0017 o'clock. Yep. All right. Is Jamie here yet? No. Okay, but it's 7, so we'll start. The meeting of the Dudley Child and Regional School Committee is now in session. It is Wednesday, June 24th. It is 7 p.m., and we are video conferencing. Before I take the first daughter of business, I would like to welcome our newly elected member, Jordan Evans, to our committee. Welcome, Jordan. And I would also like to welcome Brian Ackerman to our meeting this evening. He is our newly appointed assistant superintendent. Welcome, Brian. And first order of business is reorganization of the Dudley Child and Regional School Committee. And I will hand that over to Steve. Thank you, Madam Chair. At this time, I will take nominations for the chair of the Dudley Child Regional School District moving forward. I'll nominate
002Kenny LaFerria. I'll second that. We have a nomination in a second. Are there any other nominations? Seeing that there are no other nominations, is there any discussion? Okay, we'll take a roll call vote for Kenny. I'm sorry. Kenny, do you accept the nomination? Yes. Okay. Oh, well. That's an important piece. I'll take a roll call vote for Kenny LaFerriere to be the next chair of the Dudley-Children Regional School Committee. Catherine Caballa. Yes. Pauline O'Coin. Yes. Jordan Evans. Yes. Stephanie Reed. Yes. Jamie Terry. Yes. Kathleen Kamranani. Yes. And does Kenny get a vote? I don't know if Kenny gets a vote. Kenny gets a vote. Kenny LaFervio. Okay, I'll vote for myself, yes. You should have voted no, just for the heck of it. I should have abstained. I should have abstained. Congratulations, Kenny. Congratulations, Janimus.
003Thank you very much. I appreciate the support and it's an honor for me to be a graduate of this great system and to be able to feed all of you and work with all of my colleagues on this great team. So I thank you for that and it's humbling to me to receive the unanimous support tonight. So I appreciate that. First, I also want to welcome Ms. Jordan Evans to the table. So thank you for being here. And welcome back to Ms. Jamie Terry and Mrs. Pauline O'Coin back to the table for another year. Thank you. Thank you. I also want to take a brief moment before we continue with our work tonight. I think it would be remiss not to thank Mrs. Pauline O'Coin. It's my understanding that she's been chair of the Dudley-Charlton
004Regional School Committee for 14 years. Oh, my God. She's been chair for a long time, so I do think she deserves special recognition tonight. So thank you, Mrs. O'Coin, for your years of service. And thank you, Kim. I want to echo that, too, Mrs. O'Coin. You've done a great job. You take listen to all sides and 14 years have flown by, right? Yes, it has. Thanks. So thank you. And thank you all. Okay, so we'll begin with the reorganization tonight. I would look for a nomination for vice chair of the Dudley-Charlton Regional School Committee. I'll nominate Pauline O'Coin. Do I have a second? Motion been made and seconded to nominate Mrs. Pauline O'Coin as vice chair. Any discussion? Seeing none, I'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes.
005Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin, do you want to vote for yourself? Okay, yes. And thank you, everyone. Thank you, everyone, for your vote. I vote yes. It's a unanimous vote for vice chair. Thank you. Thank you. The next piece is to nominate the secretary. Traditionally, the committee has nominated the superintendent. So I look for a motion from the floor. I nominate Steve Lamache. Second. Motion been made and seconded to nominate Superintendent Lamache to secretary discussion. Hearing none, I'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin? Yes. And the chair votes yes, unanimous for secretary. I'm looking for a nomination for treasurer in the past, and then current treasurer is Ms. Carol Bannon. I'll nominate Carol Barron for treasurer.
006Barron, excuse me. Motion been made and seconded to nominate Ms. Carol Barron as the district treasurer. Discussion? Hearing none, I'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Korey? Yes. And the chair votes yes, unanimous for treasurer. Assistant treasurer. Traditionally, we've nominated the superintendent for assistant treasurer. A motion from the floor? I'll nominate Steve Lamache. Second. Second. Motion to be made and seconded. Discussion? Hearing none, roll call vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin. Yes. Chair votes yes. Unanimous for assistant treasurer. Southern Worcester County Education Collaborative representative, the past also nominated the superintendent. Motion from the floor. I'll nominate Stephen Lamache. I'll second. Motion been made and seconded for the superintendent
007to be the Southern Worcester County Education Collaborative representative. Discussion? Hearing none, Mrs. Kamenyany? Yes. Oh, Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. McCoy? Yes. And the chair votes yes, unanimous for that appointment. Also, the next item is borrowing authorization. This is to authorize the District Treasurer, Carol Barron, to borrow from time to time in anticipation of revenue of the financial year beginning July 1st, 2020 and ending June 30th, 2021 in accordance with the provisions of the Massachusetts General Laws and to issue a note or notes, therefore payable within one year. and to renew any notes or notes as may be given for a period of less than a year. Do I have a motion for the floor to nominate Ms. Carol Barron as for borrowing authorization? So moved. Second.
008Motion to be made and seconded. Any discussion? No discussion. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin? Yes. And chair votes aye, unanimous appointment. Also, we usually traditionally would appoint a CPAC representative. I would respectfully ask we hold off on that. In discussions with the superintendent, it was discussed maybe we should coordinate with our director of pupil personnels and coordinate with the superintendent on that particular representative. So if there's no objection, I'd like to hold on that. Okay. Okay. And then let's see, where am I? So our subcommittee appointments. We have a budget and finance subcommittee. I'd like to request volunteers to be on that subcommittee for budget and finance. And I'll volunteer again. I'll do it too. Okay. So Mrs. Kabbalah and Mrs. O'Coin. And
009is there a third volunteer? We can do three members. Mrs. Kassiani. I just request that if they were to have meetings, it needs to be after school time. Does that work for the administration? Yes. Very good. So Mrs. Kamanyani will be appointed to budget and finance along with Mrs. Kabala and Mrs. O'Coin. Mr. Lafreniere? Yes. I just don't want to take any representation away from Charlton. Do you feel that it needs to be a little bit mixed and have a Charlton member instead? That's very kind. I don't have a problem with it. How does the rest of the committee feel? I don't have a problem with it either, but I'd appreciate it if we could have updates maybe before the meeting so we could review your notes or something so that we could, I don't
010know, at least be kept abreast of what's going on. Yes, that sounds good, Jamie. Yep. And I agree. I agree. Okay. So that's fine. Mrs. Cominanti, you accept that to be on the budget? Okay, great. Thank you so much. The policy review subcommittee, I would like to be on that committee. Who wants to join me? I'll join. And Mrs. Kabala? And Ms. Evans? Great. So that's the three of us on policy review. So also tonight, I would like to respect. that you noticed from your agenda, the capital subcommittee wasn't included. So in speaking with the superintendent and the previous chair, it was decided or recommended that we combine the capital and safety into one subcommittee. If there's no objection, I'd like to do that tonight. Okay. No objection by anybody. So who would like to
011be on the capital and safety subcommittee? Okay. And Kimmy, I'd like to be with Jamie. Yeah, so Mrs. O'Coin, Mrs. Terry, is there a third member that wants to be on the Capital and Safety Subcommittee? Kenny, maybe you should be. Yeah, so I'll do it. I just didn't want to do it all if there were other volunteers. So I'll join the Capital Safety with Mrs. Terry, Mrs. O'Coin, and myself. Very good. And then Executive Session Minutes Review. Who wants to be on that subcommittee? It's a very brief commitment. I'll do it again. And I'll do it again because it's very brief. We only had a couple of meetings. Does the third member want to go on that with the two ladies? I'll join. Ms. Evans. Great. Mrs. Kabbalah, Mrs. O'Coin, and Ms. Evans on the
012Executive Minutes Review. All right. And then our next subcommittee, we have a teaching and learning subcommittee. Who would like to volunteer? Ms. Terry? Anyone else? I would certainly volunteer if it's a possibility to join in a remote, if they have to have meetings during the school day. It's not a problem for me, but it's up to administration. I don't think it's a problem. Yep. So Mrs. Terry, Mrs. Kamanyani, who else would like to join the teaching and learning subcommittee? No other volunteers. All right. So we'll have a committee of two on the teaching and learning. Obviously, we can always add to that throughout the school year if people have availability. And that's Mrs. Terry and Mrs. Kamanyani. All right. The last subcommittee, I believe, is the school year calendar review. Who would like to be
013on that subcommittee? Mrs. Terry? Go ahead. I'd like to do that. I'm sorry, Mrs. Reed, did you want to do that again? No, you don't need more than two. Okay, we can have three, but if you don't... Stephanie, if you want to do that, I'll withdraw. I would too, Stephanie, if you wanted it. I know that was something that was important to you. No, it doesn't matter to me. I didn't think anyone else volunteered. Stephanie, you can do it, okay? All right. Mrs. Reed and Mrs. Terry on the calendar review, school year calendar review subcommittee. Anyone else? No? All right. Very good. Ms. Laferriere, I have a question for you. I have to learn how to say your name better if I'm going to have to say it as many times as I'm going to.
014Laferriere, it's French. Laferriere, okay. It's quite all right. Do we need a Dudley representative to know the Dudley calendar or the things that might happen in the town of Dudley for the calendar? So my personal opinion is I think all the subcommittees should have three members. More membership is better, but that's my personal opinion. If people want to just do, that's fine too. Tammy, I'll do it then if you want a Dudley member, the three of us, okay? All right. Mrs. O'Coin will join the calendar year, school year calendar review subcommittee. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. O'Coin. All right. And then respectfully, I'm also going to ask we table appointment to the wage and benefit negotiation, the Massachusetts Nurses Association negotiation, and the Dudley Child and Teachers Association negotiation, because we are ending negotiations with one
015group and we are not in negotiations with the other. So I think it's better sense to appoint as necessary. Okay? All right. And then at this point, before we move on, I want to turn it over to Mr. Lamache if he has any comments on these appointments. Mr. Chairman, thank you. And school committee, thank you for your organization. This is the first time I'm going through this with you as a group. And to add to that, I'd like to talk about the assignment of central office administrative liaisons for each group. So this liaison will be the administrator who will help coordinate setting the agenda and the meeting times. So for budget and finance, that will be Mr. Richard Matthew will be the liaison for budget sub, budget and finance sub. For policy sub, it's myself,
016the superintendent. I'll be the liaison to work with the committee to set up the agenda. For capital, it will be myself again as the liaison. For the executive session minutes, it will be myself as the liaison. For the Teaching and Learning Subcommittee, that will be Dr. Ackerman, the Assistant Superintendent. He'll be the Central Office Administrative Liaison. And for School Calendar, it will be myself. I'll be the liaison to help establish the meeting times and the agenda for that meeting as well. That way, at least we have you as subcommittees have a go-to person to help make sure that the... Agenda is posted in a timely fashion and reviewed in preparation for the meeting and a contact for school business to support your subcommittee moving forward. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Yep. Thank you, Mr. Lamache. And
017just as one thing I neglected to mention, the capital and safety subcommittee, the focus will be the MSBA application if we are selected for the renovation of Sheppard Hill Regional High School, just to put that out there. All right, so next would be approval of the minutes. I would like to receive a motion for approval of the regular meeting minutes of Wednesday, June 3rd. So moved. No second. Motion been made and seconded to approve the meeting minutes. Any discussion? Hearing none, we'll take a vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? I'll abstain. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Kline? Yes. And the chair votes aye. We've got six in the affirmative, one abstention. Minutes are all set. And then we're going to move into Citizens Forum this evening. Are there anybody here
018that would like to approach the Committee for Citizens Forum? And prior to identifying yourself, I would like to discuss and read a statement. Mr. Chairman, there are a few people who have indicated that they would like to speak during Citizens Forum, but I know that you'd like to read something prior to. Yes. And we'll go and we'll make sure that everyone has an opportunity, obviously, just so that the audience is aware. I'm the one trying to manage the Zoom meeting. So raising your hand, Eve, Ms. Sommer was perfect. And also the hand icon, too, works. But we'll get through this, but I appreciate your patience with me as the... as a Zoom facilitator here. But Mr. Chairman, yes. Very good. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Lamache, for dealing with the Zoom and the technology component tonight.
019Being this my first meeting as chair, I just thought it would be good to get into the habit of reviewing the, we as a district have a Citizens Forum policy, and I would like to read the policy to just set expectations and share with the community how we proceed under Citizens Forum. The school committee welcomes open communication with the citizens of our communities, and it is interested in their concerns, comments, suggestions, and input relating to issues and the improvement of our schools. The Education Reform Act of 1993 places the authority of policy making with the school committee, while the day-to-day management of the schools rests with the superintendent and school administrators. With this in mind, the school committee includes a citizen's form on each regular school committee meeting agenda to provide individuals with an opportunity
020to speak within the following guidelines. Number one, please state your name and the town in which you reside. Two, if you have a complaint, please seek resolution first at the individual school level and with the school principal and or administrators, including, if necessary, the superintendent. Three, recognizing that good decision-making on important issues requires input and information from staff, citizens, students, and committee members. Action on any matter should not be expected during the meeting in which it is brought up, but may be discussed and decided at a subsequent meeting. All remarks are for. All remarks will be addressed through the chair at the meeting. 5. The speaker may offer objective opinions, concerns of the school operations and programs, but in public session, committee will not hear personal complaints against school personnel or against any member of
021the district. Improper conduct and remarks will not be allowed. Defamatory or abusive remarks are always out of order. If a speaker persists in improper conduct or remarks, the chair may terminate that individual's privilege of address. Refusal of the speaker to comply with the chair's directive will result in removal from the meeting. The policy was adopted February 25th, 1998, amended February 24th, 2002, and amended again January 9th, 2013. I have requested that the policy be brought to the Policy Review Subcommittee for future discussion and possible update. So at this time, I would ask Mr. Lamarche to bring in the first speaker via the technology. Thank you. So first we have Ms. Sommer. Hi, can you hear me? Hi, Ms. Sommer, welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you. My name is Eve Sommer. I live in
022Dudley, and I'm a parent to a six-year-old moving from Mason Road to Dudley Elementary in the fall, and a three-year-old who will enter the school system in a few years. I know this year has been full of challenges to say the least, that you as a group have been tirelessly to overcome. However, we are also in an important moment of heightened racial awareness in America. and we must make changes that create real positive impact on our students' lives and their futures. I've read the Massachusetts Association of School Committees anti-racism resolution and I would like to express my strong support for it. I'm also here tonight with some other members of the district to ask the committee to discuss how to swiftly implement a variety of measures to support a safer and better represented environment for
023our Black, Indigenous, and students of color. to help our white students build their capacity to understand and confront racism and to improve the quality of education for all our students. Measures include but are not limited to professional development in diversity, equity, and inclusion, recruitment of diverse teachers and administrators, implementing anti-racist policies, and the decolonization of our curriculum from its white cisgendered male perspective. Understanding that you may not be able to answer me tonight, I would like to know if the school committee will be bringing in consultants from outside the district, supporting a task force of teachers, administrators, and even parents who can engage with experts, and what other initiatives are being discussed to ensure anti-racism training? and decolonization as well as diversification of policies, curriculum, and faculty will become a priority and start to happen
024swiftly. I appreciate your time tonight and your transparency on this issue. And I also appreciate the challenge of addressing this topic at a time when everyone's plates are so full and there's so much about the upcoming school year that's still in the air. But I also believe that it's our duty to meet this moment in history. And I'm more than happy to participate in any way that is helpful. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Sommer, for being here tonight. My pleasure. Thank you. I think we have another person that would like to speak. Mr. Lamache? Yes, Mr. Wallace would like to speak. Hi, Mr. Wallace. Welcome. Thank you for being here. Thank you very much. I recognize a few faces. I know I don't know everybody here, certainly. But my name is
025Devin Wallace. We live in Charlton. My wife and I have four children. We have one in high school. We've got one in middle school and two in the heritage school that will be moving to the middle school. So, you know, one thing that I want to say, I've got some prepared remarks here, but that we have been so impressed by the caring, the compassion and the love within the school system. We moved here from another school system and we've just been blown away by the administrators, the teachers at all three schools that we've had experience with. Did not have any children within the elementary schools. We didn't have that opportunity. This evening, I would like to speak for a few minutes on something very similar to what Eve brought up. Eve and I don't know
026each other. I didn't know she was going to say what she said. I loved everything she said. I have a few things to maybe augment. I hope I'm not being duplicative of what... she shared. So, you know, really my topic, again, is recognizing, celebrating, and insisting that Black Lives Matter, and by extension, that really discrimination and bias in any form cannot be tolerated. My intent is to highlight three areas of action that I would recommend for this committee. And much like Ms. Sommer had said, I know this committee can't respond right now, but I know this is also recorded and being documented. So first, I would ask that a fully diverse set of candidates be considered before any hiring decisions are made within the district, keeping in mind that diversity exists in many forms. So
027that could be skin color, that could be gender, that could be perspective. This may mean that the hiring process could take longer at times. However, it's critically important to ensure that all voices are heard, all perspectives are considered. I ask this committee to review the policies that are in place across the district and within each of the specific schools with respect to hiring and to augment the language as necessary to ensure that there is a fully diverse set of candidates as a mandate rather than perhaps being considered a best practice. The second thing I would say is that any allegations of discrimination, whether past or present, be investigated thoroughly and addressed directly. I fully recognize, as Mr. LaFerriere said at the beginning of this, that specific issues with teachers, students, and incidents cannot be discussed
028in this forum. I fully respect and understand that. I'm also aware that some concerns, some very serious concerns about inflammatory statements of bias and hate that were allegedly uttered within the walls of our schools have been put out on social media. Again, there will be no specific examples discussed in this forum. I simply ask that anything that has been surfaced or will be surfaced in the future be addressed swiftly and thoroughly by school administrators to ensure that our students are protected and that no one is made... to feel inferior due to something that makes them different, simply cannot and will not be tolerated. My third ask this evening is perhaps a little bit unique, but I would like to ask for a 10 second moment of silence. This moment of silence is going to be
029to honor anyone whose lives have been lost across this nation due to hate and misunderstanding. you know, due to the perception of superiority or inferiority and due to the inaction of people that have historically turned away from this. So at this time, I'll ask for the 10 seconds. I have my clock here. And once it ends, the next person can speak. So 10 seconds of silence, please. Excellent. Thank you very much. Thank you, Mr. Wallace, for being here. That was very nice. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Lamache, is there others that like to speak this evening? At this time, I haven't seen anyone. Is there anyone else that would like to speak? It doesn't appear so, Mr. Chairman. All right. Very good. Thank you so much. Thank you for those that
030came tonight, and we appreciate your involvement in your community. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The next item on the agenda tonight is communications. I don't have any communications. Do any of the school committee members have any tonight? Hearing none. I had one thing. Somebody had brought to my attention about the AP courses and the selection and how due to budget. they're not getting any of the summer coursework. I was just wondering if there was an answer as to if they're not going to offer at all for AP courses next year? I don't think that's accurate, and I'm not exactly sure. I'll have to look into that and get back to you. Well, they sent me what was in it, and I can read it. It says the AP courses and scheduling for next
031year. With budget concerns and the potential impact on student schedules, we are hesitant to provide summer assignments for students who requested AP courses for the upcoming year. We do not want to assign the work until we are certain if we will be able to offer all of the AP courses or if students will be able to be scheduled for these courses following the updates to our budget. We are looking to prevent situations where students request an AP course, complete the assigned summer work, and are not able to take the class in the 2020-2021 school year. And then it goes on. So they had said that to me, and they had a concern that they weren't going to have any. Well, again, what's actually going to happen in the fall is anyone's guess at this point
032in time. I think that that's a proactive approach in case there is something that does come forward. If the state asks us to reduce our budget by $5 million, we are going to have to cut it. So we would hate to ask students to do a boatload of work during the summer, and that happened to be the one course that we couldn't run because we had to cut $5 million out of our budget. but right now whether we're running AP courses or not that's I would play more towards we're running AP courses are we running 100 percent I nobody can guarantee at this point in time and on top of that what actually happens in the fall whether we're remote hybrid, meaning remote or in school, is still up in the air. So I think
033that was a communication. I did see Principal Chaplin jump in. I'm not sure if he wants to add. I'm right here. Yeah. No, I wrote the communication. So that was to parents and students. All that was was a pause. I didn't want someone to jump into AP work right after school was over. All I asked them to do, if you read the full thing, was we would get back to them and assign work at the end of July. So it was more of a pause. There was nothing in there about no AP courses or anything like that. Okay. Okay. Thank you, Mr. Chaplin. Yep. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chaplin. Thank you, Mrs. Reed. Any, no other communications. And what about the administration, Mr. Lamarche? I have no communications to report this evening, Mr. Chairman.
034Okay, great. Thank you. And now we'll turn it back to Mr. Lamarche for the superintendent's report. Thank you, Mr. Chairman and school committee. I have a number of items to report on this evening. I would start by welcoming our newest school committee member, Ms. Jordan Willow Evans. I have had the opportunity to work with Ms. Evans as a member of the board of the Dudley Charlton Education Foundation, and I truly look forward to working together on her new path of volunteerism as a school committee member. So welcome, Jordan, and thank you for continuing to volunteer within our communities. Thank you for making me feel accepted. Next, I would like to welcome Dr. Brian Ackerman to our school committee meeting tonight. Dr. Ackerman has jumped right in as our assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. There's
035no question we are confident in his leadership and look forward to his successes and his guidance in our world of learning and teaching. Welcome, Dr. Ackerman. Welcome. Welcome. Maybe he wants to give a speech, Mr. Lamarche. I think he does, yes. Oh, here we go. I just want to say thank you to the committee, to Superintendent Lamarche, to the communities of both Dudley and Charlton, and to the administrative team. Since I've come aboard, I've been welcomed by everybody. And I'm so excited for all the wonderful possibilities that we are going to unpack together. Dudley Charlton is obviously a special place. I knew that from the moment that I entered for my first interview. So thank you for this opportunity. And I'm so excited for all the great things that we're going to do together for
036our students. Welcome. Glad to have you here, Dr. Ackerman. Thank you, Dr. Ackerman. I would also like to congratulate and welcome back to the committee Ms. Jamie Terry for her successful bid for the three-year seat on school committee for Charlton representing Charlton. I've really enjoyed working with Ms. Terry on a number of projects and initiatives within our district, and I continue to look forward to working with Ms. Terry moving forward too. Congratulations, Jamie. Thank you. Same to you. Thank you. And with that said, too, I would also like this evening to recognize Ms. Karen Ayers for her leadership and work on Dudley-Charlton Regional School District as the STEM director and the interim assistant superintendent. We wish her all the best with her professional move. I know that she will maintain strong ties to members of
037our staff and district. It must be made clear this evening, though, that DCRSD has gained state recognition in many educational circles and organizations because of her leadership. in pursuit of change for our district. We are better today because of Karen and we thank her for her investment in teaching and learning. We thank you, Ms. Karen Ayers, as you move on. Next this evening I would like to recognize Dudley-Charlton Regional School District educators who have turned the page and are prepared for the next chapter of their life. We appreciated their dedication to our community and to the two towns as educators and mentors for our students. So I will read a list of the retirees for DCRSD this year. We have Mr. Charlie Brooks, Miss Jennifer Cousins, Miss Leanne Daly-Cook, Fresh off the presses, Miss Maureen
038Davis, Miss Nancy Dion, Miss Anita Hickey, Miss Bridget McNamara, Miss Mary Beth McNamara, Mr. Jerry Millett, Miss Karen Potter, Miss Cynthia Rawson, Miss Kathy Rose. Rowers? Sorry. Rowers. Sorry, my apologies to Kathy. And Ms. Karen Worinsky. We wish them all with whatever is next for them moving forward. The next item I'd like to talk about is the reopening committee. Our work continues. We have received guidance on extended school year programming and are told that we will have Department of Elementary and Secondary Education guidance for the next school year in the coming week. Our work is to process the guidance and establish frameworks for Dudley Child and Regional School District moving forward. We will adhere to public health guidance with built-in expectations of professionals in the medical field. An initial family survey will be distributed this
039week. The survey is not intended to be an end, but a beginning of collecting information to help guide our thinking and planning within the provided state and state agency guidance. Our effort is to provide a survey that is easy to complete and will always have the opportunity for families to share their thinking. So right now it's a five-question survey, and the reason is we want to keep the survey short because most people are inundated at this point in time with surveys. So we want to keep them short, collect as much data as we can so that we can collect it and use it to help guide us moving forward. Keep in mind that the feedback is critical and we will continue to ask for your patience as this work is uncharted for us as a
040district. in a state. We also realize that we will not be able to answer all of the initial questions, and you'll see repeatedly, I've been saying this all along, that answering the questions is truly our path forward. You will see that repeatedly. We have to answer the questions coming forward. To share some of the work, our reopening committee, excuse me for a second. To share some of the work of our reopening committee, we've established working goals for each subgroup. So we have a number of subgroups within the reopening committee. We have an operations and resources subcommittee, and their goals are to establish daily health and safety protocols for students and staff for all potential models of schooling next year. Their second goal is to establish protocols to deal with inevitable, urgent, and emergent health and
041safety concerns. And their third goal is to determine the potential costs to accomplish goal number one and goal number two. We also have a subgroup called Social, Emotional, Health, and Safety. The first goal of that group is to design and implement opportunities for Dudley-Chelton Regional School District staff to communicate, connect, and learn about their social, emotional, and physical health needs and capacities through webinars, workshops, and training, as well as support teachers in recognizing the social and emotional needs of themselves and their students. The next goal for the social, emotional, health, and safety subgroup, create emotionally and physically safe, supportive, and engaging learning environments, both online and in-person, that promote and support all students' academic, physical, social, and emotional needs. And the third goal for social, emotional, health, and safety, create opportunities for families to recognize,
042communicate, connect, and receive support and guidance for their family's social, emotional, and physical health needs, utilizing referrals to outside agencies and resources to support all students and families. The next subgroup is instruction, and this is instruction for all students. Their three goals are, number one, establish clear and concise communication regarding instructional practices and the use of technology. Their second goal is to establish clear and concise guidelines regarding attendance, assessment, and grading for all students. And then the third goal is to develop a plan to deliver special education services and interventions to students. And the last subgroup is communication and consultation. The first goal for communication and consultation subgroup is to communicate clearly, simply, and frequently as we prepare for any form of reopening. Establish communications that are positive and build a strong sense of community.
043And last, construct communication that identifies incremental steps in long-term planning at the same time. So as we continue to participate in state agency video conferencing meetings and anticipate further guidance, our group will continue to meet. We've been meeting weekly. We are taking next week off for a meeting, but we will continue to meet weekly as a reopening committee. It is our understanding that Governor Baker may provide new guidance as early as tomorrow for us for the fall and what the fall may look like. So as I've said to many people, it doesn't look like it's going to be a summer of rest. It looks like we'll have quite a bit of work ahead of us. And, you know, there's nothing more unnerving than unknown, the unknown. So we really want to work hard at creating
044the opportunity for people to know what's going on. The next category of my report this evening is I know that the school committee will address this topic below, but I wanted to add to the topic of the national change taking place. As a school district, we have a real and sincere responsibility to ensure school committee policies and the civil liberties of our students and staff are whole. We embrace our public identity and must make certain that we welcome everyone free of bias and racism. Our collective work is to maintain unfettered access to every benefit for every student who enters our school. To be clear, the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District will not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, gender identity, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, disability, or homelessness. For a point of contact and
045reference, you can reach out to any of the following staff members. As required by statute, here are the coordinators to ensure equity and access. Our Title VI and Civil Rights Act of 1964 coordinator is Dr. Brian Ackerman. Our Equal Education Opportunity Acts coordinator is Dr. Brian Ackerman. Our Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 coordinator is Dr. Brian Ackerman. Our Massachusetts General Law Chapter 76 Section 5 School Attendance Coordinator is Ms. Anne-Marie Lafon. Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act Coordinator is Ms. Lorinda Allen. Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965 Coordinator is Dr. Brian Ackerman. Our American with Disabilities Act Coordinator is Ms. Lorinda Allen. And our McKinney-Vento Homeless Education Assistant Act Coordinator is Ms. Lorinda Allen. In addition and beyond adherence to policies, And to welcome everyone properly,
046we must learn from the world around us as we prepare our students for the world. So I am announcing that we will reestablish an equity committee to review our district constructional programs and materials moving forward with a keen eye on the foundations of continued learning for our students in this changing society. I know that we are doing a lot. I know that we believe we are doing really well. but we need to take this opportunity to bolster our efforts to be precise and match the expectations of the community around us in our state and nationally. So with that, Mr. Chairman, it concludes the superintendent's report. Thank you very much, Mr. Lamache. Are there any questions from the committee members? Mrs. Cabala. I was just questioning about that equity committee. Who would be on that? Group
047of the community staff who would be on that equity? We're formulating now that was the equity committee was something that was established in 2018 It changed, obviously. There was some leadership changes, I think, that may have had that not continue, but we are going to reenact that, and we're working with Dr. Ackerman and Ms. Lorinda Allen to reestablish that equity committee because it did come out of the Director of Pupil Personnel Services Office originally, so we're moving back towards that. So once we start reestablishing that, there's been some communication that's been going on now internally, but we are definitely moving in that direction, and that was... my announcement this evening. So we'll move, we'll decide collectively moving forward what that looks like. Okay. Anyone else? All right. Thank you, Mr. Lamache. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
048We're going to move into new business this evening. And it's something I neglected to say before in the beginning. Again, thank you for the unanimous support in leading this wonderful team. I also expect, and I guess I shouldn't have to say this, and when I make a mistake, I would hope someone will speak up. And I know getting to know you all, you will. Got that right. Anyways, thank you so much. I'd like to next take on agenda item A, report of the director of finance and operations. And I will turn this to Mr. Matthew. Thank you very much. A couple of items for the committee this evening. First is acceptance of the FREC bids, the French River Education Collaborative, provides procurement for a number of school districts. Dudley Charlton has participated in those bids
049for a number of years. I'll continue the running joke, especially given our distanced meeting tonight. Unfortunately, there is no ice cream. There's not the ice cream truck that will show up at your doors in the next five seconds to give you a sample, unfortunately. So I hope Mr. Chalk is watching. You guys do have all of the bids. I'm not sure how the committee would like to proceed with them. Certainly I recommend acceptance of these. They provide a decent cost savings for the district as opposed to going out by ourselves. Mr. Matthew, I didn't hear you in the end there. What did you say? I said going out and procuring this way provides a cost savings than having to go out and do this procurement ourselves because of the bulk buying. Again, I'm not sure
050how the committee would like to proceed, whether accepting each bid individually or accepting them collectively. That's up to the committee. What's the committee's preference? I make a motion to accept all the French River bids as presented tonight. I second. Motion been made and seconded to accept all bids presented tonight by Mr. Matthew and his report. Any discussion, questions, concerns? Hearing none. I'm sorry, who had a question? I just wanted to clarify, we're only talking about the French River bids, right? I mean, there may be other things you bring up, so. I'm so glad you corrected my error. I told you I would. Thank you. Did you learn from Mrs. Kabawa? I sat next to her for a while. It rubs off after a while. So, yes, I'm sorry. Thank you very much for the clarity.
051This is a motion that's been made and seconded. to accept the bids by French River Educational Collaborative as Mr. Matthew has presented in the packet tonight. Everybody understand and in agreement? Yep. Very good. We'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Kamigiani? Thank you. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes. Mrs. Reid? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. LaCoin? Yes. And the chair votes aye. It's passed unanimously. Mr. Matthew? Thank you very much. Another piece of procurement that I look for the committee's approval on is electricity procurement for the district. We are in a contract currently through November 2020. My recommendation to the committee is to extend this for 24 additional months with our same vendor. We do this through an energy... broker, procure, although these are separate bids. But again, we receive the bulk purchasing price and
052power here. We're currently in a locked contract for 12 months at 0.09098 per kilowatt hour. The renewal rate for 24 months would be a little bit less, 0.08461 per kilowatt hour. What is the wish of the committee? Make a motion to extend the contract for 24 months at the rate of .08461. Was that it? Yes. Second. Motion to be made and seconded to accept Mr. Matthews' recommendation and discussion. It said 24 or 36 months. What did Mr. Matthews prefer? The 24 months is the most advantageous price for us. Okay. Thank you, Mrs. O'Coin, for that clarity. See, you guys are doing a great job tonight. So hearing no further discussion, Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Mrs. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin? Yes. And I vote yes as well. It
053passes unanimously. Back to you, Mr. Kemp. Thank you very much. Those are important contracts to keep updated. Next, I'll actually pass over the special education transportation contract. We haven't finalized the language on a new clause that they want to insert, but I suspect that we'll have that for the July meeting. All right. However, I would like to note that in our final negotiations, they did agree to a price freeze for three years. So the entire length of the contract will be at the same price that this last three-year contract has been. Very good. So we'll table that item for the next meeting, and you'll have the contract or the proposal at the next meeting. That is the goal, yes. Very good. That completes the report? No, I actually have a couple of other items. First,
054I'd like to just give the committee an update on the FY20 close. I had indicated a fairly wide range last time we talked about this with the anticipation of closing between a million and a million point five. We still have POs coming in and POs being canceled and all those sorts of things, but I can revise that estimate to a little finer in the expectations. It'll be about a million to 1.3 million. So my hunch is that we'll be right around where we currently are, a little higher or a little lower. But again, there are still RPOs that are coming in, nothing of major size yet, but just in case something does occur, I want to... give myself a little wiggle room here as well. I'll have a update, the final report at the July
055meeting and request any budget transfers necessary at that point in time. Very good. All right. And then just an update on the FY21 budget. And if I may, Mr. LaFerriere, go into item B, recap of town meetings. Oh, absolutely. The town of Charlton held its annual meeting at the Charlton Middle School, Alfresco, as they say, on June 15th, 2020, and approved the assessment for the district. The town of Dudley held its annual town meeting on Monday, June 22nd, and passed our assessment as well. So we have a formal, if not final, budget. for FY21. That's great news. We don't have to deal with the state in the 112th budgeting process, but we don't have much more or any real concrete information than we had before. But I do have the sense that statewide, as I
056indicated in my memo, there was an editorial from the Boston Globe encouraging Governor Baker to borrow, issue debt to cover these one-time revenue shortfalls. or at least hope for one-time revenue shortfalls. So I think there's a recognition that they can't give us that $5 million budget cut and still expect us to do all those things that we need to do that they're prescribing. So I think there is some positive progression there. In terms of the town meetings, there was only one question asked about the district budget, and that was from Mr. Sage. questioning why it went up so little. And Mr. Superintendent LaMarche provided a perfect explanation for it. So I think the town meetings went well from our perspective. I think FY21 is as settled as it's going to be until July. And congratulations
057all. Mr. Chairman, if I could just add. Please. Thank you. Through the chair to the committee, I attended both town meetings, and it was my first time going through both the town meetings here. I did enjoy both of them. Charlton was unique because it was outside in the Charlton middle school parking lot. I've been joking with people that we had balcony seats as non-residents because they put us in an upper parking lot so we could watch the entire proceeding, but I thought it went very well. And I'm a little biased, but I'm going to say that the, well, I will say, number one, the new moderator for Charlton being elected on Saturday and having the meeting on Monday, she did a remarkable job of right out of the gate in managing that meeting because that
058was a unique set of circumstances. So kudos to her. But I also want to recognize the town moderator for Dudley. I thought he did a fantastic job as well, moderating. There were a couple of... Dudley topics that required some careful facilitation and I thought Mr. Stachewski, again I'm a little biased as a Dudley Mills principal, did a very good job of moderating the Dudley Town meeting. But I enjoyed both. I enjoyed, I do, I'm not... I'm going to sound crazy. I'm not crazy. I do enjoy town politics. I enjoy how people do offer their opinions and people in their herd and some things do evolve or change and some thinking. And I have to compliment both towns too on the fact that they adopted the clicker system for voting. And it certainly changed the expeditious
059manner on recording votes and looking at votes. And not doing the, you know, all of us can remember being in the town meetings where, you know, the loud voice sounds like 10 people sometimes, and it was actually one person. So the clicker system I thought worked extremely well, so congratulations to both towns there. I was definitely quite pleased that our budget and assessments were passed with minimal questions. But we're always happy to answer questions that we may have around that, especially moving forward, because we still are in a territory of unknown. But I just wanted to offer my feedback on the two town meetings that I attended as well. Thank you very much, Mr. Lamache. With our roll call votes, maybe we should invest in the clicker vote system ourselves. Thank you very much. Any
060questions from the committee on those items? Mrs. Terry. I actually had a question just about budget. I was wondering where we ended the year for our food service budget and the monies that we've been previously owed. And I kind of wondered where we sat on that. I don't have a final tally on the cafeteria fund just yet. I expect to have that for the July meeting. But in terms of the lunch deficits, the last number we had was either 20 or 22. So it's in that range. I don't believe that we've collected much money in the intermediate time since school's been closed. Sure. I understand that. I just wanted to have an understanding of it when we were ending the year. Thank you. Yeah, through the chair. If the committee recalls, in the very beginning
061when this started, I did send a communication out to families that we were not seeking payments on things because of everything everyone was going through. We were not looking to ensure that their last dollars went to pay a debt for food, that if they were in certain circumstances that their own home and health and safety was a priority at that point in time. And also we have committed to serving food through the month of June for our families in that we did send a communication out as well regarding prepaid EBT cards for all families that qualified from the state to continue with some food support during the summer. But we also communicated that they can also go to any surrounding community that's offering food through the schools and they can collect food there as well
062moving forward. Thank you, Steve. Thank you, Mr. Lamache. Thank you, Mr. Matthew. And I just in the discussion point, I agree with Mrs. Terry. I'd like to hear more about the lunch program when you have the information. Certainly in July is perfectly fine. Okay, great. Thank you so much. We're moving on to agenda item C, report on the end of the 2019-2020 school year. Mr. Lamache, if you'd like to frame the conversation. Yes, Mr. Chairman and school committee, thank you. Well, first, I want to backtrack. I don't know why. I don't know if it's because I have the word icon in my head or iconic or something like that. But I am remiss for not acknowledging the election of Ms. Pauline O'Coin to be more years on school committee. So congratulations to you on running
063a successful campaign to be on school committee for another three years. And we continue to look forward to working with you. uh moving forward so congratulations pauline sorry about that thank you thank you and mr lavash we won't ask pauline how many years she's been on the school committee right right for me it's only one that's all i know well you're stuck with me steve for three years But the end of their report is really not a formal report. It's really to share with the committee that we did successfully close down a school year on June 18th. As we all know, these were certainly uncharted times, very difficult things to navigate. I think more exhausting for everybody associated with school-aged children in every way, whether you were a parent at home, a teacher in the
064school system. This was probably one of the most exhausting school years. that we've all collectively have gone through. We hope to learn from some of the stuff that we went through this year. We hope to be better moving forward. I know that I've been approving teacher applications for more continued professional development, and you can see a lot of work is being done around enhancing the skill set that was required in remote learning. I'm not suggesting in any way that we are going remote learning in the fall because I don't have that answer yet, but I do want to say that the staff has not, you know, I really truly tried to tell the administrative team and people. after the 18th to take a break, take a breath. really step back and really, you know, reflect
065on what we just went through collectively. Because it wasn't just L.D. Charlton, it was our state, it was nationally. And then, you know, on top of it with the COVID-19 and the injustice that we're all experiencing, you know, from all points of views, it's been an exhausting time for us. But, you know, we're committed. We're committed to move forward. We're committed to take a path forward from what we went through. collectively and it's not going to end. Meaning, the stuff that is existing right now is to me a permanent process that we need to accept, we need to adapt, and we need to learn from. And so Dudley Chowdhury is not going to look for ways to circumvent our past experiences and our current situation. moving forward. But again, it's more of a Yahoo, congratulations.
066I'm not a good cheerleader, so I apologize. I'm not good with the woot woots and all that kind of stuff. But the school year did come to a close. I hope families take this time to really relax and do things that are not, I mean, I woke. My daughter woke up this morning when she came down this morning. I said, are you ready for schoolwork? Are you getting on the computer? Are you ready to go? And, you know, we had a good laugh with each other for that. But take a break and we just, you know, it was not an easy school year for anyone. Nobody escaped the difficulty that we went through, and that includes you as a school committee and the community too. But I also asked the principals if they wanted to
067add something on this particular topic. So, again, it's not a formal report, but I just wanted to recognize the end of our time. The school year, it's my first school year here in Dudley-Charlton. I'm still certainly still stepping in things that are new to me here in Dudley-Charlton, but I've enjoyed my school year here and I look forward to hopefully more years to come as the superintendent for Dudley-Charlton. So I'd like to turn it over to principals who would like to comment on the end of the school year as well. Mrs. Pastore. Thank you, Mr. LeFarriere, and thank you, Superintendent LaMarche. I know for teachers, for students, as Superintendent LaMarche related, this was quite a year. Teachers as well as students have our rituals, our projects, the things that we look forward to. And I
068think collectively we all felt, you know, how are we going to make it through and make this a memorable year for students as well? So I will say in speaking through Heritage School and across district, there seem to be two key tenets that both guided and permeated the work we did with families in remote learning. And I would say those two key tenets were growth mindset and collaboration. We knew that each family had a unique schedule, routine, lifestyle, and in order for each student to be successful, we had to collaborate with families in the each unique way each family could. And I think that collaboration was felt. Within schools, our special education staff partnered with our general education staff to make sure students were challenged but not overwhelmed, that families could access both the online
069tools. And we had families who had grandparents pitching in and were not comfortable with the online technology. And in those cases, we supported those families in whatever best way we could to ensure that each child had learning to do every single day. And I would say the collaboration from within the building then spread across district. Each grade level paired with their grade level across district, they developed their online lessons, they developed curriculum, they made sure that the amount of work was not overwhelming for families, but again, enough to challenge our students. And I want to thank our special ed coordinators for their work and Mrs. Allen for her work guiding our special education staff. This was uncharted territory for us all. And I think they had a unique role, our special education teachers, so I
070thank them for all their work. And I know as principals across district, I want to thank Mrs. Seibold, our teachers. were able to collaborate in a way they never had before. And at the end of the, you know, the, this unique situation, we all gained a new appreciation for each other's talents and were able to combine those for our students. And, and I guess I just want to add first, you know, finally, certainly. Thank our families. You invited us into our home, whether you wanted to or not, and no family said, no, we can't do this. They asked for support. They asked for guidance, but they embraced our teachers. I know that. Our teachers worked hard to build that social-emotional relationship that isn't as easily done virtually as it is within the classroom. And we
071were all stretched in ways that we never knew we were able. So again, that growth mindset and collaboration was key. I thank all our teaching staff and again our families. This was something we couldn't have done without their support. And I thank them for being those at-home teachers for the last few months. So thank you. It was quite a journey, and we all ended with a goodbye drive-by. And it was quite emotional, yet it really brought to light how much we relied on each other through this journey and what a journey it was. So thank you very much. Thank you, Kathleen. Thank you, Mrs. Kessler. I don't know who wants to go next. Mr. Packett? Sure. It's always good to follow after Mrs. Pastore because I think she touches upon all the salient points that
072I was going to speak about. But, you know, it's always unique as we end the school year, this being my 17th year as an administrator at Charleston Middle School. The last quarter is generally filled with a lot of emotions. This one was no different in regards to the learning part, but the uniqueness of the remote learning really set it apart from everything else. Last day was just phenomenal to see. Thank you, peers. for children and families all across the board. I have to give a real big shout out to the staff at Dudley Middle School and Charlton Middle School for coming together and really creating a model that was one school, one lesson. The teachers did an amazing job. Families bought in. They allowed us to support them. We understood that every family was unique.
073We wanted to ensure that we were there to help at any level that needed help. And more importantly, we wanted to make sure that everybody understood that we were partnering with them and this was this was new to all of us so I do think we're going to be better as a result of this time period we're going to have different tools and I do think education is definitely going to be heading in a different direction I do want to end off by saying that we were able to recognize through a promotional effort all of our eighth grade students on the Dudley side as well as Charlton side was a great moment it was a you know something that I cherish a lot to have an opportunity to be able to say a few words
074to our eighth graders who are leaving, but more importantly, to give them an opportunity to say goodbye to staff in the school that they've been at for the last four years. Parents were just so appreciative, and I still receive emails now about how well that was laid out for everybody. In the drive-by goodbye, we had over 300 cars come through. It just speaks volumes to what the children are looking for and the families and what we do together. We're going to continue to grow. And I just want to say thank you on behalf of our school and Dudley Middle School. It was a very good ending, but nothing ever ends. We get ready. We reload, take a couple of days off. We're back at work, ready to go. So thank you very much, everybody. Thank
075you, Dean. Thank you, Mr. Packard. I'll go next. So, you know, my analogy of the end of the year for us at the high school and early throughout was it was almost like a Rubik's Cube. You know, by the time we got one side, all one color, we looked around and it was all different. We could never get the full cube. I actually could never get the full cube back when it came out in the 80s either. But it was a perfect analogy because once we figured something else out, we had to pivot and shift that a ripple effect happened. But with all that, with the Rubik's Cube and all, you know, All of our teachers, all of our support staff, guidance, anybody, everybody at Shepherd Hill and throughout the district really stepped up and
076remained the anchor for our students and families. Were there moments where we were pulling our hair out of their head? And do I have some more gray hair or less hair? Absolutely. But I think overall, we kept students first, all students first. You know, there were pockets of... of conflict that happened from time to time around GPA or around other things that came about at the high school level. But we just kind of kept moving forward and staying focused on all students. You know, the loss of the losses that 2000, class of 2020. had, you know, we did the best that we could around celebrating them. And I think we did a great job, you know, after the parade on the graduation date on the 31st of May, I got so much good feedback from
077families and others saying we should do this every year. And it would be great if we could do it every year, non-COVID, non, you know, but that was a nice celebration because really everyone just came together. You know, we only had one senior out of the almost 300, 270-ish that didn't kind of cross the finish line. And I'm happy to say that she's still working right now and will be crossing it at some point over the summer. But we always have a handful of those, COVID or not. But this year was only one because we really kind of looked at personalizing a ton of things for those seniors and really get them across the finish line. I mean, that's pretty much it. I mean, I have to give all the credit to everybody else in
078terms of my assistant principals and Lynn Spall, our support staff and Sheila McGreal, really just coming. It's hard doing this job day to day in the brick and mortar. Doing it remotely is 10 times harder for us and for everybody. And we all just kind of stuck together. It was a nice exhale last Friday. after the last day of school. But we're going to kind of take a little bit of a breather and then get right back at it and start reflecting and looking at the fall and so forth like you've already heard. So other than that, I always found myself, one of my strengths was being able to pivot and adjust. And I was at my edge this year. And I think a lot of people were. I know Kathy Kamanyani would be the
079same way in terms of that. We were all at the edge here, but we made it through it, and we're all better for it, everybody. So that's really it. Thanks, Kenny. Thank you, Mr. Chaplin. Any other administrators tonight that would like to say a few words? All right. Any questions from the committee? Mrs. Terry. Mr. Chaplin, I just wanted to tell you that I also received feedback about the end of the year celebration that you put together about how wonderful it was. And I was in Charlton to witness it myself. And I heard from parents that all children, all students felt recognized. And sometimes at a graduation, there's a couple kids names you hear very often. It was. kind of a neat thing to come out of it that so many students got to feel
080loved. So kudos. Yeah, thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? I have a few comments I'd like to make. First, again, speaking of this school year, we said it last meeting and I feel it's necessary to repeat. Thank you, thank you, thank you to the entire Dudley-Charlton team. unprecedented times for sure. And I certainly was blown away both as a parent and as a school committee member. It's truly remarkable what we've accomplished this team. It's truly, truly something that I'll never forget. And again, I echo the comments of Mrs. Terry as far as the drive-by. the graduation procession. And that was outstanding. I had the pleasure to be up at Shepherd Hill with my family and it was great to be there and see how excited the students were. And then in addition, a special thanks
081to the entire team again for the drive by last day of school last week. That was outstanding and it was great to see everybody. And it was really nice to have that, that six feet apart human connection. So that was really nice. So thank you very much. Moving right along here this evening. The next item, agenda item D, update on Shepherd Hill Regional High School's overseas travel cancellation. I believe I saw Mrs. Perangeli here with us this evening. I don't know if Mr. Lamache wanted to start. Yes, I'll start and then Mrs. Perangeli will certainly jump in. I know that she's in the meeting. I don't know if her video is not turned on yet, but her microphone certainly is. If you recall, we started out with... you know our high school students on a
082pretty annual basis go to overseas. We started with the process of saying that everything was okay and then just it just kept tumbling from there. There was a lot of work done and the good news is you Dudley Charlton has Mrs. Perangeli who's dedicated to this and has excellent working relationships with EF Toys and I know that this came up that there were concerns because other districts were going through some nightmares with either There are other tour companies and that the Attorney General of the state was getting involved and I know that the school committee was looking to see if Mr. Perangeli will come in and give some feedback on where we stand on this and Her report is in your file and you'll see and you'll hear tonight the incredible Work that Mr. Perangeli
083has done to try to resolve this and again, it's it's we're hitting it We're hitting on a good theme here. We're We're making sure that every individual student has a answer to their question and Mrs. Perangeli certainly has done that in her work with this particular trip. So without further ado, I'll turn it over to Mrs. Perangeli to report on. Thank you, Mrs. Perangeli. And thank you, Mrs. Perangeli, for being here. She's awfully quiet. I'm just kidding. Good evening. You're welcome. As has already been stated, can you hear me? Yeah. Yes. I'm having trouble with audio. Yes? Okay, so one of the, I'll try again. One of the things that has changed was that Shepherd Hill students did not have the ability to explore an international destination for the first time in 35 years. So
084this was disappointing to many, but the health and safety of students was of the utmost priority. So over the past few months, I've made every effort to provide Dudley Charlton families with a range of options that would meet their specific situations. I've worked with EF educational tours. I've talked to the president of EF as well as with other officials in order to obtain the best possible outcomes for our travelers and their families. I had been planning to outline these options at the Council School Committee meeting in March, and since that was not possible, I'm pleased to be able to provide them this evening. EF has a peace of mind program that was developed to deal with unforeseen global... circumstances such as this one. It allowed groups to change the date of the tour, amend the
085existing itinerary, change to a different tour, or each traveler could receive a future travel voucher for a full refund of all payments made, including non-refundable fees such as insurance, late fees, etc. Future travel voucher is valid for two years until September 30, 2022, and it could be used by the original traveler, an immediate family member, for travel on any EF product. It could be a student tour, graduate senior tour, which were developed tour, or any go-ahead adult tour. It could also be transferred to another student in the same school. In addition, the voucher could be exchanged for cash refund of all monies paid minus $560. The Mine Program is... Not new. It's been in effect for about 30 years. It's offered similar terms in several other situations. However, it has not been needed to the
086extent required by Dr. Nguyen. Most were in April, although a few were not. During the Gulf War, we changed our tour. We were at 21 days before departure, so you will remember that. I'm still not sure how they were able to successfully make that happen. And those that didn't, not one following. We're having trouble hearing you, Mrs. Perangelo. Another student, his previous experiences with the peace of mind program. I was prepared to deal with the vouchers. You know? Yeah, it's breaking up, but we can hear you. Let's go ahead. I've been having trouble with audio all night. So, okay. The decision needed to be. and their families, they had the ability to select among several different options. We had 116, eight of them were seniors, 59 were juniors, nine were sophomores, and as a result,
087there were a variety of needs. So going to Shepherd Hill students. Mrs. Perangeli? Pending school committee approval, yes. Maybe, do you want to shut your video off to see if the audio will come in better? You hear me? Do you want to shut the video off and just do the audio only for now? Maybe that would help the internet. Is that better now? Sure. Yeah, we'll try that. Thank you so much. Better? All righty. So the first option that was offered, and this would be pending, obviously, school committee approval, was that we would move the date of the April trip to August. And 39 students selected this option when it was offered. And although summer is a more expensive travel season, EF agreed to keep the price the same. I was overly optimistic that the
088world would be in a better place in five months. Obviously, that's not the case. The trip was never brought to the committee and it was canceled. The possibility of an August trip was most appealing to the seniors who wanted to travel, and I wanted them to have the experience if it were possible. The August 2020 trip, I replaced with the possibility of a trip in August 2021. It would have to be a non-school sponsored trip because the participants would no longer be students. It was only offered to the original 39 who had expressed an interest previously. There would need to be a minimum of 15 for the trip to take place. Only 10 were still interested. Some of them originally were juniors. They now opted for the April trip, which was obviously the trip that
089would happen sooner. So I offered the ability for parents to join the group as a last effort to make this a possibility. The minimum was still not reached. So as a result, the option was not available. But parents have expressed appreciation that the opportunity to travel was offered to seniors and understood why it was not possible. The second option and the one that most students have chosen. was moving to the April 2021 trip to Paris, Florence, and Venice, and that was approved by the school committee in November. And obviously this was only available for underclassmen, and a total of 48 students selected this option. And fortunately the 2021 trip was smaller than usual with only 58 students, and it could accommodate additional travelers. And I'm cautiously hopeful, cautiously optimistic that this will be a possibility.
090If not, similar options will be available to travelers and the health and safety of travelers will continue to be the deciding factor. A third option, travel on a 2022 trip. The voucher is valid for two years. So three grade 10 students are hopeful that they will be able to use the voucher in 2022 when they will be seniors. And they are also hopeful that the trip will be the same itinerary that was just canceled. And I have told them that we will see. The fourth is to transfer the voucher to a sibling to Wilmington in April 2021. The fifth option, transfer the voucher to another student at Shepherd Hill. Families have effort and I've worked with EF to finalize some specific terms that are favorable to our students and are over and above the standard
091terms. First of all, vouchers should not be divided. Since our students enrolled in December to get the best price, they've been making payments and now the voucher would result in overpayment. So the terms do not allow them to be split, as I said, and refunds can only be given to the student who uses his own voucher or if a sibling uses the voucher. So I'm very pleased that they're going to allow us some flexibility there. I also asked for an incentive for parents to assist with vouchers, and they offered a free excursion. So any parent that or any family that... It's excursion to Siena and San Gimignano at no cost, which is an $80 value. So I think that will help us with the voucher transfer. The sixth option was to use the voucher on
092another EF product. Six plan to do so within the next two years. If those two years come and go very quickly and they are not able to do so, they can still at that point choose the cash refund. The seventh option is the cash refund. And a total of 39 families have requested this option. This allows for a refund of all payments made minus $565. Originally, there was a $1,000 cancellation penalty. EF enhanced the refund option as a result of work with the Attorney General's Office and the receipt of additional funds from vendors. The improved refund made it more desirable to some who had originally asked to have the voucher transferred to another student. In addition, the funds that were earned with fundraising this year, $150 for those who participated in all fundraisers, has been
093refunded to make up for some of the cancellation penalty. So this option allows for a more median. It's preferred by those who want to put everything behind them. I have seven students who are... Four are still making the decision after the recent cancellation of the August 2021 trip. And they will all receive a future travel voucher. So I've made every effort to provide them with the information as it becomes available and to solicit input from them. And I found that Shepherd Hill parents have been understanding and patients are still working on it. Although the cash refund option does not allow for a full refund, there are several alternate ways to obtain full reimbursement of all payments made, and those are the ones that I stressed. These include travel in 2021, transferring the voucher to another
094student with my assistance, transferring the voucher to a sibling using the voucher on an EF product. And EF begins to work on a trip as soon as it's booked, so funds are expended throughout the planning process. And they also are not receiving cash refunds from some vendors and need to accept vouchers or no reimbursement. I have been a bit disappointed with the amount of time that some aspects of the cancellation have taken, but overall I'm satisfied with the flexibility that EF has offered wherever possible. And over the last few months, I've discovered And although I can't predict the future, I only hope that this pause in travel is brief and that we are able to travel again sooner, later. Through the chair, I have a question for Mary. Yeah, go ahead. Mary, how long have
095we been doing business with EM? 35 years. And I just don't think it's acceptable that people that want a refund cannot get it in full. That, to me, is my own opinion. It's just not acceptable. And you have been doing business with them for 35 years. And I wish I could make that happen. I have tried as best as I can. But there are alternatives. to get the full reimbursement. And from what I have been hearing, and this is all, none of this is firsthand information, but other travel companies are offering even less. One, for example, airline tickets have already been issued. So rather than including that in the refund, they've given them a voucher from the airline. And the parents don't need to deal with that. So it's not perfect. And I understand where
096you're coming from. But believe me, it's the best that I have been able to do. Thank you, Mary, for your effort. Mrs. Cavalli, your question? I was going to say the same thing, Mary. You really went through a lot of work because it's been in the papers and everything. Other places, like you said, are much more stringent on what they're giving back to the students. So I think $500 is, what was the total cost of the trip? Was it about three? How much was the trip? $3,600. So they got in 3000. So I think considering everything else, you did a good job. You did a very good job as you always do to get planned the trips. I appreciate that. And I also just want to mention that it is pretty close to September. They
097canceled, they would lose, there would be a $300 cancellation fee and a 95 and you would lose a $95 enrollment fee as well. So it's pretty close to that. However, in most instances, I have a replacement. application and they end up losing only the 95. But the standard cancellation. Mrs. Perangeli, we didn't hear that last part. Could you repeat that? Can you hear me now? Yep, yep. Try that. Perfect. So what I was saying was that the standard cancellation, if a student enrolled in December and then decided the following September to cancel. they would have a $300 cancellation penalty and the $95 enrollment fee. So they would lose $395. However, if I had a replacement, then they would lose only the 95. And most often than not, I had a replacement. But the current cancellation
098is still pretty close to the standard cancellation of 395. Thank you, Mrs. Frangely. I have a few questions, but if there were other members that wanted to go first. Can you hear me all right, Mrs. Perangelo? So I agree. I first want to say thank you for your report, and I'm glad to have it. I guess everyone's apologies for the sound tonight that we can't fully hear you, but we're getting through this. So thank you for all you've done with this. I will say I want to echo a little bit what Mrs. O'Coin said. I do think it's rather unfortunate that with this national or worldwide pandemic that the company wasn't willing to help out these students. I know it's not just Dudley-Charlton. I know it affected schools nationwide. I guess I am in agreement
099that it's unfortunate that they couldn't do a full refund because of what's happening in the world. Could you explain, and maybe we didn't hear it, what was their reason why they couldn't issue the full refund? Okay, the reasoning that I have been given and that they begin to work on the trip as soon as it is booked. And so they make deposits. and begin to... What was that? And they are the middleman. They also make deposits. Now they are waiting for refunds from vendors, and they sometimes have to accept vouchers as well, or no reimbursement. So because of the work that they do from the very beginning, they feel that there needs to be some cancellation penalty. Right. But if a student wants to use the voucher on their own, if they want to transfer
100to another student, then they could receive the full amount of the refund. And I have been I have offered to assist with that transfer. I've done that in the past. But I think some are just they just want to put this behind them. And families made their own decision here. They weren't forced into that decision. Understood. Understood. Very good. All right. Thank you. I'm satisfied. Any other questions on the committee? No, I thank you very much for allowing me to attend this evening. Thank you, Mrs. Perangeli. And if there are questions, we'll reach out by email. Perfect. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Perangeli. The next item, Agenda E, update on extended school year program. Mr. Lamache informs me that he will give the report this evening. Mr. Chairman and school committee, Ms. Allen,
101like you see, there were other administrators who did not attend this evening because I did, again, nothing against those that attended because I really appreciate those attending, but I did ask them to take a vacation as soon as they could. Some took me at my word and some are truly dedicated and I hope that after tonight they're on vacation immediately following this meeting tonight. So I'm reporting this evening on the extended school year programming for Ms. Lorinda Allen, our Director of Pupil Personnel Services. The extended school year services is a specialized instruction or related service program that some students on an individualized education plan receive over the summer. The services are individualized to help each child maintain their skills or not lose the progress that was made during the school year, even during remote learning.
102For some children, this may be several weeks of comprehensive instruction, and for some, it may be small group or one-to-one tutoring. For other students, it may just be a few sessions of therapies, like occupational therapy or speech therapy, maybe once a week or twice a week. The extended school year does look different for each child because a decision is made during the individualized education planning process. Typically, we run an extended school year program for four mornings a week for about four weeks in the summertime. This year, obviously, due to the closure, we still are running an extended school year program, and we're working through the guidance. But we've extended our program to run for six weeks now. excuse me, due to the number of weeks of closure and trying to plan out the summer. Currently,
103there are 178 students who would be eligible for the extended school year program. Services will begin to be offered remotely starting on July 6th, 2020. This will take on much of the same format that our spring services did remotely. Students will be connected to a teacher, tutor, or service provider who will provide lessons and therapies virtually and or by monitoring mailed activities. Initial extended school year guidance was received from the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education on June 9th. that strongly recommended schools start working towards or moving slowly to opening up buildings for in-person or face-to-face extended school year services, as we are only in ways that we're only safely able to do. The detailed guidance included the use of PPE, spacing and staffing requirements that are currently being reviewed by the director of pupil
104personnel services as well as the reopening committee subgroups and it is our hope that we will in some way safely be able to bring approximately 60 of our students into the buildings for at least half if not two weeks of extended school year programming this summer. We would begin with the Charlton schools as this is the current location of most of the summer ILC, intensive learning center, programs. It is important to note in DESE, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, emphasized that this guidance applies to extended school year services only. It does not apply to fall openings. It is important to note that they anticipate additional fall guidance to be released soon, as I indicated earlier in my report. The second week of June, a survey was sent to all families of students who qualified
105for the extended school year program and asked them if they would be able, if we resume services in our schools at some point, would parents and caregivers consider driving their students to school? We would reimburse them for mileage, which is required. but to assist with the social distancing in other transportations. And an overwhelming majority of parents indicated that they would do such to have their students attend programming in our schools if we safely provided that through the PPE guidance and other Department of Public Health guidance and approval. So for those that were not able to, we would continue to try to offer some type of either remote learning opportunity or a transportation program for those with all required safety protocols. But everything is in accordance with the Individualized Education Plan or the IEP. As a
106district, we'll continue to keep the school committee and parents updated with any changes as we move forward. Again, there's no guarantee that we're going to do face-to-face here in buildings, but we are working in that direction with the current guidance we have. So we wanted to provide you with an update on the extended school year programming for students that qualify for it. And I'll try to answer some of the questions, but again, this is Ms. Lorinda Allen's report. So are there any questions by the school committee on the extended school year program? This is Terry. I just wondered, Steve, how many of our staff are participating in teaching over the summer? I don't have an exact number, but every posting that we had for extended school year was filled. Everybody was in. And part of
107the process of hiring all the individuals is we were very clear that it could be either remote or it could be in building. And 100% of those that applied were willing to do either or. Great. Thank you. Great question. Any other questions for Mr. Lamache or for Ms. Allen's report? Okay. Thank you very much, Mr. Lamache. And we'll publicly thank Ms. Allen for her detailed report. Thank you. Next, agenda item F, consideration of MASC, Massachusetts Association of School Committees resolutions. There are two resolutions in your packets that you have. I'd like to read the resolutions just to go on record and read them before we discuss and if that's all right with the committee. The first one is on the COVID-19 state funding resolution. And I'll read, whereas if school committees are to reopen this
108fall in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is the responsibility of each school district to do so safely and responsibly. And whereas it is the responsibility of the state to ensure that each school district is able to pay for the enormous additional staffing, transportation, and material expenses required to do this. And whereas the state cannot expect mandatory COVID-19 safety guidelines to be followed without Followed without also ensuring that each school district has the funds required to implement these guidelines. Therefore, let it be resolved that the state must guarantee every school district full reimbursement for whatever COVID-19 expenses are required to follow state mandates. We must ensure a statewide school reopening that is safe, responsible, and equitable. There can be no unfunded mandates for COVID-19. And we'll take these separately for discussion if folks have
109questions or if we want to do just a quick motion and then discuss. Make a motion to accept the resolution COVID-19 state funding. I second. Motion to be made and then seconded to accept the resolution for COVID-19 state funding. Discussion, questions? Mrs. Caballo? This is more for Mr. Matthew. Let's say we spend $500,000 just as a ballpark figure. Would this lead to the fact they could take the $500,000 from our chapter funds? This doesn't really say in addition to our, you know what I'm saying? They could say, it's like rearranging the money. They'll take the money from our chapter 70 and say that's for your COVID. You see what I'm saying, Mr. Matthew? Through the chair. I don't believe that's the intention. I know it's not. the resolution here. I think, you know, chapter 70
110is prescribed by law, you know, and, and those things are prescribed by law. So I think what this resolution is asking for is additional funding. I know that is, but does it say that really? Again, I'm not sure if the resolution itself explicitly says it, or it says it as, as clearly as I might've done. However, again, chapter 70 is prescribed by law. Anything that's requested to be above and beyond really shouldn't affect the basic Chapter 70 funding. Again, everything's in flux for people as well as for us. If I bond from Peter to pay Paul, they could say this is it, but then you lose it somewhere else. I think it should be more spelled out, but I'm not going to stop the resolution because we know what the intent is. I just hope
111it's followed that way. That's my only concern. No, thank you, Mrs. Kabbalah. And I would want to comment, too. I should have done this in the opening, but that's fine. These two items I noticed that were being pushed on a state level. And so I had asked the previous chair, Mrs. O'Coin, to add this to the next agenda for discussion because I think we as a district should support them. But I hear what you're saying, Mrs. Kabbalah. Any other questions? We have a motion that's been made and seconded to accept and support the resolution as a district. Hearing none, I'll call a roll call vote. Mrs. Kamanyani? Was that yes? Yes. I'm sorry. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabala? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin? Yes. The chair votes yes. The motion resolution
112is passed unanimously for acceptance and support by Dudley-Charlton Regional School District. The second item under this agenda item was the School Committee Anti-Racism Resolution, again provided by MASC at a state level. And I'll read the resolution. Whereas, as schools have the responsibility to equip students with their civil right of obtaining a free and appropriate public education, it is the responsibility of each school to ensure we create a welcoming community for all students. And, whereas, it is the responsibility that every district provide to all district staff, including school committee members, annual professional development on diversity, equity, and inclusion. And whereas every district will commit to recruiting and retaining a diverse and culturally responsive teaching workforce. And whereas every district will examine their policies for institutional and systematic racialized practices and implement change with sustainable policies that
113are evidence-based. And Whereas every district will incorporate into their curriculum the history of racial oppression and works by Black authors and works from diverse perspectives. And whereas we as the school district leaders can no longer remain silent to the issues of racism and hate that continue to plague our public and private institutions. resolved that the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District and all the school districts in the Commonwealth must guarantee that racist practices are eradicated and diversity, equity, and inclusion is embedded and practiced for our students, families, faculty, and staff. We must ensure our own school culture and that of every district in the Commonwealth is anti-racist that acknowledges that our lives cannot matter until Black lives matter. That's the end of the resolution. I move to accept and support the anti-racism resolution. I second. Motion been
114made and seconded to accept and support the anti-racism resolution put out by the MASC discussion. Hearing none, we'll take a roll call vote. Mrs. Carmignani? Yes. Ms. Evans? Yes. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Terry? Mrs. Terry? Sorry, yes. Not a problem. For the record. I just wanted to say it twice. Good. The better. The more, the better. Mrs. O'Coin. Yes. And the chair votes aye unanimously passed and supported by the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you all. And that concludes our agenda this evening, but we will move into our next meeting dates. Traditionally in the summer, we meet once a month. And so looking at the calendar and consulting with Mrs. O'Coin and Mr. Lamarche, we were looking at dates of July 22nd at 7 p.m. for
115the next regular school committee meeting. If that's okay with the members? Yes. Hearing no comment, I assume it is. It's a Wednesday. And then the following, we should book the August meeting while we're here. I'm looking at Wednesday, August 12th at 7 p.m. Any objection by the members? Mrs. Terry? These are just remote meetings. I just want to make sure of that. It's funny you say that. We're not sure at this time. Mr. Lamache? I think it's safe to plan them as remote, but if we could ever get back to, you know, face-to-face, I would certainly hope that we would take steps forward to see if we could possibly do that. Maybe the August meeting. That's kind of what my colleagues are looking at. Great. Yeah, and I would agree with Mrs. Terry that I
116think that Town of Charlton is looking at going back to in-person meetings in August, not July. So I do think we should follow our towns as far as what the Dudley and Charlton are doing, is my opinion. Makes sense. Yeah, so those dates are okay with the committee? July 22nd and August 12th for the next regular school committee meeting? Yes, and it's okay with the administration? Yes, it is. Okay, very good. All the subcommittee meetings, we are going to hold those as to be determined at this time due to the summer and everything going on. So those will be further delineated by Mr. Lamache and the administration. Future agenda items, reopening committee. fiscal year 2021. Are there any other future agenda items from the members? And if there are, email me and I will coordinate
117with the administration. And I'm sure Mr. Lamache and team will be adding more by then. Kenny, you did an excellent job this evening. Oh, excellent. Thank you, Mrs. O'Coin. I'm very honored for you to say that. And thank you. And I look forward to serving with you as vice chair. And when we get back in person, if I'm doing it wrong, you can just kick me under the table. Okay. Promise. So thank you very much for that and the continued support. At this time, we would like to move into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining, the Massachusetts Nurses Association, or litigation, if an open session may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body. And as the chair, I so declare. We will reconvene into
118regular session to take votes if necessary and to adjourn. I'll take a roll call vote to enter into executive session. Mrs. Khamenei. Yes. Ms. Evans. Yes. Mrs. Kabbalah. Yes. Mrs. Reed. Yes. Mrs. Terry. Yes. Mrs. O'Coin. Yes. Chair votes yes. We are in executive session. Thank you to those folks on the line. We respectfully request that you sign off for the evening. Thank you very much. Thank you, everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Waiting for one more, I think. Yep. Steve, the recording's off. Oh, yeah. Sorry. Go ahead. We're back into regular session of the Dudley-Charlton Regional School District regular meeting of June 24th. 2020. We will discuss a, I'm looking for a motion to accept and ratify contract. So moved. Second. Motion to be made and seconded to accept and ratify the contract for the
119Massachusetts Nurses Association and Dudley-Charlton Regional School District. Discussion? Hearing none. Mrs. Kamanyani? Yes. Ms. Evans? I feel as though I should abstain on this because I wasn't involved with the process, so I'll abstain. Perfectly, you're right. Okay, abstention from Ms. Evans. Mrs. Kabbalah? Yep, yes. Mrs. Reed? Yes. Mrs. Carey? Yes. Mrs. O'Coin? Yes. The chair votes yes. Motion passes with six in the affirmative and one abstention. Contract has been accepted and ratified, and we thank our nurses and our team. Mr. Lamont. Through the chair, I'll send them an email this evening saying that the school committee unanimously voted to ratify the contract so that they will know tonight. Okay? Good. That's great. Excellent. And that will be all. I look for a motion to adjourn. Oh, Steve, Mr. Lamache. Just one more thing is I
120just received a email alert that somebody obtained a release, somebody obtained a copy of the next guidance for a possible fall opening from the Boston Globe, and they are going to run an article tomorrow on that. just so that you're aware as a school committee. We haven't received it yet. They claim that they're going to try to get it to us this evening by 10.30 p.m. Send it to me. Send it to me, too. Send it to all of us. Send it to me, Steve, so I have something to read tomorrow morning. I'll put you to sleep. I'll direct all inquiries from me to you, just so you know, okay? Okay. Okay. Just kidding. But I just wanted to give you that update in case somebody does reach out to you. The governor is supposed
121to speak tomorrow. That's the plan. But obviously, it looks like there's going to be an article on it in the Globe tomorrow. You know what Rhode Island did for their opening program? They're having a statewide calendar. Every town in Rhode Island is going to have the same. This will help you with the calendar committee. Every town is going to have the same exact calendar, and there'll be no snow days. You'll be remote learning on the snow days, and the whole state will be the same snow days and stuff. And they tend to open in the fall. So I'm just throwing that to our next door neighbor. That sounds good. We should do that. Like physically, they intend to physically open, Ms. Stone? Yeah, she does. Yeah, the governor, now she's going to open it, and
122that's, they're all going to have, and some superintendents were angry because she didn't consult them about that. Because she just, her people did it. Anyways, yeah. So you can have a universal calendar. We don't have to worry about a calendar committee. Put you out of business, Steve. I mean, Stephanie and Jamie. I think you can vote to secede from Massachusetts and join Rhode Island. Yeah, we're close enough. Do we have that authority here at the local level, Mr. Lamache? We can sign a petition. All right. Anything else, Mr. Lamache? No. Congratulations to Jordan for her first meeting. Wasn't it fun? It was, you know, this was nice. I mean, that's my real life though. You don't need to be in the same room. I know. I mean, this is still fun too, but. Yeah. I
123think the real life thing is better, but are we going to wear masks in August? Probably should. Are you asking me? I'm going to wear a mask. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, I'm going to wear my mask. Yeah, yeah. I'll wear it too. We'll have to wait until August to see what's happening with the pandemic before we decide to have the meeting person to person. I agree. And I think we should go by our towns and see if... I think that's a good point. Go by the select people. What they're not doing remote in August, we shouldn't either. I think if the Board of Selectmen and the Planning Board, if they're all going... in person, then we should move in person. That's just my thought. Yes, Jane. Through the chair, they're also telling local health
124to tell town government that you still should have a remote option because there's a population that are still at risk and may not feel comfortable coming to a meeting and they should have every right to still be at a meeting the way they feel safe. Thank you, Jamie. Thank you, Jamie. Of course. I look at the two people here. The Board of Selectmen, I think, was saying they were looking at ways to do it in person, but then have the Zoom or whatever, the computer there too. I think they're going to try to have to do that. Yeah, yeah. And we could, we could, we'll certainly discuss that for sure. And I'll let you all know when I hear from Mr. Lamarche and team. So anything else? All right. I just have a question. This
125is about the contract. I already said anything. No, no, I just want, no, go. I just want to ask him something about proofreading it. So just go. Just don't leave, Steve. Don't shut me off yet. Okay. They can leave. It's nothing important. Oh, you want to go? Oh, you want to go home? You don't want to go home. You're already there. I don't guess. Did you want to ask now? You want to adjourn first? It doesn't matter. I just wanted to mention about the red line cop. I just had a question about him. It has nothing to do with anything. All right. So I'm looking for a motion to adjourn. So moved. And motion made and seconded. All in favor, we can do this if you want. Aye. Aye. Aye. It's a unanimous vote to
126adjourn. Thank you so much. Good work, Kenny. Congratulations, Ken. One under your belt. Thanks. Nice job, Kenny.