Gifford a secretary I don't think any of us wants to take notes she might have been hoping skip that different I believe is who officially serves as our as the recording secretary thank you for that catch that advice yeah I'm not going to accept by acclamation second end so there's no escaping is there any discussion on that motion of making dr.
Dudley's been a proponent that for a long time and her team now at the same time we receive pretty positive feedback on increasing recess to 30 minutes even from those who weren't particularly in favor extending the elementary day and we know that research really supports the idea of more time for unstructured play so that was another another kind of theme that went through that so rather than adding the full 30 minutes we've revised our recommendation to extend the elementary day for 15 minutes so this will give the students more time to engage in unstructured play wit play with their classmates and as always we'll continue to evaluate how we're using our minutes and and how we're using them to engage our students in learning throughout the day so we can best meet their academic and their social emotional needs so that was the the primary rationale behind that lowering that time now as an added piece we were also we also thought through this this 15 minutes tension that we could still be able to leverage some more prep time for elementary teachers with this recess block and also maybe capture some more prep time with the late start recommendation now we've been discussing ways to increase the elementary prep time with our administrative team and with the Carmel Teachers Association and we believe the combination of more prep time and late start plcs those professional learning community supports our guiding principles of just continuous improvement you know like you said earlier to be the best at getting better so we chose to keep the elementary start time the same so to keep the elementary start start time at that 15 minutes or at that you know that 7:15 in the min the morning and then to cut the 15 minutes that we originally proposed off the end of the day we did that because it would in the elementary school day at the same time so I'd be probably less disruptive and it also adds a little bit of flexibility to our transportation routing because the end of the day is often a little more challenging than the start of the day and making sure that we get all of our elementary kids home and they were able to make it back to the high school on time and who make that happen some other advantages that of course cut the costs associated with lengthening that day in half and then and we still it may be even less than that based on some money saved by shortening the middle school and the high school day slightly and and finally we just think that 15 minutes is a step forward you know for our elementary kids and meeting their academic social emotional and even physical health needs and so that's kind of rationale behind that I also here in the meeting we have Peter Harry he's the the president of the Carmel Teachers Association I wanted to introduce Pete and and again give the teachers a voice you know and appear on this recommendation of Pete you want to have anything you want to share I do I do the first first of all I want to thank dr.
Gifford the Secretary to the School Committee nope no hearing none all in favor aye any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you dr. Gifford all right so the next up is the let's see school committee assignments so let me bring that up here and first up we have the Dartmouth education foundation that has previously been dr. Shannon Jenkins pleasure I'll do that that's fine okay the next one it sorry Chris can I just say one thing yeah of course I think right now Carol I think you you're on that board although you'll be rolling off of this committee but Mary weight is also on that board and so maybe that might be something that she does presuming no write-in campaign occurs to knock her out cuz we're both on the board right now so she may be the official but we may want to revisit that after the election but I'm fine perfect the next up is the southeastern Massachusetts educational collaborative I've been serving on that for a number of years now I'm happy to stay on that we're actually in the middle of contract negotiations with the collaborative director Katherine Cooper and I am on that negotiations subcommittee so unless someone has read some one would really like to step up I'm happy to stay there yes we'll have you ahead I know so I'm more than happy to stay mass association of school committees mr.
Beresford for including me in the discussion from like almost immediately after the last meeting and really all along from day one I really appreciate that then I want to thank all the teachers who responded I think it's remarkable you know just a few weeks ago you know the when the recommendation was finally made a lot of teachers were who were very passionate about it expressed to me and my board members a lot of issues and a lot of questions and I really encourage them to respond to the board and they did remarkably and they were good well-thought-out professional I couldn't I couldn't be more pleased with our teachers and how they've responded and I think this is a good recommendation it does provide for for additional recess I think that's important rather than I thought all along I thought that extending the day by 30 minutes was too much and so I think that the extending the day by 15 minutes is a good compromise so the kids as I said will get get their recess there's an opportunity for more prep time for teachers which is important and you know in decreasing the cost is important another part of the plan that I think is a port in the overall plan that I think is important is the 40 minute the 40 minute late start and teachers seem to be overwhelmingly supportive of that and you know the last thing if I may tell a quick story dr.
Nunes I'm good with this seriously you're okay without negotiation representative for the soup is this for the superintendent's contracts my understanding yeah John Nunes and Kathleen am are all is back up yeah one of yours what's your pleasure folks if Bonnie wants me I'll stay yeah same I'm fine with that I'm okay with that as well uh school assignments we decided last year that we weren't going to specifically assign anyone to specific schools thoughts comments questions on that you'll be okay with continuing no specific assignments or would you rather be assigned personally I'm fine the way it is the administrators need to talk to us and they you know they call us or we need to talk to them we can you know let them know we'd like to talk to one vennett that works for me anyone else dr. Jenkins dr. Kara photos okay next up we have policy committee policy subcommittee with this assistant superintendent miss Roy Kathleen emerald dr.
Beresford actually was my sub during red for a day and one of my better students fell asleep after the test that he gave them for me and he told me about it and he said the girl said and it was one of my better students like I said and he told me she said I just get so sleepy I'm sorry dr. Beresford and the next day she came to me in the hallway because when the had her the next day she came to me and she said mister I I'm so so sorry I fell asleep ah dr. Beresford I'm sure I embarrassed you I was just so so sleepy and we hear that a lot from our kids and so if changing the start times can help get a few more hours of sleep or a few more minutes of sleep I guess 45 more minutes with sleep for our middle school and our high school students it's well worth it and so I I support the amended recommendation now thanks Pete and I really do appreciate the relationship that we have with our our association and and you know it's a we're all in this together and we're stronger together and and it's just a great great working relationship there so then we get down to the what's it gonna cost and of course I alluded to that it costs the district about hundred sixty eight thousand dollars a year and that's the estimated cost to pay elementary instructional assistants office staff and other hourly workers that would pick up the extra 15 minutes and then mr.
Jenkins and John Nunes to cover until dr. Jenkins return so I guess it would be a kathleen in dr. Jenkins so Chris yes I know I'm skipping ahead a little bit I'm happy to stay on this and again maybe this might be a good one to roll the news policy seems to me is not super complicated sorry Michelle would probably agree but it's me forward that was the first committee I served on and that might be a good new one I'm happy to stay on there until all right so my new comes on and then if they want to go into that role oh I have some interest in serving on the Budget Committee though I know dr. Kara photos will be rolling off I'm so I don't know I take and I do budget but I'm fine with whatever all right so we'll get there in a second so yeah I agree why don't we why don't we look to whenever the new person is their first meeting we'll come back to this Pete if you could just make him know if we could just come back to the the assignment so we could just go over this with the new person because this is typically something they're involved with but because this is such a unique year um let's plan on circling back to that if that's okay with the committee that's fine and then the Technology Committee is currently dr.
McMichaels done some projections and and some estimations to see that we will probably gain some of that back because we will be shortening the high school by 15 in the middle school by 20 minutes as part of this recommendation and there will be some cost savings to that so with that I will be glad that me and the team would be glad to answer any questions you might have well thank you dr.
kay and myself I am happy to stay on it with the background that I have does someone want to jump in for dr. kay is should we just leave that as is till after the election why don't we leave that where it is right now until after the election see if you know the new person wants to pop in and of course would with my computer experience I'd be no good fair enough feels and Facilities Committee with the superintendent is that still is that still happening with John Nunes and Kathleen Amer all time and but you know there is certainly the possibility that we could need to okay so what's your what's your guidance mr. Kylie should we keep it on there so just just for the sake in case we need it doesn't hurt okay is mr. Nunes mr. Amaral are you both okay with that I'm good and then we have the the Budget Committee with dr.
Beresford and Pete for all of your efforts on this recommendation and on the relationship we have with CTA we appreciate the ability to work with CTA and with Pete and his leadership team and all the important issues we have as a district so once again thank you both and also thank you to the full team to listen to our community and think through and present this revised recommendation may I have a motion to approve changes to the school day the most thank you in second okay thank you Katie we'll move to discussion I know that the board has already asked some questions via email but I know that there are more questions and I'm sure that more members have questions that they want to be able to ask so the public can hear those responses so I will start with the whale any questions I do and as we were discussing first I want to say thank you because I really appreciate the the compromise and I appreciate the administration really taking a hard look at the feedback from our teachers and our parents but most specifically our teachers who did provide us with a lot of very very thoughtful and Mike pizza' very professional responses and concerns so thank you thank you across the board my question comes to the 30 minutes of 30 minutes we're building in for recess currently teachers respond to the needs of the classroom and they'll have brain breaks throughout the day they still have that flexibility do they not during the day to still build in these brain breaks in addition to the 30-minute recess could you speak to that yeah I tell you one thing I was I should have said and I forgot and and shame on me but our administrative team it's just a wonderful job working on this recommendation and like I said this is a four year product process and it touched every every piece of our administrative team in one way or another and so kudos to the team you know for working this through but Amy do you want to speak to that since that's your area of expertise sure so yes the research is very clear in that not only do students need opportunities for unstructured play which the 30 minutes of recess will provide but they will need throughout the day then that movement within the learning and so yes the teachers will still have that flexibility where they will be incorporating those brain breaks throughout the day they'll be incorporating movement within their lessons that's incorporated within their lessons because we know that's how students especially young students learn best they use all of their senses especially in the kinesthetic learning his part I think the old days when I'm sitting in rows and and looking at primers is over there's stations and the kids are moving and they're working together in groups and getting regrouped and they're I'm guess they're getting some a pretty high number of steps in a day thank you and I will share I will allow others to ask answer asked their questions next Thank You Leila Pam any questions go ahead yes thank you I have worked through all of my thoughts and so I'm just going to read those while we're sitting here I would like to thank the administration and the members of the committee for bringing this proposal to the board I want to thank CTA for the many meetings held to discuss the issues raised by this proposal and last I would like to thank the many parents and staff who shared their comments with us and I as well as my fellow board members have read them all I believe that a majority of the comments favored the late start for secondary schools but did in favor lengthening the elementary day I have asked many questions concerning this proposal as it has evolved from when it was first mentioned in the spring of 2018 to the proposal it is now I would like to share some thoughts I think are important to consider before we vote and many of these thoughts are not evolving around some of the questions I asked currently there is an issue of the pandemic which has disrupted schools across the nation and they have had to reinvent themselves in order to deliver a quality education to students because of kovat 19 the future is an unknown at this point we're not even sure schools will be able to bring students into the buildings in the fall on May 11th 2020 the Indianapolis Star published an article with the headline Indiana State plunges state revenues plunge 1 billion dollars in April amid coronavirus shutdown one forecast in the article said and a quote state governments would need until at least 2024 to return to 2019 funding levels that's not unlike what happened to Indiana's budget in the years following the 2008-2009 recession and quote at that time the district's budget was reduced by over three million dollars in the middle of the school year money the district has not recouped from that loss the article also stated that the state will probably eat through its surplus by autumn this may mean we could be facing budget cuts in the future Jennifer McCormick State Superintendent of Public Instruction stated at the end of April that school may start up next academic year with a hybrid experience of remote learning and in-person classes classes could be in shifts what does that mean well I listen to a conversation today on NPR between Diane Ravitz and Randi Weingarten regarding the Rio opening of schools mrs.
kay and myself I know dr. Jenkins has expressed interest I am happy to step aside with that if someone else would like to UM to give that an opportunity or I'm more than welcome to stay on it as well so just let me know if anyone else wants to jump in there I would be happy to but also open to waiting for our new member and you know with to do it John hold have a sigh jump miss the news Thank You mr. Jim in all seriousness I mean if if Shannon wants to do it with you or if Shannon and Kathleen wanted to do it and then I can back them up you know I can be the backup if necessary I'm good with that we don't know we the committee wants to handle it I'm good okay is that something you want to you want to swap with me Kathleen on the budget subcommittee yeah I would be interested in that okay I'm fine given that up and so be Shannon's it'll be Shannon and Kathleen then I'll pack them up sure that sounds good if Jim will have me of course and I believe that is it so once the new member comes on board we can revisit this just to get them acquainted with the assignments you know we can go from there does the does the board have any other questions about this welcome back mr.
Weingarten said mentioned several possibilities have been discussed stager times for students like a Monday Wednesday and a tooth Tuesday Thursday with a Friday open could be double sessions morning an afternoon or number three and a signed day for students to go to school with remote learning happening at home we don't know yet what school will look like but it was stated that these changes will cost more money the CDC has recently put out guidelines for school reopening and governor Holcomb has said that a decision would be made in July finally following the final stage of reopening with all of these unknowns I can't support spending additional money to extend the elementary school day the projected cost given to us was around two hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars with several unknowns at this time and although this isn't a lot of money in comparison to our total budget it is still two hundred and thirty seven thousand dollars in a time of uncertainties this amount of money also equates to hiring about three and a half teachers or 14.8 IAS which I think would be a better use of that money if we're going to spend therefore I would like to amend the motion on the table to be for this chit start changes for start times for the elementary and secondary schools but not lakes in the elementary school day Pam would you like to let others ask questions before you seek to amend the motion or would you like to amend the motion now I'll amend the motion after everybody's done I guess that Thank You Katie any questions well actually I'm sorry dr. Beresford would you like to respond to any of the items that Pam raised um no not really I mean they're they're what I didn't I didn't if I if I missed a question Pam let me know but I I know that you're just speaking your mind and your thoughts so but I don't have a response to that okay thank you Katie um yeah could you explain dr.
chairman Thank You mr. Nunes I don't know if that's a I don't know if I should say thank you [Laughter] good it'll be a fun year and one way the other we're gonna make this a good year I'm gonna be we're gonna be fine we're gonna be fine absolutely I'm I'm with you on this so next up we have seven to body almost right on right on the money at 7:16 year under new business discussion of school transportation contract mr. Kylie Thank You mr. Oliver so I don't have a contract tonight for you to consider but last Monday it did come up at the joint meeting mr. Harun brought up the question of whether or not we're paying our transportation providers so like to fill you in on where this is where this has developed we originally in week one of shutdown began talking about this and when I say we myself my colleagues throughout the state began to wonder okay so we have a contract with these people we tell them that we are requiring a certain service and they agree to provide it and they make arrangements significant arrangements there our largest contractor and their most districts largest contractor so the state at that time over the first couple of weeks began to talk about it too and and we were hoping that would they would provide us with some guidance as to how to proceed well here we are a couple of months later and we don't have anything definitive yet there's a bill that is in the legislature regarding payment for available services so we're the law currently says you can only pay so if services have been provided there is there is the the notion that you should in case pay should be able to choose to pay for services that may need to be provided in the future obviously these companies ranged in size there are some national companies that provide school transportation services to school districts our vendor trembley's is based locally and is sort of a small to medium sized provider big concern several years ago we had a we in the state we had a bankruptcy of a transport of a transportation provider and they went out of business and it caused an unbelievable nightmare of how how are we gonna get all the districts that that company served how we're gonna get the kids to school so this is a much larger scale obviously and the risk is that as we lose you know providers throughout the state to bankruptcy and you know they'll be the chance that it's gonna really impact our service moving forward either our vendors ability to provide the service or the cost of the service so I am of the opinion that if that contractually we have some obligation while the contract is silent as to this scenario because nobody's ever dealt with it before I I think that if this were to be litigated there would be an obligation on our part to provide some level of payment to these folks so all of my colleagues I I think most the majority of districts in the state agree with that so then comes ok but what do you pay and that is a difficult question to answer these contracts are often very there's there's proprietary information that vendors are very reluctant to release in that would give competitive advantage to their competitors and in the bidding process and and so to like look at audited financial statements and be able to determine exactly how much a provider should be paid is not realistic the state recognized that early on and started to ask us to get together in groups so we've done that and we are working I'm working with several other local districts to negotiate with the providers in the area to determine to come up with some proposal on their part that we could support I originally early on heard that some districts are paying as much as 80% of the cost for for transportation which to me doesn't seem quite right there are a lot of variables obviously labor being a major one some companies are paying their full staff some companies are paying their partial staff and some companies are paying not many people and relying on the unemployment system to support those folks so that's a big variable from district to district labor makes up about 30% of the we estimate anyway about 30% of the cost of of these bids so it's a big big portion of the cost then there's gasoline that obviously is not being incurred and smaller items like maintenance on the on the buses and so forth however there is also a lot of cost that is incurred on our behalf in terms of buying the buses leasing the buses insuring the buses and so forth so make a long story short we are in in negotiations discussing something in the range of 50 to 60 percent of the cost of being paid so would result in a significant savings to the town which obviously you know our intent through discussions with with the town administration they recognize that you know we'd likely have some savings through this horrible time and we you know we recognize that while it's important that we prepare for next year and and what we're doing for the rest of this year we very well might turn some light back to the town as a result of something like this so I really just wanted to inform you and certainly seek your feedback and hopefully because ultimately will require your support to move forward with something something in this in this general plan dr.
bears for a little bit for those who may not know so the board will vote on a policy but then it goes into administrative guidelines and then procedures and the schools kind of make decisions could you kind of explain a little bit how this will kind of then go to the next step of going into what particular schools will do sure so we bring this to you and then if it's approved then we would we would start planning on how that would be implemented a lot of our administrative team has already been looking at we've included all of our principals so they're already have some prototypes of schedules that sort of thing as far as the prep time things that would take some discussion with with Pete and his team and the CTA and you know as far as that goes so it would really just be kind of launching pad I guess I would say that a lot of there's a lot of questions about the fall and obviously this reference recommendation is for when school is in regular session with our regular setting we really don't have a clear idea of what the rules are going to be in the fall and what that schedule might look like and I've heard the same miles that you know that was payment and talked about so the time schedule would you know that would be a different whole different schedule there's recommendation would be use when were in school on rec in a regular setting in a regular environment without the threat of a health pandemic so your question it did thank you okay okay Thank You Lin do you have any questions I don't have questions that just have comments so I think that from my personal observation experience and where her from personal stories I think there's a lot of benefits of the Daystar they starting time for secondary level and for elementary schools we do hear a lot of concerns I think that we want to give the best benefits for our students so I approve I agree that we should give you a try of giving extra or 15 minutes to make a 30 minute reset block time for a recess and I'm sure that the school district sorry the district administrator will report on how that impacts our elementary school and other students so we may make adjustments maybe from there but that's key be a try thank you okay so thank you for members for your your questions and comments we have a motion on the table from Pam and you want to restate your motion yes I would like to change the motion to only be in the start times for elementary and the middle schools and not to lengthen the elementary school day okay do we have a second for that motion undo it so with no second that motion fails we will now move we will now vote on the recommendation presented by dr.
Jenkins thanks thanks for that update mr. Kiley one of the things I was trying to convey in the joint meeting I'm not sure they really got that point or anything from us in that meeting but one of my concerns is that we don't quite know what next year is gonna look like for us ideally it will look kind of like a normal year right where where kids are going to school the whole day but there is some possibility you know I hear lots of states talking about let school days and kids going on different days and so there is some possibility for us next year that we have actually significantly increased right busing and cost because we may be running different routes or more routes in a good day and so I don't wonder if there's some way that if we are giving back 40 to 50 percent of our you know to need that portion if that could be earmarked in some way for next year if we could request that from the town you know just as a stabilization if we have a period where we our bus costs are going up but that could be earmarked for that money and then rolled in later because my concern is is that they're gonna tear it is across the board 5% cuts but that our costs are going up so that ends up being like a significantly bigger cut for us if our costs are going up so I'm hopeful that we could maybe request that in some ways I mean I don't know that we create a Stabilization Fund but in some way we earmark that to guard us against future loss or increases in that lesson contract it's a very legitimate concern we have no idea yet as to what school bus transportation is gonna look like obviously we don't know what school is gonna look like and we certainly don't know how to get them there and get them home and obviously you know if social distancing on a bus is is necessary that is a real game changer you know I I don't know I we would need if we're still transporting all of the kids every day yeah we need we might triple all right so maybe you could propose that that whatever savings were giving back or looted that somehow again earmarked or against that potential issue I can certainly relate that to the town side and start it off absolutely it would at least provide a good buffer if anything else yes what mr.
Beresford in the administration to the changes to school days if you're voting in favor please raise your hand now okay I have four in favor if you're voting against a recommendation please raise your hand now thank you I have one opposed Colleen do we need to orally state it are you good I've got thank you thank you so the motion to raise two ways to change the school day as recommended by administration passes four to zero thank you everybody for all your comments all your input and we look forward to seeing how that's implemented next we will move to discussion that was a four to zero that was four sorry yes Pam I apologize it was four to one with Pam voting opposed myself Lynn Leila and Katie voting in favor of the recommendation next on the agenda we moved to a couple of discussion items the first one is a caramel clay public library board appointment dr.
Nunes Thank You mr. chairman mr. Kyla correct me if I'm wrong the anything that we save and we turn back to the town is gonna quote unquote go into cash surplus revenue so that's come out of that town pot whether it be as a special Town Meeting we have in September depending out things our with the actual you know October Town Meeting so it all would be part of that one part of funds if I'm correct you certainly are I I think what we could ask for and maybe the committee wants to formally act on this suggestion would be for them to have some sort of a commitment an acknowledgment and a commitment that they support the uncertainty and that we recognize that we're returning this money but because I I don't think a stabilization account I don't think that's gonna happen for it but any acknowledgement on their part or we you know we seek their support in that regard I'd be good with that I can make that motion if you like mr.
Beresford thank you mr. Kirschner just for a little background the caramel clay Board of Trustees makes three appointments three appointees to the Carmel Public Library Board now in 2018 miss Stephanie Kim was appointed to the Carmel clay by the the board to fill the remaining term of library trustee bill why Benga who sadly passed away on February the 19th of 2018 mr. Bob Sweeney the director of the Carmel clay Public Library is recommending the reappointment of mrs. Kim to the Carmel clay library board her term would become effective on July 1st and 2020 and would end on June the 30th of 24 so talk with Bob and and she had done the interim piece and he was recommending her to continue on the board and I mean I'm supportive of that recommendation that she would continue on that board so that was the discussion item for the that appointment oh thank you dr.
chairman I talked to Carol Otis did you have something good first of all I would certainly support that motion mr. Kiley when you said you're in negotiations who are you negotiating with the bus company or a group of other business managers throughout the state are you talking with them about what's fair yes what we are doing is sharing our information amongst each other in that way we have some leverage and it's not a one-to-one you know negotiation when we speak to our providers I'll say I you know I have a great relationship with our provider they are a wonderful you know a wonderful company for us I have no complaints with them this this situation is unfortunate for everybody and I'm hoping that you know we can come to a resolution and with with them but it is a negotiation and takes two parties to agree with that and it's and it's it's a significant impact on everybody involved so certainly in a major impact on their business which and a major impact on the town so so we're trying to come up with something amicable and I think we will I think that our hope was that the state would take a little more leadership in it so that there would be more consistency across the state but I I don't first of all I don't think we can wait any longer for them and and I doubt that they will if you come to it a group an agreement with the bus company because I have to go through the approval of town or is that just within the school department yes within the school department but I intend to bring something to your to a school committee meetings for your approval thank you anyone else I guess I'll just say that I don't think anyone in the committee wants to strike a deal with them though it's gonna put them out of business I think that would be that would be the catastrophic of you know affect him I don't think you know that hurts everyone in this aspect so I know that mr.
Beresford so that recommendation will come back to us at another meeting for approval of appointment to fill the spot designated on the Carmel Public Library board for a school district as you remember as you may or may not remember the last appointment we filled was someone that's near and dear to all of us a former principal in high school so we will get to that another meeting do we have any questions for dr. Beresford thank you seeing none the next discussion item is a presentation by mr.