Wish you the very best in your future endeavors. Thank you to all the families that have joined us online this morning. We're now ending the live stream so our graduates complete the checkout process. We'll be back 10:15, 10:30 with our senior signing. See you then. Thank you. [applause]
Um, next slide, please. In every school, you can see the impact. Strong early literacy, STEM opportunities, inclusive classrooms, and social emotional learning. And by building those programs in district, we save millions while keeping the students in their own community. Um, we're doing more with less, have been good stewards of your tax dollars. Thank you all for coming tonight and um, we appreciate you being here to help us protect the progress that we've made. >> Thanks, Lori. The final report under article one is from town manager Michael Herbert.
We believe that by providing opportunities to create awareness and acceptance and building a sense of true belonging, not just the space. Bringing professional insight, guidance, and knowledge to our families and creating the space to intentionally listen and hear the parents and staff who have concerns. Our efforts help shape the planning, the services, the interventions and decisions during individual PPT meetings every day. Unfortunately, much of our impact ends on the individual level despite our efforts to encourage family engagement and to meet with administrators and express our concerns over the trends that are apparent systemically. That's why I'm here tonight with sincere gratitude. Thank you to our board of education and to our new superintendent, Mr. Faresi, for the leadership and vision behind the decision you're about to make. Establishing a special education committee is more than a structural change. It's a powerful step forward towards bridging that individual experience with broader lasting impact.
So, we're obligated to make sure that it's like a 9-hour day, like T was saying, like all of these things under the guise of the grant >> so that we can use that money for that program. >> Got it. >> So, that's where we're responsible to make sure that we're meeting the guidelines of the grant. But, as far as if there was an incident or something happened, that would fall under their jurisdiction of they have a board, right? They have to give us proper insurance, all of those things. Um, so does that answer your question? >> As far as u uh their standard operating proceed procedures, do we have anything to do with that? Do they have their own policies for security and things like that? >> Yeah, I'm sure they have their own like handbook and they have things signed and all this. >> We don't have any involvement with that.
They don't have to be super super specific. They can be a little bit more broad. >> I used to write goals all the time. >> Be careful what you wish for. >> No, I'm just saying I know they can be broad. Yes. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So, um, >> probably the trees back. >> Yeah. All right. Um, jumping down to section two. Can we can we go down there? >> Yeah, sure. >> And, um, the first one is very similar to getting everybody involved in them, right? I mean, that's that's number one. >> Yeah. And number one is something that I not struggled with, but I want to keep kind of at the forefront. Um, for instance, I know we've been working with several of our schools have received the community schools grant and it's really important to me that we do use that and everything we do to be really responsive and have each of our schools be unique to the students who go there.
Good evening everyone. Um, historically under article one, I have used that opportunity as a way to review some of the projects that were previously approved at town meeting. Uh tonight though, I want to use uh the time here in article one to talk about the general fiscal context that we're operating in this fiscal year. You have heard um I'm sure about the uh proposition 2 and a half override that we have proposed um to the community. And the reason why we are in that position is inflation has finally outran what we are able to raise in property tax revenue which is limited to 2 and a.5% each year plus new growth. Um cumulative inflation between 2020 and 2024 has grown by 22%. Whereas the levy the property tax levy has only grown 13%. a municipality. It's important to know even when inflation starts coming down, a municipality can't just recover the ground that it lost during those high inflation years.
It's an opportunity to strengthen or rewrite policies, raise standards, and create a cultural root root. A culture rooted in trust, collaboration, and transparency. This decision has the potential to shape not just services, but possibilities, and to ensure that every student is equipped to succeed in ways that are meaningful to them and possibly visualize, maybe even for the very first time, what their own portrait of a graduate looks like when they look in the mirror. I recognize the complexity of this work and the intention and the care that it truly requires. But please know this that tonight is really truly about hope. It represents the voices of families and educators who have been waiting for this moment and who despite the frustration and aggravation believe deeply in what our district can become. A place of learning that believes every child matters and feels they belong and has what they need to thrive.
>> Not typically. No. >> Curious. They're our children like the program. So I didn't know if we had any oversight over them. We have oversight as it falls under the guise of like the what we have to meet under the grant like programmatically the the guidelines and they probably have guidelines on them as to what they have to do to hire employees and what background checks to TV tests fingerprinting. They have all the standard things employed. >> Two two people with kids at a time. Probably not. And let them unless they're back. I guess you can have >> I mean they have their own board and they have meetings. So I'm sure you could go to one of those if you wanted. >> Yeah, >> that would be nice. >> And um so you know as it relates to the contract um I don't know if you noticed but I'll point out that it's the same cost as last year.
So we don't see things like the community school grant. It's just another pot of money to do what we're already doing. But to make sure that we have a lot of input from the community, neighbors, families, students of course um to make sure that every you know every small group of students has we can target more and more, right? Like in a district we have to be really general. The site we have to be really specific specific as we can be in terms of what does this particular group of students need. Um So I just want to I see that's one of the the lowest thing we rated ourselves on in section two. Um I mean we give a 3.6 out of five which is by no means bad and I think we are doing a pretty good job. I really want to make sure that in some way we keep our focus on that and I'm not making really high levelic health but I'm making sure thinking about how all of our students affect individual sites and how those be tailored for the particular students and students >> and the needs of all students is is a term that we have purposefully included in so much of our language because it is in fact our intent to meet the needs of all students, whether they be um you know, special ed or or um you know, having particular needs.
Um just because the inflation slows doesn't mean you start off from a level playing field again. Primarily what is driving this across the Commonwealth is health insurance costs. Um, health insurance has gone up in the the group insurance commission, which is the statewide program which we're a part of. It's gone up 7 and a half% overall in an average. Um, our health insurance budget has gone up by $700,000, a little over 8% because of where our employees choose to go to their plans. And our health insurance budget is $9.7 million. No point of order during article one. >> Like I said, we're not the only community that's facing this right now. Um, all across the state, we have seen a historic wave of overrides as other communities have faced this same situation. 54 out of 351 municipalities have placed override questions on local ballots in fiscal year 2026.
where educators and staff feel genuinely supported, respected, and valued, not only with words and gifts, but through meaningful action. And where every parent isn't just given the right to meaningful participation in their child's education, but truly knows what it looks like in practice and every interaction and where there are encouraged where they are encouraged and included with full transparency as an equal and intentional partner of their child's educational journey. On behalf of Brookfield Septto and myself, thank you for taking this important step forward. We appreciate your commitment and we stand by ready to support this next chapter with optimism, collaboration, and lots of gratitude. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. Okay. Moving on to written correspondence time. The following people have written in since our last meeting on April 8th. Andy Korea, seven emails. Tara Peterson, Chris Hughes, two emails, Juan Okalar, two emails.
Um there was originally an ask for that to be more the original contract that was submitted and the district went back and said no, we need to we need to keep it the same. Um because we use our EOL funding for some other things as well and so we wanted to make sure that we still were able to do those things. Um and then they came back affected at the same the same amount. >> And just to be clear, the ELO funding covers the cost of the My Club program and other things we do. We're not making a contribution or taking money from other areas >> for this program. That's what I understand. >> So, I had a question and maybe you don't know the or I mean anyway, the swim contract that's like almost, you know, $43,000. Um, I was just curious, is is my club taking care of the swim program at the high school?
Um that's our you know, that's always been part of our philosophy is meeting the needs of all students. >> Kind of basically number seven. >> That's what I was going to say. which we didn't score the highest on. And I think um you know in education the pendulum always swings and I'm feeling like the pendulum you know swung and now it's getting ready to to swing back and we need to um be aware of that so that we are making sure that we are meeting those kids needs not just academically but um mental health and socially emotion socially emotionally social whatever. >> Thank you. supports. >> Yeah. You know, um um you know, and I think we've somewhat rebounded from COVID, but you know, there's still, you know, effects of that. So, I think keeping that in the forefront of our minds along with our mission statement and our equity statement to to make sure that we're really meeting the the needs of the students.
Um, there are 74 questions. um those 54 meaning those 54 municipalities have placed a total of 74 questions on the ballot, the second largest total since the early 1990s. And the total um has been 158 million. Um just the other day, Brookline, I believe, passed one of the largest ones, if not the largest one in history, of $23 million. Again, I want to reinforce that Ashland is not an anomaly here. We are facing the same fiscal pressures as every community here in the Commonwealth. I had mentioned that inflation is finally outrunning the revenue um increase the cap in the revenue increase that we're allowed under Proposition 2 and a half. And just simple math, um the 2 and a half% increase this year is $1.4 million. Again, health insurance is going up almost 800,000. The retirement assessment has gone up 352,000. And Keith Tech, which I will have to say is probably one of the best values here in the Commonwealth, um, we still have to pay their assessment, which is going up 32% this year.
Emanuel Fernandez, Katiana Bonafoy, Joselyn Franklin, Reese Aeros Thuy, Aaron Shikora, um, Camila Paresi, Mark Morash, two emails, Jen Roa, Travis Tanuis, Irene Korea, and Nani Vadatu. That's it. >> All right. Thank you. Uh we'll move on to approval of board minutes. >> I move that the board approve the minutes as recommended. Regular meeting 4826, special meeting which is foyer training on 42326 and a special meeting on 42726. Second. >> Okay.
they take it over for the summer. So they have to handle all the supplies, the staffing, the um the liability, insurance, everything. So they run the pool for the for the high school for the summer. And so that's what that cost entails. And you know, they hire like the lifeguards and the snack chefers and all that's included in that cost. >> So really, my club is running the >> they run the pool because they offer it to all um community members that people can come. There's open swim. >> Okay. Okay. Cuz I was like, "Yeah, $43,000." We're like, "Our students is a lot of money." >> Well, they aren't It's also They're in program during the day, too. They're not at the pool the whole time. So, they they do have their what are they called? They're teachers. I'll just say they're teachers. Um still at their sites running program, child care, and you know, other other programs during the summer also.
I think number seven is really a weighty job. I mean, to me, maybe it's too many things all in one um um because I see like this is okay maybe I'll just go ahead and read it since it's ensure that a safe and appropriate educational environment is provided to all students I think there's definitely um that that could be anything from you know physical safety on the campuses um you know we had discussions of implementing SRO's um it could also include um our action we took towards um uh using Chromebooks in a more um thoughtful yeah useful, productive way and limiting um access to the you know the Chromebooks. I see that as a safety issue um that we've addressed this year. And then also at the same time, I feel like there's an a strong element of um inclusiveness because we're we're saying, you know, that we need to provide the safe and appropriate education environment to all students.
So that's the cost scenario that we're facing right now. And and I do want to say that we have done everything that we could to control those costs. Just looking at three initiatives alone, we have saved 16.3 million uh for taxpayers here in Ashland. Um and again, those are just three initiatives. Changing our health insurance plan, um which has saved $15 million, energy efficiency improvements that we have made over the course of these 10 years, as well as financing them with competitive qualified energy conservation bonds, which actually subsidize our interest. That means lower cost to taxpayers. In addition, we have actually gone out as a team, as a group of staff and volunteers, and have actually been out to go go out and get competitive grants totaling $32 million, which far outpaces any other community here in the region. Um, again, we've done this as a way to be more efficient and to save Ashland taxpayers um as much money as possible.
Any discussion, question, comments, concerns for anyone? >> All right. All those in favor of u approval of the board minutes, please indicate by saying I. I >> I any naysay? >> No nays. Thank you very much. 6 pass. >> Superintendent Fari. >> It's all you. >> All right. >> Thank you. Thank you so much. Um I first wanted to start with something that um many folks were able to reference earlier. >> I first wanted to start with something that many folks were able to reference earlier. My microphone wasn't on. I'm sorry about that. and um and that was the outstanding performance that occurred here by the CLES band earlier uh this evening. Um so Mr. uh Marenna just did a phenomenal job preparing our students uh to be able to play um some extraordinary music uh and what I would consider some difficult music and the way in which they uh were able to perform and always stick right on beat uh was just impressive.
And then just and then they also said we'll take kids to the pool during the designated pool time. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> And I know we get the funds for it, but I was still just curious like cuz that was a lot of money for the pool. >> It's not just the pool. >> Oh, okay. Got it. It's for the other programming as well. >> It's like the summer programs. Got it. >> I was just curious who oversees the the program the teen center that's across from the high school. Who's who pays for that? >> Not us. >> Yeah. Um, I mean that's at my club own facility, but >> I don't anything about that because I think it's ninth grade. >> Any other questions, comments? >> I think that we're good. We're good. Keeping the price the same as last year.