doing I understand that it's about their kids um I'm not I'm at the school I'm not necessarily part of the school um so I can sometimes be a neutral third party but also explain to them you know your your child is being held accountable the school is holding your child accountable if your if your child continues to do this at some point law enforcement is going to hold them accountable and you're not gonna you're not going to have the same kind of conversation so as time goes on I'm hoping that the school does leverage me in those roles because it is something that I'm comfortable doing and talking um and I think it it it supports the school and supports what they're doing but also gets education to the community that sometimes just think they can walk in and they you know what they say goes and that's that's not the way it is um the the big the big key for me is always bringing it back to Safety and Security and as long as I can bring that back then we don't really have much of a conversation you're you're you're making this environment unsafe sorry your child's gonna be spending eight days with you I I think proximity is like key the fact that you're even there I mean even administrators if they if you're walking around proximity Is key it it just alleviates so much just to begin with couple things for clarification just is for new board members uh legally up to 10day suspension by the board is a decision at the administrative level meaning principal assistant principal I do not have authority nor does anybody else at the district office to override that uh Dr Fountain off done talks to the parents just like Deputy lunow would to explain but we do not have uh authority to override a principal decision uh for up to 10 days of suspension so so please note that um again we'll talk to parents but but that's the first thing I tell them there's nothing I can do to override that um uh situation the other thing just so we're all very clear per the igas and the agreements uh Dr Deputy mslo can only be on the high school campus he cannot run over to Ranch if there's an issue and then the last thing is we do have per uh approval from uh the state for another officer that would be part-time at ccs and part-time at at CMS at this point in time we continue to uh explore the possibility of getting that if that takes as long as this one uh we will come back to you in four years and we will introduce to you a a new uh officer all right any other comments you guys have anything all right thank you so [Applause] much discussion 9.3 discussion oh no discussion 9.2 um discussion information information on student achievement February report Madam president members of the board Dr Wyman audience members I am here to present to you on some professional learning updates for our department um the first piece has to do with our new educator professional learning and Mentor program that I'm supporting this year in professional learning we have supported those new staff members with navigating classroom power struggles in October that was a big Focus that was a virtual session I did do a survey this year and and a lot of the people asked to be virtual for some of the sessions so trying to honor that um they joined virtually we had some strategy discussions we did some scenarios we went into breakout rooms and it seemed very successful based on their feedback we also again did a virtual session in January with Miss Yetta she let LED that one with employee Wellness we talked about physical mental emotional and social wellness and did some discussions in breakout rooms there as well when we talk about Mentor observations um that's when they come in and observe the mentee in their own classroom and the feedback from them was that there's a lot of improvement in classroom management and lesson delivery as they are getting in their classrooms if they're a first year person they have a second observation this this semester so we're working on scheduling those when we talk about a mentee observation of a veteran the mentees work with their mentors to go and visit another teacher somewhere on their campus some of the teachers went outside of their grade level or content area and had some positive feedback and some new ideas when we looked at a mentee survey I did that in January as I halfway through the year and their feedback was they really appreciate the support their mentors have given and they've been very supportive and responsive of them we have an endof Year celebration plan for the uh middle of May right before we finish the school year to celebrate all the success of that program this year and then moving forward I'm going to meet with student services um to talk about how we can support them because I inherited this program this year and the checklists and things we do are really teacher focused and not always all employee groups focus so I want to make sure we make some adjustments for that are there any questions about this part of the program I really like the fact that you gave them the virtual option i' like that I think you probably will have more people 10 and we had the first one in person just a face tof face meet and then I I did a survey and they were all like that would be helpful yeah for them so trying to meet their needs yeah that's great so then moving on um just a review of what we did in January we had a solution tree representative Mark onk he did a keynote in our um CPAC and he talked about connecting those high impact strategies for teachers and learning teaching and learning and the staff this qualitative feedback they gave us was they felt like they know how to create better student connections they were feeling like they were inspired they walked out of that session feeling inspired there were great conversations in the audience um it reinforced how important that relationships between student teacher are and the importance of working as a team to support students it was a very successful experience good um this the next few slides are different groups or different sessions that we held so the questions are the same um but this the session was different so this was mapping standards and designing engagement the questions were around the first one was resources that support their understanding of the topic and that the learning was sequenced in an organized Manner and they had high marks for for those two pieces for that session and then the next three questions were was the presenter prepared because that's on my end professional learning or are people prepared to deliver that and then did the session offer methods to help them as a learner as as well as their comfort in implementing so again some positive feedback for that session some qualitative feedback was they felt like they had a chance to really plan ideas around engagement for cognitive and participation engagement in the classroom they were able to look at their math units and pacing and discuss strategies they were also able to think about how they can apply their their roles um we had role groups breaking out as counselor social worker and they they liked having it tailored to them um um they wanted to look at more engagement activities that was really a big focus and they really enjoyed that time to plan intentionally the next group was our CTE group um John scram LED that group and they were doing a followup from work based learning that they did um earlier in the year and they were doing more implementation so again the same types of questions they felt the resources supported them that the learning was sequenced in an organized Manner and they were very successful or felt this part was very successful their presenter was prepared they felt like they had a lot of um learning on their own and that they could Implement what they learned and their qualitative piece was they felt like they had good strategies our medical assistant who was honored this evening felt like she had some strategies to start an internship program um they were working on a plan for TV and film they have a template to make that plan and then our Middle School was also able to participate and they felt like they could get a start on what that might look like at the middle School piece and then the last breakout session we had this was back to our keynote speaker he did some breakout sessions with some cognitive strategies he gave us six strategies to walk away with um and the feedback again was mostly positive there were a few people that were um had some lower ratings but the same questions overall they were very positive in their feedback um new ideas gained uh some had seen the Frayer Model and really enjoyed that and have implemented it right away this person said even about math they were able to use a gist summary and take that away right away ideas on helping their emergent Learners with critical thinking skills they walked away with all those six strategies it was actually in a packet and they felt like they could create better connections and Implement them to see what their students potential was so that was our main focus for January are there any questions about our January professional learning and the last piece is moving forward in March we're going to do our very first Spring District showcase we had 25 members on our staff submit a proposal to do their own session so we will have them present their session our content Specialists are working to support them with facilitation tips because it's one thing to teach your students it's another thing to teach adults um we'll have four 50 minute sessions led by those staff members they'll have time to discuss implementation with their teams and then we'll have our campuses actually launch as a campus group and close out the day as a campus group and then moving into may we have Maria neelen who's the author of The 15-day challenge coming to do an intensive with our campus leaders District leaders and then site teacher leaders and that will be an all day event and then next year our focus is to move on to continuing our work with proficiency scales to move into some assessment literacy and D datadriven decision Focus um as we continue our progression in our professional learning communities have any other questions I think it looks great thank you for your time okay are you making sure that everybody uh dresses appropriately on March 17th inappropri yes okay Madame President members of the board Dr Wyman and my amazing colleagues thank you for the opportunity to uh be with you here today and share some wonderful things that are going on in Career Technical education as Dr Wyman mentioned uh February is National CTE month and Dr or excuse me and uh Governor Hobbs has also recognized that for the State of Arizona so the timing for me to present today is very appropriate um before I get started um uh I really appreciate the middle school and high school CT teachers that were here today um you know one of our teachers medical assisting totally new to the the subject and has just in a phenomenal job but Mr ivanic is not an AG teacher right um he's a city boy in in every way shape and form uh and he jumped in because we could not find an a teacher and he has done a phenomenal job is doing things that he didn't have to do and so Credit Credit should go to him for for doing the best he can and making that program um sustainable and the kids love him they do great guy and he he is he's fantastic and then I had three teachers that didn't arrive or weren't here today two did have the flu um and one had a coaching responsibility but one of them that had the flu he was online today he was one of one online today but he wanted to make sure that he was at least present in some way shape reform that was Brian Taylor so in CTE um we have adopted this this motto that if it's important to or for our students then it's important to us and the reason we say that is because there are a lot of requirements a lot of expectations of CTE teachers in CTE programming um many things that um some teachers are are not expected to do um so for example um every program has to have an advisory counsel so they have to go out they have to recruit recruit business professionals industry leaders parents students and so forth to be a part of that Council and then hold meetings Twi at least twice a year um they are required to have a student organization so some we have clubs on campus but CTE has student organizations and those are required and so uh these aren't things that they can choose to do they have to do them um so uh sometimes um we have to figure out what the value of those are and as we dive into deep and understand how advisory councils how ctsos benefit the students we realize that that's important to them and when it's important to them then it amps up our efforts because we know that it has an impact um today you will get a shortened version of what I do my colleagues will be happy to know that I usually have a very tall soap box and a very loud megaphone when it comes to CT because I love what I do um so you'll get some information if you have questions you're welcome can ask at the end um these are some benefits of uh CTE um across the state across Arizona and they apply to our district as well um statistically uh 95% of students who um uh graduate from they graduate from high school which is a large percentage above the national average of graduates and that that's pretty accurate for Arizona this is a national average but it's pretty accurate with Arizona as well is also accurate with our own students we we see that our CT students who concentrate in a program meaning two years um graduate at a higher rate than those who do not um lifetime earnings we hear a lot about um uh going to college and that is a great thing and I will always uh push for that as well but we find out that there are occupations that don't always require four-year degree so students can get a an industry certificate maybe an associates degree um and go to work right away and on average many of them make a very good earning even above that of um those with a bachelor's degree um 78% of CT graduates enroll in postsecondary so you know it's not the voet of 15 or 20 years ago it's not for those kids that are not going to college most of our CT graduates actually do go on to college um and then of course the Dropout prevention 81% of high school student dropouts said that if they had a real world experience they probably would not dropped out and CTE offers exactly that for students so what do we do um first of all obviously we teach those technical skills that are applicable to the workforce in our classrooms um you will see Hands-On learning um I I appreciate the comments made by Mrs horn about our facilities we make every effort to give those students a real world experience as they walk in those classrooms some of our teachers uh treat their classroom where their Labs like a workplace uh our nursing assistant teacher has their students clock in when they walk in the classroom uh it is part of their job and so we do the best we can uh to give those students that that Real World experience we also teach those professional skills and this is the biggest complaint that we have from employers out there is that we have too many not just high school students but adults who come to work and they do not have the proper skills to keep a job and so we also teach those skills in our curriculum I mentioned ctsos earlier those are those leadership skills where our students get to apply their skills they get to compete against other students uh across the state and even sometimes Across the Nation if they if they qualify to do so um part of their program of work is to to be involved with the community so they have community service projects that they participate in we support the academics of math Ela and science that is a requirement um uh with our Perkins grant that we do support those so we integrate content for math English and science into our our own content and then of course we have the career exploration development uh piece we do a lot of career exploration at the middle school level a little bit at the high school but then we really get into students kind of uh refining what it is that they might want to do after they graduate so they start developing some of those uh Career Development skills last year um 93% of our CTE concentrators graduated that's uh above the high school average as I mentioned before it's it's true Across the Nation um 56% of our students were placed in either Workforce military or postsecondary so they uh now 56% might not sound like a lot that's only of those who actually returned our surveys which is a big challenge for for us um but over half of our students are going on and doing something right after graduation the period for that is from July 1st to December 31st so they're going right into the workforce postsecondary or into the military and then we had 126 industry certifications earned last year and we are always trying to increase that every single student that concentrates in our program that second year um has an opportunity and when I say opportunity they're required um to take an industry um certification test and so um hopefully they walk out of that program with with that certification in fact our nursing assistant students just finished 30 of their 40 clinical hours over Christmas break and that's the dedication that they have when many students are vacation they are uh in a facility getting those hours so very pleased with with our students and the efforts they make um so we have a video I I'm assuming most of you have seen this but we're going to go ahead and play this but this is the one that won the award that was mentioned in Dr Wyman's report I think I have to start it Career and Technical education has always been on the Forefront of providing experiences for students to learn and learn best our programs are Hands-On and so our students are experiencing learning activities that include industry standard equipment the nursing program offers a lot of opportunities for students to get a chance to experience the healthc care world before actually entering it the Hands-On experiences we get to do involves a lot of vital science real life equipment that hospitals will use so we get to experience using that you're actually learning things about the career that you might want to go into it's giving you those different options and showing you different aspects from different leaders and everything like that you from home program that I'm involved in is the agroscience program through that program there's so many different aspects to it but with agriculture we are completely all Hands-On each little kind of like every CTE class that we have here they kind of work towards you and what you can accomplish through CTE so it really starts with that Foundation of students understanding really what is out there what's available to them so that they can start preparing now rather than waiting till after graduation do that so I'm in digital Comm and mass media in journalism we take photos we do interviews with peers and stuff here around school and then we also do a lot of reporting through newspaper and we also do football programs the hands out experience that I am getting is getting out there with my camera and taking my photos talking to other photographers just going out having fun getting hands on skills through the camera is probably the most effective way to get my photos is just doing itless so sitting there in class looking at the camera I'm in stagecraft it's a great program where we learn a lot of different things in the technical theater area we learn everything from Scenic and lighting to sound and even costumes and makeup there's just so many skills you can learn in such a short period of time it's so much fun probably their sign Burger we really look at what we're providing for them to be successful when they do leave us it is a huge opportunity to get scholarships meet people and just have the best time of your life honestly it opens so many doors to Business Leaders and everything that my opinion if you join CTE you will have a better experience in high school join a CTE program whether it is journalism or a different one it brings you a little bit of light into your school day being able to be like yes I want to be here and yes I want to do this and it gives me something to look forward to in the week you try something new and you find that spark you're going to go so far in what you love did a great job didn't they wonderful um so that's who we are in a nutshell um our Springtime is oh we get to watch it again um our Springtime is very busy we get into our ctso competitions our state uh test our our um industry certification test and so forth so our teachers and our students are extremely busy but if you'd ever like to visit get a tour I'd love to do that with you okay any any questions I have one question um one of the statistics that I it just really speaks to me I I love it um the 81% Dropout say that real world education would have ch changed their world let's say um what are you currently doing and or the counselors or other staff to kind of like intervention so when you see that there's a freshman perhaps and they're not meeting um the goal I think they try to get it is it four credits Mrs Loftus is that what they they yeah four yeah it's actually six credits six times four will get you at the 24 you need so they should be minimum they try to make sure get at least obviously they want to get six but some some of the kids that might be struggling and on the path to dropping out may not have that six and they might have that four how are you currently capturing them and saying hey you know maybe let's not focus on this and this and have you have you looked at any of our other courses and and maybe talked to them more about CTE good question I I can't really speak towards what the the counselors do I can tell you that at the middle school we have our career exploration class down there so we try to uh introduce to them to uh things that we offer at the high school so that when they're making those decisions come registration time that they're actually uh choosing classes that interest them from the get-go uh we had the eighth graders come up for a tour of just CTE programs uh which was a a great hit with them uh again trying to get them to understand what's available to them we find out that sometimes students are on our campus and they don't realize what we have um our nursing program has been around for forever and we and they walk around in scrubs and we still have students say well I didn't know we had a nursing program so we're trying to do a better job of marketing or promoting those programs so that students can do that um I know that there's some plans in place and I won't speak to it too much that's Mrs loftus's area but um uh the counselors are working on uh doing just that trying to figure out you know how do we identify students and and and and when we say pathway we're not trying to Keyhole them into anything right we don't expect a freshman to know exactly what he's going to do in four years but um they're trying to create some some things at the at the high school campus that will gear students towards finding their passion finding those things that they really want to stick to I always say that you know nobody really wakes up to go to algebra one I think that's true for about 98% of the students but they do wake up to go to band and they wake up to go to choir and and CT program and and to be eligible to play sports and things like that so I agree with you 100% we just have to be able to identify those kiddos and if there are some that are falling off you know try to capture them any other questions thank you thank you are we moving on are we done that done with that yep we're done right Dr F just the two presentation Just the Two of Y okay okay 9 .3 discussion information on the 2425 District student enrollment numbers I know that you sent us those yeah so if there's any questions or concerns I'll be more than happy to answer okay I sent you the memo okay um 9.4 discussion consideration of changes to policy beb agenda this is the first reading so I don't know if you just want to highlight something for us all I would say is we made a change back in in when I first got here and then when we we made a change that came through asba um my error for not making sure that in the new one the stuff we made in 19 was included uh the change from asba was a minor change it would have impacted what it looked like so I'm just cleaning these two up and giving you first read today and next month it'll just be basically what happened in when I first got here as well as what happened in 24 with asba and it'll just make sure the policy has has corrected both of those okay so 9.5 discussion and information regarding the new athletic league for Coles Middle School ask Mrs Ridge to come on down so the name is not official but it's where we landed um I'm partial to changing the name because I feel like copper um signifies like Copper Basin and I'm very territorial so so but I I was willing to concede until I was able to meet with you um again Madame President members of the board Dr Wyman my co-workers um if anybody knows me nothing gets me more excited than the possibilities of sports and the importance that it makes to just the experience of kids in the district especially the trajectory to high school so I'm excited to at least propose to you the creation of the copper conference a new Middle School athletic lead designed to bring together Florence Unified School District's three middle schools a pachy junction and comes Middle School the five School league would provide a more cost effective and travel-friendly alternative to our current league while ensuring our students compete against peers with similar skill levels and experience by forming the copper conference we can foster stronger local rivalries greater sportsmanship and a more balanced level of competition all while keeping expenses and travel time to a minimum and we look forward to collaborating to make this a reality for our future athletes one thing that I also wanted to um say to you guys is um I've been in this community a really long time and we've never had um a feeder program for for the high school and our most successful programs are like the little league that we we sponsor CU we have built-in teams that automatically feed into us and those are the teams that are are are um making our championships right the softball teams the baseball teams because that is what the kids have exposure to in our communities we don't have a Rec Center we don't have a lot of those amenities and so for the first time um in Middle School people are touching a ball for the first time like as much as I love our basketball team and I am the biggest cheerleader on the sideline it's kind of rough to watch 10 girls that have never played basketball before and it's just because there's no opportunity and we're looking to change that um so we would be keeping the same Sports so keep that enthusiasm Miss Horn that you had for sports and games and all of that because we in order to be a part of this league we have to propose um starting our first tackle football Coles Middle School is the only School in our neighboring um districts that does not or never has had a tackle football team so what I've seen um with my own eyes is students come to school with their football uniforms that say Santan youth um thatat league as well as um Florence has a team and I think they're called the Broncos so my students are wearing football jerseys to Florence and Queen Creek and so often times when when it's time for them to progress to high school um they've been with these kids since they're eight and they're often choosing to still continue that Journey um with football so that is a big sales pitch is to um connect that to being able to help with student enrollment um to make this Vision a reality um because there's cost Florence Unified School District has genous generously offered to sell or lease tackle football equipment to support our program's launch this partnership provides a cost-effective way to equip our student athletes while ensuring they have proper gear to compete safely by utilizing this opportunity we can Kickstart our program with equipment while fostering a stronger relationship between our schools with the right support we are confident that Colmes medal school can build a successful and sustainable tackle football program that benefits our students and community in the year years to come are there any questions just for some clarity because uh Florence is changing their model of of uh Schools they're going from k8s to K sixes I believe and then some seven eights they are reducing down from six programs that would have Middle School sports and playing tackle football to three therefore they have the excess uh equipment uh we've had this conversation both with AJ and and Florence for two years now because of the cost associated with the the current league we're in and so it just kind of came to fruition more in the last two or three months than it had the previous year because uh because of a lot of different reasons and and this will be part of the budget process but I wanted Mr Ridge to at least introduce the concepts to you now so that when we come back in in April with some of the budget stuff this would be part of it and it wouldn't be a surprise and so we have a chance to to can continue to move forward with the exploration um it's not quite Revenue neutral relative to the savings from from joining this league versus the other league but it's pretty close to revenue neutral or slight savings because the Transportation uh Associated costs associated not nearly as far as where we go with the other places so we're just looking at all and everything to to go ahead and address uh uh what's best for kids but also financially where we're at within the the district and so that's why I asked Mrs Ridge to do that she's been the one that's been at the meetings with the with the other uh ads and uh part of it so open for questions for her but I just want to give you some context and I also um forgot to mention because this is really important um as a former cheerleader we would be bringing back competitive cheer something we haven't had in the last um at least four years so that's important for you to consider as well as a former cheerleader I have a question for you no I I love everything that you do there and I my daughter was a cheerleader at combms last year um in eth grade and that's why she wanted to come to the high school was to cheer at the high school um so just to clarify for example when um she was cheering at eighth grade basketball they played against other local Charter Schools um and the high school finds themselves competing against some of these other schools and so to kind of preface my question um I have seen it with my own eyes um and we live out here there are not the resources I myself have my own children that play in Queen Creek and other leagues because we don't have those resources out here um dance gymnastics other things that these children need in order to be cheerleaders when they reach high school and they don't leave to go to these other charter schools that might have uh in their eyes better looking programs um to clarify what you're saying is instead of us continuing to play those Charter Schools we would not play them anymore we would play Florence and so um I love that and I'm I've been a huge um Advocate while it was necessary that we did find a league to join because we like Mr strum said people don't necessarily wake up excited to come for algebra but they are excited to come to cheer um it it was important that I was like we need to get out of this Charter School league um it's really it's it's not I've I've talked about I've mentioned this before it's um it's just is heartening it is and it's um it's just not Equitable to to anyone it's so difficult especially when you have um whether you have the means to make it happen or not the resources are not out here and you have to travel into Gilbert and other places to get those resources so I always argue that um you know we're fighting for enrollment and we take our children to our competition and so when I'm taking my kids kids over to play ala Ironwood and they have um different resources than we have I am giving my parents access to our competition when they get to see their fields and all those things so um I just want to keep our kids I want to keep it local and hopefully um as we progress this is something we can gain support with so any other questions I think it's a great idea okay all right I would just like to see it for high school also hey can can we name it calf conference what what that calf conference coms AJ Florence oh okay I'll already on my notebook because we haven't decided yet I was thinking of a baby calf nope there is potential for um coolage to join um at some point and but if you but wait a minute if you're the the leaders they get to join they don't get to name they don't get to name that's how we roll okay so um um I'll take requests for future agenda items anything any burning questions something you want them to bring forward you want to know more about so just because this is my first year so you know we always kind of go with our passions right and my passion is counseling have to put you on the spot yet I sorry counseling and social workers um if I wanted to know more about that could I attend one of their meetings or do we bring it to okay because I would love to do that and I I know they're doing awesome and great and wonderful things um yeah I would love to do that just reach out to Yeta and we can set up whatever we need to set up okay and then also like the mcken evento that was my passion to like mcken vento and resources that we have and I know we have um something set up at Harmon I would love to go see that and okay just a matter of reaching out to to Jen Corey or to yet and we can set that up okay awesome awesome any anything else be sure you get pictures right so you can put them on the website and spread them out and Yeah and okay so um I'm going to make a motion to adjourn at 7:47 all in favor I I we still have to vote boys and girls yeah said no you have to you have to yes you do my V I don't know he did

for e e e good evening everyone it is Wednesday February 12th at 6:30 I call this meeting to order Lisa can you please call a r Robert Downey present Patty coute present Carn Lopez Ben Owens present shant Rothchild present um we next we have the uh the pledge and ofas Matt Lindberg from uh executive director of the local Boys and Girls Club to lead us in the pledge to of the United States of Amer to the na indivisible and justice for all thank you now move to item 1 D adoption of the agenda motion to approve second leas we have a motion of second Shante rosch I Ben Owens hi Patty krae I Robert Downey I so moved we now move on to item two superintendent report Dr lman thank you president Downey um with heavy hearts um we honor the memory of Bonaventure Roberts a sophomore at Maricopa high school and a Cher cherished member of our mus Community a former student of Butterfield Elementary and Maricopa Wells Middle School Bon Adventure was known for his kindness friendly spirit and a deep love for his friends and family he often joked with his family that he was spoiled and he loved every bit of it his warmth humor and playful nature brought joy to those around him and video game player Bonaventure found happiness in connecting with others whether in person or through his favorite games he will be deeply missed but his presence will always be felt in the hearts of his family and friends and all who knew him please join us in a moment of silence to honor his memory and the lasting impact Bonaventure lead behind thank you and for the rest of my report Christine Dickinson director of Technology represented M USD at the edtech digest and FEC 2025 future Focus forums in Orlando Florida where she joined discussions on AI in classrooms and edtech policies Mrs Dickinson provided thoughtful feedback to companies like Vivy class link and and hovercam emphasizing usability functionality functionality and security by exploring advancements like AI powerered platforms augmented reality and gamified learning she ensures that musd continues to adopt technology that supports personalized learning and safeguards data privacy her leadership in this space is a vital part of empowering both our Educators and our students and it's one more indicator of musd being on a national platform and a leader in many of these fields of Technology 12 students from across the district recently competed in the Annual musd Spelling be special congratulations go to Valeria Galvan of Desert Wind who earned first place with Adam theal also from Desert Wind securing second and Rose Rogers from Maricopa Wells finishing third Adam and Valeria Advanced to the panal county 62 Regional spelling be which took place uh just last Friday and Adam placed third making another impressive achievement he will act as an alternate representing panal County at the Arizona State spelling be on March 15 and we congratulate all participants nearly 50 parents and students from both desert Sunrise high school and Maricopa High School school attended the FAFSA information night the event provided important information on the financial aid process specifically focusing on the free application for federal student aid and other Financial options available for college-bound students the session also covered important deadlines and tips for maximizing financial aid opportunities events like this provide families with the tools and confidence they need to plan the future our in-person student our in-person parent University sessions on the Spalding method have been met with tremendous enthusiasm from our parent Community with 61 parents participating so far these sessions are designed to empower parents with a deeper understanding of the method and they report the Val the value they value learning about the purpose of this scientific approach to reading including the import importance of listening to sounding writing and applying phonograms in word form musd recently hosted two events highlighting the district District's growth talent and Community Partnerships at the state of the district luncheon nearly 30 Community leaders came together to celebrate the district's achievements and hear inspiring stories from students who shared their experiences and growth within the district the new partners luncheon welcomed 25 new local business partners to explore collabor operation in Workforce Development and mutually beneficial Partnerships a special thanks to the MHS culinary team for preparing outstanding meals for both events and to MHS and DSHS DSHS students for showcasing how musd prepares students for Success beyond graduation on on January 29th 2025 Maricopa High one of Maricopa High School's football coaches Chris Leon was honored by mayor Nancy Smith with the community champion award and the Mike rggs community service award these recognitions celebrate coach Leon's significant impact as both a youth pastor and a leader who has positively influenced maricopa's youth his dedication to service extends well beyond Athletics shaping the character and values of our students congratulations Mr Leon and Co I get we probably should call him Coach Right congratulations coach Leon and thank you for all your efforts in our community that was such a great night Desert Wind middle school and Maricopa Wells Middle School competed in the future City Regional competition future cities is a national Project based learning experience where students imagine design and build cities of the future and I think we had some judges from sitting right here on the dis might have at that event that night uh this event promotes stem um science technology engineering and math education and encourages students to apply their knowledge and creativity to real world challenges Desert Wind proudly earned four Awards and secured third place in the state of Arizona Maricopa Wells earned four Awards including fifth place for their city of alam congratulations to our talented future Architects and Engineers for their work in shaping the cities of tomorrow and then um before I close my report uh we would like to invite uh Matt Lumberg from the Boys and Girls Clubs Of The Sun Corridor to the podium to share an update on our Maricopa clubs welcome Mr Lindberg thank you um I got to call her this in publicly governing board vice president grray asked me to bow to her on my way up today so that was in reference to in reverence to her so uh governing board president Downey vice president crae rest of the governing board and superintendent Lan thank you for giving me the opportunity to be here tonight to speak about the Boys and Girls Club of the sun Corridor and our partnership with Maricopa Unified School District when I was told there was a photo of me I was una aware that it was going to be that one um it's a good look my wife doesn't love the beard but anyway it's been a few years since I've had the opportunity to speak to this group and in that we now have a mix of new and longtime board members would like to spend a few minutes talking about the history of our partnership and a few minutes giving you an update on our organization before I dive into our history would like to start with a brief overview of our organization our organiz our mission is to inspire and enable all young people to realize their full potential as productive caring and responsible citizens in other words we want to be a safe place for young people to go when they aren't in school we are part of Boys and Girls Club of America and our National Organization has been around since the early 1900s there are over 1100 local organizations worldwide we are on military installations around the world and while all of these local organizations may look physically different we are all Unified in our pursuit of the following three priority outcomes academic success we want all of our members to graduate from high school ready for college trade school military service or employment or after the state of the district entrepreneurship I'm going to add that we want to help them achieve good character in citizenship we want them to be engaged citizens who are involved in their communities and who model strong character and Healthy Lifestyles we want them to adopt a healthy diet practice healthy lifestyle choices and to make a lifetime commitment to Fitness my focusing on these outcomes we know that we will help club members succeed both now and in the future our organization was founded in 1998 and started with one school-based club in class of Grande that served approximately 50 club members a day over the next 20 years we opened multiple new clubs in Casa Grande and expanded into Arizona City and while it had been on our radar since the late 2000s our work to expand into Maricopa really took off in 2008 then city councilwoman Nancy Smith and Russ Acres got the ball rolling and after a series of meetings with City District and Community leaders over the next 18 months we officially announced in January 2020 that we were opening a club in Maricopa at the beginning of the 2021 school year admittedly our timing wasn't great um as it came to be known but because of the work we had already done and the Partnerships we had already formed we were in fact ready to open the club at Santa Cruz Elementary School that August and for the entirety of that first year we served Santa Cruz Elementary School students an alterntive between operating an in-person learning lab and a regular after school program depending upon the school district's current learning La in our second year we expanded our service reach to include students from Butterfield elementary school as well and in 2022-23 we opened our second Maricopa Club at Saddleback Elementary School and began serving students from Maricopa kab and Saddleback elementary schools the beginning of the 2023 24 school year we took over operations of the district's before school program and opened up all of our after school programs to Santa students last five years have certainly played out differ than we originally envisioned them but we are proud of the impact that we' have had on the lives of MD students since our expansion into this community in 2020 we currently operate seven clubs in one before school program one of those clubs is in Arizona City four in Kasa Grande and two are here Ina of these clubs five are school-based and two are traditional Standalone clubs currently we serve organization wide about 650 young people every day this our Maricopa average day attendance is 199 I couldn't even round it up to 200 it accurately is 199 that's 166 students between the two uh after school programs and 33 students a day at the uh currently we have 307 registered members from musb and so far this year in 24 25 we have had 20396 daily visits which puts us on Pace to pass last year's St uh some of our highlights this year is that on August 7th we served 103 club members at the Santa Cruz club that was the first time we'd ever surpassed 100 in one day at that club on August 13th we hit our high at the Saddleback branch which was 79 on September 4th 43 club members attended the before school program again which was our highest single day total ever and then back to August 7 that was the first day that we ever served more than 200 musd M students very proud of those numbers um and as we look ahead we want to be in a position to continue growing with musd and the city of Maricopa I was at the state of the city or state of the district lunch in last month where Dr lman talked about how much MD was projected to grow in the coming we want to make sure that we're able to keep up with that demand as well and we want to expand our services to include teen offs and we hope to have a plan in place to accomplish that goal so as I close I would again like to thank all of you for your role in supporting our organization and our partnership I would definitely be remiss if I didn't take the opportunity to publicly thank the following people as well principles Hassan Reinhardt and Sanic and their teams for sharing their campuses with us thank you director pedo and his team for getting students to school from our before school program and to us from school for after school programs to Dr lman for many reasons but for time constraints tonight her willingness to be a celebrity dancer dancing for the stars in 2023 the winner I would there's probably a video of that put up uh and a judge for the past two years and Patty crae who has been the driving force behind our commun development efforts so thank you finally would like to close tonight with a quote that we received from a club parent last summer I think this quote perfectly encapsulates what we are trying to do with our programs and as such it feels like a great way to close my time here with you tonight so this is from a club parent named Tomy my daughter is going to the Santa Cruz summer camp and for the first time since we moved here last September I see the sparkle in her eyes and a huge smile in her face she's been missing that for a long time and I'm happy she's enjoying her time at the club the transition from Washington to Arizona has been rough for her especially with missing friends but going to the club this summer has really been good for her thank you for helping us provide a safe place for musd students to go when they're not in school we appreciate you next time and that was a great great way to end my superintendent's report Mr Downey thank you Dr lman and now move on to item three governing board members report member Ro child good evening uh everyone um lots to share uh this month um but wanted to take an opportunity just to express my condolences uh for the many losses that we've had um over the past week two weeks so family friends and Community my heart goes out and many prayers and and um thoughts um with that I have had an opportunity over the past couple of weeks to uh participate in several events um one of which um was spending time at um um with some fourth graders last week how dare I forget in Mrs Williams and Mrs to's room I learned a lot about my math skills and the need for improvement um but with that the fourth graders were so excited um to work through a math problem so early in the morning with their parents and and it filled my heart in many for many reasons but one just to see the dedication of the parent being there so early in the morning um with that just the enthusiasm um and the creativity of our teachers um again it's been a long time since I've been in fourth grade but the manner in which they broke it down and explained it and the problem of understanding how many acres you would split apples and grapes and all of these things through and just to see the lights and the children's eyes and the parents s of relief that they got the answer to was very exciting uh so just thank you again to our teachers um our students and um just the parents again for being there and then also the opportunity to attend the um I'm going to hope I'm saying it right the state of the city address I wanted to say State of the Union Maricopa we are a mighty town I don't quite think for the union but I'm pretty big so an opportunity hopefully many of you were able to attend um to hear the Mayors and many of the community members um vision for Maricopa and the future and again congratulations to coach for winning that amazing award thank you thank you member ens thank you president Downey um so as um Mr rild said a lot going on it's the time of year um I was not able to attend the uh uh state of the city um but I do want to congratulate coach Leon uh welld deserved um I know that there's uh you know lots of stuff going on competitions and that kind of thing going on just a couple that I'm aware of and big congratulations to our desert Sunrise um athletes that went down to Tucson and um small team I got second um and we actually had the highest scoring um math competitor uh for the competition I'm not sure how many um teams were there but it's pretty cool that we walk away so we've got kids going to State um and that that's always a always a good thing um winter sports are obviously in full uh full gear um I've been to uh some Winter Guard competitions uh saw MHS perform once and desert Sunrise perform twice uh this past weekend desert Sunrise uh uh performed at Perry and uh got fourth place first time and second time and but the difference is they they gained nine points and there uh in their scores so uh super proud of those those kids um and um I think that's all that I've got for this evening thank you vice president CR thank you president dowy um so um don't want to repeat everything the uh board member shared but um there has been a lot going on and and um some loss and some uh very tragic happenings in our city and uh my heart goes out to all the families involved so uh I did attend the uh Maricopa chamber awards banquet um I was also at the state of the city and I was so happy for Coach Leon I've had the um opportunity to to know him for so many years as a football coach when my son was playing football and I've been on the boosters working with him and there's not a better person that I could think of that deserved that award so I'm so happy for him uh I also attended the uh mayor Copa uh the musd partners luncheon um which was really nice to see a lot of the business the small business communities and have that opportunity to network with them and hopefully they will find a way that they would want to be a partner with us because I think a lot of them walked out of that lunge going wow look at what they're doing and look at these the the student caliber of leaderships that the leaders that they're becoming um so I that was really awesome I've also uh attended a couple of rotary meetings uh we do have the spotlight students at the next meeting so we'll also have rotary students of the month to celebrate as well uh and just for any uh seniors getting ready to graduate and have those aspirations to go to college now is the time to start applying for local scholarships please check with your counselor they have lists of scholarships that are out there and make sure you start to apply there are some very simple applications for some of the local ones um I know that when you do FASA and you sign up for college board they send it out to all the big names but make sure you're looking at your local ones too because every dollar helps as a parent of former college students and one that is in a second year I understand that thank you thank you yeah the last couple of weeks seemed really busy um I'll not repeat what other people said certainly not in depth but um I actually attended a a half day training course on Robert's Rules of Order it specifically for small committees um it was very legalistic and very strict and I don't think we want to follow most of the rules but it was still interesting to do a recap and understand exactly how that's supposed to work um I did the musd pend that national board certified teachers awards to the state of the city I also did an all day U winter training for board memb MERS um was up in Scottdale um we had three state senators and I think it was three or four state representatives there U covered multiple topics um why those people can talk um but we did uh we did walk through some of the the bills that are coming out of um particularly special uh focusing on education related but they uh they walk through the bills that are going through the Arizona Senate and also separately because it's separate bills that you're potentially going to go through the house um we also had an interesting conversation about Isaac school district and tson which was interesting to go through and the problems they're having thankfully we're not going down that path at all we're very financially secured um I did an all day conference well it was sort of an all day conference um it was an all day conference on AI for schools however during the middle of it I came to the um the MD partner lunch and then went back and rejoined it and looked at the video um afterwards um there was another session um as well one night for about two hours with some Senators state senators and state um Representatives on the overview of education related to the executive orders so the first one was very much local state uh what's going on at the state level for Education with bills um but the AL this one here was a two-hour session on how the basically the state is looking to respond to the executive orders are coming at the federal level um they also separately I went to one hour session again with um senators and and representatives looking at Title 9 the new executive order in title 9ine and deep diving into how the state might respond to the new title N Stuff interesting couple of weeks busy couple weeks they felt it was back at work but some of it was educational which is obviously the area that we're in and some of it was pretty actually interesting it's always interesting to hear um what our leadership are looking at at the state level and specifically at the federal level that's all I have now we want to for recognition for a specifically national board certified teachers recognition Dr lman thank you president Downey tonight we would like to honor this year's National board certified teachers often referred to as the gold standard of achievement national board certification requires Educators to demonstrate standards-based evidence of dynamic instruction each team teachers spends time evaluating their own instructional delivery and working purposely to adjust their practices to better meet the needs of their students these teachers have worked tirelessly to earn this prestigious distinction uh and we have all of our awardees here tonight and they even brought their families because we know that behind every good teacher there's um great family members kids brothers sisters Aunts Uncles grandparents the whole nine so I'm glad to see our um Auditorium full so teachers when I call your name please come on up uh come up to the Das so president Downey can present you with your certificate of recognition congratulations to Stacy blaskowski desert wi Middle [Applause] School very good um Dr Kristen Dr o from Santa Cruz I needed to practice that ahead of time and um for Renewal Miss Denise Palmer from Pima Elementary thank you so much so this is kind of like a family event and I know we have a number of nbct in the audience tonight who also came to celebrate and we'd love to have everybody all of our NBCS join our new and recertified nbct up here with a picture with the board please and me so come on up [Applause] okay on the next item item five information item specifically 5A classroom Spotlight meropa High School Dr mnam sorry principal mnam thank you it's like I'm turning this over to Dr Lan great good evening president Downey Dr lman and members of the governing board tonight we will be highlighting the instructional focus at Maricopa High School to strengthen tier one instruction to support grade level proficiency this supports MD's strategic plan goal one every student graduates specifically maximize tier one instruction and goal two access and Equity specifically Elevate student voice which aligns to all the attributes of our portrait of a graduate model our Focus uh is on ensuring that every student has access to highquality rigorous tier one instruction this means means providing Clarity with learning targets so students understand expectations increasing engagement and collaboration through Cooperative learning strategies and using formative assessments and exit tickets to adjust instruction in real time by strengthening these core instructional elements we create a solid foundation for all students to achieve grade level proficiency here you see an example of an algebra 1 learning Target I'll Point um learning Target which is I will use point and line line point and a line or two points to write an equation of a line in point slope form with success criteria included Additionally you will see students engaged in paired coaching Kagan structure in this structure students are coaching their partner through the steps of writing an equation in point slope form to solve real life problems which is outlined in the success criteria and it's really fun I was in another classroom just the other day how the kids really coach each other through the process and that's the value and the power of that structure is not just getting the answer and making sure that it's right it's coaching through the process The Guiding Coalition plays a crucial role in ensuring that data drives tier one instruction as teacher leaders they help monitor implementation conduct walkthroughs with Administration and provide real-time feedback on instructional practice through their work we've seen a stronger emphasis on grade level proficiency ensuring all students engage with rigorous content The Guiding Coalition identifies areas of need provides input on instructional strategies and ensures we are all responsible for supporting teachers in making data driven Decisions by leveraging formative assessment data through our PLT process teachers can collaboratively analyze student learning adjust instruction in real time and Implement strategies that meet students where they are while maintaining high expectations and grade level rigor this Collective effort strengthens our instructional practices and ultimately improves student outcomes we've seen significant growth in tier one instructional practices thanks in part to the work of The Guiding Coalition learning targets are now posted in 96% of classrooms and Alignment to grade level standards has improved to over 90% more teachers are using student friendly language while referencing learning targets and using formative assessments are still areas of growth but we've made major strides at this time I'd like to introduce ttha Martin Senior English teacher to share how she implements this framework into her daily instruction followed by Jen Miller English department chair to speak how we monitor student outcomes good evening good to be here while these practices can be found campus Wy I want to speak specifically to the work that our Senior English PLT is doing to consistent incorporate these these practices we work to stay closely aligned with each other and the district Curriculum maps to design clear learning Target and intentional scaffolded instruction we collaborate together on frequent formative assessments including short quizzes quick wrs exit tickets and check-ins to help inform our instruction for the following day and sometimes even that class period one tool we used is called a group Jam using ACT and ACT Aspire aligned skills that are found on the EXL platform and and with the group Jam the whole class is able to work through a skill together and it allows it provides real-time feedback on who's learning the skill and who's still struggling with the skill and I actively teach I model of my thinking out loud to the students and then as we jam through these questions together I can evaluate who's ready to work independently and who still needs more help um we had a cool experience today we were doing um Intex citations with MLA practice which is or MLA style which has a lot of detail uh details to it and so the first question I posed up we had a 3% cor 3% of the students got the answer correct 97% Incorrect and so I went up and I was like okay here's the rules we're looking at here's the thing here's that and then we just keep going through questions until that ratio changes and then if I still have some students that are struggling I can help them one-on-one the kids were coaching each other really excited cheering when they got it right being really stressed out when they got it wrong but trying again so um that's been a a fun platform to use and it's just one option we have for ensuring that students are meeting grade level proficiency standards we also providing an opportunity for collaborative problem solving and individual help as needed and this is Jen Miller one of the tools that we use to monitor growth in student achievement is the diagnostic snapshot in our ISL platform with our focus on providing rigorous grade level instruction and utilizing a variety of realtime data points we have seen growth in our students achievement we administrated we administered um diagnostic Assessments in August October and January of this year and this graph is showing you our Ela and math growth over the course of the Year these snapshots are valuable to us uh we now have easily accessible data points for 90% of our students and that includes our English language Learners our uh exceptional exceptional student services honors AP gifted and talented um and Career and Technical students Additionally the snapshot tool allows us to compare our students achievement with national benchmarks and Norms we have seen an increase in the number of students who are above our national average um in August it was 44% % of our students were above the national average and in January that percentage increased to 50% as we collaborate in our professional learning teams each week teachers are digging into our diagnostic data to identify skills and Concepts needed for contined grow here is what um some of our MHS teachers have had to say about our tier one Focus uh this is a math teacher from MHS she highlights the structuring of daily lessons with speciic criteria for Success she explains that her specificity during the planning stage of her instruction helped support her students by providing them with a very clear Focus she also finds value in Daily formative assessments that provide her with evidence of student learning as well as evidence of any misunderstandings of the learning this allows her to Circle back the next day to clear up any of those misconceptions another teacher added that this process simplifies instruction by breaking lessons into manageable parts making learning more relevant and connected to real life applications and problems additionally students shared that the focus on tier one strategies has reinforced and strengthened their learning and increased their confidence as we progress into semester 2 we will continue refining tier one instruction to ensure that all students engage in rigorous grade level content teachers will use daily formative assessments to guide instruction and administration and our academic coach will provide targeted support we will continue to prioritize professional learning time to align instruction with standards and continue to incorporate act and ACT Aspire item types into daily learning through collaborative walkthroughs teachers will have opportunities to observe best practices in action further strengthening tier one instruction schoolwide to continue improving tier one instruction our professional development shaped by teacher input will focus on formative assessment differentiation Collaborative Learning and PLT best practices hold on one I got I lost my spot we're good now um in collaboration with our academic coach Administration The Guiding Coalition will lead these trainings providing ongoing support to ensure strategies are implemented effectively project momentum experts will also work with us to refine our use of formative assessments we just had a training yesterday that was conducted on exit tickets and using that in conjunction with Pagan structures we had the Kagan coach um Beth vickory who we've been working with all year on campus and it provided um Insight um for teachers as well as some examples in various contents on how real life exit tickets real time exit tickets can adjust instruction in the moment during class for tomorrow's learning so it's important that we focus on that learning Target know where our kids are were we successful in meeting that throughout that daily lesson and what instruction instructional changes do we need to make tomorrow to ensure that all students re meet that grade level standard that grade level Target we're leveraging multiple funding sources like our vision budget project momentum the recently awarded ninth grade success Grant and title funds to support District adopted curriculum and teacher development as we move forward with our instructional our instructional Focus Remains the Same same which is Clarity with learning targets formative assessments engagement and collaboration our intentional approach our intentional approach strengthens the mechanics of teaching ensuring students receive high quality instruction every day learning is changing at MHS and we see the impact in student engagement and success with Target professional development expert guidance a strategic use of resources we will continue to build a strong tier one Foundation that prepares every student for Success at Maricopa high school and Beyond to answer any questions you may have I have a couple sure first thank you um I love having the data guys did an awesome job thank you so much two questions first is what is an exit ticket and the second is what has been your biggest challenge sure an exit ticket is a way for a teacher to gather information on students level of understanding and Mastery with that learning Target for the day um oftentimes they're not graded it's more formative typically an exit ticket is an example of a formative assessment which teachers use constantly in their instruction to gauge where students are with their learning um as the example that titha gave with her class today using the ISL platform in that group Jam she started off with not so great level of understanding she was able to identify where the needs were based on the questions that were given through thatl experience and address those immediately in class to clear up any misconceptions move forward with another question a few more questions to confirm that students were able to grasp that concept and move on um with that so that would be an exit ticket which would be a form of a formative assessment you'll see teachers use thumbs up thumbs to the side thumbs down um whiteboards are often used in class and a great one is just getting kids to engage in the collaborative conversation and teachers walking monitoring they're always looking and listening for evidence of Mastery and proficiency and as far as the challenge goes I'll let one Adit greatest challenge with exit tickets or the PLT process or the all of it your your greatest challenge the whole whole enchilada I think it is just that teachers have a lot to do and so just consistently being able to meet with plts consistently having members there because a lot of them are you know people coach or are part of numerous plts so it can be hard to find it you know like so just uh prioritizing that time and then making sure that we cover you know okay what where are we at on the curriculum map what's our what's our end assessment how do we plan backwards design what do those learning targets need to be so if those are the learning targets what does the daily instruction look like so there's just it's there's so many parts to it on top of just the parts of running a classroom and everything else so I think um time is always a challenge and then just um connecting cohesively my current team is experienced teachers that have been together as a team for a long time and I think that makes a giant difference when you have that retention and that consistency between you and work together and um that helps a lot but times times a challenge always thank you I I love the information like Miss cuch said the the data is I think I think our board is very data driven so thank you for that uh so a couple things that stood out to me um was the comment from a student that it increased their confidence does this in does this increase teachers confidence and how they're teaching as well I'll defer to the experts in the room yes I would say yes Jen Biller should speak to it CU she's our department chair but I will say I think especially um yes as an experienced teacher it's really great to know the path you're on the track you're on the checkpoints along the way that your team is with you that everybody is um walking the same path and trying to get there in in cohesive ways I would say for inexperienced teachers it's helpful because you have those checkpoints and those things and um just that help uh so the other thing uh that I noticed too is the learning targets that are are posted is it fair to call those expectations for their learning for the day absolutely and just to reiterate on what titha was saying about confidence for teachers that adds Clarity and confidence for students to know that this is what I'm supposed to know and be able to do when I leave today um we struggle with our kids in their abstract thoughts of of far away goals um so it's really important for them to know today what the expectation is when they walk in the room what the learning activities are designed to accomplish um and then having that exit ticket as a tool kind of brings that together and it gets gives the teacher the information they need and the student the information they need like did I get this today today and do I need to what where are we going to be at tomorrow and often teachers can can finish the the 50-minute period and identify where that's going to be and the kids know too so it's very helpful and informative to keep the kids on track with what they're supposed to be doing that day what they're supposed to be learning that day great so one thing I so sorry um it used to be or like typical in teaching is you have a standard that's maybe from the Arizona State Standards Comm and core standards and a standard might drive a whole unit right so you know for English it's like what is specifically stated versus just implied in the text that would be a standard the cool thing about the learning targets is it's taking this sort of really broad overarching standard and is like this is what we're doing today so within this bigger thing today the goal is this and I think that that's a big difference for teachers and for kids and for teachers it takes a while to wrap your head around it because it it's another task you're writing something down somewhere else and you know coming up with something you know a different take on it but I think that that that as she said the the daily piece as opposed to that larger overarching standard that can kind of just get posted and and not really thought about again I think that makes a big difference perfect excellent explanation thank you I just wanted to say first of all thank you for the overview um there were a couple of words that stood out for me as you were presenting the information the realtime feedback uh the the student teacher interaction the ability to quickly pivot collaboration hearing all of those things I know you were talking about um teaching and facilitating and all of those things but it made me think about real life application and so how you're engaging with the students in the classroom how they're able to then take those same skills into their real life and for me as a parent as a community member those things are important because if you can't take what you're learning daily and apply those skills to real life then you it's kind of all for nothing it's all in the moment so one thank you for that um and the looks on your face say that it's working and so for me that's important as well to see both the feedback from the facilitators and both the students so thank you for that thank you Dr lman think you had a comment I did I just wanted to thank you for a a very uh informed and uh you know certainly complete uh explanation of how you're applying a lot of the project momentum expectations and work that all of our schools are doing and we've seen a number of teachers and schools come up and and explain as well um what a wonderful example from our two teachers uh regarding your understanding of the standards um and that and because that's really what it is it's the teacher's knowledge about the standards and then when you sprinkle in that kind of enthusiasm and confidence um that you you I I know you both have so you're not pulling anything over on me um that I know you have it just was it was inspiring to hear you talk about your craft your craft of teaching so great model thank you as an IT geek I have to add it's easy to work out who's the language teacher and who was the mathematics teacher I thought you were MK okay well anyway it was all real interesting ditto ditto ditto and uh yeah it's good to see the enthusiasm it's also good to hear that we're actually having kids talk to each other um so much the society their individual in their phone or on their PC or whatever laptop or whatever it's good that they're actually forcing them to sit down and actually work and communicate with each other um so thank you very much really interesting thank [Applause] you okay we now move on to item 5B addressing sfd um 65 Grant allocation for construction plan Mr Harmon all right good evening president Downey members of the governing board and Dr lman the purpose of this presentation oh thank you might have been in trouble the purpose of this presentation is to revisit the long range construction plan for the bond and the Arizona school facilities division grants for new school construction review the current sfd 68 Grant allocation and how we can work with the school facilities division to construct K8 schools last July we presented the rough concept of four construction projects made up of three sfd Grant projects uh supplemented by bond funds and a fully Bond funded expansion at Maricopa high school at that time we had been recommended by the school facilities oversight board for a 68 Grant to construct 96,6 70 square fet at that time the recommendation showed the December 2022 new school construction index amount per square foot of $320 54 C even though the sfd had already raised the index to that middle column with a 68 uh amount of $341 44 we based all of our projections using the 22 rates for this longrange construction plan um since since we have one project um at each grade level category we were later notified that we had actually been awarded at the new 23 amount the grant allocations I'll present tonight will be using the 23 cost index and as a result each project will require less bonds supplemental than previously presented this will allow for more capacity in the bond funds to help address uncertainty changes in markets and escalation and other unknown factors that exist when planning for long range construction projects as you can see the rates increased again in 24 and will likely increase again in 25 to the rates our future 912 and K5 grants will be awarded for this exercise I I am using the grant index um and the construction costs that that match our serrento project to model the entire plan instead of attempting to hit hit future moving targets hopefully that makes sense this is a list of the four construction projects um as they exist for current and future sfd new school Construction Grants and the fully Bond funded expansion um of Maricopa high school for Workforce Development we're currently working on the on the new school project in the serrento development this project was made possible by the award of the 68 Grant from the state a year from July we expect to be awarded a grant to build a new 72,000 ft K5 school with the desire to offer a new school model for ameropa unified the next slide will walk through the plan to work with the school facilities Division and oversight board to use the state Grant fund combined with local bond funds to construct two sister K8 schools okay this table shows each of the four projects from left to right the table shows the square footage for each project by grade configuration then how much sfd Grant the project will have followed by the amount of bond funding with the end of the table showing the total cost of the project the main concept of the presentation tonight is how we adjust the sfd 68 Grant to successfully build 2 K8 schools we can do this by approaching Sorry by approving a resolution to divide the current Grant into two separate projects on the left of the table you can see the full 96,6 670t Grant with 72,000 ft allocated to the to to K8 number one shown in red and the remaining 24670 Square ft allocated to Kate number two also shown in red this will allow us to build 24,600 square feet for grades K5 with bond funds to complete K8 number one for K8 number two this will combine two sfd grants one covering 72,000 square ft for K5 and the remain allocation of the 68 Grant to cover the final 24670 ft this table assumes a construction cost of all projects at $450 per square foot we understand that costs will increase in the future and as a result the sfd will continue to increase their cost index on the bottom right hand corner the Total Bond expenditures at $450 sorry 455 per square foot is approximately 58.3 million this table is is uh identical the one before except increasing the cost per square footage from $455 to $475 per square footage to show um how the bond expenditure increase um Can shift from 58.3 to 65.6 million the details on these tables uh continue the bond expenditure plan Concepts presented at the at the governing board meeting last July and closely mirror all of the bond information we shared with the community the only differences are the allocations of State Grant and bond funds from Project to project um the steps required to move forward include a board resolution we plan to bring to the February 26th board meeting and final approval by the Arizona school facilities oversight board that concludes my presentation I hope I've been able to explain the long range construction plan for the bond and the sfd grants and how we can work with the current 68 Grant allocation to successfully construct K8 happy to answer any questions Mr Harmon um I know the answer to this because we had a previous conversation but for those that weren't privy to that um just to reiterate the the total dollar amount in bond funding versus sfd funding is the same we're just we're just actually saving some money for those incidentals but all the bond money is still going to new construction we're not saving it for anything else it's all going to new construction yeah the only difference is is the the allocation of the two and the in the original Bond plan the Kate number two was to be um the additional portion was to be fully Bond funded in this example it'll be funded by the Grant and then K number one will be covered more more by more by bond funds so the total allocation of bond funds is the same and we anticipate that this is going to our resolution will be approved by the by the state yeah we're working through direction from the school facilities division their oversight board does need to approve it so um but we anticipate they will thank you so much this is this is great because we never know as we saw on the slides going from just that small difference per square foot how much that can add and we all know that the construction costs are going to continue to increase and one of those projects is just fully bonded fund so we're not getting anything from the state for the project at Maricopa high school so that's great that we're able to save some money so we can put it into that if needed so thank you I appreciate all the efforts you guys do Mr Haron is a got a question um we're changing our span profile for the bond money is that going to impact our tax rate the local tax rate that's a great question uh um the initial planning of the bond I think project number one was closer to 12.5 million and this example it's closer to 19 or20 million um but the voter pamphlet showed Bond sale number one being $25 million in the year later bond sell number two at another 25 million and bond sell number three at 20 that would equal out the $70 million bond amount and their early projection showed that that would stay within our tax rate commitments um our our property prop values just came out from the county yesterday um we're working on a timeline with our underwriter steel Nicholas to to to make sure that the we can meet or beat those projections even at those early projections those Bond sales would allow us to to construct these projects as as listed tonight you know I'm a gri Believer and say what you do and do what you say and I want to make sure that our commitment not to increase tax RIS for local the local community uh we honor that absolutely thank you Mr Harmon all right thank you I move on to item sorry we now move on to yeah item item six call to the public we do have one card so I have to read this part members of the board may not discuss items that are not specifically identified on the agenda therefore pursuant to ARS 38- 431 01i action taken as a result the public comment will be limited to directing staff to study the matter respons oning to any criticism or scheduling the matter for a future agenda the board requests that all comments be limited 3 minutes or less and that the public refrain from using any speech or language that is offensive or inappropriate pursuant to board procedure 3-23 please state your name for the record uh we have Kristen McMullan no hi there um I'm Kristen McMullen I'm a parent of MHS students um members and Dr lman and everybody here I wanted to invite you tomorrow night um MHS B the boys basketball team is having their senior night and so um it's it'll start at about 6:30 we're sending off five pretty um impressive seniors this year they're just great character kids I'm a little bit biased but um two of them actually are ranked in the top 10 of their graduating class so um it's it's a pretty impressive group of kids um they've been through a lot so it would been a great way to send them off and um I'm not sure how this is working out but my son who's like a lot better at math than me has told me that if they win there's a good chance they can be in the playoffs so um let's go so um let's go Rams hope to see you guys and um thank you very much thank you now move on to item seven consent agenda so moved all second Lisa we have a motion to Second shant Ros Tri I Ben Owens i p crae i Robert Downey I so moved we now move on to item action item specifically EA discretion and possible approval of the Personnel schedule Mr beet thank you president Downey members of the governing board you have the personel schedule in front of you this evening happy to take any questions you have Mr Becket believe it or not I don't have any questions thank you and the fact that everybody laughs at that tells me that so if nobody has any questions or comments I motion that we approve the HR schedule second Shanti Rock um Lisa Motion in a second shant Rothchild I Ben Owens I pattty kay I Robert Downey I so moved and now move on to item it B discussion of possible approval of teachers contracts professional contract and cl classified worker agreements for 202 School 2020 2025 26 Mr Bucket thank you president members of the govering board uh this is an annual uh process we go through this year Den way did our review of our contract language she did address five different specific areas on almost every contract um those happen to be uh in the section called mistakes in salary paycheck withholding the section on arrest or charge the resignation session and then for our noticeable at R employment the the Terminator of noticeable pment so there were five different areas that were updated according to statute and also some word crafting as well I'll take any questions that you have this Mr Beck I just have one question in the teacher contract is there something about the assessment fee in that the uh I believe it references the governing board policy okay the contract in the contract but it doesn't specifically state it out because I did not see it in there so I just so they'd have to make sure that they knew to look at the policy or is this something that we should put in there we we have last thank you member K the last few years we've just referenced the policy and the reference as supposed to listing any specific amounts in there for when they would leave if they leave okay if there are no other questions I motion that we approve the contracts as written second Le have a motion to Second Shante rosch child I Ben Owens hi Patty kraay I Robert Downey I so moved move to it C discussion of possible approv of school year 20252 26 TSA an academic coach work schedule Mr baket thank you president Downey members of the governing board and Dr lman last board meeting we approved our work calendars for the school year we had some some comment come back to us so we reassessed our academic counselors as be our academic coaches uh specifically their the length of their work contract we feel like this contract gives us the number of days that we need in order to be prepared for the school year as well as to end the school year and also respect some of the concerns of a 210 day work uh contract or work calendar excuse me that we originally approved that with our academic coaches as well as principles we feel like this a good compromise we're asking for the board support and Mr Becket I know the answer to this question but I need to ask it um the staff that this affects this is something they desired correct they had input on this decision correct I motion that we approve the uh Court calendars as presented all second Le we have a motion in second Shante Roth child hi Ben Owen hi Pat K hi Robert Downey I so moved thanks Mr beet now move on to item it D discussion on possible approval of multiv vender award for RFP 25-13 D12 crash produ Mr Harmon thank you president Downey members of the board and Dr lopan we have you have a an action item before you to approve the um multiple vendor award for a request for proposals we sent out to find vendors to um provide freshh produce local vendors for Child Nutrition program and I'll be happy to take any questions you might have don't necessarily have any questions but um I really love the fact that we're able to go local um and I know that Mr Woods had a lot to do with it maybe it was the avocado costume I'm not sure um but I really do appreciate this this is uh this is awesome I love because then not only do we ask to have Partners come into us and support us but now we're able to reciprocate and I really love that so thank you so much appreciate that I motion we approve I'll second Lisa we have a motion to Second sh roosild I Ben Owens hi Patty coutre I Robert Downey I so moved we now move on to item it e approval approved to adjourn to Executive session pursuant to AR ARS 38-43 1-3a s the governing board may vote to convene and to an executive session to discuss a discussion regarding land motion to approve to exec move to Executive session second Lisa we have a motion to Second shant rles hi Ben Owens hi Pat KRA hi Robert Downey I so moved thank you everyone no idea how long this is going to take but you can certainly stay but the next item is just to adjourn so there not a lot going on I thought U that parent didn't was a no show and this was about the it was about the BB gut no what was this about [Laughter] you know

the what what is it oh I'm I think I'm losing my voice call to order the board of school trustees regular meeting for Wednesday February 12th 2025 and ask each of you to stand with me for the pledge of please I pledge algi to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for all thank you and before we get started uh we would like to have a moment of silence in maror your Brianna proar mandrel she's a former second grade teacher at Anderson Elementary School school who recently passed away thank you moving on to student recognition I'd like to ask uh our athletic director to uh Patrick to come come forward please uh Dr Brown School board thank you uh once again for having us this month to recognize a couple two young or a couple young ladies who are pioneers in the the sport of girls wrestling um and have' been actively in it since they've been at a younger you know age all the way up from middle school to the high school um and at this time I'd like to have Coach Sam Johnson please come up and recognize your ladies first I'd like to thank everybody for taking the time to do this and and recognize um continue to recognize something uh really cool accomplishments and you guys have been supportive throughout the process um this this being the ihsa's first year sanctioning girls wrestling since 2017 U we operated under the Indiana High School girls wrestling Association uh with a lot of success even through that that was recognized um each time so we definitely appreciate that um moving on to these two why we're here um for that portion of it anyway um uh both with Incredible resume so far through their um High School careers um Brooklyn niece uh sophomore um last last year she was um she was round a round away from going to [Applause] State last year was a round away from going to State um this year kind of uh fixes some confidence issues I think and uh take sixth as a sophomore sectional runner up Regional runner up and then ultimately with a sixth place medal uh junior meley Skinner [Applause] another awesome resume as a freshman took fourth under that ihsgw banner last year was a state qualifier um this year under that first ihsa season sectional champ Regional champ uh record of 30 and one only loss coming in that semi-finals match at State um finish it up with a third place medal [Applause] don't [Applause] okay looks like it's a right Ridge night huh got the got the Ridge Runners here with us and abut you to step up and let us know what's going on at Riker's Ridge please all right so see this presentation should be going up to the screen I think um but I just want to thank the board for allowing me to have a mic tonight I know uh that can sometimes be a uh precarious situation uh when you give me the mic so that I can say whatever I need to say um um I promised I told my wife that you know to clear the night in case I need to be here the whole night to do this pay him Dr Brown I'm kidding it's uh 30 minutes but thank you for braving the ice to come out here and and join us um I'm excited to talk about recers Ridge I I've loved being out there this last year and a half um they they've accepted me as one of their own as a as a recers ridge uh person out there so I also want to thank you know my teachers who came here tonight uh Miss Thomas and Miss laer for for taking time out of their night and being here with us and supporting our school um first of all we have our celebrations uh a couple fun things on here our our student growth data uh from beginning of the year to our middle of the Year data was phenomenal and that's a testament to our teachers all the things they're doing um our Dibbles growth as you can see there 99.4% um one student was that was that 99.4% um it was one kindergartener that I know we we need to try and make sure we we catch them so they can also grow um but the other other students it was it was amazing to see all those pieces uh the nwaa uh 95% growth in math 91% growth in reading and again those are Testaments to our teachers and the work they're doing uh the things that they are able to accomplish in the classroom um the dibles we were able to give to K through 4 and then our NWA was K2 that's what we're able to give that to um the other thing I have on there is communication um I know communication for me is one of my um weak points that I know coming in so I always try to strive to make sure I hit that as hard as I can um to have an open door policy with my staff make sure that always come and and tell me what you need what is what is it needs to happen how do I support you how do I support the students um one of the things that I started this year was a daily memo my goal was to only send one email a day to the staff and so have one email in the morning so that they can read what we need to do for that day what are the updates what are the things that are going to be happening so that we can then move on throughout the day um other pieces on here is a mentor destination and I've been really impressed with this um we've had student teachers we've had um Hanover College Tutors um some people on some co-workers working on Bloom board some colleagues that are mentors for them um nine of our teachers are mentors in some capacity in that regard which again I think it's is a huge a huge uh win for us um I've already had one of our Handover College Tutors um tell me he has requested rer Ridge next year uh for his student teaching placement and I think that's just a testament again the things that our teachers are doing to help these students be prepared for that next level um another Testament is we had one Handover college tutor last year um she told uh the rest of the Handover College Tutors um how much she enjoyed rers Ridge and went from one last year we have five tutors this year that we can have during the school day meet our students needs in science of reading they're trained in science and reading uh which is a help for our students our teachers and for those Handover for college students so it's it's a win-win if we're thinking about our um seven habits for recers Ridge our final celebration here is just staff growth uh we've got two uh people pursuing their administrator license sitting right over here with us uh which I I can't wait to see what they do with with those licenses they're going to be fantastic um and being able to have other leaders in the building that I can rely on and bounce ideas off of brainstorm and go through those processes has been a huge celebration for me um other things we have we have three others continuing their education one who has gotten their um teaching certificate who's now going to be subbing for us um more frequently um so that we can then train him through that process and work on all the pieces that it does it is to be a teacher um and then two others that are also pursuing more um education and and bettering themselves uh through one getting their masters and one finishing up her Bloom board which again again fantastic that they are willing to take that next step because um the work of a teacher is always learning and growing um so then moves to our goals here um our academic goal as you can see there is as a school we want to have 100% growth for our students uh because we know that's going to be in math and reading um and seeing what that looks like from the beginning of the year to the end of the year uh we almost hit that growth with our couple assessments we did beginning to Middle um at 99.4% so now it's jumping up to that 100 to meet our goal there um another one up there we have student attendance that's going to hit at 96% as our goal um I'll have uh Miss Thomas share a little more about attendance here later uh but as a 96% goal this year we we have hit that so far eight times which again I wish that was more that we had 96% attendance as a school um as a school as a whole I think we're we're H around those low 90s on average for the whole school year so again it's something we want to continue to to bump up and a few things we can do to try and make that happen uh student leadership um what I put on here was actually Behavior Uh because as a student is more in those leadership capacities more in those leadership roles our goal is hopefully that behavior then decreases they can show they can be leaders in the positive and the right way um and our goal is to decrease that those office referrals by 50% so I looking at this one um that decrease right now we're at 37.6% as our office referrals uh from last year to what we are currently at this year um and we didn't start that referral process till after fall break last year so it's about three terms we're able to to compare that data from last year to this year um as far as our referral process goes again hopefully we can bump that up some more as as a 34 37.6% decrease we want to increase that to that 50% as our goal then staff and student culture trying to make sure we have a positive uh School culture for students for staff uh because that's a that's a whole culture piece of trying to make sure that we can all um enjoy where we're at and this is um going to be measured through our measurable results assessment that we get through our leader me um license and through the cvy Institute um last year we had a 98% positive feedback from students and staff so that was that was a goal met for last year and hopefully we continue that this year uh next up is supporting our student growth and so at this time I do want to introduce uh one of our third grade teachers at Riker Ridge Miss Aaron Thomas move this down uh my name is and Thomas thank you so much for allowing me to come and speak on behalf of Riker Ridge um I've been at the buildings for 12 years now and I've been with Rikers through the entire leader and me process and we'll get to that in a little bit but he had um Mr Mahoney has already touched on attendance and I'm just going to talk about what our initiatives are in order to get our attendance um to improve as he mentioned we have about a 92% average attendance rate each month um as he said also that we have met our 96% goal eight times and each time we have that goal met our students are met with an incentive we've had popsicles we've had ice cream we've had popcorn and things like that and we're continuing to ask students what they want to have at for their student voice to add to those incentives also um a weekly meetings that's alternative to an expulsion program and we have that in collaboration with the prosecutor office what that means is each Monday our school resource officer our attendance clerk our counselor and Mr Mahoney get together and we they come up with proactive measures so that we can help families meet our attendance goal because the state requires us to have 18 or fewer days for them to avoid chronic absenteeism and we know that attendance is something that we struggle with in growth and so we are trying to take those proactive measures to get our attendance to be better one of those measures is we invite families into our building with those students who are struggling with their difficulty with absenteeism and we create a plan with them so that um we can assist them in getting their students to school because we all know as families it's really hard to get our School our students to school on time when we have outside noise um and sometimes school is not as important as some of those other things and so we're trying to get our students to school on time by giving them the resources to do so um we have been sending letters um to address chronic absenteeism and we've always done that but we've really buckled down this year and we really followed through with the policies of following um sending them more frequently and in fact we send an extra letter as like we said a preventative letter just to let them know that they are approaching a next um consequence or our services um and then as I already said we take the team approach um through our AE meetings and as you can see in the photograph that is something that Mrs lurg our counselor has been managing with one of our student leaders each day they go through and they change the percentage of attendance so that students can be well informed also on how we're doing on attendance um the next photograph is actually our academic wig wall and through the leader and me program we call those wildly important goals and each one of those pause represents a lead measure and what happens is every single day students track their progress toward their goals and at the end of every month we get together and we talk about those lead measures and our lag measure which is ultimately overall growth in their um toward their academic success and so um I'll get to more of that with the leader and me but some of the data that we collect is our Dibbles and Mr Mahoney said 99.6% of our students 99.4 excuse me percent of our students met their dibles growth that's one child out of 168 that were tested um so that is pretty phenomenal and so um but through that measure we know that we have to keep going with that initiative because um I read and as a third grade teacher I have to give IAD and that's a very high stakes test and um thanks to Sean he has provided a great amount of data that proves that our middle of the Year resources through the Dibbles can give us an idea of how many students should the I read and so we have been tracking those what we call blue folder kids those students who are at risk for not passing the I read through our interventions we have really strong interventionists they meet with every single day for tier two and tier three instruction plus they also get tier one and tier 2 instruction in the classroom too so we are trying to bend over backwards so that we can get our students to grow um and so also at the bottom um it says data in students hands I'll get to that in our data notebooks but mtss every building has implemented mtss again that is a collaborative effort so that all students um are discussed in some capacity whether it's an academic or behavioral um situation anything that they might need for any kind of intervention every student has a reason to grow and so we work on that together each month to discuss what each student needs I am G to pass the mic back to Mr Mahoney he is going to be talking about TBR oh it's oh oh it's oh I'm sorry I apologize wrong person it is Mrs laugher good evening thank you for welcoming back again tonight I'm very blessed part of the Deputy staff as well as the rers ridge staff um to Foster the success for our staff and students at Riker's Ridge we have rolled out a variety of supports um our coaching Cycles being one and with our coaching Cycles that's a four to six week process where I go into the classroom with the teacher and thought partner alongside them we plan together we teach together we progress monitor together and then we assess this helps us make real-time adjustments to our instruction while in the classroom together um teacher efficacy has been proven to um enhance the student results so what better way than putting two Professionals in a classroom together working alongside for the betterment of our students strengthening our interventions this has been something very intentional on our hearts out at Riker's Ridge um we've made it um one of our priorities to strengthen these small group interventions with um being able to make instruction more focused and skill-based we have improved our datadriven decision making with data Dives this is where I can meet with grade level teachers I can meet as a team or I can meet individually and we really look at our data and we were um Kinton and Aaron both mentioned that we have Dibbles and we have MC um we have Dibbles and we have mclass and we also have um student evidence from the classroom our student evidence from the classroom really can be a key because many times what teacher is seeing in the classroom can kind of guide what needs to be done so when we take a deep dive at that then we can really get um focused on what our students need we also have our plc's that take place weekly these happen across grade levels and um we use these to identify patterns and make make informed adjustments to our instruction Kenton and Aaron also both mentioned our mtss meetings this is where we meet as a building we have administrators and we have counselors along with our interventionist coaches and um we really dive deep into what our students need and um it's a it's a whole student you know students might come in like Aaron said with you know emotional issues they might come in with behavioral issues they might have academic issues so it's really nice to have the whole team on board working together for the betterment of our students um in our um school we also focus on our school's reading goal and in order to meet that we have on ongoing staff growth through our potty PDS which are PDS that the coaches the ly coaches have placed in the bathrooms and we also um have monthly newsletters that go out to our staff members um we have also recently started last week we just started some PD with our um isps on small group work um getting them trained in the science of reading as well so they can better facilitate some small groups in the classrooms with the teachers these pictures that you see up on the board are just a few of the snapshots that we have out at Rikers um many times we get so busy and all things that we're doing that we forget to stop and take pictures but I want to pull your attention to the graph there you see the red and the green this is a um data collected from our cycle in second grade on youly the red are where the students were before we started our um we did a pre-assessment before we started our um coaching cycle together and then the green is when we finished and as you can see the the results are are just phenomenal um let's see what else did um so this um let's see this Choice board go next one there we go this Choice board is um I send out this once every nine weeks to our teachers and being a coach I don't only do coaching cycles and go into the classroom with the teacher but we have purposeful planning we have data Partners we have professional growth and working on teacher craft so sometimes the teacher doesn't really need me to come in at the moment for a four to six week cycle but they do need someone to sit down and plan with them maybe plan out a unit that they're getting ready to work on or we have just taken our middle of the year um testing and assessments and they want a data partner to sit down and really dive in deep to those that data and sometimes they just want to work on themselves sometimes they just need that personal honing of their Craft um the staff at Rikers is such a blessing to me I've been there for quite a long time and um they truly have the students heart um or the students you know as part of their heart so um they're really doing some great things out there and I'm very blessed to be part of it thank you so I'm G to jump in the tbri piece here so um Miss Lor was going to be here tonight with us um she's a phenomenal part of things that we do as far as our attendance and our tbri but she was unfortunately sick this this last couple days so she's uh she wasn't able to be here so miss Thomas filled in for the attendance piece and I'm going to fill in here for the TBR piece um but like I said um Nicole is a um integral part to what we do with our TBR which is um a new thing that we started last year um couple things that we did notice um as a staff we talked to you know our tbri coordinator um Katie Brennan um about things that we needed at Riker's Ridge you know we were struggling sometimes with implementation finding time to get those things done um and sometimes maybe if we're not implementing maybe it's a comfortability thing so um once once Michelle Stewart was hired as our TBR coach for the district uh we kind of Nicole and I paired with her so that we could find a way to fix that solve that problem um solution we came up with was let's run nurture groups which is just a small small group of people uh to get together to try and run a professional development over a specific TBR lesson to try and make sure they were comfortable so that then we could Implement that in the classroom so if teachers may have felt comfortable with it let's go ahead and then try that in the classroom um and we did that in the in first semester we were able to choose three topics um that um we felt like we we could pursue um and we felt like it was successful because we saw an impact for our students because the whole part of TBR is to make an impact for our students understand uh where they're coming from be trauma informed um understand you know what their what their brain capacity is because we know a disregulated student can't understand any academics they're not going to be able to um do a reading lesson a uly lesson so let's make sure they're regulated so then we can then bump up that growth for them um so our plan moving forward um is on the screen there too so in January our Focus was selfworth uh which which I think felt hit right where we needed it to because it was also our Focus for for our TB consultation that we had Monday was self forth how do we make sure that students see that they are worthy that this kid who may come to my office doesn't describe himself as a mean kid but maybe the actions were not good actions not trying to allow them to see themselves as a bad kid maybe bad actions and trying to you know reason from there uh which then moves us into February which Michelle Stewart um did run for us was our the mindful awareness is our goal for February uh which then gives me the the really fun one uh willful Disobedience versus stress response is the one that I get to run for for the teachers and Nicole Michelle always joke that I get the really fun ones um to be able to to go through those processes with with the teacher so then we can teach them to the students um but it's been a huge support for for me to have a counselor and and a TBR coach who who see the need in our building and want to try and help us and decrease those student behaviors so that we can see the academic growth um so then it moves us into our professional learning communities because as I said with t we with TBR we want to make sure that u a student is regulated so that we can then catch them in that moment so we can then grow them um just to give you an update on our plc's um first semester it was all about understanding getting to learn it uh dive in uh try to make sure that we are figuring out what works for our building um and five weeks in teacher we they were they're biting it the bit let's get this thing started let's get this thing going ready to go let's let's keep moving um we kept pushing trying to teach to make sure that we could fully understand in the process uh so this second semester other successes we have we were able to finally start to dive in um and I it started out slow because you know we had all that snow in uh January so I like to I like to joke that you know we had two weeks where we were frozen took us two weeks to thaw and somehow it's already February so don't know where those six weeks went but it's uh it's it's gone already um so it's it's us moving in and really trying to dive into where we're at at the district level for our PCS but also in our building um and and diving into the data making sure it is Data focused so that we have our students at the front and center um and then just have had so many teachers excited about the process I I know that I had some some teachers who were hesitant um last week come up and tell me um they were so excited U with their date with their PLC they had last week um that they rocked it from their words they rocked their PLC they rocked their data and couldn't wait for me to go check out um their agenda so I can go and review that which I thought that's exactly where we want to be we want to be at that point where um teachers are leaving PLC is excited about what they just planned for their students for that following week um our next steps of course is continue to to move forward um try and keep us more organized try and keep us um finding the right data that works for us uh and then finding those right assessments that work for all of our students and then of course learn the right questions to ask and that's going to be the learning process for all of us as figuring out what is that question we need to ask to then take us to that next step take us to that next level to keep pushing it um the example I have on here is one of the agendas from our preschool um I was really impressed with some of the things they were doing um they started to think about what the year-long goal was going to look like um and how um what they where they wanted the kids to be in kindergarten um so they went and trying to find as many math English standards they needed in order to move to kindergarten and get to that point um and and both of the four-year-old preschools teachers in there were were wonderful at thinking about where they need to be where they need to go and coming up with these these goals and so I just want to throw that example of what their year-long goals were for preschool uh which then moves us into our future plans what is the next steps um one thing on here we have is our eighth habit um is is service projects I don't want to take all the the stuff because I'm going to have Miss Thomas also share some more about our service projects um at Riker Ridge U but know that it's it's one of those things that allows us to create more student leaders shows them the empathy uh and and shows that education is not just in the walls of our school but you can learn so much outside those walls as well um Amanda kind of talked about some of our staff and teacher PD lots of acronyms in that list there ISP support instructional support Personnel PD professional development you've got the TBR PD that we've talked about already coaching Cycles potty PD um staff means to try and make sure that we can um keep moving forward and and keep working on the craft of um teaching of course there's student Behavior there that the new thing that uh Nicole and I have worked on is how do we create a more restorative practice for our behaviors um because a punishment lasts for so long we know that the the punishment has to fit the crime right so what is the thing that needs to happen but does that really fix the behavior so how do we teach the kid to learn from that so that it doesn't happen again and so one of the programs that we've started is Ripple effects it is more restorative a couple things that I've liked is when you know some kids will be in my office um I'm able to then go look on this program find three or four topics and then they're able to complete these topics that goes into here's a video of a scenario of what should you do in this example um it's almost like a social story for uh for our elementary school kids uh it allows us to then use some of those practices so then they can use that in the classroom um it's been one of those nice things when I call parents and let them know hey this kid was in my office your son was in my office your daughter was in my office um here's what I'm asking them to do and then they can also work on with with them at home because parents are also looking for Solutions they're also looking for ways for things to to get better no no parent wants their principal to to call they they don't they don't like those things it's not those fun conversations so they're looking for Solutions uh this has been one of those nice things that's been more solution based and this has only been the last three or four weeks at this point so it's still fairly new uh but I'm excited to see the impact it'll make I don't have the data to support what's actually happened with it yet um but it allows us to track it as we see what's going on with it allows them to practice their skills there's even a section on it that allows them to go through their entire brain and see how if I do this here's that affects my brain and again that's one of those pieces that I think also links up with TBR um the last thing on here is a reading challenge uh my goal here was to get books in students hands um um so up until spring break we started this reading challenge last week um so that our goal as a school is to read a thousand books um and if they're able to read a thousand books that'll be a school dance uh because we have a lighthouse leader student team that um one of the things they asked for was a was a school dance like okay let's see if we can tie that into an academic goal um and a thousand books for our our students is about five books a kid I feel like that was doable uh about one book a week until spring break so then we move to 2500 books if they can read 25 books as a whole school some of them will be able to be drawn out of a hat and then Silly String Mr Mahoney they all were very excited about that um and then of course the lofty goal here is 5,000 books that's about 25 books a kid until Spring Break um which is a lot of books but if they can do it then um I have to spend the night on the roof of rers Ridge um and the amount of kids who have told me they can't wait to see me on the roof has been outstanding and I keep telling them just keep reading guys show me you can do it show me you can do those things um the additional added incentive um is the class who does win um will be able to uh I will teach their class for that day so Mr Mahoney also gets to teach maybe I'm teaching kindergarten that day that's okay if they read the most books in the school I will absolutely do it just another incentive for the teachers to continue to push let's get books in those kids' hands let's keep them reading um and keep them moving um in the in the direction we want them to go in um last couple slides here are about our story what is rer Ridge as a leader me school our service projects so I'm gonna turn that over to miss Thomas okay uh I touched on it a little bit earlier but we have been a lighthouse school for about 10 years now and we are up for our recertification and this is actually the year that we can can apply to be a legacy school um we were actually the third school in the state of Indiana to be named a lighthouse school um which is a huge honor um and so our building is focused on three particular pillars the first pillar is the education piece which is basically professional development for kids and their parents on what the habits are the second pillar is culture and as Mr Mahoney said the culture is what makes our building live the students are part of that culture and they are the ones who have the voice the mo majority of the time they are the drivers of our building essentially and so that culture piece is like our student Lighthouse team that Mrs lurg facilitates um and they help make decisions and be the voice for their classmates and then the final pillar is the academic pillar and in that pillar students Drive their education by tracking their own data and so every student in our building has a student binder a leadership binder and every single day they track their reading their lead measures and their attendance goals because as we know those are two biggest goals that is going to help support our school Vision but also our district vision and Mission too and so we put that data into our students hands because we know that if they are involved in tracking their data they're more likely to do the work themselves and so what happens is we take that data and we track it with students and then we track it with the classroom and then we track it with the grade level and then all of that leads to our schoolwide data and so that helps us in so many ways um with just overall giving the students the power in their own academics and attendance and so um that is the data collection um the site visit we have coming up we have to schedule it between uh around April and we should be recertified by June if all goes well um and every year I believe we had someone asking us about our leadership day we had a leadership day where we invite guests from to come in um and other schools to come in and see what wonderful things that we're doing to showcase our students their leadership and all the things that they're doing um and I'm going to touch on the service projects too um this is just some pictures of what we've done so far this year we have implemented six different service learning projects and what we have done is we have partnered with different community members or communities partners and what we have done is students have voted on which partner they would like to support and work with and of the six um we have done a couple so far here I'll go back to this one um the first month we had two team two Lighthouse teams deliver uh collect and deliver blankets for the Salvation Army with our partnership with Riker Ridge Baptist Church in January we had um care kits for the kdh cancer unit we collected different items and the students actually had the opportunity to deliver those items themselves as a team and then we have our animal shelter we will be collecting items for our Jefferson County Animal Shelter we every year we do an A Penny War for multiple sclerosis we have one of our staff members whose family has been touched by Ms and so we find we are very um focused on that particular organization in April we plan to do a big Earth Day cleanup project around the community and then in may we plan to have a pediatric cancer Drive of some kind um and each one of those has been hosted by a different Lighthouse team um so they are the drivers of it they're the decision makers and they get to see the results of what they have done by taking these to these people to see what kind of impact they have because we say that we have seven habits but really we have eight habits and this eight habit eighth habit is all about community outreach and having a voice and um going out in showing people that Riker Ridge is doing something special even though we are very tiny and we are very small in our community but we can make a very large impact and so that is our all about leader me and a nutshell um Mr Mahoney is going to come up and talk about our buddy bench that we did um and I was lucky enough you know for these two so far service projects to be the bus driver um just the activity bus driver uh but it was amazing to see how the kids interact with the people they were giving these things to um there's a couple girls in that you know the Christmas picture there that still come up to me and tell me how how much they loved being able to see these people that they were able to give this to or be able to sing at the nursing home because we did that after the dropping off the blankets um and some of the older people who just put a smile on their face we were able to sing some of our Christmas songs um and then just to update you on the on the bench I know that's what I shared last year was about the Buddy bench um and I just want to thank all of you for for supporting us through that I know many of you gave us bottle caps um I still find bottle caps in Pockets when I search through my jackets um that somehow have escaped the uh the benches uh but our goal was to get one bench which is 200 lb uh we ended up with three benches at 600 lb um plus two more raised garden beds at 100 lb a piece uh for a total of 980 pounds is what we're able to raise as a community which was absolutely amazing to be able to feel that support and and do all those things for our students and have that memory for them um 980 lbs was absolutely amazing we still got 180 pounds on credit u because I couldn't find anything else to buy with it down there so we'll see what else we can come up with later with that too but again I thank you so much for for allowing to share tonight and share our special little school out at rers Ridge thank you so much thank you you great [Applause] job yes move on to a curriculum update with Miss Janet McCurry see if I can find it's behind one of these things I think my little tags in way it's not a touchreen okay first of all thank you for letting us come up we'll try to keep this short but um as we started preparing this it kind of got longer and longer because we've had a lot of things going on um a lot of the things that Rikers Ridge hit on we have going on across the district so it was kind of exciting we'll just be repeating a few of those things um to start this all off we two years ago had um two outside needs assessments completed one was by IU University the other one was by American Institute for research airs and both concluded that we did not have a system place to make datadriven decisions so that's when we got to work um we started with the admin admin team sorry completing several book studies um those book studies consisted of um coaching conversations instruction leadership professional learning communities and aligning our arrows everything being student centered achievement focused and everyone valued so after um the book studies we started to look at our strategic plan and the strategic planning committee come up with three focused goals for specifically for student learning um those are implementation of instructional framework prek through 12 the use of data points to drive instruction and programming and expanding student opportunities so we look at instructional framework um our first goal was to get all of our arrows aligned arrows was one of the books that we read we've had um the author come in um and kick off our first day of school back with our teachers we've had um the superintendent from the school that the book of that arrows was written and come in and work with our admin team he's met with principls teachers um met with lots of groups and and consulted with us throughout this process so one of the first things we did to work on aligning our instruction was to create and modify and develop and tweak pre-existing um pacing guides to make sure all of our instruction is consistent across the district we have four elementaries we want fourth grad at Anderson to look like fourth grad at Deputy with the difference in how this delivered um we wanted consistency consistent vertically aligned with our pacing guides and we wanted our instruction to be standards driven and based on our students needs um the next piece that was part of our instructional framework was creating our professional learning communities and thank you guys for let us letting us have early release on Wednesday um we've been able to work through the PLC process we spent the first semester learning how to do it we had professional development that was provided by our admin team they developed it they implemented they shared it they taught it with the staff um a lot of our teachers were just ready to go we're like we don't need this we we just need to get in there and do our plcs and we're like hold on let's let's be slow um and I think now we are seeing the results of that we have been like you said we've had to throw some virtual in that we didn't count on doing but hey the first one we kicked off was Virgil and it was quite I think it went pretty well um so we're about six weeks in and the discussion that I'm hearing on these meetings I was able to because when it's virtual I can join more because I can pop in and out of them um I was able to attend two high school plc's this morning um I was part of a kindergarten PLC this afternoon um the discussions that I'm witnessing the data they're looking at the um student centered student focused learning that they're discussing is amazing I mean our teachers are doing the heavy lift and staff it's not just teachers our isps are involved we have counselors involved um they're looking at the whole child and how everybody plays a part in that so that's been huge and then the third piece was professional development um we're trying to be very intentional as a district and providing our professional development that is specifically aligned to our arrows we want to be very intentional we're trying to provide as much of that in-house as we can um we are doing a lot of train the trainer and one of the perks that we've had is our coaches we started with our literacy coaches um they're able to handle most of our science of reading professional development that we need to do across the district um we now have a behavioral coach in the district we have our College and Career Readiness coach and we have a TBR coach um so I'm very excited with the opportunity that's going to provide us to be able to maintain the initiatives that we have started through training inhouse the other piece that we've also started with professional development um Shannon got with me and we've um implemented the new teacher Academy and that has been we have eight sessions planned for this first year so we meet with our new teachers monthly and we cover topics that we have seen um systematically through the years that are problem atic for new teachers um we've taken their feedback on issues and we've had all kinds of guest speakers come in and provide um professional learning opportunities we've had a lot of panel discussions which have been some of our best sessions I think um with veteran teachers and teachers of the year have years the teachers of the year have been great to come in and work with our new teacher Academy so I'm gonna let Sean talk about this next few slides next few uh good evening so again appreciative to the rers team for touching on the data driven processes and Janet giving a background on where it comes from over the next few slides I'm going to try to give you an idea of how we look at data as a district all the pieces that I manage and how everything aligns together whether it's mtss process plc's it's all a system I'm going give you an idea of how it fits together so to Jan's point when we had our needs assessments conducted by air and IU when we looked at our curricular framework children were getting different experiences based on the elementary school that they attended and that should not be the case there should be Equity of opportunity across the district so that regardless of where the kids are choosing to attend they receive the same instruction so the first step of that was we went through all of our curricular programs with input from teachers administrators and we created this instructional pyramid that has at the three tiers of instruction it is expected that these certain programs are used they are all research-based they are to be used in whole group or even to our interventionists we've retooled that program to where the programs are aligned with specific skills and the skills that the students are receiving instruction on are based off of multiple data points uh if it's tier one universal instruction the green Arrow that's where if I give an assessment and 80% of my kids score well on an assessment then I know that I can move on to an a different lesson or a different curricular area if I have 10 to 15% of my kids who are struggling in an area then that's where I can get into plc's to talk about okay I had this percentage of my kids that were struggling in an XY Z particular curricular area this is how as a teacher I'm going to go in and intervene with that 10 to 15% of kids that's also where mtss comes into process where we can use those tier two and tier three groupings they're small groupings they're very targeted with their time and try to address any skill gaps that students have wrong bit okay so the next few slides just bear with me you're entering my brain so God be with you all this came from a conversation I actually had with with Janet and Mr lawhead teachers are responsible for collecting a lot of information we have various areas throughout the district where we're collecting items and to try to make it easier to navigate all of the processes and all of the documents that we have as a district there is one giant Warehouse that has all of our data rosters if there are frequently used documents from teachers it has our pacing guides it has all of our PLC information and it is routine that anytime we start with a conversation hey go to the warehouse it's in the warehouse this is an organic living breathing document if somebody wants something put in here and believe you me they're not shy about it they'll send it to me and say Hey I want this plugged in here and this is why and I'm always happy to do that so the next few slides I'm going to delve into what is featured here okay this top piece of information that you can see is a data roster so those color corded areas are the different assessments that we take on students and we're about halfway through the year so what these spreadsheets do is each time that we take an assessment I have one of these for every school for every teacher every student at MCS is on one of these data rosters where we're tracking their performance longitudinally from year to year this is a process that is new to us we're in year two of this but the desire is that from a time a child starts in prek at MCS by the time they leave when they're in 12th grade that we can have a longitudinal picture of that child's progress throughout their academic career we can use this information to guide instruction we can use it in conversations with parents and children don't fall through the cracks this way so that we can constantly see where to intervene where are we doing well and where can we address any proficiency issues that we have all the teachers in here anyone that has children Miss Emma you're on one so K through 12 um and what teachers do in using this data and it's starting to happen more and more where grade levels will sit and ask me to come look at data with them individual teachers will ask me to come sit and look at data with them and we just treat it as a conversation because I don't know what they do or what they see with their children on a day in day out basis I come in as a non as an unbiased party here's what I see based on the numbers but what do you see and then we can come up with plans together that they can go and try to plan and work collaborative with one another so we'll start off we'll take the information that we're getting when we're taking our assessments the bottom left in the middle picture that's a PLC agenda that our teachers again with the vision of Dr Brown and as the board granting us that early release time on Wednesdays teachers use these guiding documents it's got do fours four guiding questions what do we want students to know how we know when we get there how we going to Rich them what are we going to do if students aren't performing the way that we want them to so this is where they get in to work with teams and their individual teacher groupings within their schools if they work on teams or if you're a deputy and you're a party of one and they determine okay this is how I need to address either what's coming next in the pacing guide or here's how I want to address something collaboratively collectively in a grade level where maybe students didn't perform as well on an assessment if I want to the bottom right hand corner that's an mtss agenda so say I'm working at my PLC and I consistently have three to five students that are struggling area then we will delve down into those three to five kids in the mtss meeting to try to delve into like what recers mentioned it is a behavioral issue is it something happening at home is what is happening with the student where they're not performing well or what do we need to do better to meet their needs so we start off with the data they take the data to Wednesday PLC discussions and then once a month we sit down collaboratively and collectively as a group to try to address individual student needs questions no I'll keep going this is the J curve that we also talk about during plc's so really this is based off of the data we can start with an in-class intervention that the teacher is going to lead so if I have small grouping the teacher can lead a tier two intervention group an intensive in-class intervention that's where our title one isps can work on tier two groups our teachers will take tier three groups it's depending on the severity of the need but everything within the classroom again based off of the data it's all intentional and it's all on purpose there's no guesswork and everything that's being done is done for a reason and we move through this jcurve it is just the evolutions of meeting the needs of students so we can start with an in-class intervention it moves to a different tier of an intervention that is need and then potentially we could look at some outside Services if those are available for students so our second goal was to use the data to drive instruction and Sean hit on several of those points and I just want to go over a couple of those to make sure that we know exactly what a lot of those acronyms mean um so we're using our data to assure that our tier one instruction which is that bottom level of the triangle that every student receives tier one inst is as strong as it can be in providing Mastery for at least 80% of our students um during our PLC our teachers are looking at that tier one as Sean said and then working to improve that tier one level of instruction then all schools have their multi-tier systems of support the mtss once a month um at those meetings what I think has been very beneficial we used to have data meetings at the elementary level but that was the interventionist the teacher the principal and maybe a title coordinator okay so those four people were making the decisions for those students now we have um administrators for the building counselors classroom teachers special education teachers our coaches our interventionists title one isps and then sometimes the students are involved in these um especially the junior high has started bringing in students individually so the teacher that's directly involved in it some of the other teachers will leave so it's not quite as intimidating but then they bring in the students and say okay here's the data here's what we're seeing talk to us you know what's going on um and I think it's been very eye openening to those junior high students to know somebody's actually looking at this these pieces of data I mean nwaa testing and stuff in the past we've heard you know they don't care they just do it they they rush through it in 15 minutes it's not accurate well we have to make them want to make it accurate um so when they know that we are looking at it and that we're using that to drive our instructions for their classes then that also makes it real and they care a little bit more about it um and then third piece is we are triangulating the data um we're looking for multiple data points we don't want just one data point to make a decision on we want to have at least three solid data points for each student um so that we can get a complete picture of the child and we're starting to get there it's been hard um shout out to our third through eth graders they're piloting the checkpoint um I learn checkpoints and our um Junior High has really done a nice job with using those standards that that they're being assessed on on the checkpoints and drilling those down and providing what they're calling boot camps and then administering opportunity too and seeing Improvement but in between during the boot camp they're also providing these little mini assessments for Progress monitoring so they're being very intentional with their instruction okay so you were spoken too frequently now I'm G to ask you to give me some feedback what are these four companies the images on the screen what do these four companies have in common Miss Emma you might not even know what some of these are none of them are in business anymore none of them are in business anymore and at one point in time they were all the top performer in their field Blockbuster actually had the first opportunity to have a streaming surface they thought what we were doing was good enough Kodak had the first trademark for an electronic camera they turned it down and said what we're doing is enough Blackberry would not give up the buttons IBM everybody in the 90s had an IBM computer they don't sell computers anymore I say this to say that as organizations especially in educational organizations we constantly have to be looking at how we can improve and our work's never done and the work that we've done the last two years it has been a lot of hard work but it's necessary and it's a process that it's it's never going to stop it's never never going to cease if we're consistently meeting the needs of our kids so the PLC process how this fits together so we start off with celebrations again I'm trying to give you just a a an impactive statement of how all of this works together so it starts with we go to first base here I'm I'm a baseball guy so um yeah I knew who created this you didn't have to guess so we'll start at first base in curriculum the tight loose tight that means that when we're assessing and we're instructing across grade levels across all four elementaries we're looking at the same standards we're using the same materials the teachers get to put their flare and their professional spin on things and then we are assessing in the same way so that when we have these collaborative discussions all of the data we're comparing Apples to Apples across all four elementaries again that's the equity of accessibility so we get to second base we're all assessing the same heading to Third Base we have given the same assessment and then Third Base okay how are we going to resp respond to that data and that occurs either during Wednesdays during plc's or that happens once a month during the mtss process so plc's again is more we're looking 80% whole group instruction what are we doing and then mtss is how are we diving into helping with those individual students and that's where the differentiation comes in so roughly right now I analyze approximately 30,000 data points for us as a district so what you see here this is a spreadsheet that goes back to 2015 I have our I learn scores it's coded red and green whether we went up or down as a district whether we went up and down as a grade level we can track the grade levels diagonally meaning from year to year so I can and I take this information I compare it to roughly 15 other school districts that are like MCS I compare it to our rankings in the state I compare it to anything and everything that I can to see how are we performing where are we doing well and how can we improve from those scores I take that and I delve it down into standards from the assessments so this is another report that teachers have access to that can help them during plc's uh s stands for standards and essential need of support so what that entails is I look at okay we scored 50 some odd percent on I learn Ela what does that mean okay then I delve into the actual assessment and I look at what are the exact standards that we performed well on what are the standards where we need attention when we have SS that would mean that it is a standard that needs attention across all four Elementary buildings across an entire grade level majority of the time what that means is there's a gap in the curriculum somewhere so the last Mrs Thorton pointed out the last fourth grade grade level meeting we had we addressed a fourth grade standard and it wasn't that it was not featured within the curriculum she pointed out well we teach it for a week here we don't touch it again for 6 weeks then we teach it it's very halfhazard throughout the curriculum so this helps us guide okay when we want to intervene where do we intervene or where do we need to supplement instruction so this is for 3rd through 8th grade and as the state is beginning to release their Frameworks for kindergarten first grade and second grade I'm plugging that information in here as well so this spreadsheet it has whether the standards are essential or not in the of the state it has the testing blueprints it has a correlation of the old standards and the new standards because the state just can't leave stuff alone they want to continually try to implement new it has item specifications it has the Frameworks of the standards so really it's a One-Stop shop hopefully that is helpful to the teachers of it takes five or six things that the state has released in the last year and it puts it all in one place and they don't have to hunt and Peck and again they're way more apt to hey Sean come talk to me about this we you sit down with our grade level about that there's one grade level I'm not going to mention because Mrs Thorton likes to make a game out of it I just had pick on you I'm sorry so um what this this sheet is looking at I so I use this to predict where we're going to score for I uh the very top that blue and yellow I've that's the scores from 22 23 and then 23 24 I break it down into the different curricular areas so that I can give this information to the coaches based off of the school so we know where our kids are performing in second and third grade the bottom sheet there I take all of our students and I use that as a predictive index and score indicator for how we do during the summer so I take the students that maybe they did not perform well when they took the assessment the first time in the spring but then try to track okay what can we do during the summer and to Mrs Thomas's point the the blue folders where we really try to intensely intervene with those students and make sure that they pass the test so I have predictive indicators of when they're taking the Dibble Dibbles middle of the Year assessment I've taken those scores and we can try to predict how students are going to score on iearn we can predict how they're going to score on mclass last year I was conservative in all of my estimates and everybody outscored what I predicted which is I would rather under promise and overd deliver than overpromise and under deliver so awesome fairly accurate and how we perform this is also I track how we perform from year to year I track how students perform from year to year in the standpoint of if they passed I learn in third grade did they also pass I learn in fourth grade and I'm keeping track of the cohorts of kids from year to year if Miss wi passes in third grade we want to make sure that she passes in fourth grade and fifth grade and sixth grade and make sure that we don't lose any students I do the same thing with PSAT and the same thing with sat so we don't want to lose any kids from year to year there are things that occur and there are exceptions and this also helps us keep track of the strength of our intervention programming when we're intervening with students are we successful when we are intervening and I'll let Janet uh finish this one up but we are what I would consider in the infancy stages of the capabilities that we have from data driven decisionmaking I had a meeting with Dr snap this morning who's one of our Consultants based off of how we're keeping data and collecting data he asked me if I would be willing to meet with other school districts to talk about what we're doing here at MCS so if that's coming from an individual that ran based off of numbers the number one school district in the state for 16 years if he's asking us to go show how we're doing things to other districts in the state I think we're on the right track possible absolutely so this is just a nice visual um prior to the past two years you know we had an RTI program we had a PBIS program but this is a good visual just to kind of understand that our mtss covers all of that and more so that we have included um collaboration with our partners we've included the plc's and the professional development all under our mtss umbrella and I just like this visual I think it kind of help sums it all up um our third goal that was set by the strategic planning committee was expanding opportunities for students um so that includes career exploration we have added the College and Career Readiness coach that I mentioned earlier um we've also have a few of our schools that are seeking out stem certification from the idoe which is a very large rubric um full of lots of things to do we do a lot of the things on the rubric already is just the documentation and um a kind of kind of data collection pieces if you will um that we need to kind of beef up and I think we'll get there pretty quickly um we have established a stem advisory committee and they met and that's with community members and the conversations that have kind of stirred up from that for our elementary has been really exciting um our second part of expanding opportunities was just um building community and part of that is just working on our Communications which we've had parent Square empy mented and that's been a game Cher for our teachers um our principles it's you know super easy to blast out some things um I don't think scheduling conferences has ever been so easy um just some different aspects of it and it's been really helpful for communication another Outreach that we've added that's coming up really soon February 26th I'll put a plugin for it it's cubfest um that was a brainchild of this one behind me and um you know I thought okay we'll have a few show up at the high school I think we had as close to a thousand people there on the first year so I'm really super excited for our next one um we have lots of food trucks and things coming um the the the third one is expanding student opportunities um the state has made this possible with changing the diploma requirements one um so I think that I'm I'm pretty excited about the opportunities we're looking at for our students for the seals that'll be added to their um diplomas and the different ways that we're going to work with our students to provide opportunities for the the new um high school diploma but we've also expanded our robotics team we've added the Esports program um we've developed Fine Arts pathway that was approved um the Jag pathway was just approved as a graduation pathway um so we have a lot of things and the high school and the junior high are working together to make sure that we are providing the opportunities where we need to provide them for our students and they're going to come to our next work session and kind of share with you some of the things that they've talked about and have going on um this is just a map of our cubfest to kind of let you see all the fun things and I what makes me excited is the vendors that have been coming that came last year they've been reaching out to me when is cup best make sure you know make sure I know when it's I want to be there so that's exciting um some celebrations I want to add um we've got a lot to celebrate first of all um we're closing the achievement Gap you know we don't have everybody at proficiency level but we've got to close the achievement gap before we get people there um I haven't told him this but sometimes I feel like I'm in that movie Moneyball because he runs the numbers and then we just try to put together the perfect team we just keep trying to work work those things out um so year one I showed a 6.8% growth which was 10 times the state growth um we're pretty excited about what your two is going to bring last last year's iearn results showed that we have one of our schools in the top 40 they were in the top 2% for math and reading um our high school SAT scores were the highest in the county um this is all from year one remember and then um in year one of our new math adoption the reveal for K through 8 is showing growth across the board which is kind of unusual for a first year adoption because youve got the learning curve of the teachers there's gaps in curriculum as you're going from an old curriculum to a new curriculum so we're looking at a 5 to 10% growth average per class um with the new math program so that's very excited um the targeted interventions and um data discussions that are coming from the mtss and the plc's from the teachers is extremely exciting um 5 through eight hat and had any kind of regular monthly meetings prior to this year um and they jumped right in they jumped right in and the same can be said for 9 through 12 um they're pretty excited with how they're already moving the needle having individual meetings with students um and and making sure we're not we don't get kids in a in a bind a month or two before graduation we want to make sure they know exactly where they're at and they're on track um Riker Ridge referred to the Dibbles um which is Ela um assessment for K through four through the district we had a 99.1% pass rate or not pass rate growth rate and that boils down to seven kids and out of those seven kids I think you said four or five were already in the blue which is at proficiency they stayed in the blue they just didn't have growth and sometimes those are kids that are a little harder to grow so they were already where they needed to be they just didn't show the growth that they needed too um so that just leaves us you know three or four kids that not that we have don't have a lot of others that we're focusing on but we do so um those are just a few of our celebrations and working together to be student cented achievement focused and everyone valued I just wanted to I would feel remiss if I did not also need to attribute a lot of what we're doing to the teachers those that are in this room and those that aren't here it's been a lot of change for them at first I will admit that there was a lot of hesitancy why are we doing this what is the reason behind this but just the shift that's happened in the last six months data and numbers can sometimes be threatening to people but we've made a shift as a district of people reaching out to me I need more numbers I need more data I need to be able to help my children and it's a testament to the administrators I believe in Janet She Believes In Me I appreciate working with her again the reading coaches the teachers that we have here this is because of them without their buyin and their implementing what we're trying to achieve as a district they have very difficult jobs um and I would feel remiss if I did not say thank you to them um and the administrators and you all for your support so thank you [Applause] you know just the fact that you guys are you know leading this charge and every it's showing that everybody's pulling in the in the same direction and I think that's what's making a huge difference uh seem like maybe in years past or you know several years ago as one school you know was doing one thing and pulling in different directions but the fact that we're all moving forward together is really really showing in paying huge dividends so thank you guys okay move on to consent agenda 25101 approval of agenda for the February 12th 2025 regular meeting 25102 approval of minutes of the January 9th 2025 work session and January 15 2025 statutory Board of finance and regular board meeting 25103 approval of payments and claims 25104 approval of financial report 25105 approval of personnel report rep 25 105.1 addenda the Personnel report 25106 donations and grants which are as follows Anonymous donated $100 to the district school committee uh number two atillo fruit company donated $150 to be used to help paid old meal balances Miss Jacqueline F Fraser I guess that's right P to tillo Fruit Company employee donated $143 to be used to help pay old meal balances in Anderson Elementary School Anonymous donation of $100 to be used to assist with P du lunches Deputy Elementary Anonymous donation of $100 to be used to assist with past du lunches Lydia militon Elementary Anonymous donation of $100 to be used to uh assist with past du lunches Riker's Ridge Elementary Anonymous donation of $100 be used to assist with past du lunches accounts as well Madison Consolidated High School Brad ponsler Farm donated $250 to the FFA Emily Knox donated $25 to the band and the sa Iota zai did I did I hit it you got it tag on that's pretty pretty pump now uh sity donated $500 to the theater 25107 approval of field trip request 25 107.1 addenda to the field trip request which are as follows we have requests from the high school agricultural teacher shall be IED to take 14 FFA a students to Kentucky Expo Center in Louisville Kentucky on February 14th 2024 25 that's all [Laughter] right it's going to happen to attend the farm machinery show the students will have the opportunity to learn about the ever evolving technology and advancements being developed and marketed with farm machinery industry the second request is uh for the high school biology teacher Jeremy Huff to take 125 biology students to the Newport Aquarium in Newport Kentucky on February 28th 2025 the students will learn about the aquatic ecosystem have request from high school teacher biology teacher Shelby green to take 135 biology students to the Newport Aquarium in Newport Kentucky on February 28 2025 the students will learn about the aquatic ecosystem number four we have a request from Junior High art teacher Eric Fagan to take 35 8th grade Advanced art students to the Cincinnati Art Museum in Newport Kentucky on March 7th 25 the students will view famous works of art and movements in the museum culture fifth request is we have a request from the high school bowling coach Michael Heights to take four Bowlers to participate in the high school in the bowling regionals on January 24th 25th 2025 at Bloomington Indiana number six we have a request from Kelly Herford High School select teacher to take 50 US history and biology students to the Cincinnati Museum Cincinnati Ohio on March 31st 2025 the history students are learning about the Space Race during the Cold War and will incorporate their visit with to the Neil Armstrong space exploration gallery into a project the goal is to learn about the political reasons behind the space race and understand how it and the technology social economics and geopolitical impacts on the world today we have request from Shelby Green High School Science Olympiad coach to take six Olympiad students to University of Southern Indiana Evansville Indiana on February 7th and 8th 2025 to compete in the Science Olympiad competition have the following request from the high school color guard coach Steve saterfield these trips will increase performance and skills and performance and competition they will uh receive input from judges and give feedback to increase the uh skills to 10 Color Guard students to go to Northern Kentucky University at Highland Heights Kentucky on March 29 2025 10 Color Guard students go to the George Rogers Clark High School at Winchester Kentucky I'm Mar Mar 22nd 2025 10 Color Guard students to go to Elizabeth toown High School Elizabethtown Kentucky on March 15 2025 10 Color Guard students go to the riy high high school in Union Kentucky on March 8th 2025 and 10 Color Guard students to go to Lafayette High School at Lex Kentucky on March 1st 2025 we have a request from the high school wrestling coach to take 12 wrestlers to the ISA wrestling semi State on February 14th through 16th 2025 in Evel Indiana recomend from our superintendent Dr Brown I recommend that the board approve with one motion and one vote the consent agenda items 25-11 through and including 25- 107.1 as presented thank you Dr Brown do we have a motion please I'll make a motion we approve 25-11 through 25-17 point1 a second please I'll second with a motion to second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed passes no public all right move on to the action 25 108 a recommendation for approval of the following resolutions a resolution to transfer Appropriations 2024 educational fund B resolution to transfer Appropriations 2024 operation funds C resolution to transfer Appropriations 2024 Debt Service fund and D resolution to deposit or transfer interest to the 2025 educational fund Dr Brown yeah so by annually on June 30th and December 31st the finance department reviews the approved budget for necessary adjustments these transfers do not increase the total approved Appropriations budgeted for 2024 the transfers merely allow us to make appropriation adjustments to individual accounts I'm recommending the board approve the resolutions as presented than you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve I'll make motion to approve 25-18 thank you Mr B is there second please I'll second with a motion to second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed motion passes 2519 approval a resolution to transfer amounts from education fund to operation fund monthly Dr Brown yeah I'm recommending the board approve the resolution to transfer amounts from the education fund to the operations funds monthly we are recommending that 105,000 be transferred from the educ fund to the operations fund to reimburse the operations fund for expenses that are not allocated to student instruction and learning under any in a code 20-4 42-5 on a monthly basis for 2025 as needed thank you Dr Brown a motion to approve 25 109 I'll make a motion to approve 25-19 is there a second please I'll second with a motion to second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I opposed 2519 pass a 25110 approval of 2026 impact a section 7002 application Dr Brown yeah I recommend the board approved the 2026 impact Aid section 7002 application the impact aid program grants funds to school districts containing federally owned land in an attempt to supplement the funds that are lost in property that's not locally taxed you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve 25110 I'll make a motion to approve 2 5- 1110 a second please a second okay thank you with a motion in a double second any discussion see no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any opposed 25110 is approved 2511 approval of 20 mjhs course curriculum guide Dr Brown yeah I'm recommending the board approve the 2526 mjhs course curriculum guide as presented thank you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve 25 111 I'll make a motion we approve 25111 thank you Mr Scott a second please a second with a motion to second is there any discussion see none all in favor of 25111 signify by saying I I opposed 25111 is approved 2512 approval of 2025 2026 MCHS course curriculum guide I'm recommending the board approve the 2526 MCHS course curriculum guide as presented okay they entertain a motion to approve 25112 I'll make a motion to approve 25-12 and a second please I'll second with a motion a second is a discussion see no discussion all in favor of 25112 signify by saying I I oppose 25112 is approved and 2513 second reading and approval of new MCS policies Dr Brown yeah I'm seeking approval of the following new MCS policies MCS policy 6140 depository agreements and digital payment applications and MCS policy 75409 artificial intelligence ination motion to approve 25113 I'll make a motion to approve 25-13 thank Mr B and a second please I'll second thank you Mr St the motion to second is R discussion see no discussion all in favor signify by saying I I any oppos 25113 is approved 25114 second reading and approval of revised MCS policies Dr Brown I'm seeking approval of the following revised MCS policies MCS policy 5111 determination of legal settlement and eligibility for enrollment of students without legal settlement in the corporation proof of Indiana residency MCS policy 5500 student conduct MCS policy 5610 suspension and expulsion of students MCS policy 6250 required ADM counts for the purpose of State funding and verification of residency for membership MCS policy 75 40.3 student technology acceptable use and safety MCS policy 75404 staff technology acceptable use and safety MCS policy 8420 emergency preparedness plans and drills asking for approval thank you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve 25 114 make a motion we approve item 25114 thank you Mr Scott a second please I'll second with a motion and a second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor of 25114 signified by saying I I oppos 2514 is approved 21 25 115 approval of agreements of contracts a approval of lawn con care contract B approval of fire monitoring agreement C approval of the Phil service agreement and D approval of agreement with enviral Escape Dr Brown yeah I'm recommending the board approve the lawn service agreement with green thumb Lawn Service in the amount of $65,100 for 24 weeks of Lawn Service the duties will include mowing spraying of fence line weed eating blowing clippings off the walkways and roadways and trash pickup in the grass area so asking for approval of that contract entertain a motion to approve 25 or excuse me 2515 I'll make a motion to approve 25-15 thank you Mr St a second I'll second with a motion in a second is there any discussion uh should we clarify this that we're approving a you want to do it meet individually well Dr Brown only read the one so okay each one's a separate okay okay yeah thank you Mr SC okay so uh I'll make a motion to approve 25- 115a okay very good and if your second please yeah I'll second for the motion and second is there any discussion I just like to say I'd like to thank Jay Jay just wanted to thank you for your hard work on taking this contract I I think it's important that we let the public know that it's actually a lot less than than the previous year and and I think you work through you know a cutting U schedule that's going to going to allow that so we appreciate your efforts on on saving those dollars thank you any other discussion see no discussion all in favor of 2515 a signify by saying I I the oppos seeing none 25 115 a is approved 25 115b approval of the fire monitoring agreement Dr Brown yes yeah I recommend the board approve the fire monitoring agreement with Superior Fire and Security for fire protection services and monit and monitoring um in the amounts of 23,990 per year and then a a sprinkler backflow testing for 1600 for a grand total of $2,590 for all of our schools okay entertain a motion to approve B make a motion we approve 2511 5B thank you Mr Scott the second I'll second with a motion in the second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor of 25 115b signified by saying I I I any opposed 2515 B is approved 2515 C approval of filter service agreement Dr grm I recommend the board approve the filter service agreement with Filter Services of Indiana Inc in the amount of $6,795 27 annually filter services will be uh will change out filters in all the buildings twice a year and then remove and dispose old filters asking for approval thank you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve 25 115 C I'll make a motion to approve 25-15 C thank you Mr stor a second I'll second thank you the motion second is there any discussion see none all in favor of 25115 C signifi by saying I I I any oppos 251 115 C is approved 25 115d approval of agreement with envir Escape Dr Brown I recommend the board approved the agreement in the a total the total amount of $2,194 70 the areas to be treated are the sports Fields the non-sports areas and all kill treatments so alog together the total cost is $2,194 70 um asking for approval thank you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve I'll make a motion to approve a second I'll second if a motion and a second is there any discussion see no discussion all in favor of approval of 25 115d signifi by saying I I any opposed passes 2516 approval of erate funding for hotspots Dr Brown yeah I'm recommending the board approve the purchase of 100 hotspots from cdwg and kajit using Federal eate funding for hotspots e- rate funding pays for 80% of the hotspot device cost and 80% of the internet provider fees we had four bids one each from AT&T Verizon and T-Mobile and one from C DWG who's the vendor of kajit kajit offers a hotspot that works with all three of those providers and also offers a dashboard that is more content controls that help keep our students safe while online once purchased the recipients of of the hotspots will be determined by our internet surveys that we have during registration and preference will be given to those who do not have internet at home and um have a homework load that the student might need support I'm recomending I'm recommending the board approve the cdwg and kajit for our eate hotspot vendor the total would be 22360 but we only have to pay 4,472 of that cost thank you Dr Brown entertain a motion to approve 25116 I'm making a motion to approve 2516 and a second please I'll second any motion second is there any discussion I would like to thank Josh uh for hard work on this it's very important that uh that we have our children able to access the internet and computers from home and this is uh certainly going to go a long way in helping so we appreciate your hard work on that job no other discussion okay all in favor of 25 116 approval signify by saying hi hi I any opposed 2516 is approved stud reps Al righty good evening um I just have a few announcements and lots of celebrations for you this evening so first of all my the one I'm most excited about not that I'm not excited about everything but um our girl swim team had an outstanding sexual meet Lily Canada broke the 100 freestyle record and won all four of of her events which is the most anyone won at our sectional meet so she's awesome that's awesome Yes um Avery Johnson also won the 100 backstroke and broke our school record and both our medley relay and 400 freestyle relay and then both of Lily's events and Aver's 100b stroke are competing at State this Friday so good luck to them that's awesome congratulations to our girls basketball team and our wrestling teams on great seasons and good luck to our our boys wrestling team L to wrestle right okay the regional people um so good luck to them good luck to our boys swim team and our boys basketball teams and their sectionals in the coming weeks congratulations to mey and Brooklyn on their season and congratulations to Taylor Miller who qualified for the high school bowling state tournament and um the homecoming basketball game is February 22nd so go out and see the court and see our boys play um some celebrations for our academic team Science Olympiad qualified for state finished first in our area competition last weekend and congra was last month for our high school French students and that went very well several students placed first um Madison theater will be performing the share show on March 7th through the 9th at the high school auditorium so that's a 7 o'clock show on Friday and Saturday and a 2:30 show on Saturday and Sunday so be sure to go check out our great cast and crew um we had some choir students go and compete at isma a few weeks ago so Savannah Hall received silver and zuu Bailey Sophia Ryman CLA Miller Chelsea till and Gabby vest all receive gold and we'll be going to state for that um I also want to say a big thank you to all of our wonderful school counselors last week with school counselors week and we are just so thankful for all you do for us each and every day cubfest is on February 26th at the high school from 500 to 7: so I encourage all of you to attend and see all the great things that MCS has to offer and all the fun things we have going on and be sure to be checking your email and staying up today on student square and parents square and you've got you know I think even on these virtual days we like need to be checking and see what's going on so stay safe and warm and have a fantastic week thank you Emma M okay um I'd first like to give a shout out to um the girls wrestling team um it was uh at state it was interesting I I continued to check my phone and Facebook throughout the day for updates from uh Stacy and and and another uh parent that was there so so um that was just super cool um second um I got to participate or support if you will this young lady's uh senior night at the at the Junior High swim uh pool um they had a meet against I believe it was Lanesville and Charlestown and uh it was just fun to watch her particularly um swim and compete but uh yeah the Canada girl uh and coupler girl really fast um thank you Riker Ridge for coming tonight Kenton Aaron and Amanda um always love to hear what's going on at the schools um Janet and Sean thank you for everything that you do and Sean I've had more than one teacher in talking to them say that uh you've been a breath of fresh air when it comes to taking all this data and making sense of it um so besides bringing us lots of money in form of Grants and stuff like that um you also break down data so you're well worth what we pay you in my opinion don't tell him that um lastly I want to touch on something um when you're a public uh official um you hear all kinds of stuff both positive and negative and the last couple days I've heard my share of we shouldn't have close school or we should close school and and that kind of stuff and I dare say no matter what you choose you're going to have some people agree and some people who don't um and there may be a lot of people in this room that don't even remember this um sadly I do and it was in in October of 1973 uh there was a bus accident involving uh a Madison School Bus in a semi uh at the Michigan Road in 421 intersection and we lost four uh students lives that day okay um and so weather is always very crazy and tricky to predict but I will always side on uh caution and safety okay um and so I did a little research this morning because I couldn't remember the exact date and and some of the specifics but thanks to the internet and the Madison Courier I was able to find that um and obviously there's some people or family in this community whose lives have never been the same since that day thanks Mike thank you M Scott um first of all I want to thank Riker Ridge um Mrs Thomas and Mrs laugher and Mr Mahoney for coming and sharing um what's going on in with your school um I say this every time I love hearing about the schools so thank you um and the things that you're doing I love the Leader in Me program so love hearing about how that's progressing also um and good luck on the Legacy that's very exciting um Janet and Sean um I don't know it might be my new favorite I love hearing about the data and the things that are going um I want to applaud everybody um teacher staff everybody in the district that's working hard on this because this is exciting I mean I I mean this is my sixth year on the board and this is probably one of the most exciting things that I've I've been a part I don't know that I'm a part of but been able to witness so um thank you all and a huge thanks to you Dr Brown for leading this um I don't know if anybody else could have like and I know it was hard because change is hard change is really hard so I applaud you all for being open to that because it is hard work and to be able to see these you know this this movement in this is is really exciting for me so thank you all um I would like to say a couple of things first um something slipped past him all the way to me our Jag team last week competed in the career development conference and we had several placers so I want to congrat I only know I only know cuz my son was on it that's the only reason only reason full disclosure but congratulations we had several placers Terin I'm not going to get your last name right Terin Terin scarlo career preparedness Hunter Thompson took third place in prepared speaking Emily laugher Kylie Montgomery and Dela Gibson took third place in pbl fourth place Ariana dues Riley vaugh tamama Harris in business planning honorable mention Gracie concade for outstanding senior and our Jag social media team took second place so congrats to our Jag program for their performance at the career development conference I'd like to say thanks to the National Guard the National Guard donated um warm-ups warm up like t-shirts to all of our winter sports programs it just went out I think this week but they're really nice uh tops so thank you to the National Guard for that all of our Sports programs I won't repeat them all but good luck congratulations to all of them their Seasons wrapping up their Seasons continuing we really appreciate their hard work and putting a positive name out there for the Madison Community Mr Mahoney and the rers ridge staff I always enjoy specifically the community service piece so thank you for that I think it's really neat that the students get buy into more than just the academic part of it but kind of a self-worth a self value so thank you for that um Janet and Sean I really like the new teacher development piece with the corporation being an educator and still remember when I was a new teacher sometimes you feel like you're out on an island so I appreciate that new teacher development piece I think that's important to retention um buy in especially teachers burn out a lot new new teachers burn out a lot so I think that's a big important piece for the school moving forward the data driven decision making is huge just being able to pull that piece Sean on each student and kind of track where they're at where they're going I know I need access to my kids when we're done tonight so I can so I can see where I need to ground them for um no but that's really really big so thank you guys for all that and then mark your calendars May 17th at the Fairfield end we'll be having our first ever ever the athletic department be having their first ever big red rally a fundraising dinner um it's in a very early planning stages but we have a date May 17th and we have a location in the Fairfield end so Patrick and his team will be working to get more stuff together and information out as we get closer to that and that's called again sorry what's that what was it called again the big red rally big red rally okay cool thank you yep Davey me I'm not going to repeat everything it's basically ditto going through that so great presentations um I don't think I mentioned it last month but I did like normal help the FFA with their interviews for officer positions I always praise them um to think of when I was in high school 9th 10th 11th grade going in for an interview those kids rock it every single year and it makes it hard to choose you know who's getting what and so forth so great job to the FFA I do want to remind everyone I know it was talked about earlier but cubfest I participated in that last year and was just blown away um I would have a better idea this year on popcorn and how much we would go through because I wasn't quite told it was that busy and stuff so I'm sure it's going to be bigger this year uh normally I pick on this person so I'm gonna give her a compliment Mandy thanks for coming to the board meetings like seeing you out there um don't get used to me being nice to you and stuff but thank you for that and then Carla every couple months I give a shout out to you because I do appreciate you coming here and supporting us and getting you you find out so much more information here and then you can take it into the school system so thank you for that worst part of being second from laugh is being last so we reate a few things but I do would like to thank Riker Rich family for being here tonight very impressive program very impressive school and I too took away I mean a lot of it but one thing I really stuck out with me and I think Mr V just mentioned and is the community service of the service projects that is so important that we that we teach our kids that and you guys are knocking out of the park there with something every month so that's that's awesome we we appreciate that and that goes a long way with making a uh a good citizen someday when they learn that early it's it's good lessons to be learned so thank you guys for being here tonight and thank you for sharing all that positive information that you have going on again uh Sean and Janet guys doing an amazing job I can tell uh Sean still young I can't see them gra I mean I got to get down here on it he's got he's got those young eyes on there yeah yeah as he gets older and and we hope to keep him around for the next 30 Years you're going to notice his graphs are going to start but no we appreciate you guys and all the hard work and and your leadership and of course Dr Brown's leadership on that as well Dr BR all right uh first of all um thank you to Kenton Aaron and Amanda appreciate you being here and sharing um your story and the good work that you're doing at Rikers greatly appreciate it um and Janet and Shan as the others have said appreciate the work that you're doing um with our teachers and in our district every day helping further um our strategic plan and being very intentional in the work you do I appreciate that um cubfest is February 26 at 5:00 P PM 5: to 7 and we have five food trucks that are going to be there every staff member will receive a $10 voucher so they can get dinner while they're there um and we will have preschool through 12th grade represented so it's going to be pretty cool kids performing in the auditorium activities going on in the whole high school so it's going to be a pretty eventful night um and hopefully the weather cooperates I can't control that unfortunately um if I would I could um and February 13th which is tomorrow uh Jacob's going to be hosting the Jefferson County Safety depart uh meeting for the whole County and so I greatly appreciate his leadership uh within the county in that and um certainly making sure that we have everything kind of buttoned down and he's um now I think the chairperson of that of that group it's fantastic okay I'm going to try not to leave anybody out good luck to our wrestling team we have six wrestlers this weekend at semi State we have four girls competing in five events with the girl swim team um at State and they've broken several school records and are on fire right now so very proud of them and their coach uh John shudy the work that they've done together to get to that point where they're able to be so competitive proud of our winter sports teams Jag FFA band and choir bowling is also competing this weekend Archer is doing very very well I heard this week um and our elementary schools um had three of our schools placed in the top 10 in the state in science so we're just doing a lot of things across the curriculum and in um Sports just very proud of our kids and our staff um great things happening I don't know why anybody would choose to go any place but Madison Consolidated Schools that is all I have thank you Dr Brown next uh work session will be Monday March 10th 2025 at 4:30 p.m.

[Music] h [Music] h [Music] [Applause] [Music] your [Music] know [Applause] the incredible team of director Tim Burton and composer Danny Alman created Nightmare Before Christmas in 1993 while seemingly not your typical winter holiday movie because all the characters come from the world of Halloween it has nonetheless become a holiday staple e [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music]

[Music] hello and welcome back to the Views Express we have a very special guest uh this time around on views Express usually we hear from local dignitaries political dignitaries uh leaders of Industry etc etc we have something even better for you on this podcast waca Alum Connor D Donovan Connor welcome sir to the podcast I you could call me a leader of Industry if you want we might get there on this show you know what I I I think after the folks hear about what you've been up to we will end up calling you just that so um disclaimer uh folks who are listening Connor first off it's just wonderful to see you man um you know hard not to get emotional I remember uh when I first started here at waca you were one of the first folks who helped me produce some of my first fourways into Community media um so it's just amazing to see you and we had a chance to talk a little bit before the podcast and I know what you're up to but I got to share it with the people um I Connor how have you been I have been great I can't complain but uh no again it's wonderful to see you wonderful to be back at the studio as always I love coming back I love visiting um but no I've been great I uh right now I am producing events I'm doing a lot of what I did at the studio sort of big scale I do a lot of White Collar events um I've done events for uh ge done events for Petco and I typically do either like investor days or industry Town Halls on top of I do live sports as as well I've cut shows for ESPN I've cut shows for Fox Sports but I like to sort of always bring it back to to Ashland in a lot of ways and so I've been doing that now through a lot of work with Joe White from ashline Community Theater where we've been doing some featurelength stuff we've been doing some short stuff but get to flex that sort of cinematic creative muscle as well my goodness Connor um yeah I you know and that's why you're here because you know I I think that folks need to know about how imp actul Community media can be not just for those of us who consume it but for those of us who produce it and particularly the young people who have made WCA what it is Connor I got to ask you how did you get started here at waca what what what made you take uh it was partly I needed a job um but partly I had a connection and there were uh there were two brothers who used to work here Kyle and Kendall Gibson um and their mother was actually my preschool teacher down at little folk Farm um and she and my mom had stayed close through the years and when I was a freshman in high school I was sort of on the beat looking for a job and they said well if you don't want to work at a pizza place you know because we have eight of them in Ashland um probably more and shout out to the pizza places in Ash shout out Town House Pizza who I know is a sponsor yes and it would not be Ashlin without our wonderful Pizza play true and I actually did end up working for Town House Pizza for a spell as well right on um but no and they basically said they were like you can come work here you know they're looking for interns and then the interns a lot of the time turn into sort of buy event people sort of Freelancers Conor Conor how old were you I was this was 2010 so I was 14 14 years old 13 13 13 at the time 13 so did you started as an intern is that how it's so do you remember your first day at waca like I remember my first gig okay what was your first gig it was a football game it was a varsity football game and this was back when station was in the middle school and they were also still playing games at the middle school um and Paul will maybe remember this Paul is in the control room the producer uh my first game I set off the alarm at the station because I did not know that you were not supposed to walk through the halls of the school because it used to be connected right like the station in the Middle School used to have a door next to the library that went right in so I went back in the hallways when you're supposed to go around after hours after the shoot it was like 900 p.m.

good evening uh this is the ashin school committee meeting for February 12th 2025 start by reading our vision statement is the ashon public schools strives to be a model District that creates a model of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff who feel safe and supported are empowered with the academic and social emotional skills to pursue their chosen path and embrace their roles as positive contributors to the local and Global communities this meeting is being recorded by waca cable TV our agenda for the evening this the call to order and review of agenda first item on the agenda would be an executive session under section 21 A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiation with non-union Personnel Mr Adams our superintendent I conduct refed bargaining with the intent of returning to public session we anticipate will be an executive session for some between 15 and 30 minutes and then return to open session we'll have public comment that point then move into reports and presentations including student advisory Council presentation AMS school schedule update and stud presentation discussion of the superintendent's contract superintendent's midcycle review warant articles superintendent report and the assistant superintendent report have a second read of multiple policies I won't say all the names but um policies BD policies bdb school committee officers bdfa school councils efd school nutrition program charge policy Personnel use of Technology JN d access to digital resources NB use of Technology construction NC acceptable use digital resources on our consent agenda we will deal with gifts and donations and minutes from January two we have reports of school Comm members is the uh order of business acceptable to everybody sorry Mark we had one more addition which we did post in time it was the ashon high school wrestling team overnight travel I posted on Monday morning find out about it until then was posted okay that's all all right yep good enough with that with that Amendment there people agreable to the agenda so the first order of business is uh executive session I will move to enter executive session under general laws chapter 30A section2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with Personnel superintendent Jim Adams or to conduct collected bargaining strategy with the intent to return discussion second second roll call vote Marcy Paul me into executive session try to be back in 15 to 30 minutes e e e public comment anyone online once on um all right so our next item on the agenda reports and presentations first one is student advisory Council presentation High School folks so if you can just introduce yourselves as you come up to the mic hi I'm Vanessa Thompson um so first we just have an update with winter sports they're wrapping up so the boys wrestling team just won their dual state champions um for division three and we have the boys hollison Ashlin hockey team is uh the combo team is sitting in 21st right now so they're due to make playoffs for division three and then girls and boys basketball um are due to have their final games um this Friday vers hopkington and then we have spring Sports registration just opened and those close in March and then we also have a lot of seniors making their decisions for their Futures whether it be like a gap year or trades in military and we have a few kids already who um I think over I think over two dozen who have just committed to their colleges so um pretty exciting and then we have the finals uh for regular decisions were just made um so those applications had to be in by January 15th so also lots of kids waiting on to hear what they got back so hi I'm Sonia mudu Swami um first the NHS um talent show is coming up in March and it's always been a great opportunity for sh students to Showcase their talents as well as raise money for the club um we also have clocker Idol or had clock ridle in December um with a current senior winning first place um it the club raised thousands of money for the emergency fund um also the a make a wish host did um jump for joy in the beginning of this month and um many families as well as children enjoyed the event which was great for the club um starting from last week we we've had sophomore seminars um talking about um Club career tests as well as Career Development um and since recommendations came out we had um we have class meetings with freshman sophomores and juniors um discussing course selections for the upcoming year thank you have a check do you have anything to add yeah so as she said uh cor selections are just getting started um and there have been class meetings with the sophomores Juniors and freshman is tomorrow and so it's just a really transition point between now and and next year um February break's coming up so we're all looking forward to that get a nice a nice break um and also sats are coming up soon uh in March so that's kind of what what the upper class men are thinking right now I think that's pretty much it anybody have any questions for thank you we'll jump into Mr zilly first yeah sorry Aon this won't take long uh Pete there you go thanks coach can you uh just uh present to the school committee um the the purpose of the overnight visit yes so we have a couple uh tournaments coming up it's something we've done for uh about 10 years now uh the state tournament is coming up uh a week from Saturday and it's a Friday Saturday tournament uh we usually get out Saturday night or Friday night rather um pretty late at the at the uh at the uh gym so it's like it's in Foxboro the first one uh we get out probably 11: p.m um that Friday night and the next morning weigh-ins are at 8 AM uh so just to kind of save time travel back and forth and um you know and and in anticipation of potential you know problems with weather uh that's something we've done in the past and the following weekend is the all state tournament which again is uh you know a quick turnaround it's in methan and uh we get out about 11:00 p.m.

good evening and welcome to the Greenfield Public Schools school committee meeting for Wednesday February 12th 2025 this meeting is being recorded by greenfield Community television if any other persons present are doing the same you must notify the chairperson at this time no one all right um secretary Jive would you call the role absolutely secretary Den I am here member Goodwin here member child here Vice chair seon here chair Johnson mad here member Martini I am here mayor dorer so we are all present despite uh mayor dorer who is not present at the moment so we have a quorum all right we have a quorum with six present and the mayor absent thank you the meeting is called to order at 6:31 p.m. public comment will start in the room if there are people on Zoom who would like to make public comment please type into the chat to call us our awareness to you not seeing any public comment in the room me check the chat there is no request for public comment on Zoom so we will move on to our recognition superintendent thank you I'd like to call Miss Rachel heg forward to the public comment seat so she can be seen on TV first [Applause] we're here tonight to congratulate Rachel heg who is this year's 20242 Greenfield Public Schools GM spoon Pioneer Valley excellence and teaching Award winner Rachel heg is a fourth grade teacher at Newton Elementary Rachel was nominated by two of her colleagues this year one nominees stated Miss hay holds her students accountable and sets a high bar for classroom expectations she also shows compassion towards her students and they know that they are cared for loved and accepted this combination of kindness and strong expectations creates an environment where any student can succeed another nominee stated she is an amazing colleague to work with and gives thoughtful and useful feed feedback we are so lucky to work alongside her and learn from her interim principal Miss Jacobs assistant superintendent Sullivan and myself congratulate you on this award and for all of your accomplishments we are very fortunate to have you in District and we look forward to celebrating with you and your family at the log cabin on April 30th congratulations [Applause] please turn your mic on you have to long press on the button until and then let go and it should turn green might have to hold it for a little bit there you go all right good evening thank you for having me um I'm very humbled to receive this award for excellence in teaching um I am thankful for the constant support and collaboration that I received from my colleagues superintendent Karen patod and principal Carol Jacobs both inspire me with their vision and their strong leadership and I see a positive and promising future unfolding for our students thank you very much for this honor I really really it means a lot to me [Applause] thank you and back to the superintendent for unanticipated recognition um before we get to the student reports I was made aware that uh one of our student reporters Mr Tumi here um received an award for um a scholarship of $1,000 from the National Association of student councils he was one of 75 nationally nominated students to win this award and this award recognizes him for student leadership amplifying student voice and service to community and we are happy to recognize that this evening congratulations [Applause] great we'll move on to the report of student representatives to the committee um all right so beginning with quite a bit from student council so I'm just gonna go through that first um January was a very busy month for the student council we hosted cookies Coco and cramon in preparation for midterms and we had a total of 45 students and 12 staff in attendance um to raise funds for our upcoming leadership conference we held a music Bingo fundraiser on the 25th we traveled with the Murdoch High School to compete in Massachusetts unified Special Olympics forbach um we brought five teams an additional 10 fans in the stands our teams performed well and our athletes proudly wore their medals on Monday to school our fans were the most spirited and could be heard singing the school song and offering to put glitter on everyone's faces in attendance um we ended the month with an event that took months to plan and included the entirety of the community the mobile Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics was a huge success in total over $113,000 were raised and this number is still increasing the link to or to donate remains open until April at ghs itself we had 149 students and staff take the plunge or stay in our chicken Coupe as towel holders during the public portion students from Mohawk Turners and Frontier joined additionally we had First Responders represented from the fire and police departments service organizations and local businesses it was truly amazing to see just how many people were willing to take the plunge for inclusion Miss mass and the student council would like to thank all who attended donated to the plunge it really was a huge undertaking and would not have been possible without the assistance of Miss patod Mr Browning the fire department the DPW our facilities manager and the subcommittee who not only plan on the event but we're willing to try something new on this large of a scale we are so lucky to have such a supportive Community um and such supportive community members to partner with for this project so thank you all for athletics western Mass playoffs are here as of February 11th the boys and girls teams are seven seed the boys will be going to Monument Mountain Regional and the girls look as though they will be going to Lennox final seatings will be coming Thursday boys basketball state seating is 25 in division 4 and the girls are number 26 in division 5 state tournament for basketball starts February 24th indoor track season came to a close last week the boys team won their league and the girls came in second great job by both teams Mason yl and Javon William Willam will be competing at the state tournament February 16th congrats ice hockey has clinched the Barry division first time in the league and our Champions they are number one seated for the western Mass tournament which starts February 19th hockey seed for the state is number 16th in division 4 state tournament also starts February 24th updated schedules will be posted on arbiterlive.com go wave um in January the library Club had a game day and did some bookmaking with franch the teen library from uh the Greenfield Public Library in February today actually they made Valentine buttons and they will have a book to movie event on Friday February 28th where they will show the wild robot this film is rated PG and all families and community members are welcome to attend the doors will open at 5:30 p.m.

all right hello and welcome to the Greenfield school committee Community engagement subcommittee meeting is January 21st and at 6m we're meeting in the Greenfield High School library um let's do a roll call um member Goodwin here member seon here and I am also here member genive and I am now chairing this subcommittee um there doesn't appear to be anyone here from the public so I'm assuming there isn't anybody else recording um I'm currently recording the meeting to the cloud and I'd like to let's open the meeting um 6:05 p.m.

okay so I will call to order this meeting of the Greenfield school committee budget and finance subcommittee at 1203 on Wednesday January 8th 2025 we have a pretty simple agenda here today which is simply to go over the uh budget guidelines that we spoke about previously which is based on the Outreach that the uh subcommittee did and uh previously in regards to the FY 26 budget development uh but first we have public comment so is anyone present for public comment not seeing anyone so I will move on uh to the next item which is our only other item on our agenda for today uh all right so uh we're looking to discuss the uh gu the guidance document that was shared in the materials for um FY 26 budget development has everyone had a chance to review that because if not I will take a pause so that people can do that I have but I'd like an additional minute if possible okay okay let's take an additional two minutes and um and go ahead and review e I have reviewed I don't know if anyone else is anyone and do you need any more time nope I've read over it a couple times okay all right so um having given that oh Karen I was going to share my screen but I don't think I have that capability enabled are you able to enable that can you try now Kate I think you should be able to yeah there we go thank you okay there okay I just wanted to put this up um on screen for any body um in attendance or that might be looking at this later and of course this will be available uh later on as well so um it starts with an overview here which is um to explain the purpose of the document so as we discussed last month um there are many other school committees that provide guidance um like this to their superintendent uh in regards to budget development and we considered examples from various other committees um and there is certainly quite a wide variety in this um I think that this document is um useful because it is um concise and the point we certainly saw some examples that were very long um and I think it's better to have something that is um is more contained especially since in the this um kind of day and age we live in the too long didn't read um era so uh I I hope that this will be something people will read all the way through um and be able to digest easily uh so we have the over overview here at the beginning explaining that um this provides the community with information about what the committee's priorities are um for the uh development of the operating budget and also provides guidance to the superintendent and the administration as they're working to develop that budget proposal and then um down below we have um bulleted here for people the priorities that we as a subcommittee gathered through our Outreach efforts um that took place during the month of November and the beginning of December and that we discussed at last month's budget and finance meeting so um these seem to fit into these four categories um curriculum and instruction Staffing and volunteers PD and transportation priorities and this distills the um the nice amount of feedback that we got from doing that Outreach and listening and I'm not going to go over it because we already talked about all of these in detail at our last meeting um and then at the end um is some assumptions and guidance to um help just lay out what are not particular to um FY 26 these are things that we would um take into account no matter what year it was um but things that are still important to say um in the development of the budget so um it explains that we're um going to make a budget here that provides adequate resources that meets all legal mandates that meets our collective bargaining agreements contractual obligations and things like that um and that will make the you best use of available information about certain things that we don't necessarily no until a certain point in the process like Chapter 70 and circuit breaker programs and grants and things like that um and uh finally I thought it was important to uh just lay out in a simple way what our budget planning policy requires um of the school committee here at the end um so we've talked a lot about this policy dbd budget planning or but over the last few months because this is what what we've been working to implement in a more engaged streamlined um organized kind of a way so uh so I just thought it was important to lay out these pieces at the end um about what we need to carry out here in budget planning does anyone have um any suggestions are there any um edits or additional things that you need think need to be in here I guess something that is in the assumptions but doesn't really show up in the priorities is uh more of the prioritization of most economical uses so which number are you talking about so um let me see number six under assumptions and guidance which I would say rather than just an assumption we I mean we're we're about to head into a really lean Financial time and I I guess the way that the priorities are laid out uh we don't really have like okay like what percentage of resources will go to each priority in a way that is a missing piece of guidance if that makes sense to anyone I'm I'm not making complete sense um of that do you mean that we should suggest that x per of resources go to well I'm not saying we need to lay it I'm not saying we need to lay it out but uh I I would like something a bit more Concrete in our priorities that we are making you know taking an active look at finding ways that we can save money rather than just hear the things we are tossing money at this time if that makes more sense I hear what you're saying um my point of view on that would be that um doing our best to reduce cost and shift cost as needed in order to um in order to conserve funds is something that's always done and the always done things are down here whereas well so here's where I got tied up because a lot of the number one seemed like it was the always done like of course we're always going to be looking for highquality instructional materials and curriculum kind of thing so I would actually um disagree with that one because we made a specif we have made specific purchases of instructional materials over the last correct me if I'm wrong Karen I think three years and um so this is to support specific materials that we made an investment in recently and that require um additional purchases now in order to replace consumables and Karen is there am I missing anything in what I just said no that is accurate okay I I guess it's I see that one as specific to well I guess for the curriculum and instruction it seemed like it's a lot of continuing too so okay I think I get what you're saying now so as part of um three years ago when we started doing the adoption under our uh ssos District prioritization plan they have to be specific highquality instructional materials aligned under des's um mandates so I think that's where the specifics in curriculum and instruction lie is that we have to continue to invest in those based on our um initial pilot and grant funding but that the continued investment in them is a budget cost and then we have to also look at the areas of content where we haven't adopted high quality instructional materials yet and continue to invest in that as well under our district prioritization plan okay so have we adopted elevation yet or is that new it is um soon to be adopted um and Dave messing's office is uh looking into that as another additional resource to assist our L population okay I think what was tripping me up is that the first one is the continuing to fund and support and then the others were things that I knew were in various degrees of progress so I wasn't sure what was new versus what was continuing if that makes sense for where I was getting tripped would it be helpful to say what the these specific material like name them in this item would that be less confusing sorry highlight here well I think it's not the needing to name them specifically more of needing to have the where we currently are now kind of thing like to continue and to fund and support these you know base well I you know we don't need a full paragraph about it but it it's really the so where so the elevation platform we've already started to invest in correct or not yet so this is new the K to5 science um is fifth grade is being launched I believe in 2025 and then they they are still waiting to develop K to four units so it could be a three to five year process before the whole science um open Sayed is actually created and uh outsourced and then um we have ongoing seal changes between the Second Step that we use right now but also the addition of the restorative practice work that we're going to be incorporating so those would be you know a potential future investment once we have that that committee making some determinations okay so I think it's the order of the bullet points that were tripping me up so because we have continue then new then new then review and possibly revise so that would be more of the continuing and then we're back to new things and then back to continuing with the maintaining so I think that was where so I think it was a formatting and ordering so I think for me it would have been helpful for them to be in the groups of adding new versus maintaining and continuing if that makes sense because with the this with the way that they were listed it made it difficult for me to tell what was in progress versus what was brand new okay so I would still want to see these in the categories that they are in um but I think it would be fine to order within the categories starting with what is existing and moving to what is new would that be help ful yes it would okay okay and my dog has opinion so sorry if you hear him in the background that's okay um so okay we could also um and again Karen tell me if I'm missing something but we could also um amend this and say that um we'd like to continue to fund and support the CK amplif by and illustrative math high quality instructional materials recently adopted by the district yeah we could name the um curriculums that we have adopted thus far that would make it less vague and more clear that we're talking about specific materials here I just worry because we also used uh Eureka squared and if at some point well I guess this is for FY 26 so that that might be the caveat out of it though if we decide to switch and go all illustrative or move fifth grade from illustrative to Eureka in the redistricting does it matter if it's identified that specifically here well what if we just add the phrase such as here we go okay okay so will say to continue to fund and support highquality instructional materials recently adopted by the district such as CA amplify and illustrative map okay okay so and um that would be I'm just analyzing here in terms of what's existing and what's new so this is a continuation the next two things are new things this is existing so we could move this item up to be the second one and then the art and music would be the other existing it is existing but this is talking about expanding them if possible so that's kind of new so maybe that should go it is but yeah it is a good link because it's going from the expanding to the new okay okay so this will be the third item and these two things are new and then this one is not in any of those categories really because um this is something that we have had before we don't have right now we like to have again last item for me that goes in the new category because it would be not the continuation of a program that is currently existing that's at least the way my brain organized it okay and we might even want to add the word new into the uh uh into the science and the elevation well not elevation because you know I don't know because that I'm just trying to think what would make it as crystal clear as possible to anyone coming in off the street and reading it right here to invest in and adopt new high quality instructional materials for K science okay okay okay and if that is above the elevation then that would imply that the elevation platform is new to the district as well okay so we can add that right here I feel like I'm so nitpicky I apologize no I want this document to be really clear to people um and this is the first time that we're doing this so I'm a big fan of doing things right the first time so thank you um K are you seeing where I highlighted yeah and we're just inserting new new in between right there yeah okay all right and you got the reorder yes okay thank you all right now okay I think Staffing and volunteers is all in the in this order um because the first item is to maintain a level of Staffing to continue to provide small educationally appropriate class sizes um the second one is to consider additional resources that might be necessary to fill the need for substitutes so that may involve additional I would say goes in the new things category and um increasing I obviously we already have some resources for substitutes and um and we may need more so that's another kind of linking item between current and future I think and then the the last item is um to increase and support volunteers the district yes and also the ordering it isn't as important to me in the other sections as curriculum and instruction because curriculum and instruction was where there were the most moving pieces and you know in the others there's a little bit more detail of what exactly we're looking at true okay okay do you do you have any whoa sorry do you or Elizabeth have any suggestions in regards to the order or the wordage in professional development I think it's really clear my only thought and again I'm being super nitpicky I think I would want to uh have the uh the bullet uh point about the resources to support staff in the English learner population up higher because it is the most directly academic okay that makes sense this item first just and now this this is just because people are going to read it and they're going to uh say oh but on you know only one of these is explicitly academic and it's buried down here so I think the document will be better received if the very first bullet point is the most academic because of course teachers do academic professional development that makes them a better teacher but sometimes people don't see the link right away if that makes sense okay Karen you got this piece this is going as the first item under PD yep okay okay and I really like I was just going to say that I really like that the last bullet point is the CPAC one uh because that is where we Bren out to the full community so I was just thinking of the strategy of where the bullet points fell sorry I am being so nitpicky I apologize that I'm making it difficult for everyone you're making it beautiful in the end that's what you're doing all right and there's only one item under transportation so um no ordering there um but if you have um input about the wording anything that's solid I feel like the mere fact that this exists is wonderful okay and I agree showing real real growth and progress towards transparency with the public and towards advancing the priorities of the community um I have never seen a document like this in my years the school committee so hoay and thank you it's beautiful I am very glad to join our peers around the Commonwealth who have been doing this for years and um I think I think this is it um it's concise it's only two pages um I think the layout on the page is very digestible because um the three sections are um just clearly spaced out they are not too wordy um they get right at the most important things what is this for it reminds people of our strategic plan it distills all of the feedback that we got through Outreach um very concisely but I don't think it has missed anything and um it reminds us of our duties in the process the only thing I would say that it missed from the schools I talked to were more of the physical building requests and field trip requests so I didn't I don't think that physical building things should be in here because a lot of that has to do with capital and capital and the operating budget are two different things okay um I just was asking that now so that we will have the answer when people ask us why wasn't that there and then the other thing about the field trip or bringing in the special opportunities in lie of field trips like I know the preschool wanted to bring in like you know the entertaining UC ators in place of field trips and I'm not sure where that would fit in Aon would that fit in curriculum and instruction or do you have a thought about that um we could certainly tie it to curriculum and instruction because we would want those opportunities to be linked to standards that student students are learning so we could add it as the last new if you would prefer okay uh all right can we word it like this last piece yes I like the maintain and expand I think that will keep it simple for people so to maintain and potentially expand opportunities for uh H how would you word it Karen um activities assemblies presentations aligned with curriculum and standards based learning something of that sounds solid thank you all right good and we have plent we have room here so that is not going to push this past two pages so that's good okay darn it I thought it had missed nothing is there anything else you think has being missed that we talked about I think you thematically covered it all okay okay thank you for spearheading this and making sure that everybody's voices were heard thank you both for all of the footwork and doing this Outreach effort it was a lot so um I think that is really um I don't know I think probably it's an unsung um job um for you guys U because there's probably not too much attention I guess that people pay to that sort of thing but um but I really appreciate it because um this year I feel like our discussion about budget development is now firmly connected to stakeholder input um here and not that there's not plenty of room for expanding on that in the future but this was a first year effort at doing this and I think it was done pretty well um so I'm very I'm very happy with how this is turned out here yeah it took additional time and work but I do think that continuing as an annual thing to go and meet with the PTO is important because for whatever reason there are people who have lots of opinions that don't bring them to our meetings and don't email them and that doesn't make their opinions less valuable or important I could not agree with you more um I it's a lot to ask people to go to um their PTO and school councils and attend school committee meetings and subcommittee meetings and and City Body meetings and all kind you know people don't have time to do that especially busy working parents so um so yeah I think we have to put ourselves where they are um in order to hear them and they deserve to be heard so any additional suggestions okay so uh I think I am going to move that we recommend to the full school committee the adoption of the this with our edits I'm terrible at making motions oh my gosh that we approve the proposed priorities and guidance for fiscal year 2026 budget development with edits as discussed to the full school committee at the next meeting I'll second oh double second double second I wonder if this vote will pass okay uh so I'm a yes yes yes okay very good then uh so we will bring this to everyone um at the committee meeting and my hope is that um we will be able to put this in place um so that it is there just in time um to be useful to the superintendent and coming forward with a proposed budget very soon the season is upon us it sure is thank you okay um I will move to adjourn second second this time all right I say yes yes yes okay we are adjourned at 12:35 pm thank you everyone so much for all your hard work you're welcome lovely to see you all see you in a few hours see you bye [Music]

okay I'm going to call to order this meeting of the Greenfield school committee budget and Finance subcommittee on December 9th at 12:34 p.m. and uh we have as our first item on the agenda public comment I do not see any members of the public present so I'm going to move on from that our second item is uh discussion in regards to uh making a recommendation related to the process of approving warrants uh so as you know sorry Karen what was that the second is to approve your minutes from September 24 sorry that's okay I'm sorry no worries correct the second item is to approve the minutes from our September meeting uh I will move to approve the minutes is there a second I'll second okay and uh I any discussion okay then uh I am a yes member child's yes member deneve yes okay that carries unanimously and now we may move on to discussing the warrant process so um as you will recall U this came up at our most recent school committee meeting and uh the committee delegated it to us um to discuss and come back with a recommendation and uh I have a few things um to share to start with and then we'll we'll open that up for discussion so uh firstly I'm not entirely sure that this should be under budget and finance since this is a policy of the school committee so I might be inclined actually to send this back to the committee and move it to the policy subcommittee that being said I did go ahead and um go through I'll go through some history as as far as I recall it and then um I also did a bunch of research on the masc policy database to see what other people are doing uh on this front so in the past the committee uh used to require a majority which would be four members to sign warrants and as I recall uh this was changed during my tenure on the committee at least in part because uh there was frequent difficulty getting four signatures by the time required and uh I recall Vera sending email after email looking for three more signatures and two more signatures please just one more signature um before the deadline so um the committee decided to change this policy and um allow one member to sign off on any given warrant and that's what we are now doing so um that is what I recall and I welcome anybody else's Recollections that were there at the time and then I did go ahead and um go through the uh database which we are now on on masc website to see what kind of policies are out there um on other other committees just for reference um so what I found there was um and I did not get through the entire database but I went through a lot of it I think I got to like the teas on it um and found 41 other committees that have a policy similar to ours right now they have one member designated um and the next largest group that I found was actually unclear like they say that their school committee will approve warrants but it doesn't say what their procedure is um and there was a small but substantial set that um have a policy stating that their school committee or a subcommittee of at least three members will approve warrants um that's related to some other committees that either delegate this to their budget and finance committee members or they have a specific warrant subcommittee that does this and um then then on the smaller side there were some committees that simply say a majority uh one of them said a majority or the chair or their design if there aren't enough members available um there were a small number that approved their warrants at meetings but one of them delegates it to their budget and finance subcommittee if they have only one meeting that month so these were committees that have more than one meeting in a month um and what else there were a few that delegate this specifically to their chair so their chair is always the person signing and then there were a few outliers there was one that delegates this to their secretary there were two that happened to have a Treasurer position on their school committee and that person owns this responsibility there was one that designated the chair of but their budget and finance subcommittee to always do this and um one more I saw that uh had three members signing warrants on a rotation designated by the budget and finance chair so that's what I could find so far um and it seemed like certainly by far the largest group are doing it the way we do it right now so that's all I have for uh background information and I will open this topic for discussion sorry member Den um I don't mind if we do one signature or multiple signatures however that works the best for all the committee members I support um my issue is that I would like to be able to ask questions about the warrants and find out uh what is going on with different charges and see uh get questions answered if they don't seem transparent enough um and also we learn a lot by looking at the warrants about you know what contracts might be up or things to look at I mean there's a reason that we have to look at them so it just seems odd to me to be required to look at them but not get to ask questions about them specifically and I just don't have time uh in my volunteer capacity to pick up the phone every week and have conversations to you know piece out little things I'm happy to send emails if I have questions or whatever but it just seems like uh all the other committees that I've talked to discussing warrants and uh asking questions about them is always part of their process as a full committee um and I'm not trying to step on anyone's Toes or get involved in day-to-day business I mean 90% of them are you know perfect and seem reasonable and fine and are not on my radar and then there are some that come up where I'm like what is this and it's our job to ask those questions so for me it's the feeling uh routed at every turn when I want to ask questions about it and there seems to be some sort of feeling like we can't have the discussion in a public forum but that's public money so that's where my feeling is on it and where I begin and end on it um however the warrant process uh works for the group is absolutely fine with me and my Recollections of how it went down is the same as yours are you um inclined to have warrants be on the meeting agenda every month or yeah yeah I think it should be on the on the meeting agenda that is best practice I mean we spoke with so many different committees in our area at masc in hyanis and a lot of them said well of course it's on our uh agenda and we can discuss them and that's an important part part of our role so I would like to see them on the agenda knowing that most of the time no one's going to have anything to say or bring anything up but also I think it you know is an incentive to make uh things a little bit more um I don't want to say transparent but maybe more well written as invoices because there are things that sort of lead to Nowhere remember child so with us meeting once a month how do we handle the timeliness issue if we're putting them on the agenda you do mean in terms of the amount of time the meeting takes or do you mean in terms of posting items well I mean in terms of so we get the warrant and it needs a pretty fast turnaround so how does that work if we're meeting once a month well right so we have we Reed receive warrants more frequently than we meet so I don't think it would be possible to put the warrants on our monthly agenda for approval because then they won't get approved in time um that's not to say that they cannot be on the agenda for the purpose of questions um I would have a couple of concerns about that one being that it takes time to track down information so when someone has a question if they're going to ask it during a meeting and not before then they're not so likely to get the information they're looking for um unless the superintendent or business manager happen to remember something off the top of their head but they might need to go tracking something down in order to get the answer so there's that and um in terms of open meeting law the general public has a right to know we're going to talk about in advance at meetings so uh probably this is okay it would be okay but it feels like a little bit of a gray area to me because if we were to talk about something significant then it wouldn't necessarily have been I'm not sure that that would have been proper notice to the public if all the posting said was warrants um you know like it might need to be more specific which is um a lot of the guidance sort of theme that I think has come out of the Secretary of State's office the last couple of years um my and my other worry about it would be the amount of time that we take in meetings because earlier this year we were doing really well and having meetings that were probably like around a couple of hours but lately meetings have been dring on 3 hours 4 hours and if we have a additional standing item and there are multiple questions then yeah that could add to that problem so um I you know my preference I think would be to have members put together their questions and send them to the superintendent in advance and if they don't get what is a satisfactory answer to them um to a certain question then to ask the chair to put it on the agenda for the next meeting provided that they do that before the posting requirement so how does that differ from what we're doing now because at present time we can feel free to email these questions it doesn't that it's not that would not differ from what we're doing right now except that it I mean we could spell it out more explicitly that members please Pro you know provide their warrant related questions to the superintendent like one week before the meeting and if they're if they do not have a satisfactory answer to one of their questions to uh request the chair put it on the agenda at least like 72 hours before the meeting that way the posting can be updated does that sound interesting to people I don't know I'm just talking so I don't know if you can see but Elizabeth has her hand up I can't I can't see you Elizabeth I'm sorry sorry I will formally raise my hand I'm here we go go ahead I I totally agree with you and I'm glad that you brought it up and yes I don't want meetings to go on longer and I don't want anybody to have to do too much extra work and I don't want there to be any gocha scenarios like I I understand um the thing we've never really talked about about the warrants um at least in the time that I've been here we've only just changed the signature requirement but we've never really talked about a process how we discuss them how we handle them so I'm just talking about the process and making one is a wonderful first step um and I feel like we could find some sort of Middle Ground where uh people feel the members feel like they can do the job that they're supposed to be doing um not adding to anyone's workload or extending meetings but also doing the the oversight that's required so um some sort of marriage of the two concepts I think is needed to be spelled out in an explicit way so that we know what we're doing um and if that function is emailing you know and saying I have questions about you know warrant four five and six then that's that's fine but um uh I don't know what I'm trying to say it's just it needs to be it's part of what we have to do and it needs to be welcomed because that's unfortunately part like a big part of our job otherwise um what is the point if we're just going to rubber stamp everything and not not understand what we're doing continual question about committies yeah how do we reach the compromise where we're not just rubber stamping and we're understanding but we're also not adding to anyone's workload I gu question well so how about this oh this idea if we set a procedure that the chair in has a designated place in their planning template for each agenda for Warrant questions and um that members provide their warrant related questions to the superintendent at least Karen chime in here if this is totally unreasonable at least a week of ahead of time um [Music] and then forward to the chair any unsatisfactorily answered question by 3 days before the meeting that way there's always something there's always a space in the planning of the agenda for this purpose and there's a reasonable expectation of members um putting their questions out there enough in advance to get an answer and putting unanswered questions you know non-s satisfactorily answered questions to the chair for it for that space in the agenda that is way too many many words I'm sure there's more a more concise way to say that um no Kate I I appreciate that and um I think Andy will also chime in in agreement we're happy to answer questions on the warrant um I've only ever received one um since my time being superintendent so uh I'm intrigued by the conversation that is ongoing about warrants but I'm happy to answer questions and if I don't know them at a meeting when they're asked I'm happy to research it and answer it further and so is Andy so happy to you know talk about adding the agenda template for questions that they may feel are unsatisfactorily answered but we are just happy to answer questions on the warrant too is the my question for you is would that be a reasonable amount of time because that's four days basically potentially between when somebody asks you a question and when they would be receiving whatever information you're available or able to provide before that 72 hours before the meeting I think members would just have to make sure that if they feel the answer is unsatisfactory that they're uh letting uh the chair know to put on the agenda that's like I can give an answer but sometimes I don't um know if the answer is unsatisfactory or not if no one actually responds back and wants either more information or wants it on the agenda for further discussion so the timeliness I think will be on the interpretation of my answer by the member who has asked yeah right so basically we're saying here's the meeting seven days before the meeting a person needs to send you their questions and then within the next four days you're going to be able to provide whatever you can provide for information about their question and then three days before the meeting no later than that they need to be letting the chair know and I think it would be the expectation would be uh to let the chair and the superintendent know that you have a a a question that has not been fully answered um in your estimation and you would like it on the agenda that way it can make it into the posting in time it's so that I feel like I have to ask Glenn about that because I don't I also don't know if that 72 hours is going to be like reasonable for him and administrative staff to change a posting because that's what work too but um I'm just spitballing here so anybody else please feel free to chime in with ideas I will I'll just say up front I would not be a fan of designating the uh budget and finance chair to sign all the warrants we not do that I would Beil that one well so it seems like what we're suggesting is just formalizing what we already technically have in place but putting the timeline more in a more concrete way and I think that is a strong enough recommendation to bring to the full committee ask Glenn does this timeline work any objections okay cool let's put it in writing this is what we'll do okay um Elizabeth is there anything else you wanted to say about that I think that's a great idea as long as we have something formally in place and a path for us to follow so that we can do what we have to do it kind of doesn't really matter as long as everyone is on board with it and we've had the discussion um if we all vote and feel comfortable with it then we have a path to follow and that's something we can add to the handbook also so that members know what to do when they're when they have these questions and I don't think that it has to be a um a specific amount of time that Karen has to give back to us I mean that's so silly she's so busy I think that we're all you know adults and we know what a reasonable amount of time is um and well yes but you never know who's going to come on to the committee true and they General reasonableness so true but you know the administration is always on top of their communication as far as I've ever experienced so you know I wouldn't be wondering where's my answer until it's been you know a month or two but I mean I don't know so I don't think it has to be like you have one week or something a reasonable amount of time to me would be like several weeks and I don't think that it has to be in set in stone but maybe some people feel like it does I don't know if that's a deal breaker for some people but well I think just having a path is enough I think two weeks would be good but I don't want people to feel like their question is being like postponed or put off or what have you because um then probably the most recent warrant any questions related to it would end up going on the following month's school committee agenda if that's the way it is so well I think that it doesn't I mean anytime we discuss the warrants it's going to be too late to affect the payment of them I mean sign off get paid if there's a specific question for an invoice does that invoice get pulled you know we would need to know that ahead of time before warrant processing so that you know I've had clients that have done that where they their warrant review now this is before the law was enacted to allow one person to review the warrants that they would actually you know pull those those invoices in question off and wait for another month to process while the questions were answered so like that's a logistical thing that would need to be worked out as to what do does a committee feel on a question about an invoice when the goods have been received and or Services already rendered because we can't pay without having the goods received or Serv right I think what we're talking about here is a process for questions and answers about warrants and being unrelated to the approval of the warrants so um I for my part I would not like the idea of a bill not getting paid as quickly as possible by our school department I want us to be reliable so uh I wouldn't want to see language like that attached to it about paying bills this isn't about paying the bills at all for me even if I had a question about something or thought something needed more clarification it wouldn't be an impediment for a vendor to be paid I certainly don't think we should go down that road for myself okay um so I think I'm inclined to present this as a discussion to the school committee on Wednesday as opposed to making a formal recommendation out of this subcommittee um I'd like to for us to tell them what we discussed and put this idea forward and then ask for it to go to policy sounds good to me okay so I'm not going to make any motion related to it right now um all right so now I'm going to move on to the last item uh which is is what I would much rather talk about which is all the work that has been done over the past several weeks about um collecting feedback um through Outreach to all of our um parent Affiliated groups including pto's and a school council and the CPAC and the lpac so um I put together a list based on the notes in an attempt to create um you know or sus out what the themes were and so I think what I'll do is I will just go over that and then and then we'll discuss so uh the feedback themes uh number one was our need to improve Staffing uh no surprises there especially of substitute teachers IAS and special education teachers and as part of that uh General support for small class sizes then there were uh themes about seal needs so uh needs for support for continued social emotional learning for students and teachers uh for example an anti-bullying program access to counseling and ensuring cultural or linguistic capacity in counseling for our English Learners and professional development in this area for IAS um there was uh expression of being happy with the high quality instructional materials that the district has been investing in and wanting to continue support for that and a need for consistent K to5 science curriculum or instructional resources there is a desire to bring foreign language instruction back to the Middle School uh desire for additional Arts and Music opportunities which was expressed a number of different ways so uh bringing specials to a funding for Instrument Repair music nonperformance related electives um and vertically aligned Arts C extracurriculars like theater and music and a wish for a full-time band director at ghs and GMS there was a across theboard desire for in school enrichment events as well as more field trips people expressed technology needs um for example the elevation platform to support English Learners Prometheans or smartboards and document cameras spare iPads to ensure there is backup for students with disabilities who rely on them for communication laptops for teachers uh there were two people who expressed a wish for more Librarians and books in the libraries um there was a desire to support developing parents capacity for understanding their rights in special education and to support elpac to elpac Intergroup activities there was uh transportation our forever conversation about Transportation um in terms of needs for supporting Co-op Sports and extracurricular activities and the lpac both for intra and Intergroup activities and field trips and lastly a wish for a volunteer coordinator or Community coordinator or community resource support person for parents um now outside of that um there were a number of other needs um that might not necessarily fall under the operating budget um that were more along the lines of building repair and um things that might per chance be uh Capital requests so uh number of repairs noted in need at Federal Street School for the elevator obviously um stair Flo fling and railings uh sidewalk repair brick wall in the playground and Door and Window issues a has some fence gaps that need closing and there are wishes there for play structure and uh cafeteria tables that are sized and designed for three to four year olds and uh also to have adaptive swings on their playground and uh an unknown heat issue at Four Corners where somebody seems not to have been able to turn the heat down in their classroom so uh that is the that was what I boiled down um as much as I could from the notes and I will open this topic for discussion Elizabeth um I will say that the PTO were so happy to have us come and check in um and they were thrilled that that door was open to them and they would like to have us come again whenever we can and um they would also like to make reports to the school committee once in a while they said maybe quarterly um they also expressed uh I asked them for roses and Thorns so a lot of them expressed how they are now feel really empowered being able to get things into the um parent update that Karen sends out they really liked that they were able to send things in and have them added um but the theme across the board for both of my meetings was field trips um they all would like more field trips that's came up right away um so that was the resounding desire that I was met with um but you definitely summed it all up very well Kate and the heating issue is that one teacher said that their room is stuck at 90 degrees now and they can't turn to town well I am sure that's going to be figured out I don't know why that would be okay uh member child so I first wanted to comment that something else that came up uh in the meetings that I do think we need to tell Karen is that there was a lot of satisfaction with Karen's leadership in particular um multiple places cited that the culture coming from on top was very positive uh and has been really good this year so I do think we need to give props to Karen for that that she is being seen and appreciated thanks then for Staffing with the par professionals I wonder because we're doing contract negotiations so how much can we talk about that right now I mean because par professional staffing uh pay came up explicitly pay uh because people were worried that you know you can be a par professional it's a hard job physically and emotionally you don't get paid a lot or you can go work at McDonald's for same or more money without the responsibilities so where does this discussion fit in during negotiation season that's a good question because I tried to put those items that I summarized by order of how frequently they were brought up and so that was number one uh my suggestion would be to discuss with member seon who's the negotiating representative of the school committee okay so would we do an executive session for that or because it is related to bargaining or would we invite them to come to one of these subcommittee meetings how would we go about that no it would have to be executive session okay yeah okay and what about our sub rate what would be the um process for um changing that Karen we just increased it uh Andy what a year ago or year and a half ago I think they just voted at a meeting but I'd have to look back at the minutes to increase so that's what I recall too yeah um would we be able to get some information about the current um rate at which we are filling needed Subs with subs and not with other staff uh when would you need that by not by Wednesday I just sorry that's a test sorry no not by Wednesday No but sometime you know before the January meeting would be great yes okay so I don't know um if there are do you have any other um suggestions Karen about improving Staffing because this is such a um wide issue by wide I mean everybody is having Staffing problems um and these three positions that have been brought up as having staffing issues are probably the same ones that everybody else is having too the most with um instructional AIDS and substitute teachers and special education so um is there anything on your um in your plans or on your wish list to um to do about that well it's as you mentioned it is not a Greenfield issue it is a educational issue it's a universal I mean I just was at my doctor's office the other day and they have a huge sign that says the whole world is under staff please be patient and I chuckled to myself and said oh can I borrow your sign because I think people have forgotten the whole world's really is having staffing issues with that said that doesn't help us on a daily basis so Stephen and I are constantly trying to uh be creative and backflip and try to find alternative ways to fill positions um it's just a lot of those ways don't Garner people um you know I I do cold calls every day I have my admin assistant just go on and you know people that sign up for other jobs that weren't subs or IAS or sped and see if they're licensed or see if they want a full-time job doing X Y or Z because we just don't have the response to postings that we need um we have been working with GCC and HCC with their par pipeline programs that they both have GCC just talked to us about a grant on training a cohort of Greenfield IAS but we'd have to find the cohort for them so like there are are things out there that will support people in these positions but it's finding the people that is the constant struggle for us and I mean I often think of maybe standing at uh Court Square on the weekends with a sign because I feel like at some point maybe someone will call me back and want to come but it's it's really sad and it's a struggle for us because because yeah we know how valuable these roles are and we know the vacancies and the impact that it creates on our schools but I don't know how to create people out of nothing and that's where we're at right now especially as it's getting later in the school year and we just keep trying and trying I've even you know asked volunteers if you really want to just volunteer or you really want to come and work for us full time we try everything to try to see if we can get them in but right well I was wondering um when you mentioned volunteers I had a a little question about whether it would be possible to hire a recruiter someone whose job it is to do all of that footwork um because I think given the environment we are in that's a great deal of footwork that needs to get done and I kind of don't really like the idea of that all um being on the superintendent I mean it's not like you have anything else to do so um I was wondering if even if that were not a full-time position um if it would be possible to have a halftime recruiter combined with a halftime volunteer Community coordinator which was one of the other um items that was suggested in the um the feedback that we gathered we did have a volunteer coordinator in the past um which was a part-time position and we asked it a few years ago um I think it might have been 2022 uh so muted Karen ,000 yeah I I think it was maybe it was prior to 2022 but you're right it was a while ago do you feel that that would be potentially helpful and if so do we potentially have room for a position like that in FY 26 or is it too early to tell um I appreciate apprciate you protecting my time I do I don't do all of these things I have two admin assistants who help in the stocking of our applicants and begging people to take jobs but I'm not sure even having the person in that role is going to change the outcome is My worry is that we will hire someone who will be faced with uh no applicants or no um you know we've worked hard to get Volunteers in and you know I've seen some processes you know where we're reimbursing for fingerprints and I've seen them some things go through so we're getting more parents to do it but even the people that then get approved we don't actually see them coming to do the to do the volunteering so I you know it's like this Catch 22 you know I'm not sure another person trying to get the people to do this is what is needed it's on the other end it's the supply end so I'm not sure if this is really the answer I mean I don't know I understand that everyone is struggling with not having the staff and that is affecting daily operations and um I just don't know if that is the answer okay um did other members have um any questions or ideas that they wanted to bring up related to Staffing the only thing I can say is so do we request that Glenn put an executive session discussion on the agenda for would it be this or NE next month it have to be next well I don't think it can be this month yeah it could be next month which is fine and I will make that request and I don't think we need a motion to do that okay uh now the next biggest um or most frequent ask that was brought up was related to um support for uh social emotional learning related needs um I don't I don't feel the need to get into that um unless somebody has something really specific they want to say about it because uh we all we have been talking about this a lot lately and um we know that there's a 5year plan in place and this is year zero and um it there will be Improvement and this will be developing it's just going to take time uh but it will definitely be an integrated part of of FY 26 planning I am sure um did anybody want to say anything about that okay so um Karen did you want to weigh in on what is needed in order to continue support for hqm and about um the issue of science sure um it's my understanding and I'll verify with Stephen that opsed is launching a fifth grade cycle um so it currently is grades six Through Chemistry which the district has adopted um and so I see it um cycling downward towards the elementary as they develop more and more of their program um so that is I think ongoing and soon to be released and potentially adopted um if that fifth grade year gets developed in time for the roll out of 2026 or 2025 to 26 sorry right um so that's something we have on the r um the support of hqm I think just needs to be clear to this subcommittee because financially it will have an impact ongoing um desie is very good about year one piloting grants and adoption grants which we have taken advantage of for all of our uh hqm adoptions and implementations but then the sustainability of the these materials ongoing is at the expense of the district so I just want folks to know that um we are committed to this investment but that investment is probably going to be quite costly in supporting that as we move forward for uh 25 to 26 an or Elizabeth anything about the instructional materials I mean it seems pretty straightforward to me okay uh the next piece was about bringing far language instruction back to GMS um what if anything is our capacity for doing that Karen off the top of your head um So currently um and I'll give a little more in-depth report Wednesday night it's in my superintendent update we are finalizing the schedule for ghs for next year so I have a meeting Wednesday morning with the high school folks um and that actually will determine the flexibility of foreign language teachers to potentially be part of their day at the high school part of their day at the middle school or if the need for an additional full-time foreign language teacher at the middle school is needed based on numbers would be potentially a budget request for FY 26 so um it's uh definitely though in the works I think the Middle School uh certainly the administration wants foreign language back and knows that the impact of having it at younger years is beneficial for our students so um we are definitely uh still looking into that because the loss is felt at the middle school and they are in favor of that as well are we talking about Spanish instruction specifically it looks like Spanish the potential for uh uh maybe an eighth grade French will know more as we look at the numbers that the high school has remaining with regards to their scheduling next year okay and as I recall the last time that we really talked about this was in the context of a discussion about um this potentially coinciding with uh changing to ful year science and social studies at GMS and the requisite additional I think it was six positions or maybe it was five that were going to um okay but there it's you know it's an enrollment game unfortunately and um it looks like the potential eighth grade team next year would be one team not two based on numbers but that is yet to be determined until we look at their enrollment and uh start doing their scheduling but we're not doing that until we do the high school scheduling because we need the waterfall effect so um it sounds more complicated than it is but um yes science and social studies has to go to a full year based on the desie regs based upon the curriculums that we've adopted so um that will happen it's just a matter of what teams need what grade levels need two teams versus one team moving forward and if that team is a seventh grade team next year can they um can they follow their their next year into being an eighth grade team and have that flexibility with licensing so and a lot of this obviously as you know has to be discussed with the union and um clarified with uh all of them so we're we're getting closer to having a lot of these answers um but need to solidify numbers with the enrollment at the high school first and then do the waterfall are you hoping that change is going to take place next school year oh yes yes okay not hoping it's it's definite like the full year science and social studies has to take place and it has to take place because of the curriculum scope and sequence and uh giving our students what they need has to be priority and that is definitely been something in the works that we've talked about in the past year and are certainly going to implement moving forward okay uh okay uh the next piece was about um Arts and Music basically um so is there anything that um members wanted to say specifically about this topic there were a bunch of different ideas that were brought up um clearly there's still a lot of interest in supporting Arts and Music programming and developing it in the district and there was like a variety of um directions that went Elizabeth all I it I think that the general feeling was just a desire for um a way to have a dedicated band teacher for each school um for the middle school and for the high school because they were saying that it was being split and then that was causing an issue and then the general feeling was just to have more of it but um the most pressing seem to be splitting um I don't know the exact details of how that works uh but that is what was told to me and an so a really wants to bring music back uh but aside from that it it seemed like non-music Arts just more creative Outlets because we have been investing in music um and I want to make sure we don't forget non-sonic Arts is there anything you would add about this Karen or have well the works I caution everyone we can bring back everything that you want to bring back and we can propose it in a budget but um we also have to be fiscally responsible with our assignments of Staffing so we do the best we can with a lot of uh for instance just the shared staff between the middle and high school um it may not feel like it works to some people but it works in terms of scheduling that unit a folks because that there is um no other classes available for that person to teach so there you know we have to we have to assign where we have have the need and we certainly can create numerous additional positions um with regards to AEL I understand their desire um but with their current contractually obligated schedule their prep is not needed to be covered because they have half days on Friday and specials really are to cover teacher preps so our first priority would be to assign those specialists at schools where that coverage is needed um I know there was more course Selections in the music and arts uh offered in the program of studies this year that ghs students could choose from so when we get to look at those numbers um we certainly um will be able to determine what the staffing needs are but until I know that I'm not sure where you know the potential asks will be um and I know that the librarian issue has come up because it's a UA at the middle school and not a true quote unquote librarian they do teach children um so that is another thing that the committee will have to consider because a UA might be needed and if you're going to add an additional librarian it's just an additional cost of another um person on the on the GMS staff so I mean all of these things um I know are are important and we want our kids to have great experiences but we also have to think about the schedule with which we present to um meet staffing needs as well as meet budgetary needs okay I think um those were all of the uh like staff FTE related um items that were on this list um there were other asks related to things so um technology I think is something that um is always on the always on the docket when it comes to budget development because you can't ever leave it alone um things just go obsolete so quickly uh so I'm not sure um I'm not sure if there is [Music] anything that is um a definite in terms of FY 26 planning um with regards to technology and technology updates Karen so we did a pretty good job districtwide with technological updates using eer funds um we did add it to our Capital requests for FY 27 because we are going to have to continually um support the constant technological changing needs of the district and have to have some cycle of support for that um I don't know historically I think Andy probably could speak to it a little better though if those Capital requests for technology have ever been supported and maybe that's why we ended up having a a 10year old uh Esser need to you know replace the majority of what the district currently owned so um I think that's something we're going to have to really be consciously aware of moving forward especially with Ever Changing Tech uh issues that constantly arise on a daily basis okay and was there anything you wanted to add about technology um just something from a that I thought was interesting was they suggested uh getting hand me downs when the other schools upgrade their technology which I know doesn't work for for everything like those Chromebooks they've got their lifespan and once it's done it's done um yeah and then grants I mean anything we can get Grant covered for technology we should we I saw that like wishes for Grants came up a few times and my thinking on that was is this not under the um under the responsibility of the assistant superintendent yes we look weekly every Monday at anything that's put out there either you know uh we get updates from Mass we also get updates from desie we get the Commissioners guidance every week um so any Grant we can apply for we do apply for um and then try to figure out how we can uh maximize the grant requirements to fulfill the district needs so uh definitely uh something we do weekly are staff familiar with the procedure they need to follow to suggest a particular grants or to express a need for grant funding for a thing um yes most of the time though they they don't go directly to staff uh no staff member can apply on behalf of the district so right um we have a lot of teachers um that will find things and then they just shoot Stephen and I an email and say hey can we apply for this and then we say yes let's write it together tell us what you would use it for why do we need this and then we go through the motions of actually deciding if it's uh funds that we can use because sometimes Grant requirements are very strict as you know and um it may sound good in theory until you get down to the nuts and bolts of what they'll actually allow you to use the money for um and then the timelines are also another thing so sometimes you get into it with a staff member and then you're like well you have two weeks to use the money as you know they they give you these ridiculous time constraints so sometimes that is a reason why we kind of just either go with it or but um they know how to you know talk to any of us that we can certainly look into but more often than not we're reaching out to staff saying hey we're going to apply this we'll need staff support in the funding of that Grant and is it worth us worth it for us to go through like the accelerated academy one that uh Stephen just applied for for vacation um support for intervention so that there's no vacation slumps and we can have you know quote unquote school during February and April break to provide support for students that can't happen unless we have the support of staff so before we apply for these things it's sometimes the opposite we're asking them if they're going to be willing to do the work right well I just want to say I love that Grant so much and I hope that that works out I know well you're gonna get an update Wednesday too excited about as well um okay so um that's that's it I think um in terms of this list except for the building related stuff and um Karen I sent you this list already um by email and I think what I would like to do is to uh address all of the building related concerns or needs um during the walkthrough tour which usually takes place in January and to which school committee members and the city council are invited so that everyone can see with their own eyes what is what um in our buildings would that be possible there can okay and that would be January 31st that is the PD day so I have that um but I can I have it on my report for Wednesday but I will also add it to my city council update when I go next week with them to invite them all right we'll give them embossed invitations it's time and hope they all come um okay so uh that is it is there anything else um and that you wanted to um talk about in terms of um FY 26 operating feedback um I'm just skimming through my notes and I think the only thing we didn't touch on uh was from Newton with they're wanting weekend backpacks for food insecure families and I don't know what we can do there I don't know how that would work right I did not put that on the list because it was there was only one mention of that um but that's true Karen there was that an interest in having weekend backpacks for food I can talk with Greta our food service director but I don't know where the funding for those kinds of items would come into play okay all right thank you um an anything else everything else from my list we have talked about okay all right so um Elizabeth departed just a few minutes ago um because she has a hard stop at 1:30 um so it's just you and I and uh I am going to move to adjourn I will second that and I will say yes and I will vote Yes to adjourn then this meeting is adjourned at 1:39 pm thank you everyone thank you bye by byee [Music]

I am calling to order this meeting of the Greenfield school committee budget and Finance subcommittee on February 3rd 2025 at 6:30 p.m. and I will begin with a roll call member Martini I am [Music] here member wom yes member Childs okay member child is absent for now and I believe we'll be attending hopefully uh first item on our agenda for this evening is public comment so uh is anyone present online for public comment not seeing anyone I see Mr assistant superintendent Sullivan is joining us and so is M chest so I'm just gonna wait hi an hello and marking you present I am indeed I wish I was there in person here for a public comment so uh we're just getting through that and um now we're going to go on to our second uh agenda item which is uh a general discussion with the um renfield's city council chair Ways and Means Mikea and we also have City councelor John Garrett present with us today um and the purpose of this is to have a general discussion about potential collaboration between city council and school committee so toward that end I'm going to flip this and so that everybody is visible and hearable about to enter a [Laughter] podcast like subscribe can get he won't be able to see me I'll just I'll go down there this is a fundraiser look here we are yeah hey hi hi everyone um well I was uh very appreciative for G for reaching out uh to try to do some sort of collaboration between city council and school committee don't really know where this is necessarily going trying to formulate this kind of uh thing for the future um though I may not be here for it uh but uh kind of getting an an early idea a lot of stuff not only here but across the city Finance um the earlier we know things the better it makes it a more comprehensive understanding of what is uh what the public has the opportunity to hear and then what um just down the steps of uh of how our Charter has uh said how we're going to spend our money um is discussed and um in the Sate of like a better transparency more or less so there's no real um necessarily how we're going to do this I think this is more of a how we're going to figure this out um and what what would be more appropriate um I did invite uh vice president of the city council Garrett he is um the been a former vun president he also works in the schools I thought that would be at propo and he uh you know it's going to be on the city council longer than I'm going to stick around so uh so you have a massive change of art right so yeah this is the kind of thing right how fun this is exactly so try to try to just get some sort of some sort of discussion because it it it what I've seen in the in the three years prior to now it's um something that could be possibly remedied by having early intervention if you will um in in some of these discussions even before um before it reaches the mayor's office uh we do this with with capital committee right we get all the capital requests from the the Departments and then it gets kind of uh looked over with an advisory kind of board and then suggested and granted it's not always what the advisory committee says uh that the executive branch always has their vote how they're going to present the budget um and same thing here I don't want to think that we're going to you know reinvent the Wheel by doing anything but um I think any kind of advanced uh collaboration whether it be one meeting two meetings how many of however we figure it out um it was worthwhile to um have that information ahead of time before being essentially prevented or presented did rather information kind of after the point of no return uh so it was kind of the idea of saying something about this uh in the fall and I you know I'm very grateful that uh for the for the great response in in being asked to come here to either whether it's just to sit in whether it's we have a back and forth where we have questions um and however we can make this as streamline as possible thank you for coming um and um taking my C and um kind of diving into a relatively Uncharted Territory um here for um background chair Johnson mad um took note of uh city council president wandalowski is interest in increased collaboration between City Council um school committee and uh sent out a a request um for us to kind of roach that topic and um see if we could come up with some ideas so uh so that's what uh precipitated this and uh I think it would be excellent to um increase mean ation and collaboration with city council and um Forge a more Cooperative um closer relationship so um this is wide open there's no right or wrong answer about how to do this I don't think or maybe there is and we have no idea which ones are the wrong answers but we will try not to it up um so uh members child and um Goodwin do you have um thoughts off the top of your head about um about this potential collaboration what um I think I think you brought up something that as a taxpayer and it's just somebody who lives in Greenfield that I really care about is transparency I think over the years I've lived in Greenfield I've always wanted to know where's my money going I mean that's really as somebody who just paid a a big tax bill I want to know where my money's going um and I think that is the reality of um you know I went to the grocery store today and you know and you you know you go shopping and dog cookies are very expensive and $175 later I look at the receipt so I can see and I guess that's what I need I need to see the receipt from everybody who's spending Green Field it's just not the schools but it's I want to know where our money goes I mean it's really as B basic as that um as somebody who is a resident of Greenfield I think there has to be a higher level of accountability of where does our money go every mayor um from Chris forgy to Mayor Martin where is my money going um Amy BR had once promised me that she would tell me where my money was going but she never did so I think I think as people who are paying taxes we want we want accountability and so i' I when it comes to school budgets and somebody who's I've looked at school budgets for over 30 years and I've been part of making School budgets for over 30 years I need to see what I'm paying for in a school budget not just a bottom number you know how many kindergarten teachers are there how many first grade teachers are there you know we I once worked for a superintendent who was asked to cut $800,000 and he said it it cost $800,000 to have eighth grade and so we would cut eighth grade and you know it that's how I mean detailed it got but at least we knew I had a pool in my school and it cost me $50,000 of chlorine every year but I knew how much it costs to run that pool and everybody in town used it so I think it's the devil is in the details when it comes to money um and making smart choices about what we want for our kids I want to know that every third grader can read I mean that's real for me and how much does it cost to make sure that happens um and I think that's where I'm at is I need more information um I been looking at our budget sheets every month thank you Andy you know and I know it's like a million dollars for each Elementary School um but you know I look at special ed numbers and that's like a whole I still can't weave my way through that uh Transportation costs I know are huge but I don't know what piece of the pie that is um so I think the detail you know is important to me I think it's also um important for us to remember that even though school committee members have our um budget sheets presented to us every month and we go through the school warrants and actually do have um those receipts at our fingertips and uh we on this particular subcommittee um attend additional meetings talking about um our uh budget and how things are um affected by outside pressures and things like that not everybody um has the ability to do that and it's not that those things aren't accessible to everyone because certainly anyone can log on and watch a committee meeting and can go on the website and pull up the meeting materials and go through those budget Sheets if they want to and all of that um but I always um try to remember that we as elected people have the um the responsibility to kind of distill that for folks and not be expecting people to devote the same amount of time that we do uh to those things in order to understand them um so that's something that is that frequently runs through through my mind um member Childs is there something any thoughts that you had on this um member goodwi really summed up a lot of my thoughts about accountability and I I I think it's not just deciphering for people what all of the alphabet soup you know are standing for but also why each line item is important not just in terms of okay this gets kids to read but also what the financial implications are if we don't do certain things if that makes sense um one of the things that I'm looking at so for the coming year we do have expenses related to moving the fifth grade back to the elementary school and the e8th grade back to the middle school and uh doing that costs money yes but it also prevents the drain of students who go through fourth grade in Greenfield and then transfer out and their money goes with them uh just as an example so I thought we might um talk a little bit about um about what our respective roles are so that we can get a good idea of of how people understand that um but is there anything else anybody wanted to add in a general away first just in a very general way I think a you know everything that folks have said about fiscal responsibility and the need to serve our student population it's absolutely true and that's obviously the focus of the school committee and rightfully so the um I think the next years are going to be challenging budget wise for the whole city and you know not just our city but every Community where local Aid you know you don't need a crystal ball suspect the federal money is going to be less frequent especially for things like special education right so we're going to need to as a city look long and hard at every single budget and doing this kind of work allows us to have a more holistic picture and there's going to be things that every single person who votes for are going to be unhappy about and I don't relish that I know it's going to happen and you know what we can do by having these conversations is making sure you know again as you said a moment ago not even though the information may be out there make sure it's being disseminated in ways that are intelligible to folks useful and for us as members of the city council you know with your budget we get to it's the only budget where we can add to but it's also with every other budget we have the choice to either pass it or cut it right like we have relatively limited Authority as a legislative branch but we do have the ability to be a public forum you know and this public uses us as such rightfully so because it's the most readily available one with the biggest audience and so you know as we're going through this process whatever form it ends up taking it's really important that we're doing it because it's going to be we're going to be a city government Under Pressure you know and the the Cherry sheets are going to get smaller you know like I can gloom and doom all I want but the positive thing is we're talking about it now as opposed to letting a wall of bus you know when those come down sure you know so we know it's going to be rough but you know as long as we're alling it together we can get better outcomes than we would otherwise you know and just kind of getting back to the information piece you know it's very easy to speculate about what my money is being wasted on or whatever it might be when you don't see it and so you know the transparency element is good for the kids ultimately is the bottom line right so that make way we can make sure the resources aren't being withdrawn from them because people don't know that they're being spent in a way that's responsible so the other thing I always think about is just the huge income gap in our city we have really wealthy people and we have a huge population that is not and so that's something I you know keeping in mind with those grocery bills and tax bills too there are folks that are cost burdened it's like something like half the city within you know 91 and2 and 80% of us are over 60 yeah it's rough and you know and if somebody over 60 you know they may not have kids of their own in the schools but by God is it in their best interest to have a well educated youth population you know even if they may not feel that way at that moment in their lives you know so it's our job to sell that idea as well and we can do so better as a city council if we can honestly say like look they are cooking you know they are spending every dime in a way that is efficient and you know I'm sure that will be the result yeah I really appreciate us being here and having the opportunity I'm glad that you know president what allow is you know is pushing for this and you guys were so amiable to it yeah thanks for letting us be here that's a good takeway I guess um because I I it add something to that oh well yeah of course I I I Echo what what you're saying John and uh I think that that's as you're saying like the pulpit becomes sort of a frustration where where some things have come out uh in the past is I know I know schol committee gets under Fire for certain things and city council gets under Fire for certain things we don't have any control over right or like limited control over control I say with with quotes um and and it is in that Spirit why um I will only speak for myself on this one why personally um frustrations have come out is because it would be easier if and and again I've said the same things that you've said is is um I I've said this every year that I've been on ways and wound which is all all the years I've been there and I I urge other city councilors I urge the public if you want to know information watch what's happening and you know we do record these things for a purpose and go back and watch them and even on like I don't want to invite I will not invite you guys for for another Capital presentation to w means because you already did it right you did it at Capital we were both there and I say go back and look at the tape like look at what they presented and here's the the written documentation for it I don't want to waste anybody's time in in having to and I I I know people hate when I say that word but like I don't want to waste anybody's time um whether you're salaried or whether you're a volunteer or not I'm just not in the spirit of that is if the information is out there and it's attainable go get it and and we can all get it at that point and if you don't well then that's on you um but having that availability um to answer the questions that do come to us that pertain to the schools that pertain to the budget um having this kind of you know dialogue is important ahead of time um so that that folks that are you know we tried this what last year at least to um you know you get beat up uh at city council public comic and in a lot of the questions they have nothing to do with anything they can do so I'm like hey how about having a you know this is two years ago actually why why don't we have you know sounds bad but why don't we have the mayor up on the chopping block right like ready to take these questions because they're really asking questions of the executive and they're really asking questions like directing people to where these questions are and sometimes the accessibility um of those like readily available for people to know which person they should go and and at so to speak or or grief at um isn't always clear but also if there's anything that we can offer without somebody having to go to do that it it is it is helpful in when we're responding to to constituents and um it can just be a very quick like well this is what we we already know this because we were there or we heard this or like whatever um so we can kind of maybe calm it down ahead of time uh versus somebody not feeling frustrated about which which meeting they have to attend we had somebody last last month that is very grieve that they were not they thought they were going attending a different meeting was not that one um but side not but just I don't know like having any of that interc collaboration I think is important um especially in the like I said the bab steps of building the budget for the year because more importantly these last couple years were the transition of um the redistricting and all of that stuff like we may be more informed I don't feel confident enough to answer all of folks questions that have that have come to me but there are some things I am because you know because I've paid attention to to certain things but and I can steer them in the right directions and that's what I mean is it doesn't always happen that way that we have these these Avenues to funnel information and so any ways that you know the Departments um Can can crossover if you will um rather than being just like we're split and this is my department this is right exactly exactly um I think is just is really helpful um for everybody else and it uh qus a lot of frustration from the public it sure does so um Mike you had when I was speaking to you the other day um I thought you had a a very suit to the point way of defining the roles of school committee and um city council um when it comes to the school budget so can you repeat that something along a genius sentence don't mess it up record you gotta pull out your No I um do you want to tell me what I said because so we were talking about um about um the the potential for some form of collaboration and the importance of whoever is involved in that and understanding what their role is and what it isn't um because the school committee oversees the school department budget and that's that's a firm role and um it's the law and um and city council has its powers that are like pretty clearly defined in relation to that so can you just Define that for people who don't know or have never thought about it before sure so um I'm assuming what you're alluding to hopefully is [Music] um in the way that our Charter is set up like it or not um I don't but for the record um we all the department budgets are usually every B every budget but the schools are separating two branches which are uh salaries and wages and then expenses and I you've probably heard me say this if anybody's heard me say it at nauseum we can only give bottom line numbers for either of those two things in every other department a school so we can we can say we don't like what you're doing we think that you should we ran into this with the police years a you know years ago people wanted you know certain members to be excommunicated for lack of better word out of the police department it wasn't going to happen it was very some of us myself it very clear that's not how this works um and when you cut a budget from salaries oftentimes it cuts from the bottom which is unpopular of course um the same thing with expenses you can't say which things you want want you can suggest which things you want cut from the expenses and it can be an unpopular expense and hopefully department heads will listen to it and I think that's where I was getting at um in regards to the schools is we don't have the two branches of coverage in in the city um we give a one number and that's it and and as as uh Council Garett said it is the only budget that we can actually increase which we have um two years ago we had quite a bit um and found ways found ways um to to balance the budget better for the schools because of the need that was there we can't always do that it's never it's probably hardly goingon to ever be attainable again but um that in mind it I've been very vocal about this even with capital with with uh some of the expenditures I'll hate to use them again but the police we had some trouble a couple years ago [Music] um if if if you granted money and you've gotten suggestions and you've gotten the feedback from not only your your your own committee but then from the city council from the community members and whatnot and and we're not all in the dayto dayss and we know that um but if folks don't see if if they're suggest questions that are made and then seemingly ignored from any Department I use the words and I'll say this again good luck next year like that's that's really what it comes down to because people get in their minds they get um reactionary in their response when they don't see something come out the way that they thought it was intended or the way it was described to them so if they like no no no if they hear no no no no it'll be fine it'll be fine it'll be fine fine and then it's not fine that's when I say the words I'm very blunt if you don't know me uh good luck next year like they're going to see those and and we see reactionary stuff the feds right now but um those are the things that I caution about these are why like I think the talks are important on a subcommittee level on a on a collaborative level even if it's you know crossing the streams um that's Norm Al I think can help with quelling some of that um reactionary response um because it can be more explained and better explained and in not hearing words like well stay in your lane like that never I don't think that's ever worked for anybody ever it's definitely never worked for me you tell me to stay in my Lane the first thing I'm going to do is get out of my lane and and come at you but like you know so that that's where the the the impetus of this comes from is to not have um those kind of reactionary responses from the community or from other you know public bodies is um when when someone asks like well why like not just you know hate to use it but not you can't say because I said so like that doesn't work doesn't work with kids right certainly doesn't work with adults um so I don't know that's I don't know that hope what you're asking me but like that you know that's that's kind of where the rules to me we have to explain ourselves when we're making um our recommendations um or our full budget uh bottom line and I don't want to hear from personally I don't want to hear from any um that was that was very offensive actually last year I will say um just clear the air I hadn't heard that from any other department and then I heard pretty much like none your business and I said well actually kind of is my business and I felt pretty pissed off about it to be honest because I had worked very hard with city council the year before to improve the budget that was cut in the only Department that I could do it because I I give shits about the schools and so then that's why I got very you know sorry heated about it at the time was then I was told to like shut up and stay in your lane so um so that's Mike I'm really sorry that happened to you I don't know what quarter it came from because you and I did not talk last year correct um and um I I did not go to City Council meetings or Ways and Means last year which I did the year before but um the year before was a really um it was an extraordinary year because we needed to settle contracts that would enable us to be competitive um and do something about our chronically non-competitive compensation in this District which is harmful 18 ways from Sunday um here and uh so there was um there was more um communication I guess in person um that year but uh anyway last year the only city councelor that contacted me about anything related to the budget um was Mr Master Taro and we had a lengthy talk about it um mostly B prior to the uh prior to the school committee's um approval of last year's U budget proposal so um to explain for folks who don't know very briefly in the interest of time um what the um processes on the school side um for for budget development is um I want to explain that the school committee puts in a great deal of work um over a long period of time in which the um development of the budget features on a regular basis and um like I said before I know that everyone doesn't have the time to watch um every school committee meeting but I do want folks to keep in mind that uh the committee is thoughtful and we put in a lot of time and a lot of effort and our um this is the only you know Department in the city that is um essentially uh overseen by an elected committee like this and that's because it is so important so um I think that the committee's decisions are thoughtful budget and finance as a subcommittee has been making a concerted effort over the past year um to improve our process so that it is more uh collaborative more directly informed by stakeholders um as to what the committee's priorities are um in the budget development and uh I'm I feel pretty proud of that at this point um after we're done uh with this agenda item we're going to talk about um the development of the upcoming FY 6 operating budget proposal and uh you'll see how it is firmly connected to the feedback that this subcommittee actively went out to solicit from people from um people who have an a big personal stake in this school department um and I hope that that is going to help illustrate for people what um member child's was saying about why each of our um budget items is important U rather than uh more of a statement of what the school administration thinks is important which we have to put a great deal of stock in because they are our school administration and we have we're very lucky to have an Administration that is um led by someone who has a longstanding deep knowledge of the district um so we have to put a lot of faith in that and at the same time we have to make sure people know that this budget is developed based on what our stakeholders tell us is important to them um so that's that's the type of work that this subcommittee has been doing um this past cycle we have held um eight more listening sessions than we ever had before which was Zero um about the budget development and um have planul gone through the process of connecting what people of the people of Greenfield wants to see in their school department with what the priorities are in the development of this operating budget so um these things are are going to be super directly connected that doesn't mean that everyone is going to understand everything that the school department decides to do with this budget because there are things that um need to take place in the running of a school district that most people never have to touch on um in their life and um as a committee we we are going to go ahead and decide to prioritize those things even if most people don't understand them um because as the school committee we are familiar with the needs of the district in ways that other people are not necessarily so um sometimes we might make a choice that isn't popular um but is necessary in our view and um and that's not to like stick it in anybody's eye uh but because we know something is important um and that's the way I I I'm not maligning the way that um past committee members have done their Duty um by saying any of this I'm just explaining from my point of view what um budget and finance has been trying to do over the past year to uh to improve the process so uh you'll see we have had a lot of public engagement this year uh not directly with city council but that's like that's on the table now um but a lot of Engagement with the public uh to inform this budget we have uh established uh voted school committee budget priorities for the first time um and those are now living out into this um this budget proposal which has yet to be made um but the superintendent is going to be um presenting to us this evening about um how that how that budget is shaping up which is um imminent for publication and this the subcommittee will be um making a recommendation to the superintendent this evening as to um whether or not to uh forward this budget recommendation to the full school committee at our next meeting so that's where we are in our little process um and also this year we now have an annual budget development calendar which is posted on the website um which elucidates for people when things happen in this budget process and from what quarter do they happen because not everything comes from school administration or the school committee um some of a great deal of this is affected by the state budget and then things that uh the mayor's office does and the city council and all of this uh eventually sort of weaves itself in together into a the budget that we end up with come j July 1 uh right but it's complicated for people to understand so um the budget development calendar of the school committee now elucidates those time periods and as far as I as far as we could know them that far in advance specific dates uh and then it is um also uh paired not just with the dates and times but with frequently asked questions that all to date for people exactly how they can have input at different parts of the process uh so that people feel really empowered by that uh and uh lastly uh it includes the committee's budget development policy uh which we ultimately have to follow uh we've done a lot of work on this subcommittee to um flesh out that process this past year and really live that policy um by increasing our stakeholder feedback uh by having this budget development calendar which is part of that process U or part of that policy rather and uh and lastly uh it's what we're what we're about to do at this point in the in the budget development season which is that our policy says the school committee will um adopt the budget that our students need that's what it says um that we will do that does not always line up with the other pressures that the city is facing uh and that's where this uh sort of year-to-year tension always sort of Peaks you know right about now and then we things get figured out over the next few months and then we go into our insy uh the the school committee is charged with that responsibility we have to propose a budget that represents the needs of our students and our policy says that we will be cognizant of um the the needs of our the taxpayers of Greenfield as well and the bottom line is that the school committee needs to propose a budget that leads the needs of the students so um I hope that that I guess I have a question I'm sure it's like sitting here listening so how do you know I mean I I read this presentation and it's beautiful and everything but how do you know that those numbers truly represent what our children need well the committee members have the opportunity to ask questions of the superintendent so that you can get to that answer for yourself at every school committee meeting where we have our budget presentations every month and particularly this evening uh it's probably the most interesting subcommittee meeting of the year um because we are talking talking about the um upcoming superintendent proposed budget right before it is published so um this is the prime time to ask those questions actually comment question so one of the things I noticed last year on ways and needs it's you know so there's a budget book which has you know prior Year's budgets you know this year's budget you know that kind of thing and you know for many many of the Departments it was pretty intelligible when you read through it it's like okay and the Departments are much smaller so right there's like 20 firefighters and so you can see each of them has this salary here's their title and this is what they got paid this year and this is what they got paid last year and so you can read through it and compare apples to apples and I found you know this was true doing contract negotiations too I'm asking for the school's budget and getting handed use the word mograph because I'm forgetting photocopy uh photocopied U you know just sideways like budget spreadsheets that meant absolutely abolutely nothing to absolutely nothing and I had a similar experience with the school budget last year where I'm looking at every other department and frankly and I'm sorry to I know Franklin Tech has more money and more kids than we do but Franklin Tech's versus ours and I'm like I can read this and understand what it looked like in the past and I look at our schools budget and it was nearly it was very difficult to understand what was in there and so it would say like transportation and again that's where our dear friend you know got into the whole bus thing but you know in it would be a line item it was challenging to parse so you know my request and I you know is to maybe compare it to other budgets and ways that they're presented and you know the information could be golden right like this could be the absolute best budget in the world but again if I'm not an out teacher I teach High School history I can't you know if I can't parse it then I can't make a good independent judgment without asking questions I may not even know to ask it's not is somebody without a math teacher on this side yeah lucky that must be I don't have a CPA you know say so school committee is like a step or two ahead of you on that we have we have talked I don't know how many times at this point about the um understandability palatability of our um our budget information looking at a spreadsheet is really hard um for people to understand you get to know it if it's the same document that you look at every month but if you're somebody who's just popping in you know who understands that probably not very many people um so uh Andy has been dutifully um Pro providing the past couple of months uh different um type of presentation for the school committee that still includes the spreadsheets so that everybody can see all those need- gritty numbers um but also includes some narrative uh so that things are spelled out for left brain people like me need to have things put in sentences um and we've also um had some you know preliminary discussion about how the uh annual budget might be presented differently that's not going to happen this year I'm sorry guys there's not enough time um to do that at this point but it is something that is definitely being actively thought about for sure and I 100% agree with you um what time is it 750 thank you um okay so I I'm just gonna say this I need more information I mean that's I've asked for staff lists I asked in July I asked in October I was told to superintendent didn't have time by the chairperson I have been discouraged from asking questions I have felt like I've been told I asked too many questions um but I need to know I need to feel comfortable with this budget I Am pro education all the way and I want to be able to say to the people in this town that I support this budget but if I don't know what it's paying for I cannot do that I would like to see a staff list not even anything in detail how many kindergarten teachers do we have how many I asked our spent director how many PA professionals we had in the district and he said he didn't know that was I mean this is just like how many people are we paying for how many people work for Greenfield Public Schools I mean we should be able to compare the salaries from last year to the salaries this year um and see what you know if people got raises we should be able to see what's the difference I mean all of that is basic math this is not as a math teacher I'm just like it shouldn't be a secret I feel like there are secrets in this budget and I don't like that I want to feel like yes there should be slush for when emergencies happen and when that child moves into town who costs a million dollars who has special needs but I I just need to know what we're paying for I have a hard time talking to people who say to me my neighbors who have these delightful little children and his wife is a teacher and is like I have these high taxes our schools are underperforming and we can't keep a principal in the school and I can't pay my taxes and send my kids to private school so I'm going to have to move it's parents are making hard choices and I think we need to be able to as a community be proud of our school budget but we need to be informed about what it is it shouldn't be a secret I just want to know what we're paying for how many kindergarten teachers how many first grade teachers how many How many pairs um we've been advertising for a pair almost all year that bothers me so some child's not getting the support that they need is it because we're not paying the pairs enough probably um and teachers can leave Greenfield and go next door and get $5,000 more that bothers me um I'm Pro Educators so I'm like where where is this you know how much is our busing cost how much so all of this is there's so many questions that I'm used to a budget book A book that shows the school budget either by school I've seen them by school or by grade just information bottom line what are we paying for I mean just broken down um so I want to make sure that we have lots of time for for questions about the superintendent budget talk this even um so I do want to um I feel like we should wrap this item up for now and then come back to it um not I'm not asking you guys to attend every meeting or our next meeting I we'll work something out um but I do want to make sure we have plenty of time for um for the rest of this meeting um but I and I want to say in my first year as a school Committee Member I felt a lot like you were just saying um member goodwi because um I often felt like I wasn't allowed to ask questions or um was uh I've been actually told not to ask questions so I sort of developed a reputation I guess for um asking too many questions and um it became kind of like a running haha um on the committee so I really feel that um and it took a a while for me to I guess find my groove um as a school committee member um because it is most people don't know very much about um what a school committee does you would know more than most people before that on um but I certainly had a lot to learn um and walking of that fine line between um governance and administration as a school Committee Member it's really hard to figure out um because they are two different um roles and the committee is over here in governance and the superintendent is over here doing Administration and we do have to uh we do have to stay in hour Lan um in that regard and it doesn't mean that we cannot get questions answered um at least for my part the superintendent is more responsive to me than maybe like anybody I have met when I have a question about something so um and I don't know how you have time to do that because you have way more to do than most people I know um so I appreciate that and I want I do want people to feel like they can ask questions and at the same time I want to be mindful that um the superintendent has a massive job to do and her time is incredibly precious so um I try not to uh bug the superintendent too often um with questions and sometimes um it is important to uh run something by the committee chair to make sure that it is within our scope um or if we want something to be addressed by the full committee um that's something for the committee chair to decide so there's a lot to um I don't know there's just a lot to digest I guess with the role but maybe by um creating some additional venue or um process for collaboration between US city council that will help both of us to um you more heard more effective more um so it's sad I can say I've watched school committee meetings in Greenfield for 30 years there are very few I missed and I have never seen a school committee not um especially with the budget like meet with principles have conversations I mean I just nothing to be hidden I think the best one they ever saw Buzz nimow had a pie grab he showed the percentage of the budget which was Transportation the percentage of the budget which was special ed and then salaries and this little itty bitty slice which was expenses but it showed me as somebody who lived in town exactly how Transportation was the most expensive piece of our school budget it was informative it gave us information as as people who lived in town about what we were paying for I that's what I think the citizens of Greenfield deserve to know what they're paying for and that's true for every Department um you know it really is that's the type of um presenting that I really um liked when I was at the uh Mass Massachusetts Association of school committies um it provides a great deal of professional development for um school committee members around the Commonwealth uh one of the things that they do is hold an annual conference which is three days chock full of the best training I've ever been to I hate trainings they're normally useless um but masc really knows how to give you something valuable so anyway one of the things that um I was looking at at this past conference was um wher's budget uh budget book and the graphs um charts things that distill things for folks um in a more palatable way that uh was one of the best things about that I really admired it now wher has great deal more uh students and a great deal more money in their budget although they struggle too um so I don't know that we can have all of the bells and whistles that they have but um I would I would love to see guys right yes right yes I think it's a good involves asking them to do new things I think it's a good point that you bring up and I would say regardless of the amount of funding for a certain municipality the same process could be had um and I agree I I have not seen that in the three years that I've been on finance uh for the city um that I will say that to be very cun as I can be um the public school presentation for the operating budget is chiny at best every year it is I think no offense veterans the veterans department has better presentation of their operating budget than the school has had it's like here's a piece of paper here's our number here it is look at it and and accept it robust could I maybe interject Kate and actually that's all say maybe start with some conversation about what is here tonight and why and then what will be presented at our official budget hearing yes and then that may clarify for member Goodwin as well as others what actually is forthcoming um I'm gonna just move you off camera because I need to present my screen talk okay and can you see that you're good at home okay thank you um what I was asked to actually create for this evening was just to give you kind of a forecast of what's coming that this isn't the budget hearing budget book that that um I was at that Ways and Means Committee last year with the former superintendent and I was with Rick Martin where we talked about how he delated the teex line by line item and I've been working with Andy for our budget hearing to include all of that including pie chart so that it's easily readable by the average bear at home but also where you can see the employees per building thank so that is forthcoming however it is not available tonight um part of what I was asked to do is just kind of highlight what the priorities were based on public feedback but also to be delicate about redistricting because we do have to follow some collective bargaining agreements and notifications to teachers whose jobs may be eliminated due to reductions in sections as well as where we might be potentially moving some folks with the eighth grade going back to the middle school and the fifth going back to Elementary so we've been meeting with union leaders and trying to U be cognizant of that and uh take care of things privately first with union members and members and then be able to present that at the full budget hearing when we have it on February 24th so what you have in front of you really is priorities that um came back from stakeholder feedback but that are really important to the superintendent budget and number one you will see is to maintain a level of Staffing needed to continue to provide appropriate class sizes in programming we need our teachers we need our IAS we need our staff in place to support our students we also need to continue to fund curriculum resources high quality instructional materials we've started that process with Ela math we moved into Science and History this year and with the district turnaround work with the ssos and our district prioritization team it is pivotal that we remain uh tried and true with those materials so that students have grade level standards based materials in front of them we also have an Ever growing elll population and we need to invest in curriculum resources to support their learning and you'll see some of the data that I shared with you tonight shows just how big the skill gaps are for our L population so we need to address those issues we have to continue to invest in professional development um we've had a lot of talk about the social and emotional needs the um counselors with the rbts boots on the ground in all of our buildings where these staff are needed to intervene with our students that are struggling still we're still you know seeing those effects of postco and really having to navigate a landscape that just wasn't um evident five years ago and the needs for Staffing to support those kids you'll see um at the full budget presentation though we really do need to increase our high school opportunities and that College and Career Readiness has to start at Middle School we're starting too late we're finding kids uninterested in life by 10th grade our dropout rate is increasing and they are not engaging in high school our chronic absenteeism is high there there's just you know if you're not going to a fory year college there's really little opportunity so we are really trying to up our programming at the high school so that kids remain interested that they get out of high school with a job where they can be sustaining a life for themselves and not just having minimum wage jobs part of the need is to constantly monitor though we do a lot of benchmark assessments but only through grade eight we're increasing those assessments so that we can keep data on Ninth and tth graders because our ninth grade failure rate for nth grade coursework is pretty high considering uh if you look at our Dart schools in comparison so we really need to um monitor our ninth graders at a closer way than we do currently can you explain darts for this oh those are districts that are uh comparable in size and grade level in not necessarily in the area but in uh student population poverty levels lowincome special ed populations um I think Andy might have the seven districts that we are in Dart with um that we can come back to that's good thank you yeah and then we have to continue to uh this work that we're doing doing with professional development on instructional practices and reading and literacy as member Goodwin alluded to we need our third graders to be reading proficiently before they are promoted to fourth grade and we are just not there right now and that skill Gap becomes wider and wider and wider the more they age through the system um another thing that really we're committed to and this came up earlier in the school year is uh addressing the social and emotional needs through restorative practice work training active bystanders um really having some professional development for students staff and administration on different Alternatives um in handling Discipline matters and building culture and Community what we've continued to um kind of unveil over the course of the year is our need to refine and increase interventions at tier two and tier three to support all of our students academic needs we have an upside down triangle right now you know 80% of our population is near needing tier intervention instead of 20 so we really need to work on what is tier one which is what our professional development Focus has been on and then how do we increase those tier two and tier three interventions to fill those skill gaps we have a chronic absenteeism issue in District we cannot ignore that so we need to maintain the staff that have been monitoring and supporting student attendance that includes our Second Chance bus with Transportation if you miss your first opportunity to get to school parents and families can call us and we send a van to go get them for a second chance opportunity so that they are in front of us learning and then um as addressed we have had a tiered Focus monitoring review and we've had a um program review with special ed and because of those reviews under the Desi oversight we have a lot of things that we have to address per their parameters we don't get to ignore those desie guidelines and what they tell us to do because of those reviews so out of some of that feedback and with redistricting um we have some additions that are in this budget this year we need an additional elll teacher our elll population has increased we currently have a hundred students identified in District but we also have 18 of them in grades 4 through 11 which we are in first year monitoring so we have to make sure that they make adequate process or they get reclassified in our L population redistricting moving our eighth grade back has required that we no longer can teach science and social studies and semester long courses we need those courses to be full year to meet the grade level standards of each grade especially Civics and eth grade along with the science so we have had to add two additional science teachers and two additional social studies teachers to absorb those vacancies for grades six seven and eight for getting that full year access to cont content we also have a building based substitute at every building in District with the exception of Discovery School and we have added that back in we need that person in order to cover daily absences that aren't covered by Subs that aren't taking our sub jobs and we really need those people because they have access to covering our lunch and recess Duty because our collective bargaining agreements with teachers do not allow for that to be a duty that they take on teachers don't do much day correct no it's the only place I've ever work correct and then unfortunately um with a lot of the federal cuts the collaborative of educational services in Northampton was running our Beacon program which is our our our alternative program for our high school students um it was originally adopted at GCC and GCC was running it and then the collaborative took it over but they are no longer funding the teacher so this program which I proudly began three years ago has been an alternative high school program for students who are credit behind and who are in danger of potentially dropping out and this program has helped at least 30 plus of our high schools seniors to graduate over the last three years so we have Incorporated that position back into um the budget for this coming year we are hoping because that is only a halfday program that the other half of the day could be a coordinator position where we could get students to be doing internships or work study programs and get them more interested in careers that they potentially want to be involved in and have those Partnerships with our Community Partners was it only Greenfield kids in that program correct the collaborative was going to expand it to other area high schools and I believe that was their plan moving forward for next year but they have since cut the program from their site so this is not um a line by line which you will get at the formal budget hearing in February um later this couple weeks from now but it is reflective of Step increases per collective bargaining agreements for FY 26 as well as the City Finance director had indicated for us to include a cost of living increase into the budget so with those additions we've also had some subtractions we no longer have access to eer grant funding those additional funds ended on September 30th we have our outof district special ed tuitions that have increased by $1.5 million we had approximately $130,000 credit with travel CZ because we had been um overcharged last year so that was a nice credit last year but that credit no longer exists this year so we will be paying full price for our bus transportation with them and this budget also does not include the fact that we may potentially need an additional bus because as part of the redistricting we told families if they chose to age out in their elementary school or move to their new home school we would transport them regardless so the bus company and I have met and we have you know given them tentative class lists with where parents have made those choices and they're running roots for us right now but there could be a potential increase of an additional bus that's needed for our elementary runs um we're hoping that's not the case but they have not guaranteed that yet additionally um in fy2 we had grant funding that covered the cost of our high quality instructional materials in our curriculum resources we do not have those grants anymore for the coming year so in order to reorder and support those additional resources those are back into the budget is this a subscription based model for these curriculum resources um some of it is online subscriptions but also with cka our Ela program you get physical materials as well because students have individual readers yeah yeah and same with math there's workbooks um our opsed we're trying to at least get the kits ordered and then have a staggered supply list that's needed because the kits come with 180 student pieces and we don't have 180 students in any grade level so we know we'll have some Surplus over the course of the years um there's also been increases in out of District fed tuitions and really you know taking into consideration that over the last three years or so we've seen a 20% increase in that and really next year it's a 3.67 increase in chapter 766 approved placements that we don't have um any chance to argue with we have to pay those cost to send students out of District so we are trying to work on improving our special ed programming across the district so that we can potentially bring some students back but that is not a quick process and that is something we certainly have to work on not a cheap one it is not a cheap one either so um the impact though of supporting a budget we can see there is progress being made and um we have you know just the effect which I reported out at a previous school committee meeting though on you know slashing that chronic absentee rate and if we're chipping away at it we're making a difference we're getting more students in school we need to continue that work we need to continue to have that staff that oversees that that connects with families our director of Behavior Services our nurse leader they meet weekly with every building principal and their attendance team they monitor students who are not attending regularly on a case-by casee basis they connect them with uh Social Services in town if it's an anxiety issue we try to find Outside therapists for students so that we can get these students back in school if it's a matter of transportation we try to figure out how we can get them if they're not on a bus route how we can get them into school and just really working to uh let families know that we need their kids in school every day for the full day we've also seen some academic growth so the data that we've been reviewing at our district level professional development teams our instructional leadership building based teams um this high quality instructional material and the investment in it and along with the professional development and focus on literacy has really um made an impact I just pulled some quick um nwea which is our Benchmark assessment data um and you'll see for the fall and winter in our just overall student percentages we are seeing growth these are not um grade level RIT scores so we are still behind and we still have skill gaps to close and you will see that when you look at um some of our subgroups I think we have to keep true to the course though and the impact of the budget support for ongoing professional development is expensive we need high quality instruction for not only our administrative team but our instruction um instructional leaders in the building and we've started this work we're in year two of our um instructional leadership and in increasing what we're doing in our classroom and then we've added our data analysis teams this year and really diving deep into what students know and what they don't know in front of us and then how we adjust our instruction so that we can identify those skill gaps address them pay attention to them intervene with them and close them part of what has been ongoing with building principles in District administration we are in learning walkthroughs every week we are officially doing six with our partners from the teaching lab per the year I provided some data though that you can see that some of the identifiers that we've been using our learning walkthrough tool we have seen progress in our buildings and we are when we're not doing the official learning walks with the teaching lab uh assistant superintendent Sullivan and I are in buildings every week we alternate if I'm in the middle and high he's in elementary and prek and then we switch the following week so that people know that we are paying attention attention to what's happening in in those classrooms we're paying attention to what's going on with our students so I just kind of summarized at the end some of the budget highlights and these will all be in detail and explained at the formal budget hearing but you know really expanding those opportunities at the high school and middle school Workforce Development opportunities we started a financial literacy elected this year um students had to create their budgets and learn how to survive as if they were a 21y old based on whatever job they thought they were going to uh be interested in and I was fortunate enough Mr Martin who teaches the class had me come and grade their finals so they had to present their budget presentations on how they were going to survive um with the a career that they chose and the money that they would make um I really do believe the beacon program is essential to supporting some of our students who are behind the eightball already in our high school and need that support um one of the things that is included that has been a de you know I don't want to say a demand but a highlight of maybe our conversations is having foreign language return to the middle school that is in the budget and increasing those music opportunities at both schools um I had the pleasure of being at the Middle School uh band concert that last Thursday night and they have 47 fifth graders for the first time who've taken instruments and they have over aund and so middle schoolers who are actually participating in music now so um I saw Paul calary there who was our former band director and he said the the future is coming is what he remarked so and I had to agree with him it was lovely to see we also still participate in strings for kids which the Pioneer Valley Symphony runs at our middle school and they've seen an increase in um students wanting to access that program this year as well stiens to keep our extracurricular clubs going is in part of this budget as well our field trip funding is part of this budget as well people want our students to have exponential learning opportunities the stiens for the restorative practice work and getting a zero to fiveyear plan and making this District a restorative practice district is in this budget continued investment into high quality instructional materials we also as part of the work that we've been doing with teaching lab have really looked into tier 2 interventions and an additional tier one diagnostic assessment so we are working with our current Title One interventionists on the core pass and really it is a diagnostic tool that can identify the certain skill a student is missing teachers can pull those students based on that skill work in small groups and hopefully get them to where they need to be and back to learning and then and obviously we need to continue to invest in professional development that's aligned with our district initiatives and through that that stien work for instructional leadership teams which is part of the Mandate from our district prioritization plan with ssos and then lastly keeping those Staffing levels to maintain smaller class sizes with the redistricting though I do want to highlight in order to fit the fifth grade back into every Elementary School there is only two sections of every grade level so um that was part of the discussion that's been ongoing for the last two and a half years with redistricting work but the elementary schools are only so big and that was one of the uh caveats to moving the fifth grade back and keeping the special sub separate programs where they are so that we would not have to move our special education programming currently base average for class sizes is between 16 and 18 next year and that's just based on the draft schedule that we currently have and then also that's in the budget is really this continued investment into administrative levels we hear a lot of conversations about uh topheavy being leadership heavy and I don't um want folks to not know all of the work that is required by us in the administrative land as well with having uh District prioritization under des's ssos plan and having the center for school and District partnership progress report monitoring along with having a tiered Focus monitoring for elll program along for having a program site review with our special ed program along with uh we've just been chosen front by the office of refugees and immigration to actually have an interaction and collaborative review as well we do have a lot that is mandated by desie we also have about 50% of our staff who are under pts so they've worked for us for three years or less which increases the number of educator evaluations that administrators have to actually conduct retired and we also have evaluations for every collective bargaining agreement that our Administration is involved in along with leading faculty meeting times setting agendas and supervision for professional learning times the oversight of just the daily operations of school at any time of lunch recess arrival and dismissal and and that includes you know supervision and investigation of any and all complaints bullying harassment or otherwise as well as building culture and Community with our families and parents so there is really um a lot on everyone's plate and we need the Staffing levels to be maintained in order to continue this progress for student growth and achievement thank you question yes but first I just want to say thank you for putting this together this represented a whole bunch of extra work which I um like I said before try not to put on to Superintendent at all possible so I appreciate it you Mike you had a question I could I I just I feel like I would just take advantage of the opportunity that I'm here um this may be more V for a regular uh full meeting but I figured since it's right before Finance was coming out um so I know a question that I thought of and a lot of folks who grew up here um have wondered is why there is I guess this a two-part question um why there is such a challenge bringing fifth grade back and making Middle School six through eight again because that was the way it was for years until a bad decision was made um to not do that and we have a lot fewer students than we did so I understand we don't have as many elementary schools as we used to but we also have a lot fewer students in that in enrolled now and I've heard that some it has to do with some of the special education requirements that are different um space limitations in that but um and I know that you had said that that would that would shrink it down to like two per school or two per grade I'm assuming you meant two per grade for school correct okay um and and I mean I like I said going to school here like I remember like the exact layout of where everything was and some things have changed but um so 168 that that like being question one I guess why why that seems to be such a challenge if we already had the space ahead of time um I see 16 to 18 per class that's pretty decent um and then I know that you're very aware of my um uh my comment earlier this year about uh last year about um the kindergarten classes and so I'm wondering what changes have been made as far as I know that this time of year is when you're you're developing the budget and you're basing it upon what you think the numbers are going to be and have any factors been changed into that because obviously last year was the first year of the redistrict change and so my concern when I brought it up was that if we have an an inflated classroom size for one year that's going to continue each year along right if everyone were to stay in District um so is there when you're budgeting for next year and you're you know obviously you're saying well this is the amount of kids we think like you see the amount of students you have enrolled in fourth grade so you can extrapolate on how that would be your fifth grade classes next year um even if you're well now it would be fifth to sixth I guess even if you're moving them to a different School you may not have need to have um as many buildings to house them in one but they're still gonna have different grades and or different you know classes math and history and all that stuff um is there has there been a focus on the the Baseline that you would think now is going to be kindergarten enrollment on numbers you have and then also recognizing and this is where I was saying I think something might have got missed previously was that is going to be the Great you're going to have the biggest variable coming into the year with late enrollment like you're probably not getting you may get a couple stragglers late and rolling in fourth grade because they moved into the city but Kindergarten not everybody knows to register prek and right they're all going to do it last minute we're Society procrastinators so like even though you say you know prge should starts in whatever March and goes through June I I can Pro I can probably say with a good deal certainty you get a lot more throughout the summer and then even closer to the end of summer right right before school so is that being accounted for because we have to set the budget so far in advance um maybe in a better way than it had been previously so can I just I want to delineate that because they're two different questions Sor so um in regards to to redistricting without rehashing the whole past two plus years um that the committee did extensive work on that to arrive at um I mean I'm not question District the biggest rush is that we used to have four elementary schools five and now we don't um so oh we that's what I'm saying we also have a lot fewer students we have fewer students but but not that many fewer students and and our buildings are only the size that they are um so I'll I'll let the superintendent answer the rest of that question but um there I mean those are the those are the biggest broad brushes I think about that we had about half the students we used to have in Greenfield like 25 years ago you need more rooms for like Title One was saying was is there something that's more that's right I'll I'll let the superintendent get into the nitt gry on that um and then um the second question is about how the school um Administration anticipates kindergarten sizes um I will say the superintendent provided detailed information about that at the September school committee meeting I would invite anyone to go back and watch it um as to what our um typical running numbers are for incoming kindergarteners over the past several years and how that is translated into a prediction and how this past year was truly anomaly but uh superintendent take it away sure um well with regards to redistricting though I think the issue is special ed rooms for pout Services title one for intervention math and Ela along with um spacing her uh collective bargaining teachers are entitled to a a break room that has to be in every building for their contract so there has to be a space available to them which constricts what else you can where you can put certain things in the building um we have a very large special ed program that takes up um space at Discovery School which is one school that has limited space to begin with so that's another part of the issue and part of the former committees um directive was not to move special ed programming because they are our most uh delicate children and in a space where they are most familiar with and then moving them would probably be more detrimental than whatnot so um I don't know I think you had Green River you had North Parish this is free me and then you had right you had five um right now um for there was D I forgot that one no longer exists right now um you're looking about 200 per Elementary is what the numbers are now and that goes to my kindergarten qu you know answer to you right now we have 13 12 and 18 enrolled we have two teachers in the budget for each building if we had to really make a decision and say is the 13 going to be 26 I'm not cutting it based on what happened last year and that you know because that is what the former superintendent did when we had 12 for so long and then you know August 28th I'm faced with here we go here's 40 more kids for you so what we have done at central office however is we have uh upped our Auntie with kindergarten enrollment and having them uh more often with our registar at night advertised more clearly and then we're going to do it again a month later and just really try to we got the census information from the city and really try to Target those kids that aren't in our current preschool and try to get families more aware of when they need to enroll so that we have those numbers sooner remember child you've been real quiet there got any question about this and presentation so far um no real questions about it um I really strongly support us bringing the uh social studies and the science to full year because I think that will help kids find what they're passionate about and want to study more deeply before they hit that ninth grade slump and also out of curiosity I I wanted to see how many students we had in District 25 years ago so I go go it and according to the AI overview we had over 110,000 students yay AI that was the square footage um best I could find was from let me see was this 2004 when we had about 1861 no this is 2006 so we're down in the past 20 years we're down 400 students roughly thanks for that M child's is often our Intrepid researcher of things compulsive researcher uh although that does provide good evidence for why AI will not be taking over the worlds anytime soon wasn't plagarism write it it's like oh what's that I had it win AI can't do crosswords I'm sorry time I was um I was really happy uh when this when the idea of going to full year science and social studies at the middle school was first brought up which was at least a year ago um because having had a middle schooler go through this model of having um this content for only half of the year um we're talking about uh 11 12 year olds who need uh consistent um delivery of content in order to maintain their knowledge in in order to build a broad knowledge base which then um contributes to their reading comprehension which contributes to their ability to learn everything so um so I'm I'm happy to see that um coming to fruition whether it is something that we have to do anyway or not um like you were saying so um so I'm very happy to see those positions in here um I also just wanted to um express my support for the adoption of elevation um having heard from um one of our um English learner teachers um about how um important this uh is and how it will for uh her students and ability to collaborate with other teachers um to support them um I I um am glad to see that here I also just W to um encourage everyone to please um if you have an interest in getting into the Nitty Gritty details of the feedback that budget and finance received from all of these individual um listening sessions please go back um and watch our um last couple of meetings uh because that's when we had the much more detailed discussion about those um but all of that is is reflected um I did have a few questions um but member Goodman did you have anything you wanted to ask before I dive into m other just a couple like the extracurricular stiens and we had those years ago did they get cut never being put back in no what the what they've added is uh new clubs per year um but what we're finding is uh all right say you have 400 students at the high school you maybe have 10% of the population involved in the clubs that currently exist so what they're trying to do is revamp and expand opportunities so that if you aren't an athlete you have some other opportunity to get involved because we do uh part of the budget includes a late bus for our students Monday Tuesday and Thursday that they get picked up from the middle school and high school so having the opportunity to build community build relationships with other folks while also being involved in something outside of academics is really the push and is are those buses well used used by the kids are they full they no they're not full we don't have 46 kids staying after on anyone given day but they are used and it does give students without transportation an opportunity to participate think about a lot of bands bands versus buses and that our fanss aren't in town at that time because they're doing out of District runs on the note of those extracurriculars I I know the Middle School the chess club and Dungeons and Dragons clubs in particular have been very popular they not a stereotype tend to capture a crowd that doesn't always overlap with the Athletics and academically both of them are very good for test scores I mean chess all sorts of study and Dungeons and Dragons has a lot of math so I like this yeah I run those two Club of high SCH so they are very good coun approves yeah no keep talking about how great these budg hearing yeah please tson the Esports team we've got me covered there you go um I wondered and maybe this is a a a tandem question for um the superintendent and Andy Could you um explain more about the um increases in out of District tuitions how those are Set uh and what recent events or increases have been with regards to that well every year the operational services division which is a rate setting Agency for the state sets the percent increase for Approved chapter 766 program so when we refer to the 20 somei per increase uh over the past three years one year there was an actual about 14% increase in those rates um this coming year it's 3.67 I think is what we do 3.67% we have no say in those rates uh that come down and then uh Mr messing has we've had some kids come in through the pipeline that are now going to out of District placement so that's based on the uh enrollments that we know as of right now combination of new students being placed out and the uh rate increase for fromes we know how many students are out of districts uh I know that Mr messing provided a detailed presentation about that at our most recent if you're interested but I don't remember the total number that yes yes yes that's right um when the 14% increase came down the um state did offer some assistance to some districts to help absorb that wall up but we did not for that assistance and so that's just a little bit of back just stick in there um 3% certainly easier to 14 but still not um related to that um for the superintendent what do you think just very broadly are the um biggest or most frequent needs um that the district is not able to meet in District that we could consider tackling in the next say three to five years in terms of new programming or addition resources um you know I think our sub separate behavioral programs at our elementary school could be strengthened which is something uh the special ed director Mr messing is working on I think a lot of the supports that are needed um we tried to implement with rbts this year at our elementary so that they could address some of the needs that these students come to us with and they are not identified on any special ed track but they do need the support R oh I'm sorry registered Behavior technician um who is specialized in dealing with behaviors and interventions and modifications and implementing plans so students have an opportunity to access their learning but with the supports that they need um I also think too that we we are trying to improve uh getting Subs so that we don't have to use our IAS to cover for substitutes but we have uh increased absences and we need to make sure that all students are safe and we have to end up pulling some of our IAS to cover classes in those instances so I think keeping um those building based subs and those building monitors are key personnel that help out at the building based levels especially at our elementary schools where there is just the principal um I think in the three to fiveyear plan though it really has to be increasing programming at the high school level and making ourselves more competitive the weight list to the tech school is very high they have a very high enrollment at this time they have very attractive programs with a new vet uh pipeline opening along with their new Aviation pipeline opening and while a green fields cannot uh compete with some of those there are Avenues with GCC and Workforce Development and working with the community college that I think are pivotal for us to take advantage of because we could be the Google you know person because GCC is offering you know getting Google Suite certified and being a Google whatever I I don't know what those terms are but there are a lot of Workforce Development opportunities at the college and I think if we actually are the pipeline to that we could attract um students that want to come to Greenfield High School as well to access that that may not be on the trade track or not on the four-year college track yep thank you uh the need to um improve our uh sub rate was something that the committee discussed recently because it is a problem for the school department to have to pull instructional aids to sub classes um because IAS are absolutely essential to certain students uh they they fill essential roles in a general capacity as well and uh however we have U special education students who have um IAS in their service grids for specific reasons they need those people people in order to deliver the accommodations that they're entitled to and those accommodations give them access to their education so um so absolutely we need to um be cognizant of how uh how competitive we are for those two particular positions and um we also need to we need to make uh more systemic uh adjustments like this new position um in order to support that um correct me if I'm wrong and I know I probably asked you this before but um the amount that previously was paid out of grants for our um in curriculum instructional materials um I believe that was about [Music] 130,000 for C materials and I know there was you're GNA have to fill in the gaps for me so it's about 262 last year um that included investigating history grades five through seven and then we adopted openai Ed for science in grade six Through Chemistry so um that included not only teacher resources but the kits as well that included Eureka squared at K to4 it included illustrative math grades five through um Algebra 2 and then uh CK and amplify were also included in that I wholeheartedly support purchasing those materials it's we can't have a one-time investment in a uh new instructional resource and do all this professional development that has occurred over the past couple of years particularly with CK amplify and then let it all just float away because we fail to continue to support the um ongoing purchase of materials our students need them they use them up we have to buy them again um and having had students with my particular uh kids experience I'm delighted to um have it not be a situation like uh it was in the past where um I selected the um school that I selected for my kids because M Goodwin then principal had the foresight to be employing evidence-based practices and and uh aligning programming and materials um that way in literacy instruction and we now have a whole District at the elementary and middle school level that is um streamlined it's consistent it's fully invested um in that so I am 150% um committed to continuing to support that okay um do you will you be able to in your um budget presentation later this month um provide a uh total cost um number for the um redistricting and the factors involved in it well that's a good question um there's so many moving parts yes and um I think that there will be some caveats because some of the moving Parts um will be filled with internal position candidates and then some of the costs will have to go external because the vacancies will be there so I'll try to keep a ongoing redistricting tally with the moving Parts but um they're you know with some reductions at elementary offset some additions in other areas but I will do the best I can to keep a okay redistricting thank you I think that would be really helpful for books because um the whole topic sounds murky for folks readers or um and also a lot of our stakeholders put gave us input um about that process over a long period perod of time and um I think it would be helpful for folks to be able to see okay this is here we are we are transitioning into this phase and this is what it is going to cost and we are this is what it represents in the school department budget um I just think it's gratifying for people to see something that they invested their personal time and in put in playing out in a concrete way that um and also helps people who are not necessarily um a parent of a student in the district or um a staff person or somebody who has that level of of a state to um to understand okay will you all will you be able to um provide for folks a total amount for um things like the step raises the cola like a dollar yeah so for the actual budget hearing presentation I have uh delated cost centers Staffing um what that Staffing represents uh what those uh differences in salaries from last year to this year represent including steps and colas and then um some of those those like our Specialists are split among our elementaries so I've tried to lay it lay it out so that folks understand that a point 6 that Discovery doesn't mean that that person isn't a 1.0 the other point4 is actually served under Federal Street's budget and that's just the piece that probably will get a little confusing for people to understand the split teaching but um I have that in the full budget hearing so that people can easily know who's where and what it costs for them to be there and then outside of building based cost centers um we've delated um just like what my department in munus actually represents that it's not just me and a salary that there are other people that are in my munis cost center and just who they are and why and then I've tried to give as much detail so that everyone knows where everyone is because we are not hiding anything we are not trying to cover anything up we are trying to tell folks what we need in order to run the schools to the best of our ability for our students so um I just didn't want that much detail uh in this presentation I apologize Andy and I are still working on the on the move so um but that will be evident and available for the February 24th hearing great clarification question is this a this was a contract negotiation year or is it already been Inked or is it coming up we are currently negotiations with Unit A and Unit C that's going to have an impact on next year's budget of course as well so when you're talking about step increases in the col is from the city the town accountant right or the I'm sorry the finance director so that's already that's already been you know counted for but when you're talking about step increases these are anticipated step increases based on you're St eight whatever you okay okay um will you also be able to provide um detail in terms of the cost of the restored Justice programming that you are referencing I would love to see that because that's probably the top number one thing that constituents have asked me for in the past six months um I can go back and find the number I don't know what the total number of emails was but it was a lot um that uh there are a lot of folks who are very interested in that um in green fieldon so I would like to be able to really um elucidate that for them sure um we met with the collaborative today as well um we have started this work internally at the E Team level and the restora to practice committee has been formed and our director of behavior services will be taking that over with the collaborative so um I think the costs in training are going to have to be estimates at this point dependent on where they decide to go for said training and who decides to be the pilot school um which is what we're hoping for in the 25 fall is to have at least one school in District be the pilot school to launch all of this and then have those staff be sort of train the trainers for future trainings of IND District staff so that we don't have to farm out the training after that great um in regards to the field trips um that are in here um that it and it if I were to put a number on um parent feedback that we got field trips was really high um on there uh in terms of requests uh folks really wanted to see um increased opportunities for our students to have um high quality experiences either through field trips or through um things that are brought in um to their schools and um this is something that we talked about at our um previous budget and finance meetings um as being particularly important in our district because we have a high number of students who don't have a lot of access to those kinds of experiences outside of school so um I just wondered if that um is going to represent a material increase in those opportunities um I think we level funded the field trip lines Andy can check um we uh uh the assistant superintendent Mr Sullivan is working with principles though because what we found in District is repetition of events often where if you are a first grader and you go to the apple orchard because you're doing a unit on you know uh apples then you're doing it again in third grade so what we've done with the principles is really just uh putting a track on field trips so that every year you're having a different experience having different uh field trips that you engage in that align with curriculum standards but that alternate your experiences in District so that you have something you know I'm a fourth grader I can't wait to go to blank when I'm in fourth grade that there is this Contin interest in that um we're also very fortunate that the Greenfield Education Foundation supports a lot of uh things that we can't budgetarily fund and oftentimes if there's an additional field trip and we have no funding we often will uh Advocate to them and they've come through for us many times in the past um our PTO also are working collaboratively together to make sure that funding is Equitable across Ross the district um all of the presidents and I meet and talk about you know what interest um folks have so that every student can have certain experiences they're doing a cardboard challenge for elementary now that Federal Street is going to host but that it is open to all K through four students so they're trying to work more collaboratively together to give folks more experiences as well it was great to have um the collaboration that budget and finance had with our PTO um as well as CPAC and Alpac and um the ghs school council I really hope that that collaboration will just make those um enrichment opportunities um okay could you talk just a little about what is entailed what in refining and increasing two and three interventions because that can mean so many things yeah what we are finding and Mr Sullivan's online so maybe he wants to add more because he's been directly involved in the core and past moves with the teaching lab is currently the district does nwe map testing grades 2 through eight and then we do Dibbles in K through four and then they do Dibbles maze in five six and seven it's um an over overall composite score and not really identifying what is the skill Gap that our students have and therefore students um aren't actually getting what they need in intervention while folks are working very hard to do intervention with their students so um we've talked with um our interventionist group but we've also talked with the teaching lab literacy specialist and this core and pass adoption diagnostic would actually help us um address address the skill Gap that students have so that we could put them into tier 2 small groups we are looking at you fly and Lexia and I'm just gonna let Stephen maybe talk about those I'm GNA put them on the spot I apologize but um he's been in conversations at least with the literacy angle on youly and what youly actually could do for our students love to hear that because I know what those two programs are but not everyone how are you I'm gonna turn Stephen this way so you can talk to everyone how are you um yeah so I think I mean in a nutshell what the superintendent was saying is we can be more targeted this gives us some more specific information about deficits or challenges students might be having and then allows us to be more targeted in the resources we're using I think that's the big thing and um I also just want to like be clear that I don't think it's just just a tier two issue I think some of this is tier one in terms of helping people understand the data what it means how they can support with the um Core Curriculum as well so um that's where the work lies maybe member Goodwin um can I call upon your sure Professional Knowledge to explain a little bit about Lexia I lovex and Lexia is um there is not literacy expert who doesn't breathe that you can't do too much Lexia so Lexia was designed by um people who designed um the fcr website the Florida um intervention website and I got to meet the people who designed Alexia and we were part of the um pilot for adding on the support materials like the worksheets and stuff that went through it and actually um Jen marshand was one of the best um Lexia teachers I've ever met but she figured out when a child missed something she could pull them off the computer do a mini lesson with the child and put them right back on so what Lexia is great for is also her parents because you can can put it on your phone instead of your child just playing a game they're doing Alexia which is game likee um and at every all school meeting we um gave out little trophies for each level um and the levels go all the way up to sixth grade um they have prefixes suffixes Latin roots um and kids even enjoy redoing it which is I think the um the positive thing about Leia it's got the music it's got the the gamey stuff that they like um immediate feedback and what's amazing is it graphs how quickly a child learns the skills so you can see where they level out they do drop a little then you know how it grows and I think that is really helpful for teachers and everybody who deals with children that learn um because everybody learns at a different rate so you can really see um as they're progressing through Lexia the the way that they are practicing and how it impacts their learning so I think it's you know I was strange you can't do too much Lexia we always used to fight over like the Lexia and teachers get competitive with Lexia too so it charts like red green and yellow kind of like Dibbles so if your class is in the red it means they're not doing enough Lexia it tells you exactly how many a child should have of Lexia individual growth and then if the teacher isn't getting the child on a computer to do the Lexia you get a little email from Lexia so um teachers like to compete with Lexia as well thank you thank you I know you put in no I every parent Stephen can you hear me I can could you EXP explain just briefly for folks a little bit about youly yeah so again and Lexia and youly are right now things that we're inquiring about and looking at and um I certainly um have a lot to learn about both but both are encouraging and I think youly is really a a targeted intervention but can be a core as well or supplement to the core foundational and it goes back to what member Goodwin was talking about earlier is really doing everything we can to make sure we have strong readers by grade three um and youly really helps at those K12 um age groups thank you that's it told do I ask too many questions um okay it is 8:30 and we have done a good two and a half hours um does anyone have an additional question this right I don't know you know this off the top of the head how many new positions did we add last year I wasn't sure you it now but I'd have to look back at Christine's budget I don't recall I have to look back I don't remember either um okay um an am I missing you on anything nope but I had a few things but the moments passed for those and uh I think at this point we just really need to I I think at this point we're ready to see the more detailed budget that's coming up okay um so in that case I'm going to make a motion all right um I move to recommend the proposed FY 26 operating budget as is to H sorry to recommend the superintendent forward the proposed FY 26 operating budget as is to the full school committee go ahead so when you make that motion are you saying these numbers you're saying to go forward with these numbers yes well I'm a little bit confused because the motion is recommending the budget but we didn't see the budget we saw a budget forast and so that's where I've got a HIC up yes okay I move to recommend that the superintendent bring the proposed FY 26 operating budget forecast as is to the full school committee I'll second that discussion so if no one else has anything to open with I will just dive in um I think uh the I think given the needs of the district and given the um outside pressures that the district has faced that this overall um increase in terms of all funds and the local appropriation is understandable and reasonable and uh my hope that is that it will um be received as respectful of the city and uh taxpayers as well also uh letting people know what the overall needs of our students are um that being said it is not insubstantial so there's always a worry about how you will be receive uh that's my opening slot I think we are far from unique in that in this case I think all of the school committees over the state and school committees and school boards throughout the country are going to be hit with increases this year as well just because of changes in the economic climate so I think you hate to see an increase like that at a time when you know that people are already hurting but certain things are unavoidable and also the return on investment for public schools is still both morally and financially sound I think member Childs is obviously correct um I think I need more information before I can support that motion okay when I see the budget book with the details I need to see the details before I can support that Mo okay uh I think that considering the unprecedented inflation that we have all seen and uh being cognizant of the uh eer funding which has now ended for us and everyone else um member Childs is quite right about the overall um pressures of being are being faced by this district and every other District um I wonder superintendent could you talk a bit about um how this budget was looking when you um first we going through your executive leadership team meetings and what um what you have been able to do to bring it down yeah I mean we um I have met with every Department had met with every building principal and um along with the assistant superintendent and Andy and we were um at double digits at one point when we had talked a little bit ago um just really fine-tuning and going line by line by line by line and seeing what those dollars meant who those people were what was reflected what wasn't reflected and just really paying attention um to the detail we found um some inconsistencies with Staffing either duplicative or um just misrepresented in uh two lines of not you know um and then we looked at uh historical cost spending in certain cost center line items so that we weren't projecting an increase that was unnecessary um trying to think where else we were line item analyzing um and really just paying attention to even just the curriculum increase you know Stephen was really looking at his budget line items and making sure that we weren't um overexpressing the need that might be there in the future for those items and really getting quot quotes and pre you know pre- numers on that so that we weren't just you know estimating so um we've been working hard the last month or so to really be uh aware of uh we know how how much we need to run the district and but we also know we needed to be uh cost sensitive this year in a time where dollars are tight what were those double digits to start with I think we were at a 10 something and then we went to a nine 93 at some point and then uh we were at a 86 and then um as of Friday I think this I think when you and I uh spoke we were at our 97 which is where We've [Music] Ended if uh either the school committee were to recomend a uh smaller budget or if uh we were to recommend one that looks like this uh ultimately and it is um substantially underfunded what without uh discussing anything related to um positions or uh contracts which I know is difficult to do um could you give us an idea of what uh would be at risk you know position new positions that we're adding obviously would probably be at risk first um we'd have to look at programming and what those programs cost like Beacon you know implementing something like that and having it on the district's dime is you know costly but the overall need and benefit from it is something that would be detrimental to cut but obviously it comes down to people in programming and that would really be where the um uh we' have to look with each department head with each building principal and go through their own cost center line by line again and see where there are any potential future savings you know we also don't know a lot of our Desi grants because we're in turnaround um are not out yet so we don't know if there's potential cost savings for offsets if those grants become available again um we've had an open sad we've had an investigating history Grant in the past we've had our turnaround Grant um be increased in the past but those things are unknowns right now so we're also working with you know potential cost uh support that we don't know if we're going to get through that grant funding either given correct me if I'm wrong given that we previously had four schools in turnaround status and now only two uh how do you expect that to affect rning that's hard to say I wish I had the crystal ball of how desie determines because they also were very um giving in order to adopt highquality instructional materials to begin with and provided grants for the initial onset and then cut the districts off completely and no longer fund them after year one so um if I had to predict the way they've worked in the past I would say it's probably going to be um very much less than we've gotten in the past so we do a great job and then you get less money correct are there people's jobs in Title One or is it just materials no title one mostly funds positions Exchange and as we know with federal grants don't know what's coming down that P either Andy would you be able to talk about the governor's budget and Chapter 70 a little bit I mean for us the fortunate thing is yes the student Opportunity Act has increased the per pupil reimbursement rates in the foundation formula but when we have declining enrollment the increase that we're seeing is only about $160 some OD thousand in chapter okay and this is probably a no uh um I know it's all just a crystal ball at this point when it comes to the Federal um level but uh is there any apologize 126,000 however I will say though cheap science the cherry sheet overall though for Greenfield what a very surprisingly positive impact wow the the net if you were to look at the net overall positive when you look at the revenues versus the assessments that the city is it's a POS positive 780,000 Valar the community so you know we'll try and be optimistic thanks for bringing the bright side yeah I do have David GRE there are six new positions that were in fi25 an assistant special education director Elementary instrumental music English language learner teacher a float custodian and IT staff and then we had the human resource school committee position s six thank you Mike just in the sake of asking this I know this comes up um in in talks of where like recessions happened in the economy and stuff were those generally new positions or were those positions that had previously been cut and now are reinstated two I think off the top of my I'll have to double check cinal but at least two were reinstated the float custodian and the assistant special education director know his float position what's the problem we had cut that one yeah and then the overtime cost of making up for it turned out to be a mistake so that so I believe two of the six every in yeah but even adding an elll teacher last year we need another one to beet Service delivery so cra job have to teach kids no matter what language you nativ to speak you know like it's the same thing as the SEI yeah yeah y I speak Ukrainian they're all the movans yeah well I came from Egypt and I've never been in a public school ever that was the one I I was like oh I dare ask um if there is any um I'm not sure what the right word is guess as to what uh might be coming down the pike with regards to idea funding anybody watches that one also a question was asked about the AO District placements the I have the most recent 24 24 kids um no FY 24 six were in public separate day schools 13 were in private separate day schools two were in residential and two were home Hospital homeit's the big 13 13 13 is the bigger one because the private separate day schools can range anywhere between you know 175 to [Music] $350,000 and even some higher because they could be year round so we know how old they are many more years we got it on we've got one of them is age three to five and then the rest are 6 to 21 I'm telling you the superintendent North Adams offered to buy a parent a house in whole yoke instead of paying out a district placement cheaper almost had her to [Music] yeah sorry that's that's pretty sad actually for somebody to uh poor kid was in a bus for indicate someone's not welcome in their Community like that uh okay so uh that's why numbers can fluctuate so widely and suddenly uh when it comes to uh out of districts as well because a child may move in who happens to have certain needs that send them to a Perkins School run you a good half a million dollars or um what have you and uh you know the district doesn't have the ability to just suddenly invent the ability to meet those needs so you know that depends though on if it's if it's in District then the sending district is on the hope for year one for the tuition we would have to budget for to out ofate or DC on place a story we on regardless of whatever it is they tell us um um where where is the district at with um filing the requisite paperwork for Medicaid reimbursement in the city we're doing that through the collaborative that's an ongoing process when will that go in it goes in quarterly okay actually two times a year excuse me and uh has there been any discussion with anyone on the city Side as to whether that may be appropriated to the school department this year discussion and the issue I'm GNA say I say issue without any negative commentation is the fact of matter is that Greenfield funds the schools above the minimum required net School spending so they could make the argument that we're getting the Medicaid money anyways and just reduce the quotequote amount above the minimum required that there because Medicaid being a general funder C comes there anyways that's always been I think I back one of the last times we were here with mayor Martin was discussed but there really not much money it's about $250,000 you know so and the issue is you could say I'll give you the 250 Medicaid I'll just reduce your 250 in barely cover increases yeah which was a big deal okay any more discussion so I guess the last question is so we'd be voting just to send this forecast to the full school committee is that for their information purposes or for the full committee to take some sort of an action the committee is as a is not going to take an action until after the uh annual the subcommittee if it wishes to make some other recommendation other than what has been presented this evening um needs to do so right now because this um the superintendent proposed budget needs to be published in the paper uh very shortly that'll be coming up in a week so uh and then once that happens then according to the uh City Charter then we need to hold our annual budget hearing within uh 7 to 14 days is why we will be having it on the 24th and then the committee will need to subsequently meet and uh vote to approve that uh proposed budget so that'll be taking place I think March 3 March third so my question has to do with the motion that's on the table of what the goal of it is the goal is to provide the recommend of the budget and finance subcommittee to the full school committee what are we recommending we are recommending the superintendent's proposed budget as forecasted this evening okay now I think I see where both you and Mel were coming from do you I just do you have this in front of you an yes I do okay okay but uh because of the difference between budget forecast and budget that's because I something has to go on the paper before we see a budget book is that correct do you want to explain what is published way it's normally B yes so in order to publish our budget that needs to be in the paper next Monday okay uh need parameters around which to craft said budget so what is proposed tonight is the 7.97% increase and so that is what I need some guidance around in order to publish that on Monday and then craft the whole budget hearing presentation around what that 7.97% represents specifically by cost center by person by um expense okay so we're basically saying yes we think this is an acceptable goal for the budget this year yeah okay Andy did you want to say something I just I'm kind of getting now say that I'm now getting confused maybe it's the hour that we're here but um okay I'm I'm hearing it as like the that the recommendation or it could be a recommendation from the Budget Finance subcommittee to have the superintendent present what the detail is of the 7.97 and then the comme would take action yeah that that's where I'm at but that's not what I'm hearing I'm saying I'm heing I have to go with the 7.9 without the detail okay uh would you like to propose different wording I would certainly be open to a friendly Amendment I'm just picturing Monday paper I'm just trying to picture the timeline so it sounds like we need to have this approved of for Monday so we need but if it if we're sending it to the school committee the school committee is not meeting before Monday right right this this would sorry this would form the substance of the superintendent uh full annual budget presentation to occur on the oh did it sound like Mel was going to say something yes said and then stop I I just it's just such a big number um I am curious what a level funded budget would look like what the increase is that 7.9 represent level funded everybody's in the same position no new positions new position it might be nice to see the comparison between the two is that something that's mathematically possible with your Wonder laptop like if next year we had exactly the same people everybody's the same everybody got their raises everybody got their Cola what would the increase be versus the 7.9 which is the I mean I I say it's it's doable I think it's a better spell question I guess I would I guess I would say if I may though when we look at some of the things for example uh if everybody agrees on the high quality instructional materials where we don't know as of right now regarding the R so that's in the budget then we have the special education tuition increase of overall in a sped Department it is going up 0 1.1 million so I I understand the concern that I'm going to say the quote unquote sticker shock but it is very easy to get to the 7.97 when you look at the the director from the City Finance director about an estimate for C the step increase the new positions specifically in the middle school they four new positions regarding the redistricting and then the transportation change uh even though we have a decrease because we're using more Transportation revolving account funds um but when we get you know so I guess I say when you start to peel away at that 7.97% it's a very easy number to get to as scary quote unquote as it but what I'm saying is it's really not 7.9 because of all the normal increases that happen from year to year here right no I I 7.9 I go this right here that is being presented is the needs based budget as determined by the administration of the school district so when asked what are the needs from all department heads all building administrators it came to a 7.97% but what I'm saying to you is if we went forward next year even just with everybody we had now there would be an increase a probably a significant increase with Cola and raises and everything so it makes the 7.9 not look as bad is what I'm saying to you because that's probably like a 3% increase maybe I'm wrong but I'm just trying to say to you kind of looks a little more I'm not sure what you're asking a maatic I think I understand exactly what Mel is saying I think Mel is saying that what we are asking for is not very much overlevel funding and having that to contrast will show that no matter what to not cut programming we will already be significantly increasing and this increase in order to add these things we need is minimal compared to the increas inrease that is just the price of the world for what we already have is that what you're saying Mel absolutely it just is more consumer friendly I'm just trying to figure out how to reward this motion because it's the responsibility of the subcommittee to provide a recommendation to the superintendent tonight um I and I I don't want to have to schedule another meeting for the 10th so um anybody please jump in with a friendly Amendment otherwise I'm going to continue working on this wording want me to try yes please okay I move okay that um the bud the what you call it recommended budget goes forward along with um a comparison of what it would cost to run our district next year exactly as is with raises with cost of living with sped increases to to give a comparison to show that the 7.9 is not as dramatic I'm looking for a a comparison okay hang on I'm working that in it's about consumer understanding most districts just by breathing it's a 3% increase then losing Esser is not going to be pleasant right plus you have negotiations happening and out of District special ed tuitions that's 1.5 million there yeah but if we don't start competing salary wise we're going to be in trouble okay uh how does this how does this work for you I sorry I had too many cross outs all right I move to request the superintendent forward the FY 26 operating budget as forecasted including level funding comparison to the full school committee it wouldn't be level funding because level funding would be dracon and till we're back to The Cutting eighth grade okay so do I need to include a list of and same with raises I don't know what you call that anymore level service level service level service okay the a friendly amendment is I move to request the superintendent forward the proposed FY 26 operating budget as forecasted including a level service comparison to the full school committee I will still second that okay I am accepting that friendly Amendment the second has accepted it any discussion on the revised motions good okay hearing none I will take a roll call vote I yes member Goodwin yes member child yes thank you very good everyone we have no further items on our agenda for this evening so with that I will move to adjourn that uh and I am yes member Goodwin yes and member child's yes thank you everyone so much I appreciate your time I apologize for the amount of time and I promise to do better next time have a good evening bye everybody bye an [Music]

[Music] e for good evening and welcome to the Greenfield Public Schools school committee meeting for Wednesday February 12th 2025 this meeting is being recorded by greenfield community television if any other persons present are doing the same you must notify the chairperson at this time no one all right um secretary genive would you call the [Music] RO absolutely secretary Den I am here member Goodwin here member child's here Vice chair seon here chair Johnson mad here member Martini I am here mayor dorer so we are all present despite uh mayor dorer who is not present at the moment so we have a quorum all right we have a quorum with six present and the mayor absent thank you the meeting is called to order at 6:31 p.m. public comment will start in the room if there are people on Zoom who would like to make public comment please type into the chat to call us our awareness to you not seeing any public comment in the room check the chat and there is no request for public comment on Zoom so we will move on to our recognition superintendent thank you I'd like to call Miss Rachel heg forward to the public comment seat so she can be seeing on TV [Applause] first we're here tonight to congratulate Rachel heg who is this Year's 20242 Greenfield Public Schools grinspoon Pioneer Valley excellence and teaching Award winner Rachel hag is a fourth grade teacher at Newton Elementary Rachel was nominated by two of her colleagues this year one nominee stated Miss hag holds her students accountable and sets a high bar for classroom expectations she also shows compassion towards her students and they know that they are cared for loved and accepted this combination of kindness and strong expectations creates an environment where any student can succeed another nominee stated she is an amazing colleague to work with and gives thoughtful and useful feedback we are so lucky to work alongside her and learn from her interim principle Miss Jacobs assistant superintendent Sullivan and myself congratulate you you on this award and for all of your accomplishments we are very fortunate to have you in District and we look forward to celebrating with you in your family at the log cabin on April 30th [Applause] congratulations please turn your mic on you have to Long press on the button until and then let go and it should turn green might have to hold it for a little bit there you go all right good evening thank you for having me um I'm very humbled to receive this award for excellence and teaching um I am thankful for the constant support and collaboration that I received from my colleagues superintendent Karen patod and principal Carol Jacobs both inspire me with their vision and their strong leadership and I see a positive and promising future unfolding for our students thank you very much for this honor I really really it means a lot to me thank you and back to the superintendent for unanticipated recognition um before we get to the student reports I was made aware that uh one of our student reporters Mr Tumi here um received an award for um a scholarship of $1,000 from the National Association of student councils he was one of 75 nationally nominated students to win this award and this award recognizes him for student leadership amplifying student voice and service to community and we are happy to recognize that this evening [Applause] congratulations great we'll move on to report of student representatives to the committee um all right so beginning with quite a bit from student council so I'm just going to go through that first um January was a very busy month for the student council we hosted cookies Coco and camman in preparation for midterms and we had a total of 45 students and 12 staff and attendance um to raise funds for our upcoming leadership conference we held a music Bingo fundraiser on the 25th we traveled to Murdoch High School to compete in Massachusetts unified Special Olympics for Bachi um we brought five teams and additional 10 fans in the stands our teams performed well and our athletes proudly wore their medals on Monday to school our fans were the most spirited and could be heard singing the school song and offering to put glitter on everyone's faces in attendance um we ended the month with an event that took months to plan and included the entirety of the community the mobile Polar Plunge for the Special Olympics was a huge success in total over $113,000 were raised and this number is still increasing the link to or to donate remains open until April at ghs itself we had 149 students in staff take the plunge or stay in our chicken Coupe as towel holders during the public portion students from Mohawk Turners and Frontier joined additionally we had First Responders represented from the fire and police departments service organizations and local businesses it was truly amazing to see just how many people were willing to take the plunge for inclusion Miss mass and the student council would like to thank all who attended or donated to the plunge it really was a huge undertaking and would not have been possible without the assistance of Miss patod Mr Browning the fire department the DPW our facilities manager and the subcommittee who not only plan on the event but were willing to try something new on this large of a scale we are so lucky to have such a supportive Community um and such supportive community members to partner with for this project so thank you all for athletics western Mass playoffs are here as of February 11th the boys and girls teams are a seven seed the boys will be going to Monument Mountain Regional and the girls look as though they will be going to linnux final seedings will be coming Thursday boys basketball state seating is 25 in division four and the girls are number 26 in division five state tournament for basketball starts February 24th indoor track season came to a close last week the boys team won their league and the girls came in second great job by both teams Mason yel and Javan Williams will be competing at the state tournament February 16th congrats ice hockey has clinched the berry division first time in the league and our Champions they are number one seated for the western Mass tournament which starts February 19th hockey seed for the state is number 16th in division 4 state tournament also starts February 24th updated schedules will be posted on arbiterlive.com gowave um in January the library Club had a game day and did some bookmaking with Franchesca the teen library and from uh the Greenfield Public Library in February today actually they made Valentine buttons and they will have a book to movie event on Friday February 28th where they will show the wild robot this film is rated PG and all families and community members are welcome to attend the doors will open at 5:30 p.m.