Scituate School Committee Meeting 5-18-26

001All right. Um, we were in executive session, took a brief break here. So, um, like to return to our regular session here. Uh, we'll do a motion to return the meeting. >> Make a motion to return to um >> public session. Also, okay. And we will take a roll call vote for that. Gates, >> yes. >> Benwick, >> yes. >> Lynam, >> yes. >> Boroski, >> yes. >> Randolini, yes. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, tonight we have a few special people to recognize. First, uh, we'd like to recognize school committee member Peter Gates for his contributions to our school committee. And with us tonight we have Representative Kerney and a representative from uh Patrick O' Conor's office as well, Senator Oconor. So, thank you for joining us. Um did you want to talk

002to the microphone? Good evening everybody and thank you for uh allowing us to be here tonight and to take a couple of minutes to honor the service and sacrifice of Peter Gates and his family uh for the last nine years. Uh we really appreciate everything that you've done for the town of Situ. You've made a significant impact on the future of this town and the future of the state. and I really really appreciate all the time and dedication that you and I know it's a family effort. So I really am appreciative of the time that you have given us but the time that your family has allowed you to give us as well. So um myself and Senator Okconor who's actually in budget debate right now um and I think they'll be in pretty late

003but um I have a citation from the House of Representatives and the Senate. We have the opportunity every Monday and Friday to read into the record uh something of significance and I will read what we had read into the record on your behalf in the House and the Senate. So it says, "Be here it known to all that the Massachusetts House of Representatives and the Massachusetts State Senate offers its sincerest congratulations to Peter Gates in recognition of nine years of service to the students, families, and educators of the Situ Public School System through his work on the Sichu school committee. His steadic leadership, commitment to education, and thoughtful advocacy have helped guide the district through both challenges and successes. The entire membership extends its very best wishes and expresses the hope for future good fortune

004and continued success in all of your endeavors. Signed by the speaker, Senate President, myself, and Senator Okconer. Thank you. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Thank you very much. Time for cake. >> Thanks again, Peter. Thank you. Um, Peter, just wanted to recognize you too on behalf of our committee here that you've been a devoted member of our committee for three terms, committing your time, energy, and focus in nine years of meetings, subcommittee work, and just general civic engagement all around town. During Peter's tenure, he served as chair dur during one of the most volatile times as we entered COVID shutdown period and transition to virtual meetings to conduct business. managing through decision-making during that first year was extremely stressful, but Peter took on the

005role and kept us steady. He has been a tireless advocate for special education, playing a central role in the establishment of our special ed stabilization fund. He's also been our committee's financial guru, asking critical questions about our budget and the intricacies of spending and allocation that only someone with his professional knowledge can bring. I personally have learned an incredible amount from you over these years. I'm going to cry >> and you will be missed. >> Thank you. It's >> been my pleasure. >> Um, wrap up speed. >> It's not your last meeting. >> Oh, yeah. It's not your last meeting. Another week. Two more meetings. >> You're not done with it. >> One more. >> Oh, yeah. >> Um, no. I It's been a I never really knew how it was going to end, right?

006like when is this going to be over? And um my goal when I ran for school committee was to make situate proud and develop this idea of say yeah I went to high school and I'm proud of our public schools. I think we're approaching that. I don't think I fully got there but I think that we're in the right direction. I think we're very very close. Um and I appreciate every everyone on the board that we've worked with trying to figure out. We went through we have worked with four superintendents. I think the last like the first week or two we had superend. >> Yeah. >> On our fourth superintendent. >> Yeah. >> Superintendent and we worked with I think the board was has changed from I think there were four males at first. >>

007Yeah. >> Me, Rich, Mike and Mike. >> Mike and Mike. Yeah. >> And then we reversed that trend. Yeah, I think I mean aside from that, we have we have been through a lot. All of us have have been through different um challenges. You know, Janice and I started the same day nine years or together nine years ago. It was on a whim. Someone came and asked me like Janice Janice said we should run for school committee. I'm like what? What school committee? And then here we are nine years later. >> Um >> and you're leaving me. >> But it's been a great it's been a great ride. Um, definitely some ch I think COVID probably was a real reason why I'm calling it quits now. It really was stressful time for us. Um, and

008I feel like we did a good job just as well as anyone else, but it was really trying time for me, I think. Um, now that my kids are getting older, um, I'm going to focus on some other things as well. Um, probably still involved in Situate somehow, but I need a little bit of a break for a while. You guys have all been amazing and Situ is in great hands with these members and whatever member gets elected in another 10 days, 15 days, >> you're not counting >> something like that. I'm always here and I'll probably come to some of your meetings. So, this won't be my last meeting. But I appreciate all your effort and it's really pleasure working with all of you guys. >> Thank you so much, Peter. cake. >> Yes,

009we can have We're gonna have just like a five minute recess. People can have a piece of cake if they want. >> Cake break. >> Yeah, cake break. >> Cake break. >> Okay. Ryan has the knife. Yeah. >> All right. Okay. You do like that. Yeah. >> Never wanted to turn your cake. Look at these. I will >> never like then I get home and I'm hungry but [ __ ] Mr. Lynch, >> I'm okay. Thank you. >> Thanks, guys. >> Come here. >> Take this one. >> No. No. Your kids will pretty soon be like >> Well, they do. My oldest doesn't want to talk to me. >> You guys don't want to hear. >> Yeah, it's funny. >> Don't go nice with the pizza. Sorry, Carrie. We can't send you any cake virtually. >> Frame.

010>> Oh my goodness. >> Wow. >> Yeah, that's cool. >> Thank you. >> All right. While we take we will open up public comment. Any public? >> I know that sounds weird, but all right. Uh, nobody in person. Any hands raised virtually? Looking now, not seeing anyone. Okay. Before we have our student report, we have a student to recognize who's graduating. So Anna, we are so thankful to have had you uh on our team this year. You have been such a strong contributor with thoughtful, empathetic, just fantastic input throughout the year. Really giving us great guidance and insight into what's happening at the school, at the high school, and everything just academically, socially, and sort of interpersonally with all of the kids and staff. So we really appreciate you and your service to you know

011Sigma public schools this year. >> Thank you. It's honestly fun. >> Like I was warned that I might not be able to say that but I been insightful and I've enjoyed it a lot. >> He's one of us. >> I've enjoyed it. I thought it's broadened my perspective on situ as a whole and made me really appreciate you guys. So and I I'm proud to say that I'm in situ. Wow. >> There you go. You achieved your mission. >> I'm sure a lot of people can say this. >> That's awesome. >> Thank you so much, Anna. >> You have a little little something. >> Take that. >> Thank you. >> I can pass it to >> We do have one more meeting which you're welcome to attend but not under pressure because it is after

012graduation. So, we wanted to recognize you today. >> Thank you. anticipation of that. >> Happy to have you, but do not be a lot. You won't have much to report, I suppose. >> We'll see you at graduation, though. >> Exactly. >> All right. Um, any report for us tonight? >> All righty. Yeah. So, we are closing up the school year for seniors. Um, and I know everyone else is getting in the groove for finals, which I can't believe, but um, so we'll start with athletics. Noel Brighton and Cole Levens are the Situate High School 2026 Scholar Athletic Award winners. Um, in the fall this year, Nicole will attend Harvard and Cole will attend the University of Southern California. Both amazing accomplishments and great people, better athletes, people, everything. And Fiona Odow has been selected to

013the MIAA student advisory committee. And then tonight is the big Will game which um is in memorial of Will Robinson and it's the game between the Situate varsity boys and girls lacrosse teams um which is what this shirt is worth it. Um and so that's exciting. I know they have food trucks. It's a really great event and I'll be going after. Um and then as we acknowledged last meeting, the American Legion contest winners were Mave Lynch, Michaela Whitaker, and Macy Muro. Um the Situate DECA students Will Hine, Quinn Flanigan, Kate Carson, and Maddie Solder competed in the DECA category. I mean, in the DECA competition, excuse me. And Kate Carson, and Mattie Solder earned the National Gold Certificate for retailing operations for the Situate High School store, The Shipyard. Will Hine earned a silver achievement

014award for a top score in automotive marketing case study representation. I don't know. And then Quinn Flanigan was the first ever Situate High School student to reach the ICDC level with a written business plan project. Also, AP exams end his last week finally. It >> was a long two week. >> It was it really was. Um but I know that's very exciting. And with that in AP classes, final projects are underway. Um, tomorrow and Wednesday, the math MCCAST will begin um for our sophomores. And then what else? The prom happened on Friday, which was super fun. I've heard all good things from juniors and seniors who went and then yeah, our last day is on Wednesday. Hard to believe. And graduation May 29th if it's not your calendar. Got it. So yes, that's all I

015have. >> Great. Thank you so much. Enjoy the game. >> All right. So, thank you. Thank you. We now have our approval of minutes here. Some action items to attend to. Approval of minutes from May 4th. I wasn't present, so I'll be abstaining from this vote. I'll make a motion that the school committee vote to approve the minutes of May 4th, 2026. >> Second. >> Okay. Benwick, >> yes. >> Gates, >> yes. >> All right. Great. Okay. Next up, we have our superintendent candidate profile discussion. turn it over to Dr. Bowski to present. >> Yeah, sure. Thanks. And congrats, Peter. Sorry I can't be there to to celebrate with you. >> Thank you. >> So, yeah. So, I'm going to share screen in a minute, but just to let folks know, so tonight we are,

016if you remember, we had a presentation our last meeting around the superintendent profile. We did those all those interviews um and our consultant collected the data and put a summary together. And so what we're doing tonight is um we're looking at that. I'm going to give a summary of the profile with some definitions so we have some working uh language around it and then I'll talk about the process that we use to to you to start using that uh profile. Go ahead and share screen. All right. Can you see my screen? Okay. Somebody give me a thumbs up maybe. Yes. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> All right. So, as I said, we reviewed the profile that was submitted by our consultant. Um, we I created a Google doc that had a table. I'll show you

017in a minute that incorporated the seven categories that came that really emerged out of the data from all the interviews. And then I c I uh created subsequent columns, one's for strength, one for areas of growth. And there was actually a comments column or notes column, but no one really used that. And then just to have a thought partner and to stay within open meeting laws, I shared it with uh Vice Chair Benwick. Um she reviewed the draft, offered some edits, and then Maria emailed the shared document to the school committee. And each of us individually downloaded a blank copy of that. So, it's like our template and we independently completed the assessment using um uh chair Brandolini sent out uh uh Superintendent Rob's uh CV and then just based on our own experience and

018working with uh Dr. Rob, we did the evaluation. So, tonight um well, what I did then is everybody's independent comments, I brought them together and put them in a summary document. And then what I'm showing you tonight is a little bit higher level. It's still kind of detailed, so I apologize. It's more information that I than I like to put in slides, but I think it's important. Um, so it's a higher level slide presentation. Um, really with uh school committee feedback and assessment, an informal assessment of uh Dr. Rob in his interim year. I I'm using the word informal because this isn't a this isn't like a a desi template like we have at the end of the year. This really is based on this new profile that we just received. So, um it's it's

019more of an in formal and of course we're using this to inform and guide our discussion that we'll have tonight which is around what's our next step in terms of a search right in search or no search. So, um yeah. So, I'm going to go ahead and share the results um and then we can talk about it. So, just again so everybody's on the same page. I just wanted to review the categories. I know the consultant talked about this, but just so everybody's clear, there were seven. Um, communications and collaboration were the first two. There's some definitions. It's what you would think, and it's really what came out of these interviews. So, these are not definitions I made up. This is data um in in in qualitative research. We call it invivo coding, which is

020literally pulling up what someone said and using that as the working definition. So, there's a little bit of that in here. So approachable, clear and transparent, provides feedback, communicates beyond emails. Collaboration, working with others, patient, thoughtful, involving people in decisions, holding office hours, building coalitions. So those are the first two. Curriculum, as you would expect, budget and finance expertise. So curriculum understanding evidence-based instructions being that instructional leader able to evaluate what's happening in the classroom stands special education framework for data informed goal goal setting budget and finance fiscal responsibility there was a lot of comments around keeping kids first when you're thinking about uh the budget really knows finance and the skills that are and has the skills required demonstrates um what someone called budget discipline and advocates for funding um especially in tight times

021which will be really relevant as we continue this year and next year. Three others confident and strategic leader um initially I believe these were separate and then they were collapsed. So this is the idea of this shared vision. Visibility came up again here. Unafraid to speak up, right? Really standing up for the town and and our kids. Spends time in the classroom. Sets a goal but also accomplishes those goals. Again, keep students schools at the forefront. Um and emotional intelligence and self-awareness also came up. Technical expertise was around things like classroom experience, although the data was mixed around whether or not that was a necessity. keeping a breast of things like technology, AI, screen time, social emotional learning. Um, having principal experiences was really a must. Um, committed to equity and special education, knowledge and

022understanding came up across multiple categories. And then operations really sort of that it's the big picture, right? It's not just instructional leadership and and staff and budget. its facilities, its athletics, its maintenance, its bus transportation and schedules. Um, under that were two um kind of sub themes around trust and conflict and acknowledges and manages emotions. Particularly for us, it was around redistricting, but clearly as we move forward, it might be around other conflict or thing, you know, questions that come up. Okay, so we have seven categories. Are there any questions there before I get into the data? from the committee. >> No questions. >> No. Okay, perfect. And again, these are not I just want to be clear, these are not my definitions. These are things that came out of the data from all the

023folks that were interviewed in town. Um, one thing I want to note as I go into the the data um is that there is overlap especially in collaboration and communication. So it is a distinct category but you may also see some data that flows into other places for obvious reasons. Um the other thing I wanted to note is that for the last two categories so education operations what we noticed in the data is there were some sub themes that really emerged multiple times. So you'll notice there's a little bit more data for those two categories because we wanted to make sure we hit on those those parts of it. So just just in case you're wondering. All right. So communication. So again, this is a school committee. I I tried to mush all the data

024and the summary together. It's a evaluation and brief. Tom really is doing a good job with communication. Recognize as thoughtful and transparent, highly effective, prioritizing his relationships, stakeholders, and students. listening, taking in feedback, operationalizing that feedback, integrating and/or listening to viewpoints. Um, in meetings and discussions, sort of related to that last point, he's really making sure all voices are heard, asking questions, asking follow-up questions to make sure, and making space. I know there were some examples, some sort of deep dive examples where making space for voices who aren't in the room, which I also think is is important that he's that he's seeing that. um explaining the why of decisions. So not just the ability to make the decision but also provide a rationale. Um communication with families again understanding the what and the why

025behind decisions. Approachable and this was shown through things like office hours being visible at all sorts of things from school councils to PTO to public meetings to athletic events all sorts of things. um responsiveness across multiple communication platforms and the ability to b balance this firmness with empathy and kindness. Um and I'm going to just keep going unless someone says they have a question. Is that okay? >> Sure. >> Yeah. Okay. Collaboration again, visible, present, approachable, um including family and staff participates in a lot of different things that are going on in the district around hiring. um strong relationships with town leadership. So when you think about um our town administrator, our financial office and and the the select board um redistricting, he's led joint labor management staffing planning, balancing the need of teachers. So

026um it's been, you know, in multiple spaces and multiple places in terms of demonstrating collaboration. Um he was involved. Tom was recently Tom, by the way, it's weird talking about you when you're in the I pause. >> Our interim s superintendent has played a key leadership role in all six union contracts and some of the again sort of deep dive data was really giving some examples of of where that was really effective in terms of advocacy, listening, being an ally and a consensus builder. Um again you can see the overlap understanding different perspectives really working towards compromises with multiple stakeholders. Um and really spearheading this was a different one um this collaborative training uh for the school improvement plan. So uh was it la last school meeting or the meeting before? I've lost track. Um

027it was the last two meetings actually. just seeing how the process of SIPs is going now and I could feel and see evidence of that collaboration with our building leaders across all the buildings which is great. Um yeah and just again also as a school committee member I think there were comments where each of us has felt like uh superintendent has been a good uh collaborator um in terms of I want to make sure because there was that column of areas of growth for both communication and collaboration there were really two themes that popped up in terms of comments was one was communication and collaboration it's not a discrete thing that you reach. It's just a continuous, you know, evolving experience. And so the acknowledgement that, you know, we would want to see an evolution

028and strengthening of communication and collaboration, continuous improvement and and the school committee, most folks noted how critical both of these are. And so really making sure taking in the feedback. Interestingly, in the feedback in communications, there was a note about how even though communication was part of this current strategic plan, we should think about continuing and building it out more specifically in future strategic plans. So, just to to make that point, curriculum. So in terms of curriculum you know obviously importance of curriculum reviews and changes working collaborative collaboratively with our assistant super that we're not just talking about updating instructional materials but really the implementation the work that's being done to support our teachers all all that good work that's happening um data informed evaluation attending the leadership trainings um all he also Tom also

029leads staff meetings working group groups subcommittees and some of the communications that go out are are quite um interesting you know pulling research you know curriculum or instructional research which has been really really amazing too. Um Tom is fluent in educational data and the data cycle um vast improvement I can speak to that for our district to have a leader who has this ability and has already served us well this year as evidenced by the goals as we mentioned in the SIP budget and finance I mean honestly uh Dr. Rab, we kind of feel like you knocked this one out of the park. I mean, this really is one of your your expertise. So, strong and comprehensive understanding of school finance and budgeting generally, but also specifically in your previous role, you really know uh

030Situit as well. So, being our director of finance um and you've done a great job. I remember when you came in and started reorganizing things and just making it um just clearer, bringing clarity and some of the notes that helped us understand it, help us better explain it to the town and at town meeting. Um also again here here again you see collaboration overlaps in budgeting. So what's also critical to the finance is having those relationships with town officials including the finance office. Um you Tom speaks the language of schools and you're able to translate educational needs into responsive practical budget decisions. Um you know I can speak as a school committee member. I feel like you know your ability to translate sort of what our priorities are into a budget line has been really

031helpful for us I think as a school committee. And thankfully your budget presentations are always clear, not too long and easy to easy to follow. Um, so we've always appreciated that as well. Um, in terms of confident and strategic leader, again, your enthusiasm, your energy, your confidence, your knowledge across multiple areas that I've already discussed were really um, prevalent in the data that I was looking at. Um, you have a strong foundation in educational leadership from being in situate, but also your past experiences. Um you've come through some challenges around you know leadership transitions redistricting um and really done a good job in terms of just leading leading that charge and leading those conversations communicating decisions with clarity. Um yeah, I mean again the six improvement plans leading the transition of the DEI work and

032the the social emotional learning and the C director. Um and actively participating in professional development alongside the school and the district leaders really building that shared understanding which is really I think the school committee believes is an important part of being a strategic leader. Um, a couple of comments that came up in this this category in terms of growth is I think there's a real desire to think about how to expand that shared vision. And I think what's meant by that is this this idea of really unifying the town, our families, our caregivers, our um staff around this shared vision and also being able to articulate and carry out clear and concrete steps around that that shared vision. Um so just things to think about um moving forward in terms of educational and technical expertise.

033So there were some comments around your humility and willingness to admit when you don't know the answer and being able to again gather perspectives to collaborate with others who may have the information and being willing to sort of step back and surround yourself with other leaders and staff who do have that critical knowledge. So really figuring out how to to make everybody work well together. Um we've talked about attending professional developments. There were some in the data from the needs assessment there were some questions around classroom experience or not. Most of the data said that folks didn't feel like it was necessity and I think that's where the school committee landed and it was mostly because you've had experience as a guidance counselor, you've had experience as a principal and there's some some evidence that

034you're continuing to work on, you know, this this part of your portfolio with some of the professional learnings um that you're involved have been involved in this past year. Um, and all these roles come with supervisory and management experience which you know any superintendent needs. I want to make sure let's see. Yep. I just want to make sure I'm getting that. So, this is one of those categories that I mentioned where in this case under educational and techn technical expertise three sub themes emerged. Um, there's a lot of care and interest rightly so around special education knowledge. um we value equity and then there were some we wanted to raise our awareness and attention around AI and technology um we know that districts are have lots of questions around AI so the comments around sped

035um were that you know there was a sense that Tom's tenure as a counselor his continued support of grants and investment is a strength in terms of sped um he understands IEPs and special education having served as a principal and as a business manager and working with Dr. Boowbert really understanding the costs and the needs of our students in our district in that area. In terms of equity, again, each of the the school improvement plans are focusing on MTSS goals. Um Tom being front and center in the leadership around the C position and bringing that to our district, expanding SEAL. Um we just had an equity audit for athletics, which I think we'll eventually discuss. Um and then again mentioning the transition from the DEI to the C director. In terms of AI and technology,

036I think this was the the comments around AI were mostly this is something that all districts are sort of grappling with right now. And so I think the comments from the school committee was one the expectation isn't that the superintendent could be the technology or AI expert like we would no district would ever require that of a superintendent and it is incumbent upon our leader to be knowledgeable to be bringing in professional learning to be asking good questions and so it was really more of a hey we need to be paying attention to this and making sure we're doing things ahead of ahead of you know problems and issues um around AI. And so and we do have a a strong tech team in place and so I think I think we're on the on

037the right track there. So the last one is operations. Um I think the comments were again super positive. Speaking in public puts people at ease. Um Tom, you're often described as being very even keeled, empathetic and calm. Can see multiple sides of things. Um, I think with your finance background, your budget, um, your principal background, you just seem to know every nook and cranny of public school according to the school committee feedback. Um, instrumental in again transitional times, being involved, heavily involved in the redistricting plan for our our new school, managing very well the day-to-day operations of our district. Um again it keeps coming up factual clear best interest of students in mind. Um knows how to engage outside outside independent and impartial parties to resolve conflicts and manage situations. Um and just a long

038history of involvement in lots of operational aspects of schools. Um from scheduling to construction to food services to buses um you name it. I feel like Tom's uh dabbled in that at some point. And then as I said before the last piece is just operations surfaced two sort of sub themes was around conflict management and trust and conflict management. The data was clear that Tom does not shy away from difficult conversations. He's added office hours and really put himself front and center to to talk to folks who agree or not with him. Um he's been super steady again. There it is again. Tom even Keel um during redistricting the questions around the different maps school naming process um and just really being able to manage that and trust again the the growth part of trust

039was just like communication and collaboration it's not a discreet thing it's something that you keep adding to and so some of the comments were around just continuing to build on the trust that you've gained and then also recognizing that there are places because of circumstances is where rebuilding and repair is going to be necessary. And so just bringing some awareness um to that. But again, trust can't happen overnight. It is a, you know, it takes a long-term commitment. And I think your time with the us as the director of finance and now as our interim superintendent, you've started to build build up some of that trust. I think that is it. Sorry it was so long. I tried. Promise I tried to content it. No, that was great. Can only speak for my one fifth

040contribution, but you've summarized everything that I had contributed very well. So good. >> Anyone else have any comments, feedback? >> No, thank you for all that work. >> Thank you. >> Really helpful. >> So now we talk about it. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. >> The summary. And >> yeah, >> do you want me to stay while you deliver? >> Yeah. >> I mean, it's recorded. It's not like >> we'll listen later. >> So, you have no freedom. >> All right. All right. So, um, given all this data and information, like to put it out there to the committee and see what everyone's thoughts are here. >> I mean, I think one of the reasons we the my understanding, so correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding is the reason we hired the consultant was feels

041like multiplefold, right? We talked about shoring up the contract that we would write with the next superintendent, but also really getting a beat on what we think as a committee, what families, what the staff, what the town thinks we need as a district for a school for a superintendent. And so by doing this exercise, it seems to me we're trying to understand, do we need to open a search or do we have a person in this role who fits the criteria in ways that are important, right? That we wouldn't necessarily need to spend the money and time and resources on on a search. Am I wrong? And is that right, Nicole? Is that exactly right? Yeah, >> I think about it a lot as in terms of like it's a we have to think about

042it I think in terms of a risk benefit analysis like there would be risks and benefits to running a search and there would be risks and benefits to not and so I think we have to kind of analyze both of those categories for both of those options and so that's kind of how I've been framing it to myself you know the risks of bringing in someone new obviously tons of unknowns hiring is very hard it's expensive it's timeconuming it's It's so hard like having like you just sometimes it's just you're you're getting a very tiny snippet of what someone who they really are, you know, um the benefit you maybe we find someone great. So like that's kind of how that part lives in my mind. And then I think this document really helped to

043crystallize for me once I could see what you guys all thought too. there was some benefits of keeping um Tom as inram and I see quite a lot of benefit you know I think um that was clear from the reporting restate it but I think some of the ones that are really important to me that I think are irreplaceable in someone new are the idea of you know looking to build trust over the next few years and how that's not built overnight and that we've already started that process here you know we've been through a lot of change Um, and sometimes this is a this is an element that we could hold steady. Um, and so that to me is like a kind of a benefit that's a little different than the others, you know,

044>> a lot of value. >> Yeah. And then obviously there's the hard skills and soft skills that you already went through. Um, and I frankly don't see a lot of risk. >> Thank you. >> Right. talk. >> No, I think it's a I mean it's a no-brainer for me. Um >> yeah, >> why why go through a whole search and spend money when we have somebody who's >> Yeah. I mean I think um my kind of reflection was twofold. those number was holding those focus groups and to hear from at least the group that we spoke with how the callings they're looking for equal Tom right everything they said just like what Carrie reviewed every everyone was saying what they wanted in a in a in a candidate or in a superintendent they were like

045well we already have Tom he kind of fits that bill and then for all of us to agree on that and have Carrie report on that I mean >> I think that Tom is the ideal candidate for situate right Um, and I agree with Maria. I think trust trust is probably one of the biggest characteristics and it takes time to do that. And Tom's really had two years, right? He's business manager and he's been the interim superintendent. So, he's already I don't know how many not a specific time, but he's already has two years building trust with the community and the district and all. And I I would think that we should absolutely hire Tom. Yeah, I think it's challenging to have trust during times of such volatility and transition and whether it's budget or

046building a new school and redistricting and staff changes any any of these categories and I agree with everything everyone everyone's already given as input. >> I feel like trust is number one because if you have that then everything else falls into place. >> I I think it's tr I think it's trust too. I do think he brings a ton of expertise like to be able to combine the finance piece, the being the interim superintendent, the principal piece, right? That's a pretty amazing sort of set of skills that we're going to need going into tight fiscal times. The other thing I would say like cuz Maria, I know you're saying if we open a search, you know, we we find somebody good. So like even if we found someone as good as Tom, you would take

047the known over the unknown, right? You wouldn't want that uncertainty. And I and I like you, Maria, have been thinking a lot about this. And the economist in me is like at the margin, what would have to be the benefit of an external candidate to outweigh the benefits of everything I know about Tom? And I couldn't think of anything, >> right? >> Like I just can't think of anything that would be so good that I would give up the amazing skills and talent that Tom brings plus all the intangibles that you all are talking about. I just I just can't make that math work for me. So >> yeah, that's where I landed, >> right? I was an external candidate who theoretically Tom would be a candidate that apply against him who already has the

048experience in our district and meets the criteria set by >> the school committee as well as all of our stakeholders. >> Right. >> And Carrie, I know you mentioned a couple. Um, were there any like kind of like needs improvement types of thing? I know you had a few mentions, but I know we had the opportunity to do that. And as I was completing that um survey or the evaluation, I just I couldn't come up with anything of like this is where we need to >> I mean there really there really weren't any like he needs to do X Y or Z. You know, there was some reflection on well he doesn't have the classroom experience, but then the person who wrote that would say but he's been a principal, he's been a counselor, he's

049been doing professional learning, right? the only place where if we said he had any I don't even like to use the word deficit or gap because I don't like those words but like it comes down it's like the AI technology piece right cuz like it's it's what I said I don't think our expectations should be that a superintendent is you know wellversed in all of that so there really weren't any big flags Peter from anybody I mean it was more about what you're saying which is continuous you know these aren't discreet some of these aren't discreet right they don't and they continue. So >> yeah, I think I put I put something in the AI one. I said everyone I know literally on this planet is a learner. So like I wouldn't put anyone as

050an expert in that category. >> Um and then I for communications, >> you know, this is an ongoing um effort that will never stop. We will always have things to communicate about, people to communicate to them to. We will have new families coming in. D will never end. And so like that's like an area of just continuous growth and refinement. Plus I imagine this year we've had we have a new website, we have a new tool. I think we've done really well with those considering they were both new at the same time in the middle of also a billion other new things, >> right? >> So next year like will be a great opportunity to have those things not be new, >> you know, for the first time and like so like of course there's

051a million ways we could get better at doing those and that's to be expected. Um, but I think comms is like in that column of just like it's constant. There's got to be constantly new tools and ways to get better. >> Yeah, I think on your morals there. >> Yeah, I was going to say related to that, Maria, I think you may have said something and a few other people. I think that who you know if Tom becomes a superintendent really think about what his vision for the district is because you know the things if you remember the strategic plan some of the things that are on there were like building the new school, getting better communication. So like he's really going to have an opportunity to articulate what is his vision and what is

052our vision right moving forward. So that was the other that was the other comment in the sort of growth area. >> I think it would have been like we wouldn't want an interim person to have done that this year would have been you know so like not at all. >> Yeah. Once the dust like that's another example of something where if we can just sort of allow the dust to settle on a few things we can bring our focus to those other things. >> Yeah. You know that's step this has been a year of a bit of of upheaval. >> We'll hire Tom. >> So in terms I just wanted to add Anna to the discussion if she no pressure. You did a lot of work too with students. Yeah, I think that um like

053when asking students generally about a superintendent like I had never personally related it back to Dr. Rob, but they did so naturally and it was honestly the only time they referred to another superintendent. They referred to any of the prior ones. Um and um but it was all good like all positives all like you need a superintendent that could do this how Tom does it. So, it was all like good things like with the one exception of like that snow day hitting college. >> You'll never win that one. >> But no, honestly, people didn't take it to heart. Um it was all really um exceptional things and like trust and I know um they brought it back to the renaming because it was all throughout >> the high school was talk but um how that

054he's they said he handed it very well and um they continued to trust him to do so and could only build that trust um but yeah he was always related back to >> great thank you that's helpful too thank you thank you for your work on the needs assessment I was going to ask a process question. Um, would we ask Tom for a formal like letter of intent or interest or something? >> Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. That's our next step. >> I'll talk to him about that and then um at our next meeting and then we will vote after that vote. >> All right. Fantastic. Thank you so much Dr. for all of that >> leg work to see that. >> Very helpful. >> Does that serve as the formal evaluation? >> No, it does

055not. >> It's actually >> I mean, we can probably use some of it. I mean, we could probably use some of it. >> Yeah. >> But it could serve as should Tom take the role that it's it's a great it's got some great nuggets in there of of >> Yeah. kind of what everyone's been saying about next steps and what the needs of the district are and what people have, you know, provided as their top concerns and or needs and and things like that. So, it gives a little bit of direction and guidance in that respect. All right. >> Thanks, Andy. >> Thank you. Do you want any more comments? Are you good? >> Um, I think we're good for this portion. If you want to I just >> I have years of experience with

056two very long-term superintendent. The town I live in and the vocational school that serves our town and I have worked with four other superintendent. Most of them knew the position. If I had to, you know, put him on that scale, he's here. you stopped down here. >> Just thought I'd add that. >> Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate that. >> And we have gotten a lot of emails. >> Positive. We have gotten many positive >> Yeah. emails of support. >> Thank you. >> All right. You're up, Dr. Rob. >> Thank you very much, Madam Chair. >> Not a quick transition. We have the report of our intro superintendent, Dr. Rob. um some non-union contracts. >> Thank you very much. So, this is the time of year when we look at the contracts that were expiring in

057June of 2026. And uh these seven contracts are all nobody knew in this list, everybody who's currently with us and and renewing. So, our assistant principal at the high school, Lisa Kirk, our elementary principal, Christine Sheen, and this is a three-year renewal, which will bring her into the new school. So, just to make it clear that she'll be the principal of the new elementary school. um our assistant principal, uh Jill Smith at Gates, our assistant facilities director, Chris Cataldo, our assistant athletic director and trainer, um Chris Alves, our technical director for performing arts and innovation, Josh Heath. He has been doing a great job with PAT Tech and so we're actually making him full-time with this contract. Um and our music accompanies Sarah Troxer, who if you saw Thursday night, played about 55 different songs

058at every single level. Um, so I would ask the committee for a vote to approve these seven contracts as presented. >> Great. Thank you. All right. Make a motion on these contracts. Uh, all right. I'll make a motion that we um accept the seven non contracts as presented. >> Second. Second by Peter Gates. Uh, roll call vote. Boroski. >> Yes. >> Gates. >> Yes. >> Benwick. Yes. And yes. Thank you very much. And we also have a little bit of a reorg in our central office. So Joanne Anderson in our central office is retiring this year and we'll have some wonderful things to say about her on June 15th when we acknowledge all the retirees. But it presents an option an opportunity with the new C director on board to change some job descriptions. So

059this is an FTE neutral recommendation. There's no additional staff. Um it's just a matter of changing some of the jobs. And so to replace Joann's position with a human resources HR support enga and support engagement and advocacy C coordinator to help with the new C director as well as HR functions and then um my executive assistant Sarah Thurling um to help out both myself and Mr. Lynch as well as the school committee. And so we've all worked together over the last couple of months to redo these two job descriptions. And I would ask your support so that we can we can post the human resources um support role. Sarah will continue her role with a different job description. >> Um but we do need to to post that new position as soon as possible. >>

060You very much make a motion on those contracts. I'll make a motion, Jack. >> I'll make a motion that the school committee vote to approve the non-union job descriptions as presented. >> Second by Mr. Gates. Roll call vote. Boroski, >> yes. >> Gates, yes. >> Benwick, yes. Wong, >> yes. >> Random lady, yes. >> Okay. Right. Up next, we have our new school redistricting plan. >> Thank you very much. So, I don't think it's a surprise. Um, I'm recommending option three for all the reasons that were were articulated very well on April 27th. Um, and I really do think after a lot of deliberation and it's and it's why we do what we do. We had three public meetings. We had all the discussions about it. We took a lot of community feedback. And I

061will tell you when we started this process in December, this wasn't necessarily the result that anything of us think would happen. So, it's an iterative process. We listen to the community. Um, and I think obviously makes a whole lot of sense. Um, you know, and I have been taking some phone calls. We've had a couple of parents with the oldest being in kindergarten who are currently at Cushing but know they'll be going to Watuk. We had that discussion and uh, you know, four parents reached out and I explained to them, you know, we wouldn't be able to provide transportation, but I would allow them to go to Watuk and start since it's their oldest in kindergarten. Two out of the four took me up on it. The other two said, "Hey, for their personal situation,

062it's best they stay at Cushing." Those are the kinds of discussions I enjoy having. They're specific. They're about that family, the needs of that family. Um, and then subsequent to this vote, I'll be reaching out to the class of 35, as I said, and we'll be talking to >> class of 35. >> Appreciate that. >> March. >> All right. Thank you. Thank you. >> Um, I will make a motion that the school committee vote to approve the redistricting plan option three as presented. Thank you very much. >> Second by Mr. Gates. Roll call vote here again. Boroski, >> yes. >> Gates, >> yes. >> Randolini, yes. >> Five to zero. >> Yeah. >> And again, thanks to the committee for all the hard work. This is the toughest things that we do is redistricting and

063working with families and we work really hard together. >> Yeah. Appreciate. I would say also a thank you to the IBT. especially the elementary principles. I think they all approached those conversations with such thoughtfulness and care. And I just have no doubt that wherever people's families and kids land that they are going to be very well taken care of and those principles will, you know, be so thoughtful. And if that came across too, they presented their SIS. So >> it's gonna be okay. >> 100%. Thank you for saying that. >> Um, so also in front of you is a beautifully written memo about the school naming process which I cannot find. So, if you have one Oh, that's Thank you. Okay. Thank you. I was going to Wait, but >> I'll read it. Um, so

064at the meeting on the 27th, the committee asked me to take a look at the naming process, kind of reflect on what had been done and make some recommendations moving forward. The first thing I did is I reached out to our architects and I said, you know, what is the deadline when you need this information? because there are decisions that they're making about the literally the number of letters to buy and all of those kinds of things. And they told me, you know, as long as you have it done by Columbus Day weekend, um they can manage. So, end of September, Columbus Day weekend at the at the latest, they would appreciate it sooner clearly if we can do it sooner. Um but end of September at the very latest Columbus Day weekend because they

065do need to order things in a timely way to make sure that whatever combination of letters we choose um they can they can do that. So that was the first conversation. So it actually bought us a little bit of time and and we could think about you know how we want to take the next three months. So my recommendation is that um by June 12th so about a month from now before our final meeting. So June 12th is simply because our final meeting is Monday June 15th for this year. So by that Friday before um what I'll do is to reconvene or recommending reconvene the working group. So we'll get together the working group. We'll have a public meeting posted. will meet probably here and we'll talk about um do you want to remain on

066the committee? I want to talk to everybody who's currently on the three choices that we have right now on the table. Um, but given the feedback that we've heard from the community, I think it makes a little sense to talk about what are the criteria moving forward if we're going to ask the committee to think about additional names, whatever they might be. What is some of the criteria? And I think what I'm suggesting is to, you know, honor the current agreements with the names, honor the three names that are out there. An awful lot of work went into getting there. Um, talk a little bit about pronouncability. Um, you know, we talked a little bit about what does that mean? you know, elementary students have to say the name of the school, parents have to

067say the name of the school. Um, what does that mean daytoday when you're when you're referring to it? Um, honor the student research that's been done. You know, we we we came up with some names, but there were other names that the students uh told us about that we can go back into that research and we can figure out what what other names are there that we can consider. Um, and then we also want to make sure there's an educational value to the choice. You know, there's a connection to situate. It has to be connected to situ and verifiable history. Some of the concerns that we heard with some of the other names that were rejected were um you know you couldn't necessarily verify that that person existed or maybe it was more folklore than

068it was reality in fact. And when you're doing something like this well folklore is great and the stories are awesome. We would certainly want to name a school that was somebody who had a verifiable history and and then to talk seriously about Cushing and Hathley. You know that's not currently on the table. The expectation is that it's going to be a new name. I've spoken at length to Mrs. Sheen and you know she feels strongly that we have a new school with a new culture and and we're not trying to merge necessarily two cultures. We're going to create a new one and and what does that mean? And and a new name allows for a new culture and so there's a piece of that as well. So at the end of the day after having

069that meeting I would probably open the membership up to two additional members uh from the community. Let's see how many people want to remain. you know, if if we have a lot of people who don't want to remain on the working group, then I may not add, we might just replace. But if everybody wants to stay, then we may add two members just to widen the voice um to put it out to the community. We can see who's interested and then do a a you know process where we just choose two people among among those people. Um and then perhaps what I'd ask the school committee is to authorize the working group to perhaps add two additional names to the list. So, we're not expanding it to 15 or 20 names, but we may go

070from three to five to give the committee a bit of an expanded view. Um, and we will have that discussion on June 15th, kind of where we're at. And then by September, meet a couple times over the summer in the month of September. Um, we would meet to discuss two additional names for consideration using our established criteria. I think that's important. like we'll get the criteria nailed down by June 15th and then we'll spend the time from that to the end of September evaluating any new names against the criteria we've all agreed on. So I think that will allow some additional voices into the process that will allow for everybody to understand what's happened that will honor the work that's been done um and also let us wrap this up by the end of September

071which we do need to do for the sake of the architect and and the project itself. So um it would have been a lot shorter if I couldn't found the memo. I appreciate the that thorough look at this. >> Anyone I did have a question. I was wondering if um we can set out as an ask for the working group that some of the members of that group are tasked with presenting to the school committee because I think part of where um we went wrong last time was that we didn't have that sort of public presentation by members of the working group and I think that helps for the broader community to see that this is people who have vested their time personal time in the process. Um, we didn't have that last time and

072I think that was one of the places where the process broke down a bit. So I just think perhaps in this initial ask like this is what it means to be part of this this goound because we're asking you to do some of that public presenting even if I just mean here not >> but like I just think that piece was missing last time and it would have been nice to have you know real people here sharing their own in their own voices first person accounting of what the work had been and what their recommendations were. I just think that always strengthens >> processes like this. >> Are we discussing criteria tonight or next meeting? >> A little of both. I can anything that you help me tonight will help me have that meeting with

073them, that first meeting. So >> I guess I I guess I had a couple of wonderings. The first I just want to be clear and I think I understand this Dr. Rob. We're keeping the three names that were already there. You're just going to add. So there's no discussion of those three names being taken away. >> No, I my plan is to let the working group know that we want to continue with those three names but add two. >> Okay, that's that's fine. I I don't know about the rest of the committee. I have a real problem with pronouncability as criteria. Like I think that if we find somebody who has a connection to Situit is a verifiable history is important to Situit that we should think about our ability to learn how to pronounce

074names that maybe aren't as familiar. I mean I can say as someone from Maryland I had to learn how to say Worcester. I had to learn how to say Wampa Noag and Wampauck and so >> my my family was like you live where and can you spell that? So I'm not saying it should be a hard pronunciation but I think that there isn't it isn't a bad thing if we have to learn how to say something. So I just want to be I don't want that to be like an exclusionary criteria. That's all I'm asking Tom. >> Yeah, I think that makes sense Carrie. I agree with you. I think this came across so much in the um community survey that we did. So, I think it's worth a working group having that conversation a

075little bit more and having a statement about it that says like listen, I don't care how many letters or how this, you know, like we talked about this and we decided that we're still, you know, for this, we're behind this. And I think that's part of what like to me was kind of missing. And then in the survey we got a lot of as I'm sure you recall. >> Yeah. Well, because most of the names, a lot of the names we shorten anyway. So like having that conversation, right? This is the formal name, but kids will probably call it gates or they'll call it whatever. So, um, the other thing I'm wondering about, Maria, I love your idea of having folks from the committee present to us. I'm wondering, Tom, if there's a way, not

076to make it long, too long, but like if we get to five names, but there were a couple of others in the running, it wouldn't be a bad thing to have the committee say, you know, compared to six and seven, this is how we got to four and five, right? Just so there's some context and understanding for the thinking process there. Um, >> yeah, I agree with that too, Carrie. That's important. Yeah, definitely. I agree on the pronunciation component, too. I mean, it's kind of subjective. >> Definitely. >> Yeah. So, yeah, but I think it's like it's worth like a we thought about this, we talked about this and here's where we, you know, came down as a group, >> you know, like I think it's just like got to acknowledge that, you know, >>

077right? And I think similarly on the Cushing Hly, I feel like last year when we initially convened this whole working group to begin with, it was because we had already said we were not going to name it Cushing Hly because of the same uh reason that Mrs. Sheen gave. It's the combining of and at that time we didn't even have the redistricting. So we didn't even we were just really just clueless back then. thought I think we had the same thought that you know at the Kush Cushing School they've got the Cushing Cats and Hatly has the hornets and they've got those you know kind of defined they've they do a lot at those schools around the those identities but to bring together cats and hornets is not work >> hornets I've thought about it

078there's not really a good way to do it >> and so I think to go to come out and have again a working group go ahead they can have that conversation, but to be able to publicly state again very clearly and maybe even in writing, this is why we're not doing that. It's not that we dislike those names. It's not like that we dislike, you know, the cultures that these schools have built. We love them. But in fact, the, you know, we want to really make space to build something new. And that's why we're not just going to call it Cushing Herly. We wouldn't have convened a working group if that would have been our answer way back a year ago. >> But it could be an option. No, I don't think it is an

079option. >> I think >> that's I think what we're saying. >> No, but the discussion has to be had of whether or not it should be one of the five. >> You know, we can talk about it. I think I'll make a compelling argument to to not use it. I think we can memorialize the names of the two schools. Memorialize so much next year. I mean, we used the fourth goal of all the SIPs was all of that work around the last year of both schools. Now, we're opening a brand new school and what that's going to mean. But yeah, I put it down here because I do want the committee to wrestle with it. I want the committee to talk about it. I want to understand it like you said, maybe something in writing,

080but a commit to commit also to memorializing the cultures of the two schools that we're closing. >> Yeah. >> You know, and I I really see it as we're closing two schools and opening a brand new one. And that has a certain kind of feel to it, >> you know, but you had talked a couple of meetings ago about memorializing, you know, the contributions. And so we can do that and I know we can do that and and that'll be part of this. >> Yeah. and the and the other naming options inside the building or around the building in terms of again I don't think it's reason I don't know if it will work but like the ECC what do we whatever one one of the names you can use is that >> there's plenty

081of options down the road and I don't want to make things complicated but perhaps that's something that can be at least discussed >> it's like the ECC I mean >> ECC people don't know what the ECC is but we can I don't know seaside elementary whatever it's called you know or seaside um preschool whatever it is >> might be >> something like that is really a separate program it really is and this is a new brand new building for that >> but it has been around a long time and it's been who's at the high school it's been a while everybody anybody >> is involved with ECC >> and those things can evolve over time too you know a lot of times as I've done other buildings in my career you know you do the

082building And then a couple years later, somebody says, "Well, it's, you know, the auditorium or the gym or the ECC or some other spot kind of makes sense in a moment." Yeah, and that's an opportunity. >> Tom, if I'm sorry, go ahead. >> Um, so was it my understanding that need because I know you and Mar have been involved with the presenting, but you weren't on the committee. So, does it make sense for one or two of us to be on the committee? because I'm >> great. Janice, >> well, I was going to mention I'm not going to be on the school committee. >> You could be one of your first committ >> I didn't want to be on. >> It's actually true. >> And that way like is a false sign. >> Yes. Report

083back. That's right. >> Tom, I was wondering if if several of the folks who were on the original committee don't want to serve, how are you thinking about the selection of folks for the committee? >> Right now, I was simply thinking of putting it out to the community and just seeing who might be interested. And then I, you know, I don't want to I'm wrestling with it. I haven't decided exactly. Um I don't want to say, well, we'll just pick it out of a hat because you might get, you know, two or three people at the same constituency. I really want to broaden the constituency. It's been it's been brought up in the past, you know, should we have, you know, the voice of the senior center, the voice of the veterans, the voice. So,

084I want to see who is interested and then kind of use that as an opportunity to maybe sort things out. >> Um, sorry, one more thing. Sorry, sorry. Um we did have the um representation from a historical society before and I do think that's really important to continue. They were really helpful in obviously just being able to >> tell us you know give us background information on Yeah, that was absolutely that was helpful. >> Well, thank you very much. So we'll put Janice up by All right. Next, our report of teaching and learning start here with your >> Thank you. I'd be happy to introduce uh Mr. Mike Wesnjak. He's the department chair of u world language and English learner programming. He's going to start first and then Mr. Jim Thomas will come up and

085present as well. So, we're really excited to have two more presentations. um or a report of uh teaching and learning. >> As Mr. Witch gets the laptop set up, I just wanted to say thank you very much for having me tonight. My name is Mike Lesnak. I'm the interim department chair for world languages and our multilingual learning population here in I've been in this role for about two months now. So it has been a big learning curve you could say. Um, but coming from the classroom, I would say that my students tend to describe me as eventempered with high expectations. And so those are things that I am hopefully going to bring into this book as well. So, as far as our program updates for this year, our aim in general as a program is

086to instill a love of language and an appreciation for cultural diversity in our students both in situate and as they move beyond. And the way that we're looking to do that is through our academics, our global citizenship program, and some experiential learning. So, as far as academics are concerned, this year we had 13 graduating seniors, including uh graduating with the seal of by literacy. I did put up a map in here because I did want to point out that Massachusetts is one of 13 states in the country that have the highest level of qualification in order to earn a seal of biiteracy. Students need to earn an intermediate high, which is a six or higher in all four domains. And the majority of states in the country require a five or higher. And so it

087is very exciting for our students when they are able to perform at these levels. We also had a total of 42 qualifying assessments this year for the seal of my literacy which is amazing. For our AP exam results in 2025, we had two Mandarin students take the exam. We had five French students and we had 13 Spanish students. And as you can see, they are relatively within the global averages, a little bit below, and Mandarin is a little bit tough to discern because we only have two students who were taking that test. So, as we are looking at the AP Chinese language and culture scores, historically over the years, we've had two students, three students, two students. And so, that is one of the focus areas. How do we continue to build and bring up

088this program and continue to have students taking more tests? Uh for our French language and culture, as you can see, is rising but relatively staying consistent as well. We have one student in 2023. We have five students in 2025, 2024, and another five in 2025. And again, they are right around that global average. And for our Spanish program, we had 10 students, 14 students, 13. So we are still in that relative same trajectory over the last three years. And again, we are right around the global averages as well. Some years a little bit higher, some years a highlights as department members, we were trained by Joshua Cabraw, who is a podcast host. He is a national presenter. He is also a teacher in Massachusetts. He came to speak to us during the March professional development

089day and the focus was on planning and assessing in the proficiency based classroom. So it's a shift in the Massachusetts world language standards and so he's helping us get up to speed. Like I said we had 32 new students qualify for the seal by literacy this year. Over 550 students took the stamp exam which is how we determine qualifications for the seal of biiteracy and today we started with our eighth grade students at Gates. So we are able to get a little bit more data top to bottom in the program. We had increased participation in our dual enrollment partnership with Quinsey College. Um, I believe we are sixfold what we were last year, which sounds super impressive or the numbers are we have 12 students who are enrolled compared to two last year, but I

090prefer to sixfold. Um, and we had several students pass the access test, which is a qualification for English learners to move out of that English learner program. And while not everyone passed, others made significant progress. some students increased almost as much as two levels on a scale of 1 to six. So, we are seeing great progress there. As far as our multilingual learners in district, you can see the year-over-year, we doubled from last year, but again, it's relatively consistent in that 10 to 15 student range. And broken down by school for this year, we have two to four multilingual learners in each school. So it is a relatively low population compared to districtwide but it is very important to highlight the work that they are doing to make sure that our entire population is represented.

091In addition to academics we have the global citizenship pathway. We have 11 students. Again this kind of is going to be one of the students graduating with a distinction of the global citizenship pathway. And in my short term time on this job, one of the highlights so far has been reading through their essays and talking about what the program has helped them see and help them learn. And so I wanted to pull out some of the highlights of the student experience. And we had students talking about how they were, I love this term, confronted with the reality that I had to use Spanish to talk. And so it was one of those things where we learn about everything in class and you learn it in such a contextualized nature that once the student was off

092on their own they said wait I need to use this not just in these context but I need to use this overall and it just made me smile so much. Um, another student went to China and she was talking about how people can't hold one opinion for one country or any one people and that even in the US regional differences are everywhere. So why would you not transfer that same thinking when you're thinking about other countries? And another student who was working in a hospital was talking about how effective care requires understanding people and meeting them where they are. And so seeing these reflections out of 18year-olds is invigorating and inspiring and I I don't really know how else to put it but it's definitely something that I wanted to highlight today. And then through

093experiential learning as well, we have field trips. Our Mandarin program went into Quinsey. They went grocery shopping and at a restaurant. They went to a restaurant as well. We had our eighth grade French program in Quebec this past weekend. They just got back. We have the Spanish exchange that went to Victoria and Gro in Spain. And we have the French exchange as well. And so what's next as we start to zipper up this year and I get to learn a little bit more and have a full year in front of me. As far as academics, we are getting into the first phase of our curricular review for next year. So I'm excited to look and see what we're doing from 6 to 12 and how can we continue to grow and improve. Looking to explore

094program retention from grade 11 to grade 12. We have a two-year language requirement for graduation. Beyond that, we have around 83% of our juniors stay in the program. And then senior year, that drops down to around 40%. And I think one of the reasons is that we have so many wonderful classes that are available to seniors to take. So, how do we make our offerings just as wonderful or more wonderful for them? And then also looking at researching elementary implementation models because how do we continue to grow the program and have more students with more of these experiences earlier on travel? We are going to continue our relationship for exchange programs and we are going to be heading back to Ireland for 2027 2028. That is the current plan. And then for the citizenship part,

095we are looking to expand pathway access through local and regional partnerships and see what else is out there again to continue to grow and expand the program. >> Thank you very much. Any questions? >> Thank you so much. Questions? >> Um I have a couple. Yeah, a couple. Um this is great. Um, one question is the number of students taking the AP exams. How does that correlate to the number of students in the AP classes that are eligible to take the exams? >> It is at least 50% or higher. I know Spanish we had 15 exams. No, 18, I'm sorry, 18 out of 19. This year we had 15 students in here and a few in a different location. We had four French students out of 10 and I would like to say another four

096Mandarin students out of around 68. So the numbers are about 50% plus and really I think the biggest focus is how do we grow those AP programs not just the numbers to stay test. >> Yeah. interesting. Um and the other qu maybe I can ask Anna this is um the what do we call it the pathway >> the so how does Anna how did Anna did you know that you qualified for that or did you just complete a certain number of courses and like hey you qualified >> so okay for most people I feel like it's a um you worked it's a goal you work towards but throughout my past four years I've kind of just like tried to immerse myself in language like not on this certain path. Um I was actually looking at

097another pathway that actually doesn't exist but um that's top for another day but um this I was kind of just like talking about it with my friends um who are were working towards it and they were saying wait you might so I kind of just realized I happened to qualify for it um and a big part portion of it was um like my role in exchange programs I like hosted a French exchange student I did both ways of that Spanish exchange. Um, and it is like certain AP requirements and stuff. >> Yeah, I kind of just happened to call, but >> And when did you did you just find out like this semester? Last semester. >> I want to say this semester. Probably in March, maybe February. I don't >> No, I'm just curious. I

098I'm still trying to synthesize what the pathway does, I guess, or the purpose of the pathway. And I feel like we have several, but I guess my experience just anecdotally is asking students is like, did something you work specifically towards like freshman year you knew you were going to take these classes to get to there? And that doesn't seem to be the case. It's not just with with the global citizenship, it's with any pathway. I was just curious kind of how that all plays out. >> Yeah, it's a really good question and I think we um um this being the spring season, we have two DESIE defined pathways um business and finance and environmental stewardship. And so, um, those are supported, uh, with ICPS. I I don't know if you saw the recent article about,

099uh, vocational education and like the the twist of schools like ours to try to get more students involved in, um, job preparation and industry experience, but those are DESIE designated. Then we have some other path pathways like the global citizenship, and you'll see one that is referenced in um, fine performing arts as well. And so with all of these growing um early stage pathways, we see the need to communicate um more clearly to our community what these opportunities are and how students can attain them. So I think Anna's story is perfect like um especially since she's a senior and like over four years these pathways have been introduced. So one thing that we're working on across all departments is perhaps like a one sheet that would say here are the different path pathways we offer.

100what's the difference between the destiny designated ones and these other ones. So um absolutely we're working on communicating we have some models um from Julie Ward's work with some other districts who are a little bit farther ahead than situate. We have some really good models for how to communicate that to kids. So definite next step. We're excited about it. And um it is helpful to have pathways that aren't necessarily Desi designated because some of our departments um find um opportunities that kids are passionate about and want to channel kids that way or or just provide them an experience for them to express what they're passionate about. So >> um we're we're in the process of making that really clear. >> Great. Thank you. those one pagers would be really helpful just with for parents and

101students just to see the clear see it laid out clearly and to answer that question Peter because I think to your point and you kind of touched on it too is this has been sort of underdevelopment some of the pathways during but if you're a student who's had tenure here during development you might not have caught it as a freshman in the way that incoming freshmen will and could so >> did yours ex did you think yours the other one existed and it didn't or was I don't know if you guys actually know about it. It was like the biomed path. So yeah, I was told about that my because it was like my decision between taking AP chem or not um because it was like the big like AP science classes required for it.

102So it kind of pushed me to take that. Obviously I'm grateful I took it either way, but um that was going to be the path that I worked towards. But honestly, I think finding out I qualified for this is just as rewarding as working for it in all four years. I think it's cuz this is another like extreme interest of mine. I think you I'm going to carry it on to college as well learning language. Um >> great answer >> and I don't think I would have done that without the programs we have. I think the exchange programs the Spanish classes I take um definitely went up their hand. I do think that challenge you mentioned about when students get into that sort of upper classman, junior, senior course selection, it is really hard, especially

103with the offerings having been expanded in AP and advanced coursework that it is hard to know like to make those choices. It's really hard when you're trying to think about >> that is something that we're working on. And so we have looked at the curriculum. We're implementing a new film class for next year that we're going to be writing over the summer. So hopefully that will help in retention. going to be looking different as well. >> Yeah, you heard students say they would sorry they wish for like even another period in the day like they could pick another class and keep how interesting some of these classes are to them which is great. But >> I was wondering if um the like criteria for kids to sort of like one of the benefits of an

104AP class, right, is that if you get that three might not have to take the the entry level class in college. I was curious if for language if the if colleges kind of see that differently than like a you know AP English that gets you out of you know English 101 or something. I was wondering if there's any difference there if if like colleges you know or if a kid wants to like switch languages and they're like well I'm going to switch languages anyway or I don't know trying to think a little bit more about why it's less maybe like why they're less invested in taking the AP. I don't know if you've had any have any say on that. >> I I think that that is a wonderful question that I'm going to continue

105to rack my brain over over the next few months to try and figure out to get to some of the root causes about how do we continue. >> I think we I mean I'm going personally going through it right now with my student who's going to be a senior next year and >> as you indicated there's just >> seems like senior they finally get to choose more of their classes like they only have a couple of core classes I need to take. they really get to um experiment I guess with some other class that that peique their interest and foreign language may not be their interest. They've been taking it since some most kids in sixth grade the same language >> they're like all right I'm done and I'm going to go do >> something

106else. >> Yeah. I think I think that I I would assume that's probably what it >> it's it's a catch 22 as an educator because I want to build my program as much as possible, but I also want students to be able to explore their interest and I don't want to shoehorn them into a class and have them miserable in there just because it builds our numbers. >> Yeah. >> I was curious um this might be one of the aspects of your rule that's newer, but the multilingual learner programming. I was just wondering if there's any like more detail that either you or maybe Ryan could give about that. I was just wondering like is there a consistency in our district in terms of what is the home language for those students or you know

107the types of um programs and supports they receive? I think I'm probably outdated in my knowledge about this. Like kids would take you know a test and they'd be designated as a former language learner. I don't know what like kind of what that world looks like right now. I was just curious if either of you have any more detail that again that might be really new to you. >> So I I am still learning about this process. What I've gathered so far is that yes they they still take the access test. >> Okay. >> Um >> and it's the the one to six scale. >> Okay. >> Um we have two EL teachers in district. Um, this year we had one teacher who was working at Gates in the high school and another who was

108at all four elementary schools. >> Okay. >> Next year we're looking at ideally a little bit more of a split where we're going to have each teacher at three different buildings. >> Okay. >> Again, not ideal. Um, and so yes, there is consistency in the delivery just because again we have the the smaller numbers to support. If you do have that consistency, they work very well together. >> I don't know if that fully >> Yeah, that's helpful. I just wanted a little more detail there. >> Yeah, we just Mike and I wanted to shed a light on the work of our elementary e um teacher and our secondary e teacher for those 17 students that you saw. We're required to uh test all those students in in January and February, ensure they're making decent progress.

109Their progress is also tracked just like any selected population. Um we're excited when students attain that um specific score to um to sort of progress um from um EL supports and students can have different levels of support like just being monitored perhaps one block a week perhaps several blocks depending on how they score >> usually pull out >> uh it can be it's it's also participation in u the certification the teacher may need to have certification to support uh to be an to be endorsed. Um so there's a gra there's a a graduation of um a bunch of different levels of support a student can qualify for. >> Okay. >> So we just wanted to shed a light on the work that um our multilingual language staff do to support those um the needs of

110those 17 students. >> Do a lot of teachers attain their certification? Sorry. As uh >> many many do now because it's a requirement of the professional license. So, um, we have a we have, um, we have a good number. Yes. >> It's a part of the professional license, I think. Okay. Just curious. Thank you. It's been a minute since I thought about any of that. >> There's so many contact minutes that we're required to provide based on their level. So, that's what informs, you know, the teachings. It's very individualized. We're only 17, >> right? Yeah. That was what I was thinking. That's kind of tricky looking at the spread across all the schools. I was thinking like spread out. >> The numbers were surprisingly low. ITEL too. So basically are aren't there requirements for some

111sort of staffing relative to English langu some sort of requirements minimum staffing or >> well that's what we have. >> Yeah that's what we have at the elementary. >> Yeah it is tough to manage that but I am surprised by the low number of English learn English language learners in our district. I would have expected there to be more. >> That's great. Glad that we're able to support them. Thank you. Thank you. >> So, I just want to thank Mike for his transition. Remember, he stepped in halfway through the year to take this role, uh, including filling a position, uh, a Spanish position at the high school, taking on a new class, um, teaching at the middle school, evaluating staff, running department meetings, preparing to hire more people. >> I'm hiring my third position right

112now in two months. >> Yes. So, we really appreciate uh, your effort in the transition. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Next up is Jim Thomas, our fine performing arts department chair, coming off the success of um Spring for the Arts. So Jim, welcome. Thank you for the opportunity for me to speak tonight to you. My voice is not in great shape, but it's, believe it or not, better than it was on Saturday. I had no voice. Um, but I'm excited to share with you some of the exciting things going on in the fine arts department. And um I'll give you kind of a quick overview of what we're looking at. Um so just this past Thursday we celebrated our 2026 uh spring for the arts and it was a pretty incredible night. We'll

113get into that in just a second. We have um a new pilot program of an alltime course program that we're going to introduce into two into 2627 and that's uh sure to be exciting as well. We have some data that we're going to share with you regarding our retention rates with elementary band and then we'll uh look at our visual arts pathway which um ultimately the long goal is to have that grow into a unified fine arts pathway. And then finally, we'll finish up with a program development, a notable one, a point 6 trauma position at the high school, which uh is really gratifying to me to see the middle school curriculum, which has been so successful, continue now through the high school. I'll give you some fun facts here with regard to our spring

114for the arts. We had uh 15 choruses performed, five bands, three jazz bands, artwork from students in grades three through 12 throughout our district, two drama club presentations, the use of uh the CPA, the CPA lobby, the large gym, it's SHs, the art wing, the blackbox theater, the art maker space. In addition, we had two food trucks. And I have my best calculation in terms of the amount of people that showed up was anywhere from 2500 to 3,000. So it was really successful. >> Incredible. >> And I think it's really a testimony to uh the support that we received from the community regarding the spring for the arts and the arts in general. Thank you. Um I think it's important um we've been working at the idea of uh looking at data to help inform

115some of the decisions that we make regarding uh in this case the band program because it can reveal trends that are important to pay attention to and um that can help us to serve our students better. Um the sixth grade, I drew attention to the sixth grade in in particular because it uh posed unique challenges. I think um for your typical fifth grader going into sixth grade is a big transition. We all know that and that uh comes through in the arts as well. Um kids are concerned about the changing of classes. Um how will their new teacher in the sixth grade be different? I don't know all the students in the other buildings, things like that. And um what we've done to try to um address some of those issues is to try to

116have a grade five, six step up night that um celebrates all the students in the band program in grade five. Brings them all together in one place at the middle school. They get to experience the facility, meet the new teacher, have some pizza, and who doesn't like pizza? um and um and really do some team building and getting to know each other. We've found that that um that has really helped our retention rates and our crossover rates for the articulation period from grade five to six. In addition to that, we've used the data to help us with exit survey information um in terms of learning from students that despite our best efforts don't continue with an instrument to find out if there's trends that might support us doing something different to meet the needs of

117students. Um we've put into place a protocol for addressing students concerns. So there's a calibrated approach. There are many different music teachers that are teaching, but we want to have a unified or calibrated approach so that all students are experiencing the same um process in trying to identify what maybe perhaps the root issue is. Um this is something I've been working on for a bit, a mentoring program. Um we have a unofficial one that we've been playing with. My goal is to formalize that program over the next year and really um celebrate the idea of high school kids working with our middle school age kids in a really uh quantifiable way. I think it's uh it's right for the picking because we have one big campus here and I think uh studentto student relationships can

118give us things that adult to student relationships can never get. Um, and then a new collaboration that I ventured into with the recreation department was a summer band program. And I put this into place largely because I saw the summer as an opportunity to uh build momentum and skills at a time of year when there's for some less stuff going on or what it had been is a time to lose momentum. Um, everyone has good intentions, but the instruments sit in the corner for the entire summer. And then we spent a month and a half getting back to where we were in the spring. So, we had a very successful summer. Kids enjoyed themselves. Uh, the teachers came together in different ways and we put on a nice performance at the end of it, but

119most importantly, kids are gathering skills and concepts and entering the new year with more than they left. So, uh, that's an exciting development, too. I'm excited to uh I guess I keep I'm excited to talk about the elementary uh chorus. This is an idea that I've had for a while and I'm happy to say that my music staff is totally on board and excited about this opportunity. Here's the idea. For students that are looking for an additional experience in course, they can opt into this program where they meet once a week with their fellow students from their building and then once a month all the students converge and do a rehearsal at one of the elementary schools and that would rotate according to each month. Um it gives a opportunity for us to further build

120community which I think is a important thing to do of course um to investigate coral music at a deeper level and provide students probably most importantly with an opportunity that they don't currently have. So looking forward to that and I think uh to further this this become a model for us to investigate the um the band program too. We could plot a similar course the visual arts pathway um pilot. We realized about twothirds of the way through after having um some long conversations with Mr. Orary and others that have been on this course for a bit that our students in our visual arts program are really satisfying many of the requirements for a visual arts pathway as it is. Um, and this is an opportunity to be intentional, and I think that's the word I

121would use, intentional for students to think about how these different aspects of the pathways is coming together to help support them in hopes of a future career in education, graphic design, architecture, or some other artistic endeavor. And this might help you Peter in terms of like how how it's defined and broken out. We see it this way. The uh required courses would be eight credits um in the studio realm and eight credits in the portfolio range. There would be selective courses and what I mean by that are courses that widen the lens slightly so that kids can experience other disciplines and still satisfy requirements in the visual arts pathway. There are extracurricular uh considerations whether they're a part of art club, tech club, spring for the arts, whether they have some special role that's um

122that's meaningful and has to be time consuming and requests from uh school districts from across the district to generate artwork and that that happens periodically. It's it's hard to uh legislate exactly what that looks like because it's different every year. And then finally, volunteer and internship opportunities and a portfolio experience. So the volunteer and internship uh experiences, what I like about them is it brings real world experience into their u their experience and a capstone brings a u something to their experience. So that's what this is pretty rigorous and we find that kids should be recognized for their efforts. And then finally, as I mentioned earlier, I'm excited about the potential for this 6 drama position at Situ High School. I think it uh completes a curriculum cycle now that runs through 12th grade potentially.

123Um it enhances the students experience beyond the middle school. Um I think it's a great pairing our drama club with the drama class. Kids can learn skills and concepts and apply them in the club if they wish. In terms of the execution of how we're going to roll this program out, there'll be an introduction to theater course. And the idea behind this is that it's touch points in all aspects of the theater program, both production, tech, and acting. And then from there, students can decide to take a deeper dive into set design and production or in the fall acting one and in the spring acting two. Um, and as I mentioned, you can apply these school skills and concepts to our after school drama club. So, some exciting things coming our way, I think. Uh,

124certainly over to any questions you might have. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. Lots going on. fine arts department. >> Yeah. >> Questions, comments, and >> No, right. I I appreciate the um the retention, I guess, the focus on retention. >> Yeah, me too. >> Um again, this is just through my personal experience, but I feel like there it's important to maintain the program. I think that what you're doing I think by adding the summer probably work to maintain some kids and I think trying to figure out how to continue to make fine arts what it is in citrus I think it's always been very very well respected but I think it is important to figure out the numbers which you have and how to potentially increase those numbers or maintain I should say

125maintain those numbers. >> Yeah it's it's been frankly tricky. We've tried the accident view information and that's that's helpful to a degree, but it's so elusive because kids >> for a variety of reasons don't want to, you know, tell you exactly what the issue is. >> So, sometimes you get it, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you're left guessing what's going on here. Um, but that combined with a protocol for addressing concerns, I think, has helped >> because it gives us a much more thorough approach and consistent approach. to really getting at whatever the root issue is. Um, and uh, hopefully retaining the student. >> Yeah. No, I just like the fact that you're focusing on you stated that that's what you you have done and will do. I think that's great. It's a great step. >>

126You know, what I didn't say about Spring for the Arts is I cannot tell you how proud I am of my uh, my staff and how hard they work. And um, you know, we get sick. We work so hard. It's >> true. No, but I'm honestly >> I'm so proud of uh the crew and the work that they put in and it it really is a welloiled machine. So, kudos to everyone. >> The arts was fantastic this year as always. So much fun. >> Thank you. >> Kids enjoyed it and I mean it was I can't I believe those numbers are I mean it was mocked here so and throughout. just to see all those kids performing together, too, which is just such a, >> you know, it's a heartwarming moment, I think, for Situate.

127And >> yeah, I think that that's particularly neat. You get a snapshot of the whole band program and if you're a younger parent and student, you have some opportunity to see what lies ahead with some work, you know. I love the the work that you're doing around just the bridging with the the step up day for trying to keep that retention or just interest of kids because at those ages there's just they're being pulled in so many directions but to catch them at and and build that community too with the other elementary schools as they go into middle school is just such a great opportunity to have that. So that was really great. >> Yeah. And I think the other thing is education where we're getting better at in our initial talks with families. Not

128so much that the arts presents it. It's a double-edged sword. It has been for me since I've been 10 years old and I'm 56. I've played saxophone for 46 years. And the best and worst thing about it is that my work is never done, you know. And I think there are plateaus. There are ways that music tests you. And if you're um resilient and you realize that there'll be tests that come, then you'll stick with it and continue on. And I think those lessons are now more important than ever. I >> mean, it's similar to what Mr. Lesniak was saying, the challenge as they get into those upper class, you know, what to choose in their schedule and how to really choose fine art and to stay in those programs and stay in band and

129chorus and >> Yeah. And you know what we haven't talked about today that I think is important to know that we're considering is pathways are great. My only concern with pathways is you want to have the ability for a student to try something new and different. Um and I will tell you that all of the department chairs are in agreement that we need to build reciprocity in the course offerings that we have so that students can find their ways into different disciplines and opportunities. It's a tricky balancing act, but it's one that at least we're mindful of. Absolutely. I agree with that. >> I've always felt that I'm happy. >> Great. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Policy subcommittee policies tonight. Policy talk. No, I love you're about to colder makes me

130>> I know this is not the time to be losing your your your strength here. We're just getting into it. Um so we wanted to bring the C policies to the group. Um there are very much fewer of them than the B's, but our hope is to be able to um accomplish a um overhaul of them similar to the B policies. So our intention is for the subcommittee to review them in much of the way that we did with the B policy. So you can see in the document here we have assigned them to ourselves in thirds. So we will each be taking a close look at our own third. So the first third is Ryan's, the next third is Janice's, the last third is mine. Um, so that in our subcommittee, we'll do the

131same thing we did last time, like give you guys back a very like specific, you know, this cross out, replace it with that, you know, here's our recommendation. But before we do that, we wanted to give the whole group a chance to look at these um, and see if there's anything that you all as a group wanted to note or wanted us to look at or make sure that we did or did not do in our next step uh, review. But our goal is to get these tied up before the end of this school year. So we're already running towards that. >> Have a blast. >> Thanks. >> And will you missing >> some of them look like that? >> Just the clean up kind of. >> Yeah, basically. >> This is a particular section

132where we have extras that mask doesn't have. I noticed that in a few places. >> You'll have to investigate that a bit. Um try to understand where that's coming from historically. Um, sometimes when we come across those, we realize upon reading them, oh, like that makes sense. We understand why we would have that. It can also be helpful when we come across those to see if other any other districts in the state also have them. Um, because just because mask doesn't have it doesn't mean we don't need it or want it. It doesn't we don't automatically discount it, but it's just, you know, it also seems like sometimes masks updated their policy and it includes a piece that we've got separated into more than one. you know, it's just that correct little housekeeping, but just

133to make it more succinct, just always appreciated. >> Absolutely. Um, one that I really liked was CBI evaluation of the superintendent. I feel like the mask version is much more um specific and it kind of gets at like the heart of why we're doing the evaluation as opposed to ours is like a little bit more procedural. Um, so I think that's a good example of like this more modernized version here that we see that mask has done, which was updated in 2022, so it's fairly recently. I think >> ours has no date. >> Ours has. Yeah, God good goodness only knows when I know when ours was done. Um, but we just wanted to preview these and give you all a chance if you had any notes or thoughts. Um should it down there's one

134thing that I was hoping you guys could clarify. Um you can always email us. >> Okay. It was like a clarification on one of the mask policies. It was uh I think it might be in the superintendent vote one. It was something like uh the way it's written I was unclear if we needed a majority vote or if it was >> oh >> a by vote you know what I mean unanimous. >> Yep. >> Um and that was on the mask side. >> Okay. >> We can keep an eye out for that when we're >> I can emailize when I find it. >> Okay. But it was just a cl I don't know if maybe I wasn't reading it correctly or if it was somewhere else clear and piece of it. But um >> is

135it in CBD superintendent contract? >> Um it's yes. >> Yeah. It says in accordance with said contract or in the absence of specific contract language by vote of the members >> like the committee or negotiate successor contract >> just says vote of the members. I assume it just means a simple majority in that case. >> Yeah. Yeah. Superintendent contract. >> We don't have to be like anything else. Just a majority. >> Just a majority. >> Okay. >> Yeah. We could take a look. >> Yep. Great. >> Anything Peter? >> Thank you for doing it. >> Okay. So, he doesn't. Nope. Carrie, did you have anything that you wanted to No, you're good. >> I'm good. >> Also, thank you for Thank you. >> Okay. All right. Fantastic. Thank you. We'll look forward to seeing those

136again >> after your review. Uh, we have a warrant for tonight. Back up. >> Just the written one. >> Oh, I think there's one in our >> There is one in our backup. >> Is there Okay. Cindy has gone on vacation, so I may simply have missed it in trying to get everything together. So, I will read in warrant number S26514. >> That's it. >> Yeah, that's it. >> Yeah, for $263,62163. >> Thank you. Like I said, I think it just got misplaced in all my >> We have Yeah, we have back up. So, >> as I'm now >> Yeah. looking forward to getting payrolled up. >> Peter, you like this is your last chance to There might not be a warrant. >> Oh, and the warrant. >> No. That's a small one. No, we

137at least good. Electric utilities is pretty high, but we'd expect that. >> Wanted something on the record like a buy on that just in case there could be one more. >> Um, we need to watch out for utilities next year. There's not really really no one. Yeah, >> I would expect that our budget that we budget for it's probably not going to be enough as >> but that's not for now. >> Thank you for the foreshadowing. >> Okay, thank you. Thank you. >> I will make a motion to adjurnn. >> No, not yet. >> You're We're plugged. We're plugged. >> Um any subcommittee reports? >> Subcommittee working groups. I do have one just so I attended the >> it was a I don't it wasn't actually um I don't know I attended a meeting um

138convened by um >> did you board member um Nico Aanao about the ebikes I wanted to share an update >> so in that meeting um it was a representative from the um beautifification commission police bylaw review uh bike commission, economic development commission and or committee and me. So it was a smallest group. Um he shared that Governor Healey has filed some legislation back on May 4th, the Ride Safe Act. So it'll be a while before it kind of makes its way through the process, but what that would do would be to introduce some requirements onto ebikes such as insurance, registrations, and licensing for the very top tier of ebikes. So I I learned a lot. >> Oh my god, there's more than one tier. >> There are many tiers, Janice. Any tiers. So this is

139it was actually very educational for me because I didn't really know a lot about them. Um so we talked about how there are, you know, kind of the more basic pedal assist bikes. Yeah. >> Um that you might not even know as an ebike when you see someone riding it. Just looks like a regular bike. Um all the way to what is called a fat tire or mini bike that has a throttle situation and those can some speed and things like that. Um and there's like this. So there's a range in there. And so for that very top tier, the kind of more motorcycley of the of the ebikes that those are the ones that kind of this ride safe act would require like things like insurance registration that >> but um we had just

140a conversation amongst the group about ebikes in situ. Um a lot of people shared a lot of great uses for ebikes. Um they really make riding more accessible to more people. Um they allow people to get further around town than they might otherwise get. Um there was talk about not only like teens and kids but also older adults in town. So there's actually like a fairly high amount of usage it seems but we don't really have any concrete data on numbers, who's using them, why, how, like there's just that seems like a logical next step. Um the person who was there from the police department did not report that there are any un unusual problems or like doesn't seem like there's a problem with ebikes. So that's good. Um but this is >> so there

141hasn't been any like accidents. >> No, there has been. >> There's been near misses I'm sure. >> So yeah. And so that's kind of like where this group was talking is just like, you know, what can we do to make sure that they stay safe and stay accessible and how do we make such a place that, you know, where these things are welcomed and, you know, kids are able and people are able to use them. And so, um, I think where we come in is the schools. Obviously, a lot of kids are riding these to and from school. Um, school is a natural place where children and families gather. So, it seems like a good place to try to think about education. We do have some programs already, the um safe routes to school. We

142have those bike days at all the elementary schools where they'll come in and they'll have a bike to school day and they do some bike safety. They hand out the reflectors that go on the kids. They can they'll grow them onto their whatevers. Um they review bike safety. They have um the bike commission has done some um bike derbies um at different elementary schools. So there's lots of I think existing programs and ways we can think about expanding those traditional um traditional and ebikes you know so this is ebikes are not yet their own category I think in some of the trainings that this bike committee has been doing in town but it stands to reason that they might maybe should be you know um the situate police officer that was there did not say

143that he thought that kids not wearing helmets was a huge problem I think when we're around town we all see sometimes we see a kid without a helmet, but it's it's more the exception than the rule. Um, but they have been piloting something that they call safety cones where they will give a certificate to a kid when they're doing the right thing and they get a free ice cream cone. >> Um, and I was encouraging him to include big kids in that. >> When you see a teenager, don't assumebody anybody should be anybody and adults, right? Yeah. And so, um, but I think that's like a great example of like something that might come up with this is like, you know, it's not just about punishing or banning or anything. It's it's meant to be

144more of a a broader conversation about just all the ways people are using them. How can we encourage people to be safe? Um, so the safety pumps was a good idea and something that is just a pilot this year. Um, >> did he discuss the the police run >> the like the speed of the bike and how that the ebike and how that puts it in a different category? >> Those are the tiers. Um, that's where like part of the tier the tiering of the ebikes comes in. Um, so yeah. So like there's never going to be like the case that you need to like I shouldn't say never, but most likely there would not be the case you need to get a license for something that's like a penalty. But when you talking about

145these bikes that are going fully motorized and so that's where there has like there needs to be like some clearer distinctions. It's kind of like the industry moved a lot faster than the regulation. So now we're sort of playing catch up and realizing okay there's what are the categories? What needs to happen for each of them you know? makes sense. >> Is this group reconvening? >> So, yeah, I was going to say I'm not I I do think it will probably reconvene. Anyone else would like to be our liazison through the ebike group, please let me know. >> There are also a lot of I mean there are also already a lot of Massachusetts laws around e dirt bikes, e it's all different classes and different motor sizes. So, like I, you know, I just

146I don't know. I I as a I mean I'm a road biker, not an electric biker. I think there are places where we're already starting to do some of the safety like where do you ride on the road? Are you signaling when you're turning? Are you wearing your helmet? Are you talking to the people in front of you to say like on your left? Like I think there's a lot we can do and not I just I just hope I just want us to be having discussions, not being like, "Oh, we have to ban these things because they're, you know, dangerous." That was definitely not the the conversation. It was very pro biking and pro helping people kind of like, you know, get to a place. One interesting part of the conversation, I think, was

147like for a lot of parents, we tell our kids to ride on the sidewalk because that is >> and especially for little kids, you want them on the sidewalk. >> At what point do we cross into a place of not wanting them on the sidewalk and what does that look like? And if you're a kid who's grown up riding on the sidewalk, you haven't had to learn turn signals and things because you're literally just looking for the sidewalks and how to get from one sidewalk to the next around town. But when you're a teenager and suddenly you're driving something that is a little bit more has a motor on it, >> now you maybe are on the street, but you haven't learned how to be on the street, you know? So that's like a different

148skill set that we'll have to start thinking about. >> So yeah, it's it's interesting. >> Thank you for representing. >> Did you proike? That's the >> That's the headline. >> All right. Thank you for that report. Um I don't think we had any others to have school building committee meeting on Wednesday >> on site which is exciting. >> Tour the site. >> Yeah. Do we get hard hats? >> I'm sure there will be hard hats. There will be hard hats. pictures. Pictures. >> Yes. >> All right. Anything else? And sub committees and working groups. >> I think we're going to table that until we have our new person on board, right? >> Yeah. Next year. >> Yep. >> School year almost. >> Can email us if you have a question. >> Committee sit.org. No current

149office hours. Okay. So, >> Peter's ready. >> Motion was 808. Second. Okay. Roll call vote. Boroski. >> Yes. >> Gates. >> Yes. >> Benedict, yes. >> Yes. Yes.