Um, so have we had any of those discussions yet or going down that that route at this point? Definitely when when this first became an issue in terms of of service um we'll say late summer early fall and started having uh some discussions with them uh we had some informal uh conversations with our other two providers to um get an idea of if what would that cost and then how long would that take to ramp up a service to take over some or maybe all of those routes. uh we were uh getting responses that it would take maybe three months from when we said to to go before they could take over routes. They have to buy buses, drivers, mechanics, they have to really ramp up their their process. So, uh we did not formally do anything with them, but we did have those informal conversations.
If the uh their concerns are cannot be addressed by our standard customer service reps, they forward it to me and I schedule a time to either call them or physically meet with them to take a look at the work together um and address any questions that they have. Is there anything else? >> Um, I don't think so. That's about it for the pruning. Uh, like I said, it's it's work that we've done before. >> Yeah. >> Becca, did you did you have anything to weigh in at this point? >> Uh, I would just add um in clarification because I'm sure uh a lot of people don't know what the ANIE standards are. Those are national standards that um as Matthew mentioned are are used in the industry, not just utilities, but forestry as well. Um it's actually the standards that we use in town um when we're hiring contractors for pruning, planting, anything.
um if we give enough leeway or time to um say the beginning of next school year, that would that would definitely provide enough time to for them to make those adjustments and and um you know provide those services. >> Okay. >> Um one more question. Um so our transportation we do get some reimbursement back from the state and categoricals. Would any of this additional emergency money that we have to pay now be included in that reimbursement? >> Yes. >> When we submit that? >> Yes, definitely. Um the good news is that we would get some of this back in our reimbursement. Um the the the bad news is as Dr. Nolton kind of talked about in his state report on Monday, our percentage of of mandated categorical reimbursements are are going down. So the the the rate of which we are receiving uh these reimbursements is declining uh in the governor's budget.
Um so just clarifying what that is, that those are the standards we use and um clearly Eversource uses the same. >> Thank you. Thanks, Becca. Um, Trisha, I just had a quick question. I remember at the last meeting that we had and and maybe I just am confused. I thought there was going to be removal and lots of trees. It sounds like we're just pruning, which is quite different. >> That's actually part two of there's >> Yeah, there's two items and and I said that we can talk about it all at one time, but this this obviously is kind of a nice little package. So, Got it. >> Okay. Thank you for clarifying. Yes. >> So, did anyone have any other questions about the this kind of pruning part of it? Okay. Um, in that case, uh, we do need a motion to approve. >> Motion to approve the Eversource Scenic Roads annual tree maintenance.
They are putting more money into the mandated categorical. So that's good news. But the the percentages that we've seen in the past whether it's 65 80% are much lower uh than than what we should actually get. But that's a good point. We will get reimbured for some of this. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Good question. Okay. All right. At this point, I need to raise the question. Lisa, if you could take the role. >> Dan, >> yes. >> Kelly, >> yes. >> Member Dabber. >> Yes. Motion passed. >> Facilities report. >> Good evening everybody. Um I don't have a whole lot new to update the board with. Um S J covered a lot of building finance. Sorry I missed this last Monday. Um, we're working on procuring uh equipment, getting submittals put in, uh, working on schedule, finishing up contracts. Maybe any particular questions on projects, I'm willing to answer, but wish I had more updates, but not yet.
>> And a second. >> Second that. >> Roll call vote. >> Deep. >> Anna Tesmania. I >> scarier. I >> And Trisha Kendall I. So that has been approved. Okay. No. So now we can move on to the uh the second part which was Anna's question which is about the um removals which is more unusual and I'll let Matt I'll let you uh take it from there. >> Um so now I need to introduce myself twice. Um but uh I am a certified arborist. I have been for many years. Uh I've been working um and uh I've been working for utility for about eight years at this point uh either as a contractor or directly. Um, on the right, uh, is a nice little intro image. Um, and this is not an image that I had in my back pocket. This is one that was sent to me by a tree crew yesterday, uh, from our storm response, uh, in southeastern Massachusetts.
It's going to come soon enough. >> We know you're working hard, so thank you. >> We just saw you. >> All right. We have no new business. We have next old business world language updateformational. Um, what we did differently with this time is I know everybody might have got a chance to see the presentation if you've looked at it. Lisa and um, Dr. Huffman did print it up. And what I would strongly encourage everyone is because they've got a lot of things to say. It's very impressive, very comprehensive. I'm hoping that we could kind of sit back and listen to the presentation so the people in the audience and the people on that are watching live can hear it. And for example, if you have a question on slide 12, she might have it answered by question 14 and we rather have some fluid discuss >> presentation and then we'll come back maybe with some questions because I know at the end there's some decisions and kind of which pathway we're going to take.
You can see that a large tree has fallen onto our high our high voltage primary lines. Um, and I think this is a really good illustration of what we're trying to prevent for a few different reasons. one obviously the power is out uh which nobody wants to have happen but um what is interest what is interesting about this image is the wires are contacting the tree uh the tree is contacting this metal chain leak fence uh if these wires are active then this fence is electrified >> um not a good situation uh so our goal with these removal projects is to prevent these uh situations from happening uh I promise I love trees that's why I became an arborist Um but um so this is the circuit that I want to talk about for the removal project. Um the highlight the streets are highlighted in uh lime.
But take it away. You have worked really hard on this. >> As Dr. Hoffman is uh keying up the the presentation. Uh I do first of all I want to thank many people in the uh the audience tonight for sticking around for this presentation as I know many of your public comments were addressing uh our progress that we're making towards this um uh unique uh challenge and you you'll hear why I'm using the term unique as uh Dr. Huffman unpacks some of the steps that we are taking. Uh but I do want to thank you again for for staying around unfortunately um and I don't want to lecture you like I lecture my 20 and 18year-old children. Um, but social media is a terrible way to learn uh what's going on in the world. Uh, but talking to people, having communication, having an understanding, uh, absolutely is.
Uh the long the longer one is house street and then the shorter one coming off of it is cross street. Uh this circuit the 455H3 um is what we call a penalty circuit. It's reaching a threshold set by the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities uh of approaching a threshold that um the DPU considers not acceptable for Massachusetts uh citizens to have to um uh deal with in terms of power outages and power reliability. Uh there's been too many outages on this circuit. Um >> what what does that mean like um approaching a threshold? Is that related to trees or is that something different? Um, so it it any outage caused by anything counts. Uh, funnily enough, it includes car uh includes cars driving into poles and knocking out the power. Uh, we can get penalized for that. Um, even though it's not something we have any control over.
And Dr. Huffman and I have had lots of conversations with community leaders um and other individuals as we progress in this as uh we've unpacked in October or excuse me in August uh at our education committee uh based on the the um direction of our of our school board. Um we uh certainly have done a lot of work in the meantime but please keep in mind uh our students uh have to choose uh classes for next year by January. Um so it seems like sometimes that we um the the the wheels of change is slow. Uh but there are deadlines and timelines. Our our kids are are registering for next year. Uh we have to have everything up and and and loaded for them to consider courses uh as we get to uh essentially November and December. Um so we're on that trajectory and and Dr.
Um, most of the outages are tree caused just generally speaking for utilities. Um and uh what what I mean by a threshold uh is um the duration of outages. The amount of time that the average um person fed by the circuit uh the amount of time that they've experienced without power is uh accumulated enough that it's reach that is reaching that threshold. >> Okay. So power being out for any reason along there adds adds on to this the number reached to that's going toward this threshold. >> Correct. >> Can I get just to clarify this is a threshold that ever source must meet for the state of how quickly you respond to when power is out and you have to pay a penalty. Right. But this has nothing to do with the town of Ashlin being required in any way to address any kind of threshold.
Huffman will will discuss some of the the unique challenges we have um for a 4-year program, which is definitely unique than what of the the school board typically votes on, which is coursework uh or classes um that uh are usually uh a little bit distinct from a four-year program such as the world language. So, Dr. Huffman, thank you for for putting this together and um certainly turn it over to you at this time. >> Good evening. I'm here tonight to provide an update to the board of education and the community on the work that we have done uh regarding the direction of language instruction in the district. Offering new courses is an exciting prospect that holds significant potential and benefit to our students. It's an opportunity to provide our students with valuable skills in an increasingly interconnected world. Learning the language fosters critical thinking and builds students linguistic and cultural proficiencies.
>> Correct. It's Eversource's responsibility um to immediate >> I just want to be clear that that threshold has zero obligation to the town of Ashlin. It's not like we the town of Ashlin gets penalized. Eversource has to respond within a certain amount of time to outages. Um so I just didn't want the board to be confused. Thank you. >> Yes, I am the one under fire. Don't worry. >> And I just want another one for clarification. It is approaching that limit because in the past how many years it is reached So the the list of circuits that are in danger of hitting this threshold or calculated by is in the bottom 5% of reli of circuit reliability for three years in a row. So this isn't a result of a storm that happened last year. Um this isn't a like a recent spike in outages.
and Arabic as a world language provides access to a rich historical and cultural heritage equipping our students with a high demand skill. As with any courses that we bring to the board for approval, we want them to be successful and tonight we will spend some time reviewing the steps that the district has taken towards that success along with the necessary decisions ahead. The ultimate goal is to have a successful and sustainable program. And there are some additional factors to consider to ensure that we can offer the very best world language programming here in district 230 with the aim of the 2728 school year. Here is the district's procedures for the adoption of a new course. The course development process can take anywhere from a year and a half to two years. The prior school year will begin with a course proposal that originates from teachers in the academic department.
It's a consistent pattern of poor reliability. >> And what other myth? >> Yeah, that that could that could be about cars running into things. It could be about wind tunnels. It could be about frankly an infrastructure reliability with Eversource that has zero to do with a nice tree in Ashland. >> Yes. Although like I said the majority of tree of the majority of outages are caused by trees. Um the tree >> do you have data that that's our problem? Like meaning is it these particular trees? Um, I don't have specific data about um that, but that's definitely something that I could find um and and send to the board. >> And I still have some more questions. Um, what other as we get into this and you go through the trees that you're thinking about, what other methodologies has have you done to try to improve that area since, you know, it's been going on for three years now?
That proposal is discussed with the academic department across the district. A draft of the proposal is developed with a course outline, rationale for the course, budgetary and staffing implications, and the impact the course will have on our other course offerings. The course proposal is reviewed by myself and the associate principles for instruction. Upon approval for the course, we convene the contractual curriculum advisory committee. Their role is to consider and make recommendations when a course is added or deleted. Following recommendation from curriculum advisory, the course is presented to education committee members and then finally the board of education for approval. Upon board of ed approval, the course is added to the course guide. Students then participate in the course selection process where they select their classes for the next school year. Following course selection, we review the number of students who are interested in each course districtwide and we make decisions about the courses we will offer next school year and how we will staff those courses.
Have you added more poles? Have you put in more lines? Like what else what other things have you done before coming to us to talk about the trees? >> Um in terms of putting in new poles and new lines, um I don't think that there have been any um infrastructure upgrades for this circuit. Um but um generally when we are doing those kinds of projects where we are raising the poles, you know, when you put the poles higher, you put the wires higher, it's less of a chance for a tree to fall onto it. Um what you're doing when you do that is you raise you're raising the wires into canopy of established trees. And now we have a bigger problem which is high voltage lines are touching major uh significant parts of trees, large parts of trees that they were not before. and now I'm coming to you with a whole line of trees that I need to get removed because they're going to catch on fire because these poles have been raised.
Depending on teacher certification and the number of full-time teachers we need in each department, we then determine any hiring needs. The hiring process commences and the curriculum is then developed. Here's a contractual language related to curriculum advisory. For your reference, our program review in world language has been a part with our world language teachers and our division chairs over that division. uh they have been hard at work focusing on establishing a performance-based model really focusing on how can we ensure that we are communicating in a language rather than learning about a language. This program review has achieved consensus on a curriculum aligned to the American Council on the Teaching of foreign language proficiency levels. Here's a visual example of the alignment to the proficiency levels, creating a clear staircase of growth that will apply to all languages in district 230. By the fourth year of the language, our goal is for students to end at intermediate high and earn the seal of biiteracy.
Um, so it's not that's not necessarily uh the solution that results in fewer trees and me asking for fewer trees. Sorry, just to go back to the specific question. You haven't done anything besides come to us and ask about the You're about to ask about the trees, but nothing else has happened infrastructure-wise on those two streets for the last three years. >> Uh, not that I'm aware of, but like I said, the majority of >> I just want I just want to understand if there was like you tried other things and then you're coming to this or like this is just coming to us now. So I just wanted to understand so I can help with that decision going forward. Thank you. >> Yes. Um like I said the majority of um just like not specific to Eversource, not specific to the circuit, the majority of outages across all electric utilities or tree cost.