DCRSD SC Mtg January 14 2026

001you feel good all right we're going to convene the meeting to order at what time is it i just lost it on my screen 6 31 p.m for the dudley charlton regional school district school committee meeting at the charlton middle school library on wednesday january 14th 2026. and we're going to start with the pledge of allegiance under God, invisible, with liberty and justice for all. And then we'll take a moment of silence. There is one announcement that I sometimes miss that I know Anthony Abbey would remind me of, which is the recording. So we're recording live on Vimeo as well. And then the normal also reminder is that if anybody here in the audience also would like to record, please just let the chair know. However, we will be having awards in just a moment,

002so those wonderful parents and family members who want to actually record that, trust me, I know you don't have to announce it. Just kind of be like, hey, I know you're going to do it. And so moving on to that happy moment. Madam Chair, it's the book committee. I do like to stand for this. Rich does a good job of grabbing me on the microphone somewhere right this is a certain pleasure as being the superintendent for the Dudley-Chapman Regional School District this is really one of the most exciting opportunities for me to identify students their purpose for their recognition but also celebrate who they are as a person and a Dudley-Chapman Regional School student for us So I have the distinct honor of offering the Superintendent's Certificate of Academic Excellence on an annual basis. And

003I have an incredible student that I'm going to ask to come up and stand next to me as I read this incredible weather. So Christina, come up, please. We'll make sure you're on camera, too, okay? This is Christina Afanayak. Did I say it close? Close. We all want to say Athenaki, but Athenak. So in her parents, Mr. Deputy is there, and Marianne is there as well in the audience. So congratulations. So every year I have a chance to meet with Christina in my office. Every year I get to meet with the students that I'm selecting and I get to sit down and chit chat for a little while and I really get to learn who you are as a person and appreciate you. And I have to say, of all my years, this is my

004seventh year doing this, I'm overwhelmed with your schedule this year. For those of you who may not know, she's taking seven AP courses this year. Seven so that's two outside of Dublin out of Shepherd Hill that she's taken Scheduled period so unbelievable overwhelming in so many regards But I always I was trying to consolidate this in a letter that you're gonna get a copy of this letter as well And then you get the certificate and you get a nice gift for us as well for receiving this award. Okay? So the Dudley-Children's School Committee and the Dudley-Charlton community, I proudly present the 2025-2026 Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents Certificate of Academic Excellence Award to Sheppard Hill Regional High School senior, Ms. Christina Athanyak, ranked first in her class of 2026. Christina has earned a weighted grade

005point average of 4.55, with a consistent A-plus average across all coursework in all of her time at Sheppard Hill. During her senior year, she's enrolled in authority. She had seven advanced placement courses, including two taken independently online, demonstrating exceptional discipline, initiative, and intellectual ambition. Christina's academic achievements include a perfect score on the national Project Lead the Way Principles of Biomedical Science Assessment, second place honors in the Massachusetts Academic Decathlon, and receipt of the J.S. Lim Award for Science. Several of Christina's most advanced courses were completed outside the traditional school schedule, requiring a high level of personal accountability and sustained commitment. Christina applies her academic strengths and service to others through peer tutoring, supporting classmates, and mastering complex content and achieving academic success. She is widely regarded as a loyal, intelligent, and steady. Quality is reflected

006in her quiet leadership. and thoughtful approach to challenges. She credits her passion for science to the mentorship of Ms. Anya Wade. Christina plans to pursue studies in biology. Biology seems, it's only one word, but there's so many avenues of biology that you've talked about that you're looking at and considering, which is fantastic, with the goal of attending medical school and becoming a pediatrician or neonatologist. Her desire to work with children paired with her academic strength and character positions her for a meaningful impact. In summary, Christina Athen-Yak exemplifies academic excellence, integrity, and purpose. With great pride, I present the 2025-2026 Superintendent's Certificate of Academic Excellence to Ms. Christina Athen-Yak. Congratulations, Christina. So here is a copy of the letter. You have a nice gift. So we're going to ask you to hang around because the principal

007is going to give an award, and then we're going to take a couple of pictures. Okay? All right. Congratulations, Christina. And now, Madam Chair, we'll turn it over to Sheppard Hill Regional High School Principal Darren Elwood. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. This evening, as principal of Sheppard Hill, it is my privilege to present Kate Moran the 2026 Principal's Excellence Award in recognition of the many ways in which Kate has contributed to Sheppard Hill's culture of academic excellence. As a resident of Charlton, Kate has attended the Dudley Charlton Regional School District throughout her entire educational career. As a Shepherd Hill student, Kate has immersed herself in academic and extracurricular pursuits, and her work ethic, leadership, and quiet compassion, which I think is a theme tonight, quiet peace, quiet leadership, quiet compassion, have earned the respect of

008teachers and fellow students alike. Prior to making my selection for this award, I spoke to several of Kate's teachers. All of them offered high praise for Kate's character and contributions. I'd like to share a quote from Mrs. Peel, as I think her words illustrate the extent to which the faculty holds Kate in high regard. Quote, Kate is a talented musician and mathematician. There's an exclamation mark there. She is taking AP Calculus BC and is maintaining an A-plus average. She is confident in her abilities and asks great questions which helps her peers benefit from her understanding. She's helpful to others around her and is able to communicate how to solve extremely challenging problems in a way that is easier to comprehend. She is a wonderful asset to our class." Kate's transcript reveals an impressive 4.46 GPA

009as of this time, and she has consistently challenged herself to a variety of advanced placement courses, including AP Biology, Computer Science Principles, English Literature, Environmental Science, Pre-Calculus, US History, Calculus BC, Computer Science A, Statistics, and AP Chemistry. As you would expect, Kate's academic achievement has earned her membership in the National Honor Society, as well as the Tri-M Music Honor Society and the National Art Honor Society. Beyond her academic prowess in the classroom, Kate has also immersed herself in several extracurricular opportunities. Combining musicianship and leadership, Kate has served as the pit band captain, leading the pit band to four best band awards at the New England Show Choir competition in one year while also mentoring peers and coordinating rehearsals. As a member of the Shepherd Hill Jazz Band, Kate served as the rhythm section leader. outside

010of school in the so-called real world Kate is a member of the Envy and Candela bands so there's a very real possibility that you will soon be very famous as I just understood that you now have a promoter who helps to secure gigs and things of that nature so be on the lookout for Envy and Candela the venue near you Beyond her musical pursuits, Kate has been actively involved in Envirothon and the Student Council. And she also serves as vice president of the Robotics Club. Not quite sure when you sleep, but I'm sure you squeeze that in there somewhere. Looking ahead to post-secondary life, Kate has already been accepted to Brandeis University, but hasn't officially committed to any school at this time as she awaits additional decisions. Kate intends to similarly pursue a degree in

011biochemistry or biomolecular sciences, one of those other specialized biology tracks, as well as research. On a personal note, last April, at the pleasure of accompanying our Global Studies scholars to Paris and London, one of them was Kate, and in recent months our school has been reexamining our vision of the graduate. In other words, what do we want Shepherd Hill students to know and be able to do beyond high school? While traveling, Kate was respectful, responsible, and most importantly, open-minded and curious as she embraced the new cultural experiences that awaited. In other words, Kate displays many of the qualities that we would want in any Shepherd Hill graduate. For these and other reasons, The faculty and administration are incredibly proud of Kate and it's my privilege to present the 2026 Principal's Academic Excellence Award. Here is

012a certificate for you and also a gift for you as well. Congratulations. Thank you. So we're going to take a five minute recess so we can take the photos for the yearbook. Now that all the photo ops are done, moving on to consent agenda items. Entertaining a motion for the consent agenda items. All in favor? It's unanimous. Okay, any communications? Anthony? I just wanted to bring to the committee's attention and also the community a service announcement from the Charlton Fire Department for free CPR training. They will be doing... certifications once a month the third Monday of the month you have to sign up ahead of time with Brittany Lee's at the fire department it's available to people from Charlton and out of Charlton the there is a small fee of $25 for this for the

013CPR card but not for the class anyone that is Think she said 16. Yes 16 years and older is eligible. They'll be doing them every month. They're trying to get at least 100 of citizens in the town or Collaboratively certified for CPR. So if anyone's interested, please reach out to Brittany Lee's at the fire station in trouble I received a communication from an eighth grade parent from Dudley Middle School the parent is a member of the music parents association which is why she's not able to be here tonight just concerning the the she wanted to put her support in for for students that are currently attending Bay Path whether we could look for opportunities for those students to join in on the show choir and color guard or color guard I think it was so

014I will forward that email to the committee so that you can read it thank you any other communications Wednesday the 21st is CPAC meeting. It's fully virtual. The board meeting starts at 6.30 and 7 o'clock is the regular meeting. And it's over Google Meet, yes? It's over Google? Google Meet? Oh. Virtual, yeah. Virtual? Yeah. I don't know where. It's somewhere up there. I just push a button and I get it. I'm sure Loretta will send out another. All right, let's see, moving on to student representative report, which I unfortunately wrote down Haley, and it is Danica this time, our lovely Danica. My apologies. Semester one is coming to a close very soon. Beginning on Friday, January 16th, students begin midterm exams. Last night, both the girls and boys basketball team played against Marlboro. At the

015Hill, the boys beat the Panthers 47 to 23, and away at Marlboro, the girls beat them 59 to 42. This past Friday and Saturday, the Drama Club presented their show, Letters from the Titanic. National Honor Society is selling Krispy Kreme donuts for $15 a dozen. The money will support the organization with upcoming events like Kids Night Out and other fun community events. Any questions for our lovely student representative tonight? No? Thank you. And moving on to the superintendent's report. Madam Chair and School Committee, my report, which was a little bit late getting in the file, is centered specifically around fiscal year 2027 budget process. So please bear with me as I read this into the record. Fiscal year 2027, the budget process to include stability, fiscal discipline on our part, and strategic priorities moving forward.

016As we enter the fiscal year 2027 budget cycle, our work continues to be grounded in fiscal stability. conservative planning, and a commitment to financial stewardship informed by a clear understanding of the evolving cost pressures facing public school districts across Massachusetts. While our approach remains deliberate and measured, the fiscal environment in which we operate continues to tighten, and the cost of sustaining our educational program as a school district is increasing at a pace that outstrips available recurring revenues, not only from our communities but from our state as well. As of today, there was a release of the state's fiscal health for next year that I'll speak about. The reality is that the broader state fiscal outlook and what it may look like, state officials recently reached a consensus revenue agreement projecting $44.9 billion in total tax

017collections for fiscal year 2027. This does represent approximately 2.9% growth over fiscal year 2026, 2.9%. This estimate includes revenue generated by the surtax on high-earning households. As we know, that has not always been clear from year to year what the surtax is used for, but that is in that number of 2.9% increase. So when surtax revenue is excluded, the forecast anticipates $42.2 billion in a tax revenue or approximately only 2.4% growth over the current fiscal year. 2026 benchmark. While this projection reflects modest economic expansion, it reinforces the state revenues are not growing at a rate sufficient to absorb inflation driven costs in growth across state and local government services, including public schools. Over the past several years, we have worked hard to stabilize long term contracts and obligations to mitigate substantial increases in transportation, utilities

018and other fixed costs. These efforts have helped reduce volatility and support more predictable budgeting for the past fiscal year, this coming fiscal year, and I would estimate for next fiscal year to an extent. However, the cost simply to continue to operate our district, even at current service levels, continues to rise. Looking ahead, the fiscal pressures associated with fiscal years 2028 and 2029, which I already indicated, are expected to intensify as constrained local and state revenue growth intersects with escalating structural cost drivers. As we navigate these financial considerations, we are also integrating multiple district planning efforts to ensure that our budget development aligns with both immediate needs and long-term sustainability, capital improvement needs, instructional priorities, student services, health insurance, and retiree benefit planning. I just want to repeat that again. Our immediate needs and long-term needs

019for sustainability, capital improvements, instructional priorities, student services, health insurance, and retiree benefit planning must be considered collectively as each directly influences a district's financial posture in long-term viability. At its core, our approach continues to prioritize stability as an essential foundation as we prepare the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District and the communities of Charlton and Dudley. for the significant capital investments that lie ahead. These upcoming projects require careful financial planning and our commitment remains to balance fiscal responsibility with the educational expectations of our students, our staff, and our families. This year's budget presentations will continue to emphasize clearly defined focus areas that guide fiscal decision making. We recognize the importance of maintaining the priorities that principals in our schools and the school committee advocate for annually, and we remain committed to ensuring that our schools receive the

020support necessary to meet student needs. At the same time, we must navigate the complexity of negotiating fair and sustainable labor agreements that reflect both respect for our educators and fiscal responsibilities to our communities. A key factor in the fiscal year 2027 discussion is health insurance. which remains one of the most significant sources of budgetary uncertainty. Health insurance cost growth continues to place substantial pressure on the operating budget, limiting flexibility and crowding out other investments. These challenges are compounded by the complexity of retiree health benefit planning as well, which keep in mind we support over, I think, 360 retirees in their health insurance benefits. Keep in mind with retiree benefits, they operate on a different calendar than our active employee health insurance plans and adds another layer of fiscal risk. Retiree health insurance is January 1

021to December 31. Active employees is July 1 to June 30. So they're two different, they don't always compete in the same operating or budgetary process. One of our guiding principles remains the maintenance of level service budget while positioning the district for future growth. This means sustaining the programs, staffing, and instructional resources our students rely on without compromising financial stewardship. As in every budget cycle, we identify potential reductions, but the challenge remains how to preserve the value of existing programs, positions, while managing rising costs that are largely outside every and all discretionary control. In addition, the district continues to leverage statewide and federal programs that help reduce operational costs while directly supporting students and families. And I'm providing a great example. Dudley Child participates in the National School Lunch Program and qualifies for the community eligibility

022provisions in part because district staff understand and actively respond to community expectations to seek available revenue sources and cost offset programs whenever possible. By maintaining universal free lunch access through this framework, the district supports student well-being while stabilizing participation rates, maximizing reimbursement, and reducing administrative burden. These efforts contribute to our ongoing work to lower local operating costs and reflect the district's broader commitment to fiscal prudence and responsible stewardship of community resources. So I know somebody may say that, well, everyone in the state is free lunch, but we have another layer for that. So if the state loses revenue or reverses their position of lunch, we're still in a position to offer free lunch because of that. So we don't just accept what the state is giving us. We continue to work on these things to

023make sure it's longstanding. access to these resources for our community. At this juncture in our process, it is important to be clear that the needs before us are real and immediate. As a district, we continuously evaluate return on investment, distinguishing between initiatives that are essential to safety, access, compliance, and student growth, and those that may be desirable but not critical at this time. Fiscal prudence requires that limited resources be directed first toward addressing foundational needs with a clear and defensible return on investment for students, staff, and the broader school community. The fiscal year 2027 budget reflects this discipline. Two proposed examples illustrate this approach. First, the inclusion of a school resource officer in coordination with the Charlton Police Department for the Charlton Schools represents an investment in student safety, prevention, and relationship building. This is

024not an enhancement for convenience purposes only, but a necessary measure to support a safe and secure learning environment across our Charlton schools. Second, the proposed addition of an Assistant Director of Student Services is driven by the increasing complexity and volume of special education needs, particularly out of district placements. This role is essential to ensuring appropriate oversight of placements, compliance with state and federal regulations, and the consistent application of well-designed process and procedures. Keep in mind we did have out-of-district coordinators, but we went through the override. Along with the assistant superintendent, we eliminated that oversight as well. It's time we need to bring that back. Just as importantly, this position strengthens our ability to apply the right programming and supports, establish access, and promote meaningful growth for students with disabilities while managing costs responsibly. These investments

025reflect the district's commitment to sustainability, fiscal prudence, and outcomes. They are grounded in need, aligned with regulatory and operational responsibility, and evaluated through the lens of return on investment rather than preference or convenience. In addition, the district continues to experience a shift in how instructional improvement efforts are funded. As external and continuation grants transition to local fiscal support, which we've talked about at this meeting, we have made intentional investments in high-quality instructional materials and curriculum alignment, and these investments now require ongoing year-over-year fiscal support to maintain their effectiveness. While we have applied conservative measures including level funding of supplies year-over-year, diminishing external funding reinforces the need for sustainable local support. We recognize that budgetary constraints are a reality, but our approach must remain collaborative and accountable, working closely with our towns, advocating for the resources

026our schools need, and making deliberate adjustments where necessary. Conservative budgeting has been essential in meeting community expectations, but it does not, on its own, ensure the return on investment that parents and staff gratefully expect. In conclusion, fiscal year, this current fiscal year 2026, the stability of it has provided an important on-ramp for the fiscal year 2027 conversation. As we look ahead, our focus must remain on prudent fiscal management, proactive planning, and clear communication with our stakeholders. Strengthening and aligning our district plan, curriculum plan, technology plan, and capital plan will be essential to navigating the years ahead and ensuring that the Dudley-Charlton remains responsible, prepared to serve students while honoring the trust of our communities. And so there it begins the budget process. We've already started this but that we're really getting to the details so

027That is my presentation for the fiscal preparations for FY 27 moving forward. Madam chair Okay, moving on to public comment do we have anybody for public comment this evening I'm sorry If there's anybody here for public comment, you can just raise your hand, stand up. Okay, yes. All right, so, Caitlin, do you? All right, so instead of me reading the entire policy for public comment, public comment is policy BEDH. So the quick down and dirty of it is all remarks are addressed through the chair at the meeting. So you're allowed up to three minutes to present. Joe, traditionally hits Penn the finance director that keeps time. Sorry. So I know you're new to the district. Sorry, you're just inheriting it. All right. And basically, you give your full name, your town of residence. And basically,

028we just ask that you keep the comments to what school committee members actually have scope of. Technically speaking, the First Amendment of free speech, you have three minutes. Alright, so my name is Michelle McLaughlin. I'm from Dudley. I have currently two students in the district and I have one student that goes to Bay Path. And I want to thank you guys for giving me the opportunity to speak. I'm coming to talk about, I'm the one that emailed everybody about Color Guard. So I want to begin by acknowledging that I do understand the policy. jj iba that it exists i did read it over and i know that it was adopted in 2016 and it was most recently reviewed in january 2025 So I do appreciate the committee member who took the time to share those

029policies with me. My concern tonight is not about whether the policy exists. It's about how it's applied in practice. As written, the policy broadly limits extracurricular participation to students under the jurisdiction of the Dudley-Charleson Regional School Committee and places implementation responsibility on the principal and the superintendent. However, it doesn't specifically address students who attend vocational schools like Bay Path. It doesn't address situations where the activity isn't offered at the sending schools. So in practice, Bay Path students are permitted to participate in Shepherd Hills athletic programs like wrestling, while participation in Color Guard is being denied. This creates an inconsistency in that policy. There's no financial impact for, I did all my research, there's no financial impact for Color Guard to the district. Many of the costs are covered through the music parents, and the families

030are responsible for the rest. My student was fifth through eighth grade, did color guard, and we had to pay for her costumes and everything. I'd also like to note that allowing Bay Path students to participate either through a co-op or with limited participation will not reduce the opportunities for Shepherd Hill students. From the prior policies that you guys have gone over in 2016, that was a concern. the bigger the team the higher the division they go it doesn't affect shepherd hill students from being able to participate there's no tryouts there's no students getting cut i'm just asking whether the committee believes the current application of this policy reflects its intent and whether there may be an opportunity for further guidance or review particularly when students lack that access to an activity in their own vocational

031school thank you guys for your time and service Thank you for your comment. One of the things I did forget to mention was topic number five of the public comment policy, so I just want to reiterate so that people don't think that we're being callous and not commenting back, is that during public comment, we're not allowed to comment on what you're saying. Oh, no, that's fine. Because it can be misconstrued as... deliberation in which since it's not on the agenda that can be a violation of open meeting law okay so I can email this to the everything I just wrote down to you guys so that you have it to take into consideration thank you is there anybody else for public comment I do know it can be nerve-wracking I have been where you've been

032before it is also nerve-wracking being right here just so you know good evening your name and your town my name is Andrew Evanski I reside in Dudley Massachusetts I am a product of this district I grew up in town I went to Shepparton Hill and graduated from there very active in the music program I would just like to state that I believe that any Any child that resides in the district, whether they go to the vocational school or not, should be allowed to be involved in their programs that are not offered wherever that they're going. I think it's important, especially coming, you know, I'm a taxpayer. Several times, how many two and a half props did we have over the last few years? I voted yes on all of those. You asked for my support.

033I'm asking for your support in this matter. I think that it's important that any child has the opportunity to be active in the arts, being involved in show choir in high school, and being taught the importance of... hard work, determination. I think that any child should be available to have that. And I would like to ask that the committee would consider amending their policy, and hopefully you would consider that. Just as I considered voting yes on the last two and a half props, as funding is important specifically for those programs because those programs were brought up under those two and a half props that they were going to cut jobs. And I just want to give back to my district, to the people that taught me how to work hard and made me successful. And

034I want the same for my child. and and you know, she should be able to Participate and we're in a trade because I think that's what should happen and I thank you for your time My name is Lala Avansky. I live in Dudley, Massachusetts. I'm speaking tonight to express my feelings about participating in Color Guard at Shepherd Hill. I joined Color Guard at Dudley Middle in sixth grade. COVID had been the center of the world and I was happy to be doing something with my peers again. I found that I excelled at it and I made a family of the other members and teachers. Upon entering ninth grade, I had to make a difficult choice. I was accepted into Bay Path Regional Vocational High School. This was a major accomplishment, but my success was bittersweet.

035I knew that if I went to Bay Path, I most likely would be told that I could not do color guard at Shepherd Hill. As a young adult, I have to think about my future. I talked it out with my family and made the difficult choice to attend Bay Path. I love attending Bay Path, but I miss Color Guard. I miss my family. I live in district. Please reconsider this policy. I should not have to choose. Thank you for your time. Thank you. Anyone else? I mean, I don't want to rush you because I know you're feeling a lot of emotions, so I just want to make sure you're all heard. Thank you very much. And moving on then to new business, the report of Director of Pupil Personnel Services, Heather Harriman. Thank you. I

036have a few updates for you this evening. First, I want to provide an update on Least Restrictive Environment, or LRE, which is the acronym. So an overall trend, I know we really started this work at the beginning of the 23-24 school year. So from November of 23 to November of 2025, we have demonstrated steady progress towards more inclusive placements with an increasing proportion of students with disabilities educated in full inclusion settings. And with that, we also had a decline in students in substantially separate placements, which is exactly the direction we want to move in. We are still below the state's full inclusion rate, but the gap has narrowed over this two-year period, which is a good thing. Our full inclusion rate overall in November of 2023 was 57.3%. In November in 2025, it was 62.2%.

037So that's just about a 5% increase, which is great. We still have work to do. but we're moving in the right direction. Our partial inclusion also slightly decreased from 21.8% to 18.6%. That is showing that some of our students that were in partial inclusion placements have moved into full inclusion. And our substantially separate placements have also declined from 14% in November of 2023 down to 10.6% in 2025. And there is fluctuation here and there throughout the year, which is why I thought it made sense to just look at November, November, and November, just so it was the same time of the year. And then looking at subgroups, we do have a relatively small subgroup for Hispanic students, but the trends do mirror district trends. Their full inclusion rates were initially a few points lower, a

038few percentage points lower than our full student body, but we have had an increase of almost 4.5%. with that subgroup. Early childhood shows the most dramatic change. Our full inclusion rates increased from 33% in 2023 to 45% in November 2025. A lot of this is attributed to the phasing out of substantially separate preschool programming. And while that number may appear low, this reflects the fact that a lot of our preschool students are receiving appointment-based services. A lot of students do come in just for speech therapy rather than attending a full preschool program. So because they're not enrolled in preschool, their services are not classified as full inclusion placement. So I can kind of skew the numbers a little bit. The state target for full inclusion at the preschool level was 52% in the 24-25 school

039year from the state. So when we have our... special education annual determinations which will come out in may they raise the bar a little bit every year so it will be a little bit higher than that but we're either going to reach it i would expect or be really close so that's great as far as preschool at the secondary level we do have more variability year to year with lre and we have some focus to do there but some of the data that we've looked at we do have some students that move on to other schools that might have disabilities and a lot of students are in full inclusion placements that we that we lose to other districts or may go to bay path or go to private school and we also do have a

040number of students when they're re-evaluated they do come off of their IEPs and are no longer eligible, which is something to celebrate, but then we lose some of our full inclusion students. So those are a couple of factors that we have noticed in those numbers at the high school. And then in terms of our disability categories, we've been tracking this as well. So when we had the ERS audit in February 2024, our district was found to have identified a high percentage of students with a communication disability compared to the state average. So in the top three on the ERS audit, specific learning disability, 24% of students identified across the state with a disability receiving IEP services had a specific learning disability, where communication was our highest incident of disability category. It was at 25%. Now

041we are actually consistent with the state as far as specific learning disability being our highest incident of disability. So we're consistent there. And our communication now, identification is now at 20%. So we are really more consistent with the state. And our identification of autism is very similar to the state. And then integrated monitoring. The Department of Elementary and Secondary Education conducts integrated monitoring every three years. The last time it was called tiered focused monitoring, but they just changed the name recently. We're participating in this process this year. Districts are divided into two groups, Group A and Group B, that alternate monitoring cycles. So each group is reviewed every six years. So currently we're in Group B, and then three years from now we'll be in Group A. So some of the things in the special

042education realm that Group B monitors are child find. That includes outreach by the district as well as identifying students for tiered intervention, progress monitoring, referring students for an evaluation if a disability is suspected. Those are all part of the child find. Parent Advisory Council for Special Education, our CPAC, so they do, I have to provide data on that. assistive technology in our use of specialized materials and equipment, IEP implementation, accountability, and financial responsibility, licensure information for special education, teachers, related service providers, and the director of pupil personnel services, professional development, special education facilities and classrooms, and ensuring that special education programs and services are evaluated. Documents were uploaded to the DESE portal this fall as part of the self-assessment. DESE has begun to review the documentation and the team will be conducting onsite visits to

043the district next week on the 20th and the 21st with the snow date on the 22nd. But let's hope it doesn't come to that. Following the visit, DESE will issue a report identifying areas where the district was in compliance and areas that the district was out of compliance. So any areas that are identified as non-compliance must be corrected within one year of the report date and just to just to give a little background three years ago the district was found out of compliance with least restrictive environment which was a group a monitoring which we'll be doing again in three years So this is why we did the work to complete the root cause analysis and create the action plan to address the LRE concerns, and that's why that continues to be work that we're doing.

044LRE is also monitored annually through the special education annual determination, and then we'll review that in three years again more formally through the Group A integrated monitoring cycle. And then the last area I wanted to address was out of district. Our student population is growing in both complexity and intensity of need. We're serving an increasing number of students with significant disabilities. While the district has successfully educated most students within the district despite limited resources, the rising complexity of student needs is creating new challenges. As a result, we're seeing an increase in the number of students requiring out-of-district placements. Currently, we have 28 students in out-of-district placements, which is actually a low number for a district our size. Of these, four of the students do not live in the district, but we remain fiscally responsible. And

045we also, of the 28 students, one student had moved in during the school year that was already in an out-of-district placement. We have three students that will be either aging out or graduating at the end of the 25-26 school year. However, we also have six students that are currently pending out-of-district placements. Based on the numbers right now, we are projecting to start the next school year with 31 students in out-of-district placements. Though this number can change at any time. Students could move in. There could be additional need. It's something we can't fully predict. But I do have a chart here. While this represents an increase, our out-of-district placement still remains significantly lower than most districts in Massachusetts. And I did have data from about 60 or so other school districts across Massachusetts. And if we

046look at our current data, DCRSD, as of right now, the percent of our students on IEPs that are in out-of-district placements is only 4.05%, which is very low. And our percent of students... that are in out of district placements across our entire population is less than 1%. And if I had the projected for next year, it's not much of a difference. When you look at the range from other districts in Massachusetts, it ranged from 2.5% to almost 17% of students on IEPs and out of district placements. And the full total student population ranged from about a half a percent to 3.5%. So we're really at the very low end of that. this district and even though we only have a relatively small number of students placed in out of district programs they're enrolled across 18

047different facilities and under Massachusetts regulations districts remain Maintain full legal responsibility for monitoring these placements to ensure each student receives the services outlined in their individualized education program. So some of the things that our district is responsible for is verifying that each student's IEP is being properly implemented, ensuring services are designed to help students achieve their IEP goals, maintain comprehensive documentation of all monitoring activities and site visits and student files, initiate and coordinate all IEP meetings while students are in out-of-district programs. guarantee that students receive all legally mandated special education services and procedural protections under Massachusetts special education regulations, and then documentation of monitoring must be kept in the file of each student that is in and out of district placement. This monitoring process requires significant time and resources, particularly given that some placements are

048located two hours away from our district, and monitoring includes on-site visits. We previously had two part-time contracted positions as Superintendent LaMarche had indicated earlier this evening, and they were dedicated to out-of-district coordination, but these positions were eliminated a few years ago. Currently, a special education coordinator handles out-of-district oversight while simultaneously managing a regular caseload of in-district students. And with nearly 700 students receiving special education services district-wide, this dual responsibility places considerable strain on our... special ed coordinator team. Those are the updates I have. Any questions for Director Harriman? I just want to understand the math. So on the last page where you have percent of students on IEPs out of district, is that divisor, like is the bottom number of the total IEPs in our district? Yes. So if we have the first number is

049the number of students on IEPs. So that 4%, it's... 28 students divided by the 696 students we have on IEPs. And the other one is just divided by all students. And then the other one is 28 divided by the 3,400 students. Okay. Yes. That made sense to me. Okay. And then for the out-of-district placement, have we, I mean, and I don't know when you would have the time to do this, and I do think that this is why you need an assistant for your position. but I'm wondering if we've reviewed why students are going out and if in some cases if we had provided more professional development or if we were able to put in some more programming that would you know would that have helped not send a student out there are so many

050varied needs and I think that's what's a challenge for us like I can tell you of the six students that are pending out of district placements there across five different schools so it's not a cluster of students with needs at one particular you know age bracket or you know it's not like it's early childhood or or middle school or high school it's across the district and then On the disability categories, I'm wondering what is the state's percent of communication disabilities? It's way down there. I don't have it obviously on here because I was just comparing the top three, but it's low. Okay. So considering it's that low. It's under 15% because the top three are specific learning disability, autism, and health. So it's less than 14%. I think it's around 10%, but. Because to me

051that feels like an anomaly that we would have communication disorders at 25%. And I'm wondering if we were to go back and look at the testing in that year, was it someone that maybe did not analyze the testing results in a way that they should have been really diagnosed as an SLD instead of a communication disorder? I think some of that was happening. I can tell you in my experience as a special education coordinator when I was at the middle school level here, we did notice some of that. So students did come up for reevaluation, and we were kind of scratching our heads as to why they had been previously identified as having a communication impairment because they didn't have any speech and language goals or any speech and language services. So we did, I

052think a lot of these have been addressed when we reevaluated, which is why you're seeing that shift is starting. But we are still identifying a lot of students with communication disabilities compared to other districts. Even still? Yeah, I mean 20% is still a lot. I mean, we're getting closer, but... So have we addressed, like, as we were going through and we're seeing the communication disabilities higher, are we looking at, like, maybe our kindergarten and our first grade curriculums to figure out is there something that we could be infusing a little differently that maybe could address some of those issues prior to them needing testing? We could. I mean, I know we're trying to do a lot of work on MTSS. But I think you're also missing that a lot of the people, a lot of

053the students that have also had the label of a communication disability didn't get CKLA from the start. Right. And they missed that. And so... Yeah, I'm just I'm just thinking like as we are going as it's going through so there's so some of the implementation of high quality instructional materials are coming in and it's so this thing So there is that disconnect as well. So I'm just wondering you had said that we're still putting them out at a higher number I'm wondering if if that number is happening in the first grade. Is it happening like? where is the pocket that it's happening and is there a way to address it through MTSS to help us with that, to lower that? A lot of it is definitely at the early childhood elementary level. I mean, I

054would say the majority of our students that have communication as their primary disability is early childhood and elementary. So what falls under the topic of communication that they're having trouble? Speech and language. So it can be articulation, so their pronunciation of speech, or their receptive understanding of language, or their ability to verbally express themselves. It's hard because there wasn't AI going into the... there wasn't um ei available for a couple years during cobit and so then those kids are now entering kindergarten and not having the language development that they might have had you know doing zoom with a speech pathologist i did it personally with my son and he was older never mind if he was younger and i personally know there's been a increase in availability for services that some people pay out of

055pocket some is insurance based but there's a big center in Worcester that many people I know personally in this district attend from toddler stage up until even like young early childhood so I don't know if that center opening it's grown over the last five to six years a lot how that's affecting our community And the only other comment, which Kathy already mentioned, is I was just trying to find like a common theme with what we're missing that is placing students out of district to see if there's something that we could implement to help with that number. Although in the grand scheme of things, it doesn't seem like that number is exponentially very high in comparison to other districts. I don't know. I just think of all the community services that aren't even being taken into

056consideration and how that's impacting our numbers. You know, it's out of our control, but it probably is impacting some of these numbers that we're seeing now with COVID being, you know, these kids are now, the babies that were during those years are now entering kindergarten. was the case, and I believe it probably is in this area, you would think it would be statewide. That would be my only question. I would also just on a. I know, and I normally don't say, like, about personal level, but on a personal level, on the fact that I did work in human services for a very long time and did a lot of case management and did case management also out in this area, and the fact that I have a child with autism and I have a child

057with intellectual disability and I have, you know, that this area is also a service desert. And I am sure Director Harriman can agree also with contract work trying to bring people into this area when we have staffing issues arise with providers, that it's difficult to bring people in, you know, to find a speech therapist if we're missing a speech therapist or a BCBA and, you know, that it's difficult. So when it comes down to it, we are also become the main providers. for a lot of our students that there isn't a secondary provider that it's really hard to get somebody out in the community that when you're out in the community trying to find a speech therapist or a beat or a BCBA or you know or an OT you're on waitlist and you're waiting

058forever and so it can end up being where your only provider to get is here is the school and that can also increase because That's that's where you're trying to get all of it so it can it can end up end up pumping it up over here and then because we're also where you're only getting Your providing provider here because you're on a waitlist for the community wraparound services then what ends up happening is You're exacerbating what's happening at home because you're not getting those supports at home. So then it ends up that you're getting it's getting harder to support that student and it just kind of like feeds into itself. So I'm just saying like, and sometimes you end up seeing that in the numbers. So even though we have the joke of Massachusetts

059where you can't throw a rock without hitting a BCBA out here, we just happen to be in one of those deserts. So I know that's preaching to the choir on that side. I know. before you move on is this is and this is a personal critique of the district of mine is when my kids were little I didn't have them go to daycare because I didn't need them to so two of my children were qualified for speech because they weren't around peers getting into the preschool program was difficult with it being half of a day That's why they didn't even when my daughter was outside of the district in preschool She was getting speech services within the district. So I Guess that's why I always advocate for a full day preschool I know that that

060is one of the things that we have talked about many of times but that might be something that could help because having those peers, that helped my son more than any speech pathologist could have. They were amazed by once we lived in a neighborhood with lots of kids around, he had to speak for them to understand and not use his own language because the kids didn't understand and would run off. So being in a setting like a preschool, but it's very limited for the two towns. So that's all. pursue an msba application for shepherd hill that may rise to the opportunity of incorporating the pre-k at the hill to bolster our pre-k program for those services we don't have any further questions for director harriman i guess we can move on okay all right so

061moving on to school year calendars 2026 to 2027 and 2027 to 2028. Madam Chair and school committee we are trying something a little bit different I would ask us to approach one calendar at a time though I think that would be best instead of trying to put them both together as a school committee this is your calendar this is coming in as a recommendation for the for the future please know that the you had school committee representatives in the DCTA leadership met on December 12th to review these two calendars and try to put our heads together and come up with the best recommendation to you as a full committee. But again, this is your calendar, so it's your adjustments. It's what you think is best moving forward. Your school committee reps that were part of

062that were Kathy Carmignani and Kelly Zeller, who were part of that calendar review process. So looking at 2026-2027, this is relatively straightforward. There are some adjustments here that I think are worth noting for everybody. We do typically start before Labor Day, so that continues here to start before Labor Day. Our staff comes together on Monday, August 31st, and then school starts for all students. which was a little bit different, but for next year it starts again grades 1 through 12 plus on the day after the staff come together on Tuesday the 1st of September. What is a major shift or adjustment here is to have kindergarten start the following day. Typically, kindergarten and pre-K have been starting the week after, but we're trying to transition some of that a little bit more because as we

063all prepare for the opening of school as a district, we should really welcome everybody in, pre-K and K as well. So that would be, first day for kindergarten would be on the September 2nd for the 26th, 27th school year. Pre-K would still be on the 8th as the first step for the adjustment in one year. We have a early release day on the 4th of September, the Friday before Labor Day. That seems to be where we settled as a district. And then we have the contractual obligated day of September 25th for early release day for all students for educational PD as well. October, we only have from the 31st on, we only have two full professional development days for our staff to get better as a district. So we are proposing one in the early

064part of the school year, so that would be Friday, October 9th, the Friday before Columbus Day. And then moving into November, we get into parent-teacher conferences, so that would be the 5th. We have the annual Veterans Holiday on the 11th, and then we have our traditional Thanksgiving break starting on the 25th. In December, we have proposed an early release day, again, for professional development for our staff. We still need that as a district to stay on a path of continuous improvement for all of our schools. The winter holiday vacation starts as it does annually on the 23rd. That's a Wednesday. That would be a half early release day. And then we go through the rest of that week and then a full week after that. And then we return on Monday, January 4th. The month

065of January, for the first time since I've been here, is a very clean month. The only day in there is Martin Luther King Day on the 18th. And we do hear coming back from that vacation, it's a good time for us to really hit the ground running and really focus on teaching and learning. for students in the month of January with the obviously real opportunity for a weather related day. February for this year also is a very clean month as well. We only have February vacation within that month. That's the first time since I've been here that I think we've had that as well. And then March, March is the longest month because there is no recognized statewide or national holiday. So we have populated March with an early release day for parent-teacher conferences. And

066then, excuse me, yes, for parent-teacher conferences, that's the spring. PTC, Parent Teacher Conferences, and then we have the full in-service day on the 12th to see and progress monitor where we are with PD and make adjustments and do some more work and planning for the remainder of the school year. And then on the 26th of March, it's an early release day because it is Good Friday. Good Friday falls at the end of March. Which, because of that, the month of April is just like January to an extent and just like February to an extent. It's a very clean month. We just have the April vacation. Then moving into May, we have the traditional early release day on the 21st before Memorial Day. That helps us kind of clean up some of the school year for

067our staff and start some of the planning and organizing for the following school year to a certain extent. And then we have our graduation on the Saturday, excuse me, Sunday the 30th. And if everything goes through and there's no weather-related days, our release day for students at the end of the school year would be an early release day on June 15th, Tuesday, June 15th. If we have any weather-related days up to five, we have to populate that in the calendar, and that comes out to be Wednesday, June 23rd. but that is the 2026 school year calendar and i am the editor of this so i have no personal feelings or anything if you find a mistake in here you find an error a typo i welcome that because i do want it to be 100

068correct but it's a lot of little details and numbers and stuff and i do i do make mistakes i am capable of that so this is the 2026 school year calendar for school committee to consider i just have one question i'm sorry And I'm going to show my age here. When did the state give up evacuation day? That was only the Boston area, very local Boston suburbs that did that. It's never been in the rural or suburban areas. Oh, so that was only when I worked for the state. That was only when you worked for the state, yes. Or Suffolk County was really, Suffolk County hung on to it for a long time. Okay. Because I always knew it as a comp day. It made me happy. All right. It's also commonly known as Bunker

069Hill Day, I think, as well, evacuation day. It's been a long time. It's only Boston that gets St. Patrick's Day off, right? Sorry. Yeah, go ahead. I make a motion to approve the Dudley-Charlemagne Regional School District 26-27 school calendar. Second. Any further discussion? So I was on the committee, and as with Kelly Zella, we felt that the calendar is pretty fair. I had a question about a half day for everyone on the 4th of September and whether or not that should be a half day PD for staff so that we could get back the 25th for students for a full day I think that people are used to that half day on the 4th but I did have a question that I thought of after our meeting and I don't know if it makes sense

070or if it doesn't make sense we have that early release on November 5th for parent-teacher conferences and I didn't know where elections I think are on the 3rd, if it would make better sense for an early release on election day for building safety, but or would it be way too much disruption to do an early release and to have elections coming in? Through the chair. just keep in mind we only have one school out of seven that has elections and we have two we hire an additional police officer to support us for that and it's we typically try to plan that around a national election but local or state elections we've kind of stayed away from but again if the school committee chooses to move the fifth to the third that's that's up to the

071to the committee no I just I think that if on a national election we'll look at that but I think that having as a teacher having a parent-teacher conferences on a Tuesday it makes for a really long week so I think keeping it on the Thursday is a better is better yeah I don't I mean we haven't had any issues on any other midterms I mean and typically speaking I mean midterms are like 50 to 60 percent across the state so okay and through the chair. When it's a national election, we put what is labeled as the October in-service day. That's what we move to the election day so that we can cover that and there's nobody in school. We can also support voting at the national level and stuff too. Any other discussion? Hearing

072none, right? Because I did take my glasses off, so I'm not seeing none. All right. All those in favor? Unanimous? Yes? Madam Chair and school committee so this will be the first time since I've been here that we do a two-year calendar to try to really prepare our community and our families for their planning for the next school year once again there is a slight adjustment to start the school year that we feel is is highly recommended and that would be starting on August 30th for staff, August 31st for all kindergarten, excuse me, all grades one through 12 plus again, but then the following day have all pre-K and K students attend school on Wednesday the first. From there it's pretty straightforward from the other calendar. The only thing that I would point out to

073you is that the Winter holiday vacation will probably be one of the shortest that we've ever had just because of the way the dates fall. But that's, you know, we have some good years where you have almost two full weeks off, and you have some years where you have here, you have a week and a day and a half off. So that's the way it falls. And then when we move through, the only thing, you still have a very clean January, very clean February, which I appreciate as well. A relatively clean April except Friday the 14th is Good Friday, so that's an early release day. then the rest is very consistent with the dates and times and if all if there are no weather related days the last day of school for students would be

074Monday June 12th that would be an early release day if we have any weather related days we identify five of them up to and including to Tuesday June 20th and so that represents a very again consistent with the 2026 2027 calendar this is in the same realm of that you still have the typo on commencement i do i know but so the wrong one to publish that's all okay thank you i'd make a motion to approve the 27 2027 2028 school calendar as shown who's that good jim thanks okay any discussion other than the typo okay all those in favor it's unanimous we are so far ahead right now i know sure so far ahead great job committee thank you Sorry, I missed it. All right, and then the hardest working subcommittee. Yes, the hardest

075working subcommittee. I'm ready to roll. Okay. Well, you know, I got the migraine because I'm on policy sub, you know. Madam Chair and School Committee, we have policies for action this evening. As a review, these policies were first distributed to the School Committee in November. They were distributed out to the community on November 21st, 2025. We look for feedback from our community. The community includes all parents and caregivers within our community, but also all of our staff. So we review all that feedback that we do receive. We reviewed it on December 18th of 2025, and now they are coming back to the School Committee for action. We do try to incorporate, we process and we try to incorporate feedback that we receive. There was minimal changes to some of these policies. They're pretty straightforward. But

076the first policy you have is KBG, Parent Advisory Councils. This is really specific to ensure that we have parent advisory councils as well as a special education parent advisory council as well as an English learner or ELPAC parent advisory council for English learners as well. And then you have all the references on that. Again, there were very few edits from what was distributed. There would have been some what they call Scribner errors or something of that nature for this particular policy. Do you approve policy KBG parent advisory councils? Second. Motion to second. Discussion? So all those in favor of adoption? Thank you. The next policy is KBE, which is Relations with Parent Booster Organizations. This would be just like the last one. This would be a new policy for Dudley-Chelton Regional School District. This really

077speaks to the parent organizations that we have, what our expectations around those organizations are, and how we work with them. I think we did receive a question because we have an expectation that all of our parent organizations, for example, PTOs, boosters, are required to have a 501c3 status on file. That is a genuine requirement and need for us. So we did receive some questions on that. The other thing that this policy does is if there are two competing parent organizations that are doing the same thing, there will be a vote open to the parents or guardians or community to identify which one is the one that really should be in place for that. So it does give you that opportunity in here as well. Again, the only feedback we received was on the 501 status

078recognition of that. But otherwise, there were no other changes to this particular policy or no required changes based off of the feedback we received for policy KBE relations with parent boosters and organizations. I'd entertain a motion. Sorry. I make a motion to approve policy KBE. Second. All right. For discussion. And it's just maybe a... I don't know how you refer it, whether it's a Scribner error or not, but in our previous policies that we had, any time we mentioned the school committee, we refer to it as the school committee. And here, it just refers to it as the committee. So I'm wondering if you want to add the word school committee prior to the word committee. Oh, just for consistency? For consistency. Because there's lots of committees. Yeah. I don't know that you need an

079amendment for that or if it's just a friendly. I think that's all this. I didn't get who seconded that. I'm sorry. Anthony. Okay. Sorry. I sense a theme coming through. Oh, is it going to be? No. Oh. I'm going to theme. Oh, are you okay with that theme? I figure we get out of here. Good? That's all I had on that one. Yeah. Yeah, that's just a. So there were two instances I saw. Yeah. Okay. All right. So all in favor? It's unanimous. Madam Chair and school committee, the next policy is KI. We currently do have a policy KI. It does need to be reindexed to IHBAA if this policy is approved this evening, which is on the bottom of the list here for action. This is visitors to school. The current policy speaks to

080visiting or observing. programs for students with disabilities. This is a more general for visits to school and what our policy is regarding this. We received, again, minimal, if not no direct feedback to change or edit this. Entertain a motion to adopt policy KI. I make a motion to accept policy KI as printed and presented. Second. Any discussion? Yep. Should we have it explicitly stated and if it's there and I'm missing it, please let me know like that at no time should a visitor be Alone in the presence of a child like like they should always be with a staff member Does it say something like that? through the chair I would Suggest that the second paragraph addresses that but I oh with the procedures. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Got it Applied to like a field trip

081when you're chaperoning like you're not around staff I guess you're not in the buildings but you're corey checked right yeah you have to be corey checked oh but you don't need to be corey checked to be a visitor any further discussion okay hearing none vote all those in favor unanimous Madam Chair and School Committee, the next one is access to buildings and grounds. As a committee, we've already worked on policies around facilities use. This would be the next phase of that, of access to our buildings and grounds. Once again, we did not receive substantive feedback on this to make any edits or substantial edits or changes to this. We did have a couple of questions that were easy to answer based off of this policy from the community, but there was no other recommendation for.

082changes to this particular policy that was distributed and this is policy eca b access to buildings and grounds i'll make a motion to accept uh policy eca b as printed and presented any discussion um when we um in this third paragraph fourth sentence and it says those visiting for recognized business must follow the district visitor policy and accompanying procedures i'm just wondering now that we have a district visitor policy if we capitalize it and reference policy ki you think because it's reference down there we gotta get to it like no madam chair it is right it is reference it's right down there but we gotta we gotta get to it when we get to when we get to f on the agenda i don't think that's what kathy's asking i know but like i just

083didn't know if you want it is it is referenced down here right i don't know if you want to make sure you like capitalize that or but it's referenced on the policy okay yeah Okay. But I get you, like, make it pop in some way, but, you know. We could link it. Yeah. I mean, it will be linked later. It's fine. Yeah, we could link it. Okay. These will be linked on the bottom. It will be linked on the bottom. Yeah. Any further discussion? All right. Hearing none, all those in favor? You're on a roll, Stephen. And then I run up against this policy. Madam Chair and School Committee, this is the Middle School Pathway Exploration Policy. This was, you had already passed this in. November this policy is regarding CTE or continuing education outside

084of Dudley Chatham Regional School District this was we did follow the guidance that the state gave us keep in mind that the state nor did MASC can I say that again the Mass Association of School Committees MASC Mass Association of School Committees did not present a model policy for anyone to follow so we did we followed the guidance we submit we you as a committee and we recommended this policy, then you had to submit it to the state and the state said, nope, we want these things in there. So all the red lines in here are what the state came back, even though they didn't give us a model policy and said, we want you to put those in there. So these are new edits. Please know that the purpose and overview, the editors, the

085exploration awareness shall be intentionally connected to each student's secondary and post-secondary academic and career planning to support informed decision making as students prepare for high school enrollment and future pathways. Keep in mind that that is kind of a belief statement. It's not really policy, but that's okay. We believe in that. We always have. But they wanted us to make sure that we added that in. Then under goals, they wanted to make sure that by aligning pathways, exploration activities with... districts middle school academic guidance and planning processes which we do and I do believe school committee member Carmen Yanni did raise that as when we were passing this that about that statement in there but that just reinforces that particular statement Then the other middle school career exploration, all presentations, written materials distributed by mail or

086email and information posted on the district website shall be made available to students and families no later than October 15th of each school year. I'm not sure where we are now, but they want it to be very specific on a date certain when that information is out. And then records and admission, the district will provide information to CTE schools and programs in support of the admission process, which we already had in our policy, but they wanted us to include limited to information that is relevant and permitted under the specific application and admission policy of the receiving CTE schools and consistent with state and federal regulations. They want this by October 15th of each school year. The middle schools shall share the names and addresses of all enrolled 7th and 8th grade students with CTE schools

087and programs in accordance with 603 CMR 4.03 and applicable privacy laws. Again, I want to reinforce that we already do this. We have a good working relationship with Bay Path to make sure that they have all of our information. But now it's state certain, and that's the policy up for action this evening because it's basically state feedback to make sure that these things are incorporated and highlighted in the policy. I'll make a motion to accept policy IHBH as printed and presented. Any discussion? Thank you, Peter, for understanding. We should go back and forget that the state was a delight. Yeah. That's always. All right. All those in favor? It's unanimous. Thank you, Madam Chair. And then the affidavit is yours. Thanks. And then entertain a motion to rename the... The new adopted policy, K-I, rename

088it to IHBAA, so it continues on with the convention standards as necessary. Salute. Need a second? Thank you. Any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Thank you. I pray we help keep this rubber-stamped stuff. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have distributed policies. Keep in mind that the policy process takes some time. So these are policies that the policy subcommittee has reviewed and is prepared to distribute to you as a committee this evening. And then after tonight's distribution and any adjustments that are made from this evening, we will put these out to the community in welcome feedback. Then we'll go back to policy sub. And then after that, it will go back to you as a full committee for action. So the first policy is scut... school food and nutrition meal modifications this policy

089is important as we continue as i mentioned in my opening remarks as we continue to try to be cep district meaning that we offer free and reduced lunch we need certain policies in place to be able to refer to in our applications for that to continue in our in our state but also through the federal government so this policy was reviewed by matthew greenberg our director of food services this was brought to the policy subcommittee for review and then now being presented to you for distribution keep in mind that this talks about school food and nutrition it talks about being in compliance with USDA the United States United States not stated anyone catch that typo United States Department of Agriculture non-discrimination in governing the child nutrition program in the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education

090which again is a CEP program that I spoke about In compliance with both of these, the Dudley-Children Regional School District will provide substitutions to school food service programs, regular school meals at no extra cost for children who are unable to eat meals served because of their disabilities or other special dietary reasons. Our program will ensure that school meals offered through the district meet the meal pattern requirements set by the USDA. We will make substitutions to meals at no extra charge for students with disabilities or other special dietary reasons that restrict the student's diet on a case-by-case basis. And families must complete the necessary request form that can be provided by the school food and nutrition program staff or access via in the link below. So the meal modification request form. is linked here as well

091and that's they just have to fill that out and submit it to our food service department and they will make sure that the meal modification is is done so that is again this is a needed policy for us to continue with our work with our food service department there is no required motion here but i'll take any welcome any feedback that's the question um on statement number two the way it's worded i just want to i just I'm not sure if you need to say like something like for students with disabilities and those students with special dietary reasons that restrict the students diet like I'm just wondering if people will it's just worded a little differently okay through the chair the only thing I would suggest that's the share is that Matthew Greenberg did run

092this by his Department of Elementary and Secondary Education review person and they said that they they endorse this policy as written okay Questions on this one? I did find two typos myself, so anyone who has more, just tell me. Before you go on, just because I made a mistake because I recognized what I had said. So, Anthony, sorry, I need to go back to the previous one for rename current K-I-H-B-A-A because I made a mistake on how I said it. So, Anthony, can you, thank you. And then, Jamie, can you rescind your second? Thank you. So I will entertain a motion to rename the current KI to IHBAA, which is the observation of special education programs, which is a different policy, sorry, not the one we voted on tonight, just to re-index it. So sorry,

093I worded it wrong the first time around. So all those in favor? Sorry. Just so we can do it right. I'm sorry. I said it wrong and I wanted to make sure I said it right. Okay, Madam Chair and School Committee, the next distributed policy is IKF graduation. excuse me requirements keep in mind on the back side of that what you have in your folder was a ikf policy that was passed in march of 20 march 26 of 2025 that was without any guidance from the state once again i want to reiterate that the state has not provided a model policy nor has masc that's the massachusetts association of school committees have not they typically they are a policy generating machine in their own regard so i'm surprised that they haven't provided a model policy

094so we did work with the state and we did answer some of their questions to try to make sure that this is in line with what they want. I was trying to be proactive with the state before school committee passed an update on this and then I submit it and then the state comes back and says no change it. So I think we're in good standing here. Can't guarantee that but this is the new updated policy. I did not redline the original policy because it was kind of a substantial change for graduation requirements. So I just rewrote the entire policy. So I'll go through the policy the to graduate from the Dudley Charlton Regional School District students must fulfill the credit requirements established in the Shepherd Hill Regional High School program of studies and meet

095all applicable state accountability requirements including the competency determination CD Sorry, I'm going to interrupt myself. Keep in mind that the state is still working on graduation requirements this year there will be changes there as i shared with you at the last meeting they have some proposals that are going to require a lot of vetting uh there have been several meetings that i participated i think i understand that a member kamanyani participated in one as well to talk about graduation requirements so even though i just want to prepare you as a committee even though you are i looking to distribute this out to the community and get feedback it still may change after june of this year based off of what the state comes out with Right, so right now it's a requirement that DESE has

096this updated. It's not a requirement, it's not part of the state initiative for graduation requirement changes. So they're not together. So I just wanted to try to clarify that. CompCity determination consists of the following requirements. Demonstration of mastery of academic skills in English language arts, mathematics, and science, and satisfactory completion of coursework aligned to the academic standards measured by the Massachusetts High School MCAS assessments in English language arts, mathematics, and science. That's how you determine CompCity determination. It is not saying that the MCAS assessment is the determining factor because it is not. Then coursework and credit requirements. To meet graduation and CD requirements, students must satisfactorily complete coursework in accordance with the district's grading policy and the credit structure outlined below. Credits towards graduation are awarded based on successful completion of coursework. A full year

097course constitutes one, 1.0 credit towards graduation. A semester or half year course constitutes one half credit towards graduation. To be eligible for graduation from Sheppard Hill Regional High School, students must earn a minimum of 22 total credits, inclusive of all required and elective courses. To meet CD requirements, students must satisfactorily complete the following coursework. Now, keep in mind, before I go on a little bit further, the program of studies does a much better job of really articulating all of that and what all of that means around credit courses, what your benchmarks are from year to year on your credits earning to get up to the 22. The policy is not required to articulate that. English language arts, equivalent of two years of high school English language arts coursework course must be completed in grades 9

098through 12. Mathematics equivalent of one year of Algebra 1 and one year of Geometry or Integrated Mathematics 1 and 2. Middle school coursework may be certified when aligned to high school standards. That's in the, if there's an opportunity for, if our middle schools offer a high school Algebra 1 course for 8th graders, we could consider credit for that moving forward. So we're not there yet, but we wanted to make sure that was incorporated in this. particular policy. Science equivalent of one year of biology, physics, chemistry, or technology engineering coursework must be completed in grades 9 through 12. In United States history, beginning with the class of 2027, equivalent of one year of United States history coursework must be completed in grades 9 through 12. Please keep in mind what I just read is the minimum

099requirements. It is not the full requirements that you have for taking electives and other courses to get the 22 credits. The program of studies, once again, does a great job of articulating all of those requirements moving forward. The specific distribution of required credits by subject area elective options in program specific requirements is detailed in the Sheppard Hill Program of Studies, which I just said, which is reviewed and approved annually by the school committee. Students and families are expected to consult the program of studies for comprehensive and current graduation information. Demonstration of mastery. To demonstrate mastery in each required subject area, a student must successfully complete in accordance with the district's grading policy at least one of the following. The final assessment for the course, a capstone or portfolio project, or another district approved measure aligned

100to the applicable academic standards. Elective credits and additional requirements. In addition to meeting CD requirements with the 22 credit graduation threshold, students must complete elective and program specific requirements as outlined in the program of studies. Students are encouraged to select electives aligned with individual interests and post-secondary goals. Students with disabilities. Students with disabilities must meet both local graduation requirements and CD requirements. Consistent with federal and state law, the district shall provide a free and appropriate public education to ensure that IEP services support graduation planning. Students placed in out-of-district day or residential programs remain subject to the Dudley-Charlton Composite Determination Policy. For English learners, the district shall ensure that English learners have equitable access to coursework required for the Composite Determination. ESL, English as a Second Language, coursework may be certified as meeting the English language

101arts requirement only for students at foundational English proficiency levels defined as access levels one and two when such coursework integrated grade level English language arts and English language development standards with appropriate instructional supports. And then what was already in the policy and what was in other policies is transfer of late enrolling students. Students enrolling in the Massachusetts Public High School after grade nine, meaning it should say students enrolling in Dudley-Charlton, well, it could say both. DCRSD and Massachusetts Public High School after grade nine shall be afforded the opportunity to earn the competency determination. Eligibility shall be determined through one or more of the following review of the student's transcript, completion of additional coursework as needed, or in limited circumstances, and once again in limited circumstances, attainment of a qualifying MCAS score or a district certified

102equivalent. Exceptions shall be reviewed by a committee consisting of the principal, a member of the guidance department, and the relevant department coordinator. When prior coursework cannot be documented, a student may satisfy the CD requirement by either achieving a score of meeting expectations or exceeding expectations on the applicable high school MCAS assessment or demonstrating mastery through a district-certified equivalent alignment to the same academic standards. Use of this provision shall be documented and is subject to review or audit by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. And then lastly, there is an appeals and transcript review process for those that may not have in prior years met a CD. A student or parent or guardian may appeal a determination regarding the awarding of a competency determination or not, obviously. Appeals shall be reviewed by the principal and

103a designated committee and may include transcript review or other evidence of mastery. Current or former students may also request a transcript review to verify completion of graduation and competency determination requirements. And then you have the legal references for that. Thank you. It's a mouthful. It's a bit, huh? Yes, Anthony. I just have a couple of clarifying questions. So in the bottom of page two under transfer of late and willing students this is exceptions shall be reviewed by a committee consisting of and it outlines the composition of the committee which is a principal a guidance department and a relevant department coordinator, but when we go to page three under appeals and transcript review this is Appeals shall be reviewed by the principal and a designated committee. I was just curious if we should in concert with

104how it's outlined in page two and it's denoting what the committee's composition would be if we should be also doing that for that on page three through the chair my only thinking on that is that the transfer is specific to course placement or where the student what courses the student may need for graduation the transcript review the committee may not be the same So it's the principal and designated committee. It could be the principal and the guidance department. It could be the principal and assistant principal. It could be. So it's a little bit different because you're actually looking at the, you're doing a transcript review. Right. And a department coordinator may not be. the appropriate person to be doing a transfer. That's the only difference there, but I have no problem with identifying or working

105with Principal Alwell to come up with what he would establish as a committee. One was very specific and one was very vague. Agreed. But it may look very different than what was on page two. But I'll connect with Principal Alwell on that. Same paragraph, like same part, the exceptions one on bottom of page two. Does that sentence only go to the transfer and late enrolling students or does that, is that like a fundamental one for everything? Through the chair, that's specific to transfer and late enrolling students. OK. So that's part of this. OK. And then on the demonstration of mastery, this is kind of what I was talking to you about, is that you have to successfully complete a final assessment for the course, capstone or portfolio, or another district-approved measure. So we're essentially saying

106that they must pass their final exam for the course. Through the chair, I'm not sure it's a final exam, it's a final assessment because it could be a half year course, it could be a, so it's a final assessment for that particular course. You could say final exam if you want, but I'm not sure. Well, do we have, like, I guess for a course, like if you're taking Algebra 1, what is the final assessment for Algebra 1? Is it that Algebra 1 final grade? Or is it, when we say assessment, is it an actual exam? Through the chair, assessment could mean multiple things. It may be a sit down pencil paper. It may be a multiple choice assessment. It may be some other type of similar to a capstone project, some type of project at

107the end. It could be a group project at the end. Assessments could be very different for any of the courses. But is it, I think the only thing I worry about is that we had problems. when we reviewed competency determination in another district, like, because we had kids that now they're in geometry or, like, looking back, they had failed their Algebra I exam but passed the course, and we had to go back and remediate the Algebra I failure for the exam. So I just didn't know if that's going to be something that we're going to get caught at. Through the chair, but that's where the third bullet would come in, I think. Maybe I'm wrong. It's what you only meeting one of these you're not meeting all of these okay? Yeah, I mean I think

108maybe we should discuss it in teaching and learning a little bit. I don't know Well again, it does get distributed out, so you certainly can put on the agenda for teaching learning and discuss it yeah, okay? We'll do that. I mean you don't get to see it again for like another month or so at least yeah Madam chair school committee we have a new new policy Jih This is very specific to student searches and seizure. As we catch up to the digital age, you know, there are a lot of rights that we need to make sure that we don't accidentally dismiss, that we don't, you know. with no ill intent try to overlook. So this policy is very important to our students, but also to their rights and to our actions as school administrators to

109manage and provide safe learning environments for our schools. There was a parent who had recommended that we take a look at this policy sub is that was back in October, I think. And so we are there now. And so this policy is coming forward for distribution process. So this, again, this is policy JAH, student searches and seizure. And I'll read it for the record as well. The purpose. The Dudley-Chapman Regional School District is committed to maintaining a safe and orderly learning environment while respecting the constitutional and statutory rights of students. This policy establishes standards governing searches of students, student property, and student-owned electronic devices conducted by school officials. Legal authority. Student searches conducted by school officials are governed by the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights,

110and applicable Massachusetts general laws and relevant case law. School searches must be reasonable in scope and justified at their inception. General standards for student searches. I just want to, again, I'm breaking up in the middle of this. Keep in mind, we do have procedures for this in place, but you did not have a school committee policy on this, and I just think that that's really a good place to have so our procedures can align with a policy by the school committee. So general standards for student searches. School officials may conduct a search of a student or the student's personal property only when there are reasonable grounds to suspect that the search will reveal evidence that the student has violated or is violating the law, school committee policy, or school rules. Searches shall be reasonable at

111inception and reasonably related in scope to the circumstances that justify the search. The scope of the search shall be limited to what is necessary to address the suspected violation and shall not be conducted in a manner that is... Do you think there's a typo there? No. And shall be conducted in a manner that is respectful of the student's privacy and dignity. A mouthful of words tonight. Yes. Okay. So it is written in the right way. Yes, it is. It was read the wrong way. Okay. Searches of student property. Student property subject to search may include, but is not limited to, backpacks, bags, lockers, desks, and personal effects brought onto school property or to school-sponsored activities. Lockers and desks remain the property of the district and may be searched consistent with this policy. Searches of students'

112cell phones and electronic devices. This is the real meat of the particular policy. Student-owned cell phones, smartphones, tablets, laptops, smartwatches, and other personal electronic devices contain highly private digital information and are subject to heightened privacy protections. Accordingly, searches of digital contents of a student's personal electronic device are strongly limited and shall be conducted only under the circumstances outlined below. Seizure versus search. Just to clarify that before we get into the searching of a student's personal electronic device. School officials may temporarily seize a student's electronic device when there is a reasonable suspicion that device has been used in violation of school rules or policy. Seizure of a device does not authorize review of its digital contents. Digital content searches. School officials shall not search the digital contents of a student's personal electronic device, including but not

113limited to text messages, photographs, videos, email, social media content, call logs, or internet history without parent or guardian consent except as provided below. A search of digital content may occur only when one or more of the following conditions is met. Parent or guardian consent. The student's parent or guardian provides informed written consent. I'll say it again, written consent authorizing the search in defining its scope or exigent circumstances. School officials have a reasonable belief that an immediate search is necessary to prevent imminent danger to the health or safety of the student or others or the imminent destruction of evidence related to serious safety concern. In exigent circumstances, the search shall be strictly limited in scope and duration to addressing the immediate concern identified. Law enforcement involvement. If school officials believe the contents of a student's electronic

114device may contain evidence of criminal activity, the device shall be secured and referred to law enforcement. School officials shall not, again, school officials shall not conduct a digital search on behalf of the law enforcement or act as agents of law enforcement. Scope and documentation. So this goes back to, for me this goes back to, it's really, it's very highly connected to digital content searches and the existing circumstances or parent or guardian consent that there needs to be scope and documentation. Any search of a student or student property, including electronic devices, shall be limited to what is reasonably necessary and shall be documented by the administrator conducting the search. Documentation shall include the reason for the search, the scope of the search, whether parent or guardian consent was obtained, and the outcome of the search. A

115section for students with disabilities, searches involving students with disabilities shall take into account the student's age, disability related needs, and IEP or Section 504 plan where applicable. Nothing in this policy alters the district's obligation under federal or state special education law. Non-retaliation, no student shall be disciplined or retaliated against solely for refusing to provide access to the digital contents of a personal electronic device in the absence of a parent or guardian consent or exigent circumstances. Again, that has to be documented. Delegation of authority. Only building principals or their designees may authorize searches under this policy except in emergencies requiring immediate action to protect student safety. And the legal references are very straight and clear. Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution, Article 14 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and then MGLs. Thank you. Any

116questions? And if you missed, you said this, I'm sorry. Has this been reviewed by counsel? maybe by MSAC or something like that because this is this is the policy that they have but they this is word a little bit different but if school committee would like me to do that I would definitely do that I'm not the one telling you to do that I'm just wondering if it should be maybe the final one should be I don't know and then I guess my on the scope and documentation on page two when you call when you have the outcome of the search that they need to document it can the administrator take pictures of what they see? Because I would definitely take, you know, it's... It's not a practice of our administrators to take pictures, but

117because then it's on their phone. We don't have, like principals don't have school-issued phones or anything like that. Well, you could take it on a school-issued iPad. I guess that's the question I have. Like, would you want to take a picture? Like, because things can disappear very quickly. And then it's... I'm sorry, through the chair, I'm just not exactly, I'm not sure exactly what you, you want something in here about taking pictures? No, I think just talking more about like the procedural part later that if you were, so if it happened and then you had to take, you were doing the outcome and you were writing the report, then what would you be, instead of just having where you're writing out what you saw and what you did, that you were taking some sort of?

118photos of what you saw with on the students device that you could end up using a school issued device. Sorry, I went off on that, but just through the chair. But I think what you're asking for is more clarity on what the document looks like for searches. Is that what you're asking for under those four bullets? No. I guess I'm just asking, like I think that like when you go in as an assistant principal principal and you're if you have Exigent circumstances that you believe in a search is immediately necessary. I would think that you're You're you're going to need to prove you may need to provide like take pictures of what's on the phone so that you have the ability to to reference it at a later point and I just want to make

119sure that We know if that's okay or not. I mean I also think if you have exigent circumstances, that's when I would be getting the police involved anyways. Right. So through the chair, the policy addresses seizure as well. So you would seize that. You wouldn't look at something that's exigent. Sorry, that's a tough word to just throw out there all the time. Yeah. It's hard to say. Exigent. You wouldn't look at it and say, okay, now I saw it. Now I can give it back. You would seize it. Right. Yeah. But if you want, we could take a look at that administratively and see if this is. Again, I'm not 100% sure what you're, if you're asking to add another bullet or. I do think if it's exigent, it would just end up being police

120and you wouldn't really be looking around for, somebody give me a phone so I can take a picture and document it. Yeah, I but exit circumstances again to me means that police are already involved as it's exigent. It's it's really It's raised to the level of yes if we use if my principal is not using the word exigent that I know what it means I have a comment. So on the first page under searches of student property, when it gets to the line, lockers and desks remain property of the district, I think that line's fine, but maybe right before that we just put note because it kind of contradicts, it's under the section of student property. But we've now exempted that sentence as it's not student property. On page two, I had a question about

121scope and documentation. Will the parent or guardian be provided a copy of the documentation after the fact, or would that be upon request? I mean, maybe that's just weedy, but I'm just trying to... If I was a parent, as a parent myself, I would ask for it, but... Nothing in here says you can't have it. I don't know. Okay. So, again, if you want me to put a sentence in here that a parent can request a copy of this? I don't know if it's a value. If it's above and beyond, then maybe it's not needed. Again, through the chair, I just, this is such a... It's very detailed. Like, in certain sections, like on the top of the page of page two, you went through great length to say written consent and things like that.

122So I was just trying to be consistent through the document of the detail. Understood. For searches of student property, can you add vehicles to that? Yeah, let me review that with Principal Elwell on that. I think we... I think it's a double check. Again, that would be very limited that we would do that on our own. But let me just check that and see. Okay? Yeah. It's a good point. Sorry, through the chair, I don't. No. I'm trying to be consistent. Yes. No. I know what you're talking about. All right. So do we want to hold off on this one? Or do we still want to send it out for distribution? No, I can make these edits and then send it out for distribution and get feedback, bring it back to Policy South. i have

123one last question after the chair on page three delegation of authority so at our middle schools in our high school we have the luxury of a principal and a vice principal and guidance counselors and such but at the elementary schools we don't have any of those luxuries so in the absence of a principal for whatever reason what would a delegated person what kind of delegated person would that look like either the person who is identified as the go-to person for that particular day or district office administrator okay in through the chair i just would luxury sounds nice but yeah needed my apologies i just was trying to frame that we you know we have a succession of on the other schools whereas the elementary schools we have one and done yep i would think on

124the delegation of authority if a If another administrator is not available, I don't think that we'd want to put a teacher in that position because they don't have the legal background behind them to understand. I would hope that a principal would understand and figure out who their designee would be and who the best one for their building would be. Well, I think it's okay to call over another principal or a central office staff. Or another central office or administrator. The assistant director for special education. We'll write that right into the policy. It's going to be Joe. He's going to drop down the Excel spreadsheet and run over. But I think with those edits I can prepare for distribution, and then we'll bring it back for feedback. Okay? Speaking of Joe. All right, it's your time

125to shine. Director of Finance and Operations report. Thank you. I'll try to keep this as realistic as possible. Before I get into the budget-related items, I'd like to just take a look at numbers one and numbers two on my director's report. Number one being an update on the fiscal year-end closeout for FY25. We did have CBIS, our audit firm, in November to perform their FY25 audit of the financial statements. That was completed, so we are going to await their results, which usually take upwards of a couple of months. Pretty inundated so you know I would expect those results probably later in the school year But I will provide further updates as I receive them Additionally we're finalizing E&D right now. It's in process of finalization With the final results being expected at some point Over

126the course of this month, so I should have that exact number at some point within the next couple of weeks Moving on to number two is an update for student transportation contract renewal for the upcoming year. As you may or may not know, both First Student and Vanpool for regular education and special education are on three-year contracts that coincide with each other with optional years one and optional years two being next year, FY27, and the following year, FY28. based on the improved performances by both vendors over the last year year and a half with regards to communication and their on-road efficiency we've seen less call outs more routes covered a generalized improvement i think since we've called upon them to review their performance with us both school committee and the district office so in light

127of their improvements it's a recommendation of the director of finance and operations to pick up our fourth year options for both vanpool and first student for fy27 it's to be noted that the percentage increase is approximately 3.85 percent next year which actually represents a decrease in the overall percentage increase year over year last year we were looking at four percent this year is about 3.85 so while it is increasing it's re increasing at a lower rate for next year decision sorry go ahead through the chair so to assist with that even though joe does have the authority for that i would recommend a school committee vote that's what i was going to ask are you looking for a vote tonight and that's that was going to be my sorry nope i appreciate it uh just

128for just for year one uh oh yeah you mean one for vanpool one for first student yes please So I'd make a recommendation right now. I'd make a recommendation that school committee review and vote on picking up the FY27 options for both first student and vanpool. I'm sorry? We don't need the word review in there. Apologies. I know you made it so close I know so I would like to request school committee vote I'll entertain a motion to pick up the FY27 fourth year option for first student contract second awesome any discussion hearing none all those in favor everybody but kathy she stepped out oddly enough same same motion i'll entertain but for vanpool awesome somebody already moved i'll make a motion okay all right wait let me extend the fourth year contract option for

129vanpool for the fy27 as as recommended by the finance director okay second There you go Maureen. All right any discussion? Hearing none all those in favor? It's unanimous with Kathy. All right. Thank you. Okay now moving to the meat and potatoes item number three is the budget and capital summary for FY 27. Preparation for the FY27 operating and capital budgets began with primary meetings between building leadership, central office, and school committee having taken place. Initial needs and requests have been identified and they're summarized within these attachments that I have provided. So I'd first like to bring your attention to the FY27 budget impact memo, which it looks like for some reason was moved to the end of the e-packet. Looks like page 44 out of 44. But if you are looking, it is a single-page

130document with two sections, a top section with October 2025 budget workshop requests and a bottom section with 27 projected increases as of 2025. So I'd like to move first into... the bottom portion where we detail October 2025 I mean where we detail FY 27 projected increases I want to start with this area because this is more expected and it's already been discussed to some degree by both director Harriman and superintendent LaMarche so moving toward the first categorized item within That particular area is out of district tuition, including state inflation. I won't go too much further into that outside of what Director Harriman already discussed within. her presentation that we're looking at an increase of several students. We've put an estimated dollar amount. However, I will work with Director Harriman over the course of the coming

131weeks to ensure that we can refine that data and come up with a more finalized figure as we move toward next year. But there will be, from what we see preliminarily, an increased need in out-of-district tuition expenditures. Moving directly under that is our cost of Medicare. Cost of Medicare is high across the Commonwealth. MSHG has set a 67% increase in FY27. That 67% premium increase is split 50-50 between district and retirees. The dollar amount figure that that equates to for Dudley-Charlton is an additional $522,000 in Medicare costs next year. And Superintendent LaMarche already alluded to earlier within his presentation that this has already taken place as of January 2026 as Medicare enrollment was completed in December. So those rates have already started taking effect. So we will need to get ahead of that moving into

132next year. So that took effect January one. So we're gonna have an impact as we speak and how far off of our original projection are we looking? It's several, it's it's an increase of approximately 80,000 a month over split between employees 50-50 correct so we are addressing that through contingency funding for FY 26 yep And moving to the next line item is our health care costs. DCRSD is working to minimize the impact of our active health care premiums for FY27 upcoming. Our budget request today, we've listed an approximate 15% increase estimate, which we've worked down from our initial. increase potential of 20%. We're still actively working to minimize this percentage increase even further down from this 15%. So again, there's more to come on that. Rates are still to be determined by MSHG and should

133be set over the next month plus. So we're hoping again to minimize that. We're working with both MSHG, NFP, and our internal IAC to... find ways to remedy that and to try to push that number down even further. Moving down to contractual obligations, our contractual obligations increase based on our collective bargaining agreement. Our union contracts is an increase of 3.5% going into next year. This dollar amount figure, it's also important to note, is inclusive of the positions that we've added through school committee. this year in FY26. So if you were to look for a true 3.5 based on last year's salary, it's not going to be a true 3.5 based on the additional salaries that we've taken on and the net change in those salaries versus positions who have been replaced by different parties. Moving

134down to our pension contribution. Our cost of living, I'm sorry, our Worcester Regional Retirement System recommended an increase of $170,379 to the annual local pension appropriation. And this is completely based on our total pension liability, which is provided to us as an actuary document. working document on an annual basis so that dollar amount is detailed within the Worcester Regional Retirement Statement to us. Finally, the cost of transportation I've listed here as well which is approximately a 3.85% increase which I had discussed earlier. so now to kind of reverse back toward the top portion of this memo the top portion if you'll recall in October 25 we had our budget workshop where building leaders had come in and detailed for school committee what their requests or proposals would be going into FY 27 for their specific

135buildings so I've detailed them here at the top of the page You can see the total for this is approximately five hundred and thirty thousand if all positions were to be added Going back to superintendent Lamar she's earlier superintendent report He had stressed the need for the first item on there, which is the shared SRO for Charlton schools And an assistant director of student services directly underneath that So again this budget impact memo these requests have not been added into our operating budget projections for next year they will be as the school committee approves each of these potential positions I will add them to our working budget document so that we're inclusive of these particular dollar amounts but again you know I'll leave that up for a school committee to discuss once I complete the

136presentation moving down toward the next portion which is our capital improvement plans there are two documents you'll notice one for Dudley and one for Charlton In 2020, in 2024, DCRSD paid Habib and Associates to complete their facilities condition assessment and student capacity report. Based on the results of that report, the district created or revised 10-year capital plan, the 2027 to 36 capital plan, in an attempt to address the facility needs of the district. So you'll notice each one of these two specific documents is intended to capture over the next several years what the capital request will look like. Now If you take a look at each spreadsheet, they detail the needs of each building on a per municipality basis. So all projects that were identified within the Habib and Associates Facilities Condition Report has been

137broken up into two categories. Each of these projects is either eligible for MSBA funding or it's not eligible for MSBA funding. Right now, DCRSD is actively working on statements of interest for both Shepherd Hill and for Heritage School to address the most pressing needs and anything that is MSBA eligible. However, that doesn't necessarily address the projects that are not eligible for MSBA funding. And that's what these two documents are really looking to isolate. If you'll take a look at the bottom section of each one of these reports, it'll have your eligible or non-eligible MSBA funding. If we take a look at the bottom line of each one of those spreadsheets, you'll see not eligible for MSBA funding. This is in capturing this is capturing the next three years worth of needs out of the 10-year

138capital plan So we're essentially looking at next year 27 28 and 29 We're leaving the following seven years of that 10-year capital plan Which is 2030 to 2036 at the end of this document. You'll notice the far right column captures 2030 to 2036 Those figures are not going to be included within our 2027 municipal request to Dudley and to Charlotte So what we've done is if you look at Dudley, it's about five point nine million on the bottom right and Charlton approximately nine point seven million These are the totals of the projects for the next three years 27 28 and 29 that are not eligible for MSBA funding so this would be DCRSD's plan to address the most pressing needs and again they're most pressing based on critical prioritization within the Habib and Associates report

139and the evolution of the facilities since that time in April of 24. Some projects have been completed, some need has arisen based on you know time that has passed. So again that capital plan has been shifted and altered slightly. to be more reflective of where we currently stand as a district. So both of these documents are going to be shared with municipal officials for both Dudley and Charlton. We had had a preliminary meeting with them several weeks ago just to give them a heads up that this document was coming. So they are aware in general. This is a fluid document. Hopefully, you know, this is as close to the concrete numbers as we're going to get for FY 27, 28 and 29. But again, it is potentially subject to change. over the next couple of

140weeks, but we anticipate this to be about as close to the total request that we'll have. The final document that's attached to my report, you'll notice, is a student enrollment class size projection report. It's important to note that student enrollment has decreased in the current school year. It hasn't decreased exponentially. It's close to 100 students though, which is not insignificant. projections of student enrollment on this document for next year are noted without any staffing changes. So this is what your classes would look like without any section changes based on current enrollment. So again, that is a working document we can discuss internally, how we may want to alter these sections, where we may have some flexibility, where the needs may be rising in certain areas, where the needs may be decreasing in others. So again,

141this is a preliminary look, which is a working document that we hope to refine further through the budgetary process. The governor's budget is slated to be released January 28th with detailed state aid and minimum local contributions. Based on DCRSD's longstanding as a hold harmless district, the lack of effectiveness in the Chapter 70 funding formula, uncertainty related to federal grants, DCRSD is also considering a one-time increase to the use of E&D funds for FY2027 of up to $1.5 million. You'll know that we generally keep it around. 1.097 million we decreased it in fy 26 to 1.085 million the reason that we can increase the use of e and d funds next year is because our fy 26 chapter 7 per per pupil minimum reimbursement came in higher after the fact once our budget was already approved.

142So our revenues, tax base, assessments, etc. were all created based on a per pupil reimbursement percentage which then increased to 150 per pupil minimum aid. We're a conservative spending district this allows us to have that flexibility within our operating budget this year to be able to safely say that we could utilize and defunds of up to 1.5 million and again that will be verified once I receive the And verification from the Department of Revenue DCRSD will continue to monitor the status of the governor's budget as January progresses. We will also continue to work with MSBA and attempt to secure funding to address the district's pressing facilities and operational needs. We'll also work with school committee as well as Dudley and Charlton town officials to provide further updates as we moved towards getting a final approved

143FY27 budget. Detailed FY27 budget documents will be included in the next meeting as part of the budget process. So I'd welcome any questions about any of the information presented or any school committee discussion on the proposed items for the October 25 budget workshop. I know it was a lot. There's lots there. Thank you, Mr. DeSantis. I know that I'm going to reserve a lot of my questions for subcommittee meetings on Friday. I think it would be a better forum to dig into some of the numbers. But I did want to reach out to one question because... Mr. LaMarche might have a better purview on this but in terms of projected kindergarten enrollment and through the census and sign up when do those numbers really start to solidify for the district in terms of trying to

144figure out what those numbers are gonna look like pre-k or k I'm sorry I guess mostly kindergarten because right now it's in registration season so I know that these are fluid numbers but Generally speaking, when do our numbers more or less solidify? It's closer to the end of the school year. Again, like you said, it's fluid on a month-over-month basis. The numbers that I have within... this specific document were as of a couple of weeks ago. You know, we could use October SIMS data for a lot of this, but again, you know, that's October of 25. A lot has even happened since that point. So to answer your question, it is closer toward the end of the school year. But I can, you know, anytime that you would like to get an updated number at

145any specific point during this specific school year, I'm more than happy to provide an updated figure. I'd be interested since the census just went out for the towns, as it always does, but it seems like, at least walking around the towns, especially with Halloween and stuff, there is a lot of new growth in town. And so I would assume at some point we're going to have that bump in the population come back in. We're hoping that's the case. Unfortunately, you know, when you're talking moving into kindergarten, you're not capturing all the kindergartners within your pre-K program. right um so again you know that that becomes difficult to predict in that regard um you know what we're hoping you know once once the summer starts to roll around the end of spring we're hoping to have

146that much more of a concrete figure thank you john i like having um the number of current sections you know to look at the class sizes, but I would ask that we Have the information available for like how many uas are in each building? For budget season like how many art teachers are in each building how many gym teachers how many health? I can build that for you through the chair. Yeah school remember pancic is there is there We can get that number for you, but we want it if there's more that we want us to try to fulfill with that To try to understand it, what their class sizes are? Not so much class sizes. It's just very lopsided, specifically the middle schools. For example, not every student in Dudley Middle gets art because

147there's only one art teacher. So I just kind of want to look at generally a comparison of how many UA teachers are in the buildings and where they're located. Are you looking more like at the equity between? To the chair, this is not an answer, but the child middle has more kids than W middle. So that's what I mean. I'm trying to get to, because I want to try to provide you with the information that connects it somewhere. I think there's like four phys ed teachers, but only one art teacher. You know what I mean? So I'm just, and that's shifted over the last couple of years as the principals have changed. So I'm just looking at. how many are in each building and how many are in building comparisons and yeah there's 600 versus

148500 but there's definitely more core teachers but I want to see how many more you eight teachers are sure I can provide a UA breakdown yeah like maybe you know as we're going through the data pools of getting into like as we ramp into budget season for you know maybe getting snapshots of the schools like that like it does kind of make sense you know with the middle school schedule change we did a lot of revamping of like what the wind block is made for so I know there's a lot more on the plates of the UA so I'm just looking to see what what's in the buildings because sometimes I don't know you know especially in Charlton if I don't have kids in those schools I'm not always in you know conversing with some

149of those UA teachers as much so we can definitely provide it to you I was just trying to build context if there was a context you want to with it that's all so we can definitely get that people okay that's ready to leave readily available I think like what you're saying like even just at one point we were given overall staffing of each school so that we understood like oh this school has two adjustment counselors this school has 1.5 and just we understood like how they flowed it's always helpful because it helps us be able to promote and talk to talk to people in the communities more I'm the safety resource officer for Charlton. That person is already a police officer within Charlton and then they would just like be working for us part-time or

150is it a separate role for them? Through the chair, we would work with Charlton Police Department and we would provide a 50-50 split on the salary for that person, but they would be dedicated fully to Charlton schools. So like, for example, we do have in Dudley for Shepherd Hill, but that school resource officer also works with the Dudley schools as well. and that's a shared it's a it's a shared role it'd be part time for the full time for us for school year but part time for them because it would shift to full time for the police department during summers and vacations and stuff like that any other questions no thank you Joe appreciate it I promise I'll move you up on the agenda next time I mean pretty much next next agenda it's almost

151all you you know of course Steve does most all right so the next one I thought since Steve's got a two-year goal in two year you know that we could just talk about talk about ours and actually do a mid-year review for us for our goals I know the short version of the goals that we approved is on the back of the agenda. The longer version should be in the packet. So for the draft handbook, the policy subcommittee is currently at the draft handbook stage and is still working on the draft handbook. So it's not yet ready to come out. Hopefully, by the next meeting, we'll have something a little bit more substantive that can actually rise up to school committee. Moving on to the next one would be community outreach and stakeholder engagement. We

152did assign school committee liaisons. I'm sorry? We did reports on that. We did, yes. At one meeting. and I have what Charlton Elementary tomorrow I'm sure other people have other ones to go to or have to go to school councils okay I did do a DCRSD school committee calendar district you know calendar that we all have access to so we can put that together so we can track events so we can at least see that and i know celeste appreciates it so she can actually see that all right um and one of the things that we agreed to was to hold a community round table or listening session and that would be for the spring i was thinking about budget priorities but um i was wondering if we wanted to start thinking about bandering that

153about about when you know like at least on an email chain because that doesn't violate open meeting law about when we might want to start thinking about that or who wants to take point when do we usually do that march budget hearing is the beginning first meeting of march first meeting in march yep that might be a tough time for me to take it on um do you think that we should you know maybe like public libraries or you know maybe like the dudley people can we can go to the like maybe you and i and we can just do it or something and like have drop-ins or what maybe you can take it in pairs I would say if we're going to do budget talk, it would be good to have one of the

154people on the budget subcommittee. I wouldn't want to do it without someone on the budget subcommittee. That's what I'm saying, yeah. I think we could see if we could put some hours prior to the, like after we present the budget, but prior to the budget. Right, because I'm just saying I don't want to get to the end of the year and then go, oh, we missed all this stuff. So that's what I'm saying. That's why I want to just do a review now. All right, so. you're on the chair of the budget right so we know you and then you can put it on your agenda and ask the sure budget subcommittee and put it out okay yeah because then it's holding at least one there we go should hold at least one more come

155on we should be nice but all right all right student advisory council there we go we got Danica All right, we're starting a student advisory council. Okay. Did at least one. Still have to hold at least one more meeting. So we have to get on board with that better. We've got the budget meeting next meeting, right? Yeah, and that's over at the Hill. Would the student advisory group be available prior to? Yep. And that would be February 4th. I think we talked too about like maybe we think about what's convenient for them. You know, and maybe it's you get on a Google Meet with them or, you know, something that's a lot of them. They're in so many different activities that you're asking them to miss a practice or, you know, competition. And I don't

156want to necessarily do that to them. Why don't we send it in to see what the days are best. Honestly, it seems like as of right now, it's kind of limited because I know some of the people that are on the committee right now are involved in basketball. So it's kind of a little tug of war battle. I know, because winter sports are so difficult with the timing. Yeah. And then the next one. All right, it would be HQIM. So review and monitor implementation of HQIM-related PD initiatives through quarterly updates from the superintendent. And that would also be Kelly True. I think we're doing that. All right. Advocate for strategic staffing and resource allocation that supports academic excellence and student well-being. That's all right. So let's see. And then support policies that guide curriculum evaluation

157technology. We do that. Okay. That's an ongoing thing, and we do that all the time. All right. Quarterly review HQIM and PD implementation. That would be more for teaching and learning subcommittee. I mean, we definitely have discussed PD and reviewed that, but I'll put that officially on our agenda. We did, on the annual benchmarks, we did provide input on restoration or creation of positions, supporting instructions during our... budget meeting. Yeah, we did do that. And then that's going to also happen again for the budget process. Monitor equitable access to technology and innovative learning platforms. That's ongoing. I can put that on the teaching and learning agenda. All right. And then we can have the teaching and learning subcommittee report out at a future meeting. Yeah. Responsibility. Yeah. Oh, we haven't done that at all. I

158can't read your mind. I'm just being sarcastic. I'm sorry. I was just, sorry. Just being snarky. I'm tired. Annually, review and provide feedback on fiscal reports showing alignment with capital planning and the structural priorities. I was just saying we haven't done that at all. It's been not a single meeting we've done that in any way. Yeah, no. We have, yes. Yes, I know we have. All the time. All the time. So that's not too bad. Motion to adjourn. What? You don't have any future agenda items you want? Oh, sorry, one housekeeping thing. Let me have one housekeeping item. One housekeeping item. Please. Sorry. Don't let me get all like Robert's rules in a second. I will. All right. There is a typo in the next agenda, next meeting dates. School committee meeting is not January

15928th for the next meeting. That was a communication error earlier. The next meeting is 6.30 p.m. It is on a Wednesday. It is February 4th. However, it is at Shepherd Hill. It's gonna be all about budget. We have other things too. We have handbooks, program studies, we've got other things. I know, we do have a lot of other things, but it's going to be about budget. It's going to be cool. Come on. Don't you love talking about $60 million? I love talking about $60 million. I do think it would be important to have a conversation among committee members about the policy for the students. They've certainly come to meetings. We just want to have a chance to openly discuss it. so that we can understand the rationale. Because there are more groups other than just

160Color Guard. Last year we had a question about band, and we want to make sure that we have that information for the public and that they understand the rationale. So you'd like to have an agenda item next meeting about policy, JJIAB? Yeah. Okay. We can have that. Thank you. Anything else? all right anthony the best motion of all night motion to adjourn it's non-debatable all in favor