001Good evening, everyone. Everybody ready up there? All right. I'm going to call this meeting to order, and I just ask if you are able, if you could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Under open meeting law, I am informing the public that this meeting is being recorded by Middleborough Educational Television, hence the scroll over my head. If everyone Anyone in the audience is taping the meeting, either audio or video, please inform us of such at this time. All right. I will now open on open the public comment portion of our agenda. We do ask that you state your name for the
002record and direct all your comments through me, the chair. We also ask that your comments relate to items within the purview of the school committee. Please note that personal complaints regarding personnel or students should be directed to the appropriate administrator outside of this meeting. The committee will not engage in discussion with the speaker or take action on any matters not on the agenda tonight. We allow 3 minutes per speaker. Please be mindful of the time. Alex Cook, East Main Street. Um I'm sure our student representative will speak on this, but I just wanted to give a shout-out to our amazing speech and theater kids uh who hosted the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild competition this weekend. Uh words cannot express the pride I have in our students. Not only did they tech for seven schools, including
003their own, in one day, they also hosted their festival competition here in Middle at Middleborough High School. Um again, words cannot express my level of pride in them with the uh professionalism, hospitality, and overall amazingness of our students. Um and I want to give a big thank you to all of our parents and community community members who came out to support our students this weekend. Um and I hope and encourage uh everybody comes back for their show, The Play That Goes Wrong. I don't remember the exact dates. Thank you. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. Hi, Bridget Kearns. Um I just wanted to talk a minute about the um meeting that we had a couple weeks ago, we heard a lot of feedback from the teachers regarding the new ELA curriculum. Um, as a parent,
004I don't have a lot of skin in the game on this ELA curriculum. My kid's going to be a senior. I don't think any implementation is going to touch his education. Um, but what I did hear was a ton of feedback from teachers saying that they piloted this program and they didn't like the program. Um, and that that feedback didn't get presented to this committee. Um, and that was really troubling to hear, particularly when we I don't know the curriculum. I I'm not an educator. Um, and I couldn't tell you if it was good, bad, or indifferent. So, the people I need to hear from are those educators, the ones that are piloting it, the ones that are, um, facing the students and seeing what's happening when they're piloting the program. Um, and something really
005unique happened during that meeting. Um, Mr. Benson actually asked to took a motion to revisit that vote. Um, and that was a probably the first time I've seen this committee in all the years I've come here to actually take feedback from the community in real time and take a moment and say, "Hey, we hear you." But not just tell us we hear you, but let's say you actually did something. There was actually action on the feedback that the community gave. And so, I really hope that this committee starts kind of operating a little bit more that way, like actually not just saying we hear you, but actually um, doing more actionable things like that. So, I just wanted to say that. And I I don't really understand if we're looking at a two and a
006half million dollar budget deficit, where a half a million dollars, um, towards a curriculum is going. And I heard teachers say they don't need a new curriculum. They have materials that they can teach ELA. Is this the time to purchase a new curriculum? I don't know. Thank you. >> [applause] >> Hi, Jessica Hilton, 31 Pearl Street. Um, I am a teacher that piloted Savvas. So, that's why I'm coming up now. Um, as I know you are all aware that you did not receive complete information when the presentation was made. Um, and my first grade colleagues and I were disappointed that the committee was informed that first grade had no concerns about Savvas. Um, I read an article where one of you was quoted as saying that this that this program was going to be transformational.
007Um, I was wondering what data you were provided with that gave you that impression. Did any of you go visit primary classrooms to see what the program really is like for students? Um, I asked a representative from Savvas for data that showed this program helped improve student reading. I have yet to receive any evidence from Savvas regarding how this program performs. Um, I understand the need for common resource, and I know that no program is perfect. However, the decision regarding an uh a adoption of a comprehensive curriculum that will cost the district over $400,000 at a time when we have a budget crisis is a critical decision. We can't afford to make a mistake. I don't know if you're aware that the Mass PTA sent um information to their members um letting us know that
008the Senate passed a new bill that would change um and introduce new literacy requirements K through three, and that there was grant money available to um purchase curricula. So, that might be helpful to us. And you really didn't hear what our concerns were. So, here they are. We agree with kindergarten that the skills are not developmentally appropriate um for first grade. Savvas is teacher-centered and not student-centered, thus not engaging for students. There's no differentiation or support provided for special education students. Anchor texts are not individual books that can be used to model print. Students and teachers will be reading from a computer screen or large workbook. It is important for our primary learners to engage with real authentic texts. A big concern is there is no time in this program to actually teach students how
009to read, which is which should be our focus. Um many of the texts are manufactured for Savvas or exci- excerpts from authentic texts. Our students deserve authentic full texts, not manufactured excerpts. It is not developmentally appropriate for a first-grade student to independently navigate a complex text, to think about a question, task, or assignment, flip through multiple pages in a massive workbook, all while thinking about how to answer a question, and then write their thoughts down. Assessments provided are not developmentally appropriate. This program also assumes that students have a certain level of background knowledge that most students do not have. I will leave you with this. After the announcement was made that Savvas had been selected, those that piloted Savvas received a pencil case with various items included. One of the items included was a crocheted
010pickle that said, "Dill with it." How does our district choose a program and company that disrespects our teachers in such a manner? Is this the message we want to send to our teachers, students, and families? Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> Anyone else? Okay. Oh. Hi, Tony Coopy. Uh Minnechaug High School teacher, 2000 alumni. >> [snorts] >> Um when I started thinking about the purchasing of the Savvas curriculum, I thought, well, any good school needs good curriculum. And I don't think that we can argue with that. However, after talking with teachers, the feeling that I got was that this was not the right curriculum for us. Because it did not did not offer comprehensive special ed component, nor did it provide additional text that accompanied the curriculum, and that those would be an additional cost.
011Now, I also thought if we were in a moment too that the leadership team or school committee [clears throat] was coming and saying, "We you know, we need a new curriculum, and we had a balanced budget, and we weren't talking about reconfiguration, and we said, 'We got a lot of input from the teachers, and we really feel like this is a great curriculum.' Then I think that we might have some buy-in, but that's just not what I heard. Further, if we are looking at what we're looking at is for more technology to be able to solve our educational deficits, I think we must caution ourselves very carefully. If anyone has dove into recent data, it all points to the fact that since 2012 and the mass implementation of personal devices within schools, students have actually
012performed less well than their predecessors. This should be very concerning. >> [snorts] >> This >> [clears throat and cough] >> Maybe we should be taking a look at the widespread use of these devices in our classrooms, and not trying to buy expensive curriculum that will continue to have students stuck to a device. Many forward-thinking countries in the world have realized the detriment of giving students individualized devices and in fact we should what in fact what we should be doing is figuring out ways to increase teacher to student ratios and build meaningful connections that we know help students succeed. Honestly >> [clears throat] >> with the rapid advance of IA AI the ability to create quality curriculum uh in line with most advanced countries is just a prompt away. But what it really comes down to
013is the connection between students and the teachers and educational support personnel in front of them. It comes down to not being distracted by a device and it and listening to a teacher read to them and have a discussion around text. We must help students activate their imagination through fun activities and work together to problem solve and question things. These are the types of things that are going to increase literacy and math reasoning. It is not expensive curriculum and it is especially not the time when we are faced with teacher layoffs. Thank you. Thank you. >> [applause] [applause] >> All right, seeing no one else I thank everyone for speaking tonight and we will move on to our discussion items starting with the report from uh Mason as our student representative. Okay. Bare with me today.
014This is a little disorganized. I'll do my best. So first we want to welcome everyone back from a very long February break and a thank you to all the plows and all the custodial teams at all of the schools for helping us get back without losing a whole month of school. Uh we want to remind everyone that there's an early release day coming up. I believe it's professional development on the 13th. Please check your school schedule for the dismissal times so you know when your kid is leaving. So, for the MEC, the kindergarten registration has opened for the 2020 for the 2026-27 school year, and family teacher conferences are the week of March 16th. There is I did not get any individual things for the MKG, but for both the MKG and HBB, grades will
015now close on March 24th, and report cards will be issued on April 6th through Aspen, and will be sent home with students the following day. For the HBB, March 10th through 12th is the third-grade musical performance, and March 2nd through March 6th is parent-teacher conferences. Just a note for the MEC and the HBB, families will soon receive their child's DIBELS 8 family report. This report provides a snapshot of your child's reading development and progress. If you have any questions after reviewing the report, please reach out to your child's teacher. I believe the MKG sent theirs out before February break. For the NMS, the NMS STEM Fair took place after school yesterday, March 4th. Students presented their projects to a team of teachers and high school students who judged their projects. Students could choose to do
016a research project, a controlled experiment, an engineering design process project, or a math research project. As a judge of the science fair, I saw a lot of impressive projects. I was very impressed with the projects the students made, and I'm going to ask Mr. McLaughlin who won because I couldn't find out who won. I believe it was a lot of them got Oh. Did the person who did how to train a human win anything? >> Yes. Good. >> [laughter] >> Perfect. For the high school, again, just as public comments stated, congratulations to the speech and theater workshop for competing and hosting in the Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild with a day of wonderful theater. After the snow days, SCW ended up throwing everything together in the span of 2 days, staying over 14 hours on both
017days to load in six wonderful shows plus our own. And we competed in the drama festival with our production of Tracks, and many students won METG All-Star awards for their work on the show. The performance was outstanding, so job well done to the cast, crew, and everyone who helped out. Congratulations to the boys and girls basketball team for outstanding seasons. And congratulations to the hockey team and our cheerleading team, who were all part of our winter sports. And we want to wish good luck to Matt Patterson and Ken Menty, who will compete in the All-State wrestling meet this week. Uh good luck to Lexi Boyd as she runs for MASC vice president this week. Lexi has done an outstanding job over the last few months preparing her leadership garden, and I'm sure you'll do an
018amazing job. There will be a message from her at the end of the report. The class of 2027 will host the second annual Battle of the Badges on Friday, March 6th, 2026 at 6:00 p.m. in the gym. It is a police versus fire department basketball game, so please mark your calendar. You do not want to miss out. For the senior class, the scholarship program is up and running. The scholarship book is available in the counseling uh suite or the school website. And seniors can pick up their updated unofficial transcript in the school counseling office, and there's a form to request your official transcript, which can only be done in person. The section 1 and section 2 scholarship deadline was just extended. It used to be March 13th. The new deadline is March 20th. Section 3
019has their own deadlines, none of which have been changed. There are success blocks set up for students to help them apply to these scholarships. And MHS will launch the 2026-2027 program of studies/course selection for all students grades 9 through 11 on March 16th. Teachers have recommended you for courses with the core content areas throughout the school. You'll see the recommendations when you log into Aspen to select your courses. The recommendations are based off of your overall performance in your current classes. The portal will open on Monday, March 16th at 4:00 p.m. and will remain open through Monday, March 23rd. Quarter 3 parent-teacher conferences will be held on Wednesday, March 11th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. for all staff. Be on the lookout for an email through Parent Square this week from your teachers to make
020appointments. And now I have a message from Lexi Boyd who is running for um MASC vice president. Lexi Boyd is currently attending a conference in for the Massachusetts Association of Student Council, also known as MASC. This conference is a chance for student councils all over Massachusetts to come together and share their ideas. During this 3-day retreat, students experience lectures from guest speakers, inspiration through student-led workshops, and they will vote on this year's upcoming MASC executive board. She's running to be the MASC vice president and her campaign theme is leadership garden. The whole idea of her theme is that leadership does not grow overnight. It takes a lot of nurturing and even may face setbacks like weeds. If someone does not support your ideas as a keeper of your leadership garden, it is important to pick
021those weeds and carry on with tending your plants. Another big idea within her theme is that each stage of a garden represents key parts of leadership. Example of this is how service events act as flower leaves. Leaves hold the majority of a plant's nutrients and provide for the community just like volunteers do the nation. She thanks you all for listening and allowing her to share her ideas. Thank you, Mason. All right. Moving on, uh the next item is the Superintendent's report. Thank you. Uh regarding the new ELA program, I am uh requesting uh that the committee allow um me to create a small uh committee to take another month, month and a half to uh review uh all of the comments that we heard earlier and to uh come back to the committee with a
022recommendation. I'd like to have uh the principals, uh the teachers who piloted both programs, um Terry Marculetis, myself, and hopefully two school committee members to be on that committee or subcommittee. Um I think we need uh a good month, month and a half to review um everything that we heard, go over all the data. I don't want to start from scratch, but just go and review everything thoroughly uh so that we can come back with uh a recommendation uh from uh fully represented by everybody involved. Um I want to uh say that we still have uh the item uh budgeted uh currently. Uh obviously that can change, but that is still in the proposal. Uh I just think we need uh a good month, month and a half to uh thoroughly look at this further.
023So, I'll move it. Second. [snorts] Any comments? Um I heard from a bunch of teachers from kindergarten, first grade, um I heard from teachers outside of this district who have that same program. I think a second look is absolutely warranted. Uh I Sorry. >> No, you first. >> always talk to No, you first. You go. Okay. Uh I would like to follow up with a couple comments that uh are related to some of the other themes that we've been hearing about uh whether or not we're listening. Uh and and what we do with what [snorts] we we hear. Uh first of all, I was the person that said that I thought that a uh a uh science of reading curriculum would be transformational for our district, and I still believe that. Uh and I thought
024that um given the input that we were given, that adopting this would be something that would be very good for our district, and I still believe that. However, um given the comments that were made, I thought that it was important that I go and do my due diligence about the feedback that was given. And as a result, I went back to the presentation, and I went back and looked into the curate um forms that you filled out. And I actually asked permission from some of the uh teachers to be allowed in, and when I did, I did see that there was a significant discrepancy between what I saw in that feedback and what was presented at the meeting. I then passed that information on to both Jess and Mike, uh letting them know my concerns.
025And I do believe that that's my responsibility as a school committee member, and I do want you to know that we do follow up on these things. Chris. >> [applause] >> So, shortly after we voted to accept it, I was very enthusiastic. Um it doesn't run in my in the school that I work at, but I've heard good things from colleagues. Uh none of them work in Middleborough, and I always say Middleborough is exceptional. Uh when I first ran for school committee in my first term, I was asked what the strength was, and my the answer came right off the bat was the MEC. Um I think you guys do a great job building that foundation, and to have your views not represented, I really think that did us a disservice. So, after being so
026enthusiastic to approve the vote and not getting the full picture, um that really stung me. And so, I like the fact that we're able to go back and review, and I I I'm looking forward to hearing from all parties, all stakeholders, um how this is either going to benefit or not, and making the choice from there. So, thank you all for sharing your voices. Mike, I just want to say I appreciate that the the principals had this discussion with you and came up with a plan all together to take a step back, take another look. Um I fully support all of the teachers who piloted the program being involved so that you can hear from them directly, um and that we can make sure that we have um all of the information before we take
027another vote to move forward. Um so, with that being said, we have a motion and a second. Any other discussion? I just have one question, Mike, and that that is if in this month or a month and a half that you, you know, take your time to review it, if the decision comes that we decide not to move forward, what does that look like from a budget perspective? Where Where that money kind of get earmarked for? Well, it'll go back to the subcommittee. Uh and then we'll figure out where we want to reappropriate it. Okay. And it most likely will go back into the budget cuts that we're talking about and and and prioritize there. >> [applause] >> Anyone else? All right, so I have a motion and a second. All those in favor of
028the Can we restate what the motion is so I'm clear of what what we're voting on? >> All those in favor of approving a subcommittee to meet with the principals and the piloting teachers and the director of curriculum and to revisit the two curriculums that were presented. All those in favor? I. I. Motion passes unanimous? We want to talk about school committee member members >> that was the next step is we've just agreed to have a subcommittee to meet with everyone. So, are there any volunteers to be on the subcommittee? If we um can get moving on it rather quickly, I think that would be important. I'm a little predisposed. >> I understand. [laughter] Um I'm happy to do it. I just need to I will be away for a week from April 15th to
029the 22nd. Okay. We can work around a week. >> Okay. Anyone else? If it ensures the voices of the kid the people who are with our kids are heard, I will volunteer to be on it. All right, wonderful. Thank you both. That's the subcommittee of two, so I appreciate it and uh I look forward to hearing back from you all um and uh hearing more about the next steps in this process. So, thank you both. All right. Let me see how you're up. All right, good evening. Uh so, Mason threw me for a little curveball there. So, I do have our our STEM Fair award winners. If you would indulge me 1 minute just to recognize them. Uh in our um controlled experiment category, in third place, sixth grader Arabella Ramirez. In second place, um
030sixth graders Olivia Caswell and Avery Trott. And and in first place, eighth grader Scotty Brogna with her How to Train Your Human Experiment was fantastic. In our engineering design um category, in third place, seventh grader Grant Tibo. In second place, sixth graders Timothy and Benjamin Luce. And in first place, eighth graders Arya Gentile and Victoria Miller. And let me just scroll down here. In our environmental project category, in third place, uh sixth graders Kaylee Parker and Marley Ruthwitz. Second uh place was seventh graders Clover Henstat and Natalie Powers. And first place was seventh graders Jane Adler and Tristan Logan. And last, but certainly Oh, sorry, there's two more categories. Uh research project No, the last Sorry, last category was research project category. In third place was sixth graders Luca Terrasi and S.J. Murphy. In second
031place was sixth grader Mack Oatway. And in first place was sixth grader Graham Stack. Um they all did an amazing job. We had over 30 um projects. And a special kudos to Ms. Boley, our our um science um coordinator, who put all of this together. It was a ton of work and it was super impressive. Wonderful. Congratulations [applause] all those students. And And Tim, just to to stay there for just 1 second, if any of those students are interested in uh coming to a future meeting and showing us their presentation, we would love to invite them to join us. >> can guarantee that and I'll be I'll put something together. I love it. All right. >> So, the reason I'm here before you tonight is I would like to bring a proposal to the committee
032some a program that I'd like to begin rolling out at Nichols. As I stated in the fall, one of my main focuses is improving the student experience at Nichols and making for positive student engagement, positive student programming. And something that I've always kind of looked at Nichols and thought it was unfortunate that we didn't offer our kids that a lot of middle schools do is an end of the year eighth grade experience for kids. Something kind of a capstone experience for their time at the school, something to bond as a group, something to feel proud about, something that they'll remember for for years thereafter. And so I'm bringing before you a proposal to begin with our current seventh graders, eighth graders next year, to bring a end of the year trip to Washington, D.C. for
033all students who are interested for a four-day, three-night trip to our nation's capital. I've spent spent extensive time this winter vetting vendors and having meetings with other local middle schools. I went to three different schools that run trips to pick their brains on, you know, landmines that I should be aware of and their process and kind of talking about how they they they they run their trips. Met with several different tour operators to get quotes and kind of look at the flexibility. I've approached two of my eighth grade civics teachers, Ms. Colleen Russell and Ms. Kate Stack with the idea of kind of helping me push this trip in the right direction. I I asked them, given that they're civics teachers and this is a civics heavy trip, and they're more than happy to be
034a part of it. We did end up deciding that the proposal we were going to bring forward to you would be offered through EF Tours. Now, I want to preface what I'm going to say by by mentioning that I want to recognize that um six years ago when COVID hit our town, there was a high school trip um that was run through EF that was canceled and our families were kind of left high and dry. Um they didn't get anything back. Um I I don't need to tell the community they were they went through it. Um and my first question when I met with our vendors was, "That's not going to happen again. I won't be able to get the town to support this. We can't operate like that. What are you going to do
035about it?" They were very um very open and honest that mistakes were made as a company um when the pandemic hit that they did a lot of um reflective um reworking of their business model. They actually have language now in their contracts. Um they they call it their a piece of mind um piece of mind program guarantee where basically they're offering a variety of options for schools that have um forces that have um trips canceled for forces outside of their control that include rescheduling, trip vouchers, or a refund um of the trip costs minus like a $100 administrative fee um for for whatever it is the families pay. So, you know, they laid out for me um in black and white what their process is. If it's more than 60 days out, it's basically for
036whatever reason the trip would be canceled for, it's they'll take care of it. Um if it's less than 60 days, if it's a Department of State Travel Advisory Level 4 or above, a a travel ban because of a quarantine or um civil unrest, or an urgent safety issue that prevents the tour from operating in that area, um they will offer the same thing as as outside those 60 days. So, um EF does appear to have language now in their in their um in their offerings that would protect our families in the event we were to go out of the state or something were to happen um in that time period. That was me. Sorry. So, um in front of you you have um you know, uh literature from um from EF and I think one
037of the things that we liked amongst the many proposals is that the proposal in front of you would allow our students to um meet on a Monday morning um early 5:30 6:00 a.m. at Nichols Middle School and travel by charter bus to the Providence um train station and travel to Washington D.C. via train. Um I love that option for um speed of trip, for safety of having the kids in their own chartered um train cabins um with their own bathrooms. We don't have to worry about traffic, we don't have to worry about buses breaking down, we don't have to worry about um anything that could come up at uh many of the various rest stops that we would have to hit. It's get on the train and we'll see you in D.C. Um I'm also
038a train nerd so I get really excited about that. Um they would arrive by lunch or shortly thereafter lunch on their first day in D.C. and EF doesn't waste any time. They get off the train and they are off and running in D.C. Walking tours in the afternoon um and evening dinner. They don't check into their hotel in until 8:00 p.m. on that first day. Um the in in the itinerary is really robust. Um if any of you have been to D.C. you know there's a lot to see and it's there's you could go for 10 days and still have plenty to do for the kids. And they fit about eight days of activities in in a in an 80-hour period. So the kids are going to sleep well um and they're going to do
039a lot of different things. Um I'm excited by you know the opportunities to to tour the National Mall, to go to Arlington National Cemetery. Um I I as a veteran I think it's incredibly important that our kids get an opportunity to be humbled at at uh Arlington Cemetery. Um they actually offer um a opportunity for us to lay a Middleboro wreath at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier as a group. Uh I can't think of anything more uh uh impressive to to show our kids the value of sacrifice in our country and and what our military means for them. Um stop at the Pentagon Memorial. Um we actually have an opportunity to take a a half-day trip to Mount Vernon which is I think it's fantastic. I've been to DC a half dozen times. I've
040never gone to Mount Vernon. So, um I think that would be really exciting. Uh visit to the US Capitol. They will enter us into a lottery for an opportunity to get a tour of the White House. That's not guaranteed by any means. Those tickets are very um hard to come by, but they do try. They enter every group that comes in for the opportunity to try to get that. Um but they also will offer us if we contact our state our our um our legislators for visits, photo ops, um private tours, whatever they'll offer, they'll help accommodate that. So, I'll make it a point to [clears throat] reach out to our senators and reps before we go there to see if they're available. Um and then the many Smithsonian museums, um which is fantastic. And
041then Thursday after lunch, they're back on the train. I'm sure they'll sleep the entire way home. Uh and they get back up to um they get back to Middleborough around 9:00, 9:30 um on Thursday night. Um the the opportunity So, there's a couple things to love about EF. Um they would allow us for every 10 students that sign up for the trip, one free chaperone. Um so, we would have more than adequate staffing on the trip for safety purposes. Um they provide security within the hotels, one security guard per floor. So, once it's lights-out time, there's a person at the elevators in a chair um watching, making sure that no one's coming out of the rooms, and more importantly, no one is accessing the floor that shouldn't be. Um and uh so, security is something
042that they really take seriously at the hotels. The hotels are not in downtown DC proper, they're in the suburbs, so there is more of a safety um component um to be in an Alexandria or one of the other suburbs versus downtown DC. Um and they also offer us um scholarship opportunities. They'll credit us um $50 for every student that signs up to pool an award um on a need-based um ability at our discretion. Um so, if we have families that are struggling a little bit to help uh to to cross the finish line on the trip, um we can help them, um, get there. Um, and so the quote that they gave us, um, and this was, you know, we got several different quotes, this was right in the middle in terms of, um, the
043financials, but they gave us, um, for 1449 for 4 days and 3 nights. That's all inclusive, that is every single cost, um, on the trip including meal vouchers for the kids while they're out and about during the day. Um, so, you know, there was an option for flying down, which is like $100 more. It sounds like a nightmare going through TSA with 150 middle school kids. Um, there was the bus option that was slightly less, um, but I've having children that have gone on this trip, I've seen bus snafus really foul up the trip, and if we only have a couple days, I'd kind of like to get there and get rolling with the trip. Um, so, there's a process to this. We've never done anything like this at Nichols before, so it's surely going
044to be feeling out this process as, you know, the year goes on. My desire would be to, um, if you, um, approve and are are willing to to, um, go along with this is that I would like to, um, schedule a parent information night later this month for seventh grade parents. We're already a little bit behind the ball on this. Ideally, we would have put this out to seventh grade parents around the holidays, um, because if they do sign up, if there's a monthly payment plan, it gives them lower payments per month and an opportunity to make it more affordable for those families. So, really, we'd like to be doing it about 18 months prior to the trip to help, um, lower the monthly cost. I can't go back in time, so here we are.
045Um, but I would like to offer, um, a parent information night and a and a sign up opportunity, um, and we would close the door on sign ups in sometime in October or November, so that we would have a firm list of who's going and be able to plan rooms, plan out, um, the logistics of how many buses we need, work with EF to to fine-tune those things. And equally as importantly, plan out what school is going to look like for the kids who aren't a part of that trip. I'm I'm really conscious of that we're not just going to go off on this cool thing and say see you later to the to the children that choose not to be a part of this. It's the end of the year. We have capstone experiences.
046We're going to plan capstone experiences for the kids that are still back at Nichols for that week as well. So, um by closing the door on the sign up um you know, before the holidays, it lets us plan for both groups and make sure that there's a a really um enjoyable opportunity for both of them. So, I've just said a whole lot. I'm open to any questions you may have. So, thank you for taking the the extra step to double-check the insurance and all of that. That was absolutely one of the questions that I had. Um I did wonder if they offered additional insurance that parents could purchase for things like sudden illness or um you know, things that came up last minute. >> They do. They offer a a different a travel protection plan.
047It's an extra $300 per student, so it isn't cheap, but it allows you to cancel for any reason up until I think it's 72 hours before the trip um to cancel and get a full refund. >> so that's an option that will be presented to the parents. Thank you. Um as a parent who would be affected by this next year, um so my question is I noticed on the chaperone form that you put all of the school administration as potential chaperone. Correct. So, obviously as a parent a little concerned if my student doesn't go is who's overseeing Sure. So, I put all in terms of who might go. Um so, our our goal was really that one of our three administrators would go every single year. I very much wanted to be a part of
048the first uh trip. My oldest son is graduating high school the same week as the first trip theoretically would go off. So, um unfortunately, both Ms. Nolan and myself will have graduating seniors that week. Um Mr. Pru very graciously volunteered to be um the first administrator, God bless him, to go uh on the trip. Um and I would go in year two. We'd rotate from There would always be an administrator on the trip and two staying back at the school. >> Okay. I was just curious. And then as far as chaperones go, too, are you looking for parents who are probably Corey checked to be chaperones as well, or you looking to meet maintain mostly teachers? I think at least to start off, we'd like to maintain it as our staff. Um I I think
049there's I mean there's certainly ways to to address parents that want to volunteer, but it does create questions of equity and fairness. Uh if we have room for 10 chaperones and 21 parents want to go, how do you you know who gets to go, who doesn't. Um I've also heard from the both the schools actually that I met with emphasized that they found that having parents be chaperones on the trip, it was difficult um for a couple of reasons. One is that um parents innately spend more time focusing on their own child and what their children were up to and and and it kind of detracted from the experience of the group when they were subdivided up in activities. Um and honestly, when we're talking about the kids' experience as a as a school, there's
050a little part of me that thinks they deserve to have fun with their friends without mom being 10 ft away, you know, it's kind of a right right of passage trip if you will. >> looking to go. Yeah, I know. I'm sorry. >> [laughter] >> No, I I just um you know, if we do this and we decide going forward like hey, it would have been a been beneficial to have half a dozen parent chaperones on the trip, that's certainly something I'm open to. Um I just the guidance I'm hearing from other schools and even from EF was kind of saying like you're really better off starting off with just your staff um being a part of it. >> exactly. Any other questions? Uh first, thank you for putting this together. I have grandchildren in
051other towns that have done this in the eighth grade and then it's it is a wonderful experience. Uh will there be any fundraising for uh families that might not have the resources to send their child? >> For sure. And I and I I recognize $1,400 is a lot of money, you know, it it and it doesn't come easy for for most, wouldn't for me. Um so I fully anticipate I don't have specific concrete plans for you today, but I fully anticipate coming back to you um either this later this spring or at the beginning of the school year with some ideas for fundraisers um that would be an ongoing thing we would do for these kids. I want to give them at least two opportunities to do things that will defray the cost of this
052trip. Wonderful. Thank you. All right. Anything else? That's all I have. I'm I'm really excited about this opportunity. I love that it's going to be by train as well. >> Yep. Uh so, the chair will entertain a motion to approve this out-of-state field trip to Washington, D.C. So moved. [clears throat] Second. I have a motion and a second. All those in favor? I. >> I. Passes unanimously. Thank you. >> All right. So, the next item on the agenda is the Five Star bus transportation contract and a one-year renewal. Yes. So, we have the >> I'm going to recuse myself. Yes. Thank you. Um so, we have the uh fifth year of the contract. It's the uh last and final one-year renewal. Um and then next year we will be going out to bid. Uh the
053cost for the transportation is broken down into three parts. The obviously the big yellow uh is 2,391,906 The late buses are 26,466 dollars and the uh Bristol Norfolk Aggie runs is 192,573 and the total contract for the fifth and final year is 2,610,945 dollars. Mike, if I am correct that this line item is that separate transportation line item. >> Yes, this is the town has our transportation in a separate fund. Any questions? All right. I do. Of course. Is this something that there's a subcommittee for transportation, correct? I don't think so. Well, Chris has a a I don't think it's necessarily contractual. It's more to manage transportation questions. >> Yeah. Okay. Got it. And my second question is is this a the option for renewal is it an automatic unless there are significant issues or
054is this something that can be stopped and I'm just curious. So the original contract is a three-year contract with the option of two year two one-year renewals. This is the last of those so for the five. Yes, you could have at the end of last year, we could have gone out to bid. Okay. But I I assumed everything's been running pretty well and I they've done a wonderful job during this winter. And the the start of the last two years two years I've been here, it was it was amazing the first the kids were on time for like it was not even didn't even seem like the first day of school. Great. Thank you. I just want to second that Mike and also in your experience, when you go out to bid financially, the cost
055goes up, right? I'm not looking forward to it. >> [laughter] >> But that's a next year problem. We'll talk about that in October. Is there somebody at the microphone? I didn't know if we were able to comment on this or >> Yeah, as long as everybody on the school committee has had a chance. Yes, please. Go ahead. Hi. Uh I'm Leslie Lemieux. I happen to be a resident and first grade teacher at Buckland. And uh respectfully, the buses are never on time. Ever. I don't even think once. So, I don't have hard data to support Well, I have 3 days of hard data actually. This week the buses were called for dismissal. On Tuesday, it was at 3:29. On Wednesday, it was at 3:26. And today it was 3:27. Contractually, my day ends at 3:20
056at dismissal. If you take those minutes up and even if you average 5 minutes late a day, we're talking 15 hours by the end of the school year that we are missing out on prep time. Like that is my time at the end of the day to prepare and reset my classroom for the next day. It's not an insignificant amount of time. And of course, any given day a couple of minutes here and there, we're all reasonable people. A couple minutes here and there, icy days, bad weather, sure. We expect things to be a little bit slower. September, we all expect it. In September, there were days it was maybe 10, 15, even 20 minutes late that we're dismissing. It's a significant amount of time. I don't know if this is a five-star issue or
057if this is just bussing in general. But it's it's significant and I thought it was important that that was brought to your attention. So, thank you. Thank you. All right. So, I do appreciate that it it uh isn't uh always ideal for sure. But at this point um I I entertain a motion to renew the last year of the Five Star bus renewal contract for a one-year extension with the knowledge that next year we go out to bid for a new bus company. In In the meantime, Mike, is there a way we can follow up on that and find out >> There seems to be a communication gap there. >> Yeah. I know this week Yeah, this week. >> has been very difficult because of the road conditions and the you know, the banks are
058very high and the visibility Uh but I'll look into, you know, the daily if it's daily. So, there's a a call for a motion? Do I hear a anyone? Second. Make a motion. Oh, uh I move that we >> I made the motion. You just have to say so moved. So moved. >> Second. >> [laughter] >> All those in favor. Aye. Aye. Thank you and one recused, so it's uh four in favor and one recused. Alan, you're allowed back at the table. With the notation that Mike, if you get back to us about what what you find out I will. Yes, around that. Constant improvement is always good. All right, so the next item is the uh Massachusetts School Building Authority uh MSBA and the John T. Nichols Middle School Roof Project Schematic Design. That's
059fun to say. Yes, and I look forward to reading the motion. Um so, uh we uh applied for a new roof through the MSBA uh project at the state for the Nichols uh roof. One of the uh requirements in order to be approved, we are we are officially approved uh our application and then there's some more steps that go on before it's finally uh given the final approval to get the funding matching funding to do the project. One of them is that we must set aside at least $100,000 to have a schematic design done of the roof prior to and so we were given the language for the article in motion to do that. This will come from our facility rental account is a perfect use of that funds cuz it's a one-time account one-time
060funding. So once they once you approve this, we send that up. They will send us a couple of different consultants that do the work. They will come in and do the scheme schematic design of the roof. And then after that if we are approved again and we we move along, the town has agreed to do the project and they we will be reimbursed about 55% of the total cost of the roof. But that will be done at town meeting and that at the town will have to appropriate that. This piece we agreed with the town if they did the roof, we would pay for the school district would pay for the schematic design. And there's a long Yeah. motion that Madam Chair has to read now. Um before we get to the motion, my understanding
061is because we've been approved through MSBA for this project, if we don't move forward, we lose out on a lot of assistance in making the roof happen. All of it. All of it. Yeah. Any other questions before I get to the fun motion? Roof is about 20 years old? Yeah, 27. You got a couple extra years out of it. >> [laughter] >> How long do you think it's going to last in a couple of a couple years? All right. So, the chair will entertain a motion that the town of Middleborough hereby appropriates the amount of $100,000 for the purpose of paying feasibility study and schematic design costs related to a potential accelerated repair project at the John T. Nichols, Jr. Middle School, 112 Tiger Drive, Middleborough, Massachusetts to replace the asphalt shingled portions of the
062roof, including payment of all costs incidental or related thereto, which proposed repair project would materially extend the useful life of the school and preserve an asset that otherwise is capable of supporting the required educational program, and for which the town has applied for a school construction grant from the Massachusetts School Building Authority, MSBA. Said amount to be expended under the direction of the school committee. To meet this appropriation, the treasurer, with the approval of the select board, is authorized to borrow said amount under MGL Chapter 44, Chapter 70B, or any other enabling authority. The town acknowledges that the MSBA's grant program is a non-entitlement discretionary program based on need as determined by the MSBA, and if the MSBA's Board of Directors votes to invite the town to collaborate with the MSBA on this proposed repair
063project, any project costs the town incurs in excess of any grant that may be approved by and received from the MSBA shall be the sole responsibility of the town. And that, if invited to collaborate with the MSBA on the the repair project, the amount of borrowing authorized pursuant to this vote shall be reduced by any grant amount set forth in the project funding agreement that may be executed between the town and the MSBA. So moved. I'm glad we don't have to repeat that one. I have a motion. Do I hear a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. Thank you. Yeah, sorry about that. Uh next is the uh this is just informational. It's the READS quarterly report overview. Because we are members of READS collaborative, uh they send out on a quarterly basis
064uh their um report and that is to be shared with uh the committee. And I I've reviewed it. There's nothing uh new or any major changes. So, if you have any questions, I'll take them later and I'll I'll get back to you cuz it it is uh but it is informational. Any questions? No. Seems they're doing rather [clears throat] well in their new school, so their new building. That's wonderful to hear. All right. >> Okay, last for me. I I'm hoping this is good news. Uh I met uh on a webinar with the commissioner uh of education. The big question was after the blizzard and the five days that we were out, most districts uh were questioning um whether we were going to have to go into uh April vacation. Um we right now, our
065last day of school is scheduled for June 30th. Superintendents uh and the uh yeah, the MASS group wanted to petition that uh the commissioner allow that the last day of school be no later than June 26th on the Friday, which would allow us not to come back on Monday and Tuesday. So, what they stated there and you have to apply or apply for a waiver even if you meet four right criteria in order to take advantage of and have your last day on the 26th. And that is number one, time on learning, which is 990 hours for high school or secondary and 900 at the elementary level and we meet those. You have to have used all five of your days and I can confidently say we used all five. You have to repurpose all
066your PD or holidays, which we don't have to worry about that. And you have to be scheduled out to June 30th and as I said we are. So, we meet all four. We still have to apply for the waiver, but we're we're confident that we will be granted that and our April vacation will not be affected. >> [applause] >> Just to ask. Go on. Sorry, just to clarify when the the line item that said that you had to repurpose all PD and holidays, that was full day PD and non-national, non-April vacation holidays. So, if we had taken another day off, that would have had to be repurposed, but Memorial Day, Juneteenth, those don't get touched. Those are still days off and April vacation is kept intact. >> And we >> do have a PD, but
067it's a half day, so that counts. And so we're good there. Lastly, um the question came up of whether we had to move graduation date. Um the the it's very ambiguous or oddly written on the graduation, but it says that it's you cannot they students can't graduate 12 days before the last day of school. Of but it says the last day of the originally scheduled last day of school. So that helped us because um we are still within 12 days of the last day that we originally, which was 17th 2017. So we are safe, and graduation is on the same day. We don't have to move that. So we kind of dodged a bullet here. But good news. All right, so just to reiterate, April vacation safe, Memorial Day safe, Juneteenth is safe, half-day PD
068can still happen, graduation isn't moving. We are appealing the state to not have to go to school on the 30th and the 31st. >> No, uh 29th and 30th. >> 29th and 30th. 30 days have September, April, June. Um 29th and 30th. So that our last day will be the 26th. But until we hear back from the appeal, we don't know that for sure, but the appeal is already in process. Correct? Correct. >> All right. So that's where we stand right now, and as soon as we know that it where the appeal goes, we will inform everyone again. Did they say how long that would take? Uh you're the 10th person to ask me that today. I don't I don't I don't know the answer. >> June 25th? All right. But that is good news.
069Thank you, Mike. Appreciate that. All right. That concludes the Superintendent's Report. Um so we are now moving on to subcommittee updates, which is policy and protocols. These were rescheduled twice now, I think, but hopefully we can get through them tonight. So, we are at second reads with a possible vote for a number. Yes. Through the chair, um these have been out there for so long. I didn't receive any feedback about any changes. I would like to make a motion that for the ones that are listed here, we make a vote and approve them right now. Second. I have a motion and a second to approve the removal of one policy and the approval of the updates to four. Motion and a second, any discussion? All those in favor? I. I. Thank you. I made up
070for the MSBA reading. All right, so the one last item then under the policy and protocols is the operating uh protocols update. You'll notice that when it was posted in your folder when we first discussed, we had some questions about who we represent in that first item. After the meeting, um Sue did her due diligence and came back to me with information from policy AB. I've been looking at BA and BBA, um which are similar, but they don't say the same thing. Um and so we uh worked together and uh Shannon helped as well for the subcommittee to say that we would like to modify that first line from we represent the school committee to we represent the citizens of Middleborough. Chair will entertain a motion to accept that modification to the operating protocols. So
071moved. Do I hear a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor? I. I. Thank you for that and thank you Sue for reviewing the other AVBA BB policy. Um that brings us to the consent agenda. There's only one item on the consent agenda to approve the meeting minutes of January 8th, 2026. I will entertain a motion to do so. So moved. Do I have a second? Second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. All right, we've done our action items. There's a few informational items. Um Memorial Early Childhood Center movie night March 12th. I believe they are playing the movie Cars, which even though I have seen it many a time, it's always a good watch. Um the Middleborough High School Class of 2026 will be presenting Mr. MHS on March 27th. Middleborough High School
072Student Council is having a breakfast with the Easter Bunny on March 28th. And then other additional items is just to note that um the School Committee budget will be presented to the Select Board uh this coming Monday, March 9th at 7:00 p.m. That presentation will be at the middle school, not at the Select Board room. And then the School Committee meeting and our public hearing on the budget is Thursday, March 12th. The School Committee meeting will start at 6:30. I believe the budget hearing is slated to begin at 6:45. All right. With that, nothing on the back, the chair will entertain in a motion to adjourn. So moved. So moved. Do I hear a second? Can I just Yes, please. >> quickly add two things. Um this week the Middleborough uh within the next couple
073weeks, the Middleborough Youth Basketball Association and the uh travel teams in Metro West going to their tournaments. They're all our kids. They rent our gyms for their programs. So I just wanted to wish them all good luck. Thank you, Chris. Appreciate that. All right, motion and a second. All those in favor? Aye. Aye. And we are adjourned. Thank you. >> Chris, thank you. Hey.