I'm going to let Dr. Phillips answer. Thanks, Mr. Glick. The uh we we are 100% certain that once the the referendum that we have proposed with the budget that we proposed, um essentially the only thing left in there is people. It's uh our retention increases for teaching staff, uh retention hourly increases for classified staff, and uh school resource officers, and STEM teachers. Uh that's it. That's the only Those are the only things left in there. So, then if in fact the referendum does not pass in this coming fall, then at that point we all collectively, including the teachers association, school board members, and others, uh will have to sit down and plan for 2028, at which time um with you know, the board's leadership, I assume that we would pursue putting it on the ballot in the fall of 2028. Um but essentially at that point, the choices are you know, reduce pay, reduce people, or cut spending elsewhere, but probably some combination of all three.
Um that you're approving. Um to that point, as Mr. Angler said, you know, we we are not going to do a full characterization of the site right now. Um I think you know, we could test do another 10 or 15 borings and maybe we find nothing in them and then 10 ft over you might find something in construction. All right, so say we find another VOC or five more VOCs. The soil management plan is still accounting for that because it's telling you exactly how we're handling that soil. The only thing would be that we recommend a condition that if another VOC or metal is found, cuz we have metals and VOCs on site, we just confirm that the soil management plan is applicable to that. We anticipate it will be cuz they're similar in many ways. But if something new does is found during that full characterization of the site, we will be back before you.
>> Yep. >> Okay. >> So, we usually do that at 5 in the afternoon. Is that right? So, what works best for >> the proper child? [laughter] >> Now, now Can we do a 5:30? >> Was it when when? >> Well, I'm just saying it doesn't have to be a Monday. >> Yeah, I could. No, I'm >> It can be anytime, right? >> Yeah. Any other day I I still can be there at 5, but I would make 5. I just live down there. >> And if you just maybe decide on a couple of dates so that we can reach out to MASC and make sure that your representative is available. I mean, the week of the the week of August 10th is not uh does not work for me. >> Okay, >> that's a good week to have it then. >> Yeah, that's fine.
Um and that having a full-time person dedicated to that can pretty significantly influence outcomes for those kids. Uh so, this person's dedicated to that and working in collaboration with our admin team to try and ensure the best outcomes for these students as they matriculate up. The The uh academic outcome impact is is very high. Uh the fiscal impact is very high if we don't do it well when kids are first entering our school system. Because if they first enter the school system and just say they got incompletely diagnosed for something, and then it just becomes It's compounded problems >> much more costly cuz there's a lot more interventions later on that >> Yes. potentially could have been avoided if it was identified saying pre-K. >> That's what we try and avoid you know to the greatest extent we can and you know having a lot of eyes on that um is helpful.
So, I think that um I always make that comment about paying the taxes of the past and other people's decisions, but hearing from our families and all of our families has been um positive. It's changed a lot. You know, I'm looking at these elementary schools with these inclusive and accessible play spaces right now. And I'm just proud of that. Like that makes me proud and it makes me see that any child, no matter what their abilities, you know, they can access and have that. So, thank you to the team and to everyone that, you know, there's challenge ahead and I know it's hard, but to everyone in the room and and our our staff that are going to continue to work with the students in the ASD program. So, just want to make sure I mention that. Thank you so much for that information. Um next we have review of District 62 Student Handbook common pages, Mr.
Oh, I mean, we do That's why we do the surveys. We'll do the check-in in the fall. We do the one in the spring to see if it was. The feedback this year was that it was. It was communicated effectively. Uh and then it was well received. So, I hope we'll have the same thing next year, but we'll do our best based on all of this feedback that we have to develop an appropriate plan from now until everybody comes back next year. And we roll it out, we share it, we explain it, we answer all the questions, we do all our drop-in sessions, we do all of those things to make sure that we're gathering all of the feedback. We listen to that feedback holistically and respond to it. That doesn't mean that somebody might come to us and they might say what I really want to have happen is this, and they might not get their request, right?
That's going to take a real collective team effort. That's the the worst case scenario, obviously. What I We're we're not to that point in the agenda, but I do because we're talking about it now. The part that really concerns me about this fall if 2026 is not successful as that you know, we have 600 more than 600 teachers who currently receive a significant portion of their salary through referendum pay. And that's the reason we're 11 or 12% above the state average in our average teacher salary and reason that our retention's been low. We have had great outcomes for kids. Um there will probably be an enormous amount of anxiety on the part of our of our staff in general if we go past November of 2026 and are not successful. And that could result in some preemptive turnover even prior to 2028 as folks think, you know what?
Condition it in the order. So you have assurances, so we can come back with our LSP and say, "Nope, we found two more VOCs, for example, hypothetically." Uh the soil management plan fully accounts for them just like the PCE and TCE. So we're satisfied and you're satisfied, DEP satisfied, and then we move forward with removing that that area. Hopefully we don't find anything else. So if we do, it's more than likely going to be one of the ones we've already found. Um cuz we do have a good sampling of the site. It's not like we're coming in here blind with one soil boring. We've You've seen that plan. There's a lot of testing on this site. We have a pretty good idea what's there. Do we know for a fact that's it? No. Um but our soil management plan has been put before you to account for that.
[laughter] >> Okay. As I've said before, I'm one person, you know, >> do we want to look at the week of August 17th or the week of August 24th? >> Either or works. >> Either way, either one. either. >> Okay. >> Yeah. >> Bess, >> Monday, Tuesday, >> you have furoughed brow. >> Yeah. Well, I I'm not sure that I could do uh the 19th at 5 5:30. >> But otherwise, um those two weeks you mentioned were fine. [clears throat] [cough] >> Do we want a Wednesday? Is that >> No, doesn't matter. Do >> you want just not a Monday? I is my understanding. >> Yeah. You want Tuesday the 18th? Does Tuesday the 18th work? >> Sounds good. >> Tuesday the 18th works. Yeah. >> And do we want an alternate date in case our folks aren't available? >> Sure. Yeah. I mean, >> we want to say the 25th.
And still people that are involved in that process is is really important in our opinion. Now you know are instructional supplies important and valuable? Absolutely. But you know part of dealing with our budget especially when there's a crunch is all right where do we in our professional opinion feel the dollars are best spent and I'm giving you that recommendation. Now of course the board could say tomorrow well you know let's not do this and let's cut two other positions and we'll have a STEM person at at the high school. I think that's valuable. It's just not what we feel right now is the best application of money but you know I don't make that decision. I make recommendations. Yeah no no no I understand. I appreciate that. >> Yeah. Okay. So will the new person who we're hiring as a supervisor of elementary will they oversee Darcy too?
White. I will ask Dr. Cristofaro to come back and and bring us >> [laughter] >> give us some of Yeah. All right. Hopefully you all were able to review the proposed changes. Our annual process really involves a couple things. We review the handbook as a cabinet and team and then we also work with council for any legislation updates and feedback on our current handbook. So these recommendations are a result of that review by our cabinet and also from feedback our attorneys. I would say there's not as many changes as there were last year. Last year I remember there were quite a few. Probably the biggest things to note is that we won't because we're moving to full day kindergarten, we won't have a separate kindergarten handbook but we will be inviting like a section of purposeful play into the handbook this year and I attached that.
Um I can't necessarily guarantee that every single individual will get exactly what they ask for, but I can say that holistically leading the organization forward, we look at all of that feedback and determine what we believe is the next appropriate step. And then after we make those moves, we are gathering You've seen it all year. We We gather that feedback and we use it to modify, whether it's from students and what you saw with activities, athletics, relationship mapping, and staff and morale surveys and these other surveys. And the data that they give us, whether it's 82 people or 700 people, we use that data to determine what our next steps are and it influences the decisions that we make. All right, any other questions on that? All right, that'll be up for a vote tonight. All right, uh parent teacher advisory committee meeting, Scott. I'll turn this over to you.
I've got I might move back home closer to parents or to family or some other place because I know there I can predict what my salary will be well from one year to the next without having to have that anxiety or live and die with the uh with the um election every every other fall. So, I That's my the thing that concerns me, of course. Um we've started uh Dr. Bozeman and I started to look at what that looks like, what kind of reductions both in people and salaries as well as in other expenditures would have to be made. And the simple truth is that they're all painful. To follow up on a little bit of potential turnover, um there have been referendums that have been defeated uh in past years to include last fall Fort Wayne that one failed. So, could we get some data and statistics on potential turnover that they experienced and even Brownsburg in the past as well to kind of have some anecdotal comments towards that and give us some evidence.
Um and this is where we like the conversation to move forward with these type of questions, um which which are really good questions and we if you have any others, I'd recommend putting them in writing and we can provide another supplement as as as you said. Um we anticipated this tonight and we'd probably have another hearing and we want to address those questions and we want a solid plan before you for how the soil and water are going to be handled on the site because no one wants anything to happen here. We don't want any soil water getting off the site that is contaminated. It's It's It's We don't. And Mr. English committed to that. One thing I'm sorry. Yeah, I Did you want to ask a question? I just had a a general question. So Go ahead. One of our a comment, yeah, that I'd like to see a little more information on in um item four of your most recent submission, you talk about um the um water treatment system with a quite a few components to it.
>> Happy birthday. Yeah. >> Yep. >> 25th. Sure. Sure. All right. 18th or 25th? >> We good? >> Yep. >> Do we have to? No. >> Okay. >> 5:30. >> Any other announcements? Okay. Our next meeting, our next regular meeting of school committee is scheduled for Monday, June 8th at 6 PM. Right here. Madam Chair, I make a motion we adjourn to executive session. Great. >> Uh, pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 3A sections 21A 7 and 22G, res review executive session minutes and not [music] return to open session. >> We have a motion. >> Second. >> Um, so we have a motion by Mr. Noon, second by Mr. Oliver, [music] and can we have a roll call, please? Miss Gantner. >> Miss Coughlin. >> Yes. Kathleen Emerald, [music] >> yes. >> Chris Oliver, >> yes. >> John Nunes, >> yes. >> Mary Beckwood, >> yes.
They'll be involved the same way that Christina was involved um you know in in supporting that program. Supporting Darcy? Are you talking about the the pre-K program? Yes. >> Okay. Just to be clear. Okay. I was like wait before I keep Darcy for the next job because Although the thought crossed my mind at one point about like could we do five smart starts and so the five transition Um jacked up the tuition by the way when I say that it's uh more than enough to cover enrollment and generate revenue. It's still less than what daycare providers would charge, but first of all, I'm not sure we have the volume to do that. Keeping that building open, that building's an abomination. That would be terrible. And third, like I don't want to inadvertently put daycare providers in town out of business. Um it just doesn't make sense.
The other probably biggest change was the section on behavior and safety and that was really a result of the feedback that Mr. and we got at the parent advisory committee meeting, the parent teacher advisory committee meeting and so even though the content didn't necessarily change, we reworked it to make it more like user friendly based off of that feedback so parents can understand it a little bit easier and makes sense. So those are probably the biggest changes.
>> um I plan on sharing with you just a quick summary of our So, after the parent teacher advisory meeting, we send out a Google Form to those that uh participated and then they give some extra feedback uh to us. I'll share that. I was unfortunately not my first one that I've missed this year uh for the the time I've been in this role. And so, I'm going to lean on Travis and April and Ken to if they have any comments that they want to make. Um and I apologize that I was not able to be there, but um overall, so what we did talk about um at our parent teacher advisory meeting is our our PATH program, which is our in-school intervention restorative practice program. Uh we did talk about attendance and we did focus on uh sharing some data on the first period attendance.
So, we can look to see if there That's a really good question. I know that neither of those have a structure like we do. Brownsburg was trying to pass their first one. I I needed to see if there are renewals that failed in which a significant proportion of staff a thousand classified staff and and six 600 plus um teaching staff were already being paid from the referendum and would lose that. I'll We'll look into that and see if there is another district like that. Good question. Thank you. I just have one question regarding our process for evaluating backfills. I know we're trying to keep classrooms whole and looking at you know all the cast that's behind um in support. If if you do have a teacher leave, do we have policies or practices where we can redeploy a person who might not be in a classroom today to fill that spot as like an indirect way of of eating attrition in a place that we can afford it.
And yet the drawing shows one purple square and a arrow going out. And And that's it. So I mean, this talks about the weir uh weir tank. I'm assuming that's a frac tank. Um the pump system, the filter system, the chemicals settling system, chemical aided settling. Is that what you're using like PAM or some sort of uh flocculant or something? I'm assuming. I'll defer to Bob on that. This Yeah, I can chime in. Um So, yes, there's there's more components to the treatment system. Um and I just want to point out is we we will be required to um submit and apply for a dewatering remediation general permit, which is a permit through EPA. Um a requirement of that is that we give the Conservation Commission a copy of that permit. So, eventually you will see a a more detailed dewatering plan from our our consultant LRT, which will have all these components Okay.