Yes. Would be in public session. It would be after the executive session, right? But that it's not open to Well, it is technically open to everyone, but no one would really have that information besides who's here. That's true. That's that's my only point for that. We would have minutes. Correct. For the portion after executive session, we would have minutes. And the public is welcome to stay. Yes. Absolutely. Absolutely. Um the it's the the the term that might be throwing you here is the uh personnel search committee. Um and that's what's that's um by the end of the evening you will understand that more fully. So just to be clear we're going to discuss the search of the personnel committee. We're we're we're going to understand better um the advice given from our attorney. Copy. I guess I'm not comfortable with not having all the information.
So if we hire someone at a fictitious salary of 80,000 only 40,000 of that would reflect since we're already halfway through the year if that makes sense. Yeah. Um, are there any other questions that anybody would have relative to the financial statements as we're discussing? Rich, I did just want to make one comment after the board um the committee members have a chance to ask questions. Um, c can I the transportation is negative at this time. Um yeah there there is um there is a small unfavorable variance in um transportation for the year. Um that is um likely due to the incumbrance if you see the incumbrance line. Um so that is not not only the transportation that we have for um our our regular buses. It's also for um our Mckin Vento falls in that. Um there are other other purchase services in that but a large majority of that is um is transportation.
So you like like you said it's important to kind of like build yourself back up from a failure. So, how do you guys feel about Varun Chakraarti's story about how he's been in the Indian side a few times before, but he got called up for this tournament and he, you know, nobody really knew if he was going to play or not, but then when India played him, he performed so well in all of his matches. Yeah, I think he what he did was he just he had opportunities in the patch. um luck wasn't on his side and he wasn't able to kind of make the best opportunity of it but he got an opportunity again which a lot of people don't get and he he used that to his ability took five wickets got in the team semi-finals and finals he was in there and he played a crucial role and I don't think without like without him I don't know if India might have even won he broke crucial partnerships that would have maybe even taken the game away from India Yeah.
So to be able to have this and build this um as a as a space for the community to to use as a place to hold their special events and their teams, it it means a lot. So um thank you guys all for coming. I'm excited to uh to get on with your two. Appreciate it. And uh I'm Mike Bor. I'm going to talk to you just a little bit about the community that we fostered here. And this default fell to me because I am here all the time. Um so we talked a lot about transformation. Um when I came into this building into this space I'm going to say 15 months ago this was document storage. This was a barren warehouse that just had medical documents in it. And you know, in through Steve's vision, we've been able to go ahead and build this place and really foster a community of people that have gone from beyond just people that play pickle ball together to groups of friends that now go to dinner, that now kind of form their own games.
So I'm not comfortable with entering or having that motion or agreeing to that motion because out of that but you would but you would like to have a special meeting on it on that same topic after tonight's meeting. So like tomorrow, correct? Or last meeting. Well, as soon as possible. Last week we didn't have all I would but I I really don't know what we're going to be totally discussing tonight. Exactly. Exactly. I I mean clearly it needs to be talking but communication at it is just not working. So I mean I think maybe even a heads up before we came in here would have been and not surprised at the board table would have been I mean I know I would have appreciated it. Um I am trying to respect attorney client privilege. All right, then take a vote. So, let's let's vote and um and if if we if we can't get this item added, then that'll lead to um the need for a special meeting um sometime in the next week.
So in essence, if I understand what Mike is saying, this is another one of those issues where the the timeliness of issuing the report versus the the clarity as to how to allocate those costs to where they belong sort of lags behind. Would that be correct? Yes. Yeah. Okay. So it it's a timing issue. Uh Teresa, you know, it this points here, we're trying to do so much at once, and I don't think our system or our staff can keep up with furnishing something that is is I want to use the word, but don't get me to think it the wrong way, accurate because there are yet entries to to be made, you know. Yeah, we could at a certain point if we want to eliminate this, we can decide to hold off on statements for a period of of another month and do two months behind and by that time come up with more accurate and defined charges.
Yeah, I agree. I mean, um, a lot of these players, uh, come and go on the US or, I mean, on the India national team happens all the time. I remember Kale Rahul had a couple bad games and boom, he was dropped off the squad. I mean, uh, there's so much competition in India like I mean almost everybody plays and there's like a billion people in India. So, the competition's so high that even a couple unperformed games can get you off the squad. But every time you have that, if you ever have that opportunity to go back and perform again, you got to really utilize that one opportunity you get to show that you do deserve to be on the team. And I feel like Chakravati did that and Kale Rahul's done that as well. And yeah, cuz I think that's one of the the reasons cricket is such a unique sport is be I I feel like it's one of the only sports where it's really hard to get a second chance, especially as a batsman.
Um, it is so rewarding to us. It's probably the the I would say the proudest moment for us is to see all these different friendships and how we've been able to help kind of change and enhance people's lives. So, um, with that, let's cut that ribbon. Yeah. Well, first of all, I think that David Yeah. Hi everyone. Uh, David Marcia or or SGS. Um, my wife and I have two kids in the Ashton school system, a junior and eighth grader. We've been in town for about 20 years. Uh, we've all been fortunate enough to meet each other through golf in Framingham Country Club, which is where we met Steve. Uh, a lot of us were fortunate to be part owners of this building. And so when Steve sold the building and he came through and said, "Hey, I have an idea for pickle ball." We're like, "Where in the hell in this building pickle ball?" So, you know, Mike said about 15 months ago, we sat in that corner and some rusty old clothing chairs.
All right. Um so, the motion's on the table. It's been seconded. All in favor, um please indicate by saying I I Okay. All opposed? Okay. So, the motion does not pass. All right. Um, so moving on, we go to uh the approval of board minutes. I move that the board approve the minutes listed below as recommended. Regular meeting from 35 2025. A second. Rob has it. Yep.
But that could be a conversation for another time. But right now, unfortunately, with the what Mike has to do, what Andrew has to do, it's really a timing issue of trying to see what they can get out and then to define certain items that would require further adjustments. And there's for some reason I can't hear you, Rich. I'm sorry. Okay. What what I was saying is is I I think this is more of a timing issue that in the future the reports and and the systems would be a lot cleaner so that the charges when they're the the statements when presented to us would be accurate with all of the corrected allocations as opposed to having a bill from the bus company coming in and charged against one line where it should be charged against special education or it should be charged against a grant account or something else.
you come out even if you've prepared for years and years, you face one amazing ball, your off stump is gone and now you know and you feel bad about yourself. So I think the next next day you're out of the team. Yeah. Yeah. So I think cricket is a sport where it's all about making your chances count and all of us have obviously experienced that in zonals and whatever matches we play. So yeah. Yeah. I think on that I think cricket also teaches like great lessons, life lessons. Like I would I wouldn't have learned half of the things I know right now if I hadn't played matches and compared to a lot of other people like in my in my grade that don't play cricket. They they really like I really have lot more experience in terms of not just sports in terms of failures handling them life skills.
And there's probably 10 of us. And nine out of the 10 were looking around just looking at cobwebs, scratches on the floor, holes in the wall. And Steve was just like, "No, you don't understand. There's going to be a court here, a court there, a court there. There's the bar. There's going to be TVs. Kitchen's going to be there. There's going to be, you know, prep sinks." and we're just like, "Okay, we trust you." And here we are 15 months later. Like Mike said, the community of people that uh that we've kind of cultivated has been amazing. We've met so many people from Western Mass, Connecticut, Rhode Island. They all seem to come here because of the family aspect and the community that we built. So, thanks for coming. Thank you. [Applause]
Is there any discussion on the minutes? All right. Okay. All in favor, please indicate by saying I. Any opposed? One. Um, any abstensions? And so Sarah's no and Aaron abstained on the meeting minutes. Okay. Um, so now we go to the superintendent's update. Thank you. So, uh, first of all, I wanted to, uh, Melissa talked about Chicago. It was an incredible drama production musical. Uh, from the singing, the dancing, the live the set design and uh and lighting incredible Samantha's here, one of the stars of the show. So, congratulations and great job and send her best to everyone on that. Um in teaching and learning uh really important to share and and thank Mr. Baldwin and all the faculty and staff that are a part of um working with our uh unified sports program. The CIA unified sports tournament was held on March 12th last week, hosted here at BHS and it was just a great event.
So that's what I'm saying. So Mike, you know, always talks about going through and cleaning these things up. It's just a matter of the the amount of time they they have to do it. um uh and as opposed the time they have to do this uh in relationship to where they're trying to present the statements and justify to the numbers just so you know one of the drivers in the in the new budget was an increase in the transportation because of you know some rising costs and the and the number of students and the types of transportation that that some of our students need. So some of that, you know, we know that that's on the rise and it seems to be, you know, it's reflected here, but also that that's why it became a driver for next year. So that so that it would be part of a budgeted, you know, more a little bit more budgeted based on where we're projecting out where we think we might be.
So I think it's really a unique sport. Yeah, I think cricket just like many other sports really do bring or build strong relationships with each other cuz I mean it's one of the biggest team sports. I know you only have two people out there batting at once, but I truly believe like without um good chemistry on a cricket team, without uh following like the leaders and working together, it's impossible to win. And um trick really builds those connections with each other. Um bringing people up when they're low, when they have one bad over or when they get out. Um it's all just connections and a lot of you build a lot of people skills while you're playing especially with other teams. Um uh most teams at least in our levels have couple friends that we here and there. So really um playing all these games build these connections with even other people that we might have never met like someone from California might become like our best friend or stuff like that.
So, wanted to make sure everybody knew about that. Uh we do have an exciting uh year three I think of the French exchange program uh with the middle school and from the 31st of this month through April 4th um our French exchange students will be visiting uh back here in Brookville under business and operations. Um we have the teacher schedule followup. I'm not sure if the board may want to add this as a discussion item to the agenda, but I did share information. Um and I think Lisa Lisa, did you pass out the memo to everybody? There's a memo um that just explains all the things to consider with the 180 days. I have a recommendation there and um I can come back to that at the end of this report which is very brief if we want to have that discussion. March 12th, again that same date last week, we had two very um interesting facility issues that I informed the board about and everything worked out.
So that one's a moving target because um you know, just just yesterday, you know, we had a student who required very specialized busting busing, very expensive between now and the end of the year, which is fine. It's just that, you know, these things come roll in, you know, on a regular basis and they they're a little less predict predictable than some of the other some of the other items. Thank you. Y, are there any other questions from the board members on this? Cara wants to make a comment if they were. No, they're not mine. You're okay. Julie Julie said she Sorry, China. Julie, do you have a question? She does not. Rich. Oh, okay. Cara, did you want to make your comment? Yeah, just a comment around the staffing. Kim's gonna Kim's going to uh talk about staffing next Wednesday. She couldn't come tonight. Um, but she is going to do a little presentation on the staffing.
like I know a lot of people from Miami and Houston and things and speaking of other teams mixing well uh how about we talk about India and Pakistan um I mean obviously it's very complicated relationship between um not just the cricket teams and the fans but also like the countries but I don't know I feel like I think that the players just kind of they have to treat it as any other game and they just have to walk in there and you you know, just trust themselves to do what they do best. Uh, and I also feel that I don't know how much they um they really, you know, fire themselves up just because it's an India Pakistan game. I think when you're coming out to represent your country, you always have that same fire. And I think that the it's more of the media and the fans that make India Pakistan such a big deal.
Uh the first was uh a propane odor at the high school was detected after hours. and actually interrupted the dress rehearsal of Chicago. And um it turns out there was no propane leak. It was burnt food, but a custodian thought it was a gas leak and out of an abundance of caution called 911 and the fire department said everybody could come back in and they determined it was the burnt food. It does come on the heels of the day before a knob not working properly on the gas stove in the foods room and it didn't turn off and there was a little bit of a smell there which was a concern. So, there was some followup there, but everything's okay. Uh and then we had a backflow device break uh which caused a water leak at CLES on Thursday evening last week or was it Wednesday evening, whichever evening it was.
We have we have over a hundred positions um that are open probably closer upward like maybe 1:30ish. I go back and check the list, but you know, tremendous amount of paraprofessionals and tutors, um persistent vacancies around science classes, um special education openings, um some coaches, some media specialists that we didn't backfill because we weren't quite sure where where the year was going to land. So, there's there's quite a list of open positions. Some of those have been backfilled with uh with, you know, uh providing period coverage. Some of those have been backfilled with overages and some we have agency staff. But you know there are a lot of salaries and benefits that um you know are are not going to be utilized this year. So that's something that when Mike was talking about the favorable balance that that's part of it. So, and we, you know, keeping an eye on it, but that's something that, you know, at least we know and, you know, we are we're aware of it, right?