Reader
Browse passages, annotate evidence, and export with full provenance for citation.
good evening and welcome to the Greenfield Public Schools special school committee meeting for Monday March 17th 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 hearing none secretary Den will you call the role excuse me could you please turn the video on for the community room how is that can you see it now thank you there we are yes thank you you okay member Childs here member Goodwin here secretary Dena here chair Johnson mad here mayor dorer here member Martini here Vice chair seon here we are all present and accounted for and have a quorum and it is 7 PM we will um move on to public comment um folks will have up to three minutes please share the town where you live and then you'll have three minutes thank you press it till it's green that's a bum do you want mine Mel hi oh that one works hi I'm Rachel Cronin townend I live here in Greenfield I have been teaching here in Greenfield for 25 years um my children were born raised in Greenfield graduated from Greenfield High School Valedictorian and salutatorian both of them and I'm going to tell you right now that Greenfield is important to me right it's where I chose to come it's where I chose to raise my family it's where I chose to teach and I've been here when we've had economic problems in the past I personally as a specialist here in Greenfield have been pink slipped five times right that's a thing that has happened to me and yet I'm still here it is my hope and dream that whatever decisions get made today in the next few weeks in the next few months that everyone remember that our students the kids that we take and hold every day are the most important people we have in Greenfield and we need to keep their hope alive we need to keep their cheer alive and we need to make sure that when we are making hard choices we are keeping the things that they love or school will be terrible thank you [Applause] I should say for folks on Zoom who'd like to make public comment after we're done with the inperson public comment you can raise your hand and we'll recognize you for a zoom comment thank you go ahead hello I'm Stella Verlander and I live at 18 Pawn Street when I was 16 I came here to question the proposal the proposed budget and advocate for staff and resources that were under the chopping block to get cut now as an adult and years later I'm here again to advocate for the exact same thing this will be my last year as a high school student and my last year at ghs in my time at ghs I like to think I've learned some things one of these things is that life will always present you with choices I understand that the task of evaluating the school budget is no easy feat and there will always be people who are unhappy with the outcome that's that's just how these things work but there will always be a choice there are decisions made that will objectively be better for the district and its students and its staff and there are decisions that would be objectively worse for them I understand that you are working with the very short end of the stick that has been forced upon you by the state and federal government for you to make do but do not let that back you into a corner I choose to believe that this community cares for one another and I know for a fact that there are people in this room that will keep fighting for our schools no matter what happens bringing up seventh and eighth graders to the school and shutting down the middle school will not be sustainable it just won't rushing into this decision and focusing only on short-term benefits will not work it just won't I employ you to use our community as a resource and hear our testimony to make the right choice I personally believe that merging our school with Pioneer Mohawk and more will be most beneficial in the long run as we are small schools with declining attendance rates I want to make this as clear as possible with overfilled classes less electives and less extracurriculars you will not have students like me students like Shane who do so much for our school environment students like Mel Bella and cam who have come here tonight in support of our school because they care students like April who participate in almost every club and extracurricular will cease to exist students that care do not pop out of nowhere this might sound harsh but it needs to be students like us were born from teachers who have time in their classes to devote to us who have Ed to teach classes that are filled with the normal amount of students and aren't um overfilled it comes from being in clubs that we love and appreciate having a reason to come to school every day from doing sports and coaches that care about us thank [Applause] you April Follow by Tara good afternoon my name is April Rooney Adams and I am a junior at Greenfield High School i o I am a part of many extracurriculars including band student council Key Club National Honor Society green room and French Club and a couple more I have attended Greenfield schools since kindergarten and have seen our district flourish and shine as well as through the hard times of 2020 and the pandemic my first full year in person after that was my eighth grade year I remember being so scared about being in the high school building with all the kids way up to age 18 I watched kids in my grade at 13 years old get bullied by people who were nearly adults and be pressured into more substances than ever before being in extracurriculars like student counsel and band which are combined for 8th through 12th made me feel way more safe and connected at my school but I know that that is not the case for everyone many of my classmates spent that year scared 8th grade is not as separate from the rest of the school as a as adults who aren't in the building every day might think sure they have their own lunch period in hallway but really do they plenty of eighth grade students travel completely across the building to get to their classes including upstairs towards the science and English hallways if there are too many eighth grade students for their own hallway how are we going to fit seventh grade there too we most likely won't which results in 11 and 12 year olds walking the hallways amongst people who could very well be 18 they are in such different phases in their lives that it becomes a problem I know that many schools around us have a 7 through 12 program however their schools were designed for that for that model ours wasn't an article from Mass Live on August 2nd 2014 while our school was being built when talking about it states the school is built for an enrollment of 585 students in grades 8 through 12 if you look at the floor plan of our school with the classrooms that we have that much is clear I understand the budget is a very hard thing to move around especially considering the increase in health insurance taking up a large portion of the town's fund incase I also know everyone in this room including myself is here for the betterment of the Greenfield students however I do not believe that moving the seventh grade to the high school building is the best decision that we can make regarding the organization of that budget and the future of our students thank you for your time [Applause] if the person who is on Deck can come and sit in the front row U just to make the transitions faster that'd be great is there anyone else oh there's no one else in the room okay thank you good evening my name is Tara cluder excuse me I am a teacher at Greenfield High School I am the vice president of the teachers union and I am a taxpayer in Greenfield um I'm here to ask you to please support superintendent Pat node's budget and ask you to please not put the financial crisis of the Town onto our children and onto our schools thank [Applause] you one more person in the room and then we'll go to zoom St uh good evening Doug swin green field um I have a a couple of thoughts here first is to recognize as I think we all do that we're in in this mess because of the lack of funding that we're getting from the state and the FEDS um and that squeeze is putting the same problem on towns everywhere and we all are approaching this as if we are alone and I think we need to figure out how to work with the other towns not only in the Pioneer Valley or the Connecticut Valley but across the state there are over 200 districts right now that are in hold harmless that are being squeezed to death and going through this exercise if we keep doing it alone we're screwed secondly I think we have to recognize as we all do which is why the room is full that schools are the center and heart of a community it's why people will move here or won't move here um it's why we say kids are our future and then don't pay for it we have to figure out how to pay for it consistently and give them what they need um third trying to decide on the school budget without recognizing that it's part of the larger City budget it's a pretty difficult challenge I mean we don't know where the money is um or how to work together as a city to figure out how to fund the schools and everything else we're trying to do this sort of an isolation tonight and that's that seems really difficult so I hope we can figure out how we can talk together across the entire city um and make good decisions that allow us to keep our schools fully funded I don't think closing the middle school is the right answer I don't know what the right answer is um but I do know that if we cut um the school budget um we are selling ourselves and our kids short and I hope we do everything we can to make a different Choice thank you [Applause] on Zoom we'll have uh Susan wapic followed by Kim thank you for allowing me to speak tonight um I'm sus WTIC I live in Forest Avenue in Greenfield um I just want to talk about budgets a second um as someone who has managed a number of budgets not quite this large but almost this large um I know how difficult it is to cut budgets um but I do think that we have to remember I I really support what Doug has just said that we really need to look at this as something where we're all in this together where this is something that we have to look at from an overview and that uh and look at it from the point of view of there's no there are no evil people here this is is this is unfortunately something that is imposed upon us not something that we started from the beginning um this is not our choice this is what we have to deal with um I'd also like to support Doug's comment that this is a Statewide issue and that we as a city and we as a community need to get our legislators to work for us because they need to understand how how difficult this is and how we are being underfunded um that's a long-term issue that's a shortterm we're obviously in a short-term Pro uh problem but I want to thank you all for coming to this meeting with a spirit of working together and not with a an a blame game thank you Kim and then Stephanie Kim if you would share your full name and uh the town where you live okay K is my wife um excuse me uh we're using her computer this is Paul jablon and uh from Greenfield I would like to continue the idea that the last three years Greenfield has been building a better and better middle school and the school committee and the schools have been working very hard at moving the fifth grade back and I would like to see that continue to happen for years I worked at universities training Middle School teachers so I have some expertise on seeing what's going on the second thing is more a question and that is I have great respect for our DPW I've actually written my terms saying that as well as for our recck department and fire department so this is not again trying to work together in the past when our school budgets have been cut and this is a big cut in our school budget those departments didn't necessarily have the same percentage cut we're going to lose a lot of staff and faculty if we have this budget are those departments going to lose the same percentage of staff from their departments and the last comment I have is also another question which is last year we were really out on the carpet to the state because we couldn't get enough this year couldn't get get enough uh special ed persons to work with the kids who are in the highest needs with this budget are we going to have even more Cuts in special ed and I hope we really can work together answer these questions and be fair to the kids in our schools thank [Applause] you Stephanie Stephanie Duke close Chapman Street Greenfield um I'm really disheartened by uh departments being pitted against each other it's one number that is expected from the taxpayers in Greenfield one number that everybody that is paying that bill they struggle they struggle like everyone else sometimes hard's decisions really do need to be made and we gave a lot of money to a library to a fire station new new trucks new uh pocket pars there was a lot of money being expended no one's screaming through the roof and we supported the teachers we've always supported good education that's why we pay additional funding above the state required that they give us I mean allocation is up to the to the superintendent doesn't fall the mayor says look we're in tough times we're in tough times and everybody squeezing their belts and it and to P departments against each other well you know maybe the taxpayers there's not a lot maybe a lot of taxpayers don't actually have kids in school right now and maybe you're asking them to fund something that's you know something you they have to make hard decisions themselves about in in the taxes so you know I I really think that the mayor's um coming back with something that's reasonable I know she spent hours and hours and hours looking at you know making hard decisions across the board I mean I don't think it's right to pick departments against each other I mean we do have deine enrollment in Greenfield maybe we need to look at some of the factors why um we collaborate our sports with other uh towns uh you know there's there's options there and maybe utilizing or offering um Green River School to a new tech facility for you know we're losing a lot of kids to the Franklin Tech maybe those are options too to maybe bring more kids to Greenfield so we are inviting um like Tech expanding let's maybe look at their model thanks is there any other public comment in the room or on Zoom oh we have a few here in the room so we go back to the room please state your name and spell it if needed and share the town where you live hi everyone my name is Pamela Goodwin I live at 54 High Street I'm older so I'm not paying taxes and I got rid of my business so I wouldn't have to pay taxes but I have been a teacher teacher for many of my years um I guess my only comment is um I hope people go back and look at some of the school committee meetings in previous months I agree with Doug swellen um and work Susan ortic and I thought one of the best comments was the recent comment by member Goodwin who I'm not related to by the way and um you know is about being a team and coming up with a plan that seems to work for a town that is having major major uh fiscal problems the last thing I'll say is I would like us to address the attendance problem the treny problem in a way that makes sense in a way that would follow the law I don't know if we have a true and officer or not but I think that we need one if we do not have one I'm not clear that running a second bus schedule for kids who have parents that maybe went off to work is part of a budgetary need but I think that if enough pressure is put on students and parents to show up where they need to be and if they are able to feel comfortable there that's the other problem you know special needs kids have special needs there are special teachers for that I worked alongside of them in many of my my years of teaching so I just want kids to feel safe I want them to love sports and drama and music because honestly they're all not all showing up having a ball with Reading Writing and rhythmetic thank you for your [Applause] time Anna McBain do you want the spelling okay uh I live in Greenfield uh I am an not graduate alone because I graduated from a different District but all the way up through most of high school I went to Greenfield and then now I work in Greenfield and I was actually in the district when the uh original uh downsizing of Green River so that uh the middle school started housing fifth grade happened and then I was part of the inaugural eighth grade academy and what you know our current students are saying is completely true where having the eighth grade in the high school never should have happened I know that that model Works in so many other places but in Greenfield it just doesn't work we're all terrified our eighth grade year is terror you're scared that you're going to Excel and have to go out and be part of the Gen of the older kids so you purposefully don't Place well like it's not a good thing I wrong with um but you know it's it's also a testament to Greenfield's creativity because we were in a budget crisis at that point those two times and the people in charge you know in your positions at that point were able to come up with Solutions so that us as kids we were just like well this is weird but everything's normal like you know we we felt the change but we didn't so I just hope for today's kids we can you guys can come up with a solution where you know we the students don't feel as much of a change thank you [Applause] is there any other public comment in the room is there any other public comment on Zoom hearing none thank you everybody very much for sharing your views I'd like to hear a motion to move item seven vote to approve Greenfield High School local history trip to mashin Tucket peat museum in Connecticut on March 27 2025 to the next item so moved is there a second second um all in favor I I carries unanimously and so uh Mr Martin if you would make your presentation are you making a presentation or not you don't have to it's up to you I'm supposed to present uh you're welcome to we I think we thought you might because you're here but I can wing it sure um okay thank you for the email you sent to us yeah if you don't mind winging yeah sure I didn't know if you had had read that I assumed it was put into the record uh yeah so it's a local history elective course um and it's sort of designed around trips to mostly Franklin County um and uh our first major unit is about sort of indigenous cultures of the Northeast and more locally in the Pioneer Valley um and it's centered a lot around early contact between Native Americans and English colonists um especially King Philip's War many of which battles took place in the in Franklin County um so we work really closely with David Brule um the nloma project and uh he gives us some guided tours he comes and he's a guest speaker um but one of the first trips we take is to the pqu museum in Connecticut it's one of the sort of leading museums on indigenous cultures anywhere but especially in the Northeast uh to sort of immerse kids in you know what indigenous peoples were uh how they were living pre- contact and also how contact with Europeans is a very unstable table um were how that changed uh things for them uh drastically obviously um so the museum is phenomenal uh we went two years ago um with this class and it was one of the top things that my class uh enjoyed that year we could not go last year because they were renovating the museum so we're hoping to go again cam okay uh one of the students is right back there um so yeah it's 10 students um two adults because a nurse is required and so it's a little mini bus and we go and come back in the school day thank you if you have any questions I I didn't know quite what you wanted to hear but uh I think we'll do move on to the motion and if there's questions or discussion I'm sure um people would be happy to hear from you but is there a motion to approve the um the field trip as presented so moved uh motion from Member and a second for member Goodwin uh any discussion all in favor I carries unanimously have a great trip thank you both thanks for coming really here we're now moving to item three review of the mayor's statement from March 12th 2025 school committee meeting um as uh just so folks may know um the mayor made a statement and there was a discussion um but um school committee members hadn't had an opportunity to view the statement in advance and so have had a chance and since then to gather information ask questions um uh and so we wanted to provide the um members an opportunity to um discuss it again um so um I'd like to um make a motion that we um suspend the normal Rules of Order and adopt a round robin Robin format where each member would have up to three minutes to um to speak um and uh and I would also like um if the um members of the school administration here um have responses or information they can provide along the way that they have the opportunity to do so so could I hear a motion to um to make that change to our Rules of Order so moved motion for member Martini is there a second second second for member ston all in [Music] favor I I any opposed any extensions yes three [Music] minutes um secretary denif can you time the turns um and so we'll I think we'll just go around the Horseshoe um starting with member Childs going to the mayor um so and you can um pass if you would like and it will come around to you again so um every member who wishes to speak will have an opportunity to I'm going to pass okay remember good one I'm going to go back in history I mean I look at data and I look at numbers I was a math teacher so I always go there and I've lived in Greenville for over 30 years years and there have been two really hard votes in Greenfield one was Walmart which caused family fights and the second was voting for a $60 million High School I remember that day walking up to vote to the old high school and it was the first time I met Donna Woodcock she was standing in front of that school and she stopped every voter and I'm going to tell you $60 million for a high school was a lot of money and we all knew it was going to raise our taxes it was a painful vote I heard people saying things like that high school was good enough for me when I went to high school there was a lot of debate all over this town and when it passed our taxes went up we're still paying 1.3 or 1.4 million every single year on the high school so one of the things I want to say is I am dismayed by the blame game we have a new mayor we have a new superintendent this town has been out of control with spending a new library a new fire department a new this a new new parking garage joh over like we just borrow money and think nobody wants it back um a $60 million high school we talk about build this well business needs to come here because the taxpayers cannot afford what is going on people are choosing to leave town um are declining enrollment are underperforming schools those are facts um the number of children currently at the high school by removing the e8th grade you would be down to 300 it breaks my heart to hear kids say they lived in Terror in eth grade that just makes me sick um there may be another way to look at um reconfiguring schools I think the mayor was being very creative and it was a great solution that she gave because it meant not cutting teachers and staff by closing a building you save money which means not cutting the people in front of children which I will support 100% teachers and Paras in front of children is what needs to be the priority of this budget We're Not Alone um I looked at all of Franklin County you know there are some districts with 500 children in a school district and they're asking for millions of dollars it doesn't make sense Greenfield needs to go to the table with redistricting doesn't seem to want to we're not alone I looked at every request of every District in Franklin County $11 million for 5,000 children not enough thank you secretary Den I didn't realize it was going to be statement night so I'll just speak some of my ideas I was on the redistricting subcommittee and I spent a lot of time with a lot of you and we really put our heads together and we came up with so many options every idea was on on the table we came up with some really wild ones and in the end we narrowed it down I think to two or three options and we figured out which ones would work with the size of the buildings and keeping in mind the class sizes which was a big issue and we brought in families and parents we went to all kinds of community centers we had all kinds of late night meetings we gathered everyone's thoughts about this and we arrived at the one that we thought that would work for now it wasn't a permanent idea always in the back of our minds we thought we have elementary schools that are old and we can't keep fixing them we're just putting Band-Aids on them so the idea was always in the future that we were going to need to build an elementary school for everyone which would lower budget lower admin costs put everyone in the same school give us the equity that we are looking for but the problem was it's going to take 10 years and 10 years starts now we have to start thinking about this now and it's going to be another one of those really hard votes like melody was just talking about it's going to cost so much money but that's what we have to do and not just because of you know the fiscal crisis now but because these buildings are very old and we've toured them and we've looked at them and there's so many fixes that need to be made so that's where I arrived in October of 2023 after working on this problem with all of you so I'm still in favor of continuing the redistricting as we planned but I also understand that we've hit this fiscal wall so I'm also open to discussing the ways that we fix this but it's hard for me to discuss this without having seen the full City budget yet I don't really know where all of the rest of the money is going and where all of the cuts are so I feel a little bit in the dark about it but what I do feel in my heart is that when it comes down to it the most important things are your schools your fire department probably your police you know that's a conversation to have and you just don't get to have extraneous things you need to keep your water safe you need to keep your houses from burning down you need to make sure that you have your health services but you are able to cut everything else but those important things and that's what I want to see first before we really get into this I'll recognize myself I'm going on around the Horseshoe um I guess yeah I share um the concern about only looking at one number it's kind of really impossible to evaluate the um the mayor's budget based on just the number for the schools uh so um it's hard to know if we're being asked to make cuts that are uh fair or not um based on the what may or may not be happening to other departments um and what the overall picture is uh the other question that I feel like I need more information about is um free cash and stabilization which are are accounts that some people may refer to as your rainy day fund and it does seem like it's raining pretty hard so I'm wondering if we're not going to use those funds now um when are we going to use them and I will pass to member seon if you want to be recognized I'm assuming we'll be doing more than one go around correct great thank you um I only have a couple of things that I wanted to say right now one is thank you to everyone who showed up and made statements and also thank you to everyone who sent us emails about other possible Creative Solutions to this um to this issue I I want to address specifically redistricting and I understand that that is a a topic that brings up a lot of emotion for folks because there was a very long process and a lot of people did work hard on it but I would remind us not to get caught in a sunk cost fallacy we did that work we had a particular picture in mind of what our economic situation was looking like or would look like as that work was done and now we're in a different picture so yes if it still makes sense to keep our the original plan let's do that but I don't want us to get so focused on doing that that we don't look at options just purely because we already did leg work on a particular one in in the in the past that leg work happened whether or not it still is the right decision so we can that it it just already happened and we can we can choose to move forward um in a different path if it makes more sense right now um while I can I'm I'm hearing folks talk about the the feeling a little bit at Sea with having only one number to look at and I can I I hear that I can feel that I understand that and at the same time that is the one number that is ours to look at comparing to other departments is the job of the city council and if we need to Lobby them we can but it is not our job necessarily to say what is fair it is our job to advocate for our students and to get what we need and to Advocate very strongly for that but it is ultimately not our job to say the Department of Public Works doesn't deserve the money they're getting or the fire department doesn't deserve the money that they're getting we can't we can't operate in that in that regard because that's not our function right now um I don't have a brilliant plan or solution to offer you but I'm hoping that we can work one out together um I would like a little bit more clarity about whether or not this is We Are Tonight making a binding decision about how to move forward or if this is continued discussion for a vote that will occur at a future time I know we have a vote sort of un redistricting but I just need to I I'm just in the in the e in the interest of not making hasty decisions I just want to understand like what is the level of permanence of the decisions that we're making tonight do we feel like we absolutely need to make these votes tonight and with that I'll pass [Music] so already um I agree it's very difficult um to make judgments in a murky situation where uh the mayor is bringing this to us prior to putting out her budget book uh for FY 26 but there is actually more than one number available out there if you go looking so um in the mayor's remarks last week she said that the city budget can increase only 2 and a half% and that is about the same as a million and a half dollars every year which uh is not exactly the way I see it because in five out of the last seven years the city budget has increased by considerably more than that uh and in fact three times it was more than double that and uh this occurs in part because the tax levy calculation is actually not that straightforward uh it begins with the previous fiscal Year's maximum allowable tax levy plus 2 and a half% yes but then any new growth is added uh so far as I can tell Greenfield's average new growth for the last three years has been $450,500 added and uh Greenfield has run about a million5 dollars in excluded Debt Service for the past several years so adding these together that looks to me as if the new Levy limit for FY 26 would be 46 M 32421 and then in addition to the levy we need to add revenues so um greenfields cherry sheet estimates for FY 26 show that our receipts are projected to go up $18,400 81 and I would note that of this amount 14,860 a for schools and 12,612 is from an increase in receiving tuition for school choice other City revenues have been mostly consistent in the last few years budget books um so if we used the same number for those as last year it looks to me as if we would have estimated revenues of uh 28,42 7, $76 which would bring a total of Levy plus revenues to uh 74,8 3,869 sorry for all the numbers um and uh then once other available funds are added meaning what the city chooses to use from stabilization in free cash then we have a total from which expenses would be deducted uh I would note that at the beginning of this fiscal year there was a combined almost $9 million in those accounts of which the mayor plans to use a bit over 800,000 and I think I heard her say last week that she doesn't intend to use any of those funds this year mayor thank you um Kate I love those numbers thank you for that analysis of that um so I just I'm going to respond to a couple of things I didn't know we were going to do little statements so um I liked what somebody said that we are all in this together I didn't choose to have us be here um I didn't choose to have the health insurance costs go up um and I don't want this to be an adversarial something um I I think that someone had a very good point about one number you know you've got like I gave this number in order for people to have time because there we had other meetings that's what we done in the past you give the number about this time so that a school committee has time to make decisions that's what happened last year and so it was all following along at the same time I have not completed my budget and I will be up very late every night finishing this I've gone through one time and uh I'm I'm glad to hear that everybody's thinking about what's happening in every other department that's what I've been doing last year and this year and we'll continue to do that um we educating our children is one of the most important things that we could ever do but they have to have clean water and so it's all part of one big picture um as I said at last month's I mean it whatever was the last meeting we had a few days ago it seems like a year um but um last year we had a number that I worked with um uh because we were that one year that you did talk about we were like at the levy ceiling with uh I think it was like I forget what the number was like maybe like 7,000 to go before the levy ceiling you you can't live like that so um at any rate um we have to stay within C certain constraints last year there was a number and uh was like 1.4 and as I said it was my first year being a mayor even though it wasn't 5050 or whatever I thought I gave the did schools a much higher number um because I got kids and grandchildren and people that teach in my family too so but on the and it's not sides it's a community um we had a total of one extra FTE that we added and I I think that's an important thing to think about so um this year so talking about DPW that is the place where we we need something we have an increasing number of you you see water main breaks infrastructure needs it's part of this city you are part of this city your kids your teachers you all matter to to me every one of you but and there's some scientists here you want we have scientists working out the water treatment plan there's a lot of things down there that are broken they're part of this too this is not an easy decision to make but tough people make tough choices and these are horrible numbers I didn't make them up I I don't have the full number you you will be maybe looking at this year's budget let me tell you whatever it was um you know the other side did a lot worse last year I don't I don't know what the numbers are going to be but I've made enormous Cuts I'm calling people back writing them I just that was my first thing this morning I said I'm going to go down on this one because I know we're not making it um so um you know and I I I want to say something to address um my my my teammate Kate I said that is true about you know re VES and I thought but one thing I learned when I get in there I thought this is the Department of Revenue is watching us just like you have desie watching you we have the Department of Revenue watching us and you have to average whatever that is you just can't put in like if we have a really good year on the meals tax which I think is going to be really good this year um you know we have Starbucks whether or not you like Starbucks um we have this coming and I won't speak to One restaurant or another or anything they're all good but um you know those revenues will be a good thing but but I can't spend more than I have when when I was a young mother I can I just finish this one sentence yes I just I had $40 a week for food and my favorite things are potato chips and ice cream but I had three little kids and so I bought the meat the eggs the cheese the milk and the vegetables and the fruit and they liked apple juice and I couldn't buy that my sister used to come over with the apple juice and the paper goods because there wasn't enough for those extra things thank you that's what we have to do thank you m child will finish this first round okay uh so like many others no prepared statement winging it um so something that has come to me a lot is what percentage of the Town budget the school budget makes up because if you're going to look at any Department school budget will be the biggest part of that is because these if you look at a number of staff you're looking at just under 2third roughly of the Town employees are School District employees so it's not anything unexpected that the school department would therefore have the biggest budget of departments uh looking at numbers for enrollment one of the things proposed was K through six being moved to the elementary school level but I don't believe we have room at the elementary schools to move both fifth and sixth grade there especially not without negatively impacting our most vulnerable students in special ed programs that is to the best of my knowledge I could be wrong if I am wrong I'm thrilled because then we can move sixth grade back but I don't think I'm wrong another idea that has been presented to me in email and in person is moving uh continuing to move fifth to the elementary school but moving sixth and seventh to the high school for a combined Junior Senior High uh on paper that does sound good but if eighth graders are already having these Fair issues and if adding sixth and seventh to the high school would then bring us very close to Max Capacity at high school it seems like those sixth seventh and eighth graders it'd be pretty hard to keep them segregated from the oldest students there so I guess what I'm coming to for this is the math is not going to be pretty no matter how we cut it um we're going to this is a triage year this is a Band-Aid year we are in a terrible situation um and no one is going to be happy with what ends up happening but everybody up here is committed to preserving as much as we can as what matters the most for the kids the people on the ground working with them their teachers their instructional AIDS and I am very glad that I've got a team up here that really do care about the kids every single one of you do and so um magic idea fairy and Magic Money fairy very welcome thank you um I just like to check with the administration if there's anything you want to say or any facts you'd like to share sure um I just have a few comments just based upon a few things that were said at last week's meeting but um suggesting to close the Greenfield Middle School and make Elementary K through six in the high school 7 to 12 to close the budget Gap um and there's this suggestion that all programming and services including all teachers and instructional positions will stay the same I'm here to say unfortunately that is not realistic in order to reduce a budget by $1.9 million cuts to programming services and Personnel will have to be made we have been working on redistricting for the past two and a half years and I have been a part of that work and on December 13 2023 the school committee voted in favor of moving to option 2B when I took over on July 1st that is what I have been building the workaround moving forward for 2025 to have redistricting take place place we met with students and we scheduled them early this year so we would know staffing needs we've met with families so they could make decisions about their children's future we've met with the bus company we've met with teachers and Union leadership so they would know the impact of all of these moves and based on an $1.9 million reduction to the school committee budget it feels like all of that work done in the past two and a half years is being sum summarily dismissed I am not sharing this information as a reason why we could not consider altering our course I am sharing it though so that people have an understanding of the amount of time energy and resources that have gone into this planning for two and a half years the mayor's idea proposes changes that the school does simply not have a plan for at this time furthermore in our budget development the City Finance director had given us a directive to include a 3% increase for all bargaining units that did not have a contract Beyond this fiscal year that is also included in the budget proposal from the schools so above all of that we were caught off guard with the mayor's suggestion of closing the Greenfield Middle School next year we have talked tonight and I've heard many people comment on how we are a team and we are all in this together I do not feel part of this team when blind insided with this information and not included in this conversation the schools are willing Partners in looking for solutions for the benefit of our students and we are not considered to be at the table to be part of those Solutions I take offense it is my job to do its best for them and we need to be part of that solution in this team that we all speak of [Applause] any other comments from the administration okay um so we will we can do um I guess I'll suggest one more round of three minutes each I would respectfully ask that uh school committee members uh try to stay focused on the facts and the issues and the problems we're solving I think we all understand that we're in a difficult situation and having to make tough choices tonight I hope that everyone feels heard about that I certainly hear um have heard that from from the mayor and from many others tonight um so with that member Goodwin or uh we'll start with member Goodwin would you like to make an additional comment we're not alone this is this conversation is going on all over the state our commissioner has even taken a job in Pennsylvania as a superintendent um our department of Ed is being pretty much cut to half things are happening across the United States we we weren't ready when a pandemic came we did amazing things for children we weren't ready but we did it things change fiscally every single day um things change you can't you can't plan for things that just change so I would say you as somebody who is a member of the star committee that fifth grade should have gone back to the elementary school about 4 years ago cuz it was supposed to be the fourth grade back to the elementary school and then the following year the fifth grade we made that decision Adrien NZ was chair we made it it didn't happen I don't know why but it didn't decisions get made and they change but this city is been borrowing money that has to be paid back that is a fact if you just drive around our city you'll find out you'll see a brand new library you see a brand new fire department just notice those things cost money it's not like um we have somebody making money in the basement of City Hall which is kind of scary to start with we also have buildings that are falling apart and that is the truth but we have been doing repairs I live through a new roof new modules new sidewalks a new basketball court all at Newton we've made repairs we've spent money in the schools as well so things change you don't want to close the middle school fine do figure it out I mean we can go every that can be we can start talking to the towns next to us um you know um districts that are having 500 children um because of declining enrollments they're talking about putting all the children in one building um that's a K2 um everybody is looking at different things blaming people is not part of the solution um I I know the fire department needs a$ 1.2 million truck or all our house insurance is going to go up do I want that fire department to get that truck absolutely because if my house insurance goes up it's just one more bill I have to stop doing something else member Den would you like to speak I actually just had a question for superintendent Pat node when you look at our redistricting list all the options that we went through has anything materially changed in the last few years that would allow any of the other options to be possible the ones that we were looking at were with regards to the sixth grade since that issue came up from last week's meeting sixth grade is feasibly not possible to fit in our elementary schools um the only way our elementary principles could configure that would be by reducing sections in other classes so for instance if you had a 25 uh student first grade in one building that would be one first grade instead of two and then you would be impacting classroom sizes in order to fit all of them there um we did not look at other options from years ago um just because we were considering what was on the table from last week uh I just wanted to speak to um redistricting and um and what what we need to do tonight essentially so um just that I I was amaz Amed going through that process to see uh how many moving Parts there were and even in our vote on the decision to do it it once we had voted on something it meant other things fell into place it it's an enormously complicated uh system that we that is run here in Greenfield every day by our um amazing Administration and um by all the the teachers and staff um it's very complicated to have this many students educated here and when you try to change one thing it affects everything else um so tonight we do have to make a decision on that because there's just simply no way um to be ready for September unless we make a decision basically tonight about what's going to happen um and um and and that I think speaks to you know the amount of planning that went in in the um the meetings that we had the input we took from many many different parts of the community traveling to different uh parts of the town to make sure that uh different uh constituencies in Greenfield could be represented um it it was a huge effort and a huge project and so it's not it's not something where you can unfortunately uh have an idea on your own and come in and and have that work in time for September that's just not that's doesn't kind of give that's kind of not um it's a much more complicated system and it's much more involved uh than just having an idea and throwing it out there I guess is what I wanted to say um not that people didn't give thought to their ideas before they shared them um but certainly would be great to hear those ideas as part of the redistricting process or earlier earlier in the process then um on the eve of the budget um for the year in question so uh I think that's all I wanted to say uh Vice chair ston so I have a question but I'm not sure that it can be answered for for the administration which is do we have accurate cost estimates for what the different redistricting options would have been or R so that we can compare you know the 2 be that we eventually voted on and I say we but the prior school committee voted on um versus 2A or option one or whatever the option do we actually know what each of those options would have cost or would cost us still one two does that even matter because it doesn't really matter where the students are located within our city we still have to educate them no matter what building their in and so we still need the staff to do so in I that follow so it seems like redistricting kind of as planned since that's the thing that we've already put in motion and parents have already been communicated with and to my knowledge staff has been communicated with as well has been part of that plan seems like the best option if we're still going to need to hire them anyway um and have them on I'm not sure what cost savings there is to be had reconfiguring in other directions if they're going to be the same number of students whether they're in you know the high school or the Middle School speaking of eighth graders um I had another point or question where did it go it lives somewhere sure super so um as previously discussed we've been building this budget and planning this school year based upon option 2B there were other options presented in the redistricting years as you know one was make a K1 School make a 2 three School make a four five school um those have not been analyzed by the school department because it was not the vote with which we were directed to go so um if that is the case with the committee to eliminate the current redistricting vote that I'm working under then that would be something for discussion tonight and then we would have to replan I do want to Echo though time is of the essence because parents and families want to know what their children are doing and it is very anxiety filled and stress filled when these decisions are not made early enough for proper planning so that they can make the choices that are good for their students thank you I remembered my other point um it seems like we're being asked to make a decision in reaction to a proposed number by the mayor but we know that that's not actually the final step in the budgeting process and so we can't know if the number that was given to us by the mayor is the actual number that we have to work with could be less could be more we hope for more we would love more um you know but I feel like we're trying to make a decision in reaction to something that that isn't totally real and I'm having a hard time wrapping my mind around that and I I don't want to be put in a position of of reacting in that way in fear or shock or you know like oh no we need to do this immediately and I'm I get the haste of wanting to communicate with our community and we can still communicate with our community with our parents and with our our staff um and I feel like even if we don't have a firm thing to tell them yet we can keep them part of these conversations I just don't want us to make a decision in haste that we don't actually have the full and real information we need to make properly so I don't but I also understand we can't wait until the city council has done their thing and sent it back to the mayor again like I'm I'm struggling a little bit I'm wondering if my colleagues can help me think through that having gone through the uh additional Levy and revenues that I reviewed before I want to also point out that the city is expected to see a reduction in specifically sending tuition Assessments in FY 26 the cherish sheet estimates uh include an overall reduction of sending tuition assessments of $662,000 and uh if other expenses in this section uh are similar to last year which they seem to be pretty consistent then um I would anticipate that the total amount available for the city FY 26 operating budget would then uh be about $ 67.7 million and from that would be taken this year's Debt Service which is also a pretty consistent amount um so if we pay a similar amount as last year that would bring the City operating budget to 66.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
to uh the regular meeting of the Brookfield Board of Education this Wednesday, March 19th. Um thank goodness it's the end of March. It's bright out. It's nice. Um so please uh start by joining me in saying the pledge of allegiance. Oh yes.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
going to ask Teresa or Kate if one of you would volunteer to to take the minutes. Have any volunteers? Oh, Kate, did you say yes? Yeah, she must be on mute. Oh, your voice is coming through like very high pitched like like Minnie Mouse like Yeah. I've never heard that before. Yeah. Yeah. That's a first. I've never heard that. Kate's just logging back on. So, we'll wait a few minutes. I was having a problem with my internet before and I called Kate to send me some information there. So, it seems like now she's having some of the problems. Maybe it's catching Um, I have multiple options. Is that better? Okay. Thanks so much. Sorry about that. Okay. It was unclear. Can you take the minute? Yes, I can take the minutes, Rich. No problem. Thank you. So, if you would, would you just call the attendance?
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So we found coach VJ and his academy and then now I play with them and it's really fun. Yeah. And my journey really started when I was three. My dad always putting up um cricket games on the TV and me just watching mostly the ads apparently. But um anyways uh as I grew older and older, my dad put me into like uh cricket camps in India in Bangalore where I uh lived since I until I was eight. And then we moved to the US. Uh we started looking around for cricket um anywhere available near Massachusetts. My dad met coach Vajes um our coach at um meeting with like a bunch of like groups of people nearby us. During that conversation he um coach Vajay introduced us to a camp that does cricket here in Massachusetts called BGSC. We joined it. We started doing our own we started learning.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
to 7:00 p.m. no bylaw dictating the hours um let's see there will they're going to offer vote by mail and inperson early voting on Wednesday May 14th from 8 to 7 so one opportunity for early voting if you don't want to be voting on the 20th is the Wednesday before so we need to vote to approve the voting times and locations as presented by our town clerk if I can get a motion so moved Randy and a second second SEC okay and uh let's all unmute so we can do a roll call vote Bennett just say I okay I got it Kinsman hi Keegan hi manani I saw your mouth go Joe you were muted but that's okay I'm using extended screen and it's I had trouble getting my mouse back I've been there done that oh I can tell your your agenda's off to one side and your yeah good okay so that V uh vote passes please let the town clerk know okay let's see going on okay sorry I got to put my reading glasses on little dark uh let's see baa Grant and select board Grant application process is now open and submissions are due by March 28th 2025 reminder that the Boston Marathon will take place on Monday April 21st this will temporarily impact uh Crossings of Route 135 during the morning and early afternoons select board scholarship opportunity is open to any graduating senior from Ashland applications are due by May 1st 2025 and we have a number of volunteer opportunities you can go look on the town website for those uh winter parking ban is still in effect until the end of March and textile clothing and recycling you need to go through simple Recycling and not on this but um you are there's still opportunity to pull papers and apply for items coming up on the town election in may you have until the end of March to pull papers and get your signatures in okay uh so moving on to the consent agenda Brandy remind me which date we need to pull off uh January 17 okay if I can get a motion to approve approve the consent agenda as presented minus the exact session minutes for January 17th 2024 so moved so moved in second great uh roll call vote Bennett I've got it turned on still wonderful I Kinsman I Keegan I manani I and Greaves I thank you the consent agenda passes moving on Town manager report uh review potential impact of federal funding changes if there's any updates on that Michael and anything else you have to report um thanks Yolanda yeah I've got uh this one agenda item and then um actually yeah two more um so not too much more stability has emerged in um in the uh the White House up on Capitol Hill and uh you know as such there is just a lot of fear and trepidation um not just in the municipalities but uh also at at state governments uh Nationwide as well um maybe some states more so than others I think it's fair to say um but uh I think probably a few weeks ago now I sent you a couple different resources that uh was continuously updated uh with executive orders and some the impacts of those and where those stood in terms of litigation um so hopefully you receive that that uh continues to be updated uh the problem is uh I think with uh in our current times uh when you have something like litigation and a judge issues an order uh generally that order is followed you know usually without haste um and uh I don't think like I said in these times that's necessarily happen happening so uh we can't necessarily depend on what has happened in the past to happen now and in the future um in terms of the course of order um so that that is that except for one more thing which I actually had as a separate item um but we did receive words um as has been alluded to earlier in the meeting um that we would be receiving that rebate check um under the uh old inflation reduction act um so about $3.3 million and uh we hope to receive it in um the next few weeks but uh we have we have received word that uh the check was cut and uh as they say in the mail now we just gota wait to get it yes good okay anything else Michael um yeah just a couple of other things um one unfortunate thing and then uh one let's just say A celebratory thing so uh as many know I think uh this is relatively um older news now but um our finance director uh Britney I capony U after 10 years is um I'm going to leave uh leave service with the town and uh explore some different options and um you all know Britney you've seen seen her uh grow and you've seen her uh just really kind of turn into the the consumate finance professional that she is um you know well regarded throughout the state uh well earned reputation as an excellent Finance director so um you know I'm sure we'll have an opportunity she will be here for um a little while longer now at least we have her for a few more weeks and um I know many of you will want to um extend your thanks and wish her luck uh in her future endeavors so uh that uh that is one piece um I am working with our current Finance team uh the remainder of our finance team who they're also very talented um and experienced individuals um to you know make sure the budget's on track make sure everything else um is uh on track as well and uh so I'm going to basically assess where everything is over the the next few weeks and figure out a course of action there so uh so again that's uh the unfortunate news but I do want to end uh my comments tonight with um a story about Ed baates um Ed uh Ed was one of the first people I met uh professionally in Ashland that you know did not work uh for the town and uh you know you know he's getting a lot of credit for the roundabout but you know what Ed doesn't deserve credit for the roundabout that was mot but what Ed does deserve credit for is actually the 126 project itself if you go back and look at comprehensive plans from I believe it's the 80s 84 I think like 83 or 84 yeah exactly um you know you will see that the Redevelopment of 126 basically exactly what we're talking about and what we're doing today was in that plan and I guess who was sitting on the planning board and who I believe was our representative to mapc at the time but Mr Ed Bates um so obviously I wasn't here um in 1983 or 84 so how do how do uh how does this interaction happened so uh those of you that were um here when I started remember that Tony skav the town man the previous Town manager he wasn't able to start right away because he was finishing up his service with the Air Force U and so I was actually starting as his assistant before he was here full-time and um two weeks into um my time here which was extremely interesting um Ed Bates and Steve Greenberg came to visit me and they unrolled this plan this 10% design for the whole 126 project and Ed had negotiated with mot anded Steve that if we paid for the 25% design mascot would pay for the 100% design and the construction of the project that was a huge huge commitment and the first time that that had happened that mot had made that commitment which is now a standard yeah and um Ed and Steve were both like we've got to figure out how to fund you know this this project this this 25% design I'm the new guy of course they say like fresh meat you know he'll go for it but you know it was really exciting and Ed's uh excitement for it even at as many years as he's been working on it was contagious and um I said okay okay well let's figure out a way to do this and we ended up passing the meals tax we proposed the meals tax and um ended up having that pass at the uh my first town meeting and um yeah and so that put us on the road to where we are today so um Ed thank you for everything that uh you've done and Ed's whole family Wayne um Wayne Uh volunteered for us uh the MW connection he was on the water policy committee that helped uh get that through um Wayne Sons um both have worked at DPW and uh just excellent Kids U gotten to know Finn uh you know fairly well so uh anyway that's my Ed very long Ed bait story but um great well thank you for sharing that Michael yes it's it it it's amazing when you go back and see what Ed did touch and and support here in Ashland so okay uh anything else Michael no no okay great let's go to board reports who wants to go first we don't have to go in order because we're not sitting in the same spots or we could just do it the way we usually do it Makita go ahead why not take this opportunity to break with tradition and have somebody else go well I'll go first I'll go all right um couple of things uh first off I was uh lucky enough to uh attend a nice Forum uh that um well I was not lucky well I was very lucky to be able to attend a forum uh that we have on Saturday to get some feedback from current uh appointed committee members here in Ashlin just a lot of great feedback especially about how to drum up volunteerism here in town and communication and a few other things um just I want to thank everybody who came out on kind of a dreary Saturday morning to voice their opinion and to try to strengthen our volunteer bench here in Ashlin so um that was awesome um couple of other things I I I got a chance to attend uh one of the concerts in the uh summer I mean sorry the spring uh Spring Concert season for the Ashlin Music Association uh and I heard an original composition and I'm going to get the gentleman's name wrong but Brent Brett abanana I think he he had um the students perform an original work entitled Ashlin Woods which was a musical depiction of a family walk through the Ashland State Forest here there was also a middle schooler who sh who shared his own original composition sixth grader and and that was just amazing so uh just beautiful work from uh to to see there and the concert series is continuing the spring I I strongly encourage residents to go check it out and go to the website um Ashen music.org to find out when you can attend and lastly uh the Boy Scouts here in town are having their pancake breakfast on April 6 at the Ashland VFW um please reach out and get tickets uh I think there's a $35 cap for per family it's always a good time and a great deal and I'm hoping to get there so that's all all I want to share tonight great thank you Makita Claudia thank you I don't have H too much to share I um attended the this afternoon um the ribbon cutting ceremony at the pickle ball Clock Town pickle ball how can you not love something named with the name Clock Town in it right actually it's Clock Tower clock to oh geez okay I said clock town at least once it's Clock Tower pickle Clock Tower there there Clock Two clock towers in the building yeah yeah all right well in any case um it it was uh you know it was a great little event um well attended um and again I just it was amazing to think about um how far that building has come you know a couple of people talked a little bit about that and um you know and it really has been an amazing transformation I do remember remember when it was it was a theater briefly um and did attend some of the performances there and I had forgotten all about that but um it it really went into um you know it it had some tough days after that so um it's it's little little hard to find your way around that building the corridors are simply amazing um but uh it's really just a just so many different businesses there I know there's a um you know a science company there uh biosurfaces there's just a variety of uh businesses so uh in any case I just want to congratulate them again and uh that was really and well I'll let somebody else talk about Clover Clover all right thank you good uh Joe thank thank you Madame chair uh unfortunately missed all these wonderful events it was uh it was my intention to at least be there but I was there in spirit and and not not in body so uh I'm thankful that uh they had they was well attended by by those who went I um I can't wait to uh stop playing pickle ball with a new shoulder and hopefully uh show you guys up you know let the old guy take the field oh yeah that's a challenge it's a challenge but then again I already took my medication so I don't know what the hell I'm say but uh it be it as be as it may um I uh I just I'm just thankful that uh things are going well in town and um I hope everybody appreciates all the effort that everybody puts into it I know I do I appreciate everything that you folks do uh what our town employees do uh we also have a a volunteer breakfast coming up pretty soon too if I remember correctly next next Saturday the Saturday right yep and U hopefully I'll be able to attend that depends upon what the doctor says Friday but we'll see um I miss you guys but I appreciate all your thoughts and kind words and uh so does an Donna good because she's going to need a vacation after this is over that's her name sure but uh I don't have anything else to report um other than I know that the uh affordable housing trust will be meeting next week at some point uh to go over some things and I know that the uh shoveling ground uh at 487 Main Street is probably going to be in May miday okay so which is which is good and that that'll be part of a additional affordable housing uh unit uh to be in town and uh Habitat for Humanity did a did a great job with it and uh we look forward to working with them again uh in the in the future so that's all I have Madam chair thank you and I appreciate you all your guys thank you okay Brandy um so Claudia mentioned Clover Road uh they opened their doors Friday night well Friday afternoon um and uh so it it you know congratulations to John and Jamie and the whole team there it's a it's a beautiful space um The Patio is awesome you know like it's it's it's really a great addition to downtown and I think it's going to be great for the rest of our businesses that are downtown as well so um Dave and I went on Friday night and saw Yolanda and raised a glass with Beth too and it was it it uh it felt really great and it's funny it's like when I walked in it literally is like ashlin's little cheers because you walk in and I'm like hey I know you I know you everybody um so I think it's going to be that kind of A Gathering Spot so we're lucky that they're that they're uh that they're here and I'm glad their doors are finally open so wish them wish them lots of success um last week we were also uh Yolanda Claudia and I were at the uh YMCA Marathon breakfast um which is always a really good event to kind of kick off the the the marathon um season if you will um you know it was great to get an update on the regional YMCA and um hear sort of what where they are with the fundraising and Yolanda's done a lot of great work with with that um and it it's it's going to be it's going to be a beautiful a really beautiful space I was talking to Peter Weiss scarber today at clock clock tower clock clock tower pickle ball I I do it too so um and it's it's you you know it's exciting and we can't wait until you know the shovels in the ground and we can actually start seeing some some uh work being done over there um couple other things we mentioned we we do have Mark Mark had mentioned we have a a comprehensive plan meeting tomorrow night um we're going through all of our strategies and so it's I'm anticipating a kind of a a real heavy working session um because we're going to finalize this list of of what we want to try to accomplish in the next 10 years um so looking forward to getting through that and and uh you know sort of at that point then we really start drafting drafting this thing so um it's exciting and we'll have more opportunities for public engagement and feedback but like this is a big a big milestone for us to get through these strategies um also wanted to talk about the um student council is having their pancake breakfast this upcoming Sunday um on the 23rd from 9: to 11:30 at the high school so they're doing an all you can eat pancake breakfast too so Makita if you want some pancakes a little earlier than the Boy Scouts uh you can go on over and and uh get your fill they they do a great job too so um and the only other thing I wanted to just let you guys know so I've been in contact with um um Steve Mitchell and Jee Walker over at the Ashland Farmers Market to try to get some office hours um for us for the summer um the Farmers Market has implemented a new online scheduling system which is um I'm working through it so it's not difficult but it um it does it's like I'm trying to put in some dates some potential dates for us to be able to um to hold and Jean's got to get back to me about like being able to do more than more than one date so I'm hoping that that they're going to be able to give us a a few dates over the summer but I just wanted to kind of before I put in any specific dates um that we requesting I wanted to just float a couple float a few by you and just make sure that there's not like a major any major issues with these dates so I was thinking like June 21st July 19th and August 16th as potential dates so not to like you know just a sort of a pencil it in kind of thing if that might work for you those are the dates that I'll probably float float to uh the farmers market folks so does that sound I know I I can't do the June date but I can do the July and August dates okay so if other people could let brand Andy know yeah that would what we could you just say the dates again please Brandy sure June 21st yeah July 19th and August 16th thank you yeah trying my time is freed up on those days anyway so um I'm I'll definitely would be available okay awesome I'll I'll email you Brandy um okay I I I'll email you okay sounds good thanks guys okay um and I think that's really all I've got so um yeah that's all I've got so thank you okay okay well you talked about the Metro w y and uh Clover Road and clocker Tower pickle ball and the volunteer breakfast so that's about it no um I am attending the weimo event on Friday where Katherine Clark will be speaking um if anyone else is going and if you want a carpool let me know but I will be heading over a little bit early uh but it should be fun it should be a great it's always a great event uh great to connect with other women elected Municipal officials so um that's pretty much it so if there is nothing else our next select board meeting is the first Wednesday in April I usually have the date in front of me and that is going to be Wednesday April 2nd is our next select board meeting so in two weeks uh if there is nothing else if I could get a motion to adjourn before nine o'clock people we did good so moved and the second second okay Bennett I uh Kinsman hi Keegan hi manani I and Greaves I thank you all for being here thank you those who have watched this live and who have actually joined us in the zoom our next meeting is Wednesday April 2nd uh it will be back at 7 o'cl back in person at Town Hall uh and thank you all again and have a great night stay safe and warm
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Um so I thank you all for being here today. Um I am going to kind of pass the torch over here a little bit um from person to person. Um, starting with our town manager, Michael Herbert. [Applause] Thanks, Beth. Hi, everybody. How's everybody doing? Great. Good. Um, so it's so great to be here finally at uh at the the pickle ball courts here. I've never heard of pickle ball before. I'm just joking, you know. Um, pickle ball it's Is it still the fastest growing sport in America? Yeah. And uh, you know, I thought it was relatively new, but um, I was talking to somebody who's an afficionado of this. Actually, it might have been Tony and Helen. Um, you I think like pickle ball a little bit. I've heard. Um, but you know, pickle ball started, I think, in the 60s in Belleview, Washington. I think it was in Washington.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
2.3 almost uh that is about $2.8 million more than last year uh an increase of considerably more than 1 A5 million even without the use of any stabilization or free cash funds so uh after deducting the 1.5 million for the increase in health insurance order this your purview because I think that's city council perie don't get to make sorry I have to ask you to this is a meeting of the school committee there is an appoint of order from the from the zoom go ahead member martini thank you after deducting the million and a half uh for the increase in health insurance cost that the mayor has told us about um I am thinking that should leave a about 1.3 million uh to cover the rest of the city's operating budget now I realize that's considerably less than uh the 1.8 requested by the school department um however I am having a hard time seeing a justification for not providing to the schools at minimum the additional chapter 708 that the state is sending that is for the purpose of our schools as well as the uh increase in our receiving tuition for uh school choice and the reduction in our sending tuitions uh that would be about 700 and some thousand and uh would be on par with the relative size of the school department with the rest of the city departments within that amount so um I am sure sure that the mayor has a lot more details to use than I did with this um because again we do not have the budget book uh so I feel it's rather unfair uh to be having to do this without that but I would like a response from the mayor about um each of the specific details that I provided I want to recognize Andy Pat business manager to respond before we move to the mayor yes just a point of clarification on a school choice receiving tuition that will come to the schools it's listed on a cherry sheet but it is put into a revolving account so we will be getting that so mayor um I'm not I'm not going to go line by line because I don't even have my computer up but um to so there's people that made some very valid points about they hated to make a decision right now um do I think that that number is going to change uh you know it comes I do this and then it goes somewhere else I'm continuing to redu in other departments making calls um I don't think that that number is going to change significantly I think that there are things I mentioned it last week um you know there might be things that we you talked about stabilization in the school at in the city and I thought yes I tell everybody all the time what we have in stabilization in the city I I I say that I announce it at meetings it's there nobody ever uses the stabilization it's supposed to be there for even in hurricane mean I don't think they did I think I said that last week um uh one thing that I would look at I'll say this to Andy and I said it before I'd be looking at that um adjusting the budget numbers with the outof district tuition that was one of the main drivers for the increase in um this budget it was increased by a million and a half and as I said before we have about the same number of students and went up 3.67 so um that special ed revolving uh that we were going to use um if you remember from last year remember that last year um there's a million dollars in a special ed revolving there are adjustments that could be made to that number that would significantly bring that down is a balance of a million in the special ed revolving in 1515 the circuit breaker as of today there's a, 145,000 school choice receiving there's 99,5 182 um and school transportation is 1, 15926 but I know I don't do the school budget that's what I know I don't but I view the numbers all of the time and I think that um we had David messing that said actually you know we overestimated on the cap so perhaps that number could be adjusted additionally this um this body voted to appropriate uh last year in the out of uh District tuition line we voted to appropriate uh I think it was $483,000 and that appropriation was reduced um to 319,000 I think so um something was going to come out of the special ed revolving I think that that um it and it didn't we haven't used special ed revolving in three years although I heard in a meeting on May 1 first that we've been using 300,000 that's just not so I have a print out of it here which I could share but um last year there was when there was a reduction of uh getting out my magnifying glass sorry this print was small we didn't know how to get it on a paper so I thought I'd bring that um and this is the smaller of my of my magnifying glasses but um that when there was a reduction last year of 400,000 we were going to take 169,00 out of the special ed revolving and put it towards that that out of District tuition line that didn't happen what happened without any of us knowing was that the out of District tuition line went down to 319,000 there are things that you can adjust that's what I would do that is definitely what I would do um but aside from that so I think there's a huge savings there aside from that I actually I know everybody I could you know I hear the flavors in the room I hear the flavors and the feelings I don't miss that I I'm going to finish my sentence if I may if you don't want me to I'll be silent um I've been raising my little hand as much as I could to talk about what I could see on the wall I raised my hand so much I'm no longer on the redistricting Committee just so you know and that's true it's in the July 10th meeting at uh you know I had to get up in public comment to speak about these things I'm announcing it I spoke at the budget meeting can we afford this I'm not a I am not a prophet of doomis and gloomis I'm trying to make this work and I've spoken to another town um we needed to have these conversations and we're here today and I don't want to be here any more than any of you do but it's time the you know when the ink wasn't dry on this in June of 2022 when everybody was making their decisions and I wasn't here then um we had 250 more students we had in 8 through 12 we had 506 now we have 406 not even three years ago 5 through 7 we had 361 now there's 318 I'll be silent want to recognize uh Andy and then we'll come to you in sure uh there's a lot to unravel here but I just want to start with what I think the the biggest one is is regarding the sped tuition budget so based on the claim of it being factually inaccurate we went back to check okay um and it was reported at that meeting if you watched at the public hearing it was acknowledged that we had contingencies in the general fund budget because and I believe it was member Goodwin that asked a question about the other contingencies and potentially circuit breaker for the circuit breaker funding we anticipate using it for the upcoming fiscal year and the following fiscal year so the fact that there's a balance in the budget for circuit breaker as it is right now does not mean that it isn't going to be used in FY 25 we plan on using $1.1 million of circuit breaker funding we've used $500,000 of it already and come the end of the year we will do another reclassification of expenses to fully exhaust the 1.1 that was budgeted we are statutorily required to use those amounts in circuit breaker so then back to the original thing regarding the sped tuition so we went back Mr messing we all met to talk about it I'm going to give you there are three categories of AO District placement tuitions we have tuitions to collaborative programs tuition to other public schools schools and tuition to private schools we have four students placed at Public Schools the total tuition for FY 26 for that is [Music] $198,200 255 we we have three students at collaborative programs for a total tuition of $1,322 as was reported at the last school committee meeting and then now from that school committee meeting to just recently we have been assigned the fiscal responsibility of three students so the annualized tuition for those three students is$ 35,8 192 the total amount of those three and the fourth with the three new fiscally assigned students is $3,287 700 our FY 26 proposed sped tuition budget with all our funding sources was 3,249 1113 ladies and gentlemen that contingency is gone we're already starting at $ 38,5 187 in the whole so to claim that it's factually inaccurate that claim is factually inaccurate on to the other funding sources as has been the practice in the district we oops okay for FY 26 the other funding sources we have available to us in fy2 our plan for use of circuit breaker I should excuse me school choice $300,000 of school choice it hasn't been charged yet every month I report to the school committee that the practice in this District has been even when I haven't been here is we charge everything to the local budget first and then so that we're not doing journal entries back and forth with the city finance department come the end of the year we will do one final reclassification of expenses from the local budget to the respective revolving accounts just because there's nothing charged there as of right now that the mayor is reporting on doesn't mean that it's not going to be used and yes if we are lucky enough to have some wiggle room for whatever the reason may be we are going to do what is fiscally responsible for the students in this community to make sure that we have funds available to address anticipated needs unanticipated needs that's good budget practice which is what it is that we're doing so $300,000 for plann for school choice in fy2 FY 26 budget was built on using 663 $3,000 a school choice 1.1 million of one excuse me 1.2 million of circuit breaker and fy2 1.1 million in FY 26 sped tuition revolving account that is one of our other contingency that I talked about that we would like to keep because it is such a volatile area that we need to make sure that we have it if we don't have it we're going back to the city for a supplemental appropriation or we're making cuts to the local budget to offset what it is that would be these unanticipated needs Transportation revolving account planned on using luckily enough because of with the con the credit we had this year we are able to keep some funds in the transportation revolving account next year this fi 26 budget was built on using $400,000 of Transportation revolving account funding those are the major funding sources we have available to us so to set the record straight the the inflated factually inaccurate locally appropriated special education tuition funding is gone we're already in the whole so we're going to have to obviously I mean it's only by I say only $38,000 but that's where we were that's where we are now so when we build in contingencies there's a reason for it and everybody here just heard why it is that we did that because that contingency was already needed and it's already gone and it isn't even July one thank you we're still on our round robin so two member Childs okay first I want to give some context to our enrollment numbers specifically the drop from 2022 to 2023 so when we give that year it is the spring not the fall so if we look historically 2021 was the year that had a remote start fall of 2020 with a hybrid finish in the spring 2022 was the Year everyone was back in person and any parents watching might be having some flashbacks from that because our children or at least mine went feral and it was a tough year we had traumatized kids who needed a lot of emotional support from their teachers there was a learning loss of kids who needed to be in the classroom to learn because not every kid can sit at a computer and learn remotely different learning styles different personalities so that 2022 to 2023 drop which is the biggest enrollment drop did come after the really very tough school year so that is what we're looking at historically for that that said our numbers have overall been trending downwards which is something we'd like to reverse because we've got a great school system here uh I would not say it if I didn't believe it and if I didn't believe it my own child would not be in it um so going to what I think we are doing here tonight and feel free to correct me if I am wrong we're looking at a strategic goal and priorities to give to the superintendent strategic goal being redistricting or Not redistrict redist Sorry English is hard redistricting or trying something else which would have been the closing the middle school we need to give a directive to the superintendent because she needs to build a budget to staff schools and she needs to know which schools she's Staffing with which grades uh for that note uh it seems like we've got status quo of delay of redistricting or redistrict as planned or do something new and radical uh close the middle school or one of the ideas we've been sent for that one the K through six does not seem physically viable other options seem logistically improbable on the time scale that we have so then we're back to status quo versus redistricting I do believe redistricting is the better idea because it is what the community wants and it's better for the district's long-term Health however I am in favor of whatever preserves the staff that are working with our kids day in day out if it has to be delayed then it has to be delayed so I would like to us to take a serious look at status quo versus redist district for what will keep our teachers with our kids um that goes to the other thing we're here alongside strategic goal can I it's like one sentence our priorities because something that the school committee does is it talk we work with the superintendent and we tell her what the community wishes to prioritize which is how we got music programs back because the community told the school committee who directed the superintendent so I believe tonight we are here to give guidance to the super intendent and yeah go team thank you um so we're about to start our third round I would like this to be more of a lightning round if possible uh we'll give give you all the same amount of time if you wish to use it but I would do ask you to consider whether what you are going to say has already been said or whether it can be brought up when we're actually um having our discussion of the redistricting and voting on that so with that um M goodwi I think we're all in agreement that our priority is the staff with the the children and I guess I had a question for Andy when he was talking and I wanted to take my time to ask that one of the things that I see a lot of money going for is 17 drivers two two bus monitors and two dispatch um that's that's a lot of money a lot of people and I'm just wondering um when we asked how much money we were bringing in it doesn't seem to be bringing in as much as the cost of all those people I know at one point there was a $400,000 you had said that the Vans were bringing in so I guess to me as a teacher and an administrator the number one thing will always be teaching kids to read I believe that's so being in the business of Transportation um I've never worked in a district that took that on as a private like a business within a business um is that something that could be um something we look at as a potential cut is what I'm asking or are there contracts that are not something we cannot look at Mr pette I I would have to somewhat agree with you CU I will say this uh just transportation and copy machines are the bane of my existence so um so with all all King side though I was the decision to buy the fleet of Vans and buses and do our own special education Transportation was done when we weren't here and I'm always very hesitant to be get quote unquote get in the transportation business but it was surprising to me the revenue that was generated I don't know if the promises were made that uh and I believe Mr neow was involved in it we might be able to ask him as to whether or not the transportation was going to fully support it's like become a net zero expense budget you so I don't know if that was a case I would be surprised if it was because very rarely would it be something like that however I do have some data to share as far as the overall Transportation cost the Department of Education has uh a tool that they call which is the district analysis research tool the dart if you might have seen it where it does a statistical comparison of all sorts of data and you put in the community that you belong to and it comes up with comparable communities that you're compared with regarding demographics Etc a slew of uh things that go into this calculation and of the one two three four five the communities that they were compared to Quay bog wear Palmer Spencer East Brookfield AAL royalston Holbrook Oxford Randolph Greenfield and Garder Greenfield is the second lowest as far as its Transportation cost in the comparable communities so is it a dollar amount that we like to spend nobody likes to spend you know what it it costs when you're talking Transportation especially because in this area for both regular Ed and special education Transportation when it comes to the market there are very few players involved so it's we've had this you know that's one of the reasons why for our regular transportation we join with a a conglomerate of districts in the Aira to try and maximize our spending power and that still went up by about 14% when we did the last bid so long answer is is it an area to look at I'm going to say with what we're talking about here everything is on the table but as far as the cost of the transportation and looking at it's a statistical comparison I understand but we are amongst the comparable districts that were recognized by the department of Elementary and second education were the second lowest per people amount when it comes to transportation in the that demographic Community okay or Eve um I am all for radical out of the box thinking but I just don't feel comfortable because I don't know what I don't know what the actual dollar amount is that we'd be saving by making any radical changes at this at this moment so I have a few questions for you superintendent Pat node um do you know the actual dollar cost to move to option 2B in the fall what's the cost of doing this 1.88 n million increase the budget that was proposed that includes the staff St um we have been looking in uh knowledge of this cut what it would look like and what cuts would have to be made with regards to redistricting versus what cuts would have to be made with regards to the district staying status quo for next year um regardless of the situation obviously to meet that number there are substantial cuts across the board from Administration to central office to facilities transportation teachers and IAS um great thank you where will central office be if we close the middle school is there a suitable place for you all to move uh no and you also would need to move transportation in um Our IT department along with many other folks who actually uh are hous there along with Food Services okay and one thing that I remember in past years when you were the assistant superintendent you used to always tell us about the grants that you worked on and you were able to give us the amounts and assistant superintendent Sullivan has been doing that throughout this time so am I correct in understanding that you all bring in more in Grants than you than your salaries are so when people always talk about it being topheavy in administration and then we hear he how much you're able to bring in through grants am I correct in that understanding and who would do that if you weren't here I guess is the other part of my question and then I have one more for the mayor so I guess it's maybe not as black and white as we would like it to be as most of this conversation Isn't So entitlement grants Ida and um ASA title one those things I would they far Outreach our salaries um they're just those two combined are in the millions of dollars um 1.47 1.47 four for entitlement grants but then on top of that competitive grants that we pursue um I could certainly for our next meeting or provide a number based on what we've gotten in the past year or two um and I don't want to compare it to anybody's salary but um that is those are offsets to the budget certainly I understand I don't want to compare it to anyone's salary either but it's just a way to get it in our minds what is brought in by the people who are working to do this and who else would do this job if it wasn't you I guess is not something you have to answer it's just the thought um but I do have a question for the mayor do do you know the cost savings to close GMS and how do you know how many jobs will be lost if we do that do you have a a number no I don't but somebody asked me that I I think somebody said a question St remember Stacy um and and um our superintendent wrote back and she said it would take a lot of thought and there were some things that I would think of that would be changed right away and this is not up to me I'm just talking yeah okay I think you answered the question you don't know okay all right uh I don't have any additional comments member seon competitive grants in fi 24 was 1.5 million just under 1.6 actually 1.59 so 1.6 plus 1.4 correct okay member ston um I wanted to thank member Childs for very clearly I think laying out where our decisions lie um just based on what I'm hearing from my colleagues it seems like we are and I could be misreading folks facial expressions but it seems like we are not considering closing a middle school or closing any elementary schools or radically ch changing the number of buildings that we have in total and I'm also getting the sense that folks are wanting to move forward with redistricting maybe not unanimously but I'm getting getting this but I really appreciate you sort of bringing us back to that's the decision that's on the table um I still I think that that is something that we can decide sort of separately but I am still struggling with not having a real budget number and having a lack of clarity and agreement about what is our actual financial position as a community and what we can afford really because it's a big difference between uh 1.8 million cut and a $300,000 cut one of those we can more readily find some space than the other um one of those is definitely going to lead to to um challenges in providing the necessary services for children more than the other would and so I would love for us to get closer to agreement about what that number actually is um and if we don't think that that's possible tonight we should say so I also would just really love as folks are referring to different documents it seems like we have some people have more documents available to them than others and we're not all working from a shared set of information so I would really appreciate as uh members are gathering intel if that could be shared if we could put that in a shared Google drive or something um so that when we are talking to each other we are working from the same set of facts thank you member Martini thanks um I do have thoughts about the redistricting but I haven't been mentioning them because we are currently on an item which is review of the mayor's statement from last Wednesday so I'm reserving it for that um I would uh like to ask the mayor again um about stabilization and free cash so um member sorry chair Johnson mus mad um asked about this as well and I would like to know um what amount of money is currently in those funds and I would like to um just go over what I can see from the budget books which is that last year the city planned to use 200,000 from OPB stabilization and 421 from General stabilization and the city planned to use 100,000 from OPB stabilization for the past three years running so that seems pretty consistent prior to fy2 the city did not plan to use any general stabilization funds for the previous five so it seems like the last time General stabilization was drawn upon before FY 25 was fy19 um so it seems like that hasn't been um mostly touched for a while other than last year and uh I have similar questions in regards to free cash um at the beginning of the fiscal year there was 3.3 million um in there the mayor planned to use 200,000 of that in fy2 and uh the amount the city planned to use from free cash has very quite a bit from year to year so in that it's the average over the last um say six years which is 104,000 might not be that meaningful um but I do notice that the plan the city has planned to use at least some free cash almost every fiscal year and the last time that we did not was fy21 so I am curious about this because the mayor um called this 16.5% health insurance increase unprecedented because that increase was only 4% for the previous 10 years and so I would like to know from the mayor how much is currently in stabilization in free cash and then I would like to know um why she's not planning to use any of those funds in FY 26 because if the city were to use a similar amount of those funds as we did last year then that would bring uh so far as I can tell the total available monies for the City operating budget up to a $3.6 million increase over last year so I'm I'm looking for um clarification and help here to understand the U numbers about the money available that um that were provided last Wednesday and I'm really looking forward to that budget book I can I answer okay um go ahead and respond to member martini and then you can also have a turn to sh whatever else share yeah I know those numbers I know where they are so let me start with the opep stabilization yes every year we've used like $100,000 in from from that fund used to be marijuana revenues went into that there's $100,000 left in it now um so you know we've put that in every year I have no um you know not holding on to it that could go right back in as I said last week what we have left in free cash is after the settlement that everybody's going to vote run this week we have $135,000 left in uh free cash and um again I don't take any of the money home or you know um the steps collaps by the side of City Hall this crime tape around them as I said last week so I said that has to be fixed because it's in a public building um and we have money in um stabilization there's two $2.3 billion in stabilization um or 2337 and that will not be being used for funding um anybody's budget um that is a stabilization account that you don't use for one-time expenses just like Andy was talking about having the circuit breaker money in there you there's things that you have to keep for certain things that you don't use that for onetime budgetary something so that that won't be being used for that additionally as I think I said at the last meeting but maybe there's different people here I don't really know um we we were told that we had a one in three chance of having our bond rating go down this is by the bond Council there were other people there not just me I'm not making this up and the things that they wanted us to put more money in stabilization if we didn't use all of that 130 5,000 I would have put like another 30,000 in that but I want to go back also to where we get any of those things that go in are the turn backs um as I said we put money in contract stabilization I want all of our teachers to get a raise I'm actually going through line items right now and I found a couple of places where we could reserve something for next year and and that money that goes into to um that when there's turn back ta at the end of the year every Department that doesn't spend their whole budget it comes back in and then we allot it to things with City council's judgment we have committees that come forward uh Ian Childs is on it um with how we will spend things you go down the list everybody looks at it we prioritize it and then I make the tough decisions there's not enough I'm saying no to people um it is the safety mostly the safety things or a truck that you know if there's a hole and you can see through to the ground on that truck that probably get another one and so it's it's it's actually pretty easy to make the decisions because they're so obvious like you have to do this the fire alarm panel as I said that was three minutes to respond to member Martini's question is there anything else you want to add okay thank you um we'll move on to um member Childs uh first I want to say that the mayor really is between Iraq and a hard place right now and probably the mayor of every comparable city is in the exact same place I sincerely hope that as you do your accounting magic and go through the town budget you're able to find more money but it's a bleak time out there and so yeah we just all have to do the best that we can with what we reasonably can do sorry for such a downer statement but thank you thank you everybody great discussion um I appreciate everybody's um working um with good intentions for the best interest of our students and our community um I think we should move on now to our discussion of redistricting um so we'll begin um with the review of the current policy that's in place um superintendent sure the vote that was taken was to adopt option 2B with redrawn lines on our website there are nine streets affected by the redistricting that will be uh realigned to a different home school in September of 2025 it was reconfiguring our elementaries to grades K to5 our Middle School to 6 through 8 and our high school 9 through 12 thank you um so I think tonight our choices are basically between um affirming affirming our full redistricting plan as is both grade uh changes and um Geographic changes for the elementary schools or to um vote to uh keep redistricting just with regard to um the students uh elementary students and the drawing of the lines of which students go to which schools based on where they live or to uh dissolve the uh redistricting plan Al together um so are there any other uh options that people are aware of that are viable um that we should be considering tonight given the timeline remember good one does that redistricting plan include the four new teachers or is that separate from that redistricting plan superintendent if you remain with option to be it does include the four new teachers students would need F year science and social studies and can you review the connection with the new Civics requirements sure uh the eth grade currently has full year Civics with the Civics project mandatory and 8th grade and that would need to remain um we could potentially look at keeping sixth and seventh grade at halfe science and social studies although um the feedback that the school committee members did receive from community and parents was to move to full years um but we had planned for full year social studies and Science and the current schedule that we have drafted for the fall so I think those are the three um mayor I think a lot of people were working on the streets and everything um I think that at the very least we should keep K through five part I think people everybody agreed with that and we were going to get students together there was a lot of thought that went into that so I am just saying that I would actually like more people to have a little bit of time to talk but I would make a motion that we accept that that we did that part of the redistricting because it made sense and a lot of thought went into it one of the reasons why this was done as I wasn't here when it was done but I did watch school committee meetings when I was on Council was um for inclusion and I think that that's something that we all share um also I think there a group of all of the there's a group of parents and Educators in fifth grade that knew that that was coming so I would it like so there be something that people knew from today that's where I'd be but I'm going to let other people talk and not shut that off by making a motion yeah where where I am in the process right now is I'd like to hear I want to just make absolutely certain that there aren't any other viable options that other school committee members know of that we are deliberating about tonight am I missing anything member Goodwin I'd like to see a third option which is and I'm not sure how to say this or an amendment that there's a third option that the fifth grade remains in the elementary school and we um table the the move for the eighth grade maybe to a following year so okay so that that would actually be uh fourth so just to review uh the first would be to affirm the redistricting plan as is uh the second would be to keep only the elements of the redistricting plan having to do with the geographic assignment of elementary schools third would be to dissolve the res redistricting plan altoe and you're adding a fourth option which would be to keep the um change for the fifth grade uh but to um to delay the um change for the eighth grade superintendent can you speak to that proposal I just want to clarify so next the fall of 2025 GMS would only house sixth and seventh grade is I'm asking you is that your proposal yes we have not worked on that configuration so I don't think I could speak to that option right now and what the impact on the district would be I think part of why um I may Advocate that we limit our choices to these three is because whenever we start to get creative again it creates a whole other budgeting scenario a whole other Logistics scenario uh unanticipated consequences so on that's why we had a two and a half year process before we made our choice um so uh but I again I do want to leave it open enough that if there are is some other option that we're deciding realistically deciding again uh deciding for tonight uh for implementation this September um please speak up okay um so um I would like to um make a motion to affirm the current redistricting plan is there a second second second from uh secretary Den uh discussion member child's I would like to ask the superintendent um looking at the budget she's been playing with what allows her to preserve more staff and more services with the dire worst case scenario budget status quo or moving forward redistricting that is which way do we keep more of our people with our kids so with the proposed budget cuts if we redistrict currently it looks like a potential uh six admin SL central office one facilities two Transportation 8 Unit A and two Unit C for a total of 19 1.0 FTE if we remain the same configuration K to4 5 to 7 8 through 12 um potentially 23.6 FTE there is an increase in Unit A losses for the people watching at home that don't know what unit a and Unit C are could you just quickly our teacher uh Union thank you sorry and FTE full time equivalent okay and would you repeat the whole thing again please thank you um and I just want to preface this this is potential this is not definitive this was is us trying to work our budget to this this is um not something I take lightly in discussing nor do I want this to be set in stone because obviously we will do our best to do what we can but in order to meet this number um the redistricting as voted on um it looks like a potential 19 Cuts six would come from admin or central office one facility two Transportation eight Unit A teachers and two Unit C and District Remains the Same there would be uh five administrators one facilities two Transportation 13.6 Unit A teachers and two Unit C currently in the potential cuts that would be proposed thank you member Childs did you want to finish so just to clarify if we're looking just at your unit a and Unit C redistricting has fewer Cuts than status quo correct okay thank you may mayor now I just am curious why would that be well no I'm just curious I I'm I'm just curious sure um you would have less uh electives offered at the high school because there would be less students and there would not be um additional needs for some um coverage for meeting collective bargaining agreements so in the proposed plans it is um a configuration of sped needs versus what building versus how many are housed currently in certain grade bands it is not a simple a plus b equals c i just and I know people want a simple answer but this is not something that is easily [Music] um determined based on what is happening with all the different shifts and I really do want to emphasize we are taking into account current unfilled positions first we've been in Communications with the union and um discussions about what things would be cut where and why and obviously are uh just trying to meet a number in this huge deficit that we're faced with any other discussion member Martini I just want to um reiterate some uh things from last week for anybody that wasn't um present uh just for a basic understanding the school Department's requested budget uh increase was about 1.8 million a level Service uh increase would be about 1.2 million that is to say the amount of money that would be necessary in order to maintain our existing services and the uh mayor's proposed budget is slightly less than level funding meaning slightly less than the exact same amount of money that was allocated last year if that thank you thanks any other discussion okay um all in favor uh why don't we do this as a roll call vote um secretary Den the vote to affirm the current redistricting plan sure member Childs yes member Goodwin based on the information that less teachers would be cut I say yes secretary Den I'm yes chair Johnson mad yes Vice shair ston yes member Martini yes mayor dorer abstain motion passes with one exstension thank you everybody uh we are at our uh two-hour Mark just about so you are entitled to a break for five minutes and we'll return at um [Music] 9:05 welcome back to the Greenfield uh school committee special meeting we are now on to item five discussion to determine Cuts necessary that would meet mayor's budget in light of mayor's proposal and discussion to determine School priority school committee priorities based on a less than level Ed budget proposal um I think that we now have a vote on our redistricting which kind of establishes some parameters for the budgeting process and um I'd like to hear from um the chair of the budget and finance subcommittee but my thought is that we would essentially um assign these items to the budget and finance subcommittee to start working through uh well budget and finance will be happy to meet and uh make some recommendations to the full committee before uh we come back to the table great so the process will be the mayor will formally make her um budget proposal to the city council on April or by April 1st then um the city council will be will figure out what our actual number is my my memory if I'm correct is that they can't go lower than the mayor's number but they can go higher if they uh kind of claw it back from other departments um so I think that it's fair to assume that the number the mayor put forward um is not far off from what it will be uh there there may be some efforts to try to get more for us but um so I guess it's just the com the subcommittee will have to kind of factor in your basic predictions I guess about what's likely to come out of that process um but obviously likely significant cuts um anything else on this item other than just to say thank you budget and finance subcommittee for taking this up okay um let's see so um discussion and vote to approve entering into the bid process for a business manager and U Mr pette our contracted business manager has agreed to leave the room for this discussion um where we left this at the last meeting was we need to give the superintendent some direction relatively soon in the event that the search for a staff business manager is not successful so that we can make sure we have a a contract in place with someone for July 1 um we've had some uh learnings and some uh development since then so I guess superintendent I'd leave it to you to share any new contacts that might be helpful for people sure I think one of the questions that came up at uh last month's meeting was if we could enter into the bid process and add a 30day clause um which I have confirmed we could so that um if at any time we are in a contracted service agreement with a service provider there would be a 30-day clause for notice to quit if we do in fact find a business manager in that time so that we wouldn't I think there was some question over whether we had to commit for the full two years or three years of a service contract but there is the potential to put a 30-day notice to uh part ways and we could keep either the search ongoing or re-enter into a second round as some folks had wished last time so um you can do the two simultaneously I think was the question that came up and is my memory serving me right that we actually tabled the a motion from the last meeting to this one uh Susan Farber do you have that motion available okay all right oh great thank you secretary denr not that is why you have concurrent notes this secretary thing is working we did a motion to go out oh please put your mic on thank you all right we did a motion to go out to bid for the business manager you made the motion and seconded it and then we tabled it and child's made the table tabled motion and you seconded it good one and that was it passed so it's tabled so we have to take it up from the table all right um and uh yes I would oh sorry that was roundabout but yes yeah so the actual motion is in the minutes the draft minutes I submitted and Glen you have those in your email account which I cannot access oh I have those too got it oh yes you do uh the superintendent is pulling it up thank you superintendent I think it was under old business I think you went by it bu yeah um I moved that the school committee authorize the super intendent to initiate the procurement process for a consultant to support the business manager role in case the current business manager search is unsuccessful this authorization allows the superintendent to take necessary steps to secure consulting services in accordance with applicable procurement laws and regulations I made the motion and and seconded um member Goodwin oh wait have we done the motion to take it up yet I can't remember okay so a motion to uh take up the um tabled motion from last meeting and is there a second second uh all those in favor I I I I okay discussion now that we're on that motion member good one I'd like to make a friendly amendment to that motion to add the part um where we will also um continue our search or do another round yep okay so to amend it um I guess after the last sentence um it would just be a sentence that says the current search for a staff uh business manager will continue is that acceptable and and do you accept that so the friendly amendment is accepted and that's the motion that we are voting on uh any other discussion mayor um please un unmute do you have a lot of applicants how many applicants did you have uh we had five applicants four um who were qualified four interviews um one um offer made and one offer uh denied and we are currently still speaking with one applicant who is potentially still interested and we were um I actually have a meeting tomorrow so should have more updates if this does not pan out we will repost and send to U masbo and mass for um posting again thank you any other discussion I think it's very helpful to know that we can we could potentially contract in July um or Rec contract and um and then still have the 30-day out clause in order if the committee decides you know um at a later date uh it's time to a good time opportune time to try to seek more applicants and hearing seeing no other requests to speak uh we'll call the vote um all those in favor I I I any opposed any extensions motion carries unanimously thank you everybody um we will now move to our vote to enter into executive session pursuant to Mass General Law chapter 30A subsection 21A Section 3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and seven to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or Federal Grant inid requirements the committee will not return to open session so moved motion for member child's second second from Member Goodwin uh roll call vote uh secretary deneve M CH yes member CHS yes member good I'm a yes chair Johnson mad yes Vice chair seon yes member Martini yes mayor dorer yes motion carries we are adjourned uh we we we we just voted to enter the executive session now we need a motion to adjourn the regular meeting is there a you do you want to do this one go Ahad do that one I move to adjourn motion for M good one second second for member child's those are fun any discussion um all those in favor I I the motion adjourns at 9:17 p.m.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. And I forgot to say that we are starting at 7 o'clock. Um so, uh thanks for that note, Stephanie. Um in terms of the roll call, the entire board is here as well as the executive team and our student representative. Um, so before we get started, uh, I want to acknowledge that we've had some pretty big news since our last meeting. Um, on behalf of the board of education, I would like to acknowledge and congratulate Superintendent John Burrill on his new role as the dean of the school of education at Central Connecticut State University. This is a significant career achievement um, and a testament to his leadership and dedication uh, to the field of education.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Sure. Hang on just a second. Sorry. Uh, Teresa present. Uh, Wanita here. Um, Rich here. Julie, I don't see her on here. And I'm on here. Um, and Glattus. I also show that we have um Michelle, Louisa, um, Mike Weaver, Angela Walsh, Ken is on the call, and of course, Dr. Casemiro. Okay. So, let's just purely for this. Okay, before we start, I just like to make an announcement. Um, I've received some constructive criticism relative to um perhaps ways that I've conducted the meetings whereby u sometimes the dialogue dialogue I have with Mike Weaver gets too involved or too detailed and I lose the audience that as well as I'm talking to addition to my book my colleagues here. So, what I'm going to try to taking that into account, I'm going to try to to understand and know the audience that I'm talking to uh and and sort of simplify things.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
We started getting better. was fun until my dad and a couple other people decided to try coaching us oursel or themselves where we further developed and had more fun and built better connections with all our all our friends. Um we built like a strong group of people um that we truly now connected to like a deeper level now than just cricket. And then eventually with a bunch of changes going on with a bunch of new people moving in, coming out, finally met other coaches like coach Ragu from Carnonica as well playing at like the state level and um other coaches coming in and finally we've built this organization. Yeah. So Arouch hasn't mentioned this, but he's actually been to nationals a couple of times or just once, right? Uh yeah. So, I've been to the under uh 19 USA National Try out tournament. So, there were multiple levels to get to that um point.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Some some island in Washington. So, it wasn't Belleview, but uh anyway, it's just so interesting how um a sport can kind of go it it kind of gets started and kind of stay underground for a while and then all of a sudden it explodes and again it becomes the uh fastest growing sport in America. And so, uh we're so lucky to have pickle ball courts here in Ashland uh that's not owned by Framingham State. So, we we love all pickle ball courts in Ashland. Um, that was a joke, folks. Sorry. Any of it, you know, if President Nim is here or or well, I was about to say Dale, you know, apologies. But, uh, in any case, uh, what a remarkable transformation of this space here. And then also what a remarkable transformation of this building. Um, I just was asking Steve, I was like, you know, you had a vision for this building, right?
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
In his first major show of leadership, Dr. Buril rebuilt the district's financial accountability and integrity, establishing firm controls following a history of costly abuses. Over the past decade, he has overseen critical advancements, including the successful overhaul of our special ed department, uh the recruitment of exceptional leadership talent, um and steering the district through the challenges of the COVID crisis. His leadership also guided the building and opening of the state's largest elementary school, the development of our strategic plan and district-wide portrait of a learner, and the seamless integration of technology and improved communications throughout our district. Some days have been challenging, it must be said. Um, we all recognize your contributions, and we wish you continued success in this exciting new chapter. So, thanks very much. That Thank you very much. Yeah, no problem. So, going from one piece of good news to undoubtedly more, it's now time for um the student update with Melissa Baines.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
David mentioned an excellent suggestion and Mr. Cooper agrees that we should as a board have a workshop that gives us a a an orientation to financial statement. the generalities and maybe basic principles of accounting and things like that. Um I I think that's an excellent idea. Uh not sure we ever had it before, but I certainly think a workshop like that in conjunction with Mike Wever would certainly be helpful. In consideration to our calendar between now and the end of the year and its fullness, Mrs. proof of thought that sometime in September or shortly thereafter we could uh schedule this particular workshop. So just wanted everybody to know that we're always in a process of looking to further improve our knowledge as to what we're responsible for and and to communicate so that everybody can understand the subject matter. I often think when I remember when Carol would talk about curriculum, she would use acronyms and I would go crazy because I didn't know what they meant.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
This was the final point to getting selected for the USA national U19 national team. However, I unfortunately didn't get selected, but at least that gives me further room for improvement for next year. So, yeah. And he was the only one in this region to to get in it, which is really good. and everyone around him. We're really proud of him. Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. So, yeah, throughout that whole process of like climbing up the ladder. Um, who or what was your biggest inspiration? Like a player or a coach or something like that? 100% my dad. Um, really this all started because of my dad and the all of like the pushing and like motivation I get is from my dad cuz only or not the only reason I do it but like he's the main figure obviously my father. that I look up to him and everything.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
He's like, yeah, kind of. Let me tell you, you don't transform a building that was in the condition that it was in 10 years ago without vision, without persistence, without creativity, and without being able to get a whole bunch of business partners together and and being able to kind of be the leader and and and basically develop that vision that inspires people and gets them on board. And Steve, you've done that. and you and your partners have done that just uh to the nth degree. I mean, I remember when I came to town just what this building looked like and just what this building was. Um, and to see how it has transformed over the decade is just remarkable. And in a lot of ways, it mirrors what Ashland has transformed into over the last 10 years. Those of you that have been in town know what we've done collectively um to this town.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
Hello everyone. Um so, starting off per usual with athletics. Um congratulations to BBDICATs and Varsity Boy Swim for both being SWC runner apps um these past weeks. Um as well as Varsity SP swim for placing fourth at state CIC championships. Um, once again, this Saturday is the Penguin Plunge at Candlewood Lake. Um, and so registration starts at 10. The event starts at 11:30. Uh, student government is finally in their final stages of getting ready for the spring pep rally, um, March Madness themed, um, which will be this Friday during school. And we're celebrating by having themed spirit days. Tomorrow is dress in your March Madness wear. So, I'll be sure to dress in Yukon. Um, the drama club this past weekend debuted their spring musical Chicago. Congratulations to all of them, especially the seniors. It was great. Uh, the robotics team participated in their first competition last week and they got lots of valuable feedback that they'll take into this next competition this weekend in Hartford.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
So I I understand the feeling that that's being, you know, expressed and shared. The other comment I want to make is on the agenda I had a notation on an item called AIS financial reporting. I'd like to eliminate that tonight because uh Dr. Casame had talked about that the last meeting and I think there more information to discuss on that relative to when Kim is available. Uh and then further to that is an item not on the agenda that I'd just like briefly to to put on and that would be a budget update Dr. Kazamera as to possible potential dates um to the budget presentation and maybe a board workshop so that we understand the talking points and we're on the same page. Those are my only comments relative to the the meeting. And with that being said, I'll turn it over to Mike to go to the first item which would be the financial reporting for the month of February.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
And since he's the one who brought me into cricket, um, of course, I'm going to follow whatever he uh asks me to do. And that's mainly it cuz he's put in so much time and effort into this for me. I feel like I have to perform just for him. Yeah, basically. Nice. So, yeah. How about you guys? I know both of you have been through a lot as well. Yeah. Um I guess my inspiration I have I mean there's many cricket players internationally who have inspired me but I think my my parents, my mom, my dad both support me a lot while I'm while I'm like playing. They really uh helped me move forward. Without their support, I wouldn't be able to do what I'm doing right now. And I think some players like Virat Kohli, Ms. Dhoni, Sachin Tandulkar, those guys have really inspired me with their story and the way that they've come up from where they they started from and now what level and where they are at right now.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above
And again, it just kind of mirrors the trajectory that Steve and this building have gone through. So, Steve, congratulations to everything for you to you and to everything that you've accomplished. Um, we're so glad you're doing it in Nashland, though. And, uh, look forward to live here anymore. Well, I wasn't going to say anything about that, but uh, since you brought it, just joking. Um, no. And, uh, I just, uh, thank you. I want to thank everybody here who helped make this possible. Um again all the way from you know 10 years ago to now. Um it took a lot lot of people working rowing in the same direction. Uh Beth obviously is at the center of of all of our business activity and you just look across the street at the old Dairy Queen and seeing that happening and um it's just uh it's just great to be here and great to see you all here and great uh for you all to be a part of it.
⚗ AI-reconstructed · cite from original above