MRSD School Committee Meeting 1/7/2026

001Sorry. >> I think once you break it, you can't figure the chat. All right, we're streaming. [clears throat] >> Internet work in the >> broke the gabble. >> Hit me with it. We will call to order the mass economic school committee meeting uh January 7th 7:07 p.m. Uh order of business comments from the audience great uh remarks from the chair. Uh just just two quick remarks. First is I know that we have um the turf discussion on the agenda tonight. We will not be discussing turf tonight. [clears throat] Um we have folks that we would like to have joined this discussion from Stantech as well as our council and we weren't able to get everybody here tonight and so we're pushing this discussion to the meeting on the 21st. Um the other quick comment is

002Mike and I had another discussion with the Georgetown folks right before the holidays. >> Yes. >> Um just to maybe give everybody a quick update, we we won't be entering into an agreement with them for this fall. Uh we just don't have the time to get through the process. They're not even close to ready. Um it would put a lot of burden on us as we're going through a lot on our end. And the families of Georgetown, the families of the tri town, I mean, we would have to have known by now if this was going to happen. Um and Georgetown really had to make a decision so that their families could plan as well. So, so they're going to they're going to run their program internally at Georgetown again um in the fall, but

003we will continue the discussions with them because there's still a uh an appetite to continue to pursue a some sort of a model where Georgetown could be joining us in the future. So, I will keep you posted as we have more discussions and we go from there. onto uh track softball and tennis renovation project presentation. Vision sports design. >> Uh like to welcome Josh and Sean who are from Vision uh sports design who are joining us uh via Zoom uh this evening. Uh Josh and Sean and David um who won't be joining us tonight uh have been working with John, Mike, and myself since uh August uh on a feasibility [clears throat] study that initially focused on softball and track and field. Uh but we expanded the scope to include uh our tennis facilities as

004well. So I'd like to welcome um Josh and Sean and I'll hand it over to you Sean uh to take it from here. >> Awesome. Good evening everybody. Thank you for having us on here tonight. Um, you might recognize Josh and I. We were actually part of Stantech for the previous athletic field master planning that was happening on the other side of campus. And, uh, we've kind of continued with Jeff and the team over to this side of campus now as part of Vision Sports Design. So, um, Josh is on here too. Um, Josh, you want? >> Yep. Can you hear me? >> Yep, you got you. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Uh, thanks Jeff and uh, and Sean too. Uh, so Sean kind of did the intro for me as my I was having some

005issues with my camera right here, but um, yeah, so I'm uh, Josh Atinson. I'm a landscape architect with Vision Sports Design and Sean is also a landscape architect with Vision Sports. And, uh, like Jeff had mentioned, we're we were hired to do a feasibility study for the, uh, softball facility and bunker track and field uh, renovation. and uh mainly was to uh you know take a look at the ADA accessibility of of the facilities but then also make sure that we're uh we're in in compliance to title 9 too. So um so I think we have that first slide uh we wanted to go over maybe if you skip over two slides. So if we go over to the existing conditions yeah that one there. So I'll start off at the softball facility. Um if

006we start looking at the um I'll call it the playing right which is the uh north or southwest uh part of the facility. Uh that's where the current uh varsity softball plays. And um you know we know right now that the current baseball um facility has batting cages. This softball facility doesn't have batting cages. Um, and then the back stop needs to be um, you know, renovated as well to kind of keep up the stuff um, stuff for the baseball uh, facility. Excuse [clears throat] me. Uh, right now there's no foul poles and there's no um, no real scoreboard. Um, so that doesn't really match up with the baseball facility well. And then also there's there's no irrigation. Um, so the playing quality out in the field isn't really up to par with the with

007the baseball facility as well. Um, and then if we go to the the JV area, um, you can kind of see off to the left and if you zoom in, I don't know if you can zoom in on this at all, but you can tell that the JV field is a lot smaller and not in regulation uh, for a typical um, softball field for NFHS. Um, so we also want to make sure that that playing field is playable, but then also it it kind of meets up with the varsity standards as well. Um, and then in addition to that, it doesn't have batting cages. Um, and so we kind of wanted to take a look at it and see if we can shift around uh to make both facilities uh compliant for ADA accessibility, but

008then also for the title N. So, uh, we also kind of went off to the the eastern part of the site, I'll call it plan left, uh, where the football, uh, currently practices, and that could be a potential area of where, um, potentially the varsity field gets relocated. Um, and that gives plenty of room for varsity to play a full-size field. And then also, if we turn the U JV or the current varsity field into the JV playing field. So, um, if we kind of go over to the next facility, which would be the track and field facility. Uh, as we walked around the site, we noticed that the first off the track, uh, surfacing, uh, needs repair and needs to be replaced, but the actual base of the track seemed to be in good

009shape. Um, we didn't notice any deviations. U, no cracks in the track. So I think uh you know our recommendation you'll see when Sean starts uh doing his present part of the presentation is really that uh that track just needs to be resurfaced. Um but as we did walk around we did notice that the um you know the the chain link fence is out of compliance to meet NFHS which is the n uh national federation of high school standards. Uh typically you want to have that one meter outside of the track for safety concerns. Uh to make sure you know someone unhurdles uh if they were to fall, they don't fall into the fence. Uh you want to have plenty of clearance space there. Um and there is no ADA accessibility down to the track.

010Uh there is a a pathway uh or several pathways, but they're not ADA compliant. And uh but it does go to the current um uh the current grand stands which does have an ADA ramp that goes up to the stands but to get access to that ramp it doesn't quite meet the uh the code. Um and then for if we start going inside the track too the natural grass field uh needs irrigation. Right now there is a temporary irrigation setup and that's really used uh manually for uh the staff to go out there and use uh what we call cannons and manually put on the irrigation system, move the cannons around to to make sure that the field does have some water and gets irrigated. Uh but that's not really um um you know that

011won't hold up very well for very long because I think you would really want to have something more of a substantial um permanent uh solution for that. Uh currently there's no ADA accessibility to the east side or I should say the uh the visitors side of the track. Um so I think one recommendation would be to make sure that we have ADA accessibility over to that area as well. Um, and then we did, as Jeff had mentioned, we did look at the tennis courts. Um, right now there's four tennis courts and, uh, they look like they're in need of a lot of, uh, work and repair. Um, I think they might be beyond repair at this point. I know there's been some some updates here and there over the years. uh their old tennis courts.

012And what tends to happen with um these types of tennis courts for for asphalt um you tend to get some uh definitely some larger cracks, but then you also get some uh deviations in the actual surfacing as well. Um and and also this was this facility was not ADA compliant. There was no walkway to get to the um tennis facility. So that's one thing that we would recommend as well. So, um, so after we initially took the walk around, can >> I ask a quick question? >> Yep. >> Um, how is it possible that so much of our facilities ignored ADA regulations when they were built? was I mean and I don't want to spend a lot of time in this but is this unusual that that you know it seems like ADA was completely

013ignored when these facilities were built. I know you weren't around so I'm not you have no personal responsibility but I'm just in your experience I mean is >> and title N bill so not just 88 >> was completely disregarded ignored >> it built in 1960s >> uh but everything was renovated with this built this building >> the track was only resurfaced though >> in the in the 2000s >> so it should have been >> Capen Islands track has has resurfaced in the last 20 years. >> Okay. Just disappointing, but glad we're addressing it. [clears throat] >> Yeah, exactly. >> So, yeah, after we took the walk around, we took notes um and then we came up with a couple of solutions that I think will be helpful. And again, this is a feasibility study, so

014we didn't have any survey or anything. Uh so, we just are going basically off the aerial. Um and so Sean uh will be coming up next and we'll go through the design and the cost estimates of uh you the potential design is >> Yep. Any other questions on the existing before we move on to um proposed >> what's up? I presume that the um where you looked at does not none of this area is part of the plan that's currently the area. >> Correct. That's outside of this project scope and project footprint. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Do any other any other fields in the facility have any ADA deficiencies? I mean the baseball field is awfully far ways away. M I mean there's no there's no paid pathways to to baseball >> to the baseball

015fields either but but they're nothing like the softball fields for example. >> Sure. I just want to make sure if we're going to I mean if we're going for ADA that's >> well I mean that's the other side of the campus and was out of scope of this but we could certainly do a feasibility study for the campus. >> Right. We did you're right. We did softball and track was the start. Right. It was the north and the northeast side of campus was the scope. >> Right. And then we we include tennis. >> Tennis. [clears throat] Yeah. I mean, it would be a shame if we go in and tack all these ADA deficiencies and then or title N deficiencies and then turn around the next year and have another list of ADA deficiencies and

016title N deficiencies. But Melissa, please. >> When we initially did the um turf project, we looked at this fe this field was covered as I think of phase three. Um does this existing conditions take into account wetlands? Uh we know that it's going to be in close proximity to the wetlands but we don't have any survey information for that at this time >> because this if the stand original stand plan showed that this the existing track and field inside the track were not um not uh ideal for turf because of the the conditions of it. So that just wanted to keep that in mind. Yeah, we're there's no turf proposal for this. >> No, I know. But that [clears throat] to me said that there was probably in a wetlands area or some there's some

017water table issues. >> Yeah. So, essentially what we wanted to do, you'll see what the design when when uh Sean goes over it, too. Uh we wanted to basically keep the same footprint. It's more of a a renovation to the existing facilities. Yes. >> Are these areas though also under the commscon jurisdiction? Like will this need that type of permitting? >> It could be. Yes. [clears throat] Okay. >> But they didn't delineate here. >> Okay. >> In this project, >> was that Melissa? >> It doesn't appear to be. >> Yeah. This is this is a feasibility study, so it didn't get >> get into the where the lines are and >> this is a $16,000 project, so it didn't include those. >> Okay. [clears throat] >> That's a research. Joe, >> so speaking of lines,

018where is the Topsfield line? Is it on this map? >> I don't know on here at all. I'm curious. >> Question on here now. >> It's a little further down the road. >> A little further down the road. >> It's the other side of that brick. Is it >> just the field um town line is on the east side to so towards where Sean is. John and Josh. >> Yeah. >> It's on the other side of the river. >> Other side of the river. Okay. >> Side of the river. >> The river. >> Middleton line is on the south end of campus which is near um close to the cemetery. If you know where the cemetery is behind the varsity baseball. >> Yeah. >> Good. >> All right. Putting the next slide. Yeah. This one

019shows the overall kind of proposed condition that we came up with in our design with the project team here. Um, if we go to the next slide, it kind of calls out all the proposed renovations and, uh, we we ended at tennis. We can start at tennis if you want and work our way from the north to the south here. Um, so like Josh pointed out, the existing conditions only have a bank of four courts out there. And in talking to John and um in terms of scheduling for practice and for tennis meets, it seemed to make sense to look at including a fifth tennis court up here. So this proposal um looks at adding a fifth tennis court in um the blanks area that's out there currently. Um your existing courts are asphalt courts.

020In this renovation, we'd be looking to convert those to a much more durable product, which is a post-tension concrete slab. Um obviously you get all new um court surfacing, new nets, new fencing. Um, obviously all the all the gray you see in this the darker gray everywhere on this project site would be accessible walkways to and from the parking lot in and around the tennis courts themselves. Um, we're providing player benches at the the north side for spectators, for players, for parents um, to hang out and watch the tennis meets. >> Um, as I mentioned, so this provides an accessible route off of the parking lot itself. And that also would double as a dedicated emergency access route coming off the um the parking lot down to the track and field which doesn't currently exist

021today. Um as you see noted there, we provide a sliding gate for emergency vehicles to enter the track and field facility from the parking lot. Um so kind of an added bonus and double double use for that uh walkway there. Um, as we get down to the track itself, as Josh mentioned, the biggest renovation to the field itself would just be adding irrigation. Um, obviously renovation work would be required after the irrigation goes in. Um, essentially just back filling the trenches and soding those areas after the irrigation system goes in. Um, as Josh noted, the the track surface itself would really just be resurfaced at the existing sixlane track at the oval. Um it's really just kind of milling down the existing um surfacing itself, cleaning that, prepping that, and adding a new track surface

022to that existing base course. And then the bigger change here for the track surface itself would be the we call the Dzones, the D areas, which are the areas north and south of the field between the inside A-line and the end of the field. Um we're proposing to uh to repave all that in a track surfacing material so it would match the existing track itself. Um it's just really better for players, better for coaches to have that area as a track surfacing for stretching and warming up. Um kind of storing gear during track meets, track practices. Um especially when it's raining and wet outside, [clears throat] it's better than putting your bags down on a a wet grass area. Um the long jump triple jumps and the high jump and pole vault pits would be

023located in both of the Dzones north and south of the field. Um that's the long triple jumps are currently shown in the or currently exists in the northern end of that field itself but right now it would be it's just in grass area. So now it would be inside of the um the the newly constructed track surfacing area. Um also as Josh noted we provide a new 4ft chain link fence around the entire perimeter of the track. make that in compliance with NFHHS. So, it's far enough off the outside lane line. Um, at the plaza space, or I guess we're calling it a plaza space, a newly created plaza space at the existing press box facility. Um, obviously that all needs to be in compliance with ADA. So, all these new walkways would get you

024down from the parking lot both to the bleachers themselves, but also to the press box, which doesn't have a dedicated accessible route to it today. nor does the um wheelchair lift directly next to the press box. So, we're providing access to that as well. Um as well as a small concrete plaza for queuing at the concession stands during games. Um kind of continuing down along that walkway, we would need a couple staircases um getting us from, you know, that the southern end of the larger bleacher. That's a staircase off of the existing kind of almost at the grade at the the roadway that behind the school itself. That would get you down to the the track and field level about it's plus or minus 3 and 1 half 4 ft off the elevation of the

025roadway down to the track and field. But since we have access from the other side, we can provide a staircase there to get you down there um accessibly, legally, all that kind of stuff. Um and then kind of continuing along the outside of that track, as I mentioned, we provide a new walkway that wraps the entire outside of the track, um over to the visitor side where we provide, um access to those visitors bleachers. Um we kind of separated them and putting them at the roughly at the 20 yard lines or so at each end of the football field just for spectator viewing during a football game because the um visiting team would stand at midfield, the players would stand there. So for viewing spectator purposes, we kind of separated those a little bit. We

026locate those on a new crush stone pad. Um is a little bit more durable and um you know permanent than having sitting on the grass as you do currently today. Um we would include a new football goalpost at the track and field facility. Um an alternate for a new scoreboard at the southern end of the field as you'll see in the the cost estimate we go through briefly after this. Um, a new PA system would be an alternate for this facility as well. Um, I think that's it for the track. Anything else missing on that one, Josh? >> No, I think covered most of that. Yep. >> Okay. >> Down to softball. We can start at um I guess we'll start at um varsity here on the lefth hand side. So, this will be a

027whole new constructed field. Um natural grass field, skinned infield. Um this would be the varsity softball field relocated to the area that's now a practice space that's kind of underutilized. Um this facility would receive um a nice tension 30-foot back stop at the the back stop itself. Ball netting along the third baseline. Um masonry dugouts similar to what's over at um the varsity baseball field. a small storage unit off the third base um team area. Um for you know equipment storage, um maintenance storage, that sort of thing. Uh bullpens, batting cages, um a new scoreboard, ballp fence. Um and this would be irrigated. Um and that the new irrigation system for this would tie into the irrigation system for the track and field. So it' be kind of one new upgraded system for this entire

028end of the the facility, this this part of campus. Um, we would provide a new four-row bleacher for approximately 115 spectators at the back stop area. Um, 288 parking spots, as you can kind of see, right behind the first base team area. Yep. Um, and obviously all these walkways to and from the parking lots would be ADA accessible. Um, moving over to the practice field and JV field. So where we have the existing varsity field today, um we look at obviously keeping that as an athletic facility field, practice field. Um we look at relocating um the shot put to this area kind of shown in the gray um triangular shape there on the bottom left. Um as well as installing a new hammer discus cage in that area. And obviously the rest of it would

029be just maintained irrigated natural grass um for football, soccer, whoever wanted to practice on the area. Just be a nicer maintained upgraded facility um in that area. Um again, the gray walkway would be wrapped around that all part of the facility down to the JB baseball field. Um which would essentially be rebuilt almost in kind with um footprint wise. You get new bullpens for each of the um each teams um the warming up in uh new spectator bleachers, new 30-foot back stop that we continue with ball netting along the first and third baselines for ball collection and preventing from going into the woods and the uh resource areas. Um again, this would be irrigated. the new foul poles. This would have a removable outfield fence and the six foot removable outfield fence just so we

030could overlap, you know, getting a grid iron out there for football practice in the fall seasons. Um the team areas themselves here would be a little bit simpler. really be kind of a a porous asphalt or [clears throat] porous stone or asphalt um pad with bleachers on them or benches on them wrapped in chain link fence um to prevent you know it's going to separate the players from the parents or spectators um and then this would again include a small fiber bleacher at the back stop there >> and Sean one more thing u just in the plan it might look deceiving uh for where the uh the JV field is proposed and where the uh current varsity field is. Uh but that whole area will be natural grass. I know it's two different color greens

031you kind of are seeing there, but everything would be natural grass. >> Yeah. >> And each facility would all all these facilities now would be in compliance with NFHS. They have the proper standards for back stops to the or for them from home plate to the back stops, proper file territory areas, proper field dimensions, outfield fence dimensions. um all those things that don't currently exist for softball, >> right? >> Any questions on any of the proposed upgrades? >> So, I I do like it. I have a couple questions. So, I see discus, but is that the area that Javelin would be thrown in? I could probably answer that, John. Um, so yeah, we we would um have to get creative with practice scheduling, but we could use and we've actually used currently when we have

032home meets um field one, which is the first field when you enter the middle school parking lot on the lefthand side adjacent to the tennis courts. Um, so yeah, we we could practice the javelin there, but we would have to make sure obviously we'd have to schedule where there was nobody else in that area, whether the softball team had an away game or something like that or field one was available. So, um, we've done that the last couple of years to make sure we come up with a schedule that is like safe and creative. Um but yeah, we could we could easily um address the the javelin piece um with this current [clears throat] or proposed setup. >> Followup regarding the track. six lanes adequate to host like more of a regional meet or because

033usually the ones that I've seen sometimes have I don't know eight is it eight or nine for the like the 100 meter >> typically the larger meets like divisional meets or sectional meets are eight eight lanes >> eight lanes >> okay >> it becomes challenging I think to add those >> two based on the current footprint that we're working with >> right >> this but This adds one lane. >> Uh we don't add a lane on this one. It's just adding uh extending the fencing out about six inches or so. >> Yeah. Well, currently the track's only marked for five lanes, right? >> Six. [clears throat] >> But to Josh and Sean's point, you know, when you go out there, the fence that surrounds the track is really close to that outside lane. And the

034proposal is to extend that a little bit for safety reasons for that outside mo outermost lane. >> It's just a renovation project. It's not a it's not a construction project, >> right? >> Yeah. I guess I just if we are my questions are more to make sure that what we're if we need to renovate or if it's part of our capital plan it's adequate for future and hosting things and doing everything that we need to do at MSCO. Um, thank you for all the work you've done on this and putting it together. Um, I like the plans. I I mean, I'm just imagining that back there and I like it. I think a lot of this is and I hate to say it, but nice to have when like the irrigation stuff, I know it's

035a hassle and I know the fields get wrecked, but again, when we're looking at the budgets we're looking at, I think that's a nice to have. I think the PA system there I know needs to be replaced but when we're contemplating building a whole new facility on the other side of campus with and I know it's not track but that will likely have a brand new PA system and so those types of things I think might be nice to have and I know this is very early on but I just wanted to put that out there that >> look really nice. Yeah, that was my reaction to the the proposal looks or the feasibility study looks really nice and it was really well done. Um, but I had a similar sort of response. So it

036would be good to know out of all the things that we've enumerated here, you know, if we had check marks next to each one of them, whether it's Title 9, ADA, some sort of high school standard regulation improvements, or a nice to have that I think that would give us the tool to be able to go through and say, you know, so that'll come up next, Matt. There's an itemized um cost estimate for each element, each of the three elements that we're presenting. So Josh is going to go into that. >> Yeah. But I don't think it says whether or not they're necessary for an ADA or >> make that determination. >> But we can make that determination. Okay. >> All right. Yeah. You you know enough. We don't have to go back to >>

037three of us. Yeah. >> Awesome. >> Okay. [clears throat] Back to you guys. >> Okay. >> Thanks. So I think the next slide just kind of delineates we like as Jeff mentioned we um we broke this into kind of three different sections to look at as far as the cost estimate. Um so obviously the the tennis courts themselves, the track and field themselves itself and then the two softball fields and the throwing events um kind of each within each of those black boundaries they're whatever um walkways are within that um section are kind of included within that budget for each of those different facilities. Um, and the next couple pages are pretty detailed. Um, um, line item by line item um, costs for each of these items that we kind of talked about here. So,

038if we keep going, I think the next one just talks about we're going to look at the track and field first. Um, again, I'm not I'm not going to go through each of these items line by line. Um, but you you have it now, so you can certainly take a look at it and please feel free to share any comments or questions with Jeff and we can help address anything as it may come up. But um so the the track and field itself obviously the the renovation work starts with the site prep and demo. So the contractor will arrive um set up their erosion controls and um construction entrance. Uh like I talked about remove the existing track surfacing, clean and prep that for new track surfacing to be implied on top of that. Um

039take out the existing fencing. The only earth work associated with the track and field itself would be removing the top soil and those those Dzones we talked about north and south of the field. So, prepping those areas and really constructing essentially a new track surface profile within those areas, which is what lean uh number three kind of um gets into talking about resurfacing the track itself and then reconstructing or I should constructing the DZone areas um striping the tracks, getting the long triple jump, um vault boxes in there, the takeoff boards, slot drains would be required for the new track servicing where the the DZone meets the existing inside landline. Um we talked about the infield improvements for the field itself which is really the new irrigation system um irrigation controller restoring the field after

040it gets disturbed for the irrigation system installation. Um and then the various improvements to the facility itself. We just talked about the walkways, the concrete plaza, um 4 foot fence around the entire track and field itself, the gate for emergency access, football goalpost, um crush stone pad for bleachers, [clears throat] excuse me. Uh we have an existing sign out there at the end of the track and field. We like to relocate to the the press box area um just to kind of welcome people to the facility. It's kind of in a almost in a no man's land right now where people don't really see it or have access to see it when they enter the facility. So just relocating that um at the existing bleachers um you know you walk up to them right now

041and you see the back of the bleachers you kind of see through them and under them. So we look at proposing a new windscreen with some maskomic branding on the back of that to kind of wrap the entire bleacher um dress that up a little bit and then just some cost for some new fiber portable bleachers on the the visitors um spectator side. Um, we carry an allowance for drainage. Um, low main seating disturbed areas after the contractors kind of wrapped up their work. Um, gets you in for construction subtotal cost of just under $2 million. Um, and then we obviously we have a design contingency and then design, permitting, engineering fees for a total probable cost of $2.35 million. Um, and then we have couple alternates here. we mentioned the new scoreboard and the

042new PA system here. So, that's kind of the rundown for the the track and field facility improvements. And if you want to stop and ask questions at this point or I can keep going to the other two parts of this and then kind of come back to it at the end. >> Let's pause for just a couple questions. Trevor, >> I just had a question about the base layer on the track. If we redid the top layer, would that outlast the base layer? In other words, I don't like I don't want the base layer to go bad while we had just put a new top layer on, if that makes sense. >> Yeah. Yeah, it's a good question. Um, it is [clears throat] pretty typical to do this type of construction. Um, and that's because

043your your asphalt layer is actually protected by that uh rubberized surfacing, too. So, it's not seeing any UV issues or anything. So, if there was any issues since the initial construction of the project um like I was saying, u like deviations in the base, if you see any bird pools or anything like that, um you would have seen those already. So, there shouldn't be any issues in terms of any more settlement. Um, and then again with the uh lasting of the base material, um, we're actually seeing a lot of the newer asphalt is kind of mixed in with a lot of other um, materials. So, it's not quite as clean as that it used to be, you know, 20 years ago. So, we're actually seeing the the 20-year-old material sometimes outlast the the newer materials

044as well. >> Is there a typical lifespan? Um well of asphalt in general the typical lifespan could could be about 20 years or so but since this is protected with that that um you know you you can get another life out of it [snorts] and it should you know at least another 10 years. >> Thank you. >> [clears throat] >> Just curious um the construction contingency, general conditions and overhead and profit are calculated based upon the base subtotal. Yet the design contingency and design, permitting and engineering are calculated based upon the construction subtotal. Is that standard? >> Uh yeah, I mean well that's that's how we have it standardized for our feasibility studies. you know, we we kind of do it at this level. It's really high level. So, we don't really have what's going

045to be the actual design yet until we actually, you know, start getting into the nitty-gritty of the real design of the next steps. >> Okay. >> How often or how what's the life of the resurf this track surface? >> Uh that can vary. Uh typically you want to at least touch it up every 5 years or so. Um but then the actual servicing itself. Uh there's a lot of different materials out there, different um companies out there too. So it depends on what product you end up going with as well. Um but it could be 10 years, it could be 15 years. And after you put this new surface down, um, you know, after maybe six, seven, eight years, if if you do notice any, you know, discolorations or anything like that, they come back

046with what they call a structural respray, which is a much less invasive. They kind of essentially just show up with, you know, for lamest terms, like a paint gun and respray the entire track um to refresh it. um doesn't get in any kind of structural issues that um at that point should not be existent on the track and field, but it it's a way to kind of refresh the track without doing too much to it. >> Yeah. It's like topping it off basically, >> right? >> It's kind of repainting it essentially, but more than just repainting it. [clears throat] Move on. All [clears throat] right. The next is the softball and throwing field events area. Again, for this project, the contractor would um arrive on site, set up their erosion controls, um remove all the

047existing back stop fencing, um remove the infield mix, um and start kind of stripping and stockpiling top soil. Um we we propose to keep this on site. Um it the cost to keep it on site and um uh amend it on site is far more economical than stripping and removing and importing a whole new um top soil profile for the fields itself. Um we've had great success doing this for many many projects over the um the past 20 years that I've been doing this almost. Um so this would be an amended top soil for both varsity fields. Um the V par varsity and JV fields and the um practice field in between both of those fields. Um so that process really kind of involves stripping the top soil, disposing of all the um tailings, any

048rocks, any larger you know impediments that might show up when they [clears throat] strip and all that. We respspread the amend the the top soil itself with sand. uh respspread all that, fine grade it um create the infields for both the JV and varsity fields. Um we'd resought all that again talked about irrigating a new irrigation system in for this [clears throat] entire facility. Um low main seating kind of all the areas between the fields and the walkways along that entire southern part of this site. Um it's kind of the general earthwork and grading for that. And then if you move to the next slide, it kind of talks about each of the um components that kind of are associated with the the varsity and JB back stops. Um the 30-foot ball netting, fencing, masonry

049team areas, um benches, scoreboards, bleachers, um concrete pads for the bleachers, foul poles, batting cages. Um we've got a lock box in there for field equipment. >> [clears throat] >> got the JV field where it doesn't have a kind of dedicated masonry storage area. Um we talked about for the throwing field areas we have a discus and shot throwing pad discus cage um you know the stone aggregate landing area for the the shotput itself. Um all the porous asphalt walkways you saw in those renderings are included in that number seven there. Um we have an allowance for drainage and an allowance for landscaping and you know that that project also comes to construction cost uh just over $2 million, [clears throat] excuse me. And then alternates for these would include um a scoreboard for JV

050or JV softball and an additional portable much smaller, simpler PA system for use at both of these facilities. So, I don't think, and I could be wrong, I don't think our JV baseball field has a scoreboard. It does. >> Does it have PA? So, would we then have to also add the other way? >> We could just use this one. It's portable. >> It's portable one. >> Oh, portable idea. I was not quite at the same time, >> Joe. [clears throat] Thought you're going a little further with that, which is the existing JV field doesn't have these uh the netting and a lot of these other things that are being added. Is isn't an obvious thing here just to take the existing B city softball field, call it the JV softball field, add the um

051handicapped access to get out to that and then leave it alone and then just build the new varsity softball field. Isn't that an an obvious way to cut the cost of this by half a million dollars or more? >> Does that bring it up to what the baseball fields are? The JV field is a piece of crap. Have you seen it? I mean, there's like nothing. It's terrible. I mean, there's >> But it's it's it's a much better piece of crap than the the JV and varsity softball. >> No, I don't think it is. But the varsity is a much better piece of crap. >> Yeah. Varsity softball. Probably >> it's 113 from home plate to the >> foul to the JB the JV outfield. It keeps >> they won't exist saying the new varsity

052softball field and the existing varsity softball field becomes a JV field. Nobody's walking through anybody's outfield anymore. All you need is the is the pave pathway to get out there and you're done. >> Is that what we're proposing? >> Well, you're talking about about at least $500,000 worth of equipment and everything else to do the JV softball field here. >> And aren't those things that are included in the baseball fields? Nope. The JV baseball field doesn't have that stuff. >> Doesn't have a dugout. >> Doesn't have the netting. Doesn't have >> It's not It's It's not dugouts on the JV field that >> we're not proposing. There's not It's not in the proposal for JV. >> Our city does need >> bleachers. Is there bleachers at the J? >> Uh number What is that? 0006

053is the equipment. There's not. It's not bleachers cuz the JV baseball field does not I'm sorry, dugouts. JB baseball field does not have dugouts. >> Okay. Okay. So, >> JV softball the issue I think is the netting. Um, and that's because every time there's a foul ball, it's in it's in the river. Yeah, we put the netting in because we lose a thousand balls a season or whatever into the >> So, for the uh JV softball, we we call it team area, but it's uh a fence basically just for safety in front of the um in front of the bench. Yeah. >> I mean, the netting makes sense. I mean, I've watched the kids into the woods looking for ball so they can continue playing the game. I mean, it's absurd. But Joe to your

054point I I guess we could go through this itemized lists what we were talking about earlier right and you know is it required is it I mean prioritize it like we did with >> from a tit that's what I'm >> part of the design >> forcefully everything on here if we had money and and it get approved but I don't know that it's going to get approved >> right >> these values >> yeah so we could certainly go through every aspect of each one of these three elements and do just that >> and I presume we're we're not actually making a decision on that that stuff tonight. It's just our initiative. >> This is a schematic. >> Right. So, where are we here? >> Uh we just got the tennis courts to review the estimate

055for that one. That one should be pretty quick. [clears throat] Um again, so this one contractor shows up, sets up the erosion controls. Um they'll remove the existing fencing out there at the tennis court, remove the existing nets. Um for this, we'd probably pulverize the existing asphalt courts in place. Um we'll upgrade the site with that existing um pulverized asphalt and use that as a base for the new courts. We would have to bring in some new court base material obviously for the fifth additional court that's shown on this proposal. Um all of these courts would be constructed like I mentioned in post-tension concrete. Um uh then we'd have the por asphalt walkways around all the courts as shown on the plan. Player benches um a movable four row bleacher that would be adjacent to

056the western most fifth court that would be added along the um emergency access road that would be you know very light, very portable. So, if someone does need to get access down to that um the track and field, that can be lifted off. Again, this is just a a small additional item we added on here. Um and then a drainage allowance and that gets us to $1.33 million for the tennis court facilities. And I think that is it for as far as our presentation goes. >> Yeah. And again just to wrap up um you know at this level it's it's very high level. It's a feasibility study. So what can feasibly you know fit in these in these areas. So uh you know in the next phases of design would be schematic design. So that's

057when you kind of get into a little bit more detail. You know, I know we're showing a pretty a good detailed cost estimate, uh, but the next step would kind of get into more detail or weed out what you don't need, what you do need, and everything else. >> Yep. >> So, >> have the site surveyed, get that information on the plans and >> Yeah. All the com information. >> Yep. But yeah, uh if if anyone else has any other questions, um you know, feel free to to let us know now or or shoot Jeff a a message and and he'll pass it along to us, I'm sure. So, um but thanks for having us tonight and um you know, I hope hope we informed everyone as much as we can for uh this feasibility

058study. >> Thank you everybody. >> Before before we let you go, just I want to make sure We've let we've let our partners go before and then 10 seconds later we wish we [laughter] >> so uh just in terms of our next steps or path forward with this. What's that look like? >> It's up to you. >> It's up to us. >> Up to you. >> Right. >> Melissa, >> how long do we have to respond to the Title N complaint? >> There there is no complaint on record at the moment. >> So there's a communication communications communications from members of the community >> that have said this is not in line with title N. There has not been a complaint filed with the US Department of Education, >> but this is our initial response

059to that communication from the community. Sure. >> To the point about how when we renovate this building, if we exceed a certain percentage of the value and you have to bring everything up to title plan and ADA, I thought that was >> doesn't apply to this stuff. It applies to the building and immediately around the building. [snorts] >> Oh, believe it or not, our mind, >> we're not doing anything that isn't ADA compliant in this. No. So just the broadscale timelines, how's this move forward? So we get to a final contract, final bid. When do we start, you know, working on projects and how long will this take to get >> this is just a concept, Jeff? >> I know just went forward. Is this a fiveyear plan? >> Sean, Josh, how long? >> Uh

060well, yeah, I mean the next steps would be um uh schematic design. And so then we'd have to get survey information, wetlands information. So that takes a couple months uh of just making sure everyone, you know, everything's thought out, people can identify the correct species and everything. Um and then we'd start the schematic design phase, which usually is a relatively quick phase. We could say 3 months or so um for this particular project. Um and then it would go into the next steps would be design development um where you kind of get into more details. you start getting details of of drawings of the actual um materials. Say if it's a wall, you want to sketch out what what it's going to be. And then the next phase after that is construction documents. And that's

061when you make the whole plan set um available or or made suitable for a contractor to bid on. Um and then also specifications. We don't write up a a spec book uh for that. And that takes um you know after the I said the SD maybe 3 months the DD maybe another 3 months and then CDs it could be another uh depending on which pro which you know the detail the level of detail but that could be three to six months too. So um you know it could it could happen within a year of you know from now to it going out to bid to contractors um and then once the u bid goes out to the contractors usually this type of project could be done in a summer. >> So started at the end

062of the school year um majority of it could be completed by the beginning of the next the following school year. say the biggest unknown is really permitting conservation commission as you know with the other project that's still ongoing a couple years later I don't foresee this project kind of going that route this is more you know there's no synthetic turf involved here um the JV field or the existing varsity field would re be rebuilt in kind essentially the varsity field we don't believe is in their jurisdiction we think it's outside of the buffer zone for the resource area um we'd obviously would have to apply for um wither reservation for the track renovations themselves because they're obviously within the buffer. Same with the tennis itself. But um most of this is um expanding anything like

063the other project is. So that's kind of the biggest hurdle that you know we don't really have a strong handle on um for timeline goes. But to Josh's point, we could have this most likely designed this summer if you know we move forward this month. If you want to get it designed, we could have this probably designed to extent we could have it permitted starting this summer. um with the anticipation, you know, if it went forward to bid next winter for next year construction is kind of the overall timeline. But again, that kind of hinges on how long conservation may or may not take for review and approval >> when we get money. >> Yes. Um, >> yeah, >> I'm just wondering from from our standpoint, um, have we thought about how this fits into

064the grand scheme of things of the the the roof and HVAC, very expensive ask of our of our communities to to fund that? Would this be would this be a separate ask? Would we be doing this at the same time? So it's one one big I mean if we haven't worked that out or or thought about that that's fine but but you know c at some point we need to strategize what's what's the best way to go about it. I mean, to me, it feels like we maybe the DCI goes off and comes up comes back to the committee with a recommendation for what we should include for capital funding next year to go continue to do, >> you know, uh, more design and potentially permitting or something like that. I'm not exactly what the

065show what that scope would be, but maybe that's a discussion DCI could have within Jeff and Mike and maybe uh >> like the bulk of the camp would be 27 28 would be the busy activity. >> I'm sorry. >> So it sounds like you know a year to get sorted out and but then work starts. So it' be a 27 >> budget >> or you could break it into three separate projects, right? You could put >> um so you got the the roof and the HVAC project. to get in the turf field and now you have this you could consider one or three projects. There's a lot to kind of consider and map out. [clears throat] Give suggestions a good one. >> Joe, >> the design part of it we would want to push through

066this year coming because you want to get that approved so you can actually go ahead and find out what the real cost is going to be >> town meeting the following year. So >> not only that but you know get get to and through permitting as well because if that >> right >> takes a year and a half too we don't want to wait >> we want to do that in >> okay >> so anyways maybe the action here is DCI if you guys don't mind pulling the thread on this a little bit more coming back to the committee you know in a month with a recommendation does that seem reasonable folks >> we are starting the budget in two weeks and Yeah, >> DCIS got a lot on their plates. That's >> Yep. >>

067I know. >> But we just need a quote from these guys on on phase. Correct. And we can go from there. >> Yes. >> I really haven't thought it through, Joe. So, that's one of the things we'll need. Yeah. >> Okay. >> Say it again, Joe. Well, I mean to prepare for what we're asking at town in May, we need to get a quote from these guys on the design aspects of it. So, a number we can ask for. That's that's all. >> If that's what you guys recommend, >> right? That's what I'm asking. Can you guys >> Yes. >> Yeah. That's what >> Well, only because if if the next big step is is getting through permitting. Well, what is it going to take to get us there? And if that's you know getting

068that then let's then we need to have that >> but as [clears throat] part of that recommendation I think we have to have a I think that recommendation has to include and I took a note here you know what are the things that are what are the things we have to do to be title n compliant what are the things we have to do be to be ADA compliant high school standard regulation compliant necessary repair so all of those things will not happen the next month Right. >> Right. Which is we have to do all of those things to ask these guys to do a design give us a design quote. >> I agree. Well, we have to right we have to tell them what from this package included work >> to make that determination.

069We have to understand what's really necessary versus >> something this firm could do. They couldn't they don't have the >> you'd have to pay them. You'd have to authorize some funds. >> I'd be curious what that would entail. I mean, they're they they've done this, you know, they've been on they've walked the grounds, they know the space. They could flag each one for this is an ADA issue. This is a title N issue. >> Probably just a few hours, right? >> They're nodding their heads. So, >> yeah, I'm not looking at >> assuming they agree with me. >> A lot of it's pointed out. >> Do we really need to do that though? I mean, >> in a way, you can say quote the whole thing and that's the cost not to exceed, >> right?

070to give us a number to start thinking about, you know, if it's small enough, >> hell with it. Just go with the whole plan, >> right? >> Decide what to build later. >> There's any big cost drivers as you're going through this that you think maybe aren't completely necessary. Let us know. >> Whatever that cost delta is going to be between designing part of it and designing all of it, it's going to be blown away by waiting another year. >> Y construction costs are going to go up by more than that anyway. So, let's get the quote for the entire thing. Can we make a motion to get a quote for design services? >> I don't think I need a motion just a bid, right? >> Can we get just ask permitting? >> Yeah, that

071includes permanent. >> So that will be coming from vision not from DCI. >> Sorry. That comes from vision, not DCI. >> Yeah, we don't quote. >> Yeah, like we're not DCI doesn't have to look at it. We'll just get a quote. >> I'll start with vision. >> Okay. I just wanted to make sure that I understood that. >> Thanks. >> Anything else, folks? We all set on this? >> We're set, guys. Again, nice job. Thank you. Appreciate all the hard work. Thanks, guys. Thank you. >> Good night. Right. Uh, as I mentioned earlier, we're going to skip over the chart build uh, plan discussion and we're going to jump into a physical education health department presentation by John Glaz. >> Thank you for having me. >> Thanks for coming. >> Yeah, >> happy new year

072everybody. Um, so I'm going to uh present a couple of things. First, I'm going to talk about the wellness department, um, some of our focus areas, bright spots, uh, enrollment trends, and then I included for the school committee at the end of this, um, an athletics piece for winter. Um, if you remember, I presented in the fall with our numbers and I kind of broke it down, but I was also able to include um the last five years of our kind of winter sports numbers just for comparison. So, I'll start with the wellness presentation. Um, so our wellness department is broken up really into two parts. Um, so at our high school level, uh, we're only, uh, students are only required to, uh, go through one health class, uh, as a graduation requirement. It's called

073comprehensive health. Most students take it in their sophomore year. And as far as physical education credits, which is the other part of the program, students are required to have two semesters of physical education um, required to graduate. So that's kind of an overview. Um, we're a smaller department, but we feel like we're as, you know, vital as ever in this day and age. You know, helps support student belonging, stress management, confidence, not just I wrote here in ninth grade, but really in all grades. Um it it ties in really well to our five portrait of a learner competencies, you know, that we're we're basically working on these skills and developing these different skills every day, whether it be, you know, teamwork, communication, perseverance, things like that. Um okay, you can go to the next slide.

074So, our budget priorities, uh, we need new EMT textbooks. Uh, new textbooks just came out this January. Um, and basically they're going to be required in terms of what we teach moving forward. So, we have that in our budget request for FY27. Um, other priorities, uh, if you know, behind the central office building, we have a project adventure course, and there's a lot of behind the-scenes work that goes into making sure that we're, um, in compliance with that, whether it be like annual inspections, uh, permits, things like that. Uh, making sure the area is safe. You know, we actually had some tree work done not too long ago to make sure that that area was always safe for students. Um we also went through uh this fall four of our staff members uh did some

075training uh project adventure training just to stay up with their skills. Um other priorities you know to maintain our current staffing. I know that you know it's been a topic of discussion obviously and there are some difficult decisions to be made and um we're a smaller department and um you'll see our enrollment numbers have been really strong which we're happy about. Um, other priorities is to just continue to update our fitness facility. Um, our some of our wellness staff members have actually gotten grants through the MEF. We've been able to improve um and add new equipment over the last several years with grants and just being able to keep up with um maintenance of equipment. All right, you can go to the next slide. Uh focus areas again, professional development for our staff. um they've

076expressed a desire, for example, go and visit other districts to see what they're doing and see what their best practices are. Uh Kevin and I have actually kind of um discussed that in one of our previous meetings and we hope to do that as early as the spring. Um we've been really working hard, the staff on aligning aligning our curriculum templates to make sure that they're in compliance and uh basically aligned with our portrait of a learner competencies, our district goals. Um and we've completed that during the PD directed um time on Wednesdays. Uh as a matter of fact, I think today they were working to kind of fine-tune some of those um some of those uh curriculum maps that they've been working on. We can go to the next slide. So there this is

077something that's a huge bright spot for us. uh Nick Peranos who is our EMT teacher and first responder teacher. He just officially became certified as an instructor after three years and it's it was three intense long you know hours and hours in an ambulance overnights in a helicopter. Um, and we're I'm proud to say that not in not this spring, but starting next spring, students here will be able to basically become certified EMT if that's the path that they choose. Um Nick had just gotten his certification a little bit um late to the point where we couldn't certify students inhouse this spring, but through our work with Boport Ambulance and our connection there, they're offering a discounted rate for any students who want to take it and be certified. And I know we had four

078confirmed already who registered and I think there are two more who are going to register as well. So that's really exciting news. Um, we go to the next slide. >> Discounted rate. >> What's that? >> The discounted rate. >> What is the discounted rate? It was $1,600 and it's $1,400 for students. So, um, but again, next year, I think it's going to be um a huge a huge plus for us. It was it's been a long process of getting that accreditation back. >> It's great. >> So, we have all the paperwork done. Everything's completed. >> Um, >> I'm sorry for the ignoring question here. Is this so next year is this like is it an extracurricular? >> Um it's part of our I didn't clarify that it's part of our EMT class. >> So as

079part of that class in the spring students can choose to whether or not they want to pursue certification and Nick being a certified instructor is able to provide that so we don't have to go outside and do it. um our former wellness teacher, Greg West, who retired a few years ago, um we used to certify, you know, dozens of kids um on a regular basis. And so to have this back is huge. And I can already see the uptake uptick in the EMT enrollment. Um, and so as we go through like the course selection process this spring into next year, I'll be curious to see, you know, what the enrollment numbers look like because I, like I said, I noticed an uptick even this year from the year before. >> How many kids can be

080in a class at once? >> What's that? >> How many kids can take the class at once in the per section? >> That's a good question. So the ideal number is no more than 18 just because of the what the coursework entails. Uh actually space is an issue because we have mannequins and we have stretchers and a lot of hands-on learning. So often if you walk by an EMT class, you'll see students in the hallways just because space is so limited. So 18 is ideal, but we've had I think this year we have in the 20s which is a challenge. Um so next year we're we might even break into two different sections um depending on how how many students we have enrolled. So right now we have one large section but you know I

081think with the interest being where it is we might end up splitting into two different sections of smaller numbers. Um there's a lot of hands-on learning and a lot of you know just a lot of uh a limited space and lots of equipment. So, >> you're finding that the kids are graduating and then going off and performing the function of EMTs. >> We actually have at least one student I'm aware of that got a job right out of high school as an EMT and it was really rewarding. And I know that we have um at the eighth grade parent night we had in the in the fall, we had a couple of students there um representing, you know, the program and I know just from my conversations with them, it's something that they want to

082pursue once they get out of here. So it's it's just a great example of like school to work experience you're learning and that translating like right after students graduate often times or or wanting to pursue a career in some kind of medicine or >> Yeah. >> This is a good sort of precursor to going into you know >> yeah students that are in these classes they really want to be there. It's it's actually fun to watch if you go [clears throat] into a class and it's amazing what some of these high school kids are learning. And I remember when I was in high school, we didn't have classes like this. So, I think that's one of the things that ASCO unique is, you know, some of these electives that we offer in health um especially.

083So, just wanted to share something. It's a really interesting pathway for like premed or an alternative to the college and >> because the students who haven't been able to get certified through MASCO but Mr. P's class is so unbelievable >> from anecdotally what I heard from the kids who took it last spring they pursued the class on their own cost two grand and 100% of the kids from Masco who took the certification test passed on the first try which is very rare. Yeah, >> it's Yeah, it's been >> agree. Yeah, >> it's been incredible, >> you know, and I was I was nervous when Mr. West retired and how we were going to maintain the program because it's such a unique >> program and it's one of those typically goes under the radar, but certainly

084recognized by me and the students that are impacted by it. But it's something that I'm really proud of. It's a part of my job that most people don't see. They think athletics, but there's been a lot of behind the-scenes work in the wellness area that we've made some huge like strides in and that's one that we're really proud of. So, um, one of the other things speaking of things to be proud of, Mr. Peranos in his first responder class and EMTT class actually. Yeah, that is up there. Um, so there is um an AED tagging initiative that is nationwide and it's it actually started um from a family who a man whose wife had a sudden cardiac arrest and they created this 501c3 nonprofit to tag AEDs across the country. So if there was a

085911 emergency and a dispatcher was called, they could let the person on the other end know exactly where the closest AED is. And in Massachusetts, there was a goal of tagging 1500 in the state of Mass. And at Masco alone, our students tagged 300 of those. So 20% of the of the AEDs that have been tagged in Massachusetts have come from our students. And so we were recognized [clears throat] um it's called cardiac crusade. The students were recognized with a letter. I think this was even uh like an a in like made AP news. So and then you can see there with some of the stu it's not a a huge picture that you can see but it's the students with their certificate and they were holding up the cardiac crusade t-shirts and you could

086see one of the students there tagging an AED. So it almost will become. So uh if you go to the next slide. So basically it just explains what cardiac crusade is. And so there are these like global geom mapping companies like Apple and Google who actually um you know are a this cardiac crusade has worked with them to be able to enable them to tag all these AEDs. So, it's pretty pretty amazing thing to see that our students are doing this and really involved in the community and doing something that really makes a difference. Um, all right, you can go to the next slide. This is just something entertaining. The eighth grade parents night, they dressed up one of the mannequins. Those are two of our students there and they were just great to talk

087to these students and how passionate they were about what they were doing. It really is inspiring. Um, okay, you can move on. So, u, another elective that we have is first responder. And, um, you know, another really cool thing, 39 of our students were able to be certified in CPR and stop the bleed. And what stop the bleed is, it basically is like any civilian who sees uh an emergency can react as a civilian to an emergency to help stop like excessive bleeding or in an emergency situation until um you know 911 and is called and um you know the professionals arrive. So all of our students who participated in the first responder class became certified in this. So, it's just a really um we also created a newsletter um a first responder newsletter that

088goes out to our families and the class. So, it's really cool. It just gives them an update on what's going on. Um so, it's just another really cool thing about the program. All right, you can go to the next slide. Uh comprehensive health. This is the one required class in health that we have that I mentioned and typically it's for uh sophomores. So um just wanted to mention that as one of the classes that we offer. Uh Jen Ayes is a longtime uh health teacher for us and she's the primary teacher of comprehensive health and she comes with a wealth of knowledge and has a great rapport with students and a solid grasp of the uh curriculum. Okay, we can move on. Intro to medicine is another one of our elective courses that we offer.

089Um so a few of the things that that uh students learn talk about uh like disease uh substance abuse, addiction, mental health, talk about uh sleep, um nutrition, even financial awareness are things that are talked about in this in this class. So it's very um interesting class. Uh we have I think two or three full sections of intro to medicine. Um all right we move on. Uh the other part of our wellness program is the physical education piece. And I mentioned that students are required to take two semesters. Um we would love it if it would be four meaning a semester each year for four years but currently it's um two semesters and we offer a wide variety of options for students in order to achieve that requirement. Um the first is freshman seminar which

090is basically um an introduction to physical education for nth grade students and what we do is we touch upon different aspects of the physical education program to see what they might be interested in pursuing later on. So uh for example we utilize the low elements of the project adventure course. We do team- based activities and games. Um, we do a fitness unit as well to introduce students to our our fitness room and then students have like a final reflection and assessment on uh at the end of the semester um just as a way to give good feedback about what we're doing and what students liked and what they didn't like. All right, can you move on? >> Um, other electives we have fundamental fitness where students actually um can go into the fitness room, they

091can develop their own fitness plan. Um, you know, they learn about safety in the fitness room, learn how to develop their own um workout plans, how to use the equipment properly. um you know stressing the importance of safety and hopefully that this will translate into something that they want to do lifelong just to stay active and healthy. All right, next one. Um I mentioned the project adventure course. That's a course that has been really uh a course that we've offered for several years and uh we have just really an unbelievable course. I think there are like 19 or 20 elements that we have behind the central office building. Uh we have different low elements and high elements and students in the class we call it challenge by choice. They don't have to climb but they're

092part of the team. You know they have a different role. If they don't want to climb uh there are different roles for each student and you know we build you know trust, responsibility, teamwork having to depend on another teammate for success. Um those are some of the things that really help um or emphasize the uh project adventure class that we have. >> Okay. Uh team sports. These are traditional team sports that we offer for students that are really into that. And um the great thing about this is it's not just okay, we're going to play basketball today, we're going to play football today. Um each uh activity is really structured and each student has a role. One student might be a captain, the other student might be officiating, the other one might have another responsibility.

093So there are different roles and responsibilities and students have to work together um to make the class successful. Okay, move on. Uh yoga. This is an incredibly popular class that we offer. Um, we honestly don't have enough space in the yoga room. We have multiple sections. And one of the things I've noticed too, which is pretty cool, is I think um I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I've noticed that more boys are taking the class now. Um, over the earlier my earlier part of my career here, most mostly it was a class for girls. And it's nice to see a little bit of that shift because it's just a great activity for everybody. Um, and the Alicia Gomes who teaches the class is just phenomenal and does a great job, has

094a lot of experience. And uh, at the end of the semester, it's really cool. students design their own like yoga practical where they're paired up and they have to basically uh come up with their own like yoga flow and they present it to the class and they're they're in front of the class and they they basically present as as if they're the teacher. So, it's a really cool class. It's and the yoga room that we have is excellent, too. It's a great space. Okay. Um this is a class we offered we started offering just two years ago. Um, Liz Dean, who is one of our uh, physical education teachers and she also coaches a couple of sports for us. She uh, was our former trainer and she's still a certified athletic trainer. [clears throat] So,

095we offered this elective starting last year and um, the numbers have increased this year. >> Um, so it's we're really excited in terms of a potential maybe future career that someone might be interested in. Um, that's a class that we we offer and um, I think it's just going to be more popular as time goes on. So, I I've already seen from from last school year to this year, I think we have at least five more students enrolled than we had last year. Okay. Uh, just quickly want to touch upon our middle school physical education program for grades seven and eight. Um, students meet uh, every other day for the entire school year, which is great. So they get a lot of physical activity. So topics that are covered for example are team sports, cooperative

096games, intro to weight training, and then introduction to the high school curriculum as the the school year goes on. We've we've tried to do a lot more of um like vertical alignment where our middle school staff is communicating with our high school physical wellness uh health staff to make sure that there are no gaps in learning and that we're not teaching something that has already been taught at the middle school. So uh those are some topics that are covered. um health 7 uh we use what's called the raise curriculum respect achievement inclusion service and empathy um and I listed some of the things that are top below like media literacy substance abuse prevention bullying prevention and if you see you see at the bottom there the botin life skills training that's a national program that's

097been scientifically proven to um be very beneficial to middle school students in particular um they use what's called the castle model which basically builds in like social emotional learning into the curriculum. So and it's been proven to be successful and there are uh certain levels of skills training that are offered and seventh graders take level one and our eighth graders are actually taking level three which is just a just a more like a a higher version of the the the training and the curriculum. So that basically explains what the life skills training program is. So I just wanted to mention that and that's what we've basically kind of been modeling in the se seventh and eighth grade health classes. Okay. Um [clears throat] and here are some examples of what we use in our eighth

098grade um curriculum in health 8. Um, so Maggie Bridgio is our seventh grade health teacher and Stephanie Dalton is our eighth grade teacher. Stephanie's been with us for a couple of years and she's done a great job um, replacing what uh, a long time eighth grade health teacher Sue Micas who is here for 30 plus years. So, it's been great to have her with us. All right. Um, some program and enrollment trends. Uh as you can see, I won't go through them all specifically, but generally our numbers have been very healthy. Um I went back to 2022 to take a look at some trends and numbers uh in comprehensive health, intro to medicine, first responder. We have three sections of first responder at 20 each on average. So we have we have students who are

099really interested in taking these classes and so we're really proud of that. um you know and and certain class sizes will vary. Um a lot of it's based on availability and what student schedules are like whether or not it fits. Um so one class might have you know only 10 or 11 because it didn't fit into the schedule but another section might have 20 or 21. So, so the trends have been really good and uh which which is a a positive thing. Um especially since if you look at like our enrollment, the enrollments dropped but our our fizz and health enrollments have remained relatively steady. Um okay, can move on to uh collaboration, planning and growth. So just continue our staff professional development. That's one thing that we're really uh you know kind of proud

100of is the continued um you know growth of our staff. Uh one of the things that we'd love to do is find some more common planning time because we're an elect group of elective classes. Uh in many situations our teachers just don't have that common planning time. when they do, they utilize it. But that's something that we'd love to um you know, find a way to find more time. And one of the other growth opportunities was really focusing on alignment from grade 8 to 9 in our fizzed and health classes to make sure that uh there are no gaps there and making sure we even though the we're connected in the building, we need to make sure we continue to communicate from 8th to 9th grade. Um okay. And I think this is the last

101wellness slide. Um, you know, we have a dedicated and experienced staff that is combined also with an infusion of new people. Mr. Peranos, um, um, Mrs. Dalton and eighth grade health, um, Liz Dean is relatively new. So, we have a good group of people who want to continue to learn and infusion of new energy, which is great. Um, we're continuing to work on our portrait of learner competencies directly related to PE and health classes. A few of them that I mentioned already. Um, we're really proud of our outreach to the community, you know, and I mentioned a few of these this evening. Um, and also one of the faculty-led workshops that we had earlier in the school year was led by Nick Peranos, and he was able to certify uh in CPR and AED a

102bunch of our staff members. So, that was something that was really cool to see. Um, and then just mentioned the school to work success like as an example of um, you know, just some of the the bright spots. I know that was a lot. So, any >> Yeah. Um, that was really great. I learned a lot. Um, do you have any do we have any programming either in the for electives or in the curriculum that has to do with anything with unified sports or adaptive sports? >> Great. >> Uh, we I have a budget proposal in for FY27 to add unified sports to the budget in particular. Um, so unified sports are offered in three different categories. There's uh basketball, there's unified track and field, and there is um like a weight training, six week

103weight training in the winter. Um I would love to It's something that is really meaningful to me. I want I want to see it see us get it off the ground. A number of schools offer unified sports now. >> Absolutely. >> And um I've had conversations with Mrs. Dinardo with with Brad Denton um and other people around the in the building about what can we do to get it off the ground. Um I know Special Olympics offers a startup program, some startup money to get it off the ground. I've I've communicated with them, so I have contact information there and I'm hoping that it can happen. >> Awesome. >> Thank you. Um John, I just wanted to say that you're in a small department. is just such a good example of the breadth of electives

104that are offered um and that make Masco unique particularly as you highlighted the EMS EMT classes and um I will agree with Chris and that our Masco students even if they weren't accredited at Masco take a course through an ambulance service and complete it and pass it the first time. And I have a a sophomore in college who joined his EMS team, his EMS um program at school as a freshman and also works for the town of Oxford as a firefighter because of you know his interest that particularly Mr. Panos. So shout out to Mr. P because he really inspires a lot of our students. Just to echo a little bit of what Melissa said, the I used to once upon a time wanted to go into medicine and the these programs are what kept

105me here instead of going to the tech and pursuing a nursing over there. So, um yeah, this makes us unique and I think this helps keep kids within the district. I'm glad I have the opportunity to discuss this tonight because it's something I'm really proud of that I usually don't get a chance to say publicly. So really it's it's really meaningful. I I tell that to a lot of my friends that ask me about Masco and what makes it unique. And this is one of the things I say is the number of electives that we offer. And certainly when I was in high school, these weren't electives that were offered. And then then currently in other high schools that I talk to, they don't they don't have programs like this. So definitely makes us unique.

106>> I mean, I do know at times we've talked about using our communication muscle here >> to to to share across the community some of these highlights and I wonder as we go into budget season if this would be a good success story that we may want to tell or you know that we're bringing back an accredited EMT program next year. That might be something really cool to share. folks that are here tonight can draw online the communications perspective to think about is messaging we put out there >> I don't know if we started the messaging or if it was the teachers association that started but I did see it on social media so it is circling >> yeah it's off the ground just got to keep it up keep it up >> just real

107quickly I my daughter was in the EMT class must have been 2 three years ago and she still talks about it and Mr. P to this day. Uh definitely had a big impact on her. >> Yeah, it's I've been in his classroom a handful of times and it's amazing what you see like they were you could tell that the students have have learned really well >> because with I walked in with limited direction to the class. He gave them four different scenarios of four accidents that occurred. And this is a first responder class. And he gave them the card and gave them the details of what happened. And one of the students had to be the injured person and the other three had to work together to figure out what needed to be done. It

108was really cool to see it happen. Uh you like real world stuff. So, I'm glad that you've had some personal experience with that. That That's awesome. So, and I I also included some uh numbers for athletics. I know that that's a lot, but I figured it was important to share that with you. It seemed like it it was wellreceived in the fall. So, I I dug even a little bit deeper and added the last five. I know you can't see that. Hopefully, you might have a copy somewhere or something on your computer. Um, but if you can if you just quickly take a look at our 2526 winter numbers, we have 349 total athletes. And that compares really favorably going back to 2021. Only in the 2022 2023 school year where we had 351 have

109we had more than um 349. So the the enrollment trends are really good in the winter as well. Not quite as high as the fall, but when I think about comparing the fall to the winter, I think it's just the way that the the nature of our winter teams. So you have basketball teams that are generally smaller in number. You have a gymnastics team that's typically smaller in number. And some of the teams that we have just that's just the nature of the activity. Um whereas in soccer and field hockey you play with 11 on the field and we have three levels of of soccer for boys and girls. So that will cause those numbers to increase. But if you take a look at like our indoor track program and the numbers in the indoor

110track program, it's um let's we have 111 total. Like this is boys and girls together, but that's a pretty good number. like most of the teams we're competing against aren't rolling in with 111 athletes. So, it's it's really nice to see another um just component of the program where students are involved. So, I don't know if anyone has any questions about that. Um we did uh I I gave this information in the fall. We only had to cut, which I don't want to cut anybody, um, but we we had to make five cuts in boys basketball and five cuts in girls basketball, but that was it. All the other students who came out for teams made made teams, which was really good. We want to try to encourage as many kids to get involved as

111possible. And for some of those students who were cut of the 10, I know at least a couple joined another sport. So, we're always trying to push them into something else. if they don't make one thing. Our coaches do a great job of communicating with one another. >> Any questions? >> Thank you. Great. >> Thank you very much. Have a great night. >> Thank you. Thanks. Uh on to visual art department head >> 2026 everyone >> 2026 >> still okay to say that late in the year already right so Um, right, Mike, you're charge. Right. >> So, I can't resist starting with uh without a few good quotes as a jumping off point. So, art educ is not a frill. It is a fundamental part of how we understand ourselves in the world. The arts

112are essential to developing innovative thinkers who can solve complex problems. Art education fosters empathy, culture un cultural understanding and respect for diversity. The arts are core academic subjects just as important as math or science. All right. Next. So these are just a couple of posters that I happen to like I have in my classroom. It sort of sums up a lot about art, I think. Show up, breathe, do your best, be kind, learn, repeat, and make mistakes, every day. Um, so, um, let's see. Did I lost my spot? All right. So, some of the positive impacts of art art education are fostering creativity, development of artistic skills, self-expression, critical thinking, and problem solving. cognitive development and appreciation of diverse perspectives. Go to the next. There is a lot of academic uh research out there that

113confirms that visual arts education boosts student success and some examples are um increased academic outcomes particularly in English and math as well as overall higher SAT scores. Um there's a decrease in absenteeism. This is seen in students that take at least one art course and is particularly evident for students that have IEPs. Higher uh graduate graduation rate. Uh students who extensively participate in art courses are more likely to belong to academic honor societies and are less likely to drop out of school. Um lower suspension rate. Students were 20% less likely to have an outof school suspension for each year of arts courses studied. English learner progress. Engaging in school arts programs enhances listening, writing, and speaking abilities through art related discussions and activities. And college and career readiness. Students participating in the arts are more

114likely to enroll in college, maintain strong GPA, and take on leadership roles. Um, next, so I have one last quote for you guys. It's from an excellent article called Art for Our Sake, um, written by Ellen Wy. She's a professor at psychology at Boston College and Lois Hetland, an associate professor at the Massachusetts College of Art. Both are also researchers at project zero at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. For students living in a rapidly changing world, the arts teach vital modes of seeing, imagining, inventing, and thinking. If our primary demand of students students is that they recall established facts, the children we educate today will find themselves illequipped to deal with problems like global global warming. terrorism and pandemics. Those who have learned the lessons of the arts, however, how to see new patterns,

115how to learn from mistakes, how to envision solutions are ones likely to come up with the novel answers needed for most needed most for the future. There's a link I don't know if you guys can click on it, but it's a great article if you care to check it out. So, next, please. So, we are really fortunate at Masco to have really skillful artists and teachers. Recina Amsler teaches seventh grade art and um Ivon Malinowski teaches eighth grade art. Both are very experienced and successful middle school teachers and knowledgeable of a tremendous amount of 2D and 3D media which is really important uh for uh general art force. In the high school, we have Brian Dao, Erin Evans, Joe Yuckkins, Giz Saya, and myself. We have very versatile teachers with multiple skills in a wide

116variety of art and design disciplines. Very often, our high school teachers are teaching four different classes and sometimes even five. And I myself am teaching four classes and three different courses. Um, next please. So budget priorities as always the goal is to maintain educational excellence. So we can do this by maintaining staff staffing ideally which would preserve class sizes and quality of educational um experience. maintaining funding for m maintenance of our equipment like kils, pottery wheels, uh printing presses, the equipment in the wood shop and the Mac lab as well as um uh funding for consumable and durable goods for a broad range of quality art experiences. Our kids are really fortunate to have so many different types of art that they have exposure to that when the kids go to college, when they come

117back to visit, they're like, "Oh my god, we are so well prepared uh for college and they have so much more experience and foundational um um skills to build on. They they always say how well prepared they are from the art classes, but also from Masco as a whole." Um, all right. Let's see. I think I finished that. Yeah, you can go to the next one. Like, thanks. So, um, budget priorities. Um, oh, actually, sorry, I lost my spot. Focus areas. Okay, so um, the portrait of learner competencies, which you guys heard a lot about. We're working on building continuing to build awareness with our students about these competencies and developing self-reflections and assessments that take these into account. And actually, you you guys may know this. These symbols that were created were from my

118graphic design class last spring. This was last spring. And um I don't know if you can see it well enough or do you see that it spells out mascot? >> Yeah, just just checking making sure that comes across. Was pretty clever. Um all right, so community outreach for project um and or exhibition opportunities. We're always on the lookout for new opportunities to partner with uh the community and the world beyond our classroom. Um field trips, the MFA P, uh PBS Essics Museum, um going [clears throat] to Meredith Farm, all sorts of things we try to take advantage of. Um and building new partnerships. We're updating our curriculum documents as everyone's been doing during our PD time, making good progress on that. We're not done yet, though, but we're on our way. Um, we're we're also

119always thinking about ways to increase awareness of our course offerings to the students. You we're down here on the first floor. I don't know, sometimes kids aren't even aware of what's going on. Um, some some happens, of course, by word of mouth, but a way of just making sure that kids are aware there's a breadth of opportunities for them, wood shop, photography, all sorts of things. um as well as informing the kids about potential career opportunities in the arts. There's much more than being a fine artist. There's a lot of um possibilities for them. We'll continue to also investigate artificial intelligence and how it relates to art and design. Next, please. So, first I want to highlight a couple of lovely examples of memory project portraits produced recently by the AP art students. So, they

120it's a little hard for you guys to see, but hopefully you get a sense. Um, they're love they did a lovely job. Project is a charitable nonprofit organization that invites art students to create portraits for youth around the world who have faced substantial challenges such as violence, war, poverty, and neglect. The goal is to promote kindness and global awareness while providing the children with a special personal memory of their childhood. So this year um the children are from Armenia and they were recently sent off and they'll be delivered um to the children in Armenia and we'll get a video back and then um I can share that out. Um but we've been doing this for I don't probably close to two decades. We've been doing this a long time. Um, some AP art studio data.

121Uh, we have consist we have consistent excellent results. 100% of students scored three or higher which is higher than the Massachusetts and global percentage. Mean scores are consistently substantially higher than Massachusetts and global mean as well. Um, next please. Um, we also have data for two years of AP art history, which is a course we offer every other year. Again, 100% of students scored three or higher, which is also higher than the Massachusetts and global percentage. Mean scores are also higher uh than the Massachusetts and global mean. Um on the right side of that slide uh just a few pictures uh relating to the National Arts Honor Honor Society which started up just a couple of years ago. Aaron Evans runs that and uh some of the activities the students have participated in have been

122afterchool lessons with um Tritown um at Tritown elementary schools face painting at the holiday on the green and Toppsfield and an annual art show at Zooies um in the spring. Next please. So this slide speaks to the um Scholastic Art Awards. So for decades, Mascanom has always had impressive results in this longunning and the largest uh art competition in the state and the country. Uh we and I've said this before, we consistently punch above our weight class. Um last year the middle school received more awards than any public or private school in the state. So in the middle are the um middle school examples of the gold key work. Um and the high school received the fourth largest number of awards of all public high schools in the state of Massachusetts and there are many

123schools much larger than ours. Um additionally Anukica Rogers won a national silver medal for her cyanotype print called Rap City in Blues. I got a little arrow pointing to it and it's kind of hard to see. Um, more than 310 uh,000 works of art and writing were submitted to the 2025 Scholastic Awards and less than 1% of works received a national medal. U, we'll be getting our uh, news um, the end of this month. So, we'll see how we get. Um, uh, next please. So collaboration, planning and growth. So team attitude. I sort of dug back in my files. This was a a drawing uh a student did a few years ago, but just popped into my head when I was thinking about team attitude. The art department has always viewed ourselves very much as

124a team. We leverage collective intelligence, experience and effort to achieve more than one individual can. Um, consistent PLC time. John mentioned this. I know a lot a lot of people mention the scheduling limitations lead to challenges with creation of PLC's and common planning time which I think particularly challenging in the small departments where we're teaching all a lot of different classes. Um so the art teachers rarely have this built into their day. Um in lie of common time we utilize lunchtime when possible and meet after school hours to collaborate and plan together. Uh professional development. Our aotted department time is tight. The time this year does enable us to make progress on updating our curriculum documents and developing assessments collectively. There is much interest in having more department time for teaching and learning from each

125other andor from outside resources. And we can go to the next one. So the data in the black boxes highlights our core art classes. So the two on the left are u the tri the two trimesters in of art in the middle school and the year-long art studio courses in the high school. We we have six sections of art studio one throughout the day this year. Um and we have I think the numbers are quite good there are our means are like right around 18 19 uh real close to that. the um the art studio one 15 kids were not able to that requested the course were not able to be scheduled for some reason. If they were scheduled the mean would be 18.3. Um we do offer a wide range of classes in the

126art department. Um there are some we rotate every other year like art history and sculpture and there are many classes we have not offered for many years as our population has decreased. So we have a ceramics 2 class, a graphic design two class, fashion tube. Those haven't run for quite some time. Um see we h we do have many singleton classes uh which are particularly difficult to schedule. Therefore we do sort of lose u many students that requested the course initially but are unable to take it due to other conflicts in their schedule. Um, just FYI, the high school population is currently 944 and the number of students taking at least one visual arts class is 294 and that is 31.1% of the student body. Uh, five credits in visual andor performing arts is required

127at Masco for graduation. And next, so the [sighs and gasps] the art department, excuse me, not the art department, the department heads meet every Friday with the director of teaching and learning. Often the principles are there as well. These meetings help to facilitate unified decision-making, communication of systemwide priorities, and collaborative problem solving. It's very important that all stakeholders be able to attend. Most of us can do that. I know unfortunately Jared um Cassidy there was a scheduling conflict and so he's not able to go to that meeting which is unfortunate but I know he he has he meets with other other folks as much as he can. It's just it's great when we can all meet together. Um and I'd like to conclude by reiterating a couple points previously made by some of my colleagues.

128We really do know our department very well. We teach classes alongside our staff. We continually meet with our teachers individually in groups and observing them in their classrooms. We are content specialists. We manage the budget and scheduling for our department. Our role provides us with valuable insight that has served the district successfully for decades. I look forward to helping effectively shape MASCO's future as well. And I'm glad to help in any way that I can. Um, and please do reach out with any questions. And I do thank you for inviting me um and giving me this tour. That's another piece of art I found that I thought was fun for communication. Great. >> Awesome. >> Good. Yes, >> please. >> Casey, thank you because again another small department and when I think of Masco for,

129you know, the last three decades, I think of art because it always has been phenomenal and thank you for continuing that. >> Thank you. program and success. Appreciate it. Thanks. >> Thank you very much. >> Great. Great update. >> Right. >> I bumped that back up in your email. >> You did a great job. >> No. No. >> Yes. volume. Um, give me one sec. >> Are we skipping ahead in the agenda? >> No. >> You want to skip over the policy review schedule? [laughter] thought >> trying to get in the agenda so everybody can open it >> same time get >> probably fine if they just look at it >> a motion You want to see it through the agenda, you may have to look uh refresh the document, but there should be a

130link now. >> Mike. Okay. Um, so me and Melissa went through um just >> our lived experience and how long it took to do the policy manual review and the amount of sections we have to review. Um, as you guys know and as we've said it, the last time it took about five years to go through the entire manual. This time it won't be as long because the last time it was reviewed prior to the last review was a lot of years. So hopefully they're now up to date and there's less to actually um change and it's more so just checking boxes at that point. But you know, state law changes, federal law changes. So there'll always be a need to update these policies. So we feel comfortable with the timeline we laid out. Um,

131and just noted at the bottom that we understand we can't bind any future subcommittee, but this is what we recommend and what we've learned from doing it ourselves that we think this schedule would work out for a future subcommittee. Notice how it does not start till next year because come budget season, there's really no time to meet. But so it falls off towards the end of the school year. I'll entertain a motion to approve just so it's on record somewhere in the district. >> Um [clears throat] would mask be involved this entire time too like it was the last time? No. >> So this is just us ourselves looking at the policy. can be future subcommittees. >> No, I just >> if they want them to be, they can be. >> Yeah, you'd have to

132engage with MASC to do that. There's a cost involved. >> They're always available to answer questions if for members. >> Yes. >> So like if they publish a new policy suggestion and we have a question about it, they'll answer our questions. Sorry. >> Any other questions? We have a motion. >> A motion to accept the policy schedule as presented. >> Second. >> Roll calls. >> Kendra, >> yes. >> Joe, >> yes. >> Bill, >> yes. Lisa, >> yes. >> Chris, >> Yes. Adrien, >> yes. another one of our goals. [laughter] Just checking out his goals. Thank you to the uh policy subcommittee for working future schedule. All right, Mike, over to you. >> Yeah, just really quick because we had break and then four days of school, I think, between the last time we've had

133a a meeting and and today. Um, so just uh my blog post for this time around will be a review of Vision Sports Design's presentation and an inclusion of the deck uh that I'll be sending out to families. Uh and then also just our parent uh coffees for January uh the high school will be on January 16th uh and the middle school will be on January 20 23rd. Those are both Fridays and they're at 8:30 in the morning. Um we ask parents to check in office before they come in. Great. Mike, I did see an email the other day about the what Jack was saying about the elevators being repaired. >> They're fixed. So, >> thank you guys for project elevators. Awesome. So, thank you guys. >> Um, all right, Adrian, over to you. Superintendent

134search update. >> Um, okay. So, what's happened since our last meeting? Um we had seven candidates that we did um initial phone screenings with with our advisory committee members um participating as well over the last few weeks. Um had a lot of really positive conversations. Um so we have time allocated in the last few weeks of January for scheduling kind of more formal first round interviews with the candidates. Um, we'll be meeting next Wednesday with our advisory committee to iron out details of the interview question set, review the interview format, get everybody prepped for that. Um, what am I forgetting? That's pretty much it, right? At a high level, >> everything is kind of tracking. >> Yeah, we're tracking of the timeline. We're we're having really interesting discussions. Our advisory committee has been fantastic. They're

135very intentional, thoughtful about their feedback and opinions. So happy with the process so far. >> Nice. >> Gotcha. >> Did we ever post um the names of everyone on the advisory committee? Like a list? >> I think it's publicly available in one of our minutes or something. >> Okay. I was just thinking so the community knows we they're trying to make this a community process. Let's ask Kendra to do that. >> And she is >> right there. >> I can do that. We can I can do that >> so that everybody sees who who they are. Any other questions, comments? >> Thank you. >> Okay. >> Yeah. Thank you guys. That was a lot of work. Short amount of time. Um where are we? to subcommittee reports, community relations. >> So, we have our first

136uh working meeting coming up on January 12th. It'll be 11:30 via Zoom. We have our community dialogue which is going to be, I think, mostly focused on the superintendent search. I I believe that, right, Adrian? I think correct me if I'm wrong on that. Um, but coming up on January 21st, we'll have a community dialogue here. um well in the library at six o'clock. Um and I think we're going to try moving forward to have them be I think we talked about this last meeting theme-based so that we'll have a focus on what we're talking about um when we have people coming in and then the following month our next working meeting is scheduled for February 9th. So getting back into the swing of things after the holiday break. So hopefully we'll start picking up.

137Lots to communicate, lots to do. >> Great. Yes. >> Yeah. And the theming idea was trying to draw people in to kind of get their thoughts and >> feedback and things, but we haven't heard much from the community from the superintendent. I >> think that was a win. [laughter] >> Thanks, Kendra. >> Uh GCI budget. >> Uh yeah, we had a meeting on Monday. um representative from Masca Sports Foundation was there as well. Um we spent a lot of time talking about just about every capital project that that is going on to start. Uh a lot of discussion on the Santex side vision sports uh MSBA CMTA study on subject of category three. Um Jeff has identified roughly 300K worth of budget items um primarily driven by the replacement of Chromebooks. We've got 900 Chromebooks

138that are all more than 5 years old and they're no longer supported by Google. So, that's going to be something that will likely be a recommendation for the uh for the budget for the year coming up. And then also smaller dollar item 18K for a middle school um main entrance handicap ramp uh repair out. It's a curb cut issued uh outside as you're coming in the middle school entrance. there's a crosswalk that leads to a curb that has no ramp to it whatsoever. So, from a ADA perspective, it needs to be addressed. Um, then we talked about some operating budget stuff and it was mainly nuts and bolts to be honest. um just how um specific categories work, how they're funded, how they're replenished, um what our flexibility is uh for utilizing different sources of

139funding. Um we [snorts] talked about al out placements quite a bit. Um roughly the budget is is keeping them flat. Year to year is the estimate right now. Um, I know I have been hoping that we'd start trending down, but that's not what the numbers are looking like. So, that's it's not unfortunate because it is what it is and we want the kids to get what they deserve. Um, but it it um it's not going to be a source of of found money this year, if you will. I'll put it that way. Um, [laughter] that was about it. I mean, we met for about hour and 15 minutes. Our next meeting is going to be uh dis December is going to be uh January 30th. >> It's actually the 30th. That was a mistake. The

140Friday is the 30th >> at 1 p.m. that date. >> Thanks, DCI. Uh vocal. Um, we're supposed to meet with Ace Club. Our schedule has got complicated. So, we're going to still try to do a listing session with them at the next available opportunity. So, um, probably a little help from me, Mike just to help coordinate that. Thanks. >> Uh, policy. >> Um, we have no meeting scheduled right now. Um, but we do intend to meet. Um our next meeting we're going to go over mass came out with a few policy recommendations that um after we had completed the review. So we will consider those. >> Great. Thank you. >> And nothing from negotiations. Um CPAC is on dates. >> Really? >> I'll be meeting with the town of Topsfield on the 14th, which is

141a Wednesday. >> We might be a >> Okay. >> I got to send out an email to everybody cuz Trey can't make it. It's on my It's on my calendar. I know. It's online, too. >> Middleton is scheduled for a Sunday. >> Yeah. It's coming up soon, isn't it? >> January 25th at 1:30 at the Flint Library meeting room A. >> Hopsfield reps. We have the library listing sessions on Saturdays. I don't know if you saw the email that went out. >> So, I tagged a couple that I could attend and if you guys can tag the ones that you can attend, I can give a heads up so they can publicize it, especially coming up on budget season. Great for the subcommittees uh consent agenda. So, approve minutes uh from December 17th, 2025. Approve

142warrants in the amount of 3,39,332.98. Um accept rocketry grants and approve overnight field trips. >> So move a roll call. Kendra, >> yes. >> Joe, >> yes. >> Maggie, >> yes. >> Chris, >> yes. Yes. >> Yes. >> Trevor. >> Yes. >> Adrian. >> Yes. >> Before we adjourn, I'll just remind everybody next meeting we will at not only our turf folks, but we'll be starting with Jeff and Mike's recommendation from a budget. It'll be our kickoff. I know a lot of you had homework assignments from December respect to budget. you guys could work those, including myself, over the next boy, that's a dirty look I'm getting from Trevor. [laughter] You guys could work those over the next couple weeks, uh, I'd appreciate it, at least by the end of the month. But that way,

143by the time we get to our second budget deliberation meeting or maybe the second budget meeting, I call it, we have uh, you know, some insights that we we need to have the deliberations. So, with that, do I have one last motion? Motion car. Oops. Second. >> Second. >> Kendra. >> Yes. >> Joe. Yeah. Bill. >> Yes. Adrian. >> Yes. >> Folks, thank you very much. Happy. >> Yes. >> Yeah. That's a uh you drink or something. >> Hope you feel better. >> Thank you. Katy.