Middleborough Public Schools School Committee Meeting - April 9, 2026

001Everybody ready? I would like to call to order our school committee meeting for April 9th. If you're able, could you please rise and have the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Um so, our first order of business on first meeting after elections is to have a reorganization, elect officers for uh the school committee. Uh and I am only serving now. I am vice chair until now, and I am serving just to get the meeting started. So, in that role, um I will welcome any nominations for chair. I nominate Sue Panini. Panini. Is there a second? >> I'll second that. Uh I will then turn over the role of chair

002to the uh most senior person, and that would be Christopher Benson. Christopher Can I get all in favor? I. I. All opposed? So it's unanimous. Thank you. Uh, I now would like to entertain uh any nominations for vice chair. I would like to nominate myself for vice chair. Do I have a second? Second. Any other nominations? Hearing none, all those in favor of uh electing Kim as vice chair, please say I. I. I. Opposed? Congratulations, Kim. Thank you. That's unanimous um and uh the third office that needs to be filled is clerk. Um we have Christine that has served as that. I've tried to be in touch with her and did not hear back. I only started trying in the last day knowing I'd be doing this. So um I if it's okay uh want

003to wait until we hear from her and then maybe at the next meeting uh we can officially fill that position. Does that work for folks? Mhm. Yeah. Okay. This is where we do the chair shuffle. Have the vice chair come up beside the chair. Just take your name tag. Oh. With that then, the first thing I'd like to do is to say thank you. Uh thank you for trusting me for to serve in this role. Um and I want you to know that I really believe that the correct verb is serve. Um that I see a chair as serving the committee. And what I mean by that is I think that the chair really needs to be the person that facilitates us to capture our mission and which is the mission of the school. And

004that's the foster our excellence for every child in every classroom every day. And I think it is the role of the chair to make sure that we um set agendas, get input, um have the right amount of information, and create an environment where people really speak to one another, and listen to one another, listen to the community when they want to speak, uh so that we have the information that we need to make those decisions that are not always easy ones. And um I really pledge to do that while I'm in this role. Uh and again, I thank you for giving me the opportunity to do it. I know that we have some difficult decisions. These are tough times, but I am very heartened by the different life experiences, professional experiences, and perspectives of this

005board. And I believe that if we really work together and share our thoughts, and uh work towards those goals that we will be able to navigate these times together. So, thank you. Uh with that, I do want to officially welcome our new members. And I wonder maybe if we start uh with Shawn if you would introduce yourself um to the folks that are here and the folks that are watching us uh on the cable Uh and just because you don't we don't have name tags today so everybody knows who everybody is. Good evening. My name is Shawn Mockler. I just want to thank you for being here tonight and thank you for everybody who voted for me and entrusted me to be part of this committee. Hi, I'm Leah Machado. Thank you. I'm happy to

006be here. I'm looking forward to working together with everyone to do what's best for the district. And thank you. And then we have one member that is not able to be here tonight who's Kristen but she will be joining us at the next meeting and so she will be able to introduce herself then. At the same time I also want to say a thank you to our colleagues that are not with us tonight that have served on the board for both Jess and Alan. They too are people that as our new colleagues and the people that remained on the board, I've had the opportunity to talk with everyone and including Alan and Jess and I want to say that I know that everybody is here for the right reason as was Jess and Alan that

007they really want to serve our students and our community and I want to thank Jess and Alan for the time that they did serve and put in all of that hard work that you all are going to get to see that needs to be done as to serve on the committee. So thank you Jess and Alan. I was just going to let her keep going. Thank you so much. That was supposed to be the last sentence of my thing Uh, thank you for trusting me was and by the way, I will mess up. And it is not intentional. Kim. That's right. Hi, I'm Kim Radlon. Um, and like the other new elects, um, I'm really happy to, um, be here to serve the district. I've worked in Middleborough Public Schools, um, for 14 years prior

008to my current job, and I'm really excited to be back working with the district. Um, so I thank everybody who voted for me and put your trust in all of us. And you know, we're we're heading in the right direction. So, I'm really excited to be here. Thanks, Kim. And I apologize. >> No, you're good. Um, we're going to go a little bit out of order, um, and allow our student representatives, Jackson Collins and Mason Texeira, to give their reports so that they can get back to what it is that they need to do in the evening to be ready for school tomorrow morning. Uh, all right. So, normally we'd start with some district-wide announcements, but we don't have any right now. So, I just want to say welcome to all the new school committee

009members. Uh, I'd like to introduce myself. My name is Jackson Collins, and I'm one of the school committee representatives. I'm Mason Texeira, and I'm the other school committee representative, and I will kick off our report today with the stuff from the MEC. Uh, they want to wish you all a happy April, and their new word of the month is creativity. Uh, ways their students are showing creativity in their classrooms is they're making recycled art. They are turning cardboard boxes, plastic bottles, and egg cartons into robots, costumes, and sculptures. They are writing stories, and they are storytelling. So, they're creating a storytelling extravaganza with random pictures, poems, and they create what if stories, and they spend time in class writing to show their creativity. Uh they do a lot of things, inventive projects, emotional art, word

010play, creative writing, and even drama. So, they are taking creativity to heart during the month of April. Their field day is scheduled for Thursday, May 28th. If it rains, it will be held indoors. Volunteer sign-up letters will be going home the first week back from April vacation. If any parents want to volunteer, they need to have a valid CORI license. If you have one, you'll receive more information in an email letting you know what to expect. Um these licenses do expire, so please check and make sure that yours is current. If you do not have one and you want to be part of field day, you can bring a license into the main office and you will be able to fill out that form. Only parents with CORIs are allowed on the field, and more

011information will be posted in the PE news section, so stay tuned. Report cards will be available to are available to view in Aspen as of April 6th, and the paper copy was sent home on April 7th with all students. Uh kindergarten information night for incoming kindergarten families was April 8th from 6:00 to 7:00 p.m. Okay, and now we're moving on to uh MKG. Uh MKG just wants to extend a congratulations to their amazing drama club for their outstanding performance. They certainly have talent at MKG. Some upcoming MCAS dates is May 4th, the math session for grades 3, 4, and 5. May 6th, the math session for grades 3, 4, and 5. May 12th, the um science session for grade 5. And then May 14th, the second science session for grade 5. On Thursday, April 2nd,

012the first grade students were visited by uh Caldecott award-winning author and illustrator Brian Lies. The MKG staff and grade one students would like to give a huge thank you to the MKG PTA for sponsoring this amazing enrichment opportunity. Grade 2 students wrapped up their trip around the world. Their students worked hard to produce travel brochures for the parent presentation on April 2nd and 3rd, and they are so thrilled that many parents came to join. The mathematicians have started finding and using fractions in real world situations such as baking and measuring. Fourth graders have been busy this weekend while it's been raining cats and dogs. Ask your child what idioms are and why authors use them in addition to other figurative language. Students in fourth and fifth grade have been learning about the art of making

013sound for movies and films. To switch over to the HPB on April 6th, there was a PTA meeting. Um, it was an MCAS information session for the upcoming MCAS tests. Um, tomorrow, April 10th, is the art festival from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. The theme is Candyland glow in the dark, and it features hands-on activities such as model magic, sand art, face painting, and more. Bring cash for t-shirts and snacks, but entry to the event is free. On April 17th, there's the neon glow fun run fundraiser. Please register your child with the sign-up in the bulletin, and the HPB lobby has set up a donation box for clothing to support Cradles to Crayons. So, please consider contributing to this meaningful cause. Your donations will make a big difference. Um, and then normally we move on to

014Nichols Middle School, but we don't have any major announcements from that, so we'll just be moving right on to MHS. So, at the high school, we want to congratulate all students that participated in the instant decision day for Massasoit Community College last week. We're proud of them. And job well done to all of the AP students who participated in their AP mock exams over the past few weeks for both math and science. Congratulations to all spring athletes as they have started the spring season despite the weather. And good luck to the cast and crew of SCW's production of the play that goes wrong. We're looking forward to your play this weekend with shows at 6:00 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday. This is the annual winter comedy that the drama club produces every winter. Uh

015congrats to the student council for the breakfast with the Easter Bunny event that was held on the uh previous weekend and where kids from throughout the community got to come, have some breakfast in the calf, and take photos with the Easter Bunny. Uh please plan your Sunday dinner here at MHS there at MHS as the class of 2028 host their annual pizza bowl. The event will begin at 4:00 p.m. and will conclude at 6:00 p.m. and on this Sunday. So, please come and taste a variety of pizza from the Middleborough area and you will get to vote on who serves the best pizza. Quarter three now ends on Friday, April 17th, we leave on break and quarter four will begin the Monday we get back from break. So, keep that in mind as grades will

016close very shortly. Um especially for seniors because quarter four will be about a month. So, get your grades up now. The spring SAT will be held on held at MHS on Saturday, May 2nd. So, be sure to register for that exam if you are a junior. Uh please reach out to your school counselor with any questions and student council elections have begun for the next um student council executive board. The elections for the class board will begin after break. And then after that, the elections for the new school committee rep will be held. And I believe it was a meeting the week I want to say the date was the 22nd that I predict the meeting would be where you will all get to meet the new school committee rep for next year. All right.

017So, we just wanted to touch base with the new board and discuss how we can work together as students and school board. One of the main reasons we became school committee reps was to make sure student voices could be heard. As the school committee reps, we are responsible for not only reporting on student ongoings in the district, but also making sure that the voices of our students in our district are heard. My first ask of this board is to continue to ask both myself and my co-rep and any future reps our opinions on issues, policies, and any other debates the school committee faces. We are the student representatives on the school committee and we believe that the students' voices are just as important as the parents. We ask you to remember that we are here

018to provide the students' opinions on issues and implore you to use us as a resource. The student advisory committee is another option you have for getting students' opinions on issues. The student advisory committee, which henceforth I will refer to as the SAC, is a committee consisting of five students from the high school. The members consist of the members-at-large from the freshman, sophomore, and junior classes, as well as the two school committee reps here today. Our purpose is to share the voices of the students with the school committee. We read through policies, we skim through handbooks, and we provide insight into everyday life at the school. Most importantly, we gather student input that can be shared with the committee at a meeting or via email, whichever is easiest. If the school committee is reviewing a policy

019that affects students, one of the student reps will request to review it with the SAC during the first read process to make sure that the students' voices can be heard in the decision-making process. If the school committee is debating an issue that would affect the student population, such as the mask mandate during COVID-19 if anyone remembers that and the pending cell phone ban for the upcoming school year. The SAC will meet to discuss and will share their opinions at the next school committee meeting where we hope you will all take our voices into consideration when making your decisions. Um a friendly reminder just according to the law that creates the advisory committee, the school committee must meet with the SAC at least once every other month. Uh we're very excited to work with all of

020you and we want to create a new relationship between the students and the school board. The SAC exists for the school committee to hear the students, the members of the community that serve that cannot make their voices heard in the ballot booth. In this transition into a period of transparency, please do not forget about us, the SAC and do not forget the students within the school that you serve. Um are there any questions about the SAC at all? Um the last thing >> I I I do. Um it's actually something I've I was thinking about uh earlier in the year and that is we we do often uh change the order of the agenda. Um we think we're doing it as a favor so that you are not sitting through all of the deliberations and

021I wondered whether um that was something that you think we should not do. That you should remain so that if there is a um a discussion that's going on that a student perspective would be helpful that you would be able to um provide it within the context of the conversation rather than at the beginning out of the context of the conversation. Uh good question. I think it really depends on the meeting. There are sometimes where Jackson and I will stay to hear a certain um agenda item read. Um if there's a discussion item, we want to hear opinions for, we will stay. Um Lately, the school committee meetings have been very budget filled, which has led to us not staying for most of them. But, as the budget um process winds down, Jackson and I

022can continue to spend more time as we get back into more um policy and especially the uh superintendent search. So, I think it really would depend from meeting to meeting, but that is the sort of thing that once the agenda's posted, we can let you know. Thank you. Any other thoughts or questions? The last thing um was the superintendent search packet that we have here. I talked to Sue, but once um the committee is approved or changed or if you need anything from the schools for anything for the committee, you can reach out to both Fran and ourselves. So, thank you. We certainly will. Uh and thank you both for uh the ways that you have uh presented what your information is from the round the district. Uh I think that you've done it in

023a very professional way and I'm really appreciate it. Um so, I did put together I I knew that at least the newer members would not have your um laptops yet or Chromebooks. So, I did put together a packet of information uh that's before you that we're going to be referring to as we go along this evening. Um Uh so, if you open up and the first one that I want to refer to is uh charting the course. Um and again, uh for the new members, uh this is something that is required within the first year uh and you will see I just want to highlight that on May 16th, there is one of these sessions that's going to happen in Marshfield, which is closer than uh some of the others uh that you might want

024to think about going to. Uh last year Shannon and I went together to one and uh I will speak for myself, uh having a colleague from the school committee in the town together so that you could kind of discuss different things together of how that applies within uh our school committee, I found very helpful. So, um you might want to think about signing up together if you So, I just want to bring that to your attention. Also, behind that you see um something that Anne had sent around also, which is the Middleborough School Committee operating protocols. And that was uh approved at our last meeting or the meeting before uh as it it is based on our policies. Uh and the thought was of bringing this together the information together in a way that uh

025we can all read and then sign at the end that these are our obligations, these are the ways that we are to conduct ourselves while we're here. I don't know that you have had enough time to really take a look at it to for me to send around the paper to sign now, but I I leave it up to what you what you wish. We can wait until the next meeting um so that you can really review it and then sign or we can sign it at the end. Uh what's your pleasure, everyone? Thoughts? I'm fine for tonight, but should we wait for Kristen or It's a good idea. Want to wait till the next meeting so that Kristen would be with us and do it also? Yeah. Okay. And that's what we will do.

026Thank you. All right, next on the agenda you see um rules and procedures for public comment. Uh so over the past year um there has been debate uh around aspects of our policy around public comment. Uh and specifically around the idea of the 3-minute rule. Uh you will find in your in your packet that um thanks to Shannon who is on our policy subcommittee. Um she pulled out for me just just the guidelines for public comment um which speaks to many different things, but the uh you will see further along where it speaks to um that uh individuals can get up to speak that they have 3 minutes, that they shouldn't come back more than once uh and many other aspects of it. The one part that seems to have been a that people have

027challenged um and that I know that it has been spoken about during uh this election season was whether we should maintain the 3-minute rule. Uh also people wonder about how is it that we can change it if we decide if that is the desire. So behind it you will see um that I have also um copied and pasted what it says is the policy for um for policy adoption. What has to happen to change a policy? And you'll see it really is a process and rightly so. Um it takes review. It's a legal document um and you know it's something that we really need to abide by and making quick changes is probably not the best idea. Typically, the people that are responsible for looking at any kind of uh policy changes that it is

028decided by the school committee whether we want to or not. It can be brought forward by the superintendent. Um it can be as from feedback that we get from staff members or community or whatever, but brought to this board to determine whether we want to um change a policy or not. So, it's not something that we can uh do immedi- uh effective immediately. And so, what I wanted to do was to knowing uh that this is um something that has really and sometimes gotten in the way of um our meetings because people have strong feelings about it. I wanted to open up for discussion. Uh if this is something that we want to officially review. Um and so, that is what I'm doing. I am opening it up for conversation. Does anyone want to speak?

029Leah? Chris or Well, I was going to make a motion, but if anyone wants to speak first, I'd rather that happen. I would like to amend this policy. Um I don't think that in my opinion that there should necessarily be a time limit for anyone who's voicing their concerns at a school committee meeting, especially when it has to do with their children or the budget, you know, any anything. Um I would also like to see back and forth dialogue between the community and the school committee. You know, even if it's just acknowledging someone's comment and you know, making sure we table it and get back to it when we know the answer just so we revisit it and you know, have that back and forth. It's just It's silly when you comment and everyone just

030sits in silence. It's just It just doesn't feel right. So, I yeah, I would like to see this happen. Anybody else have thoughts that they'd like to share? Yeah, I agree. I I think we should look at the 3-minute rule. Um not sure what it should be, but I think it's worth investigating to see if there's maybe a better fit for this committee in the community. And then just in keeping you know, obviously with there's still discussion items that are open for discussion as well. So, I just want to I just want us to keep that in mind, too, when we look at revising the public comment aspect of it is that we're still open for the discussion items to have that, you know, that back and forth dialogue. Um and also, too, just to

031utilize email or reaching out to school committee members as well. I mean, I think sometimes that might be underutilized for us, and I just want to make sure that everyone is aware of how to get in touch, you know, with all of us if there are questions. And I know some parents are more comfortable maybe reaching out to Chris more than someone else, or, you know, they have people that they might be more comfortable with. But I want to make sure that, too, we're utilizing all the tools that, you know, that we do have when we look to revamp this policy. Can I ask a question? Of course. >> Okay. So, how does that work? So, if a parent reaches out to a specific school committee member, or, you know, reaches out to the entire

032school committee, how do we How are we supposed to then Do we respond as a group? Do we respond individually? Then do we discuss it? Like, how does that work? So, I I again, we can't We can't read We can't comment or reply all. Okay. Cuz that would be a violation of the open meeting law. >> Yeah. And the same applies to social media, too. So, I just want that I mean, I know it's not something we actually put on the agenda to review, but as far as responding to anything on social media, um as a school committee member, because then the opportunity for me to comment, and then maybe Sue comments and then maybe Chris comes and then all of a sudden we're there's three people commenting or we have a majority of Right.

033Okay. Which could also be considered a violation. So, um I would say in my own personal experience if a parent reaches out and I can help them then I appoint them in the right direction of what I can do or try to answer if I can. If I can't then I know I need to put them, you know, in touch with someone else. Okay. So, it's really just depends on the situation or what the question is I think for me. I I mean I won't speak on behalf of anyone else but that's just been my experience. Okay. Hi. Hi. Uh my experience also I agree with what Shannon is saying and and there are we do have protocol around when someone if it's about a a specific my child issue directing it to the person

034and you can follow up and make sure that that they got responded to and whatever. Um what my experience is also been that if I start hearing three, four five different people contacting me not about an issue um that's when I will go to the superintendent and say aside from each individual little thing it just feels like there's something bubbling up here that is an issue. Um can we talk about that and is there something, you know, that we need to address and we still need to bring it back to the superintendent uh and and then at some point a larger issue not around a student but a larger thing can be discussed at if it gets to that point that the school needs And I think you know, as we're going to talk about

035the policy and like Shannon had said, you know, really looking at when people are coming up for public comment and I know kind of sitting here and not being able to have a conversation back and forth. And when we're comment having comments on things on the agenda, but they haven't been presented yet. We can't really have a conversation back and forth because they haven't presented the information yet. So, kind of figuring out how maybe tabling that kind of discussion piece until they present and then coming back up and having that discussion. So, sometimes there are those points when we can't really have that back and forth because it's not our presentation to even be answering questions about because they haven't had it yet. So, I think all of that, you know, as we go over

036this, I think that's going to be a big part, you know, of the conversation, too. Chris. Oh. Oh. I was going to have a motion a motion get on the table before we go to public input. Okay. So, my motion in July, we tabled a proposed change to policy BEDH and then we've also been provided BEDH-E. I would make a motion to refer those both back to the policy subcommittee for review and hopefully with the recommendation to delete rule number three in BEDH or rule number one in BEA BEDH-E, which is the three minute. Is there a second? Second. Um this is my first request as the vice chair, can you get motions down because I will never be able to get them down. Um Yes, there are a lot of letters, though, so you

037might have to repeat that. Yeah. Oh, no. E D E T E T and then this is the match. >> Okay. And then we can push that to a division. And did I hear a second? I second it. Thank you. Okay, any further discussion here before we go to um community? Anyone from the community who wants to have input? I have You're in the dark. I have a hard time seeing you. Okay, if you would mind stating your name. Sarah Lord. Hi Sarah. Can you hear me now? Oh, can I ever. Um just a comment for the microphones. If everyone could just be mindful of their microphones, we can't hear a lot of you. Um so it comes in kind of blurry or I think it's just too far away. So like Chris I heard

038and Shawn I heard, but everyone else kind of and I asked other people so it wasn't just my hearing. Um thank you. I just want to comment on the 3 minutes. So I was coming to the school committee meetings when they started um enforcing that. That's when I started speaking out and I think part of the issue is it was done as a way of controlling parents from sharing. From my opinion and from the public opinion. I think it was the timing of it. It was never something that happened until a lot of people started speaking out. So people have seen it as a way of controlling parents and the community and I think that's why maybe the intention isn't that, but that's why it was used before by previous chairs. Um so I do

039think it's important to remind people that you don't come up here if something's on the agenda. That's clearly stated every time. Um and you save those comments for that particular item. But to come up here and most people don't break the 3 minutes, but I think just telling people they have a limit is it's not okay. And I like I said, it was used as a control method before by previous chairs and I think that's why it needs to go. So, thank you. Thank you. Helpful. Good evening. Welcome. Welcome all the new members. Um yeah, I just had maybe a couple of clar- >> but first, could you state your name? >> me to Oh, I'm sorry. Pat Rooney, uh uh second grade teacher at the uh Brookline school. Um couple of things I and

040um I appreciate Ms. Redlon's comment about that. We need to speak on like when those items come up cuz like I'm looking at the school choice. We have no idea what that's about. Is that a pro? Is that a negative? Is it a thing? What are we doing? How we doing? So, usually and and not having been to a lot of committee meetings before for the school committee, when I was watching recently, it's like when do you talk? When do you not talk? When can you ask a question? When can't you ask a question? And then people would have note, we're not commenting on that right now. Um that dialogue between the board and the and the uh public is important. Um and I'd like to sit there and not answer those questions for the

041past several months. That doesn't seem like you know, we're working together. And we're supposed to be having all this um transparency. That doesn't That's not transparency. No one's answering the questions. Um we heard emails going back a little bit that I got emails that must have said, "We want to redistrict." I heard a lot of pa- What emails? How many did you get? Did you get two? Cuz that's emails. Did you get a hundred? Where did this idea come from? People say, "Well, I a lot of emails about uh you know, for it." Okay, well, not to doubt you, but what emails are those? How do we know you got I got Uh-uh. No, that's okay. Don't go away. Uh did did that turn the mic off? Is that what happened? I just don't know

042why. Um so, you know, just that kind of a when people say, "Oh, well, I got these emails about this that the public wants to do this." Okay, but that needs to be transparent, too. How many emails did you get? One person has an idea that they want to change the schools. That's not a that's not a public comment. That's not a public demand. You know, what 30 people did? There's 1,200 students, 1,200 parents, 3 400 parents. The other ones that you wanted to listen to prove it. So, it's not just, "Well, I heard this for it." But just that transparency there. Um and then I did that public comment should be on each of the agenda items. As things come up, that's when the people can make those comments and kind of say, you

043know, "Oh, yeah, that's a great idea." Or "This needs to be looked at further." Or "Where did this come from?" Who made you know, why are we discussing this now? Why haven't we discussed this before? So, but if it's just public comment and then we haven't discussed those things that are on the agenda that I'm sure people want to discuss. And I'm sure that you'd like to hear. Because you get the positives, you get the negatives, you get the for's, you get the against. So, so I I like with the board where you guys are looking at that to try to change that. Go back to the way things are so that there is that transparency that, you know, everybody knows what's going on. Whether we like it or not doesn't matter. Everybody knows what's

044going on. And that's where people can make their decisions. Thank you. Thank you. Um I do uh want to provide some information um and hopefully we'll reinforce it um as we're going along. There are two different times that we call for uh the public to get up and give us feedback or provide information. One is called public comment. And in that section you can get up and speak to anything that um is within the purview of the committee, whether or not it's on the agenda. Open law open meeting law does not allow us to speak to anything that's not on the agenda. So, that is why often we'll the response will be um we're not going to be able to speak to that right now, but we'll follow up later. The second time is as

045you've said is during the agenda. At that time, it is the agenda. So, that's why we stop and we ask for uh any kind of public feedback or input and that is when we can always have back and forth um information going flowing back and forth because it's on the agenda and we will not get into any kind of open meeting law violation. Does that help? Yes. Thank you. You're welcome. Hi, Lauren Hook. Hi, Lauren. Uh Summer Street. So, I just wanted to uplift with Pat, right? Pat just said. Um and I've had this conversation with both I can glean and Sean when we had some of these meetings about um you know, you don't know what an agenda item is and so I don't know if it's part of the law or just the

046policy of where public comment thought like lies in the agenda and if it could be moved back because that could also um like reduce some of the times that people feel they need to get up to speak if some of their questions are answered throughout the agenda previously. So. Thanks. Good idea. Any more? Oops. Sorry. Hi Katie. Katie McMenamin, um North Street. Um I watched all the incredible speakers that spoke at the Ways and Means hearing. Um so the three-rule for me um limits passion. Um having to hear them kind of rush through their speeches because they were limited at that thing. I just don't think that should be here. I think here is where should be a safe place, excuse me, safe space and we should be able to hear that passion. Um so

047my votes for the new uh School Committee members kind of lean towards, okay, who also agrees that maybe that three-minute rule should be looked at. So just another parent saying, I'd appreciate that being looked into. Thank you. Other thoughts? We can still discuss before the vote. We can. I just want to uh let everyone who's watching or who's here tonight thank you for being here tonight. Now uh the agenda usually comes out on the Tuesday before the Thursday. If there are things that people want as discussion items and they feel passionate about, you can email well, I'm I don't want to speak for everybody, but you can certainly email me and I will voice it to the superintendent, the chair and the vice chair and fight to get that as a discussion item because staff,

048taxpayers and parents, you all have a voice that should be heard every meeting and on any issue. So please reach out to me. I'm happy to read your emails and forward your thoughts along to the chair. Thank you. Thanks, Chris. And uh if I might piggyback on that, uh the agendas, even though they come out on Tuesday, um we really work on them the week before. So, anytime you want something on an agenda um that you feel passionate about, certainly email Chris if you want, but uh as chair you certainly can email me. All right, so I don't want to speak for you. That's okay. I appreciate that. All right, any other conversation? Go ahead, William. I welcome emails as well. Please Please reach out. That's why we're here. So, utilize us. Reach out. All

049right, so uh Kim, would you mind reading back the motion? Uh a motion for policy BEDH and BEDHE to be referred back to the policy committee for review. And it was motioned by Chris and second by Shannon. Thank you. All those in favor? I. I. Opposed? That's unanimous. Thank you. So, following up on that, um and I wanted to do all of this before we had public comment. Uh you will see in your packets behind that that there is a policy There's a policy for everything. Uh there is a policy to suspend policies. Um which allows us to um temporarily suspend some aspect of a policy. And I'm going to read it so that it uh those that don't have the paper in front of them will know. It says the operation of any section

050or sections of Middleborough School Committee policies not established by law or contract may be temporarily temporarily suspended by a 2/3 vote of the committee members present at any regular or special meeting. Any action to suspend policy must be reviewed at the next scheduled meeting and will be so noted on the agenda for that meeting. Uh what I interpret that to mean though I will bow to Shannon's knowledge of the policies um is that we can uh vote to suspend some aspect of a policy, but it's only for that night. If you want it to continue, you review it again at the next meeting. Uh and so with that in mind and hearing all of the input that has been given both previously and tonight, um I would entertain a motion to uh suspend the 3-minute

051rule what we have come to lovingly call the 3-minute rule uh uh for tonight's public comment. Second. Any discussion? All those in favor signify I. I. Opposed? We also have that as a unanimous vote. Thank you. So, we now move into with all of that done, we can move into public comment and I want to reiterate one more time that public comment is for the time if there what you want to talk about is not on the agenda. Um this is the time that you can speak to it. We can ask clarifying questions. Um but we cannot have a conversation about it if it's not on the agenda because of open meeting law. Uh if you wait until the agenda item uh, that it refers to, we will always stop and make sure that that

052the public is given opportunity to give input. You can if it is on the agenda, you can do it during public comment also. Um, but it might be a way to streamline um, how we get through these meetings. So, having said that, uh, is there anyone like to speak for public comment? Hello. Um, there was no Tiger Times this past week, so I just wanted to mention that the Nichols Middle School PTA, we're having a textile bin drive on Saturday for Earth Day. So, it's 8:00 to 12:00 um, this coming Saturday. Help us fill a textile bin. They're going to be dropping off a big trailer and uh, we get funds from that that we can use for the students and teacher appreciation. And then next Tuesday, we have a McDonald's fundraiser for Nichols Middle

053School PTA. Um, from 4:00 to 7:00 at the Middleborough McDonald's on Tuesday. No code needed. Any way you order accounts, uh, and we get 20%. So, thank you. Thank you. And thank you for what the PTA does. Relax, I'm on your side. Uh, James Dupont, 118 Elm Street East for the for the minutes and the record. I'll leave a copy of my uh, remarks. Uh, just to put it in in the context of why I'm here and with whom you are dealing, I served 18 years on the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School Committee. I served as a town selectman for a number of years after that. And uh, despite the fact and there being three new members here, all I'll say is possibly in about 2 weeks, I'll be the new member of the Bridgewater-Raynham Regional School

054Committee. But, never never can tell. Maybe the voice of Bugs Bunny, Mel Blanc, will beat me. Good evening, uh, Madam Chairman, members of the Middleborough School Committee. I come tonight to deliver a message regarding a matter of grave and immediate importance to the students of the Middleborough district, their school committee, and the administration staff of the Middleborough School Department. The issue is twofold. First, it concerns the decades-long practice of underfunding by the Massachusetts State Legislature of the various categories of so-called local aid, which is all of you know is a significant factor in setting the the tax rate in the local property tax, and hence how much the property owners are asked by you to pay. Prior to fiscal year '81, the first year in which Proposition 2 1/2 was in effect, which I helped

055put on the ballot, the cities and towns before that simply put another nickel on the local tax rate to make up for any shortfall in local aid, and went on with things. After Prop 2 1/2 took effect, the cities and towns were limited in how much they could raise the prior year's levy. Consequently, many local services, mostly education, were annually paired back due to the annual recurring shortfalls in state money being returned to the local governments. This brings me to my second point. Where does so-called state revenue come from? The answer is it comes from every resident and business in every city and town, including Middleborough. Why isn't that money being returned to you, the people who actually need it for day-to-day things like police, fire, seniors, and most importantly, hear this that word, most

056importantly, schools. It's been my experience that our state legislators have not made full funding of local aid a priority. Members of the majority party bemoan how tough things are this year in Boston on Beacon Hill. And you're already hearing that. And I will just make a footnote. $8.3 billion B billion dollars in the rainy day fund. And they're telling you how tough it's going to be. And the governor only put in for a 2.5% increase in chapter 70. So, the members of the majority party bemoan how tough things are this year on Beacon Hill. Well, the minority party members shrug their shoulders and say there isn't anything I can do about it. Last year Rainham's annual budget process resulted in the failure to pay the regional school district's assessment after failed prop two and a

057half override, a large layoff of school employees then followed. 31 the next year and possibly more this year. Makes you wonder why I'm running for the school committee, I suppose. A resident I discussed this with said it sounds like bad management. I responded that it wasn't bad management, but rather a shortfall caused by our state legislators not fully funding chapter 70. I've been tracking chapter 70 since 1973. I have checked it every year. Never once fully funded. I want to repeat that for the record. Chapter 70 never once fully funded. When he responded that it to that I said that it wasn't bad management, but a shortfall caused by our state legislators, he responded by saying it sounds like our local government mismanaged their relationship with our legislators. And yes, I'm looking at you. As

058long as our state reps and state senators can get lauded for getting us half a loaf, then the residents and businesses will be told to make up the difference and you, the elected members of this committee, you will take the brunt of the public's ire, not the governor, not the state reps, state senators, the people at this table who've been elected to conduct education in this town will take the brunt of the public's ire when taxes go up and educational opportunities go down. Madam Chairman, this leads me to the conclusion that the time has come for all local elected officials to demand their respective state legislators change their vote on local aid and aid to education from the current here's what's left to here's what the town of Middleborough and its schools legally are entitled

059to under Chapter 70. After that, if the state then has a shortfall, let them raise taxes. Let them do massive layoffs to make up the difference. I want to thank you, Madam Chairman, members of the School Committee, and I'll leave a copy of my remarks with the secretary. I'm not asking for a vote or anything. I've been to 19 different communities with this exact statement. This is somewhere between Paul Paul Revere and Don Quixote. Those children are counting on you people to deliver for them. And I had one thought that I would share with you, that if you come to an override situation, how about we do this? What if you the tax collector sent out a tax bill to everybody in in town for what Proposition 2 1/2 would allow you to do, and

060then send them a separate bill for how much the legislature shortchanged you? And maybe you could have an override vote in November the same day that those legislators are on the ballot. I want to thank the committee for their time, and good luck to the new members as well. Thank you. Thank you. Katie McMannamin again. Um just because someone else had mentioned the PTA, that kind of sparked Um, I'm on the Max PTA. Um, so this Sunday, April 12th, from 11:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., Papa Gino's in Middleboro will donate 20% of the proceeds to the school. Um, there's more information about that kind of all over online or you could certainly reach out to me and I'd be happy to share with you. Um, and if there's any parents listening, um, just a reminder

061to sign your child up for the dance-a-thon and fun race. That's it. Thank you. Thank you, Katie. Anyone else? Thank you all. Um, all right. We will move on to discussion items uh and to the superintendent's report. Good evening. So, every year uh the committee must uh make a dis- uh decision on school choice on have a discussion on that in the spring. Um, and you will need to have a public hearing. We'll do that at the next meeting. Uh, you only have to have hold a public hearing if you are going to say no to uh school choice. So, uh we currently are not uh school choice and so last year they held a public hearing uh to vote that. We do have school choice kids because in the past we were uh open

062to school choice. We have to have that open for siblings. We do not have any siblings coming in next year. Um, so I just bring this as a discussion item. No vote tonight. And if you decide that uh well, we'll hold the public hearing, you'll vote either yay or nay on whether we become school choice. Any questions on that? Do we have any perspective siblings coming in the future. Like if we vote no and close the door today, would the siblings going forward not be eligible? No, if the if a there's just none coming into the district next year, but it it's grandfathered in for any student in Celina. >> And and a decision is made each year, so if a sibling was I mean have a new student who wanted to come in each

063year, we we take the vote based on what our capacity is. Pretty much correct? Correct. Questions? Thoughts? I thought I might see you again. Yeah, this is a good one. No, I just have just a couple of points that we're we're talking about RIFs with teachers, um which is going to bring up class sizes, um increasing those. So, if we're not replacing teachers that are going to be laid off or we're not replacing them in with vacancies, and we're going to allow and I'm saying we are or not, just saying if we allow school choice, we're now increasing those class sizes more. Um we don't know, you know, do we have a ceiling? We We do have in the contracts that we have class size we try to keep a class size reasonable. Um and

064you know, I'm not saying there's 100 kids who want to do school choice, but you know, any kid above 24, 25, 26 in the classroom is a lot. So, a school choice could affect that. Um is there a ceiling? Do we say like right now we don't have we don't have room, we don't have teachers, we don't have We don't have room in the inn right now, right? Um so, you know, we also have a lot of move-ins that are going to be coming in. So, just thinking about that that you know, if we're going to allow the school choice, and there's money in there, but will that school choice money go to salaries? To hire teachers, to help in the classrooms when our class sizes do go up, either through school choice or with

065our movings that are coming. You know, not just September, they're going to come October, November, December. Um so, just something to keep in mind, that's all. Thank you. Thank you. You want to make a comment? Sure. Yeah, they These are for out of district students. Uh and the reason that the committee has in the recent past voted no was exactly for that, enrollment and and capacity. It wasn't there, so we said no. Thanks for that clarification, Mike. Mhm. Other questions about school choice? And then, Mike, I assume you will be bringing that back for for a vote? >> Public hearing, yes. >> For a public hearing. Mhm. All right, thank you. Budget update? Yes, the next item is a budget update. Um this is a brief update, so for the new members, uh I invite

066you to set a meeting or try to get a hold of me, set a meeting, so we can go over the budget in detail. It is quite lengthy and not for uh a meeting here. I will get you all the information, but I would love to sit down individually and go through it. But, um this is an update we've been obviously going through this for the last few months, so I have a little PowerPoint here. Um we normally uh set our budget with our budget drivers, which are all the things that we need uh to have a level service budget, which um is our continuous district improvement uh and the strategies that we use for that. We have to budget for fixed costs, contractual um obligations, and salary increases. Uh special ed tuition and services,

067we must uh budget for those. The ever-changing technology. Uh curriculum costs, we have a uh item in our budget for a new ELA program that we're discussing now. Uh we do try to maintain lower class sizes. We're struggling this year because of funding, but that is a goal uh and does drive our budget. And lastly, we must uh budget for transportation for our students. The three uh constraints that we find when found when we're building this budget uh was the special ed uh increases. Two, uh our alternative funding sources. And we'll get into that if you're new member, uh that may be a new concept. That we have funds that are not uh within the general fund that we use to offset. And last, um as you heard the gentleman, we are having the declining

068financial support from the federal and state and local levels. So, constraint number one in special ed, this is just a brief uh look at the last 4 years of our special ed out of district tuition costs. And you see how it rose from 23, 24 to the current budget that we're looking at, 26, 27, and almost doubled over that 4 years from 2.6 million to almost 5 million. In the middle column, we have the number of students. And uh you see that that isn't going up in a great number, but the dollars are. So, it's the cost of these tuitions that are really uh going up. Second constraint, uh Uh, as I said, we have alternative funding sources. The problem is we've been using those uh, and we have brought them down. Uh, and so,

069um, we have uh, facility rentals we reduced by 650,000 that we used last year uh, or the current year that we won't be able to use next year. Uh, our school choice we reduced by 112,000. And then, um, every year we look at the current budget to see if we have money, uh, this is a a legal um, payment that we could prepay tuitions uh, for next year if you have money at the end of the year. And I um, that is starting to look a little better. Uh, so that is good news. I'm I'm trying to keep an eye on that. But last year we used 355,000. We paid for tuitions for students um, at the end of last year for this current year. And hopefully, uh, as we get closer, and we're almost

070there, we'll have some more money. Right now I have zero budgeted, but hopefully I can put some towards that. Which will help offset our deficit that I'm going to get into soon. The last is the federal, state, and local funding. Uh, we had a grant, a migrant grant, uh, and we fully expended that this year, so that is gone. Uh, mentioned earlier again is our Chapter 70 funding funding is down due to the assessments and charter enrollment. Uh, so we need to keep an eye on Chapter 70. Um, some more maybe better news, we got a uh, email from the state saying that Title II and Title III may come through with some funding. So that 80,000 may be lowered a little bit. Uh, and then our federal grant reductions in our title uh, grants,

071title one and IDEA, are to be reduced by we're projecting 82,000. So, this is our original, um, uh, level service budget. And it's broken down, again, this is really high level and this is why I'd like to meet with the new members so I can get into a little more detail than just two line items for salaries and expenses. Our salaries total, uh, that we need for a level service budget is 37.8 million. And our non-salary, our expenses are 12.2 million. And our total, uh, request is 50 million uh, 57,431 dollars. So, I go back to these offsets because this is really where we, uh, found our budget shortfall. Um, last year we used, uh, and I won't go through each and every, uh, line, but at the bottom you see in fiscal 26 we

072had the ability to use 6.7 million to offset, um, our budget and lower that of what our request would be. And because we've drawn those down, you'll see some zeros in the far column in 27 because, as I said, prepaid tuitions, the migrant grant are gone. Um, and the facility, uh, rental is, uh, gone down. So, we are only able to use 5.2 million versus 6.7. Uh, and so that's a 1.5 million dollar decrease in, uh, funding uh, that we have outside of our general fund. So, if you take the, um, level service, uh, budget that we've built, it's got 50 million, 57,000, and you subtract what we are able to use in the alternative funding sources of 5 million. Our new request, again, this is level service from last year for current year. And

073we are um we would need 44 million uh 836,262. So, I bring that up to the top. And the middle column is what we are being allocated locally, which is a 1.8 increase. Uh you've I'm sure heard uh the town is having uh similar funding issues like we are. Uh so, our number is 42 million 550,000. Again, it's a 1.8 increase. So, from our level service, what we need to do exactly what we were doing this year next year, we have a shortfall of 2. almost 2.3 million. As I said, we've been doing this for uh almost 3 months now. Uh and so, we've had different uh iterations and changes as time goes by and uh as usual, uh the the longer we go, the better uh the budget looks and we get better news.

074You always uh have to be fiscally uh conservative to start. Uh but, how to get that 2.2 million in the beginning was uh cuz it was actually um a different number. But, we were looking at 29.5 position in reduction back in February. Um last month, um with some different funding sources um and changes, we uh lowered the number total positions of 24.5. You could see the breakdown um in the different areas. Um and I also tried to see or look at the historical of attrition in those areas to hopefully um we'll have attrition from now to the end of the year. And hopefully not uh have to eliminate um a lot of the positions will be eliminated, but it won't be people. So, uh most recently um and tonight we're looking at since we got

075some more news, um we were able to use uh or find some more money on the non-salary. Uh and I also added a line you see a blank down there for anticipated vacancies. I did not have that knowledge on 212 or 39. And uh we picked up a couple that we know are going to materialize, so I added those. Uh but the number total has gone to 23.5. Uh so right now that is what we're looking at in terms of positions. Uh along with the non um position non people and the expenses that we were able to reduce and we're able to balance the budget with that reduction. So, if you take the the reduction of the 2.3 that I talked about out of the total uh request uh we still have the offsets that

076didn't change at 5.2 million. We do now balance there to the 42,550,000 that was allocated locally. Not the greatest news, obviously, but it's getting better and hopefully it'll continue, but um in the next month either way, we're going to have to uh vote a balanced budget to that for the town meeting, which I believe now is June 1. June 1st is the town meeting. So, they giving you a deadline of when they need the budget for the town meeting? >> have a I don't have a deadline. I was given one at least a couple of weeks, so I would think that it would be prudent to vote uh at the first meeting in May. Okay. Lastly, this is what you will actually vote on uh is not that 42 million. You will vote on that,

077but it's the total operating budget uh cuz there's a number of things that go into this, so there's a separate transportation budget that the town sets aside, and that's the 4.4 million that you see uh on the second line. Um, and then uh the next three lines really at are the offsets, and they add up to that 5.2 million. It's just a different way I broke it out because the circuit breaker is such a large amount for the 3 million. And the IDEA is another million. Uh and then the other all the other ones at the 1.2, 1.3, those three lines add up to that 5.2 million that I mentioned earlier on the offsets. So, our total budget, what we spend, is the 52.2 million, and at the meeting, that is the number that you

078will vote, but it does include the operating budget of 42 550, which is what you'll see on at town meeting. And with that, and again, this is kind of a high level. Uh so, I do want to meet with everybody who's interested in getting into much more detail cuz it is 52 million, and I kind of did it in 5 or 10 minutes, so. Uh but I will take any questions. anybody has. Do will um everyone have access to the um get the new folks access into the budget line items? Yeah, so when I when I upload the um because it did change a little bit. It's online right now, but I want to I'll have uh Shawn uh upload the new. And that's what I'll go over with the new members if they'd like

079to. It's uh but that'll be online. Uh and then I could go over that and back up to uh this presentation. Uh if that is uh the wish of the new members or current members if you Want to refresh >> nothing to do and you want to become a new Chris, did I see you moving toward the mic? Yeah, just so um things of have obviously improved a little bit. But if things improve in the future one of the priorities would be retaining student-facing staff. Correct. Yes. Other questions or thoughts from the board? Uh difficult situation. Uh one thing though I think that uh Mike did not underscore enough. And that is that um yes, because of the town's circumstances, they came back and um gave him a number that was 300 400 >> 400

080400,000 less than the original number that we were given. We were given a number then it went up and it went up again. And this is 400,000 less than the first number. And I really do want to give uh So, Chris and I are on the budget subcommittee. Uh and so we meet with him on a regular basis, um getting his thoughts on the details and um providing questions that we've heard in various from various people and uh to get clarifications. And I really do want to give uh Mike the credit he's due of how he is really trying to work this budget as best he can under very difficult situations and in that 400,000 it did not So you saw that number of um positions didn't that were going to be eliminated didn't go

081up with the 400,000. As a matter of fact, it's come down. And um that is a much credit to the work that he's been doing. Thank you, Mike. All right. Anybody else here first? Hello. Hi folks, how we doing tonight? Um I want to say uh hi again to um the school committee members. So I've spoken to quite a bit. Um welcome >> provide your name first, please? >> sorry. I'm Alexa Sparrows. Uh Weir Street and also a first grade teacher at the Mary K. Gould. I also hate the feedback, so forgive me if I'm speaking a little close um speaking a little bit slow because of just the echo. Um so I'm here with a couple of questions. Um the first being the new number that the town came back with. Um does this

082is this is this it basically? Or is there a chance that they could come back to us saying there's even a greater shortfall? Not that I want that, but I didn't know if that was a possibility. I think it's always a possibility, but I'm confident that we have our number. Okay, as I cross my fingers. Um the second thing is I noticed I can't remember what the name of the slide was, but when you were going over the facilities rental, it was $715,000. I'm assuming that was So, of course, it was fiscal year 26. Is that funding that we had gotten as a school district? That is the money that we receive when we rent the buildings for any outside usage. Okay. I just I hope I'm not echoing someone else's comments. Previously, forgive me

083if I did. But, it seems like we got a substantial amount of money from fiscal year 26, and I'm looking to fiscal year 27 as $84,000. That's That's $631,000 lost. So, I was just curious as to how we lost that rental. Is this the pool at the complex? Is it other things? This is not revenue in. Okay. This is expense. Okay. So, this year we spent $715,000. I can't do that again next year. >> No, no, no, no, no, no. I understand. I wasn't sure if that was money that we got as a rental fee or, you know, if people rented our facilities. Originally, that account was close to a million dollars. Oh, wow. And we And we allocated and spent 750. Okay. So, now I'm down to like two, and I can't I want

084to be conservative and not drain it Yes. >> totally. I understand. No, I was just clarifying question. I didn't understand it, so I apologize. No, that's not a problem. Thanks. Another thing is, when we were looking at anticipated vacancies, if I could please see that slide. Thank you. Mhm. Okay, so um I do see the journey. I do see how fortunately we started at 23 positions down to 14 as teachers and then um of course the total number is 29 and 1/2 back in February and now 23 and 1/2. Um so my question is for clarification, when you have 14, I'm assuming full-time positions um and then you have average attrition 15. Is that 14 including the attrition or is it potentially could be lower? So, actually there's we're proposing 14 positions and normally we

085lose 15. Okay. However, it doesn't normally unfortunately doesn't normally work out that those 14 are the ones that are being proposed to be reduced. There's so many different things with certifications and grade levels and different things like that. It's just to give an idea that with with 15 um normally in a year in attrition that 14 could be much less in terms of people versus positions. So, that's good news. But if they all hopefully fall out the right way, we'd be in good shape. And my question is what were the anticipated vacancies? Um are they a specific I I I don't feel comfortable Got it. No, I'm sorry. I don't mean to put you in a position. I just didn't know if it was like uh, could potentially be teachers. So, that's why I was

086just curious. Um, the second thing is, maybe the third, I lost count. Um, the ELA curriculum, I know a lot of folks, um, in education know this, general public don't. There's the Prism grant. Um, I know we're hopefully looking into grant funding to help supplement the cost of, um, of our ELA curriculum. Um, forgive me if I'm incorrect in the number, but was it $200,000 that was budgeted for curriculum? Correct. Okay. So, my question is, if potential, um, we purchase an ELA curriculum that everybody agrees is of the highest quality for our students, um, that also includes books and not all on a screen. Um, my question is, let's say we get that grant money. I've heard it doesn't cover the entire cost. Um, but could that money, if we're given that grant, potentially be

087rolled back into, say, a job or two? That's already been taken into account. Okay. >> Um, and so, we have some, um, of those, um, non-general fund, the offsets. Mhm. We have some more money there, but I I went back to this slide because I cut title two and title three grants, eliminated 80,000. Mhm. We got word we might get that, and that can be used for the ELA program, also. So, I'm Things are looking better. Okay, wonderful. I'm glad to hear that. Um, I know ELA curriculum is not on the docket, but I just want to say thank you for, um, having the committee to look at the ELA curriculum. Um, I wish it was done in the very beginning because I think it would have saved a lot of time and effort and

088we could have made some very good decisions early on. And as a first grade teacher, I want my children, my students, both my children who I gave birth to and the students I teach to have an ELA curriculum that's being taught with books in front of them and not on a screen. So I'm just putting that little plug in. And then the last thing is that transportation budget that we have that is a separate budget, correct? >> Correct. Okay. For those folks who weren't aware, this is not myself praising myself just to make you and the public aware. I went with three fantastic educators to the Ways and Means Joint Committee and and also other folks that support us too. And one of my colleagues who spoke did bring up the issue with transportation costs.

089It's funny when we stop and look at it. When you have regional school districts, they get 80% of their transportation costs funded simply because they're regional school district. If you consider the size of Middleborough, how big we are, our town alone is almost even bigger than some of these regional school districts. So we took it to the state level. hoping that they do listen. There were over 100 folks that spoke there from school districts across the state and other people who just support us. It'd be amazing to see if they rethought things and helped us out with the budget on the transportation among other things. Um so, thank you for answering my questions. Um thank you again to everybody who takes their time to do what they have to do as a school committee member.

090Mike, thank you. I know you've been thrown a lot and I know probably dread seeing me come up to the microphone. >> Not at all. But, you know, if there's there's no ill will, I promise you. I just ask hard questions as a parent and a teacher. So, thank you. Um have a good night, guys. Thank you. Sandy Smiley, 15 Spencer Street. And um I'm a former special education teacher. I have uh taught in very, very rural districts, so I totally understand the concept of Middleborough being such a large space and how transportation can literally, not to use a pun, um but I'll use it, drive the bus um in terms of budgeting. I've also worked in a large metropolitan school district that had the audacity and foolhardiness to think, "Ooh, we'll save on transportation

091by putting all of the kids at their home school, whether that building is accessible to a child that uses a wheelchair or not." And that lasted about 20 minutes um and caused a great deal of problems. So, I know that is a huge um not very easily controlled. So, I hope the state does pay attention. My question has to do with special education. When I have come to your board meetings, your committee meetings, and listened to reports from the departments, I've been amazed and really impressed by the level of both human support that you have budgeted for and provided and um software and other kind of program support at um materials and things. So my question is I was really surprised when I saw that one large chunk of increases was because of out-of-district special

092education students. I understand how those other places can be making their their costs go up and that we can't control that. But I was surprised at the number of students and I realize 33 is a very small number in terms of the total number of students, but I mean we had to twist arms, legs, and practically, you know, hog-tie people to get any student allowed to go out of district. So I'm just curious not breaking confidentiality, but what is the nature of the kind of out-of-school placement? Just to kind of educate myself. There's a number of them. I'm not uh well-versed in that. I can get you that information. Uh I will tell you that we are main focus is to uh limit those and keep the students here. Mhm. Um so we are working

093on that. It has been a major focus, but um the disabilities range from all all kinds. Uh but I can I can uh and I think we did have a presentation for our from our acting uh sped director uh who went through all those and and we can go through that again, but I I I don't I can't comment on Okay. a lot of those. If I could add to that um because it was for the budget subcommittee, it was uh that uh we asked the same question immediately. Um if that was a place that we might be able to bring students in and the information that was shared of the extensive nature of the disabilities, it it's not because we're not using the right methodology or something like that. It's not that at all.

094It's something is more all-inclusive that to set that kind of environment up to meet the needs of that student in this district would cost more for that student than it would be to send them off to another place. So, um I I believe after after listening to the um the discussion, that it's not a place that we would be able to bring students back into the system. Thank you. Thanks, Anne. My question is on the facilities. Do we have a school committee subcommittee on facility rentals, Mike? Yes, we do. Okay. Big different about $700,000 difference there. Um we have all all kinds of basketball programs in town, dance recitals in town. Um where are the kids going if they're not renting our facilities? We have baseball starting up, right? We have all Oh, no, we're

095we're renting our facilities. We have We have the balance up to 1.2 million in there. We started using it more than what we were bringing in and we can see No longer doing it. All right. So, the facility rentals aren't covering themselves, then. Oh, no. I'm sorry, say that again? So, in other words, we're renting facilities, but we're not making enough money to cover the cost of renting those facilities. No, I wouldn't say that. We We are paying We were paying for some salaries out of facilities rental. Um and so, as I said, we did the balance was up to a million, and over the last couple of years, we were paying for salaries that used to be paid out of general fund. So, we were paying for those, and now we can no longer

096do that. I have to move those people back to the general fund. All right. So, is that money then that money kind of accumulated then over the years and paid and now we've hit the bottom and it just it looks like we're making like we're making $700,000 in facility rentals, but we're not. That's a that's many years that have accumulated. We were able to take out of it, but now it's Correct. kind of zeroed itself out and we're just I wouldn't say zero. I wouldn't allow it to go >> not zero. I got to leave something in there. Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, thank you. Yep. Mike, just a touch. So, it wasn't the 715 in one year. That was built up and we had delayed some of the payment we're feeling now by using

097those one-time payments going forward. Correct. Okay. Anything else for Mike? Okay. Moving on. We ask about subcommittees. That's next on the agenda. Um, so, again, the agenda that was uh, this is the topic that's typically on the agenda for right after we have the elections of what the the subcommittees are are and who might serve. Uh, so, in your packet, you'll see there is a list of our current subcommittees and who up until the time of the elections, who has served on it. Uh, you'll see I'll just quickly, um, read this the that we've referred to many times already this evening, uh, which Shannon and Jess served on, um, lots of time that's been spent because our policies hadn't been reviewed for many years. Uh, it's very important because it's uh, there are many laws

098that we have to that are always changing that we have to make sure, uh, are incorporated into our policies. Uh, very important and detailed information that has to be discussed and, um, and then language written that then goes to legal, uh, and then comes here for our, um, review and decisions. Next is a We ended up during the year last year because when Zeke left and we went down to a smaller committee, so we were a committee of five. Um, so, um, populating all of these subcommittees was, uh, was not easy. Uh, so, we combined to the master plan, facilities and equipment, uh, subcommittee, which Alan chaired and I was on. Uh, we did not get to the master plan. We worked, uh, predominantly on, uh, looking into questions about the facilities that came up

099in a variety of different ways. Uh, public and student relations, that was Chris and I, but, uh, because we were also on the budget, uh, as well as others, uh, there are some things that we did regarding communication and it was something that was a definitely a priority that came out of our retreat last year, but, uh, it is not one that we made a lot of progress on. Uh, and you'll see underneath there what what the intent was for that committee. Uh, budget committee. Again, you've heard a lot about that. That was Chris and I. Uh, negotiations. Uh, we have a variety of different uh, unions that we need to do negotiations with and we need to have typically two people at those negotiations. Sometimes if it's a small one we can get by

100with one. And that was Jess and Chris. And then superintendent evaluation that was Jess and Shannon. Last year when we populated these we did it originally last summer. We did a retreat. We determined we did it a bit of a self-assessment. We determined goals and priorities and from that came what the individual committees were and what their charge was. And then the chair reached out and asked people what where they wish to serve and then these were populated in that way. In thinking about where we are now um again um uh where we have our all our new members uh a thought that I have and I'm I'm just putting this out as a thought uh and then whatever the wish of the board is um I do think that we might want to wait

101until we have the retreat to formally go through things again this you know if we did it early this summer and then um really get a sense of what you might want to serve on. Uh though there are some that are of immediate need uh and Mikey you know or anyone else who can help me if you think I am misstating um policy and protocols uh we have Shannon and we and Jess is not with us any longer and Shannon might not be with us uh in physically for a little while. Um I know we just spoke about wanting to to look at uh the policies. I do wonder this is, you know, ideal and reality. Um not having someone here immediately to help with whomever else wants to serve on that board, I wonder

102if we can put it on the given that we're also looking at uh suspending uh the one that we really want to take a look at first, I wonder if we can hold on that one until uh the end of the school season and then uh you're able to look at that along with some other ones. Uh master plan and facilities, uh actually, Mike, I know that you uh there are some things that are coming up that we need to discuss immediately. Is that true? Yes. Um so that is one that we're going to need to think of quickly to populate a second person on that subcommittee or or the first person, which is me. Um public and student relations, again, even though that's something we want to we know we want to do, I

103do wonder if that is one that we can hold till the summer or where we have some time to regroup. Uh budget, I think Chris and I can continue on budget. Uh just on the subcommittee, everything comes back to the committee anyway, and finish that. Negotiations is one. Uh you told me was that was a stipends one? That's not like a Is that a different subcommittee? Stipends? Is it something else? I can't Um it's not a subcommittee. It's just uh we need a committee member on when they talk about stipends either athletics or for non-extracurricular. Um, and so they meet it it they don't meet that often we have in the past few years cuz they've totally revamped it. Um, so it's not a heavy lift, but we do need one rep >> There's not

104enough there. And the next time that group would be meeting would be It was yesterday. We couldn't do it cuz it was Jess. Uh, so they moved it to next month. Okay. Um, and as far as negotiations we are we done with any negotiations that need to be done for the rest of the school year? No, we have uh we just got a notice to start food service. I'm sorry. Food service. Okay. And that will finish it up. And superintendent evaluation um won't begin until next year. Uh, so my thought is at the next meeting given this uh that And is that too late for the stipends and negotiation one to populate that sub those subcommittees if we wait till next the next meeting? Um, I if someone if someone would just be available for

105the stipend uh it doesn't have to be a uh a standard Okay. And we can maybe we can talk about that after this And I can work with them as to when someone would be available and we could go from there. Uh, so we would be and the uh when we need a a group for you to meet with about facilities, when does that need to exist? That one's immediate. Okay. Uh can it wait till the next meeting or do you need it tonight? It could wait I think till the next meeting. I'm meeting with the attorney tomorrow morning um to start the conversation what I'll bring back to the committee. And negotiations Chris, are you still on negotiations? I can't. Uh so yeah, uh two chairs ago put me on negotiations and then the

106previous chair informed me that legal um told me that I could not participate as a member of MTA. So I was replaced with Al. Okay. And so do we need that person now? Tonight? For this one, yes, because uh food service is connected to that. So but if it were a custodial or the admin assistants uh Chris could sit on that one or those two, but the ones uh with the ESPs, food and teachers, he's not uh able to do that. Okay. Um so this is my thought. I don't know if we can do this this evening. Um if it is okay with the board uh that I speak with individuals and see if we can just temporarily fill these positions until we um regroup uh this summer and um and more formally set up

107our subcommittees. So I'm open to any other idea. Yes. So if I may, so just with the suspending of that policy for this evening, obviously it needs to be reviewed on the next agenda. Um so with that, are you going to review put it on the agenda as such that it's noted that we did review it and was suspended for this meeting, but we will put that on hold until there is a redistribution of the subcommittees. Correct. I put the review on hold and and revisit the suspension each um each meeting. So, the 3-minute rule will stand until the subcommittees developed and has had a moment to review the policy. Okay. Other thoughts? Okay, next Are you moving to your your Sorry, I I understand why it needs to be suspended, but then every meeting

108I'm not suspended, tabled, but every meeting will suspend it or vote to suspend it. Okay. Yes. Okay. Okay. Mhm. Okay. All right. That is the end of the subcommittee, but you're going to be hearing from me. Um All right. Next on the agenda is the superintendent search. Um you know, probably the two most important items uh that we are working through right now is the budget and the superintendent search. Uh I don't think that typically, though I've not been on the school committee long, that um the first meeting of the new board has uh uh heavy lift items on the agenda, but because of the importance of the the superintendent search uh and some pressing um decisions that we need to make, uh we really needed to dig in on this one. So, in your

109packet you will find clipped uh together uh three different timelines. Uh and let me give you a little context for it. Um, at our last school committee meeting, um, at the very end of it, um, we were given the superintendent uh, what is now labeled the original superintendent search timeline revised. Uh, it had been revised, um, when it was given to us, but it's the original one that we had we received at that time. Um, when we had, uh, Shawn Costello from MAS came and did the presentation on the superintendent search, uh, we had told him, uh, that we really wanted to, uh, expedite the search, uh, and, uh, have a superintendent in place for the upcoming year, and he was given a deadline, um, of July 1st to have, um, the superintendent, the new

110superintendent begin the tenure. Uh, and and that was something everybody wanted, uh, when we had first talked about doing the superintendent search back in, I don't know, Mike, when when did we know we wanted to launch the search back in, I don't remember the dates, I think January or February, February. Um, we we thought that that was doable, but because of circumstances of when we closed, um, our relationship with the past superintendent, that got pushed back. Um, and as a result, we ended up with the timeline that you have in front of you that says, um, the original. When, um, those of us that were on the committee at the time afterwards started looking at it, there were a few of us that began looking at the dates and wondering whether or not it was

111reasonable, um, for us to accomplish all of this knowing that it was of utmost important to us that we get community input, that we get stakeholder input, the teachers, the staff, all various kinds of input. Um and that we wanted it to go smoothly. Um if you've been involved in searches before, you know, you set times and dates but they never stay exactly where they are. Often it gets moved back. And we didn't want to miss uh at least I will speak for myself. I didn't want to see us misstepping because we were trying to get it done by July 1st. Um so on on Sunday well, maybe it was Monday. Um when I realized I would be at least starting this meeting. Um I reached out to Sean uh Costello and said, uh can

112we look at pushing the What about What if we push the uh start date for the new the new superintendent back to August 1st? At least give us a little uh wiggle room cuz if you see on the original one, so for example um we it says April 2nd uh a designee meets with the consultant to confirm deadline, set up the schedule for focus groups on approving survey and determine the scree- screening committee composition and recruit plan which just appropriately did, but we've not really had time to look at any of that. Um and then according to this timeline, we would be starting online surveys on the between the 6th and the 15th. Well, today, you know, we're already behind. Um and then on the 10th, which is tomorrow, um, start recruiting volunteers for the

113screening committee. So, it already felt like we were falling behind and that it was it felt I will tell you Monday it felt very overwhelming. So, uh, I did contact Shawn and asked for that, um, August 1st. And so, you will see, um, that you have another timeline, which I've now pulled all my stuff uh, apart. Hold on. You have another timeline that's behind that that says with the August 1st. When he gave that to me, he his initial I said, "Would that work?" And he said, "I have to tell you." Well, first I asked him if we could go to September 1st. And he said, "So, you're just not going to get the candidates that you want if you go to a September 1st date. Um, they they will already have gone and and

114taken positions." Um, and I said, "Well, okay. How about August 1st?" And he said, "Yes, you would have a you'd have a better pool there if it was September 1st." Um, but not an ideal pool because of how late it is in the season that people are already ready to move on. And he came back to me with a another suggestion, which you will see behind it. And that is he said, "I really believe, um, and then he called me back again. Oh, no, he emailed me and said that he talked to his colleagues later about our circumstance, and our circumstance being where we are, many new, um, members of of the board, um, that haven't been in the conversations about this, um, that we have the positions that are open in leadership um or

115in interim positions. I he recommended that we consider hiring an interim um superintendent and starting the for a year and starting the um search for the permanent superintendent end of September. Um with the goal of having that person be in place at the ideal time next year, which would be July 1st. Uh so um I said that I would bring that to this group, which is uh I know that this is a lot um for our first time around here. Um I have talked so Mike has been our acting superintendent. Different people have used different titles, but uh that is the title that he's been operating on and from the very beginning when we spoke with him, it was uh because we thought that it would be for a um short period of time. Uh

116this would extend it um through all of next year. Uh there's a lot on his plate with far as the budget is concerned uh going forward in the facilities and all of those things. Not to say he is absolutely able and willing and he has done a fabulous job and willing to continue on. Um uh so the question would be um which direction do we want to go? Uh and as I I'll throw in one last thought. Uh and that might make this a little more palatable in terms of the chunks of information we're taking in and decisions we need to make. It might be that the first decision would be do we want to go with the idea of starting a search the end of next September with the idea of putting someone in

117place that would hire a superintendent whose tenure would begin next July. We can start with making that decision um tonight which would offload a little bit of all of that we should be doing if we're going to go forward with it. And then um have a conversation about uh interim versus acting uh and the complexities of the decision of that of that decision. To not I'm not saying whether which one to go with just for people in general this is the last one with starting in September and doing the whole process through the year that's a typical search process and search timeline. Um Correct. What we would be doing whether it's July 1 or August 1 is definitely an expediated compressed timeline. Um so just comparing what would be typical versus obviously what we are

118also you know looking to do which yields very different pools that we're looking at. Other thoughts? I have thoughts but uh can we hear from the people first? And then I'll share. Sure. Anyone like to speak to this? Hi, I'm back. Um okay. So I have a few questions. I know that we don't want to rush this, make a knee-jerk decision. I get that. Um Mike, you've done a great job considering everything that's been thrown at you. Uh it Please, do not mean this I hope this doesn't come off as offensive. It's nothing with you. Um but our former superintendent had been MIA for the entire year due to being on leave. Um and now we're hearing that yet another school year we could be without a Again, Mike, no disrespect. A true superintendent that's

119been hired in that role. So, in my mind I'm thinking 2 years, wow. Um and I know some school committee members who are running for this position ran on the idea that they're going going right into that superintendent search. Um if we were in this position where let's say hypothetically we take our time and maybe you cannot answer this question, but would it be Mike being as the acting superintendent, is this another potential candidate? And my question is if it's another potential candidate, how are they going to be selected? Under what credentials? Who is going to make that decision? Um because we've been a district in flux uh with administrative positions kind of coming and going and different messages and so on and so forth. I was really hoping that we would just go all

120in and really hit the ground running looking for a superintendent. Again, this is speaking as a teacher and a parent for my children's education. And um if I just want to respond to your question uh that you asked. So, um unfortunately, you don't have this, but what um the timeline for choosing an interim superintendent search timeline, it would be conducted in the uh by mask by Shawn. Uh and it would involve uh many of the same steps, but not as intensive. So, it includes a community survey, post the position, um and then we would be meeting to review the survey and determine questions to review applications and select interviewees. Uh and this is his recommendation, and also this can be added to. So, I that pro- it would be a process. It wouldn't be just

121one person or a couple of us saying, "Yeah, let's hire that person." It would go through a similar very truncated process uh for someone, and typically um there is a pool of for interims of uh superintendents that for a variety of reasons uh very often they're people with some experience that they don't want to have a full uh go they they see this as something that they do, or there's a variety of reasons why, but they're people that would have the same kind of experience and credentials um that uh for superintendent. Okay. And if that was to happen, when would that potential decision be made? Would that before be before the start of the academic school year? Could we see an interim in like October? No, July. This he he believed he could do by

122July because it's not in the in a typical the one thing that for example that is not in the timeline of hiring the regular the full-time one is things like site visits is usually always part of hiring and I don't believe I I see that in this. So, there are specific things like that that you wouldn't do for the interim so you can truncate it a bit. Um and it would be his hope that he would be able to have someone here for July going through a real process. Thank you. I just have never been a part of this conversation before so that's why I had different questions. Um moving forward we do need again Mike no disrespect but I never want to come off like I'm coming off the wrong way but the culture

123of the district this whole school year has been different. Um we feel it. So, my hope is whether it is an interim situ- or or acting superintendent whatever you want to say whoever is selected is an ideal candidate for a not rushed superintendent search. I just am hoping we're not delaying uh delaying the process. That's all. So, thank you so much for clarifying those questions. Sue, just sorry Sarah. What is the We know what the cost is for the actual superintendent search is 11,500. Do we have a cost and Sean may have presented this and I maybe just forgot. Um is there a cost associated with an interim superintendent search in addition to the regular superintendent search? >> He said it he they would do it for the same fee. Together. >> So in addition

124okay. So all all 11,500 in. Yeah, it does not increase it does not increase the cost. I just think that was important to know. Thank you. So as someone who watched the last process, I think we really need to be careful about rushing this. Uh we need to open this up much further than just uh the the zip code. Um so I really think we need to consider having an interim somebody that knows they're not here long term unless they choose that to apply for that later. But I think if we're going to hit the ground running now and try to get a permanent placement in July, it would be foolish. It would just be repeating old patterns and I think we need to get out of that mindset. We've a brand new board. I

125think we have a great acting superintendent. I think we need to just take a bit of a breath and make a make those choices in a timely manner, but not to just rush and hit the gas and say, "Well, we need this. We need this. We need this." There's a lot of issues going on, but I think this is such a big um decision and we've seen it go wrong before. So I'd really like to take time with this. So I think an interim is definitely the way to go. Thank you. I just want to comment towards the new members. When you guys were running, I heard and read about you stuff. I don't think any of you would surprise me as superintendent. Are you? Cuz it sounds like, "Oh, we got new members. We're

126going to put it off." I think they knew exactly what we needed. Right? You know we need new superintendent. You need time to I don't know what. Learn more about the schools? I think you ran because you know that there's an issue in the schools. So I don't think waiting because a new board They knew what they were getting into. They knew what they wanted to take on. This isn't and I don't feel this is rushed. We've been talking about this for what? A month and a half, two months now? What is Mr. Costello's timeline if we start in July? Is it a two-month process? Cuz we're going to be ready for September with the new superintendent, right? And now we're going to wait another year. I don't know why we're waiting. His His timeline

127sounded pretty quick. I can't remember exactly his timeline. I know it was busy. He did talk about that. But we knew the timeline, and we thought we'd get a good pool of candidates. I don't know if it was July 1st or if it was June 1st that we were meeting. And now we're saying, "Well, we're going to wait." And I do agree with the fact of yeah, we shouldn't rush into it, but are we rushing into it? Is three months by the state rushing into it? If that's their program, is that how they pick superintendents? That's not rushing into anything. That's their policy. That's how they find superintendents. So, I I I don't know why we would wait. We're in trouble. We need help. And again, no has me He's doing double duty. But the

128schools need something. And we can't, you know, waiting another year. Okay, well, then what are we doing? And we're still going to interview for an interim, but we're not going to go as far with the interviews. Well, then aren't we kind of rushing into that, too? Where did this person come from? Are they just because they were a superintendent, that means, "Oh yeah, we'll put them in there for a year." That means we can't move forward for a year. We can't move forward on programs. We have the ELA that we're talking about. We want the new superintendent about the restructuring the schools. And we're going to wait another year. I just I think Mr. Costello made a good case that this was the program. This was how you picked the superintendent. I If I just

129may clarify, he he said if we want to do it that quickly, even during the presentation, that he would build a timeline that did it, but the normal timeline is longer and includes other aspects. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. I can I just have a couple questions clarifying. So, there's an $11,000 fee for the search. And so, we're already in budget issues. We're going to do $11,000 this year if we do interim and then $11,000 for the search next year? No. Um he offered to do all of it for the same all 11 months. Um so, then my other question or thought to consider is you know, some of the things that we had discussed and I think you know, the previous comment also just mentioned this is we weren't going to think about reconfiguration

130and some other building issues with interim superintendent. We wanted to get a full superintendent in here before we had these conversations. So, now if we have another interim, are we going to wait a whole another year to start having those conversations about our buildings again? Um and just continue pushing things off for further years. So, just my thoughts. Thanks. Also, for clarification, um not really following the original hiring of the previous superintendent and the process um until it got towards the end. When you have a superintendent, what process goes on in terms of um evaluation? And like with anything else, whether you get an interim or whether you hire a full-time superintendent, I'm assuming there's going to be an evaluation period. And if they're not cutting it, then they're going to be held accountable. So,

131to me, having worked in districts, if that process, if you do as good a job in search, regardless of the amount of time, as you possibly can, and then you stay on top of evaluation based on what you have learned apparently from where there were shortcomings and difficulties and things that didn't work, then it seems to me that you'd have a a better outcome. And and I empathize with those staff members, it's going to be very difficult, I would imagine, to keep morale up if there are unanswered questions or there are un- um resolved projects like reorganizing uh the elementary schools that have to be put on hold. That's that's really going to be difficult, and I think whatever decision you make, that impact on staff needs to be really thoughtfully considered. Thank you. I

132got a good point. Colleagues on the board, so is there a way to maybe put together like some kind of survey that could sent out to everyone with the thought process, the two different timelines, what would be the reason to consider either or, and see what the majority of people think? Uh um are you saying the whether people want an interim or the by the time we do that we will lost the time So the surveys that are supposed to go out and by the time you did that we would have blown this timeline that we we wouldn't be able to is my thought although people can because we'd have to develop develop it get it out but maybe you have a a different if you're looking at these dates to get this done but

133maybe you have a different thought. Okay. Is there someone up there? I'm sorry. It's dark up there. I don't see. I couldn't tell if you were sitting or standing. Is that a short joke? No, cuz the thing's in my way so I couldn't see. Um hi Eva Crawford resident here in town 172 Center Ave. Um also retired teacher here in Middleborough Public Schools. Um I've been through two interim superintendents. So I know what that feels like as an employee. Um so I would caution you to really think everything through before you make a decision. I've also been on a superintendent search committee 20 years ago. Um so I understand very much the process and how long it takes. Um I just want you guys to make the best decision possible because this is not just

134about staff this is about our kids. Absolutely. And I don't know any teacher who does not want the best for their kids. You know, our staff is wonderful. So, we really hope that you really think this through. Okay, thank you. I understand when when you said about this um survey and how com- comprehensive and how long it would take and everything. And this is probably maybe even a stupid thing to suggest, but you're in a lose-lose situation, quite frankly. So, the best you can hope for, or if I were in your shoes, would be at least to send out by Monday one question to staff. And that would be the question, should we go interim, should which will take this kind of timeline and lay out that timeline, or should we go um the longer

135or should we get a full-time superintendent with a compressed three three month um search proce- process? At least give them, to my my way of thinking, and this is just my opinion, the respect of asking that question of them. And I mean staff from all the way across the board. Um get back those answers. And then you at least know where they all stand, and you can come back to them with what your decision is and your rationale for whichever it is. But I think they're going to feel blindsided, um and then that's going to make the whole process harder. Um So, I I'm I'm glad I'm not in your shoes. Thank you, I think. I just had a question, uh Kim, you brought something up about the pool, and I I don't know if

136you can answer this or not, I just don't have any experience with this, but I think you want the strongest pools possible of candidates, right? So, was that what you kind of indicating is that, hey, the normal process starts in September, you know, cuz it was vacated, and that allows for a larger pool or stronger pool, I guess, of candidates. Are we kind of Do you think we're past that point? So, it's kind of like you're not at the bottom of the barrel, but like maybe those candidates that we would want, they're already kind of in a, you know, last interview type of process that we think would be a good fit for this district, so it kind of really narrows that focus at that point. Right. So, a lot of districts who are in

137a superintendent search right now are kind of finalizing their searches. So, a lot of superintendents are being hired right now. Um so, or we might obviously will be getting ones that are still looking for jobs. Um we might be getting ones who are being let go from districts and then looking for jobs at the end, or who might have put in last-minute notice and then leaving positions, um I mean, somebody might see our post and be like, okay, awesome, yep, want Middleborough, and then put and put in their notice. I mean, it could be a unicorn, who knows, but um you know, at this late stage in the game, this is the hiring time versus the posting time for a superintendent. Um whereas in Sep- late September, fall is usually when you're posting and that's

138usually if somebody is leaving a position or it's that towards the end of their contract or things like that, it's the last year, then the the district's already prepping for that. Um and they know that is coming, so. I also would add to that, um which I think is absolutely correct, but it in addition to that, the amount of time that we really want to get the community and the teachers and the staff, everyone's um information and really think through what we consider the best fit for Middleborough at this time. And um I just worry that we have a lot of um bullets on here about do fo- do a focus group next week, send out the online survey next week. Um and is it really in a in will we have enough time to

139thoughtfully consider who we are looking for with the right kind of input that's also alongside of what you're saying, that's also my concern. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, looking at the timeline, if we were to start now for the August 1st, we would be putting out, you know, after break, putting out um surveys, doing community forums the week of, you know, May 7th, and then on Monday, May 11th, we would be, you know, kind of looking at that and then immediately posting 3 days later. I mean, that's not really giving a whole lot of time to even be able to review the surveys that the communities you know, the information they're giving us. So, whereas if we're doing that process throughout the fall, that's giving us, you know, a lot of information and a lot of

140time to get a lot of get the community input. Other thoughts? I know, it's hard. Can I chime in? Certainly. All right. Uh yeah, so in my experience, usually the way and we're in a different spot, usually the year starts in September where you have a superintendent who's they're in their last year of their contract and they're going to retire and that's when you start your search. So, we're definitely behind that given our circumstances. Um I think it's I mean any number of candidates can look really good on paper. I really want someone who's here for Middleborough and we're sure is going to be here for Middleborough and understands the staff, the families, and the this all the stakeholders. Um and I'm hesitant to do that in such a a quick search. Um in terms

141in my experience are usually experienced superintendents keeping even keel. Um and I think one bonus that we haven't talked about yet is if we have an interim superintendent, then we don't need to have an acting end business manager doing two jobs at once. Um and I don't think uh the state's going to cap spending on transportation, special ed, and other costs and I don't think they're going to add more funds to us. So, I think having a business manager who is full-time looking at the books and monitoring the budget is incredibly almost as important as whoever we pick for our superintendent just in these next few years where things are going to they're going to be tight again next year and for the foreseeable future. So, I think that's an important piece that we need

142to consider. And if I could add to that, guess I'm adding today. Um, couldn't agree more with one addition and that's the added bonus of having an acting superintendent um, on the staff working with the interim and it would be my desire that whoever whomever as we go through that interview process that we pick a team player that recognizes that he's got a good teammate, he or she has a good teammate who's done this for a while and will be able to provide the institutional knowledge um, and information about the culture and all of that um, to help guide in in a way that might not happen in other circumstances. I would just really love to see some community input even if we have I would love to see community input on this because this

143is such a huge thing for our town. You know, and I completely value what you guys are saying as educators. I mean, you've been involved in it, you know firsthand. Um, but I still just feel like everybody should have some kind of input even if I like that quick survey. I mean, let's just hear what people say. You know, because then everybody's they're going to be involved. So, whatever decision is made, it wasn't made by just the seven of us. We have more input, you know? Understood. So, how do we want to proceed here? If I may say, I I think too with to Leah's point as well as that this was on the agenda. I think if people I mean people here have spoken. If they wanted to come and speak or had any

144questions about the superintendent search as we presented at the last meeting, I think tonight would have been a good opportunity for them to come out and raise those questions. Um obviously not understanding that we were going to go through this process of presenting an, you know, an interim superintendent, but I think, you know, if we did proceed with an interim superintendent search and then we are going to launch a community survey with that, I think that will give them an opportunity to answer like to ask a lot of the questions. But is your question more whether we should proceed with an interim superintendent or just go right into Yeah, and the superintendent search. And I feel like if it was stated like that on the agenda, maybe more people would have come, you If if

145that's, you know, the point. Um sometimes people can't get here, you know, so for something like this. It cuz I mean I wasn't aware that we were kind of behind the eight ball with the timeline. You know? I did I wasn't aware that we were going to be thinking about an interim until um a little mid I don't know. Yesterday afternoon. When he got back to me, yeah. And and whoever said lose-lose, I guess I would call it a rock and a hard place. Um I I I empathize with the different perspectives on this. Um and I just want to know what we think is realistic. Um so if we put out a survey which in of itself, I don't know where I I'm not that um knowledgeable about how that process works and and

146you know, how do we give people the context to understand what they're answering. Um and then we get it back and then we would meet um when to make a decision of how we go forward. Um I'm just trying to be realistic that we don't miss that we shoot ourselves in the foot because we ended up understanding the reason for it. I I it Um so I'm not for me that the having the input for our next superintendent our next full-time superintendent is of utmost importance. This timeline does not allow it. That's I guess what what um concerned me. So I think one thing that might influence that, uh if item nine, the April and May 2026 school committee meetings Mhm. cuz they were they were discussions that we would be meeting next Thursday at

147one point. Um if we knew are we meeting twice in April, twice in May, then that might give us time to put out a survey. Uh what I was going to recommend to put out a survey to to Leah's point. Okay, so if we put out a survey now um and What what would you see as a turnaround time on a survey? What's I'll answer your question. Uh I think when Mike and I were speaking uh that we thought the best time for the next meeting was April 30th. I I really don't I shouldn't do this off the top of my head. Hold it. Yeah. Uh that we would have a meeting on April you would said meet for this Friday. Mhm. April 30th. Um April 30th, then May 14th, and May 28th. So, if

148we put out a survey for 7 10 days, and then we can review that on April 30th and make a determination then. Would that still give us enough time? Enough time for what? To either go with the interim or try to tackle the expedited timeline. Okay. So, if you look at the uh timeline for the August 1st, um we would need to have the screening committee composition and recruitment plan already done. Um and start recruiting the um volunteers for the screening committee on April 27th, which I'm sure it can go a couple day I mean uh and have a community So, to me uh the the things that would be challenging, first of all, is um we need to know from this group who wants to if you're able if you're able to to go

149to these meetings that are mandatory for the two designees the for the um the interviewing and going, you know, there are um the May 11th is is something that everyone needs to the designees or all of us need to go and take care of the focus groups and the survey responses. So, if we met on April 30th, then it would just cut down that April 27th to the 8th. It would just cut that down really to 1 week rather than I mean, yeah, if we're going off this timeline, then this timeline we can't do it anyways because April 2nd we should have already had all that done. There there is a There So, a schedule for focus group they have the room. They have the questions that were determined by Jess and Shawn back then.

150So, those are done. Um I tried to get a copy of the online survey, but Shawn is now on vacation. So, I couldn't get it from him and I wasn't able to um There were a couple of other people that were involved and they didn't have them. So, we we don't have that to approve. Uh And I have the composition as in that they determined is in your packet. So, we could we could approve that tonight. So, Sue, was the online survey approved prior to the election? Or it was not approved? Going by the original timeline. The original timeline it was done Yes. So, it was already approved, the online survey? Approved by one person from the committee. Correct. So, is there any to reapprove that online survey so we're not jeopardizing a newer timeline?

151Or Are you hoping to get an opportunity now as the chair to approve again the same survey? Um I I think it would be nice for the committee to see what's being asked. I'm not saying that legalistically. I'm not I I don't know. >> no. I I'm just I just want to get a nice word out. >> I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I I But that's This is one person's thought. That's So, if you all feel differently that we can go forward with those surveys and not having

152really had a chance to have um take a look at it. I mean, we really wouldn't put those out until after the 30th anyways, cuz we wouldn't know if we're doing this or not. Till the 30th. Cuz this would be if we're doing I think they were saying going forward now within the the original. Cuz we the survey you you're talking about is to send out to say do this timeline or an interim. No, this is the online survey that will that is going to um give the information the superintendent search. I think we're talking about two different surveys. >> Yeah, two different surveys. Right. Yeah. But we wouldn't >> What you're talking about would be which timeline we pick. >> Yeah, right. Exactly. But do we need to send out the survey that Sue's

153talking about? We don't send that out until And that's just to That's just to the committee, like to approve. I I'm My question was more has it been approved already? Does it need to be reapproved because having more eyes on it and then approving it again is going to now obviously delay that Yeah. But we would have time. Yeah, no. And if people are comfortable with it going out with not because of someone already approved it. Again, up to you folks. I think to Chris's point 7 to 10 days is a bit of time. Maybe if we shrink that time frame down just a little bit. 5 to 7 days max and then we can go from there so that if we shrink that time that 7 to 10 day timeline down that Chris suggested

154to maybe 5 to 7 days before April school vacation and then we have that time before April 30th meeting that that might be the way to go. I still think that's plenty of time to answer one question and for you know, for staff and for parents. I'm shaking my head even though I heard like three or two words. So, I'm sorry I didn't understand. So, just shrink So, if you were were to send a survey out of whether or not we want to follow the interim superintendent search timeline or the the full like put the full-time superintendent search timeline. We send a survey out but we shrink the timeline down to answer the question within 5 to 7 days Okay. prior to April school vacation commencing and then prior to that April 30th meeting. And

155who will we send what what groups do we send? First of all, is there somebody that's willing to help put together that survey and should there be contacts information that goes with it so that there's an you know, understanding of what the choices are? Anyone willing to work on that? >> I'll help so. I just don't know how to do it if someone knows how to do it. Would it be Shawn? That did it. Okay, so yeah. I'll help. Okay. Yeah. Um and we would want that to go out when? Probably as soon as possible. Yeah. Okay. And to what groups? I mean parents, staff. If there's some students that want some input. Yeah, it's probably a good thing. Um as our representatives will say, a good thing to um if we can And when

156would we say that the um it needed to be returned by? I'm not just asking you. I think people really need it we need to if we're going to send it Monday, today is Thursday. Um Friday before break because I think once people leave for vacation then it's kind of gone. Okay. I think five days is more than more than sufficient. And once the packet is is ready um does anyone So Leah and Shawn are going to work on it well, I don't I think Shawn will do the mechanics of it, the um the body of it. Do you want to circulate that or how do we what do we do? Yeah, once you kind of write up whatever it it'll say then you can just kind of send it to us just to I

157would recommend that if possible that we include the timeline um with it so people understand what their what their choices are. Yes. All right, should we put this into a motion? Want me to take a stab? Um I'll entertain a motion uh that we the uh school committee will disseminate an online survey to parents teachers and staff that asks them whether they would prefer to go forward with an expedited superintendent search or have an interim superintendent for next year. Anyone want to amend that? Just add includes students. I will Are we going to survey them or are we going to speak to the students? How would they get a survey? Excuse me? How would the students get a survey? Is there a different way or It's Google survey, so they have all have access. The

158same. Okay. >> We might want to limit, you know, obviously not kids in kindergarten. We can determine but maybe we determine what level of students if we want high school and up or Or the representative boards. Correct, yeah. From the Yeah, from the school committee from the student committees, yeah. I didn't hear that. The student committees. >> Yeah, yeah, maybe the student maybe the student advisory committee. >> Yeah. Want to read that back to us, Kim? Sure. A motion for school committee to disseminate an online survey to parents, teachers, staff, and the student advisory committee whether they prefer an expedited search or an interim superintendent. Do I hear a second? Second. All those in favor? I. Let's discuss. Oh, sorry. Uh I am all for the survey, however, um I just want to strongly voice

159my opinion that we should go with the interim superintendent search timeline based on my experience and the points that I brought up earlier. But, I will vote I in favor of the survey going out. I agree with you, Chris. Any other comments from anyone? Hi. Um if when you if the wording on the survey, can you just maybe put the footnotes just to some of the things that were talked about tonight about how the cost doesn't go up cuz I think the budget issue is going to be a big part of it. Like for people thinking it's going to cost double. So, can is there any way to put like a paragraph before people choose just to have some of those pieces of information? Perfect. That's a very good point. I think in the context

160of what we were talking about um there's some different points that we should make sure and that is one of them. Uh Alex Cook, 32 S. Main Street. Um I will say I understand why you choose to go to the student advisory committee, but I will also note that advisory committee is only made up of high school students and I think that does a disadvantage to the lower grades. I would suggest maybe um I'm not 100% sure if the middle school still has a class president system, but I would suggest maybe including those representatives because it does disservice them to only speak to an advisory committee of only high schoolers. Not This is not take input from the lower grades. Thank you. Thanks, Alex. Can I just ask one more question? You know, I'm in

161favor of the survey. But, the intent is you know, okay, so this goes out and it there's going to be one group that's going to sit there and say yes or no they're going to pick one of those two. At the end of the day, does this come back to this board to vote on which direction? So, I guess the cautionary tale would be if they said, "Hey, let's take let's go the expedited route. Let's get the full-term superintendent." But, then this group decides to vote and say, "Hey, we want to put the interim um in motion." Now, you're kind of going against what the popular vote said. So, it's just a cautionary tale. I can see it both ways. I think the survey should be done, but I'm just trying to think through the

162entire process and and what could possibly happen. Other thoughts? I I will add to that. It's the Oh. Sorry. One more thing I'm thinking about the survey and who it goes out to. Um you know, I know we said parents, but there's some parents of kids that would be impacted by this that aren't going to get that survey because they're not in the system yet, but they would be, right? So, like thinking about kids that have preschoolers um that if this decision is made for another interim versus waiting a year a expedited search that wouldn't have a say um because their kids are right on that cusp of not being in school to be counted in whatever email system there is. So, just something to consider. Um one thing I would um ask you to

163consider is to educate the public on what this timeline is going to look like and what it all entails. Because someone's going to say it's an interim, it's going to be 4 months, but what does that look like? So, if if you give them some more information, they might be able to make a better decision. Thank you. Anyone else from the board? Um On the Did we put the dates on there? So, it's going to go We think and I'm not even positive that we I'm hoping that Sean can Who's that? You have no thoughts? I I don't know that Sean can do this by Monday. You know, there's there's So, uh there's that. Okay. There's a lot going on. Today's Thursday. Tomorrow's Friday. Mhm. Um If this is not able to be done by

164a certain date, I don't know. I just I I feel that we are really tying ourselves up in some real big unlisted timing knots that are going to hurt ourselves. Mhm. Does that change anybody's thoughts? All right. Um so, all those in favor of uh creating and sending out a survey, if possible, on Monday, um please say I. I. I. Opposed? And we have it. All right. Whoops. Sorry. Uh next, as we talked about, is uh April and May School Committee meetings. Uh What are folks We already have School Committee meet- meetings scheduled for May 14th and May 28th. Um, we know that we're we really are going to need another um, meeting uh, and the one that we are thinking about is April 30th. Uh, which we need both for budget reasons as well

165as for the search questions. Uh, does April 30th work for you folks? I'm going to say no. That's probably wise. So, I'll abstain from any vote. Okay, and Mike, this I've not done before. How do we check on room availability? Uh, Anne talk to Paul and Okay. Tim. Okay, thank you. All right. Next is the consent agenda. Mike, approval well, approval of warrants. I just thought before we approve these warrants, Mike Mike give us a little how we get to this point with these warrants that showed up in your drives. Yeah, so I'm already in trouble. There were warrants that I was supposed to bring for you to sign. So, what happens is every uh, all during every day, we're paying bills and setting up warrants uh, that a committee member needs to go in

166and sign. Um, so there is a warrant in my office that was supposed to come with me so somebody can sign it. Uh, so I do need someone to come tomorrow and sign. Um, but we build the warrants, it's all the bills for the month and you go through them, review them, sign off on them, and then they come in this form uh on the agenda after the fact. Uh so, the ones that are on this are uh from previous, but we we do have a warrant. I don't know if you're available tomorrow to go over to Forest or someone. Cuz if you can't, so I'm I'm off work tomorrow, so I can go That would be cool. I got to go into Boston tomorrow. >> Yeah. What else am I doing? So, that's the

167process. It It's every 2 weeks there's a warrant to be signed. It has every bill, every backup, all the invoices. And then if they get them to me like they did, I can bring them here, save some time. Um but, we'll do that. So, that's how the warrant process goes, so that the board is aware of what we're spending uh on a daily basis. And also involves some uh series of checks uh different kind of checks. Uh the department head signs, you sign. Purchase Yeah, the whole requisition, purchase order, everything goes through a uh a checks and balances and really a number of approval for the payment. And and then the school committee members sign them before they come to the full board. Um so, uh a movie that we we uh approved the warrants

168uh that have gone through that process that were in your uh that were in your uh drive. I have a second? Second. All those in favor? I. I. I. And that's unanimous. Uh and so, we're down to information. Uh Middleborough High School Speech and Theater workshop is uh June 12th and 13th. Middleborough High School class of 2026 have online sales um they're happening that you you saw in your um in your drive. Uh I also wanted to note that we got an invitation from um Miss Sacha from Meg to go to the space camp on Tuesday. Um and and those are wonderful events as well as uh a request that maybe that she could come to a bring the kids to a future uh school committee meeting which I think would be fabulous. And so

169I I will pursue uh getting them here for that. With all of that, I'll entertain a motion to adjourn. Someone has to say so moved. So moved. And second? Second. All those in favor? I. I. Thank you and good night. Bye. What time are you I mean on Wednesday I'll drop the kids off in the morning and Any time. Are you you're at school? >> Yeah, I'm at Yeah, I know. No, they're usually at Oh. Forest. So if you brought them over to me Oh, okay. Oh, I forgot to bring you the money. Okay. I'll um I'm going to do it. I'll Yeah, I'll try to get there Get them off the bus and get them back.