Middleborough Public Schools: School Committee Meeting - February 12, 2026

001Good evening everyone. >> I'd like to call this meeting to order. Under the open meeting law, I am informing the public that this meeting is being recorded by Middle Educational Television, ME. If anyone in the audience is taping the meeting, either audio or video, please inform us at this time. Yes. Thank you. >> Appreciate that. Thank you. Now, if you're able, I would ask that you rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> Moved over there. >> Second. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We're going to begin this evening with our student spotlight. I'd like to call on Tim and our wonderful student, Gabriel. You guys scoot over and let

002him uh give him a give him a chair. Why don't you sit on the stage for a minute? a little machine up here. >> Absolutely. >> All right. >> Well, good evening everyone. It's great to see you all. >> Good to meet you. >> I am so pleased tonight to be able to to stand before you and introduce um one of our eighth grade students, Gabriel Afairer. Um, Gabriel is the Nicholls Middle School Project 351 um, selection or candidate this year. Um, and uh, you know, I I couldn't have been more honored. You know, I I didn't know um, Gabe much uh, before the start of the year, but listening to staff talk about him and listening to kids talk about him uh, made it so clear to me that he is someone who's held

003in the highest esteem by everyone that works with him and knows him. Um, so it really made me feel great to know that he was the one that was selected for this. Um so project 351 um for those of you unfamiliar um it was founded in 2011 by Governor Patrick. Um they their goal is to engage eth grade students um in a five-year um leadership continuum for skill development, civil enga civic engagement, career readiness, and and social impact. Um the project 351 name comes from the 351 cities and towns in Massachusetts. Every town and city is asked to select one representative to represent their town. Um and their goal is um teaching students that small acts of social um justice and civic engagement can make their community a better place. Um it can make their

004town and their community a better place to live in and and they can be proud of their work and their impact on their local community. Um I'm going to read real quickly uh Gab's um nominating um statement. I asked the staff at the beginning of the year to select students that they thought were worthy of this honor. something about Gabe. So their statement was Gabe Lefarer is an outstanding student whose quiet leadership and genuine kindness make him a role model within our school community. He consistently demonstrates responsibility, integrity, and respect towards his classmates and teachers. A strong reader and exceptional academic achiever, Gabe approaches learning with curiosity. More importantly, he treats everyone with compassion and fairness, embodying the values of service and empathy that define Project 351. Gab's character and dedication make him an excellent

005choice for ambassador and he was the overwhelming choice amongst our staff. So that being said, I want to introduce you all to Gabe. [applause] Uh hello. Uh my name is Gabriel Lefer like you said. Um and I wanted to talk about the main uh ideals of project 351 which is how you can help just one person and make a difference. Um and there is a poem called the starfish story and 351 likes to reference it a lot. It's uh very important to them and I have it here and I would like to read it to you. So this is how it goes. A young girl was walking along a beach upon which thousands of starfish had been washed up during a terrible storm. When she came to each starfish, she would pick it up and

006throw it back into the ocean. People watched her with amusement. She had been doing this for some time when a man approached her and said, "Little girl, why are you doing this? Look at this beach. You can't save all these starfish. You can't begin to make a difference." The girl seemed crushed, suddenly deflated. But after a few moments, she bent down, picked up another starfish, and hurled it as far as she could into the ocean. Then she looked up at the man and replied, "Well, I made a difference to that one." The old man looked at the girl inquisitively and thought about what she had done and said. Inspired, he joined the little girl in throwing starfish back into the sea. Soon others joined and all the starfish were saved. [applause] >> Gabriel, may I

007ask you a question? >> Yeah. Um, so you've already done the first day, I believe, of the, you know, the the initial meeting of all of the 351 members. What did you take out of it that you really want to do moving forward? So, do you have a a goal moving forward? Um, nothing in particular to be quite honest, but I am very very honored to be brought into this group of people and I think I would like to express that by just helping as many people as I can bit by bit. >> Wonderful. What was your uh [applause] >> um so you in 351 you have the option to do a spring service. Um I am participating and basically you get to choose to start some sort of drive like food or clothing and

008a host site uh where you will collect. Um, so I am going to do it at my school and I'm trying to get my friends to help me out with it. I think we're hopefully going to make some flyers, put them around town maybe, and we're just going to collect as much as we can and all of the donations will go to an organization called Cradles to Crayons at the end. >> Wonderful. And we will be happy to promote your your drive once you have all the details and announce it at uh a future school committee meeting. >> Thank you. Congratulations, Gabriel. >> Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Thank you. Have a great evening. >> Thank you. [applause] [applause] Our next order of business is a a new item on our um asking

009if we could find a way on our agenda to do thank you for something that he found very impactful. So, I wanted to add uh this little grateful for corner onto our agendas just so that if any of us in the future have a a special thing that you want to have a moment just to say your appreciation for, we can put it on the agenda and and do so. So, Chris, I'd like to ask you to share the first item of gratitude. >> Thank you very much. Um, this one goes to director Sylvia, uh, the boys and girls basketball programs and principal Grip Bangan. Uh, last month they were host to youth nights, um, where either the Middleboro youth basketball or Middleboro travel basketball. Um, all the players were allowed to come get their

010families in for free if they wore their jerseys. We're talking the earliest of elementary through 8th grade. um they got to be part of the starting lineups, the national anthem, the halftime shows. It it's something special when you we see the vertical engagement. Um and you know it those for a lot of those kids, they're never going to forget it. So uh just a a thank you to uh both programs, director Sylvia and Principal Brandan. >> Thank you, Chris. [applause] And then I just wanted to take a moment to express our thanks to the Middle DPW and the hardworking members of our facility staff here at MPS for all the work they did to help clear out our piles of snow and make it so everybody could get back to school as safely as possible.

011So, thank you to all of them. >> You're here. [applause] We're going to take a brief adjustment from the agenda. Um because it is a school night, we're going to allow our student representatives to present their items and then we will return to public comment. So, please go ahead, gentlemen. >> Okay. Um so, we're going to be starting with just some district-wide announcements. Um, tomorrow, February 13th, is an early release day and February break is next week, the 14th to the 17th. We would just like to wish everyone a happy vacation. So, first we go to the mech and the word of the month for February. The mech is courage. Uh, the kindergarten registration has opened. It opened February 1st for the 202627 school year. The PTA is very excited about the masquerade dance which

012is tonight and students can wear whatever they are comfortable in. Uh masquerade masks can be worn and they will also have a mask making station during the dance. Uh the principal would like to remind families that they do not go out for recess unless the wind chill is above 24°. So if it is below they will stay inside. So, please dress your children accordingly and reach out to her or their child's teacher if they need help with gloves, hats, or coats. And they have a comfort closet in their school with extras of anything they would need. The Champions Camp is now enrolling for current and incoming kindergarteners. It takes convenience, flexibility, and laughter to the max with unplugged activities that inspire creativity, confidence, and friendship. It has expertbackpacked curriculum in themed weeks like outdoors, arts,

013and STEM are filled with field trips, interactive sports, winter, water play, sorry, group activities, adventure, and more. This is a summer activity. The preschool lottery is still in effect. The applications have closed and the lottery is going to be held has been held today and you will be notified next week. And that is it for the mech. >> Okay. Okay. And then we'll be moving on to the MKG. Uh classrooms will celebrate 100 days of learning on the 13th. We will also be celebrating Valentine's Day with a friendship card exchange on that same day. Flyers have been sent home with information about how students can participate. We would also like to extend a congratulations to all the musicians who performed in last week's concert. We were blown away by the hard work and practice put

014in this year to improve as musicians. Uh there's little from the HBB, but they also wanted to congratulate all those who performed in the concert last week. And this week is their math spirit week. So they've been dressing up as different math themed days like odd day, double day. It's It was cute. All right, now we moving on to Nicholls Middle School. The MCAST calendar for all grades have been released and can be found on the newsletter. So remember to pencil in those dates. And a congratulations to all of the students who participated in the wonderful production of the Susicle. It was the culmination of months of hard work. And an extra special congratulations to the two co-directors, Mrs. Thornton and Mrs. Shoble or Scoble. I apologize. Yeah, I don't. And at the MHS, we

015want to thank the student council for their work in planning an amazing winter ball. Jack Beaton and Lily. Awansky for the class of 2029, Mike Marzelli and Kenzie Roberts for the class of 2028, Ryan Tolish and Grace Lynch for the class of 2027, and our Snow King and Queen was Atly Finny and Lily Price, which are the class of 2026. So, congrats to all of them. And thank you to the student leaders who facilitated tours for the class of 2030 in the annual open house. Um and congratulations to the 12 choir students and one band student for being selected for senior sba in March. Uh we had a almost 90% if not more percentage of accepted students into sba which I believe is one of the highest percentage we've ever had and if not the

016highest amount that we've ever had get in. So congratulations to all of them and congratulations to all involved in the art showcase. That was a very successful event. The quarter 2 report cards were released through Aspen to all students on Wednesday. The annual scholarship information night was also on Wednesday and this evening was designed to walk seniors and parents and guardians through the scholarship application process and it was recorded as well as the scholarship Google classroom for all seniors who could not attend. The 2026 to 2027 program of studies night was hosted on February 10th and the Aspen portal will open in March students grades 9 through 11 to pick their classes for next year. Be on the lookout for more information. And if you are interested in student government or leadership, please consider being

017a part of the American Legion boy state and girl state that is open to members of the junior class. Um, it will take place during a week in June on the campus of Stonehill College. And you are also, if you are interested in law enforcement, please consider being part of the American Student Trooper program in partnership with the Massachusetts State Police. It is also open to all members of the junior class and it will take place a week in the summer at the State Police Academy. If you are interested, please email Mr. Brangan no later than Friday, February 27th to be considered. And we also just want to congratulate the delegation of students that went to the winter seam mask conference yesterday. It was yesterday. It was yesterday. I keep forgetting what day it is.

018Um they had a very successful evening with getting it to interact with other student councils in the area. And we want to congratulate Lily Pon for running for uh I have it written for Camask president and we congratulate her for all her hard work. >> Okay. And then finally, we're going to be moving on to athletics. Uh, congratulations to Matt Patterson, who made state history, earning 250 wins in wrestling. We're very proud of securing their ninth straight Southshore League title in a row. Congratulations to Atly Finny for securing Southshore League MVP and indoor track and field with a unanimous vote. And congratulations to the MHS wrestling team for winning their third Southshore League Championship this week. A huge congratulations to Lily Dwire and Grace Lynch who competed at the South Sectional State Swim meet on

019Friday afternoon. MHS placed seventh in the 200 freestyle and qualified for the state championship meet this weekend. A note of appreciation to Lily Dwire for her outstanding record in her sport as she makes her way to the state championship for the 200 medley relay. We are very proud of you and congratulations to the boys basketball team for punching their ticket to the state tournament. That concludes. Thank you so much, gentlemen. We appreciate all the announcements. Any questions for our student reps? >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] All right. So, we're going to now move on to the public comment portion of our agenda. We do ask that you state your name for the record and direct all your comments through me, the chair. We ask that your comments relate to items within

020the purview of the school complaints regarding personnel or students should be directed to the appropriate administrator outside of this meeting. The committee will not engage in discussion with the speaker or take action on any matters not on the agenda tonight. We do allow three minutes per speaker. Please be mindful of time. It does look like we may have a lot of speakers tonight and we want to accommodate as many as possible. Um, I'm hoping to allow everyone here who's interested in speaking to speak, but we will keep uh track of the time and if we need to break things up, we will do so. So, the floor is now open. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alexis Burrow, 75 Weirham Street. Um, I'm coming to you as a resident of this town. Yes, a teacher at

021the Mary Kay Good School, a first grade teacher for 10 years. um a parent of a current second grader at Mary Kay Good School and one coming up the way at kindergarten next year. Um and I am also a union rep with our Middle Education Association. Um I'm here to speak about the concerns as a teacher and as a parent. Um because last week we were told through administration by a written statement that was read to us that we were going to have a $2.7 million deficit and there will be a reduction in staff. Um all of us were blindsided. Um we were told the previous night last Monday to go to the select board meeting about the town budget. Things seemed to be doing okay with our town budget. So we were not expecting

022that news the following Tuesday. Um and when I had asked um Mr. McGrael I went to select board meeting on Monday and I asked him if he was aware of these deficits. He was I quote unaware. Um, and I'm worried that there is a disconnect between the town of Middleboro and a disconnect between the school district because the entire town should know what's happening with the money of the town and where it is going and how it is being handled. Um, what can happen with this deficit? So, as a teacher, I can tell you classroom sizes will increase. Interventionists could be cut. So less interventionists mean less opportunities to provide interventions and services for kids who need it. Um ESPs could be cut. How do we make sure our IEPs are in compliance? If we

023don't have enough ESPs who are already stretched thin as it is, um for our special education teachers who are already stretched thin with their case load, I can't imagine how we can properly service these students and give them the best education they need. Um, another point is, you know, if if you were at the select board meeting, you also heard me share about the concerns of the state of our building at the Mary Kay Good School. Um, what's going on with the money? You know, it's we should be funding our buildings and maintaining them. There is absolutely no reason. And now I'm speaking as a parent because if I was as parent of a third grader in that classroom, I would be furious to know that a custodian-sized barrel is sitting in the middle of

024that classroom while my child is learning. And that has been happening. This is the second year that that teacher has had that custodiansized barrel. So we need to make sure that the money that we're getting from the town is being allocated to the proper things maintaining our buildings. They need to make sure we are pushing a a a good budget. We should not be having a deficit because it will severely impact the state of our students learning. Um and the fact that there was a parent square post that was given a couple of nights ago about the state of our budget sounding like because our teachers got a 3.5% increase that that is why we are having a budget constraint. when I know negotiations negotiated in good faith and when you compare the interest rate

025or the salary increase I should say compared to administrative positions in the school district >> of middle borrow and other sectors we do not have a high increased salary compared to others >> your time is up I just ask you to wrap up please >> thank you so all I'm just going to say is I'm thinking of the kids I'm thinking of how are we going to give them the best education in the best facilities that they deserve in this town. Thank you. Thank [applause] you. [applause] Hello. Um, my name is Julie Bradley. I live at 17 Tavern Crossing. I am here tonight as a taxpayer, a kindergarten teacher in the district, and as a mother of two children who have come through this school system. I am speaking tonight on behalf of the mech

026staff, that's the Memorial Early Childhood Center, about the reading program chosen for the district. Please know that we understand the district's need for both horizontal and vertical alignment. All students should be exposed to the same content, hear the same consistent language, and follow similar routines to allow for a more equitable education. We respect the decision to find a program as one way to facilitate this. [snorts] The recently approved Savas reading program was presented to the school committee without the feedback submitted from the teachers who piloted the program. I was one of them. Our comments were completely left off the document presented to you and the curriculum review committee. We do not in fact support the implementation of the SAVIS program at our grade level for the following reasons. The skills are either not developmentally appropriate

027or are not in a developmentally appropriate sequence. There is no differentiation or support provided for special education students or learners who benefit from a slower pace of instruction. There are no independent reading material because we are only using half of the program. The district has purchased a full program for over $400,000 and we are only going to use half of it. As a taxpayer, this does not sit well with me. The books provided by the program are not accessible for students. They are not the rich, engaging, authentic text that our youngest learners benefit so greatly from. Teachers are spending extra hours rewriting and creating lessons because the teachers manuals are not userfriendly and there is insufficient building of background knowledge and visual support in the materials provided. We strongly believe this program does not meet

028the needs of our students. While these students are trying to rise to the challenges set forth in SAVIS, they are missing other critical developmentally appropriate skills in the process. Pre-writing skills, learning letter names and sounds, developing drawing strategies and early writing skills like sounding out words to label pictures are sorely lacking in the classrooms that piloted this program. Year after year we witness the decline of the social emotional skills of our students and the pushing of academics that they can do is a contributing factor for this. >> I just asked you to wrap up. >> Okay. Just because they can doesn't mean they should. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Hi, I'm Christina Stoker. I am the kindergarten lead teacher at the MEAC. I'm going to pick up where my colleague left

029off. Kindergarten is often a child's first exposure to school. Rather than focusing on readiness skills, appropriate peer interactions, and building a proper foundation for literacy and math, these programs teach prepositions or adding e s at the end of some nouns to make them plural. Focusing on the advanced skills often lead to confusion, self-doubt, and disengagement. This program leaves gaps in foundational skills and set students up for failure. We want them to learn to love school, to become kind, successful, resilient classroom citizens and to be ready to tackle the work and learning that is to come with a positive mindset. This program hinders our ability to focus on these things. Keep in mind, these children are five years old, some with zero school experience. They're learning how to get through the day without a nap, to

030be without their caregiver for the first time, to learn how to be with a peer and ask them to play with them, learning how to pick up a pencil. The kindergarten pilot teachers, myself as teacher leader, coaches, interventionists, and principal met with the curriculum team to voice these concerns. We presented possible options to move forward without the implementation of either HMH or SAVS, like piloting other programs to find the right one for our students or continuing the work we've done over the last four years to develop and align our current ELA resources. Lastly, we ask that if they didn't if they did to adopt either of these programs, our grade level be excluded so that we can teach the skills the students in front of us need in developmentally appropriate ways. We the teachers have

031been told again and again by our curriculum leaders that we are the experts. We know our students best. Why then has our feedback been ignored? We believe that our curriculum team does ultimately have the good of our students in mind by seeking out a program but has done our students, teaching staff and taxpayers an injustice by misrepresenting our position on SAVIS in order to simply put something rather than the right thing in place. The implementation of this program will greatly impact the teaching and learning of the district's youngest students. We urge you that in the future, when presented with such an important decision, you dive deeper, ask questions, and seek the feedback of your teachers, your experts. Thank you for your time. [applause] Alexander Cook, East Main Street. We need to be funding our schools

032more, not less. The data shows how impactful a K through2 education is for future success, not to mention avoiding crime and incarceration. every dollar spent uh comes back to this community in increased tax revenue when our students are earning more in their jobs after they graduate. It come it makes sense that we do need to be prudent with our spending. Every dollar the budget spends should answer the question, how does this help our students? This is not the year to leave the schools hanging deprioritized in the budgeting process, cutting teachers and increasing class size. It is not an administration veri versus teachers situation. It is an unescap inescapable problem of funding education or not. Not funding a system that is already underfunded is a failure that we can and should not allow. Thank you. [applause]

033>> Hi Eileen Penny. I have been in the district for almost 30 years as a fourth grade teacher at HBB and MKG. In addition, my own kids have gone through the system with the final one graduating this year. Um, so tonight I speak to you as a parent, educator, and resident. During this time, I have worked under eight superintendent and nine principles. Think of where you were 30 years ago. I was beginning my career at HBB, which was then a four through six school. Teachers could give out popsicles when it was stifling in the classroom in June. Kids were excited when the TV was reeled in to watch Where in the World is Carmen San Diego. In 1999, sixth grade was moved to Nicholls and HBB, then became a three through five school. Today, I

034am at the reconfigured MKG. Ironically, the room I am in is a prior HBB room. I am lucky enough to remember teaching without MCCAST and technology and the kids still learned. I have had a class as small as 16 students and as large as 32. I've spent half of my time as a regular ed classroom teacher and half as an inclusion classroom teacher. I've been through the ups and downs of the complex. Closure due to mold, [laughter] temporary moves due to faulty electrical systems. many many many different admin and through it all the constant was always kids eager to learn. Through all of this I have never seen leadership or lack thereof as bad as it is right now. The absence of strong leadership has created systemic subpar communication and a special ed department that

035is in such turmoil that the district last year received a needs assistance grade from DESIE. When did this downward spiral start? In 2016, prior to being superintendent, our current leader was the special ed director. Since this time, there has been upheaval in teaching positions, insufficient staffing, inadequate specialized curriculum, and lack of meaningful collaboration. Currently, for the third year in a row, our fourth grade sped teacher at MKG has more students on her case load than any regular ed teacher with 30. The majority of these students are split between three rooms, excuse me, with regular ed students. In addition, she has two and a half hours of pullout services per day for these same students. When is she in our classrooms? She's not. I'll do the math for you. It's not possible. Or is it sustainable?

036I came here not to rehash the things we cannot fix, but going forward, there must be more scrutiny of what leaders are putting forth. Fancy presentations and pitches do not always give a clear picture of reality. Before accepting blindly, ask the teachers and the staff who work with the children every day. A proposal like reconfiguration cannot be thrown out in February without actually having had numerous conversations and data collection. Implementing a SAVIS ELA curriculum is certainly not a fix to our special ed problems. If we had been asked and listened to, we could have told you that. Please, >> I ask you just to wrap up. >> Okay. >> Please ask teachers, staff, parents, and families. They will tell the reality. >> You want to read the last? [applause] >> Thank you, >> Megan Grady.

037Serving on the school committee is a volunteer position, which can be thankless, but it is also very important. You are the keepers and overseers of the budget as well as the liaison between the schools and other town departments. Without careful review, leadership choices are not always made in the best interest of students. Who suffers? Our students, our teachers and staff who work with the students of this town daily. We are very tired. Middleboro, we can do better. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> James O'Brien. Um, I'd like to start as a a nine-year school committee member and a chair for part of that through budget deficits and part of a building committee as well as two solar bylaw committees. I understand the time that you put in and the sacrifice that you put in works

038out to be what about six bucks an hour by the end of the year, right? You it's a very thankless job and the responsibility that you have is huge. So I would like to start by thanking you for your service and your dedication to take this time to do so. With that in mind, this next year will be my 25th year in Middleboro service. Uh 10 years at HBB, 14 at MKG, and now one to TBD. I support reconfiguration with a solid plan because I think it should happen to benefit Middle and I think it will benefit Middle. But we've done a lot of spontaneous changes around here and we've been very reactionary. Uh I think it's nine superintendents Eileen as well as seven principles and seven different vice principles. You work in a business

039and if any business did that within a 25-y year period, there's no stability to that business. We're looking at the wrong places where the instability is happening. This cycle flows at every level of administration and runs all the way down to your children. And it's consistent. So much change yet the fundamental principles that we teach have remained the same. Reading, writing, and math. Nothing has really changed. You spend so much money making all these changes without really knowing the consequences of what those changes result in. Any house can be updated and modernized as long as there is a solid foundation. This cycle that has been happening has led to me retiring next year earlier than predicted. I ask one thing of you and I offer two recommendations. The one thing I ask of you is

040to stop this cycle to make a change that's going to last. The two recommendations I have for you are number one, do your diligence. When you are hiring a superintendent, qualifications are key, but so is an understanding of the needs of Meboro. We don't need somebody else who's going to come in here and tell us what we need. We need somebody who's going to listen to what we need. The second thing that I have to say is that you are the policy makers. And if you want to make a change, then you need to make a policy that connects you better to them because that's the problem. As I sat on my school committee time, I can't think of how many times I sat there thinking, listening to admin, listening to the presentations and the

041positivity of what's going on, wondering what was the real story and never really being able to know that. Well, together we are the real story. And if you want this to work, the communication needs to change. Dedicate this to Middleboro because the people here care just as much as you do. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] Thank you. >> [applause] >> Marcy Frago, 67 Whispering Pines. I just wanted to first make it known for the record that I think it's absolutely disgusting that you were cutting people off at two m or three minutes here. These people deserve to have their voices heard and they haven't been heard for a long time. I've had four kids in the district, three currently, one that graduated last year, um was on the school committee for three years. And

042if it's a common theme that I've heard throughout through parents, through many of the people sitting in this room right now is that they're not being heard. They are not being uh considered for a lot of big decisions that are happening in this district. And if you just take a look around, listen to everyone that's here, I think that you you could put this district on a better path. Whether it comes to the budget, whether it comes to hiring the next superintendent, everyone in this room, all of the people that work for the district, all of the parents deserve to have their voices heard. Thank you. [applause] Hi, I'm Amanda Hilton. Um, thank you for taking the time to listen. Um, I've been a teacher for over 26 years, 20 of which have been in

043Middleboro. I have taught in both the inclusion setting and the general education setting. In the time I've been in elementary an elementary teacher at Middleboro, I have had five principles and six superintendent. Every time the messages from the administrators changed. For the most part, most of the principles have had the best interest of the students and the staff at the forefront of their time at our school. I knew which administrators would listen to my concerns and take me seriously and which administrators would not take me seriously with concerns. Concerns about curriculum, appropriate staffing, and about issues I felt needed attention. The morale at the elementary level is at the lowest point in years. We were told of possible cuts last week with no other information. Rumors from others mentioned that administrators were saying that if

044we didn't get our raise, then potential cuts would not happen. These rumors are coming from numerous staff members and from multiple administrators. Many teachers believe that they do not have a voice and if they bring a concern to the administrator's attention, it is viewed as annoying and in some extreme cases that the teacher cannot handle the situation. When I taught in an inclusion setting, consults were part of a student's IEP. A consult was supposed to take place weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly depending on the need. At one time, we had a dedicated time for that, but shortly after reconfiguration, and two principles later, that time was gone. When several teachers brought it to the attention of the administrators, they brushed it off and said that it could be held as we were passing in the hallway.

045And this was an actual response. Here is where I saw the great divide. During negotiations, the MTA mediator pulled the teachers, ESPs, and cafeteria staff who were silent representatives about how many staff members had been assaulted in some matter, verbal, physical, or emotional. Every member raised their hands, but only one member of the negotiation team looked at us. Mr. Branigan was the only one. Members of the negotiation team were on their phones. Some looked down and some pretended to write, but no one looked up. We all noticed. The last piece of morale I would like to shed some light on is that often ESPs have no idea where they are going to do every what they are going to do every day. They are viewed as coverage, not as an integral part of the classroom.

046When some staff members were injured due to a student behavior, they were told that it's part of their job. The overall vibe was that staff members should expect to get hit and punched as part of their job. New teachers are the ones that I worry about most in regards to morale because they are just starting out and are most likely questioning whether or not to continue. Regardless of what we go through on a daily basis, such as a difficult conversation with a parent, a hectic change in our schedule, or no coverage, teachers within this district continuously deliver engaging age appropriately age appropriate lessons within the Massachusetts framework. With larger class sizes looming, possible reconfiguration with no data to support the move, and a continuous low morale, I wonder how many teachers will stay in this

047profession. [applause] Hello, I'm Ashley Freeny, 7 Maple Road. I am a parent of two kids at Middleboro Public Schools and I'm also the president of the Mary Kay Good PTA. Um, I'm just coming to you guys um and and asking them to stop, take a deep breath, let's find a superintendent. We have PTSD how we've done things in the past. We do need a real leader. Um, I've had several parents come up to me this week sending me emails as their president after that parent square message come came out, it wasn't signed. It said Middleboro Public Schools. They wanted to know who was the leader in the district. It's clear we don't have one. So, I asked before any major decisions are made, any cuts are done. Um, the elections coming up. There's several seats

048that are going to be new. The select board has several seats. We don't have a real superintendent at this time. I think that you have heard enough here that there's a disconnect. Look at all these empty seats. No one felt comfortable enough to sit closer. This is the problem. We should be a team. Not you versus them. Not okay, guys. [applause] Uh, hi Jessica Mcnaw, 17 Avenue. Sorry. These people spend more time, [clears throat] some weeks, with our children than we do. They protect them. They shelter them. They support them through good times, sorry, and bad times and everything else. The fact that over and over again I am hearing all these people say that they have not been asked, consulted, spoken to about very necessary things required to do their jobs and support our

049kids is astonishing to me. I'm not going to stand here and blame the school committee because I don't know whose responsibility it is. I don't know if it's directors or principles or superintendent. I don't know where that lies. Every time I come up and speak about anything with school committee, I'm pretty passionate about the fact that we put you in these seats and we elect you in these seats and we expect you to be our voices in these seats. And it couldn't be more obvious that these people who are residents, mothers, fathers, teachers, administrators, who some weeks spend more time with our kids than we get to. Their votes and their voices don't even matter to you, let alone or maybe a collective. I'm not trying to be particular. This is important. The superintendent search

050is more important than ever now. The budget and digging deep as to why the budget went so far off the rails. People talk in town. People discuss what happened with funds and this that and the other thing that are not the purview of the select board or anybody else because they come from different places. Some of these things may not be great secrets. Some of these things might be this needs to stop. Transparency needs to be the goal and supporting our children by and through supporting our teachers and the administrators is where we need to go. And it couldn't be more obvious that the time is yesterday. [applause] Tony QP, uh, teacher, 2000 alumni, Middlebar High School. Uh, I just want to echo what all of these wonderful staff are saying and um that I'm

051I'm proud to have gone through Middle Brow Public Schools and I just don't know how we get to a $2.7 million shortfall and there not be some forecasting and communication from the town manager, finance committee, select board and school committee to echo what people are saying about administration. I look around here and I see all these teachers here and I see the one guy the reason why I am a teacher sitting right there. [applause] I don't see the rest of them. [applause] They're not here. Thank you for being here. >> Thank you. >> This is a real impact on students. Let's let's call it what it is. When we cut budgets, it affects students. When I talk to staff and they're worried, that's a problem. That means that kids can feel that. We can't have

052that. We're talking about ESPs that can barely make a living wage in town. that the median rent in town is $2,000. I mean, the financial reality is is that staffing cuts are not long-term solutions. So, if you guys are looking to save money, it's not really a long-term solution for what we're doing. That turnover is costly in the long run. Transparency has been mentioned several times. I think everybody in here is wondering why things aren't being talked about and why it's not clear. I know that we will be asking for some detailed numbers about how this happened and how we can fix it because we want to work with school committee. I know you guys and I know that you're good people and we thank you for the time that you put in because it's

053an enormous amount of time and hard work. But like everyone is saying, enough is enough. This is a direct ask to leadership to take a role now. There's options that can be examined. stabila sta stabilization funds or free cash temporary strategies bridge strategies from what people are saying though that squishing the complex together might not be solution there's not enough data there was not enough data from teachers about this reading program our students deserve stability educators deserve support and stability and our community deserves better. So, please go back to Select Board, go back to the town, and let's figure this out together. Thank you. [applause] Hi, Sarah Crawford. Hello, my name is Sarah Crawford. I am a graduate of Middle High School, class of 2010, and a daughter of a recently retired teacher of this

054district who spent about 20 plus years educating the many students that have enrolled in town. I'm also known as Miss Sarah or Mrs. Crawford's daughter uh to the students of the complex. I grew up at the complex, spending my time after school helping in my mom's room, even as a high school student. In my current position, I interact with a lot of students. Maybe not in the same way other educators do, but still just as impactful. As an educational support personnel, I not only service my students, but their classmates as well. Sometimes students tell us things that they don't tell their teacher. We are another layer of safety for them. If there is a reduction of staff, including but not limited to ESPs, the kids will have less adults to confide in. They will not

055have the full support they need in academics. There will be more children in rooms and less hands to to help. And quite honestly, there isn't enough now. Has the district asked the people that work directly with the children what the children need? We are the boots on the ground. We work one-on-one in small groups and support whole class instruction. We see them all day every day. We know what they like, what they dislike. Never once has anyone asked us what the children need, what would be more or less beneficial to help them thrive and succeed. Reducing essential staff would be detrimental to the children of the highest needs, highest needs, as well as their peers. I personally have a lot of thoughts to share, but it would take much longer than my allotted three minutes

056would allow for. Thank you. [applause] Hi, Kim Jones, 79 Clay Street. It's been a couple months since I've been here. I was here with a couple parent teacher leaders, but this room was pretty much empty. But at the time I was calling you guys out and the school system out for the lack of support of teachers, especially my son who's special ed who hasn't had a teacher since April vacation of last year. Yeah, we've got a great waiver in place right now. But we still have teachers hemorrhaging. And if you pull the videos out, I told you back then we were heading the same way Whitman Hansen was going. And what do we got? A mess. We've got an admin a superintendent who's been God only knows where. I'm sorry if she does have health

057issues, but FMLA has a cap. I work for the federal government. I know well about their federal laws. And they also have an waiver in there that if it puts a business, which the school is, whether you want to admit it or not, in a compromise that people can be let go and other people can fill that job. We've done a lot of temporary stuff, but it's not solving the problem. We've got a mess on our hands. I called you out with the numbers and yet someone up there and I won't say names but if you pull the m video up it'll say I am tired of hearing about how our school is so bad our community is great everything here is good. Does this look good? I think not. We need to get things

058going. But we need to do it logically, not rushing and jumping, filling holes because all you've done is gone from one f frying pan to the next to the next. And guess what? Now you're in hell's blazes and you've got a big mess on your hand and more teachers walking out. You've got buildings going up in this town faster than you know what to do with with more kids coming in than the school system has ever had. You need to get this right. Thank you. [applause] Good evening. [cheering] Uh my name is Nancy Kafales. I'm here as a concerned citizen only. Um I have been on both sides of having both typical and special education students going through the school system. When I hear of cuts, my thoughts go right to who it affects. Having

059both typical and special ed students. When cuts happen in schools, it hurts everyone. I have seen firsthand how a lack of funding affects how students learn. Cuts can make class sizes larger, making it harder on students who require smaller classes to meet goals and to succeed. teachers become overworked and typical students find it difficult to adapt to the class sizes as well. How do the schools plan to meet all the requirements of IEPs when these cuts could not only affect the class sizes of students but the quality of the education they will receive during these cuts? Thank you. [applause] Hi, Bridget Karns. Um, you know, it's so wonderful to see all of these um people here. I come fairly regularly and seeing all these teachers speak up um has been wonderful and it's enlightening for

060parents to know um because sometimes these are things that I've been listening to at these committee meetings. I've listened to these budget ar uh discussions go on for the last several years and I know that there was a committee member up there uh Marcy who was constantly t when the budget would come up she she would warn you we're approaching a fiscal cliff you're approaching a fiscal cliff this isn't news that this is happening she had warned but she was the only one and she was gaslit for saying it but nope we were going to do the budget this way we were going to drain all of this to balance the budget. And here we are. We're at that precipice. We're over the cliff. Um the teachers are being asked to work um with less.

061The students are being asked to do more with less. Listening to the ELA programs. I see that in in the schools I'm in in the kindergarten. More academic demands are coming down when kids aren't socially, emotionally ready to handle these academic demands. and you keep pushing reading further and further down into kindergarten when they can't handle it. You're listening to them say that this program isn't the right program, but it was pushed through here and a beautiful presentation that was shiny. Um and and that's what they're getting even though they didn't want it. Sad. Um we should really be listening to these teachers more. I think that um our students are also being asked to do um more with less. I know that one of the things that our students lose, which is lower on

062the priority, the staff need funding, the students need academics, but extracurriculars are important. And I know a half a million dollars um that was earmarked for pool repairs was used to somehow got maneuvered somewhere else in the budget. So now the pool is in disrepair and this has again impacted our students and our school team and they're doing more with less again. They've lost their their pool. they've had to join with other teams. But the the nice part, some of that beauty I just want to share is while um you guys did mention that um we have two athletes um which is the first time in the five years I've been here that we've had an athlete go to sectionals or states um they missed it. Uh Grace Lynch, she is part of um the

063relay team that made it. But Lily Dwire didn't just make the relay team, she qualified for five individual events and they weren't mentioned. She not only qualified for five individual events at sectionals, she qualified at states. Um, she gets to swim, too. It's the first time in five years that I know of any swimmers going. So, our kids show up, they step up. Um, and I think we need to do something and we need to heed warnings when we hear that. That lone person that saying we need to stop and think, that's the person you need to be listening to. [applause] Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name is Samuel Moer Ever Street. I'm an alumni of Middleboro High School. I'm a taxpayer in this town. I'm a teacher. I'm an adviser. I'm a

064union rep and hopefully someday a parent in this town. I've taught some of your children. Like Tony, I'm a proud alumni of Middleboro High School and I'm a proud Middleboro High School teacher. In a world of dipping attendance and engagement, students watch these meetings. Students see these cuts and they listen to the words of their educators and their town officials. with growing class sizes, less services, and a public perception and constant narrative that the schools are less important than other departments in this town. I don't blame students for forming those opinions. As educators, as the sea of educators behind me, we know that you want the same things that we do. We want our students to be happy and successful members of our community. But educators are scared right now. Our students deserve better right

065now. You've heard from this staff tonight. You've heard from educators. You've heard from members of this town. So, I'm asking you, I am begging you as a school committee and as people at home, partner better with educators. Partner better with families and students. And partner better with other town officials. Please do not let them throw out our students future. Thank you. [applause] Not as tall as him. Janette Barrett, Chrisman Street. And I am a terrible public speaker, but I felt like this was an important topic. I have been emailing with the chair about this topic, and she has been very responsive, but never really have I been given an answer. She responds to my emails but doesn't answer my questions. And I'm not sure where to bring the questions to because we can't respond to

066public comment, which I understand for time constraints, but I'm also get not getting answers in the emails. I'm here as a parent who cares deeply about our schools, our teachers, and the learning environment for our children. I understand that budgets are tight across the state. All cities and towns are dealing with this. I had the privilege of having a conversation today with the chair of Carver public schools and I asked her, "How are you dealing with your budget deficit? How are you dealing with classroom with staff reductions?" And she gave me some excellent ideas of how they presented this information to their families and and their staff. They looked at the classroom sizes. They looked across all levels. They said where can we make they are eliminating their French program in one of their schools

067because that teacher's got to take another position. They're looking at as a holistic long-term plan and I'm just asking that we do the same. We are saying about pushing this together for September. Well, anybody who's ever been in schools knows September classrooms are being built now. [snorts] So, we are expecting our staff to to teach for the rest of this year and then over the summer on their time off meet together to join as a team to build these classrooms. That doesn't seem like it's fair to them, our children. And honestly, our children get one shot at education. They have one chance to be in third grade. Let's take our time and do it right. I work in accounting. I know what budgets look like. We need an audit obviously of our budget because something's

068wrong. We're all guilty of that. How many times have we said yes when we didn't look clearly? I know I have. Something's wrong with this shortage. But fixing it in a quick, fast manner by pushing it together next year, I don't believe is the right choice. Thank you. [applause] >> [applause] >> Good evening. My name is Diane Fay. Live at 839 Oak Point Drive. Um, I don't have children in the schools. Oak Point is a senior's community, but to be here tonight and hear these people, you have wonderful educators. I will tell you my background is I was the president of ASME Council 93. I represented 55,000 workers in Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts. I was vice president of the Massachusetts AFFL CIO. I want you to know that I am thrilled to see all

069of these people come before you tonight. I want you to know that if you think back at what was said, not one of them got up and the first sentence out of them was, "What are you going to do for our raises?" These people aren't here begging for big increases. They'll tell you that they're spending their own salary to supplement items in their classrooms. [applause] But what they came here tonight for you was to tell you what the students need, what they can't give them because they don't have the support they need coming from the higher up people. I'm used to negotiating contracts where they go in and they scream and yell about all the money they want. They want more overtime. And yeah, we were public sector workers and that's what we were looking

070for. But these people want what's best for the children in this town. It's time that [applause] it's time that the elected officials living in this town and running for office to speak for the people in this town and for the children. The children don't have a vote. These are the people that are here to speak for them. They need your support. They need you to pull whatever you can together to supplement what you don't have now to supply these children with the education they need. And the mother that was here a minute ago said they have one chance. And that's true. They have one chance of going through your school system. And it's a shame when you see students that go through K to2 going to colleges and taking the supplementary courses because they can't

071get into college and take the full load. They have to take other courses before they can do their one through four in the system. Thank you for listening. [applause] Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, my name's Aaron Curran. I'm at Premier Lane. I had a pretty specific question. Um, as a parent, we kind of have been out of the loop on the fact that we're in deficit. Um, I don't have any specifics and that's kind of an issue. Are you guys able to answer any specific questions right now? No, >> we can't answer any questions right now, but the budget presentation is on the agenda. Okay. Um, so hopefully these questions I have will be answered during that portion. Um, basically the rumors I've heard are that we have come out of compliance with grants.

072So my question would be who is in charge of compliance? Who is in charge of making sure we are applying for grants on time. Um, they all clearly have due dates and things like that at least a year in advance because I can see what's due for the 2027 budget. Um there are two grants that I've been told that we are out of compliance with and that is a big part of the budget. So if you could let me know if that's true or not in the next portion. Um and really who is responsible for grants that we are out of compliance with. Thank you. [applause] Any other speakers for public comment? All right. I want to thank you all for attending and speaking with such passion and such honesty and we really appreciate you

073all coming and sharing your words. I hope you'll stay and listen to the budget presentation and the rest of the agenda. And I would like to add that I we want you to know that we really are listening uh and uh what you have to say does make an impact on how we think about things. So, thank you very much for coming >> through the chair. Can I also add thank you all for coming. Um, basically I can make a beline. I have four kids in the the system and you've all instilled a love of learning in my children. Um, and Tony, they're eventually going to get to you and they're very excited for that. Um, what you said tonight did not fall on deaf ears. I'm only one of the committee. Um, but I

074am listening to you. So, thank you. Okay. >> All right. The next item on the agenda is the superintendent position update. So, I have the responsibility to announce that Superintendent Lions has decided to leave Middleboro effective immediately to pursue a career opportunity elsewhere. Her decision [applause] [cheering] her decision is based solely on personal considerations and is not related to performance. The school committee is grateful for Superintendent Lion's years of dedicated service and leadership. During her tenure, Superintendent Lions demonstrated a strong commitment to student learning, supporting staff, creating a balanced budget, and the overall overall well-being of the school community. We appreciate her professionalism, dedication, and the many contributions made in service to the students, families, and staff of the district. The school committee extends their sincere thanks to Superintendent Lions and wish her success in

075the future. Acting Superintendent Michael Peron has agreed to remain in the position while we begin the process of searching for a new superintendent. The school committee appreciates the community support during this transition and look forward to bringing more news to you soon. To that end, we have posted a meeting for next week, Thursday, February 19th, at 6:30 p.m. here at AHS to hear a presentation from the Massachusetts Association of School Committees on the Superintendent Search Process. So, we're getting started right away. Thank you. We will now move on to discussion items and we are on um item B, a report from the MEA co-presidents. Ladies, you're welcome to come up here if it's more comfortable for you. >> Okay. >> Well, I was wanting to comment on this item. >> It was anformational item, not

076a discussion item. We're on the discussion items now. Thank you. >> Um, it's an on the agenda. So, >> we are, it was anformational item. We are on to the super the report from the MEA co-presidents. Thank you, Bridget. Well, there was just an echo chamber, I think, coming from this committee who said they're listening to these people because that was an absolute echo chamber statement you just stated right there because people didn't enjoy the leadership in the last several years under the superintendent on to the MEA co-president >> Mr. that we are going to ask right please. Thank you. [applause] Thank you. Good evening, Superintendent Peron, school committee, administration, colleagues and friends, and community members. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Donna Dmano and I am proudly the co-president

077of the Middle Burough Education Association. My co-president Samantha Desares couldn't attend this evening due to a family commitment. We want to share our thoughts on behalf of our 400 plus members. Tomorrow at about 3:30, the last of our students will be exiting the buildings for winter break. So will our members. The break is welld deserved. Learning is hard work and teaching is hard work. Usually in the days leading up to the break, the excitement in the teachers lunchrooms and in the hallways is palpable. Colleagues usually talking about trips to Disney World, Great Wolf Lodge with their kids, getaway skiing or other winter activities, getting into a good book, binge watching Netflix, or like myself, just changing the shelf paper on the on in the cabinets. This year is different, though. These discussions have turned to

078budgets, moves, and layoffs. That's pretty sad. Earlier in the month, at the meeting of the select board, the board and the town manager discussed the 2026 2027 budget. At that time, the town manager said there would be no cuts to staff within the town. However, within a day or so, all the district's building principles read a prepared statement to our staff announcing that the plan to balance the budget would include a reconfiguration of the elementary buildings as well as staff cuts. The last reconfiguration around 14 years ago occurred because the schools faced a very different kind of crisis. That reconfiguration took over two years of careful planning. It should be noted that when that reconfiguration was said to be in the best interest of the students to achieve a small commun community school setting, we

079do not support a reconfiguration at this time for the following reasons. First, planning such a huge move requires more planning than just a few months. Next, with interim and new leadership at many levels and changeovers in the school committee, the timing is just not optimal. And last, the district needs to focus their attention on hiring a new superintendent. Making cuts to the staff would increase class sizes. Smaller size classes improves student outcomes. Isn't that we want what we want? Improve student outcomes. We are concerned that the larger class sizes will have a huge impact on all of our students. The MEA is particularly concerned with the district recently sending a communication to all staff and families, juxtaposing the 2.75% town increase in the school budget with the professional contract increase of 3.5%. It should be

080noted that when our contract was negotiated, the town manager attended several of our meetings and the district finance director said the budget could afford such an increase. The 400 plus dedicated educators in Middleboro want the very best for our students. Always rushing to reconfigure the elementary buildings, although it might turn out to be a good idea, needs more planning. We ask that the district put a hold on this plan. Cutting teaching staff to save money costs the students more than it saves the town. We urge the school committee not to approve this proposed budget and to go back to the town to explore alternative ways to balance the budget. Thank you. [applause] Thank you, Donna. Do you need a reason? >> Okay. Um, we will now move on to the superintendent's reporter. >> Thank you.

081We have the [clears throat] uh Middleboro Matters Youth Risk Survey. Mr. Bernigan. [clears throat] >> Thank you. Hey everyone, good evening. Um, our first item is the youth youth risk survey um that I'm really grateful for Kisha's um David to join us tonight to talk about the survey that we do every year um with our students at the middle school and high school in revolving that revolves around substance abuse. Um, so I'd like to have Koisha just kind of share a little bit about that and then hopefully for your um, engagement with it, but also your approval. >> Thank you everyone for having me. Um, my name is Kio Shapino. I'm a prevention coordinator with High Point Treatment Center. Um, and what we do is a lot of initiatives and different things in terms of

082funding um, with the students to try and really make an impact not just around substance misuse but alo also mental health. Um, so I'm here today to ask for your approval to administer our survey again this year, both at the high school and middle school level. Um, we survey grades 6 through 12 where we have 12 localized questions measuring um, peer disapproval, perception of risk, um, and past 30-day use. Um, and what we do with this data, we don't share it with anyone. It is kept just with the school and just with our company. Um but it's really to inform any of future initiatives um funding speakers, different things like that. Um and also for us to apply for future grants to be able to provide this funding in this community. Thank you. If I

083just may say that that funding then it was just mentioned that because of that partnership that on May 1st we're bringing in a national speaker by the name of Carara Filler who does who has done considerable amount of work with students with SAD and MAD but also has moved into the leadership work as well in student leadership and um she is coming to kind of tell her story to our students and that is going to be the beginning of our pre-prom kind of planning and our work that we'll be doing over the first many weeks in May as we get ready for prom season. So, and a lot of that is because of um what um Kisha and her team have been able to provide for us, too. So, thank you for that. >> Thank

084you. >> Um just a question. I know in the past the survey um has an opt- out process. Is that something that you can just speak to so everyone's aware? >> Yes. Um, the way that the survey works is typically the principles, Brandan for instance, would send out an opt out form where parents are more than welcome to opt out of the survey. Um, I also want to mention that the survey is completely anonymous. It takes about 10 minutes to complete. Um, none of the there's no really identifying factors in the survey. It's just more to get a better understanding of what's going on within the community as well as the school. and chair, we would be sending out the survey ahead of time to all families so they can review the survey for a

085number of days and then be able to um opt out if they would choose to do that. And the goal would be that the administration of the survey at least at the high school and I'm assuming probably at the middle level um would be sometime around the middle to late March. >> Okay. >> And I believe you're looking for approval to from the board to uh take these steps again. Is that true? I apologize that there was no vote noted on the item, but I would entertain a motion to approve moving forward with the Middleboro matters youth survey in the manner that was just outlined. Thank you, Alan. >> I have a motion. Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> Thank you. All in favor? >> I. Motion passes. Thank you very much. >>

086Thank you very much. Have a good day. You got that? >> Sure. Um the next item is and if I could invite um the wonderful Miss Red Path to come and join me on the stage, please as this item is Oh, she's right behind me, which is great. Um this is for your um consideration for the 2027 trip to France. >> Hello. back again. We took a year off. I needed a break. Um, we are proposing the second >> Can I just ask if you move the microphone closer to your face? >> Sorry. >> Thank you. >> Um, we are asking for approval for the second inaugural trip to Europe. This time we will be taking the students to southern France along the Mediterranean coast and to Barcelona in Spain. Uh the trip is scheduled

087to take place over the most all of April break. So it will not interfere at all with their ability to attend school. Uh it might interfere with you know any sports events that happen over April break. But that is up to the students of course. Uh we are only entertaining upper classmen at this time as we are planning this to be a more language intensive program sponsored by my fellow colleagues of the world language department than the previous trip was. Uh based on the success of the last trip, knowing that we have the student interest to continue this as a more permanent program, we've decided to to swing it to more of a a true linguistic opportunity and an educational experience as like a deep dive into interacting in the culture in these two target

088languages that we do offer at the high school. Um I if you have any questions, I'm I'm here. >> Bridget, you'll have to forgive me. I forget um the agency that you used the two years ago. Oh, is it the same one this time around? >> Yes, it is the same one. We travel with Passports, Educational Travel Co., not to be confused with Passports, the thing that you need to leave the country. Um, but yes, it is the same company. And in fact, we will also be having the same guide, the the representative of the country who stays with our group 247 from the moment we arrive. His name is Sergio, and he is phenomenal. [snorts] >> And it has the same insurance plans and and all of those options. none of their policies have

089changed from the previous time. All of the same insurance plans are included uh as well as their additional optional tiers, but their their baseline insurance protection is incredibly thorough. Um and that that is part of the reason why we picked this company over some of the many others that do exist for international student travel options. They just they care more about the kids uh than a lot of these other companies that are a little more profit motivated. So please Alan >> um there has been an issue in the past sorry there has been an issue in the past where a trip was canceled and there was some difficulty getting refund. >> Yes. >> Do we face that same scenario? >> No we do not. >> Thank you. >> Um in fact we had some kids

090who had to cancel last time unfortunately due to illness uh quite late and based on the various insurance policies that they had picked and some of the ones included. Um, one of the students who canceled last minute got her full refund including the airfare and she had to cancel the morning that we left. So, >> what's the maximum number of students you're able to take? >> We are able to fit 42 students. We are limited to the size of the average coach bus and when you also have to factor in we need to save a seat for our local guide Sergio um and the seven chaperones which is required to maintain the company's 6:1 studenttoeron ratio. uh that that [clears throat] passports enforces >> which we appreciate. >> Yes, we appreciate it too. Um uh

091that that leaves 42 available seats because the average coach bus maxes out at 50. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> I was so excited to see this back on the agenda and I'm thrilled that the students will get the opportunity to participate again. I'm as I was the last time exceptionally jealous that uh I didn't get this opportunity myself. So, thank you for bringing it forward to having such an opportunity for our students in the foreign language departments. So, the chair will entertain a motion to approve this outofstate outof country overnight field trip. >> So, moved. >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? All those in favor? I I >> Thank you, >> Mayor C. >> Thank you, Bridgetette. Thank you for your support of that trip

092from one who has done extensive student travel to have these trips back again is just really quite wonderful and a thank you to Bridget and to the team taking the students in 2027. Um and my final item for tonight is three scholarships to bring to your attention, brand new ones that um will be added to the scholarship booklet for the class of 2026. And it's always important for me to come before all of you to share what they are um to one thank them publicly for their support of our students um and also to um share with our community actually the amazing support that this community gives to our students. Um we have two we have three scholarships tonight that I love to share with the community. Um two of which are from Oakpoint. So

093as you know Oakpoint is an amazing partner to Middleboro High School and to the school district and to the community. And this year they're adding on two more scholarships onto the multiple that they give each and every year. And the first one for your consideration is the Peter Rosen Memorial Scholarship um in for both a male and female. The two they will issue two $10,000 Peter Rosen Memorial Scholarships have been donated by an anonymous donor in memory of Peter Rosen. Um one male and one female recipient must be a member of the class of 2026 who is planning on attending a 4-year accredited college university. The donor requests that the scholarships be given to a student going to the following schools in order of priority. Penn State, Northeastern University, Springfield College, or the principal's discretion

094in on based on need. The recipient must maintain at least a 250 GPA and submit an official first semester transcript um to the Oakpoint scholarship president by March 1st, 2027. Failure to meet this deadline will result in the forfeite of the scholarship. The recipient is expected to attend the meet and greet event on Monday, June 8th, um at 6:30 p.m. in the Oakpoint Ballroom. So, that is the first scholarship for your consideration. A thank you to that anonymous donor. The Oakpoint Homeowner Scholarship Trust tool ships, which we're really excited to offer for the first time. Um two $1,000 tool ships will be given on behalf from Oak Point. Um, the hope outpoint homeowners disc homeowners scholarship fund awards tool ships to deserving Middlebar residents who are graduating from Middlear High School in regional vocational schools.

095Tool ships consist of an award up to $1,000 to be used to purchase tools, clothing, and other items necessary to continue work in the career area of the graduate's choice. The individuals should purchase their items and sent to Oak Point Home for approval. Um the um 0 point um scholarship fund president will approve and the treasurer will process a check to reimburse the graduate um funds will must should be claimed by March 1st, 2027. So a thank you to Oak Point for those brand new scholarships to our um to our many. And lastly, the third scholarship for your consideration is the Lieutenant David C. Kenny Memorial dollars for scholars scholarship. The Lieutenant David C. Kenny Memorial Scholarship is awarded and honored Lieutenant David C. Kenny, who proudly served the MiddleBar fire department for over 20

096years prior to his retirement. In addition to his service as a firefighter, Lieutenant Kenny was a dedicated instructor to the Middle High School Fire Science Program, where he made a lasting impact on countless students. Lieutenant Kenny was deeply committed to the Middle community, not only through his professional service, but also his devoted father, who raised his family in Middbor and supported the town's public schools. He especially valued the opportunity to mentor students pursuing careers in fire and emergency services. This scholarship is generally provided by his family to honor his legacy and to support a graduating Middle High School senior who resides in Middlear, demonstrates financial need, participated in the fire science program, and plans to pursue further education or training in fire science, EMT or paramedic studies. So, I share with you the three wonderful

097new additions to our scholarship booklet and I thank you for your consideration. >> I want to Yes, please applaud. [laughter] [applause] I want to express my gratitude for all of these additional uh scholarship offerings. Uh the booklet that was prepared last night was quite wonderful to be able to go through and see all the opportunities that are available for our students. So, uh, the chair will entertain a motion to accept these new scholarships into the program. >> So, moved. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I Thank you. Thank you, Paul. >> Thank you, everyone. [applause] >> Okay, we're going to take a quick five minute recess. Thank you. I hope you all stay though because many of the questions and uh I >> it was all my fault. I really have to >> we're

098going to be providing a lot of information. Uh so I hope you do stay. >> I'm going to be right there with you. What do you think? So talking about something I can touch that way. Hi. How are you? >> Good to see you. I'm not going with >> Excuse me. >> Good timing with K. >> K. The girl. >> Yeah. >> What's going on? >> So, My question is about 11% they got then a year ago they got% they wouldn't even tell me how much they needed but they said it was more than 2% and they said they used offsets they still it's been two years asking they still the offsets are >> I think you're going to find all that tonight >> we'll see but I mean after if we finish this and

099we don't understand me again. >> Well, are you happy with the >> when we finish this? You can ask me all those questions. >> Because I I mean I know that Carolyn's not wellliked, but I mean >> I've never said that. So >> when we finish >> Well, I don't know what you're Yeah. So >> when we finish, ask me. >> Okay. >> All right. >> But how how bad how bad? >> Ah, when we finish >> when we finish or just a sort of bad. >> Oh, good. >> We got to wait for the boys. >> We let these two go, too. >> Remember when we did that with Jake and >> Well, guys, suggest making all the doors locked because that's what happened last time. I had to run around the whole building

100and I'm telling you right now that if I had to run on you wouldn't >> I'd be sleeping. >> You ready? Mike are the slides. >> I also wanted the the documents for my >> policies up there. >> So one of the reason aside from personal care >> not in the presentation but did they open it up? >> You did. I'm having my lunch. >> If you hit escape or go back to >> my mother-in-law and then my sister, >> how do I get >> I already had one? Yeah. Yeah. So, I'm I'm actually looking forward to it. I mean, >> I mean, >> yeah. Um, >> to be honest, I'm not in that much pain, but it's starting to go >> funny on me. >> I like mine. And so it's just it's going

101on bone and so now every once in a while it just goes off and like that. Um >> so I want to get it done. >> My husband's concerned about >> I stole this from my >> kid for tonight. >> There's a recommendation I feel I do I feel okay. I I have to see every >> Where's Alan? >> Five minute breaks works so well. >> Yeah. >> Well, we got Chris. >> Yeah, I see Chris back. >> I'm back. Chris. >> Alan. Where's Alvin? >> I don't know. What? Who's watching? >> You want to switch seats >> when we do the other thing? Yeah. Did you see Did Allan follow you, Chris? >> Uh, he was running into commencement. >> Okay, >> we'll give him another minute then. >> And all my players moms

102got for [laughter] trying to reschedule a game. We had a game in Roxburg. We we drove all the way up to Roxburg >> and two minutes before the game they canled. >> Oh, no. >> Like sickness or >> uh It was on Sunday. There was leaking coming in because it snowed and the roof was leaking. >> 4:00 Saturday and said, "I think you need to cancel that." It was coming down. >> It was >> all right. Everybody good? >> That seemed like a good idea. >> It worked well. >> I call our meeting back to order. Thank you all for your indulgence. We're going to resume with the fiscal year 27 budget presentation. >> Okay. So, uh obviously this was a difficult budget year and the proposal uh will go through um and there is

103a lot to go through and then we will uh take some questions. Um, typically we uh talk about what drives our budget and the budget building process. Uh, our continuous district improvement, uh, fixed cost, uh, all of our salary increases and all the contracts that we have, uh, obviously special ed tuition services, our technology and facilities, definitely our curriculum costs. Uh we tried to maintain lower class sizes as we heard tonight. Um and then we must try uh provide transportation for all students. So those are our drivers. Uh this year we had uh budget constraints that we have every year. Uh the three main are our special ed increases which um have been uh increasing uh over the last few years uh at a a pretty high rate. We actually had a a little better

104uh projection for next year and I'll get into that. Um reduction of alternative funding sources. This is uh probably the biggest one. Uh and then third, our declining financial support both federally and state. So constraint number one, special ed. If I if you look, there's four years of history. um 2,6 uh back in 2324 we had a number of 24 students um and we had 26 students and it went to 3.2 2 million and 25 26 we increased to 30 students at 4.7 million and then 26 27 as I said it wasn't as bad moving to 27 it's only a 200 only a 230 uh thousand increase but it's still large enough to make a difference here >> could I add in right >> as we go along uh we've talked about so Chris and

105I have served on the budget subcommittee. So, um when we talked about this presentation, we talked about that um we would provide some further information or public commentary as we go go along. And so, >> um for my colleagues and for those listening, one of the things as we start going through what we're calling constraints, >> uh it's always a balance of talking about constraints and people thinking that we're pointing fingers for blame. um and that's not the case. It's really we're trying to provide the information of what are the things that are increasing for us, what are the things that are decreasing for us and how that is impacting the recommendations that you see coming forward. So as you see these numbers and we say these things, it's really in trying to provide my

106colleagues here as well as uh in the audience and listening the information so you can um see and answer some of the questions that have been posed. Why is it that we're having the uh deficit that we're having? Okay. So, uh constraint two, reduction of alternative funding sources. Um facilities rentals we reduced by 650,000. We use 750 this current year and so we don't have that available. So, we had to reduce that. um our school choice was reduced by 112,000 and last year we were able to use um our ability to prepay tuition for out of district placements and we used 355,000. I don't expect that we would be able to use that this year um at the end of the year. So, I had to reduce uh the budget by that amount. >> And

107I'm going to add in add in again because sometimes I'm I'm not sure that um folks understand on the facilities rental. So, this is almost like a con and correct me if I'm wrong, almost a contingency fund that we it's monies that we have received from renting out our facilities, >> renting them out. and it grew over the uh past few years and we started to use that to offset um and to balance the budget. And it was a choice by the district to try not to make reductions and to draw that down. And we are getting to that point where it's uh close to being um uh no funding there just the uh annual amount coming in >> and and that is to maintain some amount of a reserve just the annual amount that's

108coming in. Correct. >> Correct. >> So constraint number three um this is the declining federal and state funding. Um we are out of the uh migrant grant is uh been fully expended for 395,000. We had salaries in there. So those obviously have to be moved back to the general fund. Our overall chapter 70 funding uh the chapter 70 is up but the overall um funding due to the um uh the calculation that is used for chapter 70 funding is uh down and due to regional assessments and charter enrollment. Um, however, the town is willing to look at chapter 70 funding if it actually does go up. All of these are based on assessments uh on uh um uh uh >> estimates, sorry. And they are um will come in with the actual number in a

109couple months. The town has committed that they will look at those and and help us if they do go up. Title two, title three grants are eliminated. That is just a federal funding choice. That is not I I heard that uh the comment about um not um being in compliance. That is not accurate. The projected federal grant reductions in title one and IDA are going down, but they are remaining intact. But just uh there's a reduction in there for 82,000. And once again, this is something that Chris and I spoke about last night. Chris, do you want to speak to that of the le a lesson that we've learned out of this that we would like to convey to our our colleagues? >> Are you talking about the Yes, sir. >> Yeah. I mean, um,

110so one of the things we did as a district was use uh the grants to fund positions. Um, but they were limited and eventually now we don't have that. Um but to f f to use a temporary grant to fund a full-time position uh ultimately can run into this situation >> and causing some of the deficit that we're seeing. And there are strategies of ways to offset that. I saw um with the town is doing it with the firefighters where they actually build in a fund each year so that when it when the grant goes away that that's there's still money in the budget that will support those positions. I'm not saying that's the right way to do it, but I'm saying there are ways to look at not coming to a place where all

111of a sudden we don't have that money any longer from the grants, but we still have a lot of positions that that grant was funding. And it's something that we really need to I think uh Chris and I thought from uh after looking at all of this information, it's something that we really need to take into consideration for the future. >> And this situation is not unique to Middbor. Um there are places all over the state and the country that are in the same situation but knowing what we know going forward um this is a place where we can kind of course correct. So in building uh a level service budget is what I try to do uh at the beginning of the budget process. And so in uh the salaries, we took as I

112mentioned the contractual salaries throughout the district and I roll those over and 38,14230 is our salaries for level service. That's everybody in the district and we move them over to their new salary and that is uh the total figure for a level service. The next line is fiscal 27 expenses non-s salary and that is 12,458,427 and that is a total level service budget needed of 50,600,657. So then alternative funding sources is what we use to offset part of that $50 million budget. This is a list of all of our alternative funding sources. Um, I'm not going to go through each and every one. They're there. Uh, but you will all point out, uh, prepaid tuitions is zero. As I said, it was 355,000 last year. The migrant grant was 395,000. That's zeroed out. And then

113we have um the champions uh special sped 262. and food service is a new one. We were able to take advantage uh and we can use around 220,000 of that. So our total alternative funding sources is 5,221,169. I will point out that last year that was 6.7 million a decrease of 1.5 million. That was one of the major reasons why we are having a budget deficit. So operating budget level service as I mentioned is 50,665,000 uh $600,650. Uh you subtract the offsets that I just mentioned of 5,221 and what we need uh for a level service budget is $45,379,488. I carry that over the 445 and then I look at the local fund appropriation that we were allotted from the town which was 3.25% increase from last year up until a couple days ago that

114was 2.75. We met with the town and they were able to come up with 200,000 uh creatively from our transportation budget and I'll show that later. So that decreased our uh the difference between the level service funds needed and what was appropriated is a budget shortfall of $2.2 million. I heard a couple times the number 2.7. Uh there 200 of that came down. Um but it was always right around 2.5 million. Um so that is the budget shortfall at this time. And and I would like to add in again at this time uh Mike and I went and met with Jay after we had the presentation of what the 2.75 was going percent increase from the town if we stayed at that level what that was going to mean for the budget. And so we

115went in and said to them, you know, this is really difficult for the district. Um and we need to do more. and immediately he responded with the uh we did tell him beforehand so he was able to do some work um with the 200,000 they also made a commitment to us that they would continue to work with us from now until um I don't know what the month is but meeting >> until town meeting to find other ways that we will be able to um to possibly come with more money that we can bring in from the town to help support us. So I break in here to say this to to say that I do hear you and that we do need to work between the departments and we really are trying to do

116so and it has made some impact on this budget already and it is something that we want to continue to do >> and one of those I mentioned was that chapter 70. So if that estimate comes in higher I believe there's a commitment from the town to uh give that to the school district >> which has not always been the case. So the list of potential again these are potential um positions. Um teachers we have 23 I have I also listed out what are vacant um if you did listen to the town presentation they had cuts also. Uh they weren't highly um mentioned only because they were all vacant. It's a lot easier to get rid of vacant positions than obviously ones that are filled. We have a school counselor that's vacant. Uh oh, and

117I also um put uh in where I have a historical the average attrition in those areas. So we we normally between now and the end of the year uh for any reason um lose uh retirement resignation whatever it may be uh approximately 15 positions. So if we if that happens again that lowers the um possible uh elimination of an actual person in that position. uh we have one parah in that uh para professional that's vacant. We had two administrators. We usually uh or in the last few years had attrition of four u uh losing them during uh the end of the year or summer. We have one and a half positions uh for staff uh support staff. One half of those is vacant and then we have a maintenance position uh and that is vacant.

118So we have total reductions uh of 29.5 4 and a half vacant and hopefully through attrition 19 and maybe uh even more uh because we've had some years that are are larger. I I I will uh before I go to the next slide, um uh I have given the school committee was late and I apologize that I don't have them for you to see, but I'm just going to mention them. It was mentioned by one speaker that we are not alone. Um, Milton is cutting 1.121 and roughly [clears throat] 14 positions. Marshfield is cutting 19.7 positions and 1.6 million. We don't care. We're going to borrow. >> We is cutting 38 to 44 positions and around four or five million. >> It does matter because everybody is in this position. We're not alone. Middle is

119not alone. >> Can I just ask for order, please? >> The proposed budget also uh in uh is looking at the reconfiguration of the complex This is uh I'm not going to read all this. This is some of the things that we feel very strongly that are positive for a reconfiguration. This was not done for budget purposes. Um, if there is a public hearing, if we hold the public hearing, there will be a longer, more detailed uh explanation of the proposed reconfiguration and the prop uh uh positive uh and some of the constraints in doing that. Um, and then uh but that will be done uh at that meeting. And I'll just chime in there to say that we are holding a public hearing on the reconfiguration of the elementary complex. It will be on

120Wednesday, February 25th at 7 p.m. here at the high school. So, we talked about class sizes during the uh public comment. So, I wanted to touch on that. I want to focus on the first three columns and we'll talk about the fourth column um at the end. So, at the Middbor High School, our current uh class sizes are 16. With the proposed cuts, it would go to 17.2. At the Nicholls Middle, they're currently at 18.9. It will stay at 18 uh 18.9. The reduction in positions there uh did not affect the class size. Grades one and two are currently 19. They would go to 21. grade three, four and five is 19 and it would go to 22 and at the mech it stays the same. There were no reductions in in teaching position so

121it's 20.2 this year and it will remain. I put over in the right hand side uh just kind of a um average and this is by by Middleboro's total town versus the state average. So in 2425, Middleboro's total class size average was 18 and in 2425 the state average was 17.2. So they were fair pretty much in line. I could tell you that the state average uh from 2425 they're always a few years behind. That's going to be higher and obviously ours uh is proposed to go to 19.86 86 based on the proposed budget. So the salaries then with the reduction uh of positions and trying to now uh balance to the town allocation the salaries dropped from that 38 that I mentioned earlier to 35935743 and the expenses are 12,435426 and our all funds

122budget request is 48 million 371 1 169. So if you take that 48 million, you subtract the offsets that we talked about for 5,221,169, it comes to 431500, which is the town allocation, the 3.25%. So with those reductions, we have a proposed balanced budget. the transportation budget we mentioned earlier. This is where um the 200,000 uh was transferred over to uh give the school budget an increase from 2.75 to the 3.25. The reason uh we were able to do that is because the transportation budget that is a separate budget in the town, we have not expended that money in the past few years. Uh but the difference is when we don't expend that funds, they go back directly to the town. So uh that was the uh conversation we had with the town manager and

123they moved 200 uh with the hope that we next year come in with the same amount of expense and there is money left so they can transfer that over. So it looks like there's a decrease. However, we have not spent that line item to its full extent and they uh gave the flexibility over to the general fund. So, our total operating budget again town allocation 43,150,000. We balance that with the reductions. The transportation budget is 4.4 million. The next three lines total up to and it's just a different way of looking at our um offsets. That's the 5,221,000. And so our total budget uh is 52,86,147,000. And that is the budget. Um it's unfortunate again this was not easy. Um when we put the numbers together and we were short leadership got together we spent

124almost a day trying to come up with the reductions and and the best way to do it with the least amount of pain throughout the district. We um tried to make it even throughout all positions uh with the best uh interest of the students in mind. Before we hear from the public, I just want to give the the school committee members a moment if you have anything to ask. Uh, Superintendent Pum. >> Any other comments from the subcommittee? Uh the only other comment that I I'd like to make is that Chris and I did sit um for the presentation from all of the uh leadership team um including the principles and the directors. Uh and this was as a painful a process for them as as it is for anyone. uh and there are tough

125choices and maybe [snorts] informed in other ways we can make different choices but they were not done in a cavalere kind of way and uh I want to really thank them for the work that they did uh to work in a very difficult situation. >> Thank you. S go ahead. So my question is, and I'm a little confused, if the this reconfiguration isn't part of the budget and isn't being figured into the budget, then why do it? It just doesn't make any sense. You're just adding something more to our plates and to the kids' plates. We're We're not looking at what you all see as positives as positives there. We're just not. We're worried about school buses outside those buildings. Um, we're worried about these kids aren't going to be mingled together in all hunky

126and dory friends by sixth grade because they're constantly going to be in two different lunches, two different recess times. We just can't possibly fit them into one place. And the reconfiguration itself is going to cost money, paying staff to move. Um, we heard that there are tables in the cafeterias that aren't big enough for the students, so we have to put another $90,000 into buying tables for the cafeterias. Um, what about the uh the maintenance staff that has to do all the movement? So, we're just now I'm really confused as to why there would be any kind of reconfiguration if it if you're not showing me a a line on that budget that contemplates that change as some positive movement in the budget. It's it's it's just baffling to me to be honest. So I

127think part of the reason was if I can go back to it there's there's a number of positives that uh administration feels um not only now but uh in the future we I heard there's a number of growth of uh housing units uh they're all projected in one area and So the um and it's HPB. So in the next few years, if that comes to fruition, the class sizes are going to go through the roof at HPB and this would help um and uh so without some kind of redistricting, um we were more looking at this as a positive to go with uh the reconfiguration. I've heard things outside of um school staff that uh it wasn't positive. So, we decided to look at it and we proposed it. >> No, I say n I'm

128saying non school staff people in the community, >> please. >> And that's why we wanted to hold the public hearing up. So, I just have two quick questions. On constraint one, for the 2023 to 2024, >> the total um out of district tuition was $2,640 18818. >> Correct. >> And then for 2026 to 2027, there's 33 students. So, that's nine students. Why is that number almost doubling if not doubling? for nine students. A >> great point that that is the special ed increase. The costs of tuitions are going up and up and that that's why I put the number of students because there isn't a great uh increase over the last four years yet the cost is absolutely going up. >> So these are out of district placements. >> So I'm correct me if I'm

129wrong. just looks we've all sat at our kitchen tables with our checkbooks and our bills trying to figure out our budget and if I would see this I'm like so that is do we think that that's somewhere that we could look at >> I'm sorry can you repeat that >> do we think that's something that we could look at further um >> in in terms of of the tu the cost of tuition >> well the out of district placements are those students any students that we could possibly service more in district >> we try every Um we go through a whole process. Okay. When a student uh uh you know is looking we try to keep them >> here in Middleboro. Sometimes it just can't. And then you >> uh look at the school different

130schools that can service the student and the tuitions. Uh there was two years ago when the uh uh operation service division the increase that they charged uh schools was 15.6% 6% increase on tuition and we had no say in that. We just had to pay it. >> That's kind of how we feel right now as parents. Um that we don't have a say. When it comes to redistricting, I'll be really quick. I'm not against it. I have a third grader. I have a child who will be in kindergarten in the fall. And I would love for my kindergartenner to grow up going to school with his friends, to not worry about on the soccer team if his friend goes to a different school. I just think it has to be done carefully and thoughtfully and

131not for September. That is not enough time to do this right to give our students and our staff the time to do it correctly. That [applause] is my feelings on redistricting. >> Thank you. >> Hi. Um I just want to start off by saying this is completely out of my element. If for those of you who know me, I'm usually bubbly. I'm usually happy. usually all sunshines and rainbows. I'm really upset right now. Um to be quite fair and honest with you, administration is saying there are positives. Yet the entire time my union, my members, my colleagues with many years of experience in elementary education are screaming from the rooftops that our administration is not listening to us. And if you can tell me that an hour and a half meeting is going to solve

132the redistric redistricting and is going to make it go smoothly and seamlessly clearly has absolutely no experience whatsoever working with first graders, second graders, third graders, fourth graders, fifth graders. I would like to know how many years experience do these administrators have in preK to two. I have 10 years as a teacher. I have two years as an ESP. What do they have? And why are we not being listened to? Like I said, I am usually not like this. But I am How can you say I get it? We're comparing other school districts with ourselves, but we are middle borrow. These are middle borrow problems. You cannot say that it is okay to lose 23 teachers, that it's okay to lose so many ESPs. [applause] And I am very sorry to say this because I

133don't want to see anybody lose job, but why do we have more administration jobs kept and losing more? [applause] [cheering] Why are we losing more jobs that are there to take care of our students? I am speaking to you as a teacher who has seen it, who has lived through it. I've seen pretty much everything. Who knows? I'll be shocked tomorrow. But as a parent, I am furious. And this is not acceptable. This cannot pass. [applause] As a as a parent and a PTA member, I'll explain why the community wants a reconfiguration for the kids and you would think it was a positive idea. Someone said when they go to dance, when they go to soccer, it's, you know, hey, Billy from another school, but what they're not understanding is what the reconfiguration would look

134like. So, you're telling the community, yeah, you're going to get what you've wanted for years. I I was part of the reconfiguration years ago. It's not what it's going to be. Billy's still not going to play with Bob at recess. Recesses are still going to be in cohorts. Lunches are still going to be in cohorts. Things like that are still going to exist. I think that once the parents and the community realize it's not just first grade back in a big bubble, second grade back in a big bubble. If you paint the real picture, you'll [snorts] get a different tune to what the community >> Okay, I'm on. Um, I just lost my train of thought. ADHD. Also, I myself am not against the reconfiguration, but if you think logically from where we stand now

135till September, it's going to be a crap show. Let's put some thought into it. Let's get a committee with these people on it, see what they need for a reconfiguration to look correctly and have a two-year out standpoint. Um, and to that the last slide, I know you said that the new buildings were mainly HBB and those kids would go to HBB. We have apartment buildings directly across from the complex. that that's not true. Not all those students go to set HBB or said MKG. Um I don't know if it's a choice. I don't know what it was. It's not program based, but they go to both. So, it wouldn't be crazy to look at what comes in town in the new build and split it between MKG and HBB. They wouldn't all have to

136go to HBB. Um and then to keep it equitable to read that slide that Mech wouldn't lose any teachers, that they'd be in the clear. That's kind of crappy for some people to go to bed tonight. realizing that Mech is good and they're not. Um, not that I want anyone to lose their job, but again to echo what Miss Sparrow said, 23 staff members that face students daily to how many admins, how many coaches rethink this. It's crazy. [applause] I just have a question. How many of you guys have been here for reconfiguration? Are you guys here for that? >> How many back here were here for reconfiguration? Right. So during that time during reconfiguration when we did that, we had to pack up our rooms. Everything was moved. Then we had to unpack it

137and it was just dropped in the middle. Completely dropped. Everything was dropped in the middle. The custodians worked nonstop. the amount of money that you're going to pay for the custodians to move everything. I I'm I'm curious why it is even it doesn't to me it just does not make sense. You're putting reconfiguration in the budget but it's not part of the budget. I don't think you really understand the impact that reconfiguration had and the amount of work that went into it. It was two years of data. This this is not data. This is just asking questions from a few people. From what I understand during recon part of the agreement with reconfiguration is that you had to redraw the lines. You had to look at the population every single year and see if those

138lines could be redrawn. Not that hasn't happened at all. So you're making a massive decision with very with virtually no data. I don't understand how that can happen. And then to say to that 23 teachers can lose their jobs because you have not done your due diligence. I I'm very rarely speechless, but I find that very shameful. [applause] Hi, my name is Pat Rooney. I'm a middlear resident. Just proud to be a graduate. 1985. I went to school here. I went to Westside School. I went to the LDL school. Back then it was the Lincoln It was the LDL. It was uh the Lincoln Street School. I went to West I went to the uh School Street School. Then I came over to the complex and went to HBB. Then I went to the uh

139Memorial Junior High School at that time and then to the high school. Why I say that is that's a lot of transitions. I'm still here. Transitions are fine. Transitions build people. [applause] We're talking going from Mech to either MKG or HBB. If it goes the other way, okay, transitions are fine. It builds kids. But if we want to redistrict, I like the redistricting idea. We don't have to have kids north and south. Put them in a hat. We have data. We build the classrooms based on the data. and we build a first grade classroom at MKG, a first grade classroom at Mech Mech at uh MKG. We don't have to care where they come from because the buses are all out front or the buses are all out back dropping them off. A fifth grader

140is going to have to walk all the way down to the beginning of the MKG school if we do it that way. They still do it now. There's MKG coming down to HBB and we were supposed to switch the bus routes. We haven't done that. That was never done fully. So all of the stuff about moving kids around and that we don't we can solve that very easily. You go in a hat. You might go here, you might go there. You don't need to look at north and south. And yeah, HBBS might get killed right now with all these apartments, but what's happening down in South Middle, too? There's condos going up down there, too. We're going to have a bigger issue than just the two schools. We're going to have high school that's full,

141middle school that's full. We got bigger issues coming. But we could solve this without having to have all the teachers moving. And by the way, I've taught at LDL, I've taught at Union Street School, I've taught at School Street School, and I've taught at the Mech. And I've taught at So again, I've transitioned a lot. I've taught from kindergarten for 15 years and then went to second grade for the last 12. So moving is not the end of the thing. We can take care of this. The kids can handle it. They're pretty resilient. Thank you. [applause] Hello, Leslie Sarrento. I live on Hillside A. I'm a parent. Well, all my kids are graduated now. Um, I have been teaching here for 20 years and um I'm a taxpayer in town, so these things matter to

142me, too. Uh, I want to address the outofd district placement numbers. Um, I wanted to just say that when our special education department and especially our subsparate programs are fully staffed, adequately provided with specialized curriculum materials and training, we may be able to decrease those numbers of students whose needs are unable to be met here in district. Those could potentially look like a cost at first, but end up being a cost benefit as well as academic and social benefit in the long run for our students. I would also ask you to think creatively about how our funds are being used in the district. We have multiple buildings being used to house a high number of administration. We can't get the money back that was spent on updating and renovating a beautiful school street building, but

143it doesn't mean that we have to keep it as an administrative building. We could consolidate administration into one building and rent another one out for income. >> [applause] >> And last, I just would say the priority for all of us should be to maintain all directly studentfacing positions in order to maintain the quality of our students education. [applause] >> Hi, Tracy Craig McGee, 22 Level Street. I'm speaking as a resident only. Um, I am a product of Midora High School. I'm a proud 1982 alumni. Oh Lord. Um, [laughter] so, um, I have to say I started out at Sacred Heart Kindergarten and then I went to Flora Clark for first and second grade and yes, a sixth and sevenyear-old walked to school by herself to go to school. After that, I went to third and

144fourth at School Street and then I moved over to fifth and sixth at Berkeland. Then it was seven and eight at MJHS. And I have to say that myself and my classmates, we did it. We went from You had kids going to the red school, we had kids going to Prattfrey, we had kids going to Westside, we had kids going to Rock Village School. Um, so we all came together in in seventh grade. Um, actually probably fifth grade. Um, we came together and we made it. There's a lot of us out there and I consider myself a fully functioning member of society and we merged. Regional kids that grew up in the same neighborhood, went to school, merged together and we had a great class. The class of 1982, we were great. Um, so I'm

145just a little concerned that I don't think that you're giving the students enough credit. I don't think you're giving the teachers enough credit. Um, and and I what one of my questions is did you hire a firm to produce like do an audit, do a review, produce a scenario. How was this reconfiguration plan um I guess started? Who who came up with it? Uh, I'll take credit for that one, I guess, only because it's what I heard some people were interested in. And I, this is a proposal. This has not been voted. This is why we did it to hear people. Um, so I'll take that one. >> So, what was this reconfiguration plan based on? It's based on looking at the ability to uh hear the community requests with how the students went to

146school, which we have heard. Um, in terms of wanting to have all the first graders together or all the second graders together, that has been conveyed by members of the community. It was based on the the hope that we could better balance class sizes by having all of the first graders together because then if it's not based on where you come from, you have that ability to balance class sizes better. If all the first graders in one building, all the second graders in another building. >> So those are two of the main reasons that this special I'll fill in a few more. Um and all of this really at the public hearing I think there'll be a lot more information and data and all of that shared back and forth. But some of the other

147um reasons are the concerns that are very different experiences for children in one school versus the other of how they're being taught, what the outcomes are and how those are then uh transitioned into the next school. when you have kids having different uh curriculum experiences, different teaching experiences that to bring them together that that would help um to bring uh more consistency with that. And then uh another reason is because of special ed services. I personally have been uh have been contacted several times about the differences uh in the of the resources between the two schools. So when you come out of uh mech and you're in a subsarate classroom that is focused in one way, there's two of them at the mech. But when you go up to the elementary schools, there's only one

148of those in each. And so if you're not in the right uh uh well anyway so I shouldn't get too deep but those are the kinds of things to provide more consistent in the special ed services and I shouldn't speak more about that but these are the kinds of things that they will get into more depth with at the public hearing. >> Okay. Um how long did it take to develop this plan? So this is the beginning of the development. The public hearing is the next stage which again I me will mention is scheduled for >> 25th >> February 25th. Um so that's the next stage. That's the next stage is to hear from even more people and to have it out there to have a public hearing where the whole meeting is specifically focused

149on a presentation about what the potential for the reconfiguration could be and to hear more feedback and to then allow us to use that feedback to go further with discussions and decisions. But we're not making any decision today. We're not making any decision at the public hearing. this is just the first step to listen and to hear all the feedback. I I do have to say my two children both went through um middle school system and they were separated um you know it was you did one two at Mary Kate good then you did three four and five over Brooklyn so they had they were in the same situation you know you had kids coming in from the other little schools and honestly um my daughter has her master's degree in child psychology and my

150son is an army veteran and um Now he's a very busy HVAC person. Um so they both went different paths. One went to college, one didn't. But I honestly say um that they got a good education in middle. They really did. I was very happy with the school school system. Um had very few problems. But I really think that you might want to listen to these people that are here tonight and maybe put the brakes on this a little bit. Have your public hearing. But I really implore you to put your listening ears on as the teachers say and um really listen hard at your public hearing because I think this feels really rushed to me. And I really think that if this is what you feel is best for the kids, then perhaps maybe

151a professional consultant should be employed to really dig deep and look at the school system and find out if this is really a thing about the kids, the two sixth grade classes that are unfamiliar because kids are kids. My grandkids make kids with school on the with friends with kids on the beach. My five-year-old would run to me say, "This is my new best friend. You've known her for 10 minutes." I don't really think that this might be you might have a little bit of unfamiliarity maybe but I think really maybe a professional consultant the money would be well spent and take your time because this is a big deal and please listen to your teachers. Thank you. >> Thank you. [applause] >> Yes, Alan. >> Um we're we're trying to listen. I that's why

152we're here as I if we were looking at a budget shortfall and we didn't explore all the options. I think some people might be upset with us. So this is an option that came to us. We're looking at it. We don't know the ins and outs. We aren't in those buildings every day. The purpose of the public hearing is to hear from you and to take your opinions and your thoughts and try to understand them because we, as it's been said, we're not there every day. I do have two kids in the school system. My daughter's still mad at me because we moved when she was in sixth grade and she had to go to another school. She's a sophomore now. She holds a grudge. But we're here to listen to this because I I'll

153be I don't know about anybody else up here, but I don't know a lot about the educational system of or how two elementary school I still don't understand why we have two elementary schools in the in one town next to each other in the same building. I also think we should really start thinking about a new educational complex and that's going to cost a lot of money and it's going to be difficult to do but it's absolutely necessary and nobody else wants to talk about it. So put that on the back burner. We need a new education and elementary complex. It's something we have to do. It's coming. But we're here to listen. We're here. We want to hear from the administration. We want to hear from the teachers. And we want to hear from

154the public. We have not made a decision. We're trying to gather as much evidence and as much data as we can, as much opinions as we can. That's why we're here tonight and that's why we have before we even made this announcement that we were going to talk about it tonight, Jess made sure that we had a public hearing scheduled. We're not trying to do this behind anybody's back. We're not trying to do it behind the curtain. We're not trying to do any of that. What we are trying to do is somehow take as much sting out of this budget deficit that we possibly can. And you know what? I think I think we should be encouraging that that we're looking at all our options and not just taking something at face value. I It's

155all right if I finish speaking, right? If you'd like to speak, please come down and get in line because I can't hear you when you talk over me. I would also ask that if you're going to come to the public hearing and submit comments, email them to us. I perform a lot better if I have your thoughts before I have a chance. I this back and forth doesn't work well for me, but if I can understand what you're trying to convey to me before the meeting, then we can have a a decent conversation. Thank you, >> Nancy. >> Hi, Nancy Kafales again. Um, if we could go back to constraint number one, special education increases, I'd appreciate it. So on the number of students going out of district of the 33, is that only students

156that are going out of district placement for severe special education or is it children that are special needs also moving out of district to go to a different school? Can you >> So you have you have severe special ed basically that would go to a specialized school. >> Correct. >> Right. >> Yes. >> Okay. And then you have students that may be getting services that end up going out of district whether they go to BP or co you know they they could still go to Rochester, you know, Old Colony if they want to. They just have to get driven there. But is that 33 both? No, your fir your first comment was >> the first was what it was. >> Okay. >> Yes. >> So, I just wanted to make sure that people understood that

157that it isn't, >> you know, it isn't the out of district. >> My child went out of district, but it wasn't for severe special education. It was because of a lack of special needs education. He had to get out of the school system because they were not doing enough for him and he went to another school. So, I just wanted to make sure that he wasn't calculated in that 33. >> No, >> thank you. >> Hi, Jessica Mcen 17 Hillside Avenue. I just have a question in particular about Reeds Collaborative. Uh Reeds is a special education school, right? It's a it's a system for children who they don't work in I would imagine not just Middleboro or are they open to other towns as well? >> many towns. >> Okay. So inside this budget here

158that we're looking at um can I assume that this budget increase includes money that reads bills us to in some way some part of that figure. >> Okay. Um okay that was all just simple. Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Carol De Federico. I'm the assistant head cook at the Middle B High School and I'd like to ask a question about the alternative funding sources, >> the offsets. Could you clarify what it means for the food service department? So, uh when they went to full uh during COVID, um all students were uh eligible for free lunch. Uh so that actually uh brings in a lot of revenue to the district and uh we have a very healthy balance in the food service and the auditors are saying that money needs to be spent and they are

159allowing uh us to take a percentage of the custodial staff that spends much of the day in the food service cleaning before, during, and after. And so we can take their salary that we pay out a general fund and I can journal entry it into the food service that offsets and helps the general fund. >> So you're taking that money away from the food service department. >> I wouldn't say taking it away. We're using it to pay for our custodial staff. >> Okay. >> That work in that work in the schools. What about feeding the children? >> As I said, all the students are fed for free. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Kim Jones, 79 Clay Street. Couple of questions. Um, at the beginning, if I understood it right, we paid $400,000 for

160some reading program that doesn't seem to be very effective. But then we also, I believe you said if I understood it right, that we've got kids that are going from first grade in MKG and first grade from HBB and they go into another grade and they're not being taught the same. So why did we spend $400,000 for a thing if they're not being taught the same? >> The new um ELA curriculum was just approved. it will be implemented in the upcoming years. It hasn't yet been implemented. >> Okay, thank you for that clarification. Um, just quick, you you threw out some stats with costs and towns. Um, I tried to get them quickly. Thanks, AI. I don't know how accurate, but this is what AI is saying. Middle barrow school systems roughly a population of

1612870 to 3,200. If I go to Whitman Hansen, which I'm picking on them, but I grew up next door to him, so they'll get over it. Whitman Hansen supposedly has a population of 3423 to 3483. So, they've got a higher population and congratulations, Middle Burrow has a 2.2 million budget deficit and they came in at 1.5 and they're in this dire district. So, how money isn't adding up? We got less students but a higher deficit. And if you want to do and throw in um I think you said Milton which high end out there but they're dealing with a population of 4320 to 4367. You can't compare a school systems that's got 4,300 kids to a school system that's got 28 or 2900 kids. So those numbers we need to compare apples to apples, oranges

162to oranges. And finally, I'm going to harp on my son and his special needs. I've got this terrific kid who has managed to go through the middle burough school system and is always the only child in his grade. I can't imagine in a population of town that my son is the only one right now that's a special needs that's in 11th grade. But I've been told that every year from first grade on through. Oh, he is only he's gone to the MKG. My neighbor who shares a property line with me, her two kids go to HBB. So where does this figuring out of oh you go from from at one point I was told if you're south of 105 you go to HBB. If you're north of 105 you go to MKG. You don't even

163make sense. I got a neighbor whose two kids are in the opposite side of the school. We need to look at where the population goes. And I I mean, personally, I've always figured, why do you have two principles, two schools doing the same exact thing? You should have one, two, three on one side, four, five on the other. And if you got a swing of more kids on one side than the other, third grade shuffles back and forth. They're young, as we've had many testify here, they're resilient. My son went through foster care and all of the kinds of stuff. He is the most resilient kid you'll ever meet >> and it's because people have, you know, forced things to be done. We need to look at what's being done and not just shove shove

164out numbers and have people who are in the community that don't have kids that are not coming to these meetings making the decisions that affect us kids and these teachers who are working their butts off trying to take care of our kids. Thank you. [applause] >> Hi Sarah. Um, I see kids in both schools, which I don't know if you guys realize that there are teachers, there are educators that see kids from both schools. So, I have grades I'm an ESP in a room that has grades three, four, and five. At many times, they are all mixed together. So, I have kids who are already below grade level who are working with kids who are older than them and or younger than them and they are turning out just fine. We have kids that are

165growing, not just academically, but personally. Moving schools back and forth isn't going to change that. I went to school here. I went to LDL in kindergarten. I went to School Street for grades 1, two, three. I was the last third grade class to graduate from grade three at School Street, four, five at Berkeland where I didn't know majority of the kids. Went up to sixth grade. It was like it didn't even happen. It's such a hard thing for a person to see the district from what it used to be to see what it is now and how much it's changed, how much it's you can see it going slightly downhill, but it's a little faster than I think we're wanting it to be. Um, I urge you to ask more questions. I urge you guys

166to um, if it's possible, I don't know if it is possible to come visit the schools and see because I think that's the other the other point of it is that no one's coming to the schools and seeing. Do you guys know how many subsearate classes we have over at the MPG? >> Off the top of my head, no. >> I'm sorry. I didn't even >> Do you know how many subsparate classes we have at MKG? >> I still do not. >> Do you know how many subsparate classes there are at MKG? >> I would. >> So the answer is no. That which is fine. Um I I I don't dare give them I think I know but I don't dare give the number because I'm probably wrong. >> Do you know how many kids

167are in each class? >> Which >> of subsparates? >> That is not details that we all know. Correct. >> There are many. There is a class that just received two additional students. That class now has approximately 15 students in one class for a subsparate and they still don't have enough help. I urge you to come look at the schools. I urge you to come ask questions and come ask the people who are there because that's the only way you're going to get real answers and it's the only way that real change is going to be done. You have to see it for your own eyes. Hearing the stories is different. Seeing it with your eyes is more impactful. [applause] >> I just have a quick question. Did we already financially commit to the ELA program

168that everyone's been discussing tonight? >> No. >> So, it is not a signed contract that we're in. So, I would urge you that's what $400,000. were in a deficit. I don't think I heard any positive. I would revisit that. I know several of these teachers um their data that they collected from piloting was not heard. They're all sitting here. I would shoot emails out to every teacher that piloted. Ask them. They were given a pickle and told deal with it. They're right here. They don't want it. It would save you a hell of a lot of money. On top of that, I urge you to stop reconfiguration. Jess, I love the idea talking to the public, but there's three seats up April 4th. We're going to be hiring a superintendent. Let's do it the right

169way. New school committee, new superintendent. Let's do it for the kids. Have a good night. [applause] My name's Key Lombardi. I was Kelly Rebeski when I went to Middle Bar Schools, right lived on Fairview Street, right across the street. I also did sort of the Middle B Shuffle. I was a school street school for kindergarten, Union Street, Union Street, School Street. I went to Berkeland as a fourth grader and we had all fourth grade came together and it was the same experience that we're having the sixth graders do now. I think it doesn't really matter when they come together or how they come together. It's going to happen. I understand parents in town who have kids that are on dance and soccer and basketball leagues and you know the pain they would suffer when their

170kids were together for kindergarten and then they are not together. They're going to different schools based on where they live. I don't know that reconfiguration needs to happen the way that we're talking about it happening. It seems like we could just get rid of district lines and then you still have your pool to draw from to work with class sizes and work with numbers and that kind of thing. Um, I also wanted to say that the parent square notice that went out did say $2.7 million difference, which is where that number is coming from. It also um is addressing the reconfiguration of the elementary school complex with the budget. And I think that's where things are confusing. I don't know if you meant to roll them out together or not, but if they're two separate

171things that we're dealing with, when you say reconfiguration along with budget problems and we've got to find this money, it makes people feel like the reconfiguration is going to save money. And I think that's why people are asking the question like how much money is it saving? Um because it seems to be causing a lot of trouble. I wasn't here as a teacher when the reconfiguration happened, but I was here in the aftermath of it. And I remember hearing the pain in the teachers voices when they were a team of 12 teachers or 14 teachers and then they were torn from each other. Some arbitrarily put down at MKG and others back at HBB. And the thought process then was that this community schools idea was what we were looking for. And there was arguments

172made that if kids and families went to one elementary school from first grade through fifth grade, you would build sort of a community there. You would have the PTO, the parents involved from first grade to fifth grade. We came up with animal mascots, colors, little slogans for each school. We've invested and drawn pictures on our auditorium walls for emblems for each school. And now it just seems like when it works, it works. And when it doesn't, we're just going to rip that apart and do something else. I'm also hearing that the reconfiguration is looking to the future. I understand the building of all these this housing, and we're looking for, you know, old school buildings that are going to have to be rebuilt. I I know that's coming down the pike. We've been kind of

173putting band-aids on things for years. I understand that we're going to have an influx of kids when we have housing. That's who's moving into these buildings is going to be a lot of families. However, cutting all these teachers, and I'm going to speak up for these wonderful, talented teachers that we all sat on hiring committees and hired last year, for this year, or two years ago. And those are the people that we're working with and have grown to love. We're going to need those teachers in a couple years when all these things come together or our class sizes are going to be huge and we're going to let them leave and they're going to get picked up by other districts because we can't figure out the numbers to let them stay. All that has a

174cost too when we have to rebuild faculty like I'm already mourning am I going to lose my wonderful first grade and second grade faculty colleagues that I've worked with. I am a fourth grade teacher and I'm on the whole other side of the building, but I have rapport with these teachers. I talk teaching with these teachers. We share kids, families that have come up from first grade to fourth grade. We just talk about the kids and how much we love the kids and we share all that and they're going to be away from us and we're not going to see them on a daily basis. So all that has a cost too and I just want to put that in your ear um so that you can think about the human cost of this and

175if we are looking ahead to the future we have a lot of talent that are here wearing their blue shirts today that are going to be getting their resumes all shined up and ready to go and we're going to have that cost of having to like look again and we might not get the talent that we have behind us right >> [applause] >> I I'm I'm sorry I have more questions. So, just for the heck of it, yesterday I looked up what the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education has to say about the two programs that were piloted by many of us here. Um the SAVIS my view literacy program was rated as meets expectations. However, the HMH program which many of us piloted was ranked as high quality curriculum. So, it's baffling to me

176again that we would select a program that is just meets expectations versus a high quality program. So, what that tells me is that we believe our kids can just meet the expectations, but we are not striving for high quality students. >> [snorts] >> Um, if I were writing the check for these programs, I would not write the check for meets expectations. I would write the check for high quality. Um, someone also asked me to ask, what does circuit breaker $3 million mean? >> What What is that? >> Circuit breaker is uh the state reimbursement for our special ed expenses. So when we go over a threshold for a student and an expense, we get reimbursed. So then we put that back into our special ed program. >> And and again, I just I just have

177to say I'm just I I'm confused if the reconfiguration isn't part of the budget to save money or generate money or have anything to do with money. I really think you need to listen to the people here about um when it's best to do it, how it's best to do it. Um, I know perhaps you've gotten some comments from parents, you know, parents who maybe, you know, you know, dropping off kids or I I I don't know what the circumstances would be that people would be that much for putting all of one and two in one building and three, four, and five in the other building. But what you said there that you know the the slide that you showed um maybe it's you know it's you're just painting a picture that the rest of

178us aren't seeing because we're not seeing all of that as positives and we're certainly not seeing all of that as positives if you know March 1st is around the corner and and that leaves three school year months for you all to plan something that's going to affect so many people in a really short time frame. So, I'm we're really imploring you to look at this with open eyes and as Sarah Crawford said, come into the schools and take a look at what's going on there. We have subsparate classrooms that are packed. And some of these kids that have to go out of district would not be going out of district if we had rooms that weren't as packed with the proper staffing and then we wouldn't have to be sending kids out of district. And

179it's a trickle up effect. Our special education inclusion rooms are overloaded with kids. Some of those kids now are being pushed down from the sub-sepparate rooms. Some are being pushed up into subspparate rooms. We don't have a clear um like a clear understanding of where the kids are going um and how they qualify. There's just so much um so much gray in in the area of special education that is just really sad for the kids. So, we're we're asking you to really take a good look at this the reconfiguration cutting staff. And Mike, I know you said there's that natural attrition, but that's like throwing balls up in the air and hoping one of them doesn't hit you in the face because what if that natural attrition that you're planning for doesn't happen? What if

180only, you know, three old bags like me retire and then those other 18 people don't leave, right? They're not going anywhere. What happens if that happens? Then you're going to let go of 20 teachers while there while we're you know I know you all think that you're not heavy in administrators but you kind of sort of are. There was no mention. You said one half of a maintenance person. You know, the tech department wasn't mentioned. The the the maintenance department wasn't mentioned. The secretarial department. I mean, you just going right at the teachers. You know, this is a school district, right? Which kind of we kind of survives with teachers. All those other positions. Yeah. They're all very important, but at the very crux of what we do here is teach. So 23 of us,

181that's a big deal. And hoping that that at your attrition rate of 15, that like I said, you're just waiting for a ball to hit you in the face. I'm sorry. I've said too much. Good night. >> Thank you. [applause] I do want to be cognizant of everybody's time. I know most of you have to be in a building relatively early tomorrow morning. Um, so I think we can have time for another one or two speakers and then >> I'll make mine real quick. >> Thank you. >> I just want to know what slide did I miss it that shows where you're fixing the leak that the water's coming down into the trash bucket. >> [applause and cheering] >> And I is that on the same slide that will where you correct the sink that

182I hear has a plant growing out of the drain. You [cheering] know, [applause] to be really serious, I I do want to see all of the educational stuff corrected, but when you have a school that has things like that, that's a health and safety issue. That's a border health issue. the parents should go to the board of health and tell them to shut them down. You know, that's not acceptable. Uh and it doesn't cost thousands of dollars to get find out what's in that sink that's coming up through the drain. And if you've got that in your public schools, you have a problem. [applause] >> Hi, Amanda. Uh one Brook Street. I've got two kids at HBB and um I've had nothing but wonderful experience and it's due to every single person sitting back here

183who aren't here and that includes the 23 that might not be here. Um maybe I'm lucky but I just can't sleep at night without making the comment and asking one question. An example, my my little boy, it's in first grade. Um he's extremely active, strong willed um but he's in a regular classroom. He's got 20 children in the classroom. His teacher is fantastic. She's by herself. Um, so I just can't imagine getting rid of 23 people when I think that every first grade classroom should have an assistant. Like, we should have more people helping these teachers. How can one teacher wrangle six [applause] or a six-year-old like mine, just one of them? Imagine 19 others in the same classroom. um they're they're heroes and and I could never do that job. Um I work in

184operations. I oversee operations for a private a large private company and we are constantly trying to look at our budgets, look at our staffing and the way to be successful, the way that that company grows, flourishes, and is a place that people want to work and want to stay is by adding helping them, giving them more assistance and more support um when it's needed, not taking things away or they're all leaving. And we cannot lose these teachers. So my question is, can you promise everyone who's sitting up here to please one more time, fine-tune, go through this budget, try to figure out, beg, plead, gravel, I'll go with you, whatever you need to do, beg the select board, beg whoever we need to beg, look for the dollars to at least try to save these

185teachers and staff members because we cannot get rid of 23, let alone one, let alone any. Again, everyone should have at least one assistant in my opinion. And I'm not a professional. I don't work there every day, but I cannot imagine having one classroom with 20 kids. Now, you want to take away 23 teachers and add two more kids to every class. Um, so can we promise can you promise to try for all of us, all of our children to to look one more time before you just present this and give it over for approval to figure out how we can find these dollars to keep these teachers um in place? >> Absolutely. >> Thank you. >> That's the plan. >> Thank you. [applause] through the chair. Can I make a motion? I'd like to

186make a motion to uh >> reopen our or re-examine our vote on Sabus and see how not going through with it would affect the budget. [cheering] [applause] >> Second. >> I have a motion and a second. Any discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? Um, >> I [cheering] [applause] from the committee. Okay. Um, I am going to thank everyone again. Um, you know, I think we had a mini budget hearing even though it wasn't on the agenda. Um, we will have an official budget hearing. Um, and I encourage folks to come out and share your thoughts. We'll have another presentation beforehand. So, that'll be an opportunity to hear any progress that we have been able to make between now and then. So, thank you all for coming. Thank you all for speaking. I do appreciate I'm

187going to make a motion to table the policy subcommittee update for another meeting. >> Uh Jess, before you make that motion, >> when is the hearing with the select board, the budget hearing with the select board? >> March um March 9th with the select board. March 12th for your >> We could certainly use some help on March 9th and March 12th with the select board because we're going to be begging, borrowing, and doing whatever we can to try to get more money out of them as well. So if you guys >> so don't have anything [applause] to do that we'd appreciate some help. >> So just to repeat that um March 9th at the select board meeting is when the school comes to present the budget to the select board and then March 12th during

188our regularly scheduled school committee meeting is when we will hold our official budget hearing. >> Make sure the room big enough. >> Well, it'll be big enough on March 12th, but I don't get to set the the location for the meeting on March 9th. So >> um okay. So with that being said, I will now make a motion to table the policy. >> Anybody would like to vote yes on doing that, please do so now. >> Thank you. All right. So we're going to table the subcommittee update. We do need to um if I can just ask, we do have a few orders of business that we have to do. If you could leave quietly, I would greatly appreciate it. um grant information. We do have two grants that we need to hear about so

189that we can approve the allocation. So it's the Cape Cod 5 mini grants and the innovation career pathways ex externship supplement for $11,500. I don't know what the Cape Cod mini grant off the top of my head. >> They're all $500. >> $500 grants. Each school gets one $500 grant. >> Any school that applies most likely gets one. >> All right. So, I will move >> entertain a motion to approve these grants. >> I hear a motion and a second. All in favor? >> I. >> All right. Uh consent agenda. >> Uh we need to approve expenditures or accepting donations. That's what we're doing. We're accepting a donation from the Henry V for the Henry B. Berkeland Elementary School. It's a donation from the PTA for an HPV playground uh structure, shade structure. Middle Bar

190High School donation from Ohio Pile, Nichols Middle School donation from Varsity Yearbook, Nichols Middle School donation from Shutterfly. And that's uh also accepting our school committee minutes of December 10th and approval of warrants. >> Second. >> I'll take a motion first. Chris moved. >> So moved. [laughter] Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. We have voted on this trip. Couple of pieces of information. Middleboro High School C student council is holding a clothing drive May. I guess it's through most of May. Um and then John T. Nichols Middle School PTA is having a middle bra McDonald's presentive sales donation fundraiser on February 24th. With that being said, I just want to reiterate the upcoming meetings in case anyone is still listening. >> We'll get there. We're starting in February. We currently are scheduled for

191a public hearing on the reconfiguration for Wednesday, February 25th, uh 7 PM. I did hear what Ashley said in terms of looking at that date. We will discuss uh our next regularly scheduled school committee meeting is Thursday, February 26th. That will be at the John T. Nichols Middle School because there is tech taking place here. Um the March 9th is the budget hearing with the select board and Thursday, March 12th during our school committee meeting will be the public hearing on the budget. With that being said, I will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Move. >> Second. >> And all in favor? >> I. >> We are adjourned. Thank you.