001All right, I'm going to call this meeting to order. And uh to start off, we're going to do 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 blah blah blah the litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares. And purpose seven to comply with or act under the authority of any general or special law or federal grant in aid requirements. And that's for the executive session minutes of November 20th, 2025. Shannon, >> I Sue >> I. >> And the chair says I. So we are going into executive session. We will reconvene in open session. I got in there and I was like, >> here she comes. >> Flag's on the
002other side, by the way. So what is the um the policy? Um, it's the basically the thing that created the student. So, >> this might have just open right now or just leave it like this. >> Did you see the new me? >> Just like that. Perfect. just let her fall asleep. >> Bro, I missed the meeting because I was like supposed to picture. >> How often do I have to >> I don't know. I'm going to sit here like this the whole time. >> I'm pretty sure I missed the >> Do the >> thing that you're not supposed to do and give me your password. >> Okay, everybody good? >> I don't know. >> Good up there. >> Jump up and down. >> She's climbing up. >> Is that how you get there? anything.
003>> Oh, no. Up to there. You have to >> You good? >> I am reconvening our open session that we started before we went into executive session. Um, and just to announce publicly, we did approve our executive session meeting minutes for November 20th in that session. Um, so now that we have returned to public session, I will ask if you can rise if you are able for the pledge of allegiance. Flag is on the other side than usual. >> 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. And our second uh public session order of business is our student spotlight. So, Mike, I'll turn it over to you. >> Thank you.
004It is my privilege to present Liz uh Lily Bray Hunt with the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent Certificate of Academic Excellence Award. Lily has always given 100% effort whether it's for academics, athletics, or volunteering at different events throughout her career as a sichum. Academically, Lily's passion leans more towards STEM, having taken four advanced placement science courses at the high school. She has earned recognition as a commended student with the National Merit Scholarship Program and is a College Board AP Scholar with honor. Lily is one of the top students in the class of 2026. She currently serves as the chapter president for National Honor Society and vice president of the National Science Honor Society. Athletically, Lily has received varsity letters in cross country, indoor track and field, and outdoor track and field during both her junior
005and senior years. Lily has successfully balanced academics and athletics throughout her four years at Middleboro High School. Lily is an active member of student council and Sichum buddies, volunteering her time at many events sponsored by both organizations. She has been actively involved with Special Olympics, having volunteered at unified botchi tournaments and unified track and field meets by assisting with setup, cleanup, and organizing sensory rooms to provide athletes a cool down space when needed. She has also volunteered at the Jimmy Fund Walk for three years as a member of the MHS student council. Lily is an intern with Toby Hospital in the womb care center this year, helping to organize patient charts, stock exam rooms, and organized patient progress checks each week, among other duties. Her internship has proven valuable in helping her choose her career
006path following graduation as she plans to major in health sciences with a premed track with the ultimate goal of becoming a pediatric phys physician. Lily Barry Hunt's accomplishments while at MHS make it clear to see why she was chosen for the mass uh the MASS certifi uh certificate of academic excellence award. Congratulations, Lillian. >> Come on up. >> Where is B? You want to be in the picture? >> Of course she does. >> Congratulations. >> Thank you. >> Great job. >> Have your picture taken if you're ready. >> Okay. >> Yeah. You've done so much. That's great. Can't wait to hear how you do as a pediatrician. We're going to go over there probably. >> You're not coming up. >> Come on. in the middle right next to you. That good spot for you. You
007guys were definitely supposed to be >> actually for Congratulations to Lily and thank you for all of the work that you put into MHS and thank you to Ella for helping with our photo. Um, so I do just want to take a minute and to officially state that under open meeting law I am informing everyone that this meeting is being recorded by Middbor Educational Television. And then if anyone in the audience does at any time tape the meeting, either audio or video, you do need to inform us in advance. All right, we will now move into the public comment portion of our agenda. We do ask that you state your name for the record and direct all your comments through me, the chair. We ask that your comments relate to items within the purview of
008the school committee. Please note that personal complaints regarding personnel or students should be directed to the appropriate administrator and the committee will not engage in discussion with the speaker or take action on any matters tonight. We allow three minutes per speaker. So, please be mindful of the time, the floor is now open. All right, seeing no public comment, we'll move on to discussion items. Our first item is our report from our student representatives, Jackson Collins and Mason Tuxera. And I do want to start off, I know it feels like forever ago, but congratulating you both on your performances in Hades Town. They were quite the sight to see. >> Thank you. Thank you. All right. So, we'll be starting with some we just have two district-wide um announcements being happy holidays obviously, of course, and
009then um Christmas break is coming up or holiday break is coming up on December 24th and continuing through to January 2nd. So, the Mech had their first inschool balloon balloons over North Main mini parade. So the kiddos got to make some character balloons and they all floated up away. Uh the week of December 1st they had their family teacher conferences. The teachers got to share progress and growth with the families as well as areas of focus. And at the end of December they are celebrating their annual holidays around the world where students get to travel to different countries in each classroom to learn about how they celebrate and fill their suitcase and passports with stickers and crafts from that country. They will also have their annual jingle bell jog and polar express day with PJs,
010songs, and a dance into winter break. >> All right, and they'll be moving on to MKG. Principal White just wants to thank all volunteers at the school stores. She's looking forward to STEM week next week, which will reportedly be filled with fun and engaging activities planned by all the teachers. Report cards will be coming out on Tuesday folders in December 19th. And just a thank you to the PTA for the wonderful holiday shop experience for the students. The HPV had a very successful food drive and they want to thank all that contributed to it. Uh their parent teacher conference week was busy and they are appreciative of all the parents who came out to speak with them. Uh their holiday shop has been the 9th through the 11th and the 11th right now is their
011family night in Scholastic Bookf Fair. And the PTA held a blanket sale for the HPB spirit blankets. And the blankets are scheduled to arrive on the 19th and will be sent home with students who will be available to pick up at school once I get the next list for next meeting. and I will let you know how that went, but from what I've heard, it was a success. All right, and then we moving on to Nicholls Middle School. 8th grader Gabe Lefarer was selected by staff to be the Project 351 representative for 2026 to work on service learning and leadership and help make a better place. So, just want to extend a congratulations to Gabe. Their holiday concert was last night, so thank you to anyone who showed up to support their fine arts department.
012Nichols Middle School donated over 500 food items in last week's food drive, most in the district. Their kids really went above and beyond. And thank you so much to the NMS staff teams who created nine holiday baskets for the Thanksgiving holiday to distribute to local families. Okay, there's a lot from the high school. Bran would like to congratulate all of the classes at the high school for doing an outstanding job of bringing the classes together to celebrate sin pride at our pep rally which was the day before Thanksgiving break. It has been going for years and it is always the way we have ended school to go into the break and job well done to the class executive boards with the school and gym decorating contest for the rally. It was there was I mean
013the rotunda looked like a wrestling ring. It was it was weird but good job to them. Uh thank you to Atly Finny, Nina Travers, Keith Melo, Jordan Ingram, and Natalie Corey for hosting the annual Thanksgiving Day pep rally. We'd like to thank them for leading us in the games and making it fun. We'd also like to thank the MHS band concert choir and cheerleaders for performing at the pep rally and for the MHS band who performed in the annual Christmas parade. The annual MASC conference in Hyannis will be held in March in and that's a wrong year. It will be held March 4th through 6, 2026. Thank you, Jackson. At the resort and conference center in Hyannis. All student council members are encouraged to apply. Uh the application is currently on the student council Google
014classroom. It will close December 15th at 2 p.m. Everyone is eligible to apply. You do not have to have held a leadership position and they will select people based off of the qualities that they present in their application. We want to thank Rose Price, Abby Borie, Ben Waterman, Andrew Waterman, Drew Daiselle, and Danica Powers and Sky Mahon for help with the class of 2030 open house. And those are a couple of our freshman leaders and we want to thank them for the representation of our school. The December 3rd through the 11th was the the student council was collecting gifts and toys for boys and girls uh in need. On the tomorrow on the 12th, the toys will be brought from the student council and will be sent out to the children. So we want to
015thank everyone who went out and bought toys and donated. And the StuCo is also doing a food drive which is same time frame. They will be sending that out. And their third event is their annual event with the Conway House. In the weeks leading up to this event, they're collecting toys and gifts for the children at the Conway House. And on a day that will work for that house, the executive board will go and drop off the gifts. And last year, they stayed to sing songs. They read stories. And they celebrate the holidays with the kids there. So to flash back to even further before break, the performing arts department closed curtain on Hades Teen Edition. This show saw the largest audience turnout for any MHS show since before COVID, pulling over 800 community members
016in the span of three shows. As members of the cast of Hadestown Jackson, I would really like to thank all the support from the school district, particularly the uh administration of the high school, the Middle Performing Arts Booster Club, and just the entire population of Middle who came to see it. Thank you for making it so like such a special show. and we took no breaks because the auditions for our winter season were held for the past two days. Uh the upcoming shows are our home play, The Play That Goes Wrong, which will be directed by Sam Moer and performed here, and our MUTG drama festival, which is is a statewide drama competition. Our piece is called Tracks, and it will be directed by Hannah Bradley. And the hope is that we'll also perform it
017here because we would like to host that event. Almost done, I promise. The music department is hosting their annual holiday concert on the 17th at 6:30 in this auditorium. The band, choir, and orchestra will be performing. And I believe there's an NHS bake sale happening during the holiday concert. So, you can go buy some goodies. And congratulations to all the students who participated in the seal of bi literacy test the week before break. >> Okay, there it is. Great. Back to Jackson. >> Oh, we got more. >> Yeah, one more. Um and then to just to close it off with um any thing from um any upcoming athletics, the winter season has started recently with hockey, boys and girls indoor track, boys and girls basketball, boys and girls swimming and diving, wrestling, and gymnastics and
018cheer all getting up and running. >> And I see later actually next is the student advisory committee update. So I'll let you talk about that. >> Okay. Thank you. Um so the uh first meeting of the student advisory committee was held this week. Um Jackson and Mason are uh the chairs of that effort and it we were able to meet during success block and just chat a little bit about the hope that we can hear from student voices and bring them into discussions. uh there was a discussion about even something as bland as policies that impact the students and making sure that they get a chance to weigh in. Um and then I I asked a a couple questions of some things for them to think about. Um one of the things being we know
019that there's things in the works to potentially make a an official cell phone ban for all schools in Massachusetts. So to reflect on the current policies at least at the high school and whether how effective they think they are and whether they think any changes might be necessary um to put together something just to reflect on what's in place now before we hear what any changes might need to be. Um, and then also just to think about the idea of belonging and to bring that maybe as a topic that they could even bring down to some of the other schools and and what's the the feeling of the students in each of the schools related to their feeling of belonging in the Middleboro public school system. >> So I would like to hear from Mason
020and Jackson on their thoughts and just couple words as to how you thought the meeting went and moving forward. So, I felt like the meeting was a big success for first of all all the members to meet a school committee member and actually talk with them face to face as a person instead of just someone they might have seen online. And I think the potential for what this team could become is special because with multiple people and there's five members of this committee, I think it will be easier for us to one get a hold of information and talk about it, but also outreach to the other schools because right now the only people who get all this information from all the schools is us on the board because we go out and we ask.
021And the I the hope would be to eventually during our meetings find some way to ask these questions to kids at particularly the middle school in the higher up grades to and even like a student leadership team at the elementary school to see if they even understand what we're talking about to see if that it's something that they feel like they want to help with. Um yeah, I al I believe in my opinion the meeting went very well obviously as like an introduction obviously to the members of the school committee but also really just an introduction to how the students can become more involved than they already are obviously with he said like getting more district-wide involvement and more community I guess within our different schools and the hope is for this group once we
022can figure not really figure out because I think we have a good game plan going forward but once we set in motion that game plan and we start asking these questions to ourselves like I looked through the first reads of policies and I've circled one that could be brought forward to this subcommittee as of sorts to talk about but it's more about not just having a group of five students look at it. It's about having a gateway from the students to the school committee because we're not the five students on this board. We're not here to just discuss it for ourselves. We would like other students to come to us. if they know of these efforts, if they know of these debates that are going on and they want to learn more or they want
023to know what something means, our hope is we can be there for them. >> Great. And I really appreciate those words. I think it reinforces what I said at the beginning of the the meeting that our primary responsibility is to the students of this district and therefore this committee is is really an important piece of that process. So, um I know that you are working on getting maybe a calendar of regular meetings put together. So, once that's out there, um we can share it amongst other members of the committee so maybe different people can be available to crash your meetings um as the time goes on. And I know Sue as the the PR student relations subcommittee chair, you're very interested in engaging in this process. I am very interested even though I completely blanked
024out your meeting at 8:00. >> Whatever. >> There are no hard feelings, Sue. >> I really appreciate that. >> The message >> and uh whenever is good for you um if you want to let me know uh I would be more than happy to be sure that I'd be there uh the next time you invite me. >> And the message I can conclude with is our emails are always open. You all have school emails. Just don't email us from our personal account. We won't get them. >> We'll do. Thank you. >> Thank you. So, >> thank you. >> All right. So, that uh brings us to the superintendent report and I thank uh Principal Branigan is first on that agenda. >> Yes, he is for the It's your turn to take that. >> My turn
025to date. Yes. Yes. We're trying to make sure the computer doesn't fall asleep. >> The pro proposed final activities. You want to come up? Hey everyone, good evening. Hey, it's one of my favorite nights to come and share with you the calendar, proposed calendar for the next graduating class of Middle High School. So, in front of you is the draft document for the senior final days and the senior week experiences for the class of 2026. Um the dates that are here are taking us through the beginning of their journey starting on the 21st of May, which is the Thursday going into the um long weekend. and that will be our future signing day. And then we of course go into the last week of May with Memorial Day being a no school day. And then
026you'll see the 26th and 27th of May will be early release days for seniors with an 11:07 dismiss am dismissal. Um that allows for us to be able to do any final activity projects and um assessments for the senior class. And their official last day will be held on um Wednesday, May 27th, 2026. again with an 11:07 am dismissal. You'll notice that on Thursday, May 28th is a no classes day for seniors and a makeup day. For any senior that does not has not met the requirements or has any sort of makeup to do, that will be considered a makeup day. That day is really essential because that is the day that we do all of the final grades for the senior class to ensure that everyone is eligible to graduate. On Friday, May 29th,
027we'll invite the seniors back onto campus um for the senior barbecue, which is also the date the yearbooks will be distributed in this draft document. It's showing on Monday, May, June 1st. That is actually an error that I caught this morning. So, on um the 29th will be the senior barbecue in the morning. We will have the senior meeting in the morning hours and that will be followed by um all of the exciting things with the barbecue um out on the quad after that. And then of course on that Friday evening will be the annual senior memory night that will take place in the student comments. It's just a wonderful night to get the senior class together. Um senior slideshow and just some of the kind of the the beginning of that senior week. On
028Monday, June 1st, we have a little bit of a change in our schedule because normally or historically I've come to you that our senior prom is always on the Tuesday of senior week and this year it will be falling on the Monday. Our seniors decided they really have they really liked Granite Links in Quinsey, which is where the class of 2025 had their prom and they're an absolutely outstanding venue for a prom and they wanted to go back and they were only available to give us the date on the first we took it. So on Monday, June 1st is our senior breakfast followed by a senior class meeting, rehearsal, and all of that. And then we um will dance the night away at Granite Links in Quinsey with the prom beginning at 6:00 in the
029evening with a conclusion of 10:00. June 2nd, there is no um activity that day um because of the senior prom before that. Um, but you'll notice the fact that that evening is a new event that we added in the 11th hour last year on the night before graduation for the futures academy program. In working with Mrs. Foley, the director of alternative pathways, um, we really wanted to embed that into the senior week experience and we decided that the night before graduation may not be the best opportunity. So, that is going to be held on that Tuesday evening um, at 6:00 p.m. Um, they launched it last year. What a wonderful night having parents and the students and the staff come together and celebrating each senior who will cross the stage on that weekend. And then
030June 3rd is the senior scholarship senior scholarship night at 6 p.m. Um before that will be rehearsals and all of that. Thursday, June 4th, again continuing with rehearsals. Um it is also the day of the adopt a senior program if it is the will of the community to do that, which I can imagine they will do that again. Um and then that evening is our senior last assembly which will begin at 6 pm here in the auditorium. And followed by Friday, June 5th was the annual senior walk through town. Um and then of course the big day um on Saturday, June 6 with the graduation ceremony at 6 p.m. Um as you know last year we had to move the graduation indoors because of weather. Um but it actually we got so many responses to
031that and really how much they liked it. um it is our intention to go outside again and be out in the stadium, but we know that if we do have a weather event that we can really make that gym um be exactly what we want it to be for graduation. So, we're excited to begin the journey for the class of 2026 and I appreciate your consideration for um your approval. Once you approve or if you approve um we will then prepare a mailing that will go to all senior families that will begin to outline the expectations and keeping the eye on the prize and then ultimately the calendar so that families can begin their planning for the big week in June. So thanks for your consideration. >> Any questions for Brand? No, just once again,
032uh having uh paid more attention to it last year as as a member of the school committee, uh one of the many things that we do uh very well, I think, is celebrate our seniors uh on their um as they come to closure and uh thank your team for putting all of these together. >> Takes a village for sure, including all of you. So, thank you for that. Uh, I move that we approve the final activities for seniors. >> And I get to second. >> Wow. >> All in favor? >> I Fran, go forth and celebrate our seniors. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> All right. Next item is our calendar, which >> Oh, calendar. >> Yeah. So, I just wanted to do the budget. has gone to budget. >> No final draft
033of our calendar. >> Um I I know I'll I'll I'll give Mike a preamble. We we did intend and hope for this to turn into a multiple calendar items, but there were a couple things we had asked about um prior to bringing this back. Um item number one was to double check contracts. Um, contractually, our teachers cannot come back any earlier than the Monday before Labor Day. And with the Monday of Labor Day being so late, that puts the 31st as the first possible day they can come back. And then there are um administrative assistants and other uh contracts that are required to stay 5 days after the last day of school. And therefore, if we took one of the other start dates, the after Labor Day start date, it pushed them up >> to
034way too late to potentially go into July. So, with that being said, the start date and the end date of the year kind of just figured themselves out. So, Mike, I'll let you go through anything else. >> There's not much. I um just want to say we put uh a copy of the um calendar up in the back cuz it doesn't really show that well on the uh screen because it is so um full of information. But yes, we will uh we really couldn't come up with any other uh viable scenarios. So we have just the one. We would have liked input if we had different scenarios. didn't have that uh just because uh as the chair stated the the uh holiday uh of Labor Day starting so late really limited us and any uh
035other viable options. So this is um the final draft for review and I don't know if it's tonight we vote this or we have one more. We would >> usually we would um >> final I mean we can wait till January. I don't think contractually you have to have it announced till February, right? >> Uh yeah, I don't think there's any constraints on that, but it's your >> if you want the full You want the full >> I move that we accept the I mean there's not a lot of options here. >> So why not take it off the list? All right. >> Move that we accept the final draft as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> There you go. All set. Thank you. >> On my budget. Now on to
036budgets. >> So um just a brief update um on the uh well let's start with the current year. Uh I'm in the process of really getting into uh estimating where we're going to end the year. Um and there's some pluses minuses but uh we should be fine this year. um the better we are, as I've said in the past, uh that helps us in terms of building uh and offsetting next year's budget if we're able to use some of the um excess funds that we have. Um so, we're looking at that to see how much um we can use to offset next year. Uh this week we uh met with uh leadership uh to uh start the process of building the budget. Uh the department heads were given uh their uh detailed budget sheets that
037they'll fill out and we'll start building the budget. I have worked on salaries. Um and uh one thing we added unfortunately um is I'm projecting that we're going to uh have a um deficit after we build the budget uh against the revenues that uh we're projecting. Uh I don't know the extent of that. So, what we've asked is that each department head after finishing their budget um go in and try to list some uh areas where we may be able to reduce. Um there's a number of ways to do that. There's a lot of ideas that we floated around. So, we're going to have those and look at those. We haven't had to do that. Um, since I've been in here, I haven't been here that long, but balancing the budget in the last couple
038years was um, each year gets a little harder and this year I think it's uh, going to be where we're going to have some deficit. I can't tell you uh, the extent of that. So, that's why I asked the uh, leadership team to give a number of ideas and then we'll kind of prioritize those. Uh and then um the uh subcommittee um will meet in January. I think it's going to be towards the end of January. And then uh we'll follow that uh calendar that we have and go through the process with uh the school committee, the uh select board and then uh obviously at the end the town meeting. But just for the the first meeting, the real meeting will be uh an in-depth uh review of all the departments with the uh school
039committee subcommittee of the budget for the budget and then we'll go from there. >> Okay. >> Any questions on budget? >> Okay. >> No, just once that um subcommittee meeting is set if we can. >> Yes. Right now it's TBD, but >> I'm looking at the end of >> uh because of the new uh ask of the leadership, it's going to be a little while and then I want to have a review. Um and with the holidays and everything coming up, I'm going to probably need to make it later in January. >> Okay. >> All right. Thank you. move on to our last item which is the data collection of exited staff. >> Yeah. So in your packet you have um >> up on the screen. >> Oh you are going to do that. >>
040What? >> Oh thank you. So, we do have um our first look at a new uh report that was requested from uh the committee um to look at uh the previous um year uh in the staff that have left the district in the categories and we've put this together. So, I want the committee to kind of take a look at it and review it and see uh the format and any suggestions to change or uh any things they want added. Uh but it is uh some pretty good uh information on our staffing and um the attrition that we have uh and then by category. Uh again, it's the first time we're presented this, so uh please uh give feedback as to uh if something is uh that you want on there and we could add
041that and go from there. And in addition, we're going to be setting a um uh uh a meeting with uh to look at uh exit surveys. Um, and I've asked staff to set that meeting and it'll probably be again because of everything going on with holidays, it probably be late January or early February. >> Okay. >> Um, Mike, thank you so much for this. Um, uh, and uh, and Ann uh, very much for pulling pulling the information together. Um as I mentioned >> it was an >> uh um as I mentioned to you the one thing in terms of the uh presentation I think it would be helpful in those categories to know what the total number of people are that are in that category because then it it helps to uh get a sense
042of of um the percentages and all of that. >> Yeah. After we talk I think the number total number and the percentage next to it would be very helpful. >> Great. And uh as I said, if you'd like, I can send to you the slide that I had uh for uh teacher retention uh as compared to the state that currently shows that we are at just a little bit uh difference between the state average, but it it also shows trends. And so I think I can I'll send that along but in an ongoing way I think that that helps to set context uh of where we are um comparatively uh so we can add that to the file. >> Absolutely. >> Great. Thank you. >> Anything else? >> I think that's it for me. >>
043Okay. Well, thank you for the start of this information and I know there's more to come. >> All right. So, I think that concludes the superintendent report. Uh which brings us to subcommittee updates. The first one is from the negotiation subcommittee which is me. Uh just to note that the ESP contract negotiations have begun. So we will be continuing those um after the holiday break and uh hopefully we will have more updates um in the near future. So uh next is policy and protocols. So, we have a a section uh for first reads. I will bring those up just so that you can see the list of them. Um this is my folder that was then used to make the public folder. So, the copy of is just so that I can keep track of
044them as they move between the different folders. So, just ignore that part. Um but I will um just want to read off the policies that are now being um brought forth for first read. So um see if I can get them alphabetical here for everybody. Um so the next group of policies that we will be discussing um are ADA which is district strategy objectives and priorities. that one is a remove um in the hope that we can utilize our district improvement plan in place of it because that gets modified and updated and doesn't always get reflected in the policy. Um AB D substance abuse policy is a remove because it's been replaced by additional policies. ADC is also removed tobacco products on school premises because it gets grouped into another as well. Um what used
045to be E A E A-1 has been reclassified as EA EB which is drug and alcohol testing for school bus and commercial vehicle drivers. GBEC is the drug-free workplace policy. GBED is tobacco use on school property by staff members prohibited. IHB is teaching about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs. IHBG is homeschooling. JEB is entrance age. It used to be called the kindergarten and first grade policy, but it's been slightly revised. JF is the school admissions and then JICG and JIC which is where everything's been kind of one will be removed and everything else has been combined really into JIC which is alcohol, tobacco and drug use by students prohibited. So those will be the next group that we will um discuss specifically. Just want to make note homeschooling entrance age and school admissions. I did pull
046those forward intentionally to try to get them through before the February time frame when we normally start to have thoughts about registrations and things like that. I thought it would be good for those policies to be updated if they could be before we start talking about registrations for the next school year. All right. Yes, Bridget first reads available in >> I'm sorry, Bridget, I can't hear you. Can you talk right into the mic? Sorry, >> Bridget Karns. Are these first feeds? They're not in the public drive. >> They're not in the folder. >> No. >> Okay. >> Um I went looking for them earlier. I couldn't find them. So, >> yeah, I didn't see them yet. >> I apologize. I didn't get a chance to double check. The second reads were there, but the first
047reads weren't. >> No, no reads were in tonight's. I didn't know if you were supposed to go hunting for the second reads and the third reads backwards into other meetings. It's very convoluted. It's not easy to follow the public drive how it's set up. >> Okay. I thought they were posted. I will double check. So, apologies. >> That's fine. So, is that just the first read? You're just listing the ones. >> Those are will be discussed at the next time, but we can make sure that they're posted far enough in advance so you have a chance to review them before they come up for discussion. >> Thanks. Okay, I'm going to go into our second reads, which are the the ones that we do need to expedate. >> Can I ask a question about uh
048can I request that >> the teaching about alcohol, tobacco, and drugs um policy be forwarded to or a copy be made available to me in Jackson? >> Absolutely. >> Because that is one that we would like to discuss at the committee. >> Absolutely. Okay. So, the next two are the two that I mentioned last time. We do need to expedite um since these are um they have to be filed with Desi by December 31st, I believe. So, the first is our graduation requirements. This one would be a new policy and everything that we put in here um is based on the MASC policy, but it is really trying to make everything very specific for Middleboro. Um let me just make this as big as I can for everybody. Um, so as you'll see, um, with
049the blue highlight, the blue highlight shows where we've made changes that are making it MPS specific. Everything that's here is already in our student handbook for the high school. So that everything is in line with what's already posted and has been approved um, by the committee in the last round of uh, handbook. But basically uh to summarize what's here, you do need 136 credits um four years of English. It is now four years of mathematics and that includes completion of algebra 1 or algebra 2 and geometry. So it's algebra 1 and geometry or algebra 2 and geometry dependent upon what your track was in the um the junior high middle school. uh for four years of physical education that's state law- based three years of a lab-based science three years of history or social science
050including US history two years of world language one year of fine arts and one year of technology. Um and then it just notes that there could be additional requirements and credits acrewed from elective courses and that is all in the high school program of studies or the student handbook. Um, there is a lovely little section about credit for foreign study. This has not happened in Middleboro in years, but we did think why take it out just in case it comes back up again. It would be nice for it to already be in the policy. So, here's hoping that someday it's available again. Um, and then we have our legal references. Um, and that is this policy. So, any questions on the graduation requirements? Nope. >> Okay. The next one is the competency determination. This again
051is a new policy and much was based on the MASSU model policy, but there were a lot of kind of insert your process here in this policy. And so I didn't do the highlights because it was just going to get too busy for everybody to read. Um but basically the competency determination is covering what used to be um covered by the MCCAST. So um determination of competency which competency determination is if you see it abbreviated as CD that's what they mean. Um, but it's demonstrating a mastery of skills in ELA, math, science, and the completion of relevant coursework aligned to the standards measured by the high school EL uh ELA math and science MCCAST assessments administered in 2023. It adds the requirement for US history to the graduating class of 2027. Um and then we
052removed after discussion with uh the director of curriculum and uh principal Brangan that you know the we felt it was appropriate to just say that to show mastery the student must successfully complete um in accordance with our grading policy or any appropriate methodology determined by us a final assessment which could be an exam, a project or a pre presentation to show the level of mastery. Mhm. >> Um, so if you saw the news a week or so ago, there's new things that may be coming, but they're not now. >> This is now. We'll wait and translate all of those once we see where they land on Desi's radar. >> Um, minimum passing grade for all courses is a 60% or a D minus in order to get the credits necessary for graduating. Um, and then
053you'll notice that the coursework is aligned basically with what you needed to take in order to take those MCCAST classes previously. So, you have to show competency in grade nine English grade 10 English, algebra 1 or two, and geometry, biology, United States history 1, and US history 2 or the AP United States history as brought up by Mason when we talked about this um previously. and that is beginning with the graduating class of 2027. There is additional considerations related to students with disabilities um and multilingual learners. Um there is noting that um you know students who transfer in also um will have their transcript reviewed, figure out where they fall in the competency determination. There may be additional coursework they need in order to meet Middleboro High School's competency determination and graduations required, but there
054is also an appeals process so that current students may appeal um and that those enrolled in the classes of 2003 to 2024 that did not earn a diploma may also appeal the decision and then the legal references. Any questions on these? >> Okay, >> I have none. Um, will you entertain a motion for approval? Now >> motion. >> I uh move that we approve both. >> Second. >> So I have a motion to approve IKF and IKFE as written and I will take all in favor. >> I thank you. Mike now begins the fun process of I think Terry was the one who thought she was going to have to fill out the approvals for >> the paper. They've been waiting on that. Yep. >> Yep. >> Okay. The third policy for a second read
055which does not need to be um expedited is JIB which is student involvement in decision-m. So you'll see here that this one has very few changes. Um MASC added a comma. I added a chairperson since our current uh student reps are plural and I thought it might be good for our policy to reflect that. Um, this is basically the policy that led to us forming the student advisory committee and having the first meeting that we've already held. So, we're ahead of our policy being approved. Um, but any questions on this? It's it's here. It all fits on the screen if anyone um it is all just following Mass General. No questions. All right. So, we can bring that one up for a third read next time. I would like to draw attention to the fact
056that in the policy it is not clearly stated what the committee and the council will talk about or the decision-m to be done. So in reality that is the policy that we will have to figure out and the >> protocol >> procedure that we will >> do. I think everything up there looks great. I mean, I don't understand the state laws. I'm a high school student who's trying to do his best to read PhD level words, but I like how it's going and I appreciate the teamwork that we've had so far. >> Great. Thanks, Mason. >> And now you're done. >> I'm go. >> Okay. Um All right. So, if there's no questions on that, I'll move on to the third reads. So, the third reads are all the ones that we discussed at the
057last meeting. I will list them all again by name, but unless there's something that we specifically need to discuss since we did discuss them all at the last meeting, I won't bring them up. If anybody wants to discuss something in specifics, I will be happy to. Um, so these are KBA school parent relations goals. KBBA non-custodial parents rights, KBE relations with booster organizations and KJA relations with with parent organizations in relation with booster organizations. Those are being removed in favor of KBA or in favor of KJA is being removed in favor of KBE which has been renamed to parent ad uh organizations. Uh KBG, parent advisory councils. KB D K DB public's right to know KDDD news media relations and news releases K public complaints KJL which is relations with planning authorities which is a
058new policy LB relations with other school and school districts LBC relations with non-public schools and LDA student teaching and internships. Are there any additional questions on any of these policies? All right. The chair will entertain a motion to approve the third read policies as discussed at the last meeting. >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I >> All right. Thank you everyone. Um, so the last item for policy is just to note that uh Shannon and I when we met to go through all of the first reads that are coming up for the next discussion, we did also begin uh reviewing the operating protocols. We have a draft that hopefully will be uh ready for one of our January meetings for the committee to review. Um so we were able to take
059on that additional subcommittee responsibilities and make some forward momentum on that. >> That's great. Lots of work. Lots of very good work. >> Thank you. Any additional um questions on any of the subcommittee. All right. Moving on to item number nine. I did just want to um give an update on the school committee vacancy. So we had discussed at the last meeting which was a while ago because of the Thanksgiving holiday um that we were proceeding with evaluating how to fill the vacancy. Uh Sue and I met with the chair and the vice chair of the select board and discussed the process and um basically came to the agreement that we wouldn't notify them and they wouldn't appoint someone because with the timing of everything it would end up with um really only having somebody
060appointed for two to three months and that with the election coming up we could survive as a board of five. But I think today shows that we're surviving as a board of five and that uh we look forward to the election in April. So that ends the subcommittee updates and the school committee vacancy update. >> Could I just add as a subcommittee update that the PR subcommittee is meeting next Thursday. >> Perfect. Thank you. Um All right. So item number 10 is uh the MASC MASS annual conference was held. Um, and we did, uh, Sue and Alan and I were able to attend. We know you had good excuse, Shannon, so no worries. Um, we did just want to take a moment and share some of our takeaways, um, from that. I don't think I
061need anything else up here, so we can just look at Google for a little while. Um, so, um, Oh, look, that works. Uh do you have your takeaways ready to share please? >> I do. Um first just uh it's a global framing. It's always interesting when you go to professional conferences that one of the reassuring things about it is that uh the topics that are in all of the different sessions align with the kinds of things that you really want to find out about of how you can improve. uh because of maybe struggles or questions or whatever is happening uh in your own local um environment, you go with a group of people and you find out, wow, they want to do a whole session on this because um other people are having similar kinds
062of structures and and that's why I really appreciate um these kinds of conferences. um I tried to go to sessions that aligned with some of the subcommittee work um that that I am involved with and some of the bigger questions that we have. So I would say that uh my first a lot of what I went to was focused on um how we uh as a board uh how it is that we interact with uh the community with other um town boards uh and these so many of my takeaways are focused on that which aligns with my work on the PR uh subcommittee. So, uh, the first was how the school committee should use all communication platforms to communicate with members of the community in an ongoing way and in times of crisis. Uh, we
063have lots of platforms that are available to us. Uh, and one of the things that they talked about was to not divide what the district using the same channels as the district, not to create our own. Uh and um so in terms of social media or website, you know, all of those kinds of things. Uh and that um that it really is good that we use all of the different platforms. Uh second, um a little bit in the same vein, but more to do with our relationship with other town boards and entities. uh the importance of developing both formal and informal relationships with members of other town board members within the context of our professional standards for school committee members. Uh and we started to talk about this in the PR subcommittee of how we
064want to formalize um within the subcommittees how it is that we meet uh we have representatives from the appropriate related town board that would come and um be involved with us so that really so that we are working together as a town uh as best we can. Uh and also they spoke a lot about the importance of developing also informal relationships. Um not that you should be talking about specifics, but that whole idea of when you um understand where someone's coming from and you understand who they are, it it it helps to navigate some of of the work that you need to do in a in a better way. Uh third takeaway that I had was um and this is on a different topic and that's how school committee members can and should stay informed
065about um the PS PRS complaints and resolutions related to special ed. Uh that it all of that is dependent on your relationship with the superintendent who will give you that information. Um, but it is helpful for you to kind of get a sense of what's going on by looking at those complaints and what trends there might be. Not that every complaint has absolute validity, but it does help you have kind of a a thumb on the pulse of what's going on. and not in our town but did here in some other towns where uh the school committee didn't do that and the superintendent didn't share and you know it went way down a road that it it shouldn't have um before the school committee really understood what was happening and so and not that I'm
066saying at all that that is happening here but it's just one of those good safeguards uh to to be happening um And throughout the conference, there was a theme about um frameworks for looking and thinking about um working through healthy conflict. And that one of the big takeaways that I had that reinforced probably something that I I already believe and that healthy um conflict is good for an organization. um we should have differences of opinions. We should um have different perspectives coming in and grappling with those in a healthy way. And how is it that we can do that in a healthy way? Um and how we begin to address when it's not happening in a healthy way. So, um and followed up and got some of the literature and uh and really thinking about
067that because again, we're not special. um uh in in the entire community. Of course, we're all coming from different perspectives. Conflict happens. If you can if you can work with it in a way that helps the organization to grow, uh we will be in a better place. So, those were my takeaways. >> Great. Thank you. Um I'd like to start by just reinforcing the the healthy conflict. We were able to hear from Amanda Ripley who was a wonderful wonderful engaging speaker. um and her the opportunity just to hear her speak and and start to begin to process what she talked about in terms of high conflict versus healthy conflict made the entire conference worthwhile. Absolutely. Um it it's the type of opportunity that um I'm thrilled to get by being um given the the opportunity
068to attend these conferences. So um one of my uh takeaways was from um I was able to attend the division 3 meeting. So we are Middleboro is part of division 3. Um and it just gave me a good reminder to um recommend to everybody that they join um the MASC division 3 Facebook page. Um Barbara Davis was reelected as the president of division 3. Um, and she does a fantastic job posting educational opportunities or interesting articles that maybe come from other divisions or from MASC in general. Um, so it's just a a great way to stay on the pulse of things. Um, she just posted a survey for what types of things might we want to do as kind of um, professional development ideas within the division. Um, but anything that the division puts together
069is usually open to everybody. So um, I just encourage you to do that. Um along those lines, um if there is anything that we are thinking of that would be helpful that we think extends beyond our district, that's the type of thing that we could suggest to her. Um they do do some lunch and learns, they have some webinars in the evenings. Um, but it is also the type of thing that we could go to MASC and say, "Hey, we want to organize another professional development for us here just in Middleboro or even open it up to some other regional districts potentially nearby." Um, I was the delegate for the um the end of the session and um the it was probably the smoothest delegate assembly ever. Everybody was shocked. Um, but I did bring
070pretty sure I brought um there was only one item up for um approval and it passed and that was to remove BMI from the data that is collected by the school nurses unless specifically requested by a physician. So there are certain instances >> um where >> the school nurse is the one helping a physician stay in touch with a medical condition. So but it's to take it off unless requested by by a medical professional. >> Um and then any of the other resolutions that needed to be reauthorized that had already been previously passed were all reauthorized. So it was super efficient. It was fun to see all the Robert rules of orders in work though. Um I took the track of kind of trying to attend sessions that would I thought support me in my
071new role of chair. So I did go to a session on subcommittees. Um and there was a discussion about subcommittees can't decide on their own priorities and that the subcommittee can make a proposal but that does need to come back to the full committee to then be tasked to the subcommittee to take that away. Um, we did also discuss that there are certain subcommittees where that doesn't necessarily have to happen because it's embedded in the name. You know, the budget subcommittee, we don't have to task you with what to do, negotiations, policy, that kind of thing. But just something for us to keep in mind that using the subcommittees to to >> idea generation, and then bring those to the the committee for discussions and then that'll help us prioritize the work that we're all
072doing. >> Yeah. And I think that that was set up well when Zeke started that when he said the first meeting and then bring those back uh for discussion. So, >> so we do need to continue with uh the the task that he assigned us even though he is no longer here. So, making progress hopefully. Um, and then there was also a discussion at the subcommittee meeting about how since there's no public comment at subcommittees, that also means that while you could invite somebody there and they can speak just like we do at this meeting, but public comment, it's not equitable if you let people speak at the subcommittees without public comment posted. So, that was just an interesting discussion um that was held there. Um, and then the last thing that I took away
073was from one of the earlier sessions where they talked about celebrating the journey. So, we're making initiatives. We're taking steps. It isn't always about waiting until we finish the goal to talk about it and to advertise it and to broadcast our accomplishments, but make sure that we're celebrating the journey and that we're acknowledging the work that's being done to get wherever we go. So that was another kind of uplifting Yes. >> moment. >> That was >> all right. Thank you. And uh we hope that uh if anybody is able to attend any of the ongoing professional development or webinars or something, you're always welcome to bring takeaways back. Just let me know so we can put it on the agenda. So that brings us to our consent agenda. Um for the consent agenda, we have
074um technically I think it's one, two, four, five donations. So, we have a donation. Um, the Middleboro High School Student Council in class of 2027 received $250 each from the Middleboro Police Superior Officers Nepa Nepba Local 96. Middle High School and Memorial Early Childhood Center received donations from Hannerford Helps and the Middle High School got a donation from Ohio Pile Prince. Um and then in addition on our consent agenda, we have our approval of warrants. And then there is a grant um there was a grant for the 2025 to 2026 school year continued and that is a workbased learning implementation grant for $24,000. So uh the chair would entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. >> So moved. >> Uh question. >> Second and then we can open for question. >> Second. >> Any
075questions? Any discussion? Um Mike I is that the one that you were going to bring back what that was about from on the last agenda. Um there was I had asked uh that there was a new grant that we had received but you had just gotten it and so you were going to bring back um what it was. Um, it could be I when I remember I wanted to bring back all of the grants >> and give more detail of what they do cuz some of them you know an idea doesn't mean a lot to everybody and you know the whole >> um so what I'd like to do is have one >> meeting where you're going to go when we'll go go through those that'd be great. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Thank you. >>
076Any additional discussion? All right. All in favor? >> I passes unanimously. Uh we have already taken the action items and done those votes. And then just to share some information um as already mentioned during the earlier the memorial the high school national honor society will be having a baked good sale at the holiday concert which is next Wednesday. I could find the time but they said it earlier. Um John T. Nichols Middle School is having a roller skating fundraiser on December 29th. And John T. Nichols Middle School is also holding their winter carnival on January 23rd. I know that one's always >> Where do we go roller skating these days? Is it still time? >> Yeah. Is it forest fun? >> I think they go there. >> Oh, I used I thought it was out
077in Whitman at that like family. >> It's probably written down on the thing. >> Um but yeah, there's two places nearby maybe then. So, >> okay. >> So, that is our information for this evening. And with that being said, the chair will entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> So move. >> Second. All those in favor? >> I. >> Thank you.