001Especially at this stage. Lincoln is an >> Well, I mean, I've never been [laughter] to receive an end of anything from him. So, I was just like, >> if Lincoln started calling me though, I think I wouldn't I'd put a stop to that pretty fast. It is. All right, you guys ready up there? Thank you. >> I'm going to call this meeting to order. To start off, we're going to have a roll call vote to enter into executive session for purpose three, to discuss strategy with respect to litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the litigating position of the public body. And the chair so declares and for purpose seven to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or federal grant in aid requirements executive
002session minutes of December 23rd 2025. >> So moved >> second. >> Thank you Alan. >> Yay [snorts] >> Shannon. >> Yay. >> And yay from the chair. We are going to go into executive session. and we will return no earlier than 6:30, but we can't promise it'll be at 6:30. Take them to the doctor. When I'm back in Chicago, I know I feel Here we go. All right. We're going to fix What is it? I wonder if you have to get on the agenda. >> So during well I've been committing but so during public comment >> if there's something that is on the agenda that you want to talk about then you can just go up to the mic. What about you have Um I'm not sure exactly how that works. >> So maybe when
003they come back in >> might be able to ask if that can happen during public comment too. >> Okay. >> Yeah. or it might somehow fit under the agenda. Like I wonder how how could you get on the >> Yeah. You know. >> Yep. Sometimes the topics can be like broad enough that some things can just kind of fit >> under. But yeah, >> how long does it usually last? >> It depends on how much um you know public things stuff comes in. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> I know. I've been to some town hall meetings. Yeah, [laughter] >> it's a little crazy. >> Yeah. Yep. All right. Good. Oh my god. Cheers. What's up? >> I'm sorry weird. No, I just told me that you guys I wasn't 150. 15. Okay. Let's check there. >>
004Yep. Okay. All right, everybody all set? All right, calling the meeting back to order after our executive session. Um, under open meeting law, I want to inform everyone that this meeting is being recorded by Midbar Educational Television. If anyone in the audience is taping the meeting, either audio or video, please inform us at this time. All right. Thank you. We'll continue on with our agenda. Um, and it is the pledge of allegiance. Please rise if you are able. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, to the republic for which it stands, one nation, [cough] [clears throat] >> liberty, and justice for all. >> Excuse me. All right. Next order of business is public comment. Anyone have public comment tonight? All right. Seeing none, uh we'll move on to discussion items.
005I know we are down one. Uh but Mason, please go ahead. >> All right. So, to start off, we just want to wish all of our students a welcome back from break. Hopefully, the first week back hasn't been too bad. Uh at the Mech, they wrapped up December with their holidays around the world activities, and they learned how countries celebrate their winter holidays around the world. This is before break. Uh they had their annual jingle bell jog and polar express day. Um for January, their word of the month is respect. Students will be learning about ways to show respect to friends, teachers, and families with their words and actions. And the preschool lottery for community peers has opened. Uh just a few things about that. Sorry, I have to zoom in. It's a very small
006photo. Um, the staff at the MECH wanted to remind everyone that they should review the preschool requirements before applying. The application is due Wednesday, February 11th. Um, and if they need any help, they can visit the mech from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. on January 5th through February 11th. And if they want to do a paper applications, they should call 5089462032. Uh there will be more information about the um actual holding of the lottery and the outcome of the entrance the next meeting. Um we did not have anything from the MKG besides a welcome back message. Uh there will be more to come in the January meeting uh second January meeting. Uh at the HBB they wanted to thank all their students and staff for a great holiday spirit week. Uh they had a very
007successful holiday shopping fundraisers and they want to thank everyone in the community who supported and tonight is their book bingo night in the HPB cafeteria. The admission to play is a new or gently used book in good condition. If you're interested, please swing by after the meeting. Um another story is NMS, they just want to wish everyone welcome back from break and they're going to get the ball rolling and there will be a few events to report at the next meeting for the high school. However, we didn't miss a beat. Um, wanted to thank the student council for their outstanding work in providing some holiday cheer at the Conway House. Wanted to thank the National Honor Society for hosting their bake sale with all proceeds going to uh Habitat for Humanity and for their collaboration
008with the Shaw Home. Um, and we want to thank the Middleboro High School performing arts team for their holiday concert that was held before break. Um, there were also some MHS students who volunteered their time to be part of the Town of Middbor first night events. The noise parade was awesome and it was led by our students and we want to thank them and Mr. Pittsley for coordinating this effort. Uh, AP exam fees can be paid now through January 9th, which is this Friday, with an option to pay online or in person through main through the main office at the high school. uh cash or bank check or money order payable to the town of Middbor will be accepted. And if you have any questions, please contact the school counselors at the high school. Mu
009Alphatheta, the math honor society is sponsoring peer math tutoring which has started and the first day will be January 12th, 2026. If you would like to sign up for yourself or if you are signing up for your child, please use either the QR code in Bran's bulletin or there is a link. Uh students can sign up for a drop-in time slot or they can schedule regular sessions and all students are asked to bring notes, assignments, and materials for their tutoring sessions. And if you have any questions, please email Ashley Crowley, who is the adviser to Miatheta. The school counseling department at the high school is going to host its first of the three-part workshop series for juniors and their families on applying to college. It will be held Wednesday, January 21st, 2026 at 6 p.m.
010here in this auditorium. And attention to the members of student council. Um the MASC unified botchi tournament is on Saturday, January 24th. It will be happening at Duxberry High School. Uh permission slips are available from Mr. Bangan in the main office if you would like to go to switch it over to a little bit of winter sports. Uh job well done to athletes who participate in games and practices over the break. You know, it's not very ideal to spend your break practicing and practicing and then game and practice, but your dedication to the school does not go unnoticed. I want to congratulate both the girls and boys basketball teams for winning their holiday tournaments. The girls won in Situit and the boys won in LOL. So, congratulations to them. And congrats to the wrestling team
011for their huge win at the Marbor Wrestling Tournament last week. And one final congratulations to Atly Finny who qualified for the national indoor track championships in Boston. Um and the last bit is from the we had our first solo meeting without school committee members of the student advisory committee and we discussed a policy that will be a second read today. Um, my notes have been included in the document for all of you guys to read if you so choose and we look forward to doing that more in the future. Thank you. >> Thank you and thank you for continuing with the efforts of the advisory committee. It's great to hear that you're meeting regularly. All right, moving on to superintendent report. [snorts] >> Good evening. Uh so we had a uh to remove the Middleboro
012Matters item. U it's not ready just yet. So we'll bring that back to another meeting. Uh and then uh we have some overnight field trips that Mr. Brandan will discuss. >> Mason, can you bring a chair over here for >> No, he's he could do it from now. >> Can you bring a chair over here for Paul? Or you could sit next to me. >> Or he can sit next to Mason. >> You got me. That's easier. >> Hi everyone. Good evening. Um you have two items on your agenda. One is the um state convention for student council. Um the Massachusetts Association of Student Council state conference. It's held every year in March at the um Emerald Resort prior the resort and conference center in Hyannas that we've been going to for many years. Um
013and it's just important for your approval because it's an overnight. Um we have a student this year, Lexi Boyd, in the class of 2027 who is running for state vice president of and that will happen at that event. Um so we're pretty excited for that. And then the second one, if I may, is the national conference for student council that will be held in New Hampshire in June. I think it's important for some context that before the pandemic, um, well, before that, let me go back a little bit. Um, I serve as the state executive director for student council for Massachusetts. And so part of my job for years had been coordinating the state delegation going to the national convention. The last convention was in 2019. um the national level has struggled getting that conference
014back up and running and they've had two years of it and we just have not come forward to say let's bring Massachusetts back again. Now we're in a place where I think that convention is in a caliber where I think it would be important to go. So really the ability for us to be able to bring Middlebar students again that for many years there were numerous kids that would go on that national experience. What is great is that it's only in New Hampshire. So it's a road trip this year rather than it is a plane ride. So um it is June 20th through the June 202nd through the 24th. We would be leaving on that Sunday as a pre-trip that would be done at Canoby Lake Park with students from all over the country and
015then it would be 3 days of leadership at Pinkerton Academy. Um we're anticipating the pricing to be about $800 a student which would be all-incclusive. So in the immediate once if you approve is that allow for me to begin the deposit of $250 which is the actual conference fee and then during the spring months it would be the hotel and then potentially how we would get up there and that would be determined on other schools around us that may be going as well to be able to kind of collaborate on busing and all of that. Um so that is what I'm anticipating based from the hotel prices that have come out. Um it would be that we would take a bus up and that we would be busted back and forth from the hotel back
016to the high school and back and forth so it would not be student travel on their own and car and all of that. And um and then either we would remain one night longer depending upon cost and all of that. So we could do some sightseeing as a school and as a potential state with other schools that may be going or we'd be coming back at the conclusion of the conference that afternoon. So the dates are a little bit wonky just because of just pricing and what we're able to do not only as a school but also from my role to be able to coordinate the entire state with schools that would be going. So I appreciate your consideration and any questions that I could answer. >> Any questions for Paul? >> All right. Chair
017will entertain a motion to approve the two outofstate field trips as presented. >> So moved. >> Do I hear a second? >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I. >> Unanimous. Thank you, Paul. look forward to hearing back some reports on how these uh conferences go. >> Thank you so much. >> Okay, my la last item is justformational. It's the uh Reed's collaborative annual report for 2526. Uh all uh again it'sformational. There's no vote on this. Uh but all members of Reed's collaborative all districts member uh members uh are required to share this uh with the committee. If you have any questions, if you review it and you want to send them to me, that'd be fine. Um again, uh I reviewed it, didn't see anything major changes, so um again, it's for your review.
018>> Did anybody have any questions after reviewing? Is everybody able to review the lovely packet as presented? All right. So, thank you. We don't have to vote on anything. So, >> I guess that concludes your superintendent report. >> It does. >> All right. Moving on to subcommittee [clears throat] updates. Um Allan and I had the first formal meeting of the negotiations for the ESP contract. It was a very productive meeting. We um have another meeting scheduled in January. So we are continuing through those negotiations process and that's about all I can say right now. Uh which puts me at our favorite time policy and protocols. So um >> uh is it going to work switching devices here. So we have a number of policies to discuss for second reads. They are all up on the
019screen. They were all also made available in the Google Drive folder for the meeting materials. Um if you are not aware there is a link now at the end of the agenda with the meeting materials as um so if you open that agenda electronically online it is a clickable link from the PDF. So, if you open the PDF from the either our meeting agendas folder on Google Drive, which you can get to from the MPS web page or from the version that gets posted by the town under the town agendas page, that link is clickable and it'll send you to a public copy of each of these documents. So, they're now available for review in advance of the meetings. they have been for a little bit, but just wanted to remind everybody. Um, so we
020have a number. I'm just going to read through um each of them quickly. I'm not going to read through them. I'm going to read the titles and we will discuss them um briefly. Um and these have the possibility of a vote as noted um but they can also be um kept forward for a third read at the next meeting. So JB is our entrance age policy. This was rewritten. Um it was just some minor updates to keep the language in sync with the policy that was already in place in the district. Um so it really just comes down to that date of September 1st. Uh the state basically says before our policy has always been on or before September 1st makes you eligible for kindergarten. And then um anybody who falls after September 1st there
021is a either it goes to the superintendent or their designate depending upon who's reviewing um that for admission. So any questions on JB. All right. IHBG is homeschooling. it was rewritten and the um I reviewed this with the superintendent and the director of pupil and personnel services. So it was recommended that we adopt the MASC process and that there were then some additions here related again to the policy that's always been in place in our district. Um so for homeschooling there's the written notification. Um there is the the requirement to um certify the name, age, place of residence and number of hours um for the child of in each program that they'll be attending the homeschooling program. Submission of a birth certificate just reinforces the age requirement and then proof of residency submit uh reinforces
022that. Uh place of residence is very similar to the same requests that happen at the time of enrollment. Um and then again the superintendent or their design will review these. Um and uh there is just the note at the end that the students being educated in a homebased program have access to the activities and extracurricular activities within the district as long as approved by the superintendent or designate. And then just a note that we do not issue a diploma through the MPS system for homeschooling students who graduate from a homeschool program. Any questions on this policy? Okay. Um I'm going to go to JF because it's in line with these three. Uh sorry for going out of order. Um JF is the general school admissions policy. Um, and you know, minor changes, mostly changing town
023to district. That's just updating language. Again, the yellow is putting us in line with MASC. The blue is anything that's Middleboro specific. Um, so this just adds the kindergarten eligibility requirements if they turn 5 years old on or before September 1st and that the registar or the design. So we don't um those forms for registration go through the registars's office not directly to the principal of the schools. Um we have always required a proof of a physical within the last 12 months. And then adding at the end that we've reserved the right to request proof of residency at any time and that that information is available from the register's office. Any questions on this? Okay. So, moving on to our um policies related to uh tobacco products. Um a number of them have all been
024combined into uh sorry, a number of them have all been combined into other policies. So [snorts] J, sorry, GBED is mostly just updating everything to use more um modern terms because it hadn't been reviewed in a while. Um so this is um noting the updated language again in yellow covering more products than just cigarettes as it used to state. Um and then as well noting that if there's any violation the process for reviewing anything goes through the staff handbook guidelines. Any questions? All right. [snorts] The next one IH Amb is the one that uh Mason mentioned that the uh student advisory committee did review. It's teaching about alcohol, tobacco and drugs and that there are updates here. Um, so in general, the policy again, it's been updated language-wise just to be more modern than it
025was to to reinforce that, you know, vaping and other things like that are incorporated into this um, in terms of everything here. There really isn't much that is um, middle bar specific, but this uh, policy is to be posted online. So once we approve it and it gets updated, I will be working with Sean to make sure that it's posted and available online. Um, and just to note quickly, the pieces that the student advisory committee contributed to were uh more about implementing the policy and ideas related to um curriculum and yes, please go ahead, Mason. Um, uh, basically more of what we talked about again was about thinking about how this policy would happen because there are like it's not it didn't feel like when we were reviewing it that we were reviewing the language
026and the how it would be worded or how it would be enforced because there are laws, there are policies that have already been determined to guideline that. We discussed a lot of how the students best would benefit from this policy and I think it's something to keep in mind for when the like new curriculum reviews come out or new ideas for events that are presented for school committee. I think most of it was about how students better learn about this subject matter. So, the policy was clear and was able to be read by everyone who was in that room. >> Great. Thank you, Mason. And I look forward to you all having the opportunity to speak with some of the the folks who handle the curriculum to share your opinions. All right. Any other questions?
027So the next one is uh combine JICG and JIC. JICG the request is to remove it um because the content of JICG was moved into JIC which had some new Mass General law that had to be updated to include. So this is the original text that we currently have for JICG and then JIC you can see um the you know general requirement none of no alcohol, tobacco or drug use at school, any school functions, school sponsored events and then the verbal screening is the addition um from the mass general law that MASC added. Um and then they have the parents have the right to opt out of the screening and um anything stated within the screening is confidential um and that this will be policy will be posted on the website and notice will be
028provided. Any questions on this one? All right. substance abuse policy. Um, A B A DB. Wow. Yep. [snorts] Okay. Um, this one is uh no longer included. So, the request is to remove it. It's been replaced by putting the content in multiple policies as noted here. GBEC is a new policy that was added by MASC and then updated in 2022. So, this is a drug-free workplace policy. Um, the addition here is that if there are um any information that employees might need, they can go to the student services director for that information. Um, so if anybody is in need of any resources, that's where to go. Um, but there the rest of the policy is as presented by MASC. I didn't highlight the whole thing in yellow because it hurts your eyes. Any questions on
029that? All right. ADC. Um, this is tobacco products on school premises prohibited. Uh, this one was rewritten, but it all basically says the same thing. Um, it's, you know, you can't use it same as was noted earlier. Um, school grounds, buses, school sponsored events, prohibited staff members, students, disciplinary action. Um, and then just the middle bar specific note, this was in our policy previously. Um, and the subcommittee didn't feel the need to remove it. So, we kept the violations by private citizens will be enforced through civil codes in the middle bar police department. So, if you're not staff or student, that's what happens. Yes. Any questions from the [snorts] All right. Yes. Hi. Um, Sarah Zagorus, does this also apply to vapes? I'm sorry. Say again. Does it also apply to vapes? Yes. Okay. So,
030is it tobacco and vaping or cuz I I not I don't think all vapes contain tobacco. Oh, there it is. Let's see. >> Cigarettes, little cigars, chewing, electronic cigarettes, electronic pipes, or any similar products that rely on vaporization or aerization. >> Okay. >> So, they're considered similar products. >> Okay. So it doesn't have to spec I mean I could it could vaping vapes be added or is that understood to be part of that? I just >> I can absolutely you want to >> I just think it's a huge problem right now. So I think making sure the language is super super specific and clear um that we just there's no ifs, ends or buts. >> I think that's kind of a colloquial term. Any concern with putting it in quotes? >> Okay. anyone? >> Nope.
031That's not what I meant to do. Sorry, my brain is not operating at full speed this evening and I am on not my computer. So, I will put that in and uh highlight it as a middleware specific change. Thank you, Sarah. Any other feedback? [snorts] All right. Oh, it just moved on me. So, um, A B D, substance abuse, we did GVEC, we did, um, I can't even say this one. There's too many letters. Um, it will be E E AE B. Um, we already had this policy as a different policy. Um but there were some new code updates that needed to be incorporated. So again, this is updating everything relation relating to MASC's recommendations um related to the bus and commercial vehicle drivers. And as I mentioned in a previous session, um, MASC is
032trying to not put the specific laws in the text and just refer to federal laws so that the legal references can be updated um, without having to come to uh, a new update vote for a policy revision because then we can just have a quick vote to update legal references as needed. All right, any questions on that one? All right. And then that just leaves ADA, which is another request to remove. So this is um basically the district improvement policy and it seemed inappropriate to have a policy that was stagnant. if we're constantly updating our district improvement policy and it's always being posted on the uh website and is no longer recommended by MASC to um have this policy. So the the recommendation here is to remove the policy and continue to utilize the district
033improvement plan. So any questions on that? Any feedback? I think that got me through all of them. All right. So, we'll [snorts] keep these as second reads and if anyone has any additional feedback, please pass it along so that I can share it with the subcommittee and we can um then have the votes and any further discussion at the next meeting. [snorts] That brings us to our single policy for third reads which is policy JIB which is student involvement in decisionmaking. This is the policy that led to us creating the student advisory committee. Um there is an S added since we've decided that it's okay to have two student reps. Um that's Middleboro specific. Um and everything else is um as was. So chair will entertain a motion to um approve policy JIB. >> So
034move >> second. >> Thank you. All in favor? I >> I passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Um the last item was another subcommittee item was um for the combination of the protocol and operations subcommittee under the policy subcommittee. So Shannon and I met to um take a look at what was already posted on our website for our [snorts] MPS uh school committee operating protocols and compared it to um a recommended or a a sample policy from MASC. We thought that a lot of what we already had in place was great and we just did some revisions of the languages. We did in add some additional context. Um I did hear from Sue that she did want to be part of the discussion on these protocols. So this will not be the last time we
035talk about these before we take them to a vote. Um but we did want to um have review of these operating protocols be something that was formalized within the process. We felt it was appropriate to have these be part of the annual process after every town election that once somebody knew or just use that as our guide that everyone on the school committee would sign their recognition of um these operating protocols. And it isn't a signature stating they agree or disagree to the operating protocols. It's simply acknowledging that they have received them and that they are aware they exist. Um but the hope is that we can get them to an agreement of this school committee to then move forward with that protocol moving forward. Um so just in interest of the initial discussion um
036which we can have a second discussion on next time who we represent um that's the area that Sue wanted to bring some feedback for um and figure out the the way to incorporate the um the greater school community into that and not just um be focused um on kind of being generic ambassadors I believe was Sue's feedback. Um then we have our role. Um Shannon and I went through and pulled out those specific items that are the main roles of all school committee members. Um and we identified all of those different roles. We have a section on how we govern um and then we have a section on how we communicate. So um and how we will improve. So these are the different sections. Does anybody have anything they wanted to discuss today? Any general
037feedback on the operating protocols? If presented as such, would you be willing to sign them? [snorts] >> Okay. So, we'll have another discussion so Sue has a chance to be involved and we'll bring forward any changes and then hopefully we'll have them approved and ready so that when we have the election in April, we can have the first formal adoption of these protocols and policies as part of that process. Okay. Um, that was that for subcommittee. Hand that over to you. You can close them all out. The next item is uh the open meeting law complaint and response. Um so on December 23rd we had an executive session related to an open meeting law complaint and we did just want to um regroup on that publicly since it is a public document. Bless you. >>
038Um so the the the general complaint did have um a lot of content in it. Um we did respond to the complaint um after getting advice from our council. Um, we created a response that was sent and then we have heard back again. The complaint was filed by uh, Miss Bridget Karns and I think we are at a point where everything is agreed to, I hope. Um, but the the general gist of it was related to having access to the materials that we review, especially policy. As you can see, we've taken steps to try to make sure that those have been available for um a number of months now. Um we know that it wasn't the smoothest transition into using them, but they are now available. Um the other pieces in the complaint um noted
039that um the documents in our minutes are not listed kind of in a separate list. in reviewing this request um which was clarified to us by Miss Curtain recently um the the the law saying that the the the documents and exhibits that are used in the session shall be part of the official record of the session. All of those documents are in um folders and saved within the district. We have multiple ways they are saved printed. They are saved electronically. So, we do have that record. Um, and that the documents must be identified in the minutes. Um, so it really comes down to how do you identify the documents in the minutes? And the way that they've been identified in our minutes is by referring to them. They're not in a specific list. Um, but
040I did communicate with our clerk today. Um, and I haven't had a chance to respond to Miss Karns yet, but I'll do so publicly now in saying that our clerk will be moving forward listing the materials at the end of our meeting minutes um to help clarify that request as to what documents we are referring to. So, they are in the body of the minutes, but we will also list the documents that have been provided. So hopefully that helps with better review of the minutes and more ease in reviewing the content that we've been having an effort to do since the fall of making content available prior to the meetings. Any questions or additional comments on that? All right. So that leads us to our consent agenda. Um so we have received multiple donations. Um,
041Mech received donations from Shutterflytouch. MKG received donations from Shutterfly Lifeouch. MKG also received a donation from Hannerford Helps Schools. We have our meeting minutes from October 23rd and November 6. I did find a typo um changing the word identify to identity on the November 6. So, if we vote to approve, it will be with that typo update that I sent to the the clerk earlier today. Um and then approval of the warrants that are in our our folder for our review of our expenditures. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Thank you, Chris. All in favor? >> I I >> I. >> All right. Approved unanimously. We've already done our action items to approve our overnight field trips. Um, and thenformationally, uh, just so everybody
042is aware, the Nicholls Middle School grade seven and eight band course and orchestra is planning a field trip to Great East Music Festival in June of 2026. I know they always have a great time on that one. The HBB uh, PTA is planning a fundraiser for a glowathon on April 17th, 2026. Uh the MHS W annual winter ball is scheduled for February 6th. And then uh John T. Nichols Middle School PTA is planning a couple of fundraisers. The wrestling match with Top Rope Promotions. There is a typo here on the um it is March 27th, not 37th. We are not extending March any longer than absolutely necessary, but I know that's always a big one. So, we want to make sure we get the date right. It is March 27th, the wrestling match. And then
043there is the textile bin drive. Um I know those textile bins are there all the time but through an additional drive on April 11th and then they are working on a fundraiser with Bra Tavern. So percent of sales will go to the PTA on May 20th. So plan ahead. That's where you should get your dinner on May 20th. Any questions on any of theformational items? All right. The chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So move second. >> All in favor? I >> I thank you all so very much. >> Appreciate your attendance at our meeting everyone.