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um it you know when we get discussing it we we'll see if it's see if it's necessary to do and I guess just a note to that point make sure that you always reply just to one person don't reply all because that will be breaking the open meeting law so if you get an email from anybody from the planning board you don't want to reply it to all you will reply to that person and then send anything to me so that way it's not breaking the open meeting law email do you send to you both today the town cler will set up your emails so you guys will be getting a email at ashlandmass.com email I believe that that's already in process to get you an email address okay so question on this are are we ready to go to the next topic I'm just actually seeing if needs to go yes thank you so much Thank you to running next week and thank you.
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Nelson is giggling because it was an experience for me. Um, I was so ready. I sat down ready for the EKG award and uh, somebody hugged me and and I'm a hugger. Everybody knows that. I love to hug and I'll hug and shake you so that you know that I'm all in. Um, but this one didn't turn out so well. um because I ended up leaving and I ended up going to emergency room. So, but I wouldn't trade it for the world. I will still do it again. You know, that was yesterday. The EKG was yesterday. So, I'm so happy to be here because, you know, tomorrow is not guaranteed. This is one of those tomorrow is not guaranteed events and and I will do it again. I will not I won't I won't go away from it. Um I attended the May revi CSBA award um uh presentation.
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At least I hope we do. Um, so I I don't see why how there would be a benefit to the modification for us to why we would why would we modify um what our statement is because it can happen anyway and I certainly welcome the collaborative approach. Council member Cornell, I think I think it's appropriate. I'm I'll just restate it. I I do think it's appropriate for this whereas for um to modify this or I'm sorry the resolve clause to ask council to direct the planning commission to offer input on this. The planning commission owns the comprehensive land use document um at this stage as it's you know in draft form and it seems like direction from staff should come from planning commission raising my hand again and then come to council. That was the Yeah. Well, again, it goes to sorry, it goes to the council first, and you all ask the planning commission for their input, but I'm suggesting to you that the planning commissioners has no interest.
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I'm sure that you will be very very successful. Um, congratulations to all the teachers who are retiring. Um, to those who achieved 25 years, really a monumental moment. Um, congratulations to all the students who were recognized for their academic achievements. Congratulations to Dr. Roberty again. Um, I always said that you were an amazing superintendent and I've lived through many in my educational career and um, I think you're number one in the books there. Oh, nice. Um, best wishes to Miss Suarez and Mr. Shahada. Um, may God bless that day and may it be filled with much joy and excitement. Um to the seniors, um may you enjoy your prom, be safe, have a great time. It's a wonderful time. I know when we attended the prom, the one year, it was um it's just a lot of fun and students were just, you know, um reminiscing about their whole four years and some the their entire time in in the Clifton district.
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Our children should not be pushed aside at all. Especially not for the sake of people who don't go there. Sorry, I lost my spot. Our fantastic teachers and our 20some students shouldn't be packed like sardines into tiny rooms while Yale's 10 students per classroom enjoy what should be our children's larger classrooms. Our children should not be pushed aside into smaller classrooms, classrooms without windows, and classrooms in a noisy, bustling hallway that middle schoolers pass by all day just for the sake of yell. It would be this agreement is simply fitting a square. Here we go again. Square peg round hole. It would be nice to get the income. Yes, but not at the expense of our children. We are the taxpayers, the same taxpayers that are now carrying the additional financial burden of the tax levy increase. It is only right that our children get precedents in our own school.
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Good luck. You're welcome. And I can catch up with you to about the end of the meeting as well. Okay, sounds good. Thank you. Thank you, Anna. Very nice to meet you. Okay, so um you were in the middle of asking a question. Um do we always have to send a letter for the 40. I really like Joann's kind of s Joan's suggestion, but I was just curious because as I was looking for points, I myself was not convinced um convinced on the information I kind of started to pull out for that zoning part. So, it didn't feel powerful enough for me itself. Um so, I was just curious like do we always have to respond? We do not have to respond but um in the binders. I think is is this in the binders? This I I put in for um especially since we have new members um you know the process for 40B projects.
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There was the first one that was done virtually and another one that was done yesterday and uh it's it's eyeopening about what's coming down the pike and we are paying close attention to how does it affect us as a district. They can give us this picture that is huge but we want to know how does it affect Apple Valley school district because I am here to service Apple Valley School District. I really don't care what happens out there. It's Apple Valley School District. That's my focus. Um, but as we go off for the uh summer break, my prayer and and I fervently pray that you all come back rested and healthy and no emergencies. And please understand, we absolutely adore the work you do and we respect the work that you do. And never take it for granted. I always tell retirees, never forget what it feels like to be a teacher because that is what will get you going every single day.
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You might as well skip the step. You all, the council, needs to reassess what policies you're pursuing. You need to think very carefully because you're going to raise a serious hornets's nest here. You keep going on the course you're going. People are not going to put up with the kind of tree destruction that's going to happen in this city in its established residential neighborhoods. Not going to happen. Council member Cornell. I'm going to point out again that that is not what this resolved clause directs. That's not how this directs the action. What it directs is that council not include planning commission and take action with the city administrator to direct staff. So for the sake of accuracy in terms of you know I appreciate Mr. Graham saying that um we're going to do what we want to do. But that is not how these resolutions work.
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So, just have a fun time, but remember, be safe. Um happy Memorial Day. may remember all those who sacrificed so that we may have freedom and that we may enjoy this day. And so just don't forget what the day is truly about. And um happy Father's Day, Dad. I love you and thank you and have a good evening. Thank you, Commissioner Dr. Danny, Vice President Santiago. Thank you, President Paris. Uh congratulations to all of our uh recipients and award recipients and um our teachers and staff for their for their years of uh service and thank you for everything you do. Um Commissioner Mahia and I earlier in the month attended the NGSBA delegate uh assembly meeting and that's always a good time to um advocate. I am the alternate Richie Votes, but it's always good to be there, participate, and um again advocate for our for our school, for our district.
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For those of you unaware of the layout of Demacy, our elementary kids take up one large hallway and one pod. The pod is where a couple fourth grade classrooms and all of our fifth grade classrooms live. It is tradition that the big kids in the school get to move into that pod, utilize it for activities, get to use the lockers, etc. And they look forward to it. Uh when we mentioned this to our soon to be fourth grader, it was met with tears. The kids greatly look forward to getting to be the big kids in the school and getting to experience that space. Deacy always tends to get the short end of the stick in this district. Due to budget reductions, we've lost our elementary school assistant principal, our secretary, our SRO, and we've had to deal with traveling special teachers and more. We continuously carry the financial burden of the township, and we have had enough.
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And so it it's one of the few um ways um that is in the official process that the planning board can contribute to that process. um it's not required but um it would be in a way um giving up one of the avenues that we have. Now that said um as we know from previous projects our our letters can be long and detailed. I don't expect this one to be but the first one was long and detailed and it didn't make any change that I can see in the official process. However, I think that letter also does go to the architects and the the team um so that they can read our concerns in that letter. So, um I feel in that way it has some value even if it doesn't change the process. I think where I was coming from is like the first project that we wrote that letter, we had spent over a year on that project, right?
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Thank you so much for your time. [Applause] Thank you, Maria. Amanda, you can. All right. Wow. Like we are in the home stretch, you guys. Um, I was packing up part of my classroom today and I'm like, I can't believe it's May already. Although I'm ready for it. I'm sure you all are as well. Um, so it feels like we were just here together like last night, but it was two weeks ago. Um, and when I looked over the list much like they had, um, there are so many events in May. There are so many. Um, I found a funny meme that said something like May is just December but with flip-flops. I was like pretty accurate. Like those are the two months that we are the busiest. Um, so first I wanted to congratulate all of the certificated staff that we honored um as 2025 employees of the year.
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That that is not what this resolved clause actually directs us to do. So if the intention is for it to go directly to city council that is one thing but city council will not take that direction. in this resolve clause and turn around and take it to planning commission. So just just to be clear procedurally there is there is a reason to include that language. Yes, I'm Why don't may I make a suggestion? Why don't we start trying to put the language in and see what it looks like? I think that might make the most sense. Um, so I think the way I hear it is something like recommends that city council um direct the planning staff to provide feedback on the items in this resolve clause. um the planning commission planning commission. Yeah, not planning staff that the planning that we are asking um council to direct the planning commission to review this and provide input based on their knowledge of the current draft of the um comprehensive land use plan.
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Um one of my favorite committees is the student liaison committee and we attended that. Some of that us did this week and you know, it's a great it's a great meeting because we meet with uh different levels, class levels of our Clifton High School students. um you know some are uh not every not all of them are honors students, not all of them are athletes, uh not all of them are art students, etc. But there's a mix of all of it and it's really good because we get different perspectives. We hear the the the grows and the glows and um there often times and once again good ideas that come from our students. So that's that was a great meeting. Um the academic awards dinner is always awesome. There are over 800 students who received um academic honors, including my niece Natasha. Um and some other uh friends of the family, Errol, Kennedy, Jenna, and the Millers were there too, I believe.
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I urge you to please vote against this lease agreement tonight. With an abundance of money from the tax levy increase and a lot of people invested in finding a solution for our students and our beloved teachers, let's please to come together to find a better way. Please keep our demise children in mind tonight as you discuss and vote. Thank you. [Applause] Hi, my name is Laura Cottz. Um, and I am a resident of Marlton whose children also attend to Macy. and I am up here to express my immense fr frustration, confusion, and sadness that our fifth graders will be displaced next year to make room for out of district students. I am a special education teacher in another district and I've spent time in the autism self-contained classroom in my school. So, I'm very familiar with the type of students that Yale serves. Just like everybody else has said, that is not my issue.
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So there we were some in some way connected to the history of that project. So we were so vested in it. So the letter was powerful at least from our end irrespective of what the final decision is 61 waverly the next project I think the tone kind of started to come down and now when I was starting to kind of gather information for this third project it was like it didn't feel compelling for myself when I wrote only that one small section I don't know how the two of you felt when you pulled out information because the drawings don't have so much information right it's hard to talk about density because you are not you don't have that full information in front of you. So um you can't talk about the emergency vehicle kind of turning radius because the drawings are not complete. So you'll know so less about the project except those 10 pages that was given to you.
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And like pretty much everybody up here has has mentioned that, you know, they're just it's phenomenal how many overachievers we have. Um, but really I think that qualifies for just about everybody. Um, I truly hope that many of those that were honored back in two weeks ago, a week ago, uh, we'll consider applying for the county awards this fall so that we can send some of them forward. Um cuz you definitely deserve like wider recognition than just here. Like this was awesome. But um would love to see that branch out. To those that we're honoring tonight as you begin your retirement, congratulations. You earned it and then some. And while we will miss you deeply, we're also excited for what lies ahead of you. Maybe a little jealous as well. Um, but thank you to for all that you've given to our students and schools.
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It is still evolving. So, I would prefer if we're going to change this that the council ask all of the city staff and the planning commission, even the Azure folks. Yeah, there's there's what their views and opinions are about this. The planning commission stacked. They don't they're not interested. You need to find you need to get it's like it's like addressing your plan to the people who own property in residential neighborhoods. Most of us have never heard about this thing until the last couple months. Has been going on 3 years. I that's a that's absolutely unacceptable. I think you need to look throughout the city for their opinions on these suggested policies to the council. I, you know, just the plane commission, you might as well save your breath. It shouldn't be that way. Forgive me. Maybe I'm overstating. I want to acknowledge really quickly, Mr.
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Um Lamar, uh congratulations again. Lamar I think was in the top 10 that night, right? Also, so he's one of the top 10. Um congrats. I'm sure you're going to do do well. Um, and uh, today is my son, my younger son, Matthew's birthday. So, happy birthday to him. Mustang uh, alum. And, uh, we do have a parade Memorial Day, not the district, but the city, don't forget that if you want to come out and celebrate and support, the Memorial Day uh, parade is on Monday. And to, uh, Commissioner Suarez and Mr. Shihad, I wish you have a blessed day. Um, I wish you uh, love, peace, and chicken grease. So, uh, have a great, uh, Memorial Day weekend, everyone. Thanks. Thank you, Vice President Santiago. Um, condolences to the Hellgal family and and friends, uh, on their loss of Marian. Thank you to Lamar and to Mark, our student representatives.
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I truly believe that this could be a wonderful situation to have Yale students come. I think it could help t further teach our children about inclusion and acceptance. However, I do have a huge problem with the fact that our fifth grade students are being displaced to accommodate Yale students. According to Dr. Smith, the contract between Eve Sham and Yale was signed when he thought there would be 10 open classrooms in Dece. But due to the increased tax levy taken on by us, the taxpayers, um those 10 classrooms are no longer available. So, as a result, we have nowhere to place the L students, or so we thought, and our Demacy students are paying the price. As a parent of both a fourth and a second grader, I am beyond exhausted for having to go to bat for my elementary age children so often over the last few years.
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