Methuen School Committee 4-13-2026

001April 13th, 2026 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing on the Methuen public schools website. Member Donovan, I'll ask you to call the roll. Vice Chair DeZoglio. Member Donovan Grassi, present. Member Baez. >> Present. Member Keegan. >> Present. Member McCarthy Serrousi. Present. Member Willett. >> Yeah. And Mayor Beauregard. >> Here. All are present with the exception of the Vice Chair. Uh we need a motion and a second to accept tonight's agenda as presented. >> Motion. Second. >> Motion's from Member Baez, the second is from Member Serrousi. Any discussion? There's no discussion, we'll vote. All those in favor say I. I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Uh at this point I'll invite the superintendent to introduce our student for tonight's flag salute. Thank you. Our flag

002salute student tonight is Sofia Medrano from the Tenney Grammar School and Ms. Amanda Goyette Langis will come up and share some information with us about Sofia. Thanks. Good evening. Sofia Medrano is a fourth grade student in Mrs. LeSage's class at the Tenney Grammar School. So Sofia lives with her mother, her father, her younger brother Max, and her younger sister who are here with us tonight. Both Sofia and her mom stated that as a family they like to visit new places and see and do new things. Sofia said one of the best places she visited with her family was the American Dream Mall in New Jersey. She said it was a unique experience because there is a roller coaster inside the mall. She also likes to play outdoors and play games with her younger siblings. Sofia

003says she enjoys her father's cooking, especially steak. Sofia's favorite subject is math. She likes to learn new concepts like division. She said division was difficult at first, however she kept trying and kept going and now she feels like she has mastered division. Sofia also likes fourth grade science class. She enjoys learning about the human body and found learning about the parts of the eye very interesting. Sofia stated that the Tenney is a kind place. She stated every morning when she gets off the bus at the lower school entrance, someone is there to greet her. She said every day there's a staff member at the door saying good morning to the students entering the building. She really likes that her day at the Tenney starts with an act of kindness. Mrs. Nader, her guidance counselor, states

004Sofia is a wonderful girl. She always gives her best at school with her classwork and assignments. She shows kindness to her classmates, respect to her teachers, and a willingness to help anyone who needs it. Sofia reminds us that being awesome in school means working hard, staying positive, and treating others well. She sets an example for everyone around her and because of that she makes the Tenney a better place. Mrs. LeSage, her homeroom teacher, says Sofia is a kind-hearted person with the biggest heart and drive to learn. Sofia is an exemplary student for others to follow. She is a great friend with a big smile. She always treats others with respect and her love and passion for Taekwondo is seen through her mindfulness and presence while learning. She is always pushing herself to learn from her

005mistakes and wants to show improvement by learning from her mistakes. With resilience and perseverance, Sofia will not give up on herself when learning new challenges and supporting her classmates and friendships with the same devotion. During our conversation, Sofia shared that Taekwondo is a big part of her life. She has been attending Chang's Taekwondo of America since she was 3 years old. Currently, she is a second degree back black belt on the junior leadership team. She attends class 6 days a week and she enjoys practicing and demonstrating kicks and flips. And most importantly, she says Taekwondo makes her feel powerful because she has learned defense, courtesy, integrity, perseverance, self-control, and indomitable spirit. Sofia's mother says, "I'm proud of Sofia because she is a good role model and she is kind. She is always willing to help

006others. In the future, I hope she accomplishes her dreams of becoming a doctor or engineer." Sofia, your kindness combined with your commitment to learning in and out of school makes you unstoppable. We are all so proud of what you have accomplished so far and will accomplish in the future. Please stand for the pledge. You want to put this here? Yeah, you can. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you, Donovan. And if we could remain uh standing uh and pause for a moment of silence, so we'd like to do so uh to remember Dr. Phil Littlefield, long-time superintendent of the Methuen public schools, served for 20 years in that role.

007He helped shape the Methuen public schools in significant ways. Working alongside then Mayor Dennis DeSaglio, he built four state-of-the-art elementary schools and laid the foundation for the high school renovation, creating spaces that offered equity, safety, and opportunity for staff and students. Just as importantly, he nurtured a cohort model that supported teachers who wanted to become educational leaders. With Salem State University, he helped dozens of area teachers receive their CAG certifications. So, at this time we'll pause for a moment of silence in remembrance of Dr. Littlefield. Thank you. And well done on the pledge. Yes. Yeah, take a picture. At this point, I'll invite the superintendent to present the SOAR Award. Thank you. Um Pierre is actually on the volleyball team and they have a game tonight. So, we'll be recognizing our SOAR Award recipient next

008meeting. Sounds good. Uh next we have an update from the student council representative. I don't think we'll be having that tonight unless I'm mistaken. Otherwise, we'll wait until the next meeting. I believe we do have a representative here. >> So, I just start talking? So, this is some of the stuff that's happening around the school. So, from Thursday from last Thursday, April 9th through last Saturday, April 11th, um Stage22, which is Methuen High School's theater program, presented Mean Girls the musical for the annual spring musical. Mean Girls is an extravagant performance including catchy songs, organized choreography, and great themes all brought down to a high school level. The cast included junior Emma Seed you Seed as Katie, senior Matthew Antunes as Damian, junior Adriana Halton as Regina, and more roles played by students at MHS.

009The show was directed by math teacher at MHS and Stage22 director Angelo Paccoli, which marks his musical directing debut at Methuen High School. As well as that, the Eagle Tribune and the Blue and White, the newspaper program here, worked together and published a full print newspaper. Newspapers were given out for free to staff and students and highlighted many important events at MHS and included MHS alumni with their yearbook features. The pictures. And as well as that, on Thursday, April 2nd, junior prom took place at the Castleton in Windham, New Hampshire from 6:00 p.m. to 9:30. Junior prom was planned out by the class of 2027 officers with the theme being The Great Gatsby. Prom was a success and had positive feedback from the attendees. And the final thing to talk about is the Winter Guard

0102026 season wrap-up. The Winter Guard season has come to an end on April 4th after a long competitive season throughout the month of March. The show was based on the Barbie movie and is considered a fan favorite amongst the Winter Guard community. The team received many compliments and shout-outs from many different teams including international groups. And that is it. Thank you for the update. Nicely done. Next, I'll invite up athletic director Tom Ryan to present tonight's recognition to the Red Rangers girls ice hockey team. Uh good evening. Uh nice to be here. We're here this time last year with these girls as well when they went to the final four. Uh this year they were able to kind of go all the way and bring home the championship. Tremendous accomplishment. I'm actually going to call

011up You don't want to hear from me, you want to hear from them. Uh really quickly, Coach Sheehy uh who was named Boston Globe Coach of the Year, uh Lowell Sun Coach of the Year for an undefeated state champion. That doesn't come along that often. Uh undefeated state champion any state champion. Uh we've had very few in the history of our school. Uh some people have had the opportunity to to have them. Uh it's it it is a rarity and these girls did an unbelievable thing. Uh what a ride it was. So, Coach Sheehy is going to give you a little recap of the season. So, the Boston Globe Coach of the Year, Lowell Sun Coach of the Year, Coach Ryan Sheehy. Thank you, everyone. Uh the girls hockey team this year was the undefeated

012Division 1 state champions. They had a regular season record of 18-0-2 and finished the season 23-0-2. The team was an incredible team in every sense of the word. They bonded well off the ice as well as on the ice. As the coach, one of the best moments of the season was when the girls hosted the Movement family skate night at our rink. Many of Many of the Movement members had never skated before and the girls were quick to help them on skates put put on skates and teach the group how to skate. Another great moment was the player-led teacher appreciation game. Each girl took a picture with a teacher that inspired them over the years and then invited them to that game. The amount of teachers that came out and supported the team was incredible.

013In terms of on the ice, this team was known for its elite goaltending, tremendous defense, and unselfish offensive players. This team only let up 12 goals all season. They only They only let up one goal in the third period and only one goal in the second period the entire season, which is 25 games. This has to be one of the all-time most dominant teams in the history of Massachusetts high school girls hockey. This team had many memorable moments on the on ice as well. In the regular season, some of them were the comeback win in the last 30 seconds against Winchester, which was a 2-1 win, and the complete domination 1-0 win over HPNA, and as well as winning the Dave O'Hearn-Breanna McCarthy Memorial Tournament over Arlington Catholic. The postseason was highlighted by the overtime

014win of a 22-1 Algonquin team and an overtime win over St. Mary's in the final four, and of course the 2-0 win over Archbishop Williams at the Boston Garden. Ella Duffy's tears of joy as she skated down and put the puck put the puck into the empty net to seal the championship will be an all-time Red Rangers memory. Goalie Lydia Barnes, forward Sammy Ryan, and defenseman Lila Chapman were recognized by by the Boston papers as All-Scholastics. We had several other members of the team get recognized by the Eagle Eagle Tribune and the Lowell Sun for their All-Star teams. Additionally, we had a few girls play in the All-Star games as well. To the honorable Methuen Public School Committee members, I introduce you to some of the finest young ladies you will ever meet. The girls

015The girls hockey Division 1 state champion Red Rangers. Hi, everyone. For you those of you that don't know me, I'm Ella Duffy. I am a senior captain for this wonderful group of girls. Um playing with these girls was the best experience I've ever had in my entire life. We're all fighting not just to win, but we fought to have the opportunity to play with each other as long as possible. That's just how close we are and how much we love each other. Though this team is insanely superstitious as many of you know from the many times I've forced a lot of you to knock on wood, um this season was never about luck. Every win was well deserved. We fought so hard and persevered through injury, sickness, and a plaguing grief. Adjusting to play without

016Coach Dave was an extremely difficult task. He was an amazing person and coach. Not only did the returning players lose lose Coach Dave, but a few of the younger girls lost their beloved club coach Scott Dunnett. We all had our person to play for and all understood each other's mental battles. All of the loss ultimately brought us closer. These girls all pushed through the hardest moments as one unit of supporting and loving teammates. Not only did we have the highest level of motivation, talent, and effort, but we had absolutely amazing coaching. Thanks to Coach Brenna Grain, we always have film on other teams and and on ourselves to watch. And also a fantastic defensive zone again only letting up 12 goals the entire season. Um she was quick to become close with all of us

017and get to know all of our quirks and personalities. If you're If you were to watch her interact with us this year, you'd think we'd known her our entire lives. That is the best kind of person. And of course, coach Ryan, absolutely amazing. He was the most involved, yet most balanced coach I have ever had. He knows exactly what we need to hear and what tone is needed always. His hockey knowledge is through the roof and I've learned so much from him. We are all extremely to have had the privilege to play by each other's sides. This state championship showed the integrity of our players and specifically female athletes, as well as Dave O'Hearn's impact and the talent of our coaches. I will always miss this program forever. Thank you, Red Raiders, for the best

0184 years and all that have cheered us on and contributed to our success. I just want to take a moment to say it was such a joy to watch you girls play and you really stood out from other teams cuz you didn't take 1 second off. You skated hard the entire game. So, you brought a lot of joy and pride to our community. So, congratulations and thank you so much for sharing that with us. Thank you. We have certificates from the committee here by name. Oh. >> So. I just wanted to mention too that um, Mr. Ryan is very humble and he has two daughters on the state championship team. I'm Brenna Green. I believe Brenna Green is She might be the only person in the history of Methuen High School to win a state

019champion in 2019 and to coach a state champion. And I had her in legal studies class. Congratulations again. Nicely done. And And now we're on to public participation. We have only one group signed up for public participation at this point. We have representatives from the Valley Patriot. I know Martha Tetreault is here from the school. Okay. And we have several residents as well to share a presentation. Members of the school committee. Thank you for your time. I appreciate it. Unfortunately, Kellen St. Marie, the recipient of this scholarship, didn't come tonight with his parents because they didn't see it on the agenda. So, we tried We told them that we were doing this and they looked on the agenda. We tried to get it on the agenda. We were told it couldn't go on the agenda.

020So, we signed up for public participation. So, given that they're not here, what I'd like to do is I just like to talk for a few minutes about Kellen and the scholarship. And then if if the chairman will allow it, we'd like to present the chairman with the big check on behalf of Kellen St. Marie as you are chairman of the school committee and he is one of your students. The Valley Patriot celebrated our 22nd anniversary two Fridays ago on March 27th. This is an event that we do every year. We started it off just to kind of celebrate our anniversary and over the years it's grown to be a scholarship and award night. This The The first year that we did this, we raised $100 and we thought we were changing the world. We

021gave it to a kid from Lawrence High School who used it for an application fee and we thought we had done something good and little did we know that 22 years later we would be we would be presenting $102,960 in scholarships to 10 kids throughout the Merrimack Valley. Haverhill High School, Whittier, the Greater Lawrence Tech, Lawrence High School, Methuen High School, Salem High School. Kellen St. Marie is one of your high school seniors and he qualified was nominated by Martha Roush Tetreault, one of your guidance counselors, who every year helps us along with Ryan DeSaglio to go through some of the kids here at Methuen High School to see which kid needs it and which kid deserves it. Kellen St. Marie has had some challenges of his own with an IEP and has struggled through

022that and through that struggle has become an honor student and is going to go on next year to study to be a special needs teacher to help other kids who are also struggling with such issues. Because of that and because of his very lengthy bio of volunteering here at the school, volunteering in the community, we decided to give him the Phil Glendi special needs scholarship. Phil Glendi was a Lawrence High School teacher, not a Methuen High School teacher, who was a special needs teacher that ran the Special Olympics for the entire Merrimack Valley every year at the Lawrence Memorial Stadium. And so, when he passed, he was somebody that came to our event every year and donated to the kids. And so, when he passed, we decided to start a scholarship in his name for

023a student who is either a special needs student or a student going into special needs to teach special needs kids. This scholarship effort that we do is 100% funded by donors. People in the community, once we pick a kid, we post a bio online. We explain who they are and why we picked them. And then readers of the Valley Patriot can donate to each specific kid. So, the kid at Lawrence High School is a junior ROTC student and that's that scholarship specific to a special to a junior ROTC kid. This one is for a special needs kid or a kid going into special needs. And Phil Glendi um, I think would be very proud of Kellen St. Marie. He is an amazing kid. And so, the amount of money that we raised, this is certainly

024a record for us and for this scholarship. We raised $12,300 in 66 days to help Kellen St. Marie pay for college. Among some of the donors, and I'm not going to read them all because there are 84 of them, is your chairman, Mayor Beauregard, Alejandro Baez, Ken Willett, some of the people here with me, Maria and Christian and Martha and who else is with us? I know Ryan DeSaglio also donated to the scholarship. I also want to thank City Council Chairman Nelly Soto, City Councilor Patricia Vallie, State Representative Estela Reyes and State Representative Francisco Paulino, who all attended a bingo night specifically to raise money for Kellen. And you have another Methuen student on our scholarship from the Greater Lawrence Tech. Her name is Isabelle DuPuis. So, they ran a scholarship night. They raised over

025$2,400 in one night and they split the money among the two Methuen kids. So, I was really hoping that Kellen and his family would be here tonight because we presented the big check in the room the night of the bash and I appreciate the mayor coming and of course Alejandro and everybody who came. But, we wanted to do this at the school committee because you know, there's a lot of politics that goes on in politics, right? In school committees and elections and everything. And it's It's nice at the beginning of the meeting when I'm watching as we just saw with the students that were up here being honored earlier that we put the politics aside at the beginning of the meeting to say nice things and to do nice things for nice people. Kellen St.

026Mary's definitely one of those kids and his parents by the way I've met them twice really incredible people. It was such a pleasure to meet them. So I was hoping that um they would be here tonight because we didn't give them the actual physical check. You know we we said it the big check we didn't give them a physical check. So I'm going to turn this over to Kristen Maxwell who helped us with this this year and I'm going to have her present it. But if the if the if the mayor would be so inclined we would love to have you come up and do a picture with us with the big check with Alejandro and any member that would like to. So in in celebration of Kellen and of course I should mention that

027there are 85 I think other students as well who received scholarships this year which is just great. You know I think in celebration of Kellen and his family his father is a Methuen firefighter. You know I I would certainly welcome that opportunity for us to celebrate Kellen and of course you know any other students of at the over the course of the next couple of weeks who want to be recognized for similar recognition. So we would certainly be happy to accept this check on behalf of Kellen. Great. Thank you. Jared come over for the photo. Okay great. And by the way Ken look at me when I'm talking. She's a joke. >> anybody who would like to come up. Um can you go over there for them? Oh is it is it up here? Here.

028Oh okay. Here you want me to go? Kellen Kellen's mom. Martha just reminded me that Kellen's mother is also a teacher. Wasn't aware of that. So congratulations to the St. Mary family. Is there anybody else in the audience who would like to speak? I just wanted to say thank you a lot of planning and commitment went into the donations and the scholarships and to be able to present tonight although Kellen's not here he was going to come is is nice because it just it represents that like you know all for one and one for all you know politics aside we're all here for the kids and doing it for the kids and that's really all that matters. So I appreciate your time. I appreciate you letting us come and speak and thank you. Thank you.

029Is there anyone else in the audience who wishes to speak? Ta-da. Um I just wanted to give a shout-out to Tom Duggan and say thank you. I was honored and humbled that he asked me to be a part of this process and to get to meet all the families and the scholarship youth and to see such a big community of passionate driven individuals that were really invested in making this the success that it was. So I do want to say thank you Tom Duggan for everything that you did and the bash committee and just introducing me to a great group of amazing people. We do appreciate you for that. Thank you thank you thank you. Is there anyone else in the audience who wishes to speak? I I do have some written public participation that

030I like to read from Ellen Baranowsky. She's the chair of the Methuen Cultural Council. She writes greetings members of the Methuen School Committee. On Saturday March 28th 2026 the Methuen Cultural Council hosted its 2026 grant reception and award ceremony. This year the council proudly awarded 26 grants totaling nearly $39,000 to fund projects and performances that will benefit Methuen's children adults and seniors enriching the cultural life of our entire community. Specifically all four K through eight schools in Methuen and Methuen High School received grant awards totaling $11,750. We were honored to be supported in this endeavor by school committee members Alejandro Tobias and Martha McCarthy Serrois. We sincerely thank them for their attendance and for joining us in celebrating this exciting news for our city. It's signed the Methuen Cultural Council Ellen Baranowsky chairperson. So that'll

031do it for public participation. If you were not able to attend the public participation portion of one of our meetings you can email Susan Shanti at [email protected] before 3:00 p.m. on the day of a school committee meeting. Next we are on to the approval of minutes. We have the approval of the workshop minutes of February 25th 2026. I'll invite a motion and a second to approve. So moved. Second. Motions from member Serrois and the second is from member Donovan. Any discussion? There's no discussion we'll vote. All those in favor? I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Next on the agenda we have the approval of the special meeting minutes of February 25th 2026. So moved. Second. We have a motion from member Serrois the second is from member Donovan. Any discussion? There's no discussion we'll vote.

032All those in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Next we have approval of the business meeting minutes of March 9th 2026. So moved. Second. Motions from member Serrois seconds from member Bias. Any discussion? Seeing none we'll vote. All those in favor say I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Lastly we have approval of special meeting minutes of March 9th 2026. So moved. Second. Motion to approve is from member Serrois the second is from member Bias. Any discussion? If not we'll vote. All those in favor? The eyes have it. Next on the agenda we have staff reports. I'll invite Dr. Golobski to present her update for us. Thank you. I wanted to take a moment to talk about the accelerating achievement initiative from DESE. We have three schools who will be participating in this

033accelerating achievement program next year. And this essentially means that the department has committed to funneling resources towards these schools providing a liaison from DESE to work closely with myself and the principals at the identified schools and there's some great suggestion that grant funding will be prioritized for those schools. And so those schools will be the Tenney Grammar School the Timony Grammar School and Methuen High School. This is a brand new program for the department so it's new to everybody. I had my kickoff meeting with our partner from DESE last week and it did feel very much like a partnership where throughout the remainder of this school year we'll be completing a self-assessment to determine the major areas in which we would need support from DESE in these schools and areas where we think we're doing

034pretty well. And we'll have several visits. And so we look forward to that. So I wanted to to let you know it's called accelerating achievement. You may have seen it in the governor's budget. It's one of the line items from DESE where they're really hoping over the next three to five years as we're part of this cohort DESE will gather enough data to determine what it is that schools really need to achieve. There's been talk about teacher pipelines that are directed towards schools in this initiative or some cohorts of professional development from which we'd be working with neighboring towns who have the same goals. So I'm excited about it. It's a little bit of an extra task at the moment for the principals and leadership teams but we're all excited for the opportunity. And then

035the second item I wanted to talk about tonight was the career advancement opportunities for program assistants. You may have remembered that we spoke about some higher ed partnerships at previous meetings whether that be through UMass Lowell or Merrimack Northern Essex. We are seeking opportunities for staff members particularly in the areas of special education or English learner education. Opportunities for staff members to become certified licensed teachers. Um, so it's no secret we've had some difficulty filling the um posted jobs specifically in the area of special education and we have some very willing competent experienced staff people who are working toward licensure. So we had worked with Bay Path University a bit last year. Um, this idea was getting off the ground. It's a an apprenticeship program where a staff member would be able to earn on

036the job credits toward a bachelor degree and then ultimately teacher licensure. Uh, and we we liked the idea. At the time there was a cost to the participants until grant funding was secured. There was a cost to the district in terms of providing mentorship to those teachers. So there were some pieces that we weren't completely um confident in. Well, in the year's time Bay Path University has secured the grant funding. And so anyone who is eligible and interested in this program could perhaps have the opportunity to enroll um in earn a bachelor's degree in fewer than two years. So the only cost to the district at this point would be um for the mentor teacher who that person would be paired with while they're working through their degree. Uh, and their classwork would be done

037online understanding that most of what they're learning and most of their projects and coursework comes from their in the classroom job and experience. Um, and so today there was an informational session for individuals um who were considering joining. I believe we've heard at the point when I wrote this last Friday we had heard from 41 staff members who were interested. Um, I think even more to date. And through this survey of interest we have discovered that there are staff members who do have bachelor's degrees in program assistant roles who are wanting to accelerate that path um and become licensed teachers. So I think it's something that we're all excited about um and are interested in getting off the ground for next year. Thank you for the update, Dr. Lepsky. Any uh questions from the committee?

038Uh, member Sir Royce and member Willett. I just wanted to ask will that um will is it Bay Path? Bay Path University, will they also help them with um passing the tests the exams to to get licensed in Massachusetts? The licensure is is part of this program. So they will support. And I've been saying program assistants but we have had um some building based educators who have expressed interest as well. Um, so it's people that we know have been part of our district and are committed to staying um and learning more about those subject areas. That's fantastic. Thank you. Member Willett. Uh, thank you, Mr. Chairman. It's not related to the um report but I appreciate the acting superintendent sending a email to um regarding the Senate proposal for supplemental budget which passed just recently.

039There is a differential between the Senate and the House. So I would be advocating for another letter or email to the legislative delegation on the House side to be advancing the Senate proposal as opposed to the House. There is a differential of about $500 million. The Senate proposal is more favorable to circuit breaker funding. That's the biggest uh crux right now uh skyrocketing uh circuit breaker costs along with transportation and health care. But that's something we can alleviate the situation by advocating for the Senate proposal. So I just I appreciate the outreach and if we could do that as well but also maybe just a sense of the committee of an email that's uh respective of the committee that we are supportive of the Senate supplemental budget. Thank you. Any other comments, questions? If not,

040we'll move on. Next on the agenda we have uh any maintenance and custodial updates from Mr. Goslin. I'll turn it over to him. If if there's any questions up on to that, I sat down and went through with um Willie Hernandez. Um, this is not everything. I mean this is just a um I don't want to kill you with paper but um I want to at least give you the highlights. Um, and we're looking forward to um cleanups around the buildings. I've given the okay for uh custodial staff to do overtime to come in over the weekends and do cleanups. Um so that's that's where we're at. We're still in a really really really good place. We didn't really see an uptick with mice when it got cold out. So that was uh very favorable.

041So whatever um things we did at the in the spring worked. So um we're in a good place there. Member Bias and then member Donovan. Um Thank you, Mr. Goslin. I just had a question about the field at the Tenney. There was uh some concerns over the snow that was put like in the middle Yeah. of the field and I visited and it was when I visited it was mostly already melted Yeah. but then it became kind of like mud, right? Um did you did you guys receive those same complaints and were they addressed? What was the last part? I couldn't hear you. Were the did you guys receive those complaints as well and were they addressed? >> those complaints. Um we may had to make a decision in the middle of the blizzard. Um

042we had a lot of snow at the high school Tenney's specifically uh that we had no way to put it. So I believe back in 2014 we did the similar thing and we had it trucked over to the Tenney. It's not ideal um but we got to put it somewhere and that's really the only location in this area that is accessible without driving you know, to the other side of the city and paying the extra mileage with the 545 ton rock truck. Um, it is all melted as far as I'm concerned. We did work with the DPW and asked them to come out. I forget if it was Thursday or Friday. They were working on the field cleaning up any, you know, rocks, stones, stuff that might have got dumped there as well. So it's

043my understanding that the DPW was working on it at the end of last week and I got a text just before I got here that there were kids out there playing on it. Um, I don't I don't there's going to be mud. It's going to dry. Um, hopefully we get some sunshine and it dries. Is it ideal? No, but uh we did get the complaints. We took them seriously and we're addressing them accordingly I believe. Thank you very much. >> And if any additional follow up is needed, let me know and I can check in with DPW. Member Donovan. So so Mr. Goslin, um the elevator here Mhm. uh what was it? And when the contract is complete, the elevator floor will be repaired. Um Contract's complete. Oh, it is? >> We're just waiting for

044the purchase order to come through and it it's being scheduled. That's wonderful. Thank you. Um just curious, are the goats returning cuz I've uh there's a few areas that I sure the goats would enjoy spending some time. Is that a question for you or the mayor? Not sure. I'm not sure you're referring to so probably the mayor. The goats. I I will >> The goats. Goats. Goats. I heard goats. Oh. I I'm like I don't know anything about the goats. We have plenty of those in the city. >> Central building maybe but yeah. I will absolutely be bringing the goats back. >> Okay. In force. I will say when that idea came up at at our meeting um I really thought it was one of the silliest things I'd ever heard in my life. Um,

045I did not take it seriously whatsoever uh but seeing the aftermath Mhm. it was impressive how how well they cleaned up and they got in places no human could ever get. Um, so I am now pro goat when it comes to uh cleaning up poison ivy. There's a sentence I never thought I'd hear uttered at a meeting but so still on the goats I would just be curious down the road. I know there's a concern and we discussed it last year uh the Tenney lower side. Not where kids are but where there's poison ivy. You'd be where would you be going back? I'm just fascinated by this. Have you identified areas or is it still a little early? We'll need to identify the specific areas but I can assure you that the goats will be

046back. Sorry, I couldn't resist. Thank you. Member Willett. Thank you. I had sent an email from a constituent regarding the winter guard and they had a uh event at the Tenney grammar school and I guess there was a section of the bleachers that are broken and out of service and we had an overflow crowd at that school. Um, is there a timetable to fix the bleachers? Is that something that occurred? And then also the field house for this group um it was multi-faceted in terms of the email. I sent it to the superintendent. I sent it again as a follow up. So maybe at by the next meeting we could have like some clarity as to what's going on. Because if we're having events, I don't want to have an overflow. I don't want to

047have a compromised situation. It's a liability. If the bleachers are broken, we should not be having the events and also trying to work with the field house for this group um and there was a side issue regarding the CGS and the cafeteria too that I have a concern about. I can speak a little bit about it's the Timony Timony bleachers I believe. Yeah, the Timony When they're closed and people climb on top stresses out all the supports and then it breaks and then it makes it tough for them to come out. So over the years of kids climbing up there while they're closed they're in disrepair. We did call out Hussey which is the largest repair and supplier of bleachers um to repair them. And they did do a temporary fix but told us that

048they need to be overhauled. Uh they gave us a quote for $15,000. Um because it's over 10, I need to get two additional quotes. So we're trying to track down two other companies that actually do it. Um so that we can we can fix them. My goal is to have those fixed as soon as possible. Okay and also just maybe to alleviate the concerns of that group. Because it was a pretty extensive email. If the field house is available, can we reach out to the group like this and make sure because I'm just concerned about going into the future if we have an overflow crowd if something occurs that would be a liability for the school district. So we have to really you know scrutinize if something's available. Um I want to I again I

049don't want to get involved in the day-to-day operations. That's not my forte but again it's something I thought was a concerning that email. Yes, thank you for bringing it up. Um I sent some information in the the newsletter last week where it outlined um the dates and times the group had access to the field house. I believe it was a matter of miscommunication in the sense because the original date for the showcase had been planned. Then there was a rescheduling and I think at the time of the rescheduling um it it was misunderstood that it was just a practice site that was needed not that it would be hosting other groups. And so that's where um they got stationed at the Timony. Um because the field house had been reserved for athletic groups in in

050the case that it was raining in April, they weren't able to use the mud fields. So certainly I followed up with the athletic director um the principals, Mr. Goslin. We talked all about um how that can not go wrong next time. And again on a positive note, um very pleased with zero reports on rodents across our whole school system. So I think over the last couple of years, I think this is the first time we're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel because there's been zero reports across all the schools. I think that's what was reflected in the report. So we're making huge progress. Thank you. Other questions, comments? If not, we'll move on to student enrollment reports. Any questions or comments from the committee regarding student enrollment report? Going once, going

051twice. All right, we'll move on to the student services report. Any questions for Dr. Bozak? Member Donovan? Um Ms. Bozak, under the McKinney-Vento section, this is where I always forget. The plus 45 is that for the entire school year? That's for the time from the last meeting to this meeting. >> say the other. Okay, from the last meeting so we're talking about a month we've seen. But again it um look at it, it's not that we've had an an substantial increase. It's the timing of when we're receiving the invoices from the different Okay. companies. You guys making Yeah. I get it. Are the invoices coming in on a timely basis now? >> They are now. At the beginning of the year they weren't which is why if you go back and look we were like

052at zero for a little bit and then we had a significant cuz they they all came in but at least for my part they've been coming in pretty consistently and we're not hunting people. That's terrific. I'm sure that'll make things easier as we close the school year out. Mhm. Okay, thank you. >> You're welcome. Other questions for Ms. Bozak? Member Willett? Thank you. I witnessed Counselor DeZoglio in the audience. I know he was big on the residency enforcement issues along with myself and I'm noticing that we're uh we're drawing students every month. Are we taking advantage of the real estate transactions and matching them up? And are any of those numbers matched up with the real estate transactions as a catchnet? I would have to go back and check with the enrollment specialist of which

053ones are but they are they are doing that as part of the check. >> Okay. I appreciate that maybe as a just a minor report at the next meeting. >> Okay, thank you. >> You're welcome. Uh we'll hear from member Keegan and member Sorice. Um along with the um grade level residency checks, are we checking students who are out of district along with those um cuz I noticed that you're stating certain um schools but it we never seem to see those. Yeah, so the the um not this current one that we were in with Sorry, I'm just looking at my menu. memo. The Tenney and Marsh we we did. When we did the Timony and CGS, we included out of district students at that time so we did we did include them at that point.

054Great, thank you. >> You're welcome. Member Sorice? I just wanted to thank you and your staff, the FC, the enrollment specialist, the receptionist Nicole. They've done a great job. Doing those residency checks is a big job and it takes a lot of patience and they've done a great job so thank you. Please thank them. >> Yes and just to kind of add to that cuz I know you did ask at the last meeting so I came with the next numbers. Um for the Tenney and the Marsh, we went through a total of 510 um res grade level residency checks. Um we only have eight outstanding so eight that were just in process of trying to finish up um and out of the 510 total, we've had two withdrawn um for residency but the rest have

055all proven either had to bring in paperwork or through residency transactions or other means we've been able to confirm. Thank you for that. >> You're welcome. Member Bias? Uh thank you Ms. Bozak. I just was wondering if we track uh evaluation requests for IEPs whether they come from parents or uh educators. And if we do track where the requests come from, can we get a report of how many requests are being made by uh educators versus parents? Yes. Okay. So the answer to your first part is yes, we do track and um I can bring that that information to the next meeting. Thank you very much. >> Any other questions? If not, we'll move on to the HR report. Any questions from the committee? Member Bias? Uh yeah, I just had a question about uh

056our CORI checks if we have completed um our all the CORI checks. I know we were doing them for all of the staff this year, right? Uh are the specific CORI checks you're referring to? Are usually as we hire people, we do CORI checks. Um so like I just hired a couple custodians. Before they started, they had to do the CORI checks. Is there a certain group you're looking for? No, I well I was under the understanding that we have to do them every 3 years and we are supposed I was under the understanding that this year we're supposed to do them again. Or get them all in one kind of cluster. >> Is Colleen here? Well, Ms. McCarthy is here. So she can give us the most up-to-date information. If I remember correctly, I

057just did mine. So I believe she sends it out through um Frontline. Um it's it's it's timed so that whatever period that we have to do I thought it was two years but I'll take you at three. CORIs for people who are already employees. Yep. So we just switched our HR system to Frontline last year. Um Matt is tweaking the form. I got gotten a legal opinion from my because before we used to always do the paper copy and um the license in person even for our own uh employees when we were re-upping them. And um we can we are allowed to do it electronically now. So um once tech has it mapped properly, um it will go out to all employees who are up for their 3 years. It will also retain a 3

058year expiration period in this system so that it will know to send it to them in 3 years. Thank you very much. You're welcome. I did just complete mine, correct? Member Willett? I'm going to I'm going to give my speech I normally give every year is that we should be aligned with the FBI database. We should not be focused exclusively on CORI. CORI is only matters of state adjudication and we should be doing the FBI database. We do it for the school bus drivers and we should be doing it for all parties who work in the city of Methuen. That's something if the city council wants to take up but every year I bring up that speech because it's a false uh security narrative. You're only looking at state matters of adjudication as opposed to

059nationwide. Um major corporations do the FBI database. We should be doing it as well. Thank you. Thank you, Member Willett. Any other? We Okay, we are. Yeah, sorry. We do do the national fingerprint through the SAFIS system at time of hire. When the state put in regulations, or we can take a determination of suitability if it's been done within 7 years from another Massachusetts school district. The state had originally put in something called re-tracking and it was supposed to look at everybody's fingerprints and then send reports back to the district that has not been done yet through the state. So the only thing I had and what I've mentioned this in the past and I think our school attorney has emphasized that there's nothing that prohibits us in state law to adopt FBI database. There's

060nothing in the state law. We could do it comprehensive and do it every 3 years because if you're doing it for CORI every 3 years, that's only state adjudication. So we should be doing FBI database everyone in the city of Methuen who works or volunteers. So. Thank you. Thank you member Willett. Member Sorice? Um Ms. McCarthy, sorry. Through your chair to Ms. McCarthy, who pays for the fingerprints when they're hired? Um so for the fingerprints, the person pays for them. So if we redid them every so many years, they would have to continue to pay for it to have their fingerprints >> No, actually the rule is that if somebody has valid fingerprints and you want to have them re-fingerprinted, so say say you didn't want to accept a determination of suitability from another district,

061the district has to pay for them. And for for professional staff members, it's $55 a person and I believe it's $35 a person for a non-teaching non-licensed person. Non-licensed person. >> So after hire if we required them to do it again, all our employees, we would pay for that. I would have to look at the regulation, but I believe that would be yes. Okay, thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions, comments? All right, we'll move on. Uh next on the agenda we have old business and other pending matters. We'll begin with an update from member Donovan relative to the finance subcommittee. Yes, thank you Mayor. The finance subcommittee met and then met again with this city council subcommittee last week in unprecedented in Methuen's history where members of two bodies sat down to talk about

062the budget. Um my sincere gratitude to councilors Peshy, Yennel De Santos, and John Drew. Um also in attendance were myself, Ms. Keegan, um mm Mr. Goslin, the Superintendent Golapski, and Ms. Bozack. Um we just basically kicked around some ideas, talked about how we could work together. And to me, um we will be talking more once the school committee gets some more finite numbers. There were some great questions about special education, about how we could work together in the future to maybe with some more strategic planning with the understanding that sometimes to make a little money, you have to spend a little money. So um I look forward we haven't scheduled our next meeting, but we will. And um hopefully we'll have some more progress and best of all, a sense of we're all rowing in

063the same boat going in the right direction. So. And I don't know if Ms. Keegan would like to add anything or Okay. Thank you for the update. Uh next we have an update from the policy subcommittee. Uh thank you Mr. Mayor through you. The policy subcommittee continues to meet weekly, Wednesday at 12. We continue to make great progress on one of our more lengthier sections, section I, which is instruction. Um after section I, we will continue with section J, which are students. Um On the tonight's agenda, we have a our wellness policy that came back to us and very proud that we were able to work through that and finally get it passed on or hopefully get it passed on second read, so we'll see that coming up shortly. But I'm very proud of the

064work that we continue to do. I don't know if member McCarthy Sorice or member Keegan would like to add anything, but we continue to make great progress. Thank you. Next on the agenda we have approval of the ADF school district wellness program. Yeah, I make a motion to accept the changes to policy ADF to implement immediately. Second. Motion is from member Bayez, the second is from member Donovan. Discussion? Yes, um so before we discuss the the policy itself and procedure, we just might like to make a quick amendment to first to paragraph number two, wellness committee. In red it says um as wellness pro- program coordinator's food services director. Uh the subcommittee had previously discussed that since Mr. Fratti is in that position right now and it's in the job description, we'd put food service

065director, but for future reference, we had discussed that we just like to maintain superintendent's designee. So I make a motion to amend food service director to superintendent designee. Second. So we have a motion from member Bayez and a second from member Sorice to adopt the proposed amendment. Any discussion regarding the amendment itself? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Let's now return to the main motion and have a motion to approve as amended. Okay, sorry. Sorry for to keep monopolizing the conversation here. >> We just We just seen a motion to accept as amended now and then a second we can have further discussion. >> Motion. So second. Second, okay. So now we've returned to the main motion. Member Bayez? Yeah, sorry to keep monopolizing the conversation. Um So

066this policy went to the committee on first read and came back because there were two different proposals for the policy, but we later came back to the table to this in the subcommittee and had discussed with our MASC representative the proper way to move forward and a proper way to move forward is with this language with then a wellness committee coming in with recommendations and goals based on this policy. So as you can see, there's different bullet points and areas on the on the policy where it says the committee shall shall approve goals and recommendations based on these lists. So the goal of the wellness committee is to take this policy, derive goals and recommendations and implementation of it. You may notice that at at the bottom in the last page, there are goals that

067are in red, the last two goals. One of them is about recess and the other one is about food. Um I am proud to say that the subcommittee discussed and debated these bullet points extensively. So we hope that the wellness committee considers these goals um when when coming to the full committee. The this this policy has to be passed in this language according to our MASC representative because then the wellness committee will come back to us and we as a full committee have to approve the goals and recommendations and plan that they have. So I'll leave it at that if anybody else wants to chime in or if I was a little too confusing. Any other discussion? This is regarding the main motion to accept as amended? If there's no other discussion, we'll vote and

068this will be approved with the amendment. All those in favor? Opposed? The eyes have it. Uh next we have for second read the revision of policy JICFB. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? So moved. Second. Motion is from member Sorice, the second is from member Keegan. Discussion? Member Bayez? Uh so I went back to I wasn't on the committee when this came to first read. So I went back to the January 12th meeting where this was discussed and I understand that this has to be done. I will say that looking at our policy, I have a feeling that when it comes back to the subcommittee later on, it is going to be marked as procedural because it does seem like we have a policy and an implementation plan all in one

069document and that means that we're changing our bullying policy every 2 years. What we should be having is a bullying policy and then the superintendent should be creating an implementation plan that is uh changed and approved every 2 years, right? So I just would like the to make that distinction, note that this policy will be coming back later on anyways. Though I understand that we need to be in compliance with our with our language. So thank you. Any other discussion? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? I. Opposed? The eyes have it. Next on the agenda we have This is relative to the bullying prevention and intervention plan. Uh this is item 5E. Uh regarding JICFB, that policy. Uh It's it's listed on the agenda twice. Is is there a clerical issue with that

070perhaps Madam Superintendent? I the first I think was just a memo and the second showing the policy itself. So, clerical. >> Okay. So, uh that will have been uh considered adopted uh just now. So, we'll move on. Uh we have new business now on the agenda. We have approval of the last day of school for the current school year. Uh that's Monday, June 22nd, 2026. Do we have a motion and a second to approve? So moved. Second. Motion's from member Donovan. The second is from member Keegan. Discussion. Questions? Comments? Member Donovan. Just for the record, could you please clarify, Dr. Golapski, the role of the Mar- the Marsh School? The Marsh School had lost uh a school day in February, and they were the only building in the district to not have school that day,

071and that was um due to the cold temperatures. Some pipes had frozen and burst, and so it was an emergency situation where we needed the day to clean the school and make sure it was safe for students. Um and the commissioner does offer a waiver um application, or will accept letters from districts. Um so, I did write a letter to the commissioner requesting a waiver for the Marsh, which he granted um recognizing that opening one building for an additional day would come at a cost to the district, and we were already meeting the required hours for instruction. So, this um that waiver was granted so that all students can conclude on the same day. Thank you. Any other discussion? If not, we'll vote. All those in favor? I. I. Opposed? The ayes have it. Uh

072next on the agenda, we have approval of the 2026 through 2027 school calendar. Need a motion to approve? So moved. Second. Motion's from member Bias. The second is from discussion. Member Keegan. So, I am very consistent. This will be my fifth year voting no on the school calendar because I strongly object to the fact that we only give one religious holiday, and not either In my opinion, we should be giving everybody's major holidays, or we should be giving none, but we should not be just choosing some Christians' holiday. And so, therefore, I will be a no vote on the school calendar for the fifth year in a row. Any other discussion? Member Bias. Thank you. Through you, Mr. Mayor. Um is there a methodology that goes into place when I cuz I don't want to

073assume things on teachers having one day to check their students', you know, IEP letters and kind of uh prepare for that, or do they get that in advance before like I know they have they get their classes a week before, but I'm just a little concerned that one day to prepare for IEP letters and as of such a maybe too short, or again, I don't know if that's just common practice, but It's common practice um because it is um in our MOA um the structure to the start of school. We do allow access um to classrooms early for teachers, class lists um as soon as we can, and also student documents. Um and we are cognizant of the fact that it's coming in on one day before students arrive, there's a lot to take in.

074So, although that is officially a professional development day, we it's hard to deliver heavy professional development on that day when there's so many things to go through and get organized. Thank you. And I would just like to note that I will also be voting no on on respect to the school calendar based on the fact that we are not uh recognizing all religions. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? Mr. Chairman. Member Willett. Um through the chair to the acting superintendent, in terms of other religion in consideration of other religions, do we have a policy for excused absences that's already uh codified within uh the annual? For staff and students? Okay. So, if someone wants to take the day off for religious Uh observances, they could have as excused absence. Yes. Okay. Um and I

075think, you know, we'd be hesitant to not um it's a hold school on that date. I don't know if you saw um just recently Medford Public Schools did hold school and had so many staff members call out on religious day that they weren't able to open um cuz that is the predominant religion of their staff members. Um it's also a day that is um listed in many of our collective bargaining agreements, not the teachers' union because they don't have holidays, but in in um custodians, secretaries, administrators. So, we are respectful of other religions to take an excused absence cuz I know in Andover, they adopted the policy based on a a student's a concern, and I'm not sure if we need to adopt a similar policy, or if we already have it within the books.

076Then if we already have it in the books, then we're okay. Thank you. If I may, um I'm a Muslim, and I'm a senior now. So, past 4 years, me and my friends during Eid, which is the celebration concluding Ramadan, um we've all contacted our respective principal, and we've all had that day excused, um which has been, you know, very privileged, but um I've worked with an organization known as the Council of American Islamic Relations, and we did a project um uh like gathering research about which schools allow excused absences and what their policy is. So, I wonder if more consideration can go into it with regard to the growing population of Muslim students in Methuen, and some changes can be made. But, that's all I got. Thank you. Member Bias. Thank you so much

077for that input. Um I just wanted to ask cuz I I know that our homework policy is coming up in our subcommittee. Um despite having excused absences, are educators being respectful of homework when there are major religious observances going on? Is that a policy that or at least common practice that that we have? Um I would hope that is the case. Um we do offer um a lot of education for staff or notification when it is a major holiday, um particularly when there's fasting going on, they may need to be um supportive of students. Um I don't know if you'd be better able to speak to that. So, I'm privileged to say that the Methuen staff are very caring and very thoughtful of all Muslims here at Methuen High and the growing population of it.

078Um and we've had presentations uh to the teachers about, you know, our Muslim Student Association, uh like what Islam is. We just had the teacher appreciation lunch from Methuen um some parents today. So, a lot of teachers enjoyed a nice lunch from the Methuen um Muslim parents. And, you know, we uh engage in a lot of like information education where it comes to where we're explaining like what we do as Muslims, and um and it's in those conversations that teachers, you know, gain a sense of understanding of the what it means to be a Muslim um in America and what it means to be a Muslim in the Methuen district. We even have a guide. It's a it's a guide it's a the title of it is a a guide for teachers on Muslim students.

079Um and in that book, there is like a comprehensive understanding of like what Muslims are, but there has to be a clear understanding that we're not asking for exceptions, but rather just simple understanding. So, no not necessarily asking like, "Oh, we need more time on homework, or we need, you know, like more time on a test." We're just asking for your understanding um that if a a if a student is like sleeping or groggy, like he's fasting, you know. So, um that's a privilege that we have here at Methuen High. Yeah. Other questions or discussion? Member Donovan. I appreciate the concern. Um and also, I think we have to keep in mind the challenges of like for instance, if we did take Good Friday off the agenda, we've talked about this since I've been in

080the district, and the impact that would have um on trying to provide students who do come to school with a safe learning environment cuz we know so many people would be out because of their religious beliefs. I'm wondering if moving forward from now, we could put together some sort of committee or or have some really purposeful discussions that include our students, that include some members of the I don't know. I just think it's probably time. I don't know if we can do that right now with this calendar because parents want to know. Our teachers, our staff want to know. But, I wonder if it's time to really start looking at this a little bit differently, but we also always keeping in mind that uh we're going to have a lot of people who will take

081certain days off for their religious observations. Um so, I think I'm going to be voting yes on this because unless Dr. Golapski is it possible we have time to look at this again? I don't think so. For next year. I hate to put you on the spot like this, too, but I think it's time to have a discussion. I'm always happy to have healthy discussion, especially involving staff, students, >> and involving all our members of our community. Exactly. Um however, I do think at this for this particular year time is of the essence. Um I did consult with union leadership um and members of our leadership team about there are some changes in this year's proposed calendar from from this existing year and that's um I just wanted to highlight the parent conferences that are

082typically held in late December. We moved to October um 22nd and 23rd. We felt as though it's a little late in December to be starting a partnership with a parent face-to-face talking about um a student's progress and then just 1 week later everyone's on the winter break and so we lose some momentum. So we would like the opportunity to um have parents in earlier. Um and we moved the early release day which had been on that October date to um December 11th um to to preserve that date. One uh one aspect of this school year's calendar that I think we unanimously enjoyed was um the September full-day professional development day for staff. And that worked out well this year because it was an election day um where we like to keep um students out of

083the buildings on those days and that worked well. However, in the 2026-2027 school year that election day we confirmed with the clerk um is September 1st which is the first day for staff and faculty. There'd be no students in the building anyway. So it seemed kind of arbitrary to just select a day in September just to have it. Um so we intend to use the November 3rd day as a full day PD rather than an off day that we did this year. Because as you you might notice if you flip to the back page um the 180th day of school that would be with no snow days would leave us at June 17th and just one snow day would put us at June 21st already. Any other questions or comments? If not, we'll take a

084roll call vote on approval of the calendar. No. Yes. All right, the calendar has been adopted. Next on the agenda, we have approval of the award for the bid regarding the superintendent search. Uh the successful Oh, I'm so sorry. Excuse me. Uh so next on the agenda, thank you for pointing that out. We have the 2026 through 2027 uh school committee meeting calendar. Do we have a motion and a second to approve that? So moved. Second. >> Motion's from member Bias. The second's from member Sirrois. Discussion about the meeting calendar for the next school year. If there's no discussion, we will vote. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Uh next on the agenda, we have approval of the bid uh for the superintendent search. Uh the company uh that was the

085successful bidder is uh Zeal. Uh we need a motion and a second to approve. So moved. Do we have a second? Second. Motion's from member Keegan. Second's from member Bias. Discussion? If there's no discussion, we will vote. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Uh next on the agenda, we have finance and operations. First on the agenda is the expenditure report. Uh we'll pause at each one of these. Any questions, comments regarding the expenditure report? Now, we'll move on to the revolving funds report. Questions, comments? Member Sirrois? I apologize, Mayor. I just had a question. It goes under the general budget report. How How did we make out with the gas and electric bills and how we doing with that? We're struggling right now with those. Um I will I was

086going to come to you with another transfer, but I don't want to do that too often. Um it's not an emergency that I moved the funds, but um I'm probably going to come to you at the May meeting looking for omnibus in order to um stop moving funds to start closing out the year. I just don't want to do that too early. Okay, thank you. >> So. Other questions? Move on to the grants report. Any questions about the grants report? I've been mentioning at the past couple of meetings just to uh share with the committee and the public that we had undergone a bidding process for grant writing services uh through the city, but of course that would be used to support the schools as well and we are uh going through the process of

087evaluating the responses and my hope is to have uh the contract on if not the next agenda, the agenda after that. We're trying to get this uh buttoned up before uh we uh settle on the budget uh just so we have everything in place for the next year. Uh separately uh we have uh the bid specs for a uh federal uh funding consultant uh which uh the city of Haverhill has used. Uh this is separate from what we would be utilizing in terms of a grant writing vendor. Uh this is more along the lines of a government relations {slash} lobbying firm to help us chase after uh federal earmarks and the like. Uh it's been quite successful in Haverhill and so uh we would have that uh for the benefit of uh the schools as

088well. Uh so that's a separate process, but at the very least we'll uh be moving forward with having a streamlined grant writing operation uh through this vendor agreement that we'll put before the council very soon. Any questions, discussion? Yeah. All right, move on to the student activity reports. Any questions or comments? Member Keegan? Um I just want to make a comment that the CGS is getting dangerously close to that 25,000. Um so they either need to move some money or they need to spend it. I said um the CGS is getting dangerously close to their 25,000. So they either need to move money or they need to um spend it. Yeah, the treasurer's office will not move money above 25,000. So we're safe. So they must have just done a transfer which put them back

089up. So they spend and after they spend, we send the the proof of the expenditures to the treasurer's office. They do the transfer replenishing it. So. Thank you. Any other questions? If not, we'll move on to the food services report. Any questions from the committee? If not, we'll move on to warrants. Any questions regarding the warrants report? Now, we'll move on to uh contract awards. We have none on the agenda. Uh we have next acceptance of new fiscal year 26 grant awards. Uh there's a link to this on the website for folks who might be following along at home. Uh we need a motion and a second to approve the new awards. So moved. Second. Motion's from member Bias. The second is from member Sirrois. Discussion? Member Donovan? Um the OpenSciEd. Now, that money, could

090you please share with the 45,000 over 3 years what that will be allocated for? I just want to be clear cuz I know there was some questions as we spoke about about materials. Mhm. Sure. So OpenSciEd is um a science program for our students in grades 6 through 8. There is a fifth grade um curriculum available, but that's not included in this grant. So we're starting with grade 6 through 8. The Marsh Grammar School was awarded this grant last year um and three teachers at the Timony were also able to take part. The grantors are kind enough to support them as well. So we're happy to bring our other three grammar schools on board. And the funding from this grant provides professional development for our teachers. So there's a four-day launch professional development um experience

091that they will all uh have access to. So there's an option in late summer and if they prefer to go during the school year, there's also an option in September. Uh it's a nice opportunity to connect with other districts within our cohort um and hotels and accommodations are provided for teachers and it's a good way to launch into the curriculum. Then again in February, they're offered another two-day professional development experience. So those continue over 3 years. Uh and then also those teachers will receive durable materials for all of the units within OpenSciEd. So, OpenSciEd is open source, meaning that any of us could open the curriculum and look at it and access it for free. The cost does come in with the materials. So, all the durable materials are covered. I did find a vendor

092last year when the Marsh was onboarded through which we are able to purchase consumable and durable um goods and equipment at the cost that other vendors were just um charging for durable. So, all materials were covered um and professional development is covered, the curriculum is free. And there's also support for lead teachers and administrators within the buildings to continue that professional growth during the school year in between those formal sessions with with the cohort. We look really look forward to that. It's a phenomenon-based curriculum where students really drive the learning and think like scientists. Okay, thanks. Any other questions or comments? Um is it all right if I bring up a point about the cafeteria? Sorry. All right. So, I my first question is um the grant I just want to have a better understanding

093for the grant that was provided um for the school cafeteria refresh. Um the the money that was allocated towards that in the grant, was it limited to specifically um the cafeteria environment or was there any other uh conditions like we could have used it for? You're referring to the the money to redo the caps? Right. Um that was not a grant. That is um that's money raised by the cafeteria uh that has to be spent in the cafeteria or on the lunch program. What was the second part of that? Um so, the second part of it was that it was kind of a statement, but I think I'm not extremely opposed to the the school refresh. I just hope that there would be more student input. So, I'm just hoping for future projects like garnering

094uh student feedback and student um understanding would be possibly a more positive for the school environment. >> Yeah. That's a fair point and especially where he's moving towards he'll be doing the grammar schools next. Yeah. That's a good idea that maybe he do surveys or have a little um you know, a committee to uh to go over the options and have give the students and maybe some staff some input. >> Sure. Thank you. >> That's a good point. Member Willett. Just want to add to that that um I advocate for the survey of the students and I think it's been a wonderful vehicle if we're applying to the grammar schools and also I think you've been deeply involved in the process as well. So, if there's a subcommittee of interested students to work with the

095food uh service director, I think he's very amenable to that. So, thank you. Circling back to the uh grant awards on the agenda for approval, any other questions or comments? If not, we will vote. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Opposed? The ayes have it. Next on the agenda, we have notification of appointments and other personal personnel matters. Uh we have tonight on the agenda a discussion and vote on the appointment of uh acting superintendent Dr. Lisa Gelalpis Tumi to the position of interim superintendent. This is looking ahead to the 2026-2027 school year. Uh we uh need a motion and a second. So moved. Second. Motion's from member Sarrois, the second is from member Keegan. Uh we'll entertain a discussion. This is looking ahead to uh the uh end of Dr. Kwong's contract. Uh so,

096uh we're getting ahead of this uh in terms of the appointment. Uh member Willett. I'm just very concerned that when we amend the agenda it should only be constituted for emergency purposes. So, by state or federal law, if we have to be in compliance and at the last second we have to add an amended agenda I'm amenable to that, but there's not an urgency to this because we can take it up at the next meeting before the conclusion of the contract. Also, in light of the fact that the vice chair is not present for the discussion um again I think the superintendent overall has done a fantastic job. I'm not adverse to extending the contract. Obviously, I think we're dealing with time constraints. Um we're just approving the outside search firm uh tonight uh and

097again the conclusion as you said of the former superintendent um again, I think we will likely be needing to extend the acting superintendent's uh contract. Whether the terminology is acting or interim our school attorney said it's the same process under applicable state law. So, if you want to say acting versus interim, all it is really is semantics. But in deference to the vice chair not being here this evening I will after the discussion has concluded, I will be making the motion to table to the next meeting. Other discussion, member Sarrois? Um I I feel there is an urgence an urgency to this. I think that we have a budget coming up that's going to take most of our time that we're going to be focusing on. Um we just approved a search committee for a

098new superintendent and they're probably not even going to start till next month. This is going to happen, so let's just do it now, get it off our plate and continue on. I understand the the vice chair isn't here tonight. Um I spoke to him today. I was hoping he could zoom in to the meeting. And um I I just think we just need to settle this, get it off our plate and move on. Thank you. Uh member Keegan. Um I'm in agreement with um member Sarrois. Um especially given the budget we need accurate numbers in our budget. Um and so we need to know what we're looking at and given that the budget is coming out this week, um I feel that there absolutely is an urgency and we need to we need to do

099that. In addition to that, I think we need to um make sure people know what's happening because June 30th is coming and we have nobody in place at this point. I think it's important that people have some stability in this district and I think this is one way to do it. So, I feel like um we need to move forward with this vote. Member Bias. Um I'll preface what I'll say with saying that I have no issues whatsoever in extending the acting superintendent as I believe she's doing a fantastic job. My question is to um member uh Donovan Grassy through you, Mr. Mayor, about procedure. Um I just want to make sure that everything like we're not supposed to be are we not supposed to be doing this in executive session and then coming back

100to a vote or procedures in general like everything is is being followed correctly. >> that? Yeah, thank you. That's that's a very legitimate question cuz it feels like déjà vu all over again from when we um worked on your contract short-term when Dr. Kwong left. So, I consulted with our attorney Friday. We would go into executive session when if and when we approve this and then we would direct someone to work out the contract with Dr. Gelalpis and that executive session would be a discussion about the contract. It wouldn't be tonight. Am I clear? That help? Thank you. Uh Member Donovan. Yeah, I would just like to say I think it's time for this district to have a real sense of urgency. Um MCAS is going on. I believe access scores are coming out soon

101if they haven't already. Next month. Next month. That's that's a lot of work. We have a very difficult budget. We need to worry about closing the school year. We need to uh worry about having celebrations for our students who are moving on and supporting those students who are struggling. We need to worry about staffing. We need to worry really worry about what we're going to do about an assistant superintendent because right now our central office is running on on fumes. And the sooner we get some decisions when we empower Dr. Gelalpis to make some of those decisions, to find an assistant superintendent, which is probably going to take a while or at least take some real thought and maybe juggling the sooner we do it the better. I think our staff has felt very um

102unsteady. The ground has shifted a lot in our district. And um delaying will not help. I am sorry that uh member DeSauvage I was not here because I certainly enjoy and value his input. However, there could be any meeting. Someone could be missing at the next meeting. And um and that we cannot operate that way. And I know he could be he would be here if he could. So, I would um think it would be impactful, purposeful, meaningful, and efficient if we could make a decision tonight. Thank you. Thank you, member Donovan. I know member Willett wants to make a motion, but just to close things out in terms of discussion, um I'll share my thought. It it largely uh is in alignment with what member Donovan uh has stated. Uh you know, I think

103that there is a lot of uncertainty. Uh there is a lot of I guess perceived instability perhaps by uh any further delay to the decision about the next school year in terms of leadership. I will say that just over the course of the past few weeks since our last meeting the acting superintendent has needed to make some key personnel changes at least on an interim basis in terms of school level leadership and so the need to make those decisions and the need for that stability I think is necessary. It's wise for us to establish that as soon as we can especially leading into what is a challenging budget season not just in Methuen but in literally I would imagine every municipality in the Commonwealth and so I think it behooves us to have that stability

104sooner than later. Speaking to uh member Baez's question just to reiterate for the public anyone who might be watching typically when it comes to vote like this we have the vote to appoint the vote on a contract is separate so this isn't a vote on say any specific contractual language relative to the next school year this simply is regarding the appointment and eliminating that uncertainty and so with that I know member Willett wants to make a motion and so I'll pass the floor off to member Willett. I again just to emphasize no one here tonight has emphasized with any rationality that this is an emergency consideration. And if it was such a urgency to do this process it should have been part of the original agenda. We we submit for Thursday to be publicized to

105the public at large. I'm I'm tired of amending the agenda where it does not denote an emergency. This is not an emergency situation. And again in deference to the vice chair right we have the ensuing month of May to make this determination. I hope in May it's unanimous. I've had no issues with the acting superintendent. And again more than likely I've been consistent. I've been favorable continuity as well. But in deference to how we operate as an agenda and also in deference to the vice chair I'm not seeing how it's warranted. It's not a state law we have to be in compliance with. It's not a federal law we have to be in compliance with. What is the sense of urgency other than we're going to rush a decision where it would be the same

106decision in May and there's nothing that would prohibit that. There's no log jams because we're going to be dealing with the budget separately anyways. We're going to have a meeting on Thursday with the workshop that has no relationship whatsoever that's a red herring. But again that's how Methuen has operated over the years. So I'm going to make a motion to table it probably fail but we'll see what happens. I'll make a motion to table. Thank you. Second. We have a motion to table from member Willett the second is from member Baez. We'll take a roll call vote on the motion to table. Um chair Desario vice chair Desario votes I vote Um this is a motion to >> To table. So no. Jonathan Grassi member Baez No. Member Keegan No. Mr. Royce no. Member Willett

107Yes. Member Donovan No. The motion to table has failed. We're now back to the main motion. Any other discussion? If not we'll take another roll call vote on the main motion. Mr. Desario Jonathan Grassi yes. Member Baez Yes. Member Keegan Yes. Mr. Royce Yes. Member Willett No. Member Donovan Yes. Congratulations. Next on the agenda we have congratulations or condolences I guess is the better. Is there any other business from the committee? No just excuse me chair just my usual backpack program looking for donations school vacation is coming up so we're looking for food donations for the students. Thank you. I vote Member Donovan I just you know let's bookmark tonight's meeting with scholarship talk. Methuen Scholarship Foundation had an incredibly successful telethon and I'm blanking how much I think it was 90,000 they were up

108to but the auction is continuing. Um so the Methuen Scholarship Foundation is run by parents and give out dozens of scholarships to our Methuen High students. There's a bunch of events that they continue to plan a craft fair on May 2nd at Methuen High. Those are awesome music bingo the 16th at the VFW community yard sale that's something new June 13th on Branch Street and then all your unused clothes that you want to get rid of you can drop them off anytime now at Branch Street there's a big box truck and they'll raise money for that. So more good news about people supporting our students as they continue their education. You can check it out at Methuen Scholarship Foundation Facebook page. That felt like an ad. Thank you member Donovan. Any other business from the

109committee? Member Willett Thank you. I I just want to add my voice to supporting the GIC and our entry into the GIC. I appreciate what the mayor is doing. This is a very difficult task that he's undertaking. It's not taken lightly. I just want to emphasize that Malden which is normally compared to us as a neighboring district in terms of various metrics and variables they will be joining the GIC this year. Haverhill another community is adjacent to us. They joined the GIC in 2017. Obviously we could produce 5% savings at least by joining the GIC and I want to mention that 460,000 people are enrolled in the GIC with a variety of health insurance plans. And we're talking about finite resources and this is an opportunity for us as a community to try to redirect

110some education dollars back into the classroom. Thank you. Thank you member Willett. I just wanted to state for the record that no final decisions have been made in the context of health insurance. We are engaging in active conversations with members of the negotiating committee referred to here in Methuen with an acronym the PEC and that includes representatives from the public sector unions along with the retirees and so we're continuing to dialogue with them so that we can achieve a resolution to the health insurance issue that again as I stated regarding the budget is a problem not just in Methuen it's a problem in every municipality across the Commonwealth to an extent in private sector as well the cost of health insurance is skyrocketing and so we're doing all that we can to evaluate all the

111options out there and ensure that we are providing our employees with the coverage that they need but also doing so in a way that makes sense for our taxpayers so that we don't break the budget and struggle as member Willett alluded to with the issue regarding personnel and trying to avoid layoffs and the like which would not be good. So I just want to state that for the record. Member Baez Thank you Mr. Mr. Mayor through you. I just wanted to see if I can make a request um can we get in our disciplines report um kind of a another section on incidents that lead to lockdowns in our schools? Is that possible? What do you mean by lockdown? Are you referring to any sort of safety measure whether it's whether it's due to student

112behavior or not? Yes. Sure I yeah that sounds like it might be a a different report that I can provide for you. Thank you. Is there any other business from the committee? If not we are now going to be entering into executive session for three purposes. These are outlined on the agenda and I'll state them for the public. We'll be entering executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A Section 21A2 to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel. This is regarding unaffiliated employees. We will also be entering executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A Section 21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if in open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the

113bargaining or litigation or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares Methuen Education Association versus Methuen School Committee. Lastly we will be entering executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A Section 21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if in open meeting may have detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares with the way custodian association we will not reconvene after the executive sessions so when we take the vote to enter executive session that will be the conclusion of our open and public portion of the meeting so at this point what I'll do is we will entertain a motion and a second to enter executive session so moved second motion is from member bias the second is from

114member serous will take a roll call vote to enter executive session member done in the grassy yes member bias yes member kiga >> yes serous yes member lowe yes member palatine yes so the time is 7:46 p.m. we are ending the regular portion of the meeting and entering executive session have a good night thank you