Methuen School Committee 12-11-2025

001to be recognized at any time. Um otherwise uh what we'll do now is we'll begin with calling the role. >> Member Daglio present. Member Donovan >> here. >> Member Keegan >> here. >> I guess member Maxwell is TBD. Uh member Shabilia present. Member Wlette and Mayor Bogard >> here. And member Wlette is joining us now. So member Wlette is here. Um and we'll have member Maxwell via Zoom. Again, if we just had the TVs turned on, that'd be helpful. Thank you. >> Uh, we need a motion and a second to accept the agenda for December 11, 2025 as presented. >> Second. >> We have the motion from member Daglio. The second is from the vice chair. Uh, do we have any discussion? If not, just because I know that member Maxwell is here, uh, we'll

002take a roll call vote once, uh, we're able to. >> I'm sorry. Who made it? Who seconded it? >> Member Daglio made the motion. The vice chair made the second. >> All right, roll call. Daglio, >> yes. Donovan, >> yes. >> Keegan, >> yes. >> Maxwell. >> Member Maxwell. Oh, I see her mouth moving, but I don't know what's coming out. Can I get like a thumbs up or something? >> Can you hear me? >> Now we can. Yes. >> Okay. Shibilia. Yes. Member Wlette >> and Mayard. >> Yes. So, our agenda has been accepted. We'll now rise for the flag salute. To the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. Next on the agenda is public participation.

003Uh we don't have anybody in the audience tonight except for Teddy from the Tribune. I don't think we received anything in writing. Uh so at this time, I will close public participation. Uh just to state for the record, if you cannot make a meeting in person for public participation, you can send an email to snscuan.k12.mma. us before 3 p.m. on the day of a school committee meeting. So the purpose of tonight's meeting is to uh go about the uh continued process here that was initiated uh relative to uh several sections of the school committee's policies. This is the second read uh for this. Um, at this point I'll invite uh member Shabilia to uh take the lead on walking the committee uh through uh everything here uh including uh next the letter from MASC field

004director Alicia Min. >> Okay. So I won't go through the letter. Um again it is the same letter that has been presented uh for every meeting from the field director basically outlining the process and uh what their recommendations mean. So we will jump right in to the second read of these policies. Folks please keep in mind that we they went back changes were made. Um, so I will give it a an announcement and then kind of a going once, going twice, then we'll move on to the next one. All right. Uh, administr uh file CA, administrative goals, comments or feedback. >> Do we need a motion and a second? >> Oh, wait. We do need a motion. So, I need a motion and a second. >> I'll Yep. Uh we need a motion and a

005second to approve in form section C. This is the second read. This will allow us to engage in discussion. Uh do we have the motion in a second? >> Second. >> Motion from the vice chair. Second from member Shabilia. So member Shabilia, you can provide the synopsis and then we'll have discussion broadly speaking from committee members. >> All right. So we'll go right into it for section C. Uh file CA is administrative goals. comments or questions? >> Okay. >> I think that >> member Maxwell >> um so I think that uh the I don't I didn't I don't know if we could u move to table um these because I think that they need to be placed back in the hands of the um subcommittee. It's a lot of these are generic and it def

006uh defers power back to the superintendent um with no timelines, no reporting requirements, things like data transparency. Um you know and a lot of these policies aren't methan specific. They're MASC recommendations. Um, so I would uh just suggest tableabling this, bringing it back to the subcommittee and coming up with a new timeline on the review process. >> There's a second to that, you know, allow for discussion first. >> Okay. >> No, I'm happy to have that discussion afterwards as well. >> Once the mo once there's a second, >> I'll you know, we'll hold the on the Yeah, that's all. >> Okay. Uh, so we we don't officially have the motion. We don't have a second. We're engaging in discussion at this point. Um, you know, I I I am of the opinion that, you know,

007this is something that's been ongoing and and there's been a process set up for this and this is the natural culmination of that. Um, I also think that in terms of uh what we're talking about in terms of these policies, it's broadly speaking an acceptance of best practices as suggested by the MASC. That's something that has been noted as well. And not to mention many of these things are are based on um say anything that's statutory. It's based on, you know, the law. But you know I do know that there is an appetite among members of the committee to uh perhaps have this be something that the new committee considers. So you know I think this is a fair discussion. Do we have uh comment from the committee member Shabilia? >> So this the purpose

008of putting these forward before the end of the term was to finalize the work that the subcommittee from this cycle did. um sending these forward to the next group of folks in a few weeks is a duplication of effort. If they want to change something, they're going to change it. They don't have to have every policy in limbo because they're going to want to go back and change one. And to the mayor's point, these are best practices. They're not supposed to be specific. Policies are policies. If you're looking for specifics, they should be in an operating procedure, which to a point is a different issue. But that is an issue that should be tackled by the next committee. And I think back burnering these because we want to delay and we want to have the

009next group look at them. It's it's just creating more work that's already been done. And if you guys want to in the next group, for those of you that'll be here, go through and do this and pick ones and change, more power to you. No one can stop you. But holding up the whole thing just seems silly. Member Wletton and the vice chair. >> I've always said from the beginning and I'll be going into my eighth uh term of office. This is a three-year contract. This should have been done peacemeal. You know, you're talking about dozens of policies rushing at the last second. You're going to have two members leaving this body. I don't see the sense of urgency. I mean, respectfully, there's things that need to be accomplished. We'll do that in January. We

010have people that have served on the school committee uh currently on the city council and have people who have worked in the school department that will be coming to the school committee. I think it will be highly capable of tackling these issues. I've said all along we should have done a peace meal and now we're rushing it and no one gave me a rationale as to a three-year project of why we're rushing dozens of policies. There's never been adequate rationale for this. So, I'm going to do the best I can. After this, we'll do a motion to table. >> Vice chair, >> this is the second read. Um, section C, we've already voted yes on once. Um, section D, there were three that we sent back that we pulled out that everyone already voted yes

011on. Um, in section E, there were three that were pulled out. Section F, zero were pulled out for first read. Um section G we had one section H and section L have zero. This is the second read. Um there is no reason not to just finish what we've started and let the new committee start the other policies the other big sections that are left. Um so yeah I'm not in favor of table >> kind of clarification the three years that they do that has been talked about is the payment structure for this mass structures it in a three-year payment structure to get it under bidding requirements. So it's literally like I think it's $5 below the threshold so you don't have to bid it and they do it over three years whatever the number is

012exactly but that's the structure. Nobody thinks the project is supposed to take three years. And Alicia has been, I think, very clear about that. And I mean, I would welcome any of the subcommittee members to correct me if I'm wrong, but this is a second read. To say that we're rushing through a second read means we rushed through a first read and nobody voiced a concern. That's it seems a little theatrical. Well, just very quickly, I I've always been on record and said we shouldn't be rushing these policies. So, that should not be a surprise to anybody. And serving on the city's council for six years, I know what a second rate is. You're delaying the process until the new board comes in. So, I know I'm going to lose on the item, but that's

013fine. >> Should we have >> Can I make a comment? >> Member Maxwell. I'm just worried um specifically regarding section C. It um it handles most of the authority over you know superintendent and hiring superintendent and there's a lot of issues in this specific section that um I mean even it even comes down to handbook approval. We've never even seen a staff handbook. So how can we approve a policy based off of something we have never seen? Um, we haven't added any of the Mthuan details to the templates that that any of these policies call for. So, we're just adopting a uh an MASC structure, if you will, because and we're calling it finished when it's not actually finished. >> Do we have any other discussion? Is there a motion to table? I >> motion

014to table. >> Second. >> Okay. So, we'll take a vote on a motion to table. This is only for section C. Um, we'll take a roll call. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. Member Donovan, >> no. One second. >> Member Keegan, >> no. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. Member >> Shabbillia, no. Member Wlette, >> yes. >> And Mayor Bogard, >> uh, no. So, we're going to continue discussion. >> Do we have any other discussion about section C? >> Um, I have some questions. >> Member Maxwell. >> Um, where do the pol um I don't know if you want me to start with one question at a time. >> That'd be helpful. Sure. >> Sure. Um, so there's probably about four or five questions. Where do the policies governing the superintendent's uh compensation now live? Can we

015have her volume turned up? She's >> very hard to hear. >> We're going to do an adjustment to your volume, remember Maxwell, so we can hear you a little better. >> Sure. >> Can you just turn the volume up on the TV? You can ask member to say a few words so they can >> member Maxwell. We want to gauge your volume. Would you be able to test that out just a little bit? >> Sure. Can you hear me now? >> It's still low. >> I think the TV I think we got to turn that up on the TV. Remember Maxwell, try again. >> Can you hear me now? >> A little better. >> So, if you could repeat your question, that'd be helpful. Sure. Um so where in which policy do the um superintendent's

016compensation um requirements live in now or is that just related to her contract? >> So policy would not be the place to talk about compensation. >> No, but compensation policies would be the place policy would be the place to talk about compensation policies. It moves everything to her contract. It removes the committee's policy um structure. It's it I mean it's dangerous especially during a hiring cycle. >> So there's nothing in this section about compensation policies. >> Well, I'm asking where they live. That's what I'm asking. If they're not in this specific policy, then where do they live? compensation for the superintendent would be negotiated between the superintendent or and or candidate and this body or the next body or whatever body and that would be in her contract. There's no like salary band like you

017would find at a company where you're going to pay the superintendent between $11 and $19. Like >> it's it's market driven. >> All right. So, I guess I guess we'll just go back then since um you know compensation lives in her contract. What are the um how do we how do we determine where her measurable goals go if there that's not in the policy? And there's no really mandated improvement areas here. So, >> well, section file CA talks about administrative goals. >> Yep. >> And the superintendent's goals are managed really governed by MGL and Desi again. So those those wouldn't be something that would be written about here. It just you would expect a policy to say you have to do it and follow the rules. You wouldn't have a policy that says these are

018the rules because then every time they change you have to go and change your policy. >> Okay. Do we have any other questions or discussion regarding section C? >> I have a lot of questions, but I'm going to hold. >> Member Maxwell, do you have any other questions? >> I mean, I have a lot of other questions, but I I'm just going to hold off because I know that we will be revisiting this with the new committee in January anyway. So, I'm just going to wait until the new committee comes in and hopefully we can revise then. >> Fair enough. All right, we'll take a roll call vote on uh section C. >> Member Daglio, >> no. Member Donovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shabbillia, yes.

019Member Wlette, >> no. >> And Mayor Bogard, >> yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve and form section D. This is the second read. >> So moved. Motion from the vice chair, second from member Dunovan. Uh discussion regarding section D. >> Um >> member Maxwell. >> Yeah, thank you. Um is section D the section and and please excuse me if I'm wrong because I I'm getting confused between B and D right now. I can't pull them up for some reason. Um is that the one with the Corey checks in it? >> No, that's B. It's not >> Oh, D is fiscal management. I'm sorry about that. I just pulled it up. Thank you. >> Budget planning, chargebacks, and the like. That's section D. >> Thank you very Thank you. Sorry

020about that. >> No, it's fine. Any other discussion about section D? >> I just want to point out because I know this is probably going to come up on social media at some point. Not that I care about social media, but um just to point out that you know the the authority of establishing these policies always rests with the school committee. This is something that we can tweak if we need to tweak it. Many of these things haven't been updated since in some cases 1975. I was 14 years away from being even a thought uh when that happened. So this is something that is a living breathing document. So it's not like we're etching things into stone. We're we're bringing things up to speed in recommendation in keeping with recommendation from MASC. So I know

021there's some disagreement about this, but that that's the fact member will >> just quickly though that we've never had an omnibus complete review of all of our policies in rushing the policies within a matter of months. We've never done that in any of our historical meetings. We've never had this colossal omnibus bill that we're going through. So, I just want to say that for the record. Thank you, >> member Dunovan. >> I would just like to say thank you to the subcommittee meeting uh the subcommittee that worked on this because it's a lot of work and I know member Shabilia, member Keegan, member Maxwell, I heard the meetings were every week. uh the policy meetings that the two previous policy meetings we've had here uh to work our way through were pretty tedious and I

022just don't think people understand the work go that goes into this. So, you know, thank you. That's it. I'm done. >> Member appreciate it. So, I just want to say I Yeah, I appreciate you guys, but it's just the fact that this is the last meeting and for it to be the last meaning to kind of rush that through if it was what again see I'm just trying to say my few few words. just the fact that it's the last meaning and this being as the last meaning that's why I'm kind of skeptical of it because in past histories when things are not saying this is how it is being done. I just feel like if it's going to be like the last meeting in three weeks away a new school committee's taking place it

023should have been done weeks ago and I would have been supportive of it but I should just be think it should just be passed on to the next school committee because It's just three weeks away. That's just my opinion. >> Fair enough. I I'll just say if it had been put through weeks ago, just imagine the magnitude of the rushing word. >> We we'll we'll leave it we'll leave it there. Fair enough. >> It's a win situation. >> Fair enough. >> Comments on section D. >> Member Maxwell. >> Just the comments that I have on uh section D. Major major concerns that I have of the transparency. It's kind of stripped away. Um there's no requirement for budgets or detailed reporting or grant transparency. Um you know there's no mention of quarterly updates. The public

024hearing that's the language there is um you know almost non-existent. Um so for me that you know those are just my concerns. Those are the major issues I see with the section D. Um but I appreciate you listening. Thank you. Thank you, Member Maxwell. I I I'll just uh conclude with um you know, I we have a system now in place uh with the CAFO Act and and all the reforms that have been established in our city since uh 2017 2018 that have brought us uh quite a ways in terms of progress. Um, you know, and when it comes to our finances, we have, uh, for instance, on the city side, our first ever fiscal transparency dashboard. Folks can follow along with expenditures through the Munis program in real time. So, I know there might

025be some uh, you know, feelings about the policies that are uh, here before us. Uh but at the same time, you know, the systems that we have in place, you know, I do think are uh beneficial for the city and continue to move us forward by way of transparency. Not to mention, we just started adding warrants to the agenda that the public can actually go through and and click through. And that's that's a great reform. And so I don't I don't want to undermine or uh suggest that uh we're making things less transparent. Uh at this point, we'll take a vote on section D if there's no other comment. Member Daglio, >> no. >> Member Donovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shabilia, yes. Member Wlette, >>

026no. >> And Mayor Bogard, >> yes. >> We're now on to section E. Second read. We need a motion and a second. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from the vice chair, second from member Donovan. Discussion regarding section E. Is there any discussion? >> I have Maxwell concerns with section E. Uh the safety language is a lot weaker in the new um in the new policies. There's no records requirements. There's no timelines to notify families. It's pretty much just comply with the law. Um but it doesn't it doesn't extend beyond that. the um procedural contents is removed like emergency drills and security cameras and bus safety um food services is shifted. So um um I just think that this is also an incomplete section as well. >> Where would I I guess I guess

027I have a question. Where would the emergency procedures be? um published or established >> where emergency procedures policy >> if I may remember Shabilia. So, I think the biggest gap that I'm noticing is we're having a hard time differentiating between policy and procedure. And this is something that we've dealt with even in the subcommittee meetings being told that that doesn't belong in a policy. It belongs in a procedure. And I know that the response to that is well, we don't have a procedure manual or we don't have a a published procedure manual. I know that there are procedures floating around but the procedures for that and how things are done don't belong in this document. These are policies. These are high level and the how does what happens and how it happens is a procedural

028document. They don't go here. That's just this is not where they belong. And if we start putting that in here, it's no longer a policy document. And >> I mean that's where they lived before. >> But it wasn't right. Just because we've done things certain way in the past doesn't make it right. >> But you can't have that not listed anywhere. >> But that's that that's what I mentioned earlier. I would love to see the next school committee work with the administration to do a true uh practice manual or proced SOP book. Um I know using Ian for an example since he's sitting here. Ian wins the Powerball tomorrow and disappears. Someone needs to know how to do his job and all the things that he does that no one in his office doesn't. There

029should be some kind of continuity plan SOP manual. This city doesn't have that. Not just the school, the whole entire city. And that I mean I think if the next school committee could make that happen, it would be an amazing feat. >> But I think this is the first step because this is the policy that goes before that. The procedures don't go here. >> Other discussion. >> Also, if you win the Power Ball, don't forget me. >> I mean, I I would have to disagree with you there because if they don't belong here and they don't exist anywhere else, then they have to live somewhere. >> I get what you're saying. >> Remember Daglio? No, I um um member Maxwell, I think if I'm correct, I get what you're saying because it used to be

030in a policy, but what U. Member Shabilly is saying that that didn't belong in the policy. Whoever did that before in the school committee, they just drew stuff together and then but what we're trying to do is kind of separate it and then for the next school committee, they need to do like a procedure manual with the admin that will include what was in the policy. But I understand from your perspective, it was in writing before and now that you take it out, what says that the next school committee will sit down and actually draw up a procedure manual that am I am I hitting it pretty much that that I think that's what member Maxwell is worried about the language that was securing that should have been the procedure manual. She's worried that the

031next school committee might not do it. >> I think that's her concern. Am I >> my m I mean my major concern is this that just that we're losing transparency. I mean there are contradictions and and duplicate policies in section E specifically. There are two EAA policies with different language. Um one uses K through8 grammar school one mile 9 through 12 high school. And then there's another page 22 says K through 8 while page 21 says elementary school. So, you know, it's just this is just an easy example of how we rush through this process. We literally have two versions of the exact same policy with different groups. >> So, I would just like to point out, member Maxwell, that you are part of the subcommittee. We've been doing this now for over a year

032>> and to save comments like that until the >> second read of a document is we hear from Mr. >> I've requested four special meetings with the subcommittee and I have not heard back from that and I have tried to work with uh Mayor Bureugard to schedule that and I have been denied each time. So it seems like the subcommittee does not want to come back to the table and review any of these policies. They just want to push them through and pass them. I can tell you personally, I've never refused a request for a meeting and I think you know me well enough to know that I that I wouldn't. >> Well, I've asked publicly twice in in other meetings, so I'm not sure why we haven't had one then. >> Okay. Do we

033have any other discussion, Ian? >> Technically, I'm not school committee, but as far as emergency manual, procedure manual, we have one. It was just recently written after an incident at the high school. Um we hired an outside firm who are experts in this. They came in and helped us diagrams of the buildings where the shut offs are all kinds of emergency um you know where staging areas etc during an emergency. We have all that in the manual but um the essence of safety and sharing people. We can't really share that publicly because um people wanting to do harm would love to have that information. But we do absolutely have one Any other discussion? If not, roll call. >> Member. >> No. >> Uh, member Donovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member Maxwell.

034>> No. >> Member Shibilia. Yes. Member Wlette. >> No. >> Mayor Bogard. >> Yes. >> Section F. Second read. We need a motion and a second to adopt. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from the vice chair. Seconds. Member Donovan discussion any discussion >> just trying to find the policies. This is regarding facilities. >> This is F. This is facilities. So facility development goals, retirement of facilities, naming of facilities and memorials. >> So nothing about maintenance, safety, transparency, ADA, pest control. There's no policies regarding any of those things. Correct. >> All items which can be discussed and added to this in the next school committee term. Nothing stops us from moving forward with what we have and if cleaned up. >> Okay. Well, okay. >> Do we have remember Daglio? >> Oh man, they're

035not all sequentially numbered because they're sections. It's this one. We're talking about section F. >> Keep going till you get to section F. Alphabetical order, my man. Do we have any other questions or discussion? If not, we'll vote. >> Member Daglio. >> No. Member Donovan. She's gone. Okay. Uh, member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. Member Shabilia. Yes. Member Wlette. >> No. >> Member Donovan. >> We're voting on F. >> Yes. >> And did I get member Wlette? >> No. >> He's a no. >> And Mayor Bard. >> Yes. >> All right. We're on to section G. We need a motion in a second. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from the vice chair. Second from member Shabilia. Discussion. member Maxwell. >> Um the issues I had with uh section G um

036um it conflicts with um CBA's um policies are you know they're contradicting the complaint grieving structure is cut. Staff loses their process. Um, now you need procedures for policies that don't exist. Um, transparency, the Title 9's missing. Um, ACAB was moved, complaints were removed. Um I mean with the current issues that we have here in Methuan then I think that you know we need to make sure that our current policies align with current CBAs the you know staff grievance procedures where are those located the investigation process timelines um the rights that employees have who handles complaints none of that is in any of these policies >> nor should it be >> any other questions member for Maxwell. >> Nope, that's all. Thank you. >> All right. Do we have any others? Member Shabilia, >> just

037point of clarification. Uh the subcommittee did pull out uh a few of these and sent them to HR for review. A lot of the things that member Maxwell mentioned are are purposely not here because they're covered in CBAs. Again, those are contractual items, not really policy items. And every CBA may be different. I mean, I don't think we have two CBAs that are identical. So it's again it's it's it's a unique and fluid concept because every three years those CBAs change just a little. >> Do we have any other discussion? All right. If not we'll vote. >> Member say all right. Um member Donovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shabilia, yes. Member Wlette, no. >> And Mayor Bogard, >> yes. >> Next, we're on to section H.

038Second read. We need a motion and a second. >> So moved. >> Motion from the vice chair, second from member Donovan. Questions, discussion? Member Maxwell? >> No. Any other questions? No. All right, we'll vote. >> Member Daglio, >> no. >> Member Donovan, >> member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Memberilia? Yes. Member Wlette? >> No. >> And Mayor Bogard? >> Yes. >> All right. Section L. We need a motion and a second to approve. So moved. >> Motions from the vice chair, seconds for member Donovan. Discussion. >> Um I would just like to mention um that these are just some of these are very aspirational. There's not um there's nothing concrete in some of the in in a couple of these. Um there are no standards for placements. Um how does you

039know how does the committee authorize agreements joint agreements um with outside agency uh grant partnerships transportation um so I just had a couple concerns with this policy at this section but again this is I I just wanted to make my concerns known that's all. >> Thank you member Maxwell. Any other discussion, questions? If not, we'll vote. >> Member Daglio, >> no. >> Member Donovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shibilia, yes. Member Wlette, >> no. And Mayor Bogard, >> yes. >> Is there any other business from the committee? >> Member Donovan, >> I have a question because I really don't think our job here is done. I understand there are um additional um we have what what's next M there's more work to be done with other

040policies correct >> there is M J uh I think there is a K >> right >> and some others and those those are the beefier >> ones >> not the whole alpha I thought so too it stops at I think M >> right no oh I don't even know but anyway they're I understand they're very substantial as well Okay. Um, we're not done with A and B. We didn't do a second read on A and B, right? >> Um, we have to get those back >> because there were significant amount of changes. >> So, this work will continue into the new >> and amendments could be made to A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, L, M, all of them. >> So, again, I'd like to thank the subcommittee for their work. It's a

041lot. >> I I echo that. I want to thank the subcommittee for their work. I just disagree philosophically. Thank you. >> Member Maxwell. >> Um I just wanted to mention this is other business but um section A um includes policies um and section B includes policies on the Corey stories and I didn't know if we were had any update on the part where they wanted to include a DCF um check. We did discuss it at the last subcommittee meeting um and it came back that it was a good idea to have to add into it. So I believe that it was added into the policy, but we haven't gotten it back here yet. >> Okay. I just wanted to state that I I do think that that's um a little much and I think that

042it's a it's a huge invasion of privacy um when it comes to you know staff or even volunteers for that matter. And I think that there's like a hu like a liability um purpose there. There's I mean I don't know if legal consult has confirmed that this is even compliant with Massachusetts federal law. >> Just to keep in mind we don't have we don't have those policies on the agenda tonight. So I just want to be cognizant from an open meeting perspective. Uh there will be a time when when >> yeah there will be a time when those will be on a future agenda for discussion. Uh and we can uh certainly continue that then. >> Do we have any other business from the committee? >> No. I will make the motion to adjurnn. >>

043Okay. >> Second. >> We have a motion to adjurnn from member Shabilia. The second is from member Dunovan. We'll take a roll call on adjournment. >> Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Donovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. Yes. Member Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Member Shabilia. Yes. Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> And Mayor Bogard. >> Yes. >> All right. Our meeting is adjourned. Uh the time is 553. Is there >> a new Zoom link? >> No new Zoom link. We'll just Who are you? Business session of December 11, 2025 will now come to order. This meeting is being recorded and will be made available for viewing. >> Member Daglio, >> present. >> Member Dunovan, >> present. >> Member Keegan, >> present. Member Maxwell >> here. >> Member Shabilia still can't hear her. Member Wlette >> here. >>

044Mayor Borgod >> here. Uh all members are present. Member Maxwell is joining us via Zoom. So any votes we take tonight will be uh via roll call. We need a motion and a second to accept the agenda for December 11, 2025 as presented. >> So moved. We have the motion from member Shabilia, the second from member Daglio. Uh we need a motion and a second to amend the agenda for tonight to remove the executive session portion of it. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from the vice chair, second from uh member Shabilia. Uh we'll take a vote on removing the executive session from the agenda. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes.

045>> Mayor Boragon, >> yes. >> Unanimous. >> We now need a motion and a second to accept the amended agenda for tonight's meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion is from member Wlette. The second's from the vice chair. Any discussion? >> I have a question. >> Member Maxwell. Um, and please tell me if I'm doing this wrong, but can we also make the amendment to remove 9B off I mean 9A off the agenda? The discussion and approval to postpone since we already discussed that. >> I'm sorry, I could I can't hear. So this would be member Maxwell wants to make a motion to amend the agenda further and remove 9A uh the discussion and approval to postpone or change the current timeline of our current policy review. Um does she have a second? >>

046So moved. >> Second. >> Okay. So uh we have a motion on the floor here to further amend the agenda to remove 9A. Uh, we'll take a roll call vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Donovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borgod, >> yes. So 9A has been removed. We need a motion and a second to accept uh the amended agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion's from member Shabilia. The second is from the vice chair. Any further discussion? If not, we'll vote on accepting the agenda as amended. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >>

047Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borgot, >> yes. Now, at this point, we'll uh bring up our student who'll be conducting the flag salute. I don't know, Mr. Hill, if we have an introduction prepared. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> I believe Miss Goyette Langas, the lower school associate principal, is going to introduce Cameron. >> Thank you. >> Am I on? All right. Okay. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Amanda Goyat Langis and I'm the lower school associate principal at the Tenny Grammar School. And I'm here tonight with Cameron Quinn. And we're also here with Mr. Hill and his parents and his sister. And Cameron Quinn is a fourth grade student in Mrs. Lage's class at the Tenny. He lives with his mother Shannon, his father Dominic, and his older sister Abby, and their

048two dogs, Goldie and Buster. Cam stated his family likes to hang out, watch movies, play Nintendo Switch, and go on vacations. Also, he loves to watch football on Sundays, especially the New England Patriots. His most memorable family vacations are going to the beach on Cape Cod, boating on Lake Quinnipasaki, staying in a cabin in New York, and hiking trails in Vermont. Cameron's favorite subject is physical education. PE is his favorite class because he loves sports. He stated that the PE teachers planned many fun activities like the pacer test and the warm-ups, especially running around the track. Cam also stated that in fourth grade he is learning so much and he feels like he is getting better and better at math and reading every day. Cameron said his favorite thing about the tenny is that the

049teachers, nurses, and principles are always helpful and kind. He gave a special shout out to our tenny tiger for making appearances at school. Cameron said at school he always tries to be a friend to everyone. He shared that when playing a game with friends or classmates at recess or in PE, he is competitive but always in a respectful way. Meaning you need to show respect and treat others the way you want to be treated. Mrs. Lage's fourth grade teacher stated Cameron is described by his classmates as always showing kindness and having a deep respect for others and his learning. This makes Cameron a valued and much appreciated team member of our classroom. Beyond his positive interactions with all of his peers and teachers, Cameron is also exceptionally hardworking, consistently demonstrating a strong commitment to his

050learning and academic success. Not only does he show this commitment in the classroom, but also when showing up for his sports teams. During our conversation, Cameron reported he loves playing and watching sports. He plays flag football, baseball in the Blues, and basketball in the Lakers. When he grows up, Cam would like to either be an NFL player or an MLB player or a businessman. His mother, Shannon, states, "I think what makes Cameron so unique is how big how big he is able to dream and how responsible he has been since a very young age. I never have to worry about Cameron making the right choice. He is very self-aware and kind to everyone. Cameron has big dreams of one day playing college football for Notre Dame and then maybe the NFL. Cameron has been a

051type 1 diabetic since the age of four, but he never lets that get in the way or discourage him from setting goals for himself. He takes great care of himself so he can keep working and pushing for those dreams. For Cameron's future, I know he'll accomplish anything he sets out to be or do. Cameron, we're all proud of you and in all the ways you show respect, ownership, cooperation, and kindness, and safety at school and outside of school. So, keep rocking it. Please stand for the pledge. I pledge of allegiance to the to the 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. Please remain standing for a moment of signs. >> Nicely done. And now we'll pause for

052a picture. Say cheese. >> Congratulations. Good job. All right. Next on the agenda, next on the agenda, we have uh the sore awards. I want to mention that the student is not available this evening, so they'll be recognized at the next meeting in January. Um I'll invite our student representative to share any updates. I'll take this time to mention some of the things that I've learned over like the past few days about kind of like the state of our um city and how that kind of like reflects kind of the work that we do here. So, I want to also talk about my experience in the classroom and how that relates to the pressing topics often discussed and the discussions about book banning. I had the displeasure of learning about the hate that fers within

053our community and how the people that have cared for me and the entire district are now the target of people's hateful remarks. I have lived in Methuan my whole life and I pride myself on advocating for bills and various changes to support youth and I cannot and will not stand for the bashing of my Methuan leaders. That being said, regarding the topic of the book of the b the banning of the book, the absolutely true diary of the part-time Indian, many have expressed their absolute disgust for something being taught in school. But what they're missing is how that book is being taught. I'm a student here at Muan High. I'm a senior. I've been a part of freshman English. I've been a part of sophomore English and AP Lang and AP Lit. And the English

054department here at Mthuan High teaches with immense passion and care. They design their own curriculum and that means there's discussion, intellectual discussion where we learn about why someone would do what they do and why someone acts inappropriately. We learn immense amount of heinous thing. We learn immense heinous things that happen in our world. But all the students are prepared with pre-ereading and discussion before any book. There is so much pre-ereading facilitated by teachers. There's so much discussion prior to going into a book. This allows students to be ready to know what they are learning about. And when they are reading, they are able to discuss with the teacher. Nothing inside of a book is ever just taught at face value. Everything is intellectualized, meaning that all high schoolers are looking through a mature perspective of

055the content of inside of a book. That being said, if anyone opposes my belief in the non-banning of the absolutely true diary of a part-time Indian, please write your essay on Facebook. I will not be reading it. If you believe that LGBTQ does not belong at Methuan High, please write your essays. I will not be reading them. It is ridiculous to think that such a community that works so hard to ensure that students here at Methuan are cared for and are learning at such a high level are bashing our community. It's absolutely ridiculous and it's something I cannot stand for and will not stand for. So please continue to write and I'll continue to advocate for the continuation of learning in our school for the continuation of the great faculty and staff here at this

056school. That saw award was nominated for me. I was receiving the history sore award and I wrote my speech praising the history department here, the English department here. I wanted to recognize all the teachers here that sacrifice so much. There are teachers here that are it's their first year working here and they're doing like three classes here. That's Miss Aronson. She's doing three classes and an AP class. That amount of workload is ridiculous. The amount of teachers here that are doing so much and for some reason are being hated by people who have not been in a classroom in years is is just not right. Um and I cannot let that be. So please again understand the fact that Methuan High is a place of learning. Methuan is a community of people who have integrity,

057of people who care for students, and people who are going to continue to advocate for right and not sp not continue to spread a hateful rhetoric that is pushing some hateful agenda and are fighting people that are invisible. Like, it's not right. That's all. Thank you. Thank you for your courage uh to speak out. Um we'll move on to public participation. Uh we don't have anybody who has signed up, but uh before we have a statement that was submitted in writing uh read. Uh is there anybody in the audience who wishes to speak? If not, we'll have the the reading of the written um submission uh for public participation >> to the administration and school committee. We the undersigned custodial employees of the Mthun public school are writing to express our serious concerns regarding recent

058discussions about privatizing custodial services. Following the health department rodent investigation, custodians, especially second shift, were blamed for the conditions that are largely structural and outside of our control. Shortly afterwards, we learned the district was seeking quotes to outsource our work. We believe this sequence of events raises serious questions about fairness, transparency, accountability amongst management and the potential retaliation. We want to be clear that any form of retaliation against employees for raising concerns or participating in protected union activity is strictly prohibited under state and federal labor law. We respectfully remind you the district that outsourcing is a mandatory subject of bargaining under Massachusetts General Law Chapter 150E. Our contractual remains our contra our contract remains in full force until a new agreement is reached. Major changes to staffing, shifts, or job security cannot be implemented without

059negotiation. Privatization has a documented history of increasing turnover, reducing building safety, and costing districts more long-term. We are committed employees who care deeply about our schools, our students, and our community. We request full transparency on any outsourcing discussions, a commitment to negotiate in good faith with our union, an accurate assessment of the structural causes of the rodent issue, a fair process that does not blame or target employees. We stand united and prepared to work collaboratively towards real solutions. Signed, the Tenny Grammar School second shift custodians. Do we have any other submissions or >> That was it. That's it. >> At this time, I'll close the public participation portion of our meeting tonight. If you cannot make a meeting in person for public participation, you can send an email to Susan Shanti at SNS ciuan.k12.mma.us before

0603M on the day of a school committee meeting. Uh at this point uh I'll invite Dr. Golovsky to share a statement uh recognizing the retirement of Susan Day prey, adult education supervisor. >> Thank you. Um and Susan Day pre is here tonight. Susan, if you'd come up and join us. And I believe member Dunovan would like to say something as well. Um, but if you haven't had the pleasure of meeting Susan, Susan is our supervisor of adult education in Methuan and has done so with great passion, pride, and dedication for the past 26 years. And our program is is nothing short of inspiring if you've ever had the opportunity to attend a graduation or adult education event. Um, and our program due to Susan in large part has become exemplary across the state. um and

061one that other cities and districts look to. Um so in recent years, Susan has traveled with students across the nation to showcase the progress that we've made. Susan's had former students come back and serve as teachers. Um there's multi-generational families who are students currently in her school. Um, and I want to praise Susan and recognize um her flexibility and response to her students by introducing hybrid forms of courses, online courses, um courses at all times of day to suit work schedules and really accommodate um her working students while meeting their needs. So, it's it's served as a safe place for students and one where they're inspired um and also prepared to then take the next step in their work or schooling. and that's due to Susan. So, thank you very much, Susan. And we have

062a plaque for you or a certificate. But first, I'll let um member Dunovan >> I'm so happy that you came tonight, Susan, so we could acknowledge your hard work. Um I really didn't know Susan very well, but she was kind enough to she has invited us all every year to attend some of the events at the Adult Education Center. The highlight of my year has been the graduation ceremony. It is I wish all of Mthuan knew what a treasure Susan is and how she has embraced and encouraged and challenged people who are new to this country, who are new to this city, who are new to the language, who want to pursue more education. It's so evident in her exchanges with her students and her staff how she truly believes in the power of education

063and how she brings joy and acceptance and a wonderful sense of protection and a respect for every every kind of person who walks in her door. I remember vividly she she can tell stories about people who took 10 years to get their high school degree. Can you imagine being so dedicated? it takes you that long to earn your diploma. But I really believe with that dedication with Susan Dup Prey pushing someone and encouraging. Um I go to the ceremonies and I see my former students who have brought their families who are now ready for the parents to pursue their education. Um, too few people in the city know how important the center is and how important the people who continue their education there. And Susan has made this happen. And I might add, I believe

064there was at least once when a ceiling fell in, right? You know, Susan had to be moved out of her former school, Courier Street School, because the ceiling was falling in. and a lot of people didn't even know about it because she did it with such the move with such grace and commitment and focus to her purpose. I am going to miss watching your joy at the graduation ceremonies. Um, but I wish you and I'm sure the rest of the committee wish you nothing but the best of a happy and healthy and long retirement. And I'm so grateful I got to know you. Congratulations and thank you for your service. Real Oh, thank you. It's been a real privilege to serve in a community that values adult education the way we do here in Mthuan.

065I'm I'm extremely grateful for that. And uh our adults, they range from quite young. We have um four 17 year olds in our in our um adult secondary education class right now all the way to older. I just admit um I remember um the uh a lady who was 79 years old when she came through the doors at u on Boilston Street saying it's time for me to get my high school diploma. And we just embraced her and she did it. So, um, yeah, many many stories as you, as you're hearing, but, um, I'm again just truly grateful to be part of this community that that, um, welcomes adult education. And these are trying times we're in. We know that. And, and, um, so I'll continue to be cheering on from the sidelines and supporting

066so that um, this is our 36th year of operation and so that it continues well into the future. So, thank you. Thank you for the support. And this is from Dr. Kang um and the school committee for in recognition of your service. >> Thank you very much. Outstanding. >> How about a photo? Now we'll move on to the approval of minutes portion of our agenda. We need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of October 15, 2025. >> So moved. >> Motion from member Shabilia. The second is from uh member Daglio. Discussion. There's no discussion. We'll take a roll call vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor

067Borai, >> yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of October 21st, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shabilia, seconds from the vice chair. Discussion. >> There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Dunovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> Mayor Borgan. >> Yes. Next, we need a motion in a second to approve the minutes of October 23rd, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shabelia, seconds from the vice chair. Any discussion? If not, we'll vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >>

068What? Excuse me. Member Wlette. >> Mayor Boragod. >> Yes. Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of October 27, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. Motions from member Daglio, seconds from the vice chair. Discussion >> right here. >> Member Maxwell. >> Just a quick correction. Um there's a vote at the end and it says 70 and on unanimously approved. Um but then on during the roll call it says I was in no vote. Would you like to move to amend the minutes and make that tweak? >> Please. >> Do we have a second? >> Yes. So moved. >> All right. We have the motion to amend uh from member Maxwell. The second's from the vice chair. This is to uh reflect u I believe you mentioned member Maxwell. Correct me

069if I'm wrong. It's the final vote in the minutes. It was listed as 70 unanimous. >> Member Maxwell was a no. So, we'll just update the minutes to reflect that it was uh 6 to one. >> All right. Uh we have the second from the vice chair. Uh any discussion about the amendment? We'll vote on the amendment. >> Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Donovan. Member Keegan. >> Yes. Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borgot, >> yes. We need a motion in a second now to approve the minutes of October 27, 2025 as amended. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shibelius, seconds from the vice chair. Any further discussion? If there's not, we'll vote on the acceptance of the minutes as amended.

070>> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Donovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Boragott, >> yes. >> Next, we'll move on to the minutes of October 29th, 2025. We need a motion and a second to approve. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion is from member Shabilia, the second from the vice chair. Any discussion? Seeing none, we will vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> May Boragard, >> yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of November 6, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shabilia,

071seconds from the vice chair. Discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Donovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borg, >> yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of November 10, 2025. >> So moved. >> Motions from member Shabilia, seconds from the vice chair. Discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Dunovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member Maxwell. Yes. >> Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> Mayor Boragott. >> Yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of November 18th, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion is from

072member Shabilia. Seconds from the vice chair. Discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio. >> Yes. >> Member Donovan. >> Yes. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member Maxwell. member. >> I'm I'm gonna say no because I had a note on this and I I just can't find it. So, I'm a no. >> Okay. Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> Mayor Borgot. >> Yes. >> 61 passes. >> All right. That passes 61. Uh we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of November 19, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shabilia. Seconds from the vice chair. discussion. There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member

073Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borod, >> yes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the minutes of November 24th, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from member Shabilia, seconds from the vice chair. There any discussion? >> There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Dagriio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> yes. >> Member Shaveilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Borgot, >> yes. >> Next, we're on a staff reports. Uh, the first is superintendent and assistant superintendent update. Update on MHS bus incident with Chief McNamera and myself. I just want to point out that originally uh my plan was to have Chief McNamera come uh to the meeting on Monday night, but

074of course uh the meeting on Monday night didn't end up happening and so um given the difficulty of trying to coordinate that, he's not with us tonight. Um I don't want to speak for him. Uh but what I will say and I don't know if Mr. Goslin has any updates uh on the school side, but um I I've been in touch with Chief McName along with the superintendent uh looking at some uh maybe revised protocols going forward to address um this type of situation, make sure it never happens again. Um but that's something that I would want to bring the chief for official update from him rather than uh speak for him. Um not sure if Mr. Mr. Cosley, we have any updates? >> Well, I I will say I spoke to I received the

075email from Chief McNamera as well. I spoke to the principal of the high school today. I've also spoken to the bus company about possible protocols moving forward. Um I reached out to Mr. Officer McNamera today to set up a meeting for next week so he myself and the principal can sit down and come up with uh best steps to move forward. Um I will say the bus company is was also planning to be here on Monday. uh but we're we're unavailable today. >> So this will be something that we can uh bring uh the company and also the chief uh for an additional discussion once we're able to coordinate that in terms of schedule. Uh member Wlette. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Um I did make a recommendation to you. Um I'm not sure if

076you want to disclose that um at some point. Um I know I had something that we have to implement. Uh, but I also want to as the uh leader of the community, I did make that recommendation to you and I hopefully the city council will be on board with that too. >> Absolutely. So, what member Willlet is referring to, he and I had a discussion um and the aftermath of this incident uh talking about um safety measure that is part of our capital improvement discussion. Uh so that's something that uh we can um share. I just want to be sensitive again given the fact that um it does involve school safety. So that's something that we can outline perhaps in coordination with the chief. I know he's on board with a similar type of measure.

077>> Um so with that um >> can I ask a quick question? >> Member Maxwell. >> Um just a quick question and um I don't know if um Ian you know the answer to this. Do the students have um IDs where they could sh um show those as they're entering the bus? >> Member Max was asking if students have IDs that they're able to show to bus drivers as they're boarding a bus. >> Uh not all students do. That's what we're going to discuss next week. Yeah. >> Um obviously that would be a great way forward. We just have to make sure that we can do it in a timely fashion. So absolutely that was already in place. Sorry. >> Yeah, they should. They will. And um especially in this weather when everyone's bundled up,

078you know, um everyone should have an ID and if not, they're they're going to have to most likely stop with the bus driver to give their name and ID number to be be let on the bus. So, but I'll finalize that with the chief and the principal. >> Next on the agenda, we have uh the health and safety task force and maintenance custodial updates. Um we are going to be um we had to reschedu last week's meeting uh that was uh disrupted because of the fact that I was out with COVID. Um we do have a report here included on the agenda uh regarding um various uh ongoing initiatives within the schools. Uh I can briefly uh share uh just the 30,000 ft uh viewpoint. Um after obviously staying in in constant uh contact with

079Darren uh D from uh the department of health, human services and inspections. Uh we uh have continued to maintain this uh downward trend in terms of pest sightings. Uh he is receiving the reports and as a result of course I am uh through him. So, uh, we're continue to make progress on that front. Uh, we have a very responsive, uh, new vendor, Braymond. Uh, they're very, uh, thorough and have been conducting site visits and ensuring that we're up to speed in terms of our, uh, pest control services. Um, but in essence, what we're continuing to do is, uh, continuing to make progress on those additional exclusion measures as, uh, needs arise. Uh Darren was with I know um school administration for walkthroughs uh as he always does uh Mr. Gossel not sure if you have

080any other updates but um that's the long and short of it and this is available online in terms of the broader memo member willlette >> as I've done in the past uh through the chair to Mr. Goslin, you've been very forthcoming on furnishing. Um, prior was the PES end reports for so new vendor. I'd like to have those direct reports submitted to us if possible. You can attach it with the upcoming monthly report next month, but um definitely would like to see those reports. >> Would you like them with the school committee report or would you like me to just forward them to school committee when I get them electronically? >> Yeah, because quite frankly that' be easier as it comes in. I could just forward it off to the school committee and you can

081read it if you'd like or >> Yeah, abs. Absolutely. You were very helpful in the past on that. I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Uh we did do two walk we're continuing our monthly walkthroughs with Darren, head custodian, principal, uh myself, Dr. Kuang. Um we did a walk through Thursday morning for both the Marshia and the Tenny. Everything's still looking really good. We are expecting because of the cold weather that these this is the time of year that the little guys want to try to get back inside. So, we're keeping a diligent about that and keep an eye out there. I'm going to send a reminder out to staff about the uh reporting tool. Um sometimes I feel like they they don't want to report because they feel like they're getting somebody in trouble. We

082need all that information, you know, and we want it we want it transparent. We want it visible and we want to be able to tackle those areas we we need to tackle. >> So, member will >> um I had mentioned it during the prior meeting too with the radon. I don't think we've done it. So, I'd like to encourage the administration and also with the mayor to do that systemwide. I know in Connecticut, I think it's an automatic state law. Um, so I'd like to encourage that be done within a school system because we're doing a comprehensive top to bottom with um atmospheric conditions and pest control um and removal of foliage. That would be something I would encourage with the radon. Thank you. >> Member Daglio. >> Um, quick question. Um this is um

083for public um when we're paying for the the the company that we're paying for now. Is that coming out of our operational budget or the city's helping >> the school buildings coming out of school department? >> City buildings are coming out of the city. >> I I just want that for public. >> What they do is they they invoice us and then we we pay contracts up to a certain amount. Uh and so that's how the invoicing works. Any other questions? >> All right, >> I have a question. >> Member Maxwell, >> um, do we have an updated list on the building um, report that we were getting? I can't remember when the last time we got one was, but the the there was like a drop down list of yellow, red, green, like what's

084been completed, what's still in process. Do we have an updated list for that? She's she's asking about the when we had the initial uh I'll say facilities crisis last year. There was the spreadsheet that included um areas that were flagged by inspectors uh to be fixed and there was um you know various uh levels of importance assigned each one for triaging. >> Yeah. >> I'll see if I can go through that with Darren >> and and update it as best we can. Um, I know that was a little while ago, but uh I think I still have it. >> Yeah. And I will say, member Maxwell, that um Inspector D uh has a very thorough list that we're continuing to work through as part of the task force. So, that's something that we can certainly

085share with you. >> He checks on those areas every time we go to a walkthrough. So, >> yes. So, >> very diligent about >> I bet I was just I was just wondering if we had the updated version. It wasn't saying anything's wrong. I was >> Oh, sure. Of course. Yeah. Okay. >> Absolutely. Yep. All right. We'll move on. Uh any uh questions regarding the student enrollment data report. Next on the agenda, uh we have the assistant superintendent of student services report. Do we have any questions for Dr. Bozac? Member Daglio. So, um I something was brought to my attention. Um I guess the students went um for a day to New York. Um I don't know the exact date uh for a day trip and they were involved in an accident where the tire

086fell off if that's correct. Uh it does you want to tell a brief of that? >> Sure. Um I think I can talk about that now even though it's it's um a different item. But so there was the the senior class trip to New York. Um it's a day trip which we've done for several years in the past. Um and students leave very early on coach buses and come back late at night and they have um some planned activities through the school um with chaperones. Um so we had three coach buses go on the trip. um one about midway there had um an incident with one of its wheels and had to pull over. Um unfortunately um that group had to wait um in the parking lot with the state trooper present. Luckily the heat

087was working, the bathrooms were working um for the next coach bus to come to replace that bus. Um and so fortunately there were no injuries. The bus pulled over safely. Um, and those students were boarded on the next coach bus, were able to make it to New York City, albeit late. Um, and then I believe they did take part in most of the activities that were planned. So, to add on to that, I heard the replacement bus also got in an accident in New York City from a parent. It clipped the car and the parents weren't notified by it. So, I don't know. That's >> I too was not notified. I'm unaware of that. So I could I haven't heard that. I can check with Mr. Caret. >> Yeah. And also I had a parent

088send me pictures of the car that they clipped. So I will happy to share that with you. Um so you you can ask and they ended up walking um as well. That's what I heard from the parent. I have the pictures of the car that they clipped and I'm happy to share if necessary. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Sure. But there was no reports of injuries or anything else. >> No. >> So, do you not tape? >> Yeah. Um, to be clear, I was not attending the trip and nor was I on that bus. Um, but from what I've heard and from the videos I've seen, it was a like minor bump that was unresolved and just kept on going. No one needed it was so minor that it was not needed to be

089addressed. So, obviously, no one got hurt and just kept on going. Do we have any other questions? Discussion regarding the student services report. >> I have a question. >> Maxwell. >> Um I have a question. This is student services, correct? >> Yes. >> Okay. Um just a question regarding um a public comment the other day about the teacher uh not having a teacher in the special ed department for since October 14th. Are we allowed to discuss that or does that have to be an agenda item? I'm just curious where we are in that process. >> I'd be more than happy to discuss that. Um, so we had a teacher resignation back in October. Um, parents were notified with a disruption letter. Since that time, we have posted for the position. I am working with four

090to five different agencies trying to identify a special education teacher. Um, we have not had any successful candidates found or put forward. Um, so we are continuing to work through that process at this time, but we do not have a special education teacher. >> Are they currently being serviced um with their with a certified special ed teacher? >> We do not have a certified special education teacher for the vacancy. No. >> Oh, okay. So, nobody's filling in. So, we have we have the support staff in there and we also have um services being provided by constellations to assist in supporting those classrooms as well. >> So, all of the kids are still getting their services. >> All the students are receiving their related services as outlined in their IEPs. Um work is being done towards

091their goals and objectives, but they do not have a certified special education teacher at this time. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Do we have an update on when we will be getting one? I mean, what is the what is the process? How are we actively looking for a special education teacher? >> As previously stated, we have posted, we take down the post, we put back up the post. I've reached out to four or five agencies that I am connecting with on a weekly basis um stressing the importance. They are trying to identify candidates for us. They have not been able to identify candidates. Um, I'll be very transparent. I just had a candidate put forward to me today that is not certified or qualified for the position. Therefore, I would not be moving forward with

092um contracting for that teacher to join um the classroom. Um, are we and I I I vaguely remember saying that we had a job fair, but are we are we entertaining the idea of a job fair and are we going into places like Marramck College and seeing if they have um applicants? >> Yep. So, we we have contacts at several colleges, so we've reached out to them as well. Um, I spoke with Marramac College last week. Um, I know Miss McCarthy has um connections with Rivier University, so we're we're going through those avenues as well. Um, as for a job fair, I can definitely bring that to U. Miss McCarthy to talk further about that. Um, and then we can report back to you. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Member Daglio. >> Um,

093I just want to speak on just it's um in defense of this and I feel bad. It's really hard to find special ed teachers. I actually looked at um taking um the MTELS for special ed and it is very difficult. Um so for people I know a girl that's trying to go for her special ed license. She's failed the test five times and she's already certified in two other things. So it's very difficult for it and it's just not just uh uh Massachusetts wide, it's nationwide. It's a very difficult also it's a very difficult job and people are just not wanting to go into that field. Um it's and there's no excuse like our kids have IEPs and they need to be serviced. It's just it's not it's it's not a a position that people

094are going to and if we are trying to go for it we're paying I think it's $300 nowadays for the intel for it. I don't know or 100 people fail it. They have to wait a whole month just to retake it. So it's not like you could fail it like a driver's test and you could go next week and retake it. You have to wait a whole entire month to retake the test. So that's again I think legislation needs to be put in order to say like a person fills the test, they should be able to go right back and take it again. But I'm just trying to because I I saw people social media talking about why can't we provide services? Well, it's not just us. It's many districts that are having trouble dealing

095with this. So, I just want people to know that. Thank you. >> Member Shibilia. Uh to member Maxwell's earlier point, I know that I asked a similar question to Miss McCarthy a couple of days ago and in the discussion I did learn that they are using this tool called Handshake which goes out to all the colleges. However, it's getting it's a great tool for getting um like substitutes, BBEs, coverage, stuff like that. But it's going out to the colleges. All those kids are still kind of work in progresses work in progress and not certified yet. And I know I had the similar conversation with a friend of mine on another school committee in a different community and they're facing the same problem. And even talking to that parent after the council meeting the other night,

096it's it was the understanding like, you know, everyone can pursue further action to enforce, but there is there just aren't teachers. So, I don't know how we go about as a society encouraging people to get into this, but that's that's kind of where we are now. And it's it's unfortunate and I just I don't know how we as a school committee or the next school committee can even help that. Just to piggyback on that comment, something additionally we do with Mary Mack College is um when they have um students going through their courses, they're doing field visits to or site visits to our schools and programs. So they are walking through our special education programs. are spending time in those classrooms to try to show them what it is in practicality, not just reading about

097it in a textbook in hopes that building those connections will encourage or motivate um applicants to apply. >> Can I just ask one follow-up question? >> Let's hear from the vice chair and then we can circle back for a second round. Vice chair, >> thank you. Um, so could you explain um, so a teacher resigns, what happens? What's the process and how do we stay in compliance with the state when we don't have a teacher to put in there? Um, you know, it's not like we have extra teachers sitting around that we can just stick in and say, "Oh, we have a backup plan there. We don't have enough teachers to have a plan A, never mind a plan B." But so what happens? um what what can the parents expect because this isn't just

098the marsh at this point. I mean, I know personally my son is without a special ed teacher, right? So, so what happens? What do parents, what can parents expect? What is the process? And >> can you explain that? >> So, when we're aware of a resignation or vacancy, we are required to send out a a disruption notice to families that are impacted. Their students are impacted. Um while we continue to work to identify a special education teacher, related service provider, whatever the vacancy is, um we are continuing with support um to collect data um to and keep track of miss services so that when we do have um an identified replacement for that vacancy um or we work with parents, we come up with a compensatory plan so that we can make the student whole

099for the services that they missed. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Member Maxwell. >> Um, when we post our job postings, where do we typically post them? Are they is there a website like um I know Indeed, Indeed has or like or we just posting them to the Mthuan Schools website? >> No, we don't just post them to Methuan Schools website. Um it also connects to schoolring um which anybody can view across the state. You can do a search um through the state or multiple states. Um so it's it's a nationwide um platform that people can access. >> Do we I know we mentioned um a social media um outlet for Meduan public schools. I'm not sure where we are with the update on that, but um is there any way to push it on

100those type of um those types of things as well? Um, I'm not gonna I can't speak to the social media. I don't know, Lisa, if you want to. >> Um, no. What came to mind is when we were um short on nursing staff um and Dr. Kuang had emailed out to the school community the need. Um that may be an appropriate course of action. Um otherwise, we don't we don't have um social media channels as of yet um that are from the district. So, we have done that in the past with the nurses where we sent it out kind of to the community and then the community kind of shared it and it and you had luck with that. >> It was an email to to parents, more of an FYI um in case there

101there were a nurse um among our school community who had the hours or flexibility to pick up the time or the substitute nurse coverage. Um, so we could try something in in that line um, in case there happens to be someone who is certified and isn't currently working. >> Thank you. >> Do we have any other questions? If not, we'll move on to the uh, HR report. Any questions regarding the HR report? >> I have a question for Maxwell. Um sorry I don't have it right in front of me. I'm sorry. I I'll skip it. Thank you. >> We'll move on to the out of school suspensions and other disciplinary actions report. Any questions from the committee? >> Member Maxwell. Um, so for the disciplinary reports, I know I had mentioned um, a few meetings

102ago if we could have a different kind of dashboard reporting style. Um, and I just didn't know if we could get an update on that. Like I know we were kind of confused on what items to um list there and I was thinking maybe we could put the number of incidents in instead of the percentages because um you know like 2.78% of incidents led to out of school suspension but like how many incidents actually was that and how many of them were repeated incidents like um where are you seeing the most incidents like grade level wise? Can we get an updated dashboard? >> Yes. I think when you had brought that up earlier, um, we were going to follow up and you were going to share the types of information you'd like to have included

103on that dashboard. Um, just so it's not too busy and it'd be easy to read. Um, perhaps that's something in January the new committee would like to weigh in on what the report would look like. Um, but yeah, we'd be happy to take a look at that as well. >> Great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments? If not, we'll move on to uh the next section of our agenda, which is old business and other pending matters. I'll invite um member Donovan to share uh an update regarding the superintendent search. >> Um yes, thank you. First of all, I'd like to thank um Miss McCarthy for really doing a terrific job putting together um our input for the scope of work. We would like u the potential hire to that we would select at some

104point to head our search for the superintendent. Um Miss McCarthy did send uh a copy of the RFP to all of us. Um and she heard back from some of us and with the assumption that everything was a go. So um it was also vetted by our friends on the city side. So there should be no problems. And as you know um it should be released and published Monday. Uh the Eagle Tribune and the Central Registry. I always get it wrong. The central registry where which is the go-to place for people to find out what's available. Uh the deadline u people for submitting questions about what we're expecting will be January 5th. The bids will be due to us on Monday, January 12th. And I know um we will have to set up a special

105meeting, I would assume, so we can um rate the responses and make a decision and award. So, um, thank you for everyone who responded to Miss McCarti and shout out to Colleen for doing just one more thing and I I appreciate that, >> Vice Chair. >> Um, I just want to add that I did respond to Colleen and ask her to forward it to our new members so that they also were able to have >> I neglected to mention that some input and neglected. She assured me that she had sent it to um the two new members. >> Okay. Very good. >> Thank you. >> Any questions, comments? >> No, we're good. >> Uh if not, we'll move on. Uh next, we need a motion and a second to approve the MHSCTE middle school exploration

106and access policy and MHSCT recruitment admission and retention policy revisions as recommended by Desi. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motions from the vice chair, seconds from member Shabilia. discussion. Maxwell, >> just a um a question. Since we're reviewing policies, why would this not be included in that policy review? And I'm not asking um for for argument. I'm asking because I genuinely would like to know. >> Those are districts. So, this is the um these are the policies that were brought to you maybe a month or so ago that we um just drafted in line with the new CTE recommendations. Um and we had reached out to Desi to see if those do belong in the policies um in the booklet that you've been working on with the titles. These are different. These are policies

107that will be brought to you yearly um for updating um similar to a handbook but these do need to be um accepted by the committee um because we need to move forward with them to be aligned with the regulations. So what we had approved um very recently was um mostly to the liking of DESIE. they just wanted a little bit more clarification um in some of the areas which I indicated in yellow um to align with the new CTE policies. So I can speak to those um if that helps. So um on the middle school pathway exploration policy um whereas we had said that we would provide all requested information from CTE schools student information um they asked that we just specify what type of information that would be. this information is required of us

108um by regulation. So I just outlined that there. Um meaning that if there were a school or district that was using lottery weights, we would be be able to supply that information. Um but as you know with the new regulations, there's much less information that will go to um those schools. Um and secondly, recruitment, admission, and retention. Um, for the selection process, we had chosen not to use the the weighted lottery. We were going to do the unweighted lottery. And this would only happen if our interest exceeded the available seats that we had, which hasn't to date happened because we've been able to be flexible enough to adjust our course offerings. Um and so we had said that as part of the appeals process, the principal Muan High School and that second round would maybe

109take a look at some of that um that data such as attendance and discipline and student interest. Um and Desi corrected us saying that because that's not part of our original lottery. It really can't be part of that appeal process. Um so the appeal process is more of an appeal for the process to make sure that um a true lottery took place. Um and that's another revision here which is just specifying that that lottery will be public um and will be uh available for people to tune in virtually to see if we do get to a lottery um the students that are selected for different seats. And then finally, there's the retention um section which speaks to the practices that we already incorporate as part of our comprehensive high school. Um but it is required

110that we specify in here. And these bullets are um items that were suggested um by the state as well. Just saying that once students are part of our chapter 74 programs, we're going to do everything we can to support them um provide intervention, meet their needs, not exclude students who may be interested um in that type of education. Any questions? >> All right. If not, uh there is a motion in a second on the floor. Uh so, um there are no other questions, we'll take a vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Dunovan, >> yes. >> Member Keegan, >> yes. Member Maxwell. >> Uh, present. >> Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >> Mayor, >> yes. >> All right, that passes. Next on the agenda, we have new business. Uh we have on

111the um actual posting uh links to uh various responses relative to uh the um prospect of uh privatization. Uh RFQ responses are here. Um Mr. Goslin, I don't know if you want to share a rundown and we can discuss >> um we can discuss generally and maybe one of the school committee members on the negotiating committee can talk about um us bringing this up in negotiations and being as transparent as possible. Um custodial union has seen the RFQ as well as the responses before you guys. Um because we wanted to be definitely transparent with them. Um, we did send out the RFQ. We received, I believe it was six responses. And, um, there's going to be a lot of decisions that have to be made based on, um, what's best for the district, what the

112school committee feels is best for the district. Um, being careful not to say too much. Um, anyone who who's on the negotiating committee want to share? Um I will. Um so this is the first time that the school committee is seeing these um and absolutely no decisions have been made. This is the first time it's coming for any discussion whatsoever. Um and we are absolutely negotiating contracts in good faith. >> Member Shibilia, >> do you want to go first? So, to member Keegan's point, I I've been in the room for these negotiations. It is um I guess the good way to put it would be painfully miserable. Uh we are talking about privatization. It is a hard thing to discuss. Um these are people that many of us have had working relationships with even prior

113to coming to this body and just the exploration of this is difficult for both sides. Um, I do think it's necessary to acknowledge the the background here in the fact that this department not too many years ago had 90 some odd folks in it and now it's down to 46ish, give or take a few. Um it's we're asking these individuals to do the impossible on a regular basis which seems to be the uh the going trend here in Mthoon. I think it's also ne necessary to say that we know that the next bodies both city council and school committee are going into budget cycles that are likely going to be worse than they were last year. And as much as I hate the concept of privatization, looking at the potential savings and knowing that that

114is going to mean that our buildings will get cleaned at night, the Mthuan employees would be doing the work during the day while our kids are in the building and then we would have that money to ensure studentf facing positions. is a decision I am happy I'm not going to be on this body next year to have to make and I don't envy any of you but I I think it's necessary to acknowledge that this is not a want or need that anybody has I mean it's not a want anybody has no one wants to put anybody out of work but the reality is we are grasping its straws as a as a city to find revenue because costs are expanding and our commercial base is not blowing going up as equally as fast. So,

115this is going to be a a a lifesaver or a uh flotation device, I guess, because it's definitely not going to keep us afloat very long. And I just hope that when this does come up for a vote, that is the the frame of mind folks go into it with. Thank you, >> Maxwell. >> Um, a couple questions. How many second shift um custodians do we have? >> She told us in the last meeting too. >> I think it was about 24 >> 24 25. >> I went through the FY26 budget book today after the mayor asked me a question similar and I sent him a picture of it and I'm adding them in my head. 28 >> 28 and um Do you do their um yearly evaluations? >> I didn't hear what you said.

116>> I do not do their evaluation. No, they they are supervised by their head custodians. >> Um I know during one of I know during one of the last negotiations >> they had come up with a template. >> Um I'm not sure if they've started using it yet. >> Okay. And um I know that if if we do look into these um quotes for second shift um are we are we repurposing the second shift custodians to our buildings or would there be a use for the second shift um custodials on the city side where as you know I know the police department was just asking for extra services. Is there I mean is there a is there a way to keep our employees in a sense but um I don't want to say rehome them

117but you know find a different um option. Is that is that on the table? >> I want to be careful what I say. Um >> original to put us in a in a position. So if if this needs to be a discussion another We've had some ongoing conversations and negotiations about possible ways to move forward. Um, which we will share with you in executive session with uh, Attorney Maro here. Um, I'd feel more comfortable if we shared where we um, what we gave them, what their responses were, what offers were made, etc. But I'd prefer that we do that so that we're not showing our hand. >> Sure. Sorry about that. I didn't mean to put us in there. Okay. Thank you, >> Robert Dagriio. >> Um, so I'm going to say this very bluntly.

118We when we did the deep cleanings of the school, we did side limiters that this was going to be a one-time thing. Those people, okay, are not just workers, they're also your constituents. Most of the those those employees are people of Mun. We sat here, we fight about rights for books. We fought against um against people that were put us in a hole in the district where we found every excuse for them for not following their jobs. But these people, we literally have been cut over the years. They didn't have a strong leadership at the top because he was doing five other jobs. So they had no direction. And the first thing we do now is we're going to cut the second shift, put privatization in. Cuz even when you say exploring, we all know

119what politics is when we hit see the word exploring. All right? And I'm telling you this right now, I've never supported privatization because privatization at the end cost the city more. They tried to do it at city hall a few years back and that was a disaster. Also, these custodians that are on second shift, they have relationships with the students. Some of them, their kids went here. And the last thing I'm going to do, and I will do this on the city council side, is support anything that involves privatization in any department. All right? Not to methan residents, not to people that I actually grew up with. And you know what? They've done their job. They've gotten cut where we teachers have been filled which I am all supportive of our teachers but that departments

120always get shredded. Same thing with the city side with DPW they always get shredded because they seem to be not mattered the most the idea of it. So I'm sorry I will never support privatization in Mthuan. It has never worked. It will continue not to work. And I will not do that to our workers after we promised them here on a side letter that it was a one-time thing of of cleaning our schools and that we should be giving them the manpower that they should have so they could do their jobs. They haven't had the manpower for years. And the last thing we do when we get a chance to is shred that department more. We wouldn't do that to our teachers. We wouldn't do that to our admin and I'm sure not going to

121sit here and allow the this wording exploring of of privatization. You weren't getting quotes if you weren't exploring it. All right? This is where it's going. It always does. This is history repeating itself. So, I'm just telling you on the city council side, I will fight that all day. That's ridiculous. there >> any other member will wlette >> our main mission is to educate the children of Mthan we can't lose track of that the last two budgets we laid off people okay we were lucky at the last second to get an infusion of state dollars with the senator taking the lead of circuit breaker funding I think it was the amount of $3 million we would have had about 40 to 50 layoffs. Okay, we're at the razor's edge. If you look at the metrics

122right now with the state, they're very somber. The mass health budget had to be shored up by at least two maybe two to three billion dollars. 12,000 jobs have been lost over the past three years. We've had no commercial growth substantially in Mthan. Okay? And I'm not blaming the mayor. We lost Holy Family Hospital. That's a million dollars. So my main mission as a conservative is not to zon the taxpayers, but also to try to achieve a balance. Okay? And you do that by promoting items. And I commend the subcommittee for the finance committee to explore these items. One of them is GIC. I know for a fact the unions aren't going to like that. It has to be broached. We need a a health care analysis of how much we're costing the taxpayers of

123Mthorne. That has to be accomplished in January. There should be a forensic audit of the school department. I know council elect Drew has broached that with me. Okay, pot dispensaries. I'm not a big advocate for people smoking pot as a conservative, but if we're gonna have pot dispensaries, maybe in industrial zones to bring in some money into this community so that we actually have librarians in our schools and we tackle literacy and we save teacher positions and like the mayor said, it's the going to be the worst budget cycle in years. Okay? And there's no safety net from CO. There's no sugar rush anymore. Okay, so GIC, I know people are going to be opposed to that. Okay, pot dispensaries. I know people are going to be opposed to that. Privatization and we're talking about

124economy of scale and I might want to experiment of what schools we might actually do it or the second shift. That's open to discussion and I want to involve the incoming school committee members on that. Okay. But do me a favor, right? don't automatically as a council elect no no and then at the end of the day because I'll compare our tax system and our tax rate to to Haveril two years ago they got hammered because they had one-time revenue streams. They were doing monkey business with their co funding and doing personnel over programming, right? and they had a massive uh tax bill. We're right at the levy limit, levy limit. Okay. We don't have any incoming commercial properties that's going to be built into the next uh fiscal cycle. So, we have things that

125we have to approach and I at least will explore those because that's my obligation as a dulyeleed member of the school committee coming into the next term. And again, Members Shabili and I don't always agree on stuff, right? And on the social issues, we really don't agree on stuff, but I commend the people and I again I never will criticize someone for at least exploring the issue. I know uh member Dunovan uh and people with the the health uh and safety task force have done incredible work. The finance subcommittee is is doing incredible work. So if you say no, no, no, do me a favor, provide an alternative and I'll explore that too because we need to really do something because we're automatically in deficit. Thank you, >> member Donovan, then we can have a

126second round. >> Yeah. So I just have three very simple questions. Uh Mayor, is there any kind of discussion or do you see on the horizon the city doing something similar? Uh so this is being discussed at the police department uh to bring in as like a supplemental >> supplemental >> service. Um aside from that uh no. >> Okay. Um the other thing is and Mr. Goslin tell me if this is an appropriate question but I'm curious what would be kind of the breakdown of our custodial staff. I'm thinking are there some people who've been with Mthuan public schools for many many years? Uh, is it a younger, newer to our employment uh, group? >> Does that make sense? Do you know what I'm saying? >> You're asking me to know everyone's age. >> I

127think that's illegal. I'm just No, let me let me let me take it back. >> Um, newer. No, I didn't say that. But newer as in being employed. You know, if you broke down they've been employed by Mthuan. Maybe that tells us their age, but you've been employed by Mthun Public Schools for 20 years or two months. >> I can get you a general breakdown tomorrow. >> I'm curious. Okay. >> Um I mean, we're still struggling to get them. >> Yeah. >> You know, so >> that is true. >> You know, half of the battle is we can't find people to fill the positions. >> Yeah. >> Um I think if we if we could find people, we might be in a different position. I don't know. >> Yeah, that's that's an interesting point. >>

128Double sword. >> Yeah. Uh my third question is so what's the next step here? Where are we? What what do we do next? Meet with our attorney. >> Yeah, we're gonna have to have a >> executive >> an executive session. Um I the the quotes that we got were good for 60 days. I imagine we'll have to reach out to them and ask if they'll honor them for longer. Um and we going to have to schedule another negotiating meeting after our executive session. so that we know what we can go back to them with get a sense of the committee. >> Thank you. >> Welcome member Daglio. >> So I have a few questions. So these contracts I was looking at because I was seeing some of the quotes like from like three years worth

129of span if I'm correct on one of the companies. So the question is were they just three-year contracts or do we know the impact statement? happened those was after the are they still doing them cleanings in those towns like from the first one it might I have read it wrong from like northern Essex it said square >> the price quote is for our district what it would cost okay >> in year one what it would cost in year two what it would cost in year three they do give us references >> which when we get to that if or when we get to that point we'd have to call and see the references if they're still there why they left >> how long they've been there Yeah, because the question I'm going to have is

130because we're always talking about we got to think about down the road. Once you do this, people are going to walk. Like I just know that for a fact. So now you're going to be in a position where you don't have the staff, but then three years down the road it then all of a sudden the next contracts they're doubling their value. Then you're going to ask for going back to the custodian staff. And you know what? they might not come back. So then you're going to be short-handed. You're going to then be relying on a company to do bolt shifts. That is a possibility. You have to look at every possibility that if some of these custodian people say I'm not staying, they privatize. I'm not staying. So now you're down to 2015. So

131then you have the day shift going on and then people call out sick. Are you going to be calling the privatization company to come do the schools during the day which is going to cost you more money than it would have been if you had the custodian staff? You have to look at all possible abilities even though they give you a nice little change. You and I member will have talked about this. We need to think about what's going to happen in five years, six years and all because Mthuan you and I both know this. We never think of the worst possibilities that could happen. Yeah. But but that's what I'm thinking about. You But if you do this and they walk more members, once you go into this privatization, they have you and they

132will hit you at different prices down the road that might cost you more than if you had just hired more custodian staff to begin with. So before we go down that road, we need an impact statement that's not just going to be three years, but five years. But we'll have to see as well. I'm just worried about what's going to happen if you go down this road. That's all I'm saying. member will >> again. I was a city councelor during the great recession and we had to make a choice between people losing their homes or massive layoffs or massive concessions like doubledigit concessions from the unions on the municipal side. The school side didn't match the municipal side. You look at that it it happened. the school side didn't match with the municipal side. So,

133there was a disparity. Like again, I've been there on the front lines and making difficult decisions. Um the worst case scenario I think is happening in this state because I look at job growth. I look at um running a muck out of control with the health care costs. I see the circuit breaker as a lifeline. Uh even again our neighboring state of New Hampshire, Salem, New Hampshire with their special education budget is going is going to destroy their municipal budget and they rely upon the property tax more than any assistance from the state. Okay, CO is over and during the great recession, the federal, state and local governments had a massive whammy of collapsing uh revenue. Okay, we're not even in a technically in a recession yet, but the last two budget cycles, we've had

134to lay off people. Okay, I don't think that's uh happened in the past unless we were shoring up a massive deficit because of a prior administration. So, I see the tunnel. I see the road down and I'm not happy what I'm seeing. So I I have to explore like I said the GIC and and part dispensaries and maybe some form of privatization. >> Yeah. >> Question procedural. Do we have to take any action tonight? >> No, this is just discussed. Okay. Thank you. >> And I definitely wouldn't take any action at all without the incoming school committee and I wouldn't take any action at all without the consultation of our school attorney. So that's it would again this is purely uh discussion only. Um but again like there'll be other ideas coming forward and I

135think they were talking about other things of tinkering with uh health insurance or doing something. Um, but even the the meals tax going up from uh 75 to to 1% that's something too if that's going to come into the schools and again you can only sell so many buildings you know and then you we're going to hopefully get 100% and I think that was what we as a committee and I definitely was advocating for that because I was the one recommending it that when we sell our buildings 100% of the proceeds should go back into the schools to shore up our accounts. And what we do is we buy in advance with the circuit breaker to buy us more time for the following year. But that wiggle room and that margin of error is going

136smaller and smaller. So we had two major contracts which I commend the members of this committee who served on those negotiating teams. I think those were fair and equitable contracts. Okay. But what we've had to do because we're right at the levy, excuse me, levy limit is that we've had to do layoffs the last two years because of health care costs and transportation costs and circuit breaker costs. Those are going to still be structural deficits going in plus the enrollment figures that causes a a major deficit for us, too. So, I'm interested in those conversations and that's what I want to do. Thank you. Any other discussion? All right, we'll move on. Member Shabilia, >> I just want to clear up the elephant in the room because I know member Maxwell had asked a question

137and as a generalization, this is privatization. We know this is going to mean a reduction in workforce. That was I think the comment I made originally is how much it is absolutely just sucks to sit in that room and know that because those guys on the other side of the table knew it too. It is it is just the reality of how this works and that's where the savings comes from because just like every other company out there, it's cheaper to pay a third party contractor than to have people and have to pay all the ancillaries that are associated with them. It's it's the math and it's why a lot of companies out there even exist. But I just I I wanted that to be said. and I want it to be acknowledged because it

138is an a reality of what we're we're looking at. >> All right. I think just very quickly the bids that we've received, right, the contracts that the companies have had with school districts comparable to us have been there for decades. So, I would encourage anyone because this is all public information is to reach out to those school districts. I think Malden was one of them, right? Not all of the the bids, but couple of the bids that I'm focused on, you're talking about 40, 50 years in the business, okay? Uh union members, okay? And then longstanding contracts with school systems that are comparable to Mthoran, including Malden. So it's not a fly by night operation. Some of them have union members. Okay. Some of them have won awards and they've had uh longstanding contracts maybe

139at least 10 years in many cases. uh Woodia Tech, Malden, Nem. Um so I would encourage everyone to read those and not just rush to a judgment and not engage in fearongering and again work with the school committee and I'll have those separate conversations. Okay? And it's something I have to do it because I don't want to go into the next budget cycle and automatically thinking I have to lay off 20 to 30 people and a lot of them are going to be front loading uh teachers uh frontfacing positions. I don't want to do that. Our main mission, just to recap, is that we're focused on education and that's what I've worked with my colleagues the last two years and that's what I'm going to go into the next two years. Thank you. >> Next

140on the agenda, we have finance and operations. I'll invite the committee to share any questions you may have on the expenditure report and revolving funds report. >> I sorry um I just noticed that the link for the general budget and revolving budget um it's not live. Um so those doesn't look like those reports are there. I will get those in there tomorrow and I will send make sure you guys have copies of them. And I also believe that the food services memo there's supposed to be a link there as well to go along with the financials. Um I'll get all three of those to you guys tomorrow. Next on the agenda we have the grants report for the month of November. >> Any member Shibilia? Are we ever going to knock the stuff off of

141here that's from like 2013 20 uh 2012? >> I know if I ever come back here someday, Ian, and you know, it's seven or eight years. >> The Tenny Memorial Fund will never be knocked off there ever. Um, every year they donate money and every year we cut checks to Mthun High School students. Last year we cut um $49,500 in scholarships. Um, so we will get another check for next year. So that will always be there. Uh Ryan will be happy to know that I I bought two replacement basketball rims that are slotted to be installed at the marsh and I'm looking for a way to spend the other $328 on that one so we can close that out. >> Yeah, like we've got the ARP idea one from 2022. I mean there's a dairy

142council one here from 22. I know that our cafeteria still buy milk. Let's let's >> Yeah, we'll >> buy some milk. >> Rules on what you can sp spend them on. So, we'll spend them. >> All right. >> I got I got to talk to food services about the dairy one. I believe that was something that we purchased and then returned because it was faulty and then no longer needed. So, we have to buy it again. Member Maxwell, >> um can we can we get a report maybe even just an update on um what each grant funds, how much um actually has been spent and the impact on students? Um you know, like did it add staff, reduce weight times on special ed services or eval what what you know, whatever the impact was. Can

143we get a student impact statement? >> I think she's asking for um a more comprehensive breakdown of say um any measurable result that came from using the grant funds. >> Yes. >> I'm not sure how to reply. Maybe u Lisa. >> Um sure. I think um maybe what would be what you're looking for is um a really simplified budget of how how we spend each grant in terms of stipens or the project or if we're securing curriculum um kind of like a cheat sheet for for what we're using it for. I think that might make sense. Um, the grants all operate on different timelines. Some are a year, um, some needs to be spent midyear, some are multi-year. So, um, I'm not envisioning a really clear outcomes document, um, but I could outline the work

144that's being done within the grant funding if that helps. >> That'd be great. Thank you. >> Any other questions? If not, we'll move on to the student activity report uh for the month of November for each school. Uh any questions from the committee? Not we'll move on to the food services report. Any questions from the committee? If not, we'll move on. Uh next we have on the agenda warrants. We need a motion and a second to approve the warrant of November 7, 2025. >> Second. >> Motions from member Donovan, seconds from the vice chair. Discussion. There's no discussion. Will Member Maxwell >> I just I know that I couldn't meet with Ian um to get an update on the um special ed breakdown of what we are spending in each warrant. Um, I think with

145budget cycle approaching, I think that that would be really helpful information to have. I know our schedules just didn't, you know, coincide, but if we could get maybe an email update and with the document that would show us the breakdown so we know what is actually being spent and what's going out on special ed services. >> I was going to mention this at the at the end, but I actually brought hard copies of vast majority of the stuff you asked for. I have a list of all the rental people for the last since um January 2025. I have um couple members had asked me about the water bills on the um and that our last the fir the second quarter of this year our water bill was about $40,000. Um last year it was 39,000

146for this quarter. We we do pay for water and sewage like anyone else. And every year when I do the budget, I do call and say what's the anticipated increase and we we budget accordingly. And I also was asked not only by you but I think another member had asked about sped breakdowns for in district as well as out of district. So I have that included on one bridge spreadsheet. I have transportation and then I have out of district breakdown and in district breakdown and I use the funds or I use everything we spend out of regular budget circuit breaker as well as federal grants when I did that so that you just have it's not going to match your budget book because I included those other funds but it'll give you an idea of

147where we're spending our money. So I have hard copies I will email you I'll scan them tomorrow and email them to you. member. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Any other discussion? If not, we'll vote. >> Member Daglio, >> yes. >> Member Donovan, >> member Keegan, >> yes. >> Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor, >> yes. >> 61 passes. >> Passes 61. Uh, also just to mention this is kind of retroactive a formality for us. So this isn't like we're not moving forward with warrants. Anyway, um, we need a motion in a second to approve the warrant of November 14th, 2025. >> So moved. Second >> motion from member Dagio, second from member Shabilia. Discussion. >> There's no discussion. We'll vote. >> Member Daglio.

148>> Yes. >> Member Donovan. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. Member Maxwell, >> no. >> Member Shabilia, >> yes. >> Member Wlette, >> yes. >> Mayor Boragard, >> yes. >> 61 passes. >> Next, we need a motion and a second to approve the warrant of November 20th, 2025. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from member Daglio, second from member Shabilia. Discussion. >> There's no discussion. Uh we'll vote. >> Member Dagio. >> Yes. >> Member Donovan. >> Member. Yes. >> Member Maxwell. >> No. >> Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >> Yes. >> Mayor Borgo. >> Yes. >> Pass. >> Next on the agenda, we have contract awards. There are none. Grant awards. Uh none. Notification of appointments and other personnel matters. Uh we have none. Uh lastly, we have other business from the committee.

149On the agenda, there was a discussion about the superintendent search, but we already covered that. Um what I'll do now uh this is the final meeting for uh member Shabilia and councelor elect Daglio. Uh I'll invite uh both of you if you wanted to say a few words in closing. >> Yeah. So I just want to say to the people in Mthuan um it's been an eventful six years on the school committee with me. Um the first year I was on the first three months we we have we were hit with CO and you know it it's I've always said when I took this position that my job is to represent all people in Methuan. I love my town. I've lived here for 27 years. I went through Mthuan public schools. Um, I went to

150college and like most of us, we said we couldn't wait to leave this town, but just like most of us, we end up living in it because at the end of the day, I couldn't see myself living anywhere else. And when I decided that, you know, I didn't like the things that were going on in my city, um, someone once told me, then, you know what, if you have a problem with it, just get involved, make the change. And I think I I think I've done that. I think I've I you know, I advocated what I truly believed in. You know, like most people have said, they like, "Ryan, I might not agree with probably 99.9% of the things you do, but we know that you do it in the best interest of the city."

151And you know what? I can live with that. And I will continue to do that as your next city councelor. I want to thank everybody. Ian, um, Gina, Martha, we went through six years together and it's been a pleasure. And even though I won't be sitting here, you will always have support for me. And I I mean that. Um, and I hope I have your support as well. So, thank you again everybody, and we'll see you in January. >> Good night, Ryan. I'll do it right when we do the adjournment. >> When I pulled papers for this a little over two years ago, I really wanted to dislike all of you. Actually, Ian called me on that the other day when he called me on something. Um, I I mean, the last two years have

152been so enlightening. I have learned so much. I have made a lot of votes that I'm very proud of. I've got to work with a lot of great people. I've got to meet even more. I want to apologize upfront for the things I'm going to say to you guys from the podium in a few weeks. Uh and to you, Ryan, just in a different room. But it's I know that I have not always been I mean the public doesn't get to see it because they're not in your offices and they're not in our email, but I haven't always been easy to work with. I know I've driven Brandy crazy and Ian crazy and Gina crazy and I'm surprised Martha hasn't stabbed me a few times in the parking lot, but it's you guys are the

153reason that this district is doing as well as it is. And the public is never going to see that because you all picked horrible career paths for per uh for a PR perspective. It's they're never going to understand the work that you all do, the restraint that you all do it under, and the conditions and confidentiality that you have to operate under. You are never going to be painted as the hero, but I think if anyone who gets to sit in the seat will learn that. And I just hope you all keep doing what you're doing and we'll uh we'll keep going. I love the cheering that's coming from the other room. That was Yeah. Um Wow, it's getting wild. >> Yeah. Um I'm not going anywhere, so I'll be here. Don't hate me when

154I'm at the podium. as both mayor as a um as a thank you to you guys leaving the district did order you guys something very small because I made sure it was very small um it just hasn't come in yet. We will get that to you as soon as they come in. So thank you very much for all you do. >> Thank you for your service. Thank you both. >> So with that I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Um can I ask for other business? Sorry. >> Sorry, >> member >> Max. New business. >> Uhhuh. >> Um I just wanted to bring up um if we could add to maybe the next agenda a discussion on adding CPAC and ELPAC um representatives to the table maybe quarterly or or at some point maybe kind

155of like the student representatives so that they can give us an update on their organizations. Um I think that would be a great discussion to have. Um, and I know we do have some other administrative contracts that are up for renewal this year that I've asked for um some meetings on. So, if um that could be added to either an agenda or maybe a special meeting, I would appreciate that. >> Thanks. Thank you, Member Maxwell. Um, so with that, we'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion from member Dagio, second from member Shabilia. Any discussion? Not will vote. >> May, excuse me, member Daglio. >> Wow. >> Yes. >> Member Dunovan. >> Member Keegan. >> Yes. >> Member Maxwell. >> Yes. >> Member Shabilia. >> Yes. >> Member Wlette. >>

156Yes. >> Mayor Borgot. >> Yes. >> The time is 7:46 and we are >> for the last time. Good night, McDth. I hope when you get there. >> What do you got? >> A whole packet. I would Thank you for your kind words. >> What? >> Why? >> I'm never gonna be there for a good reason. >> It'll be all good. Oh, really? >> I do. I look forward to seeing you. I hope Ryan