001All right, let's get moving forward with our FY27 budget public hearing, we are going to open up tonight with our student report. Um so to start so far during this school year the 25th and the 26 um we have 49 seniors which is 29% of the student body for seniors are enrolled in schoolto career internships and we continue continue to expand our Quincsey College dual enrollment offerings um which we briefly talked about last meeting. Um, also Situate High School had 73% of students who took at least one AP exam last uh last year during high school. Um, 84% of students who took an exam earned a three or better. So, that's pretty good. Um, also a big congrats to the math team. They had a 48 point showing at Cohasset. Um, and they wanted us
002to shout out Corbin board who had a career high of four points. >> Excellent. So, shout out to Corin. >> Um, along with this, the stress less, laugh more initiative um took place in towards the end of January. And this is just like a week-long thing to um spread awareness about mental health and teach students to practice health and coping mechanisms with it because has become a prominent part of our society and like this age group. So, I think it's a really good initiative to take place in high school especially. Um, recently 125 SHs business students competed at the DECA District 1 Conference. Um, I spoke to a lot of the students. I talked to Mr. Mackey. Um, he said it was a big big success. So, I know uh, DECA is a great program
003and our kids really like going to it. >> Um, also I feel like we mention this every meeting, but um, college decisions keep coming in which once again it's always exciting to see, but um, the town scholarships will be opening up soon. So seniors, it's um something to look out for and start applying for which is exciting in the beginning of February. >> Oh yeah. Um I also just wanted to shout out one uh student who has a project he wanted me to share. Um Luke Hanley is a junior at Situit and part of his student uh his civic action project last year um with his two partners Will Hine and Emmy Corkkins. Uh they've built a website to help freshmen acclimate to SHS and incoming eighth graders. Uh it has information to help them
004get involved in clubs, activities, and other general advice to make for a smooth transition into the building. Um he's been continuing to work on it this year and is trying to get it included in the SHS website. I know the website's already been published, but I kind of wanted to bring that up and just say that was something he's been working on and yeah, shout that out. >> What is the website? Do you know what the URL? Uh I don't I can reach out to them and ask for it though. >> Yeah. >> I think that's everything from us. You guys have any questions? >> All right. >> Thank you so much. >> Of course. >> Fantastic. All right. I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Rob for our budget. >> Thank you very
005much, Mrs. Brandolini. Members of the commission, I'm very pleased to present our FY2027 school budget in the amount of 55,29,061 or 4 and a.5% more than our current year. We can start the SL. >> Okay. So, I'm there. Just go to the page. Oops. This budget is a combination of 50,294,317 from the town of Situit and $4,734,000 $744 from a combination of state and federal grants. And you know that we'd have revenue from non-resident tuition, bus fees, sports events receipts, pack revenue, and preschool tuition. I would like to personally thank the financial forecast committee consisting of representation from the school committee, select board, capital planning, as well as town administrator, town accountant, town finance director, the school superintendent, and our director of finance. We meet regularly to review and track spending and make adjustments to
006the budget. It's been extraordinarily helpful to have these numbers well in advance of the budget presentation for planning and implementation. Our FY2027 budget is largely a level services budget. That means there are no proposed staffing cuts and where expenses are moved, it is in response to a planned curriculum need. We have the funding to continue all of the great things we're doing as well as fund the curriculum plan that Mr. Lynch is going to discuss in a moment. We are moving forward with confidence and on a solid financial footing here in Sichu. Since our enrollment is stable for next year, we do not need to add a significant amount of staff and we're accommodating enrollment spikes in different grade levels through staff transfers which the principles will talk about in a moment. Earlier this evening,
007we talked about adding a point6 drama teacher at the high school and that fills a long-standing need and has already been incorporated to the FY27 budget presentation that you'll hear this evening. Everything that you hear this evening will be consistent with our strategic objectives of teaching, learning, and leading, communication, finance, facilities, personnel, and technology. And you'll see these themes throughout the presentation this evening. So, the order of operations a little different than we've done in the past. Rather than myself and Mrs. school doing the entire hour and a half presentation. We've broken it up and uh this evening you'll hear very brief five-minute presentations from each department chair, curriculum coordinator, director, and principal outlining the budget priorities in their area. They're in the best position to discuss the needs in their department or in their
008school. After that, Mrs. Gul and I will quickly run through the slide deck highlighting any areas that weren't discussed. During the presentations, you'll start to hear what has been budgeted. However, our district leaders will also let you know about personnel that would be beneficial but beyond the scope of our current budget. And I've asked them to do that. I've asked them to advocate for what they need that we couldn't necessarily include in this year's budget. If additional funding becomes available, these are the types of positions that I'll ask the committee to consider in the future. So, let's begin with Ryan Lynch, our awesome assistant superintendent, who will walk us through the adopted curriculum plan. I have to read what I wrote. Sounds great. Sounds great. is the framework by which our curriculum is funded and
009determined every year. >> Great. Thank you, Dr. Rob. Um at this phase, uh we will uh go by content area, department, and school to review budget requests and intended outcomes. Uh we're going to start with the elementary uh humanities and STEM followed by elementary principles as outlined on the slide. To frame the curriculum work underway in 25 and 26 and to look ahead to 2627, we provided a link to the curriculum management plan and the cycle that we have that we developed last year. The curriculum plan and cycle shows we are implementing this current year the new history social studies program in 6 through 12. We are also in the recommend or pilot phase for ELA 6 through 12 and elementary science while elementary ELA is in the review phase. For 2627, we'll be implementing
010new texts and continuing targeted PD in 6 through 12 ELA and moving forward with new programming in elementary science. Elementary ELA will be piloting programs in 26 27 language and counseling will be starting the curriculum review phase in 2627. I just want to frame that at the beginning. So, as we hear from our department content leaders, we're listening for um sort of moving forward with our uh curriculum review cycle. So, at this time, I'll turn it over to Heather Allen and Megan Gregory, who will go through um elementary STEM and elementary humanities uh to start us off. >> Evening. I'm Heather Allen. I'm the STEM curriculum coordinator. Um so, we'll just jump right in. for math um for FY27 there's very few changes. There's some minor changes for math consumables just due to um student
011numbers. So some are going down, some are going up depending on the building and the grade level, but very um minor. Um the biggest ask in terms of math for next year um is that after reviewing the data um we identified a fluency as an area of need for math fluency. So in the fall we piloted and adopted an online fluency program for grades 2 to five. So we want to continue that the use of that next year. So that's why you will see um the increase in the contracted service for supplemental math program. So that's roughly $680 per building which is $3 per student. So that's the um the um only real change for math. science, you'll see um because as Ryan stated, we're in the middle of a curriculum review, um there is
012an increase. So um the figures in our budget um represent one of the programs that we're considering. The goal of the review is to identify a program or programs um that's rigorous, provides students with more hands-on learning experiences, get students excited about science, and also is manageable for our elementary school teachers who teach multiple content areas. That's our goal. Um the numbers you'll see here that this example that I shared with you um is just an example of one building um just so you get a sense and then highlighted in yellow is the total change. Um so while it seems um pretty aggressive the change in amount in supplies if you look at the total um it's not as dramatic. It's roughly um $2,800 per school with a new person adoption. So it's not as
013Great. Um and then the last line for the um the the science you will see an increase um of roughly um $1,200 or sorry $12,000 because we need when we roll out a new curriculum program um we're going to need professional development to support our teachers to have a successful roll out. So that that is where um the changes are for science. And then when you get into um the next section which has to do with our STEM teacher um the two asks there are um for um additional 3D printers to support the STEM um class um 3D printers with the accompanying filament. And then our STEM teacher is asking for um a new typing program. The current one we're using, we're using a free version and the popups and the ads are making it
014almost impossible for use. So those are the big um budget items for STEM. Um all right, I'm Megan Gregory. I'm the humanities curriculum coordinator and looking at the reading supply. um lines. There's some variations between schools due to number of students at each grade level and potential new classrooms. Um the biggest change you'll see is numbers that were in our reading supply line and our contracted service line are all moving into reading text. So reading text looks bigger, but it's combining um we use foundations for K to2 foundational skills. They're offering us to bundle our consumables, which are our workbooks, our online platform, and our um durables, like we need to replace magnet boards and whiteboards. They're bundling all that together to help save us money. So, um it looks like there's a jump when
015you're looking at the reading text line, but it's really just taking from those other two lines to put it in there, and it's saving us some money, which is great. Um when you look at the reading text line that is largely those consumables for um foundations that line also includes um our consumables for my view K to5 but that's at $0 right now because we when we purchase my view it was a a six-year subscription. So that um will take us through the end of 2018. Um, and we're currently at the very beginning of our curriculum review cycle to start looking at um the strengths and needs of our um how our students are performing and how um our teachers are able to best use those materials and thinking about moving forward. Um social studies
016lines are pretty much the same. Um there is this year we did pilot investigating history which we're using in fifth grade. Um, we pilot it in third and fourth grade. Third grade is um moving forward with adopting it next year, which is exciting. Fourth grade is waiting to see um they're making some changes to the program um over the summer. So once the changes happen, they'd like to take a look at it and pilot one more um before making a decision. But third grade is ready to move forward. Um it's an opensource uh program. It's it's um no cost to us to use. The only cost is through a printer to get some printed materials. So teachers can have an actual teachers manual, but it's a pretty nominal cost just um you know printing those
017things out. The the cost again um like science would be for professional development. So you'll see that in the contract services lines. Um under professional development, we would get some um PD for those third grade teachers to roll out investigating history. Um in that contract service line also is um related to our ELA curriculum review. We surveyed um all of our pre-K to five teachers about you know strengths and needs and in terms of what they need um in terms of professional development and materials and the by far number one um uh need in professional development is writing. So we put a line in there for um district PK to 5 next year writing professional development. It's all >> Thank you, Megan. And Heather, I just want to remind uh the committee that these um
018each of these lines that are being spoken about um you can link right through to the documents um probably already seen them, but just to remind you if you want to go deeper. >> Yes. I'm just going to give everyone an example. There's one right there. That's what it would look like if you were to do that. And I'll go back to where you are. >> At this time, we're pleased to invite up our elementary uh principal team who will speak about um each of the building lines. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you so much for having us. I'll kick us off as I I just learned six seconds ago that we always go in alphabetical order. >> But I think I think the order reason. >> Here we go. C is for pushing. Um
019I think what you're going to find is that we've collaborated a great deal on these budget presentations. So this shouldn't take too too long. If you look at each of the elementary budgets submitted to you, you'll notice that many of the lines, the majority of the lines are content or discipline specific. So lucky for us, you get to hear from our curriculum coordinators, as you just did. You'll continue to hear from our department chairs about those particular line items. So, there really only about three line items that the four of us can speak to you about. Um, the first line item I'll speak for Cushing is just our building administrative supplies. Those are things that help make the office run smoothly and the building run smoothly. Um, and those at Cushing are level funded for
020next year. In addition, I can speak to the general supplies line which is also level funded for fiscal year 2627. Um, and those are consumable classroom supplies, things for the students to get the work done each and every day. Um, when we talk about Cushing and Havly's situation next year, um, a level funded budget makes the most sense for buildings that will um, close their doors in June of 2027. So, our goal is to operate our buildings safely and effectively during their final years. Um, and this budget preserves the core academic, social, emotional, learning experiences, enrichment experiences that our students, our staff, our families, and our community are used to at Cushing and Hather. Um, and it reflects our commitment to meeting our family's expectations that each student should receive a high quality education regardless
021of the new building project. Um I would like to highlight another line item for you and that is Cushing's um new equipment building line that um new equipment line um that this year was used to purchase a Chromebook cart for our fifth grade students. The teachers have expressed interest in another Chromebook cart. And so that $5,000 of Chromebook cost Chromebook cart costs about $4,800. So that $5,000 line right there is probably going to go to that next year. Um, and then I just want to reiterate from the Cushing perspective, um, our largest line item looks to be the science line item. Um, and that's just to support the wonderful work happening with the curriculum review process in science. Um, and to promote the hands-on learning that I've seen firsthand provide our students with some of
022the most engaging experiences they have throughout our day. So, we're excited to continue that work at Cushing. And without further ado, next in the alphabet would be my sister school, Hatterly. >> I like this introduction. Um, so as Kate was saying, at Cushing and Hatherly, we are level funded. We just want to make sure that our students have the same standard and level of education as every other school in Situit and our buildings are um we're holding them together. So, one of the good things that I just wanted to highlight here is we make sure that we fix things. So, um every day >> HVAC, plumbing, roofing, um all of those things that would really take away from the students education, the districts make make sure that they're taken care of and taken care of
023quickly so that students are still able to learn and still in a building that keeps the rain out. So, um, as Kate said, we have our administrative supplies, our general supplies. Those are just the things that keep us functioning. Um, new equipment for this year. We purchased three Chromebook carts just for organizational purposes. So, that was a a big buy line item for us. We don't need to buy another one for next year, as far as we know. um staffing requests. We have next year our subsparate program the learning centers uh right now we have 14 students within those two centers. That's large for us. Um we will not be losing any students for next year. Moving on to Gates. So we're just gaining students. So the plan is to hire another special education teacher
024and have a third classroom. Hatherly for some reason is growing um at this time which is like maybe not the best time to grow but um currently we have three sections of K1 and two and then two sections of three to five. Next year we will have three sections of K one two and three. Um so I believe that extra position is coming through attrition and retirements. So that's why that isn't on here. I apologize for one thing not being here because Tom and I discussed this after I submitted this, but currently Hatherley has 1.8 reading specialists. So, one reading specialist full-time, another one is four days. Um, next year, if we have a similar size kindergarten, we'll be up at 299 students, per se. Um, and I would love to see that second reading
025specialist become full-time as it is in the other buildings. Um, a shared goal is looking forward to having a shared elementary media specialists um to replace we have par professionals in the library right now. Um, excited about the new science curriculum. I think having more hands-on materials really goes toward giving students the knowledge that they need, the interest that they need in what they're doing, and making things real for them. So, that is exciting. Um, and that's really all the changes that we have for Hather. Thank you. >> The one thing I would clarify is we have been able to incorporate the additional special education teacher and the additional third grade teacher into the budget. So, they are there already. Should funds become available, the shared elementary library media specialist and an additional point two
026for reading is certainly a top of mind but not technically included. >> It's really amazing the hling growth that like you're pointing out Christine. It really has I mean I can remember when it was sort of at that two two sections per grade and now you really are you you're at three across the board then fourth and fifth. >> Fourth and fifth still headed in that trend though. So that's change. It's a change. >> Good evening. I'm Mary Oldac, a principal at Jenkins. As um Kate and um Christina said, our building administrative supplies and general supplies are very um common across all four schools. I did want to point out that at Jenkins, um we have been level funded in both of those accounts since FY24. And it's been um some keeping that level of
027funding has been um just fine. Um I think our teachers um have everything and our students have what they need um every day and if they don't um we have been able to fund it out of u what we have in that budget. Um, I do do a Google survey at the beginning of every budget year asking if there's anything extraordinary that would go outside of um, our general supplies or administrative supplies. And every year I get four or five things um, like easel board or mail mailbox station and we're able to easily fund those. So feel very comfortable with that level funding since FY24. Um, the biggest change at Jenkins is the building new equipment. Um you will see about a $35,000 uptick in that line item. Um next year will be the third
028year of that and that's primarily to fund new desk and chairs for grades one through five. All of the furnishings in Jenkins are pretty pretty much all of them are original to the building which was uh built in 2001. And so we're slowly um starting with fifth grade moving our way down replacing all the desk and chairs. Um we're being very careful to uh work with the same vendor, making sure the desks are the same and interchangeable, that they're um the um height can be moved up and down so that we can move them between the grades if we need to. Um so in FY25, we took care of what was missing in fifth grade and um and purchased the desks and chairs for fourth grade. This year we um were able to go ahead
029and get the desk for third grade desk and chairs. We also, as the other schools have mentioned, had about $5,000 in um computer carts for fifth grade. That was primarily driven by the fact that fifth graders were no longer taking their Chromebooks home to charge. So, we needed to be able to charge them in school. And um our nurs's suite um needed a new desk and record storage. So that's how that 35,000 now we're looking at um the expenditures for that this year. So next year we're going to um move down to first and second grade and then we'll have um all of our desks taken care of. I um did want to mention under staffing requested our MCCAST presentations back in the fall. I did advocate for another um 1.0 math specialists at Jenkins.
030Um we're looking um just for some equitable coverage for our student base in terms of case load and opportunity for our math specialists. Um we currently have one and we have two reading specialists um that the students would receive the same type of support for math as they do for reading. For capital expenditures, it's been very exciting over at Jenkins. We have a new roof. We have new windows that open and close. um no more dripping ceilings. And so I have to say how much we all so much appreciate the fact that the town really places a priority on that for keeping our schools um taken care of. You know, it's um the the staff really appreciates that. They were so excited about the new windows and the kids too. Um and you know that
031just that that is a priority is very meaningful. So thank you for that. Um, next thing on our wish list, um, will be new floors and, um, painting the inside. And as we look towards capital budgets in the years ahead, um, I did just want to also mention, um, that we did have a first floor flood back in October. There was co completely covered by district insurance. Um, but the remediation of that was $59,000, just the remediation of it. And service master did an incredible job. a few uh almost $4,000 worth of replacement of personal items and the other repair costs of floor and ceiling tiles. Um when I was talking about staffing, I forgot to mention that um I did want to say we have two retirements coming up. Jen Farwell in first grade
032with 38 years and Jeanie Karan with 24 years of experience. They'll both be retiring this June. So we'll be looking to fill those very big shoes. Thank you. >> Good evening. Tracy Rarden, principal Watuck. Um so our building admin supplies line has also been level funded since FY24. Um we have used um some of that money to start replacing the teacher desks and chairs similar to Jenkins. Um our furniture has been around a long time. I I don't know since when, but um um things are falling apart. So, we've tried to slowly replace those desks and chairs. So, um that line item, I've used the money from that item to do that. So, we've done about three or four in a year over the past few years. And actually, Audrey and I were talking about
033that today. Um looking ahead to purchasing some for this current year. Um we also bought the grade five computer cards for the Chromebooks. um just like the other buildings did. Our general supply line has also been level funded 14,000 and like Mary, I find that's perfectly acceptable. Um we've never had to go over that. Um I find I tell teachers all the time, don't buy anything with your own money. Come and ask first because we can for the most part fund what you need. Um between us and also the PTO, which is also super generous. Um, and in my this is my my sixth year at W Kentucky, we've never gone over that. So I that's um a good amount for us. Um, for building new equipment, um, like Mary at Jenkins, we've had the
034$35,000 in the line to start replacing furniture. We have also done that. Um, we have completely redone the the library at Watuk. Um, it's like a extreme home makeover. It's amazing. Um, and a lot of that was funded through PTO, but it was also funded through this line item. Um, this year we replaced, we have four third grade classrooms. We replaced all desks, chairs, teacher tables. Um, we added some flexible seating in those rooms and all four rooms have all the same furniture. Um, we have ordered um two more sets coming. So, our two second grades are going to have new furniture March 16th. And like Mary Jenkins, we went with the same furniture. It's all very adjustable. Um my request is it has to last at least 15 to 20 years. Um so so
035we'll stick with the same vendor and and also um that furniture can be moved within classes and grade levels pretty much second, third, fourth. Um once you get to K1, you're talking about probably. Yeah. Um the staffing requests also put in for um increasing a mass specialist from 1.0 to 2.0. Same um rationale Mary talked about and also like Christine talked about a shared um library media specialists. Um we do also have some retirements at Monte this year. Um and so we are going to be reducing a sped teacher. We have six currently right now. Um we that sixth position was added to Watuk. Um this is our third year with it when our sped numbers were up at 70. Um for next year we're forecasted to be at about 52. Um so with that
036reduction of case load um it made sense um to reduce the temperature. So which I I don't that person isn't leaving. I think it's just going to be hopefully move to another um for capital expenditures. We've had a complete remodel of our nurses suite, which I know has been talked about here. Um, fully accessible nurses suite with the only fully accessible bathroom in our building currently. Um, we've also added railings, automatic door openers, an accessible ramp outside to our upper playground. Um, we added a new accessible serving counter in the cafeteria. And this summer, we're having side paintings. So, we're just a little step ahead of you, Mary. Um, and then, um, we have new accessible student bathrooms coming for next year. So, that is in the process. I think that's up to bid right
037now. So, hopefully starting this. Lots of great things happen. It's very accessible. So, anyone can come and move about the building free. >> Any questions we can answer? >> Um, of course I have to ask a question. Um, I know that Matt's kind of been our focus because we've seen, you know, performance and assessments and so on. And I'm just curious, um, Tracy and Mary and I guess Heather is I'm I'm glad that you guys have in here potential increase of a math specialist. Can you tell me a little bit, help me understand a little bit about how that works? Do you guys recommend that? Does Heather recommend that? Where's that recommend? Does it come from the teachers? kind of trying to understand where that recommendation comes from because it's in your report as a
038building principle. Um, but I guess in my mind I'd expected it to come from. I don't I'm not really sure. I guess I was hoping you can understand where kind of how that comes out. >> We've certainly been talking with Heather about um if I could put it in there I would. I just don't do personal just curriculum. I fully support it, >> but it just doesn't live in my >> Okay, that's helpful. Okay. >> Does that answer your question? I'm >> uh Yeah. Uh >> yes. Yes. Yes. Thank you. >> I just want to say I appreciate your attention to the the furniture. I mean, it seems like, you know, a non-glamorous line item, but it's really important, I think, for just parents for that equity piece, too, with like seeing new school building
039open and having brand new everything that we maintain that we, you know, we want to put money and we've committed to that and we've been talking about for years since school project began that we're really serious about ensuring equity among what will be three schools and that everybody gets, you know, what we can we can fund. And so obviously, you know, the way that you're doing it smart just to sort of like piece by piece to be able to afford it all in such um you know, what is somewhat of a tight budgeting stretch of time for every district. So it's great that we're able to be making new purchases just smartly and slowly over time. So thank you. Thank you. Central you're all involved. Team efforts Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Great. Thank
040you. Next, we'll invite up um Laura Mesner, Samiak, Tara Simon Act, and Patrick Newton to talk about ELA, social studies, math, and science, tech, and engineering. >> Ryan, is there a way to like click on these so that people in the public can see? >> We can do that. We had decided not to while they were speaking. It tends to be very distracting. >> The default view on the people and the power then we take the power. >> Let's take the power down. >> Yeah. >> We can do that >> just for the recording too. It's just >> Sorry, I don't think >> Oh, it's okay. >> We all have our We can film and TV degrees now, too. >> Producing. >> There we go. That was why I took a minute a little bit
041earlier just to show people who were watching, look, if you guys are looking at this on a computer, you can do this, >> right? >> But that was the reason why we didn't keep doing it speaker by speaker. >> Okay. Um I guess we'll start. So I'm Laura Mner. I'm the 612 English um department. Thank you for having us tonight. Um, I know I was under explicit instructions not to read my narrative and I won't, but I did want to read just the first paragraph because I feel like it it sort of sets us up for what um what I wanted to talk about. So, we are under curriculum review which looks very different in English than I think it does in other subject areas. Um so I just wanted to let you know there
042are substantial um and temporary increases in most budget categories but these increases fall into three chunks if you will um professional development so that we are um investing not just in resources but in our human capital um text purchases and technology purchases. So, um, just to give you a very quick, um, overview of kind of what our review has looked like and kind of where we've been so that you can understand where we're going. Um, over the last, um, year and a half or so, we have participated in a variety of tasks. Some of which have been, um, you know, aided with contractors like health for literacy and some of which we have leaned on the human capital that we are investing further in. Um, so we have done a standards alignment. Um we've vertically
043aligned our writing practices. We have participated in level differentiation. We've done a needs assessment of our literacy practices. Um which has resulted in a literacy plan from um Hill for literacy. Um we have begun targeted improvements in our courses and units and we have begun the process of benchmarking which um is new for secondary or fairly new at least in the sort of formalized capacity that we've been doing it. Um this year in our recommended develop phase we have piloted new anchor texts at u varying courses and levels. We have piloted or not piloted we have committed to our um differentiated CP and honors instructional model at the high school. We continue to fine-tune our tiered literacy intervention at Gates. Um we have identified trouble spots where additional resources are needed like um with AI
044um with our language standards with our grade 12 course offerings um and have begun to formulate plans to address those. Um so some of the budget items sort of go towards things like that. We um are working on embedding adolescent literacy practices in our instruction um with the aid of um our health for literacy PD which we've started this year. We are also piloting new benchmarks that are better aligned with our standards um next year. So this is the focus of of um the funds that are being requested. We um would like to continue to collect data to determine the effectiveness of our curriculum um and make tax purchases accordingly. We would like to build our teacher capacity with authentic writing instruction, curriculum writing and adolescent literacy practices which are different than the um most
045the most of the universe of literacy is really um that's familiar to people is is foundational literacy and adolescent literacy is a whole another ball game. So we're really investing in equipping our teachers to meet students needs there. Um we want to refine our 6 to12 curriculum to ensure that it is uh rigorous, authentic and flexible. Um and to make sure our instruction is adaptive. Um and then finally we are investing in technology aids to assist teachers with digital um guidance and accountability with our students in a nutshell. So much going on. Good. Um I'm Sam Lesie. I social studies department chair for 6 through 12. Um I think before I talk to what's on my budget narrative, the most obvious thing to me is what's not on here, which is um the 6 to
04612 curriculum texts that were purchased last year. um which was a major investment and teachers I just feel like I need to say have been working steadily to incorporate them into their daily practice into their units first through PD time but then also every educator in our department also adopted as one of their professional practice skills this year. Um so I just that work is ongoing and it's not present here but I just feel like it's a huge thing that needs to be mentioned. Um so what is on here for next year? Um really three big things. supplies um general supplies but also this funds our civic action projects which we've talked to you about a lot of times I think just updates um we have a slight increase due to enrollment numbers also we're
047funding students to go to the statewide showcase so last year we sent four student groups which is wonderful um this year we hope to send more and also new this year um it's also going to fund we have five students applying to be statewide civic showcase leaders which means they are statewide leaders who help DESIE they give advice on the project but also act as leaders on the day of like greeting people and helping helping people sort of figure out how the day goes. So, I think it's just an awesome opportunity that's funded for kids. Um the other thing it funds is our district memberships um and state and national social studies um organizations and I mentioned that it's a bianual purchase but um we get so much from that. So, we had we had
048actually we're lucky to send several educators this year to the national conference. We had one educator actually present on the national stage. Emerson presented about her women's history elective that she developed um essentially teaching people across the nation how you could develop this in your own school which is so amazing and also as of last week we also have three educators who are going to present at our statewide showcase in March. So I just feel like these opportunities offer teachers chance to get resources but also to develop as individuals which is awesome. Uh the next big chunk is really our text is pretty low compared to last year. Um, but what's there is really just um our digital news subscriptions. As you can probably imagine, it's a really hard time to teach current events right
049now. Um, and we always strive to give kids multiple perspectives and age appropriate materials. And so we wanted to expand our new subscriptions a little bit just to make sure we have that covered. Um, and then another part of that is to fund Windlock support materials to help Gates um, help students at Gates. Teachers really wanted some core text that they could use in their sessions and so that will be funded next year. Um, the last chunk is really just for mock exams. So, social studies in the past has not actually had mock exams because they were not offered through our partnership with Mass Insight. We're independently contracting them this year as well as next year. Um, so what does that actually fund? Well, 250 students are put down the stats. 250 students are currently
050enrolled in a history AP. That's 36% of the student body. Um, which I think is amazing. And so those students will now get the chance to have a mock exam to hopefully improve their results, which I just feel like I need to shout out. Um 86% of our students who took a history AP course last year scored three or higher. So they're doing really well already. Um but always room for improvement and so this will offer them a chance to sort of grow their skills. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Tara Shack. I'm the 6 through 12 math department chair. Um and this year, um the math department budget is focusing on continuing to maintain a high quality instructional resources while supporting our professional growth. Um our goal is to move forward to a student
051centered classroom where students are active, confident problem solvers. I'm just going to toss these on because it's going to be a little easier for you to see. Um you know, is the age. Um to do this, we are prioritizing instructional mastery as well as digital support. Our continued partnership with consultant Allison Melo cultivates a mastery of researchbacked instructional practices while we're implementing our new program. As we sort of we're coming down in a row of where we are our sequence of of implementing. Um this is paired it is this is paired with technology that provides an interactive platform for daily instruction keeping students engaged while addressing the needs of struggling learners through targeted invention intervention materials and manipulatives necessary to close foundational gaps. Uh we also budgeted for the physical tools the manipulatives and calculators
052that bridge the gap between abstract numbers and concrete understanding. These funds also support our GES and high school math teams, providing our highest achieving students with a competitive arena to push their limits and excel. Uh in addition to focusing on expanding our instructional methods and skills, we are increasing the use of formative benchmarking of students. As Laura mentioned earlier, the increased use of star benchmark data helps teachers to design win groups, making sure every student receives specific tiered support during school day. This data also serves as a critical guide for course placement. which we're right in the middle of right now, allowing us to match students to the appropriate level of challenge for long-term success. Uh so in summary, we're focusing sort of this year on instructional coaching and technology as well as benchmarking programs
053um in order to ensure that every student in our schools has the instruction tools and resources that they need to succeed in math all and everything. But I'm mostly worried about that. Hi, Patrick Newton, department chair, science, technology, and engineering for six through 12. Um, I bring the good news of slightly decreased requests this year. Um, which is not normal for my department. Um, along the way, I'm going a little out of order. Um, one of the things is as we've kind of come down the list here of curriculum adoption, we are halfway through at this point. we have what we need. Um so there is not a request at this point for anything related to textbooks or curriculum uh materials. Um we have been very fortunate and um thank you to Julie Ward who
054is inevitably somewhere behind me um that our environmental stewardship uh innovation career pathways has $70,000 to spend on um materials and technology related to that end. that is a great um resource for us right now. Um and as part of that connecting back here, you'll see our our normal um equipment repair line. That's things like recalibrating microscopes and scales and things of that nature. Well, we we're currently fortunate enough to be able to just get brand new ones. Um which would be great for us rather than trying to fix these things that are older than me in some cases. Um so we're in great shape there. Um, one thing that comes up as kind of strange uh in my request is the industrial tech supply line. That's really engineering. So when people look at this
055and they're what is industrial technology? We don't have that. That's our engineering courses. Um, we continue uh to look to grow our high school project lead engineering program. Thankfully, we can do that on a level funded basis because we've already invested so heavily in the durable goods um tools and other equipment as such as well as some more grants that Julie has helped us write and procure along the way. Um there are some hidden things kind of in here. For example, our project lead membership fees have to fall in here also. Um so they end up in a supply line. uh at Gates. Again, it looks like a decrease, but it's really kind of a return to earlier numbers. Uh we were able to get a refresh on some materials last year, and so now
056we're kind of moving back towards the normal consumables that we would use on a regular basis. So, with slight decreases, we're able to provide all the great opportunities we've been offering to kids. >> Questions? Anyone? Thanks so much guys. >> While the next presenters are coming up, I just wanted to mention the cost of consultants in many of these cases professional development budget. So there's a separate budget for congressional that's embedded Good evening. I guess I'll get started. Um, the narrative that I supply kind of touches upon four different buckets. Personnel t technology upgrades, excel, accessibility for all students, improvements, and um kind of a proactive versus reactive mindset to the CPA. In terms of the personnel upgrades, we're obviously really excited about offering a drama curriculum at the high school level. That'll be pretty
057awesome. We made some um nuance changes to Josh Heath, our tech dire tech director's uh job. So that now it includes elements at gates, the black box in the dining room area. So that should help. Um in addition, we have our piano accompanies uh increase some hours due to the change in the gate schedule. Um, the tech upgrades are really exciting. The Situate High School Art Link, the IMAXs that are were dated back to 2006, I believe, were all replaced. And in the music technology room, we had a overhaul, complete overhaul of the equipment in there, which has been substantial and now puts us on a solid footing with the current technology available to the kids. Um the CPA budget is now aligned with its needs. One of the initial um challenges that we had
058is it was all obviously new equipment and we had to source out good quality vendors and also um kind of vet that process. So we were um staying in front of the equipment needs rather than reacting to a need. and we've adjusted the the budget accordingly so that we can um I think deal with what comes our way in a responsible way that gives you a little taste. >> Thank you, Jim. Y so four different content areas that I oversee. I'm just going to take them in order. Try to be as brief as I can be. I get a little longwinded at times. Um, so it's uh with a high level of anticipation and appreciation uh that our business education supply line item will actually be level funded. Now, why am I excited and appreciative
059of this? It's because we're able to uh take our students program to the next level through the ICP grant uh the capital skills grant which uh Mr. Newton talked a little bit about. Uh we look forward to expanding hands-on production opportunities including video creation and merchandising and merchandise production for our shipyard school store inhouse. Um, I want to have a special shout out to Julie Ward for her expertise and collaboration on securing this grant. So, Julie, big shout out there. Thank you so much. >> Um, business line text. There is an increase, probably a one-year increase in this line item. Um, 10,000 is it represents the budget estimate to procure curriculum materials for the new AP business with personal finance course. Uh, which is an exciting advancement for our department. We're super pumped. Um next
060uh area is our family and consumer sciences uh our applied nutrition and uh at gates and culinary arts at the high school level. Uh with respect to applied nutrition at gates and culinary arts at the high school, these funds are used for groceries, cleaning supplies, paper products, replacement replacement of uh light equipment. Uh there's a nominal increase at the high school level to cover rising grocery costs which I'm sure every family in can uh understand. Uh and gates will remain level funded. Uh we are excited to build upon our relationship with Holly Hill Farm as we continue to enhance applied nutrition programming at Gates. Another quick sailor shout out to Ryan Lynch. Ryan, thank you for identifying grant funds to help us advance this meaningful relationship with Holly Hill. Teachers love it. It's embedded PD
061as we work with Holly Hill as well. Uh next area is our health education uh area. Uh elementary health education funds are used to purchase consumable uh supplies uh to facilit facilitate health lessons including props, models, posters uh elementary funds are level funded. Uh at the secondary level, these supplies are for projects, first aid, CPR materials such as face shields, mannequin replacements, and subscriptions such as Scholastic Choices. Uh there is a nominal $125 uh increase that was requested uh for the high school uh to adjust for inflation and operating uh materials for high school health classes. Um due to uh as a benefit of recent collaborations with social digital wellness, we've secured nonLEA funds to enhance digital wellness programming through an annual subscription for 26 and 27 next school year uh for um video access
062to screen ages. the next chapter addressing mental health uh in the digital age at SHS. This membership will also allow SPS and Cellshore digital wellness to collaborate on show uh showings of this video in the pack or at the reel uh in the harbor uh for the SPS community at large. So very appreciative of cell digital wellness. Uh last area is physical education. Physical education supplies are used uh as you can imagine uh we treat treat we try to treat things as respectfully as we can but rackets, balls, sticks, props, mats, nets uh they all get a high level of use and uh need to be replaced. Uh there is a um level funded request uh for all grade levels except for the high school and gates where there's a $75 increase uh to account
063for inflation. Just as a reference point, if you have ever seen those awesome foam gator balls, which is a coveted PE resource, a six-ack of those, of those foam balls, is actually $75. Uh, and that's the best pretty competitive pricing. So, things are expensive and, uh, things are certainly expensive. Um, at SHS, we're, you know, is a, again, that budget's telling a story, which there's a story outside of the budget to tell. Here at SHS, we're grateful and excited to expand our integration of lifelong activities such as golf uh golf related skills. Uh in addition, um the addition of the new golf simulator at the high schools uh generously sponsored by Shore has sparked this excite excitement with our staff. Uh so thank you very much to Shore. Another sailor shout out to Will Seart
064SHs PE teacher um for his vision and leadership making this happen. Also appreciate Dr. Rob and uh SPS facilities team for their assistance with support items like minor electrical uh work that needed to have this project come to fruition. Uh the last item is our physical education repair equipment line. Uh this line supports our more substantive and quite honestly special uh special school related programming equipment such as our uh maintaining in our fitness center and our outdoor and indoor adventure education elements. Uh this line item is level funded and is used to repair equipment um used to repair equipment and also for contracted services such as routine um preventative maintenance visits uh on our fitness equipment, annual inspections on our uh adventure elements and related repairs to any of those any of that equipment. uh
065if funds permit and things aren't don't uh uh break or need to be repaired such as helmets, harnesses, or any uh equipment, belts on a treadmill, if the funds replace, uh we will use um any remaining funds to usually cycle in a new piece of equipment, cardio piece of equipment in our cardio loft at the high school annually. Um Brian, another shout out to you. Thank you for your ongoing uh prof supporting our ongoing professional development on on the November PD day. Uh we had the benefit of working with a project adventure training uh trainer to ensure we are up to date with safety and community building facilitation practices. Um along these lines, I'm really excited for our future C director. Um I'm pretty sure they're going to be impressed with how our wellness educators
066expertly support the development of all of our students social emotional skills through adventure education curriculum, including our outdoor adventure course and indoor climbing elements. Uh there was one home run swing I took that wasn't uh doesn't look like it will be funded this goound. Um this this request is not expected to be funded. There was a $100,000 uh submission for a reinvisionment and remodeling of the lower level of our Situ High School fitness center. Um the equipment in there is approximately 25 years old. I'm been here for 23 years. The Kobe Cutler fitness center was uh renovated by virtue of of significant communitywide effort. um about 23 24 years ago. So um just to ensure the highest standard for our athletic departments who win championships and our PE programming, this remodeling should be planned for
067in the future at some point. Again, not an emergency uh but should be planned for and it could be uh completed in phases. So that $100,000 benchmark is the highest of the three quotes we got and uh there are three distinct phases. So it's not necessarily an all or nothing piece. And uh I think our curriculum review cycle in a few years might be able to phase it into that but we'll see. >> I'll keep you entertained. >> What was the what were the improvements that was were done to the Kobe cup? I feel like we >> Yeah. So I mean it's been amazing. So a few years ago with um Dr. Rob's predecessor, >> Dr. Dutch. He was great. Uh we recently did the flooring in there was carpeting >> and it was really
068rancid and we replaced it with um it was uh we replaced it with >> okay >> rubberized flooring and at that point in time we also encapsulated the ceiling. It was um >> okay >> fibrous I don't know what the ceiling was made of so they put in a drop ceiling as well. Okay. >> So uh painting uh >> mirrors, flooring and ceiling really refurbished it nicely but we really didn't touch any of the equipment at the time. >> Got it. That makes sense. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Thanks everybody. I'm Tammy Randall. I'm the department chair for school counseling. Nice to see you all again. Um just in terms of my budget, we look at um our district priorities are obviously section 504 placement and also home hospital tutoring for
069uh students that uh we are level funded for that. And we're also be looking at um curriculum PD this summer to support the MYAP initiatives for 6 through 12 students through six through 12th grade uh students and counselors. And we'd also like to use some of the money for social emotional uh small groups through the MTSS wind blocks um for contract services at the high school. We are we are continuing to promote our college exploration application portal score and we're finding that more and more students of the younger grades are asking for more college planning. Uh so we will be bringing that down to the lower grades as well. Um just a shout out or a plugin. We are having an early college planning night on Thursday for all ninth and tth grade caregivers um
070at 5:30 here in the library. Um we'd love to see um your um your attendance at that. um our standardized testing budget um has gone down a little bit because of our 10th grade um enrollment has gone down and we provide the PSATs for all sophomores and we've been doing that for the past um three or four years um which has been really helpful for students to get used to the type of test the SAT is and also we use some of the data it's called AP potential to help support and encourage students to take AP level coursework um and then in terms of our elementary and gates uh counseling budget. All of that will be level. >> Hi, I'm Kelly Bell. I'm the nursing department chair. Um in terms of the nursing budget this
071year, we just have a couple things to talk about. Um building based health office supply is level funded. Um and the nurses use this for day-to-day operations in their health offices, as you can imagine. Um and the department chair line um will look like an increase. however, reflects expenses that have always existed and have been funded um through regular operations, but now they're being allocated to a dedicated line for better tracking um for things such as our emergency stock medication for epinephrine, aluterol, our AED um pads and batteries, our electronic medical record system, which needs to be renewed annually, which also provide each of the school nurses a direct link to the Massachusetts immunization system, which is a great benefit for us and for families. Um, as well as our lensure fee. Um, we have
072to be licensed as a lab to uh the state of Massachusetts because we perform glucose testing and ketone testing. So, it um it um includes that fee as well. >> Great. Thank you. I'd like to invite up our remaining presenters. Good. Good evening. Uh similar to the elementary principles, uh I have three lines. Uh the replacement equipment line, the admin supply line, and the general supply line. Uh all three lines have been level funded or reduced. Um in terms of replacement equipment, we are at the point where we do need to start replacing some of the tables uh that exist. Um, and with increased enrollment, we need a little more furniture uh to make sure that everyone has a seat and a chair. Uh, >> fair enough. I guess we can we can probably >>
073um the big item in our admin supply budget for this year is uh additional handheld radios. Um, we have uh four that work in the office. Uh, they have about a shelf life of about five years. So, we're going into year seven. Um, so we anticipate needing more of those. Uh, and for general supplies, uh, those are just general supplies. Supposed to put three for Michael Situ High School. Very similar to what every other school has talked about. We have three lines as well, uh, level funded. And I'd like to say like we're pretty lucky in Situate to have the the funding and support that we have. Um, so I I want to start with that. It's, you know, as you as as I meet with other principles around the districts and around other schools,
074it's not always like that. So, so thank you for all your support and funding. We have uh and our business admin line is level funded. Uh that that goes towards office supplies like like Mr. Bey had said. Our general supply line is used for uh printer equipment, toner, cartridges, paper, things that we need to uh to to run our building. And then the the big one, the the building admin replace equipment line is we're in the process also of replacing desks and chairs. We do two or three rooms a year. It does get very pricey. It's pretty expensive. Um so we're looking to maybe two more rooms next year. I know English needs them. And literally as I walk through the building, there are some desks. We've got some big kids. It's small desks. So,
075we're trying to upgrade that and we take notes and and and if the desks are in good shape, we'll transfer to another area so we don't so we don't waste it. Uh but there's certainly a need for more uh desk and chairs. My wish list is, you know, like like I believe a couple of other uh principles I'd mentioned is is the math teacher of a 0.1 math specialist, which I think we really need to help fill some of the gaps that we're seeing uh with some of our students and and have somebody that could be proactive in helping these students would be a big need for us. Hi everyone, Jackie Fronello, director of educational technology. Um, so in my budget narrative, I have it broken down a little bit differently. We are districtwide. We
076do support all staff, students. Um, we support network, we support um educational resources, tech side uh for the classrooms and students. So, in my budget narrative, I have it broken down to where um I've highlighted our Chromebook refresh and our staff laptop refresh um because they are two um big items in our budget. Obviously, our student Chromebooks um where each year our sixth grade students, that's when they get issued their onetoone. Um this coming next school year, we will be doing our refresh slightly differently. um where our sixth grade will be getting it um their onetoone device, but we will be focusing on grades three, four, and five and refreshing the Chromebook cards at the elementary so we can keep them up to date and properly functioning for all types of um testing that needs
077to happen down at that level. So, the devices do um have to be a certain make, model, and everything. So, that's our biggest thing. So we did have to increase um our numbers for the devices that we will be purchasing. Um very similar on the staff laptop side. Uh we are on like a fiveyear cycle. So we do have some laptops that are um coming to end of life. So they will need to be refreshed, swapped out. And then we also account for um repairs, damages, new staff, those types of things. Um on the network side, um we have a couple of um a few things here that are pretty costly. We did upgrade our firewall uh this past year and thank you to Julie Ward for supporting us and helping us in getting a
078grant to help fund the cost of that because they are extremely expensive. Um but between Julie and uh Dr. Rob and the whole central office team with um providing funding to make sure that we did have a safe, secure and fully functional firewall to help support the network um and all of the traffic that flows through our buildings on a daily basis. There is a annual licensing that does come with that. Um it came with our old one as well. Um but this one here we don't know this is a rough estimate of what the new licensing renewal will be. Um the good thing is is that it does fall underate funding where will uh reimbur reimburse us up to 40% um of that renewal cost. Uh this is like I said just an estimate
079because we just put the firewall in. They can't give us what um the new licensing will be until about July. So, this is just a placeholder. We're hoping it's going to be much lower. Um, VMware, uh, this is another one. This is a pretty hot topic in the tech world right now across all districts. Um, our VMware licensing, the cost for that has increased drastically. Um so whereas before the VMware licensing it would be maybe 5,000 for three years um the licensing just jumps to where I think this coming year we'll be paying about 10,000 just for one year. So um our VM um infrastructure is also very old um and will require an update at some point. So we're kind of working on that and exploring different options. Um there aren't many options right
080now, but we're hoping that with uh the pressure that VM has been putting on um districts that other companies will start coming up with more um better solutions and more economical. So, we're kind of keeping our eye on that and we're just going to kind of ride it out until then. Um, as you you may recall, uh, we did a big switch project update, um, a couple of years ago around the district. Unfortunately, Jenkins was not included on that because of the amount of switches that they have and the layout of the switches in their building. Um, they have about, I would say, 20 switches just in that building and they're all scattered. They're in classrooms, they're in little closets, there it's it's not ideal. Um, so Jenkins was not included in that, but their
081switches are just as old as the switches that were replaced two years ago. So we would like to uh start to work on a plan to get Jenkins um to a more um updated network infrastructure, especially with um pushing and heavily condensing down. they'll be getting more students. They need to open up and um have other classrooms. So, we're currently working on a plan of taking all the switches, creating a central IDF where they all are. We're hoping to also eliminate and not need as many switches. Um so, that's what this project here is. this uh will also be covered part of it will be covered under - um so we're currently in the process of working on that and trying to get numbers so this is once again just a placeholder but hopefully something
082that we can be working on um one new thing that I added here it's a little thing but it really is a big thing um so we have partnered with the education cooperative where they help us uh work with a lot of the educational technology companies that I'm sure you've heard everyone talk about tonight that they're partnering with to have STMath, Sabas, all the different programs. Um, what they do is they help us manage the data privacy to make sure that all of our students uh personal PII information is properly protected. So if there are any breaches down the road, um we have all the contracts um and assurance from all these companies that they're going to back us and support us and make sure that um our students data, you know, is as safe
083as possible. So it's a it's a little cost, but it really is a big help to the district um considering that one of the things that we've been focusing on the past couple of years is cyber security in all different areas. So this is just one piece. Um, and then lastly, I know this was not granted this year, but maybe in the future. Um, we are looking to try and expand the technology department. We we are a very small but mighty team. Um, but with all of the tech that is coming out and that's throughout all of our buildings to help best support our staff, our students, and our families, um, it would be very, very helpful for us to have an additional person to where we can make sure that we are trying to,
084um, you know, get everyone's needs met in a timely manner. considering that a lot of the curriculum is revolving around tech whether it's devices programs um and then our network you know um manages that as well so we have a lot of different pieces that we are managing on a daily basis so um so that is thank you >> before special education begins one comment I wanted to make about technology is that we have tripled our technology flex in the last three years And we've done that to avoid the capital items that that were in the past. So up until three years ago, there was always a capital item floated for technology on the town side and it supplemented our budget. We've really tried over the last two to three years to incorporate those needs
085into our operating budget. And Jackie's done a great job consolidating that, making it for one voice, making sure that everything is working. But I just think it's important to note because you'll see later when we look at the slides, significant increase in technology over the last three or four years. It's for that reason. So, we are owning our technology for the schools. That's important to do. >> Good evening. Scott Payne. I'm the athletic director and um as most of the other departments, our department is level funded as well. And honestly, that works out very very well for us. I think uh in the five years that I've been here, we've been able to do some really good things within the department. A lot of our money uh is allocated towards personnel, coaches, um officials, assigners,
086uh and game management. Um and then the the biggest other portions of our budget are like consumable supplies, balls, as Greg was saying, equipment gets it takes a beating. It's if it's used and it needs to be replaced. Um, we've got a really good uniform cycle in place now. Uh, with the purchase of new softball uniforms for the spring, every varsity team will have a uniform that is 5 years or less. Um, so we're hoping that we can get six to seven years out of a new uniform if we properly care for them. And, uh, you know, we'll be able to, you know, every season, every every year buy, six, seven teams, new uniforms. sets at the varsity level and then they would get passed down. And we do buy new uniforms for some varsity
087teams if uh the uniforms that they have are in a state that they're just not wearable. So um from a budget standpoint, we're in a really good place. Um we've been able to do some some pretty neat stuff um over the past few years and just you know through our budget and through uh some the generosity of shore and in conjunction with the town and the rec department and the youth programs. Uh we have the new softball fence um which softball really needed in the trailer that transport that to set it up and um take it down. We have a new wrestling mat which is beautiful. Um, I don't know if anybody's seen the new scorers table that's in the gym with the vid video display board. Um, that wasn't part of uh the budget.
088That was free. Um, that's being paid for through the advertising. Ultimately, we hope that will generate 25 to 5,000 2500 to $5,000 a year in revenue after it's paid for. Um, sure. Uh, as Greg spoke about with the golf simulator, that'll be such a great tool for our golf teams to use in fizz classes. Um, just need to get some final bits of electrical work done on that and that'll be up. Uh, Shaw also bought some cheerleading equipment, training equipment for them to use, which has helped. And we do have a new cheerleading mat coming as well. Um other things like new padding on the walls in the gym, uh new electric motors for the baskets to raise them up and down. Uh here a big um plus is we have two additional AEDs now.
089One is portable and the other one uh in the springtime will be mounted on the back of the softball dugout. So it'll be in between the baseball and the softball field. So that will give us two um mounted out side, one mounted between the two gyms in the portable one. Um we were able to purchase six portable radios that are are significant help during um athletic events, especially when we're outside for us to be able to communicate with the people that are working. Obviously, the new tennis courts, which was a town project, but uh has benefited the athletic program here as well, and we purchased equipment and supplies that will be used uh by the high school teams up on those courts. Um, one of our biggest needs is storage. We're always battling for storage
090and through the construction with the new um athletic team rooms, we gain storage space, which is um very significant for us. And we're in the process right right now trying to work with a couple of the youth programs to put another three bay unit out in back of turf three next to the other unit that's already there. And one bay would go towards youth football, one would be for youth lacrosse and one would be for us. Um DPW is willing to do the work to pour the slab for the unit. Um the youth programs are willing to pay for the unit um as long as they can each have have their own bay. So that will be a big help for us as well. Um and then the updates with the new uh team rooms
091that took place with the training room. We a legitimate, you know, very first class high school training room now with two training tables and Chris does a great job with the kids in there. Um, so that's worked out well. And we were also able to purchase a new um, utility card for the athletic trainer. So he has his own card. I have my own card. Our campus is large. And now with Central Fields online for baseball and softball, that card is street legal. So if Chris had to, he could stay in the car and go to Central Field if we had an injury over there. Um, one of the other things that our budget has allowed us to do is um, at the unified sports programs, which has been fantastic. And then, you know, through
092Bren Nyberg's work and everybody else that's been involved with that administration, um, we've been named a unified champion school. So, that's a pretty um, exciting thing to happen with that new program. So, um, well funded. That's great. Appreciate it. Thank you. Good evening. I'm Michelle Bobert, director of special education. Um, so basically uh as everyone else said, pretty much level funded uh for special education for next year. We are keeping um the same amount of staff but we will be shifting some uh a special ed teacher from one school to another and pair professionals to follow and support the students as they move up from uh grade to grade or school to school. Um, in terms of supplies, again, level funded. Um, the money that we have for supplies, we use for our psychological testing,
093um, preschool testing, supplies for specialized curricula, um, adaptive equipment for students, um, those kind of things. Um, the, uh, big picture is that we have really great programs. We need to continue to staff them adequately. um and support them with the resources they need to help our kids be successful here in situate schools that um helps the students to be in the least restrictive environment but also helps to manage the um out of district uh cost. So pretty proud to um you know mention that last year, this year and next year we're pretty um stable around 3.9 million give or take 50,000 which I know is a lot of money but um uh that's for the out of district tuitions for our students. Um but given that the cost went up 14% a few years
094ago and costs go up every year, it still is pretty good to be around the same you know ballpark figure each year. Um that is you know conservative estimate what I know right now we um yes our student needs change you know we have to adapt but um pretty confident that um the budget you know going forward will uh represent the needs of the kids um so I want to thank everyone because uh it's a definitely a collaboration and our students on IEPs here are in general ed um you know uh most of the time and so all the resources that we for the whole district helps all our kids in special education. >> Thank you to everyone. This is I think it's interesting. We've never approached our budget this way and I think that
095this is an interesting perspective to kind of see how it results the way it does, I guess. So, I appreciate it. I Michelle I thank you I know this is your last budget so thank you for all you've done you've done a great job here but I always have to ask I know you already mentioned it but out of district you're comfortable with the level of funding I know you already said it but I h every year I have to ask you >> so we were able to get um a good amount for circuit breaker for you know that we got this year that we'll use for next year so and um so comfortable yes it's not a lot of wiggle room but Um we did bring uh three kids back but we had two
096kids went out. So it's that's the nature of >> of the situation and we don't want to ever you know deprive a student who truly needs that out of district replacement. >> Um and we can't say we don't have the money and and all that. So we but again I think you know keeping our programs going supporting our kids here is like the best um >> Yep. >> You know I have to ask >> pretty comfortable. Well, I mean, unless there's another crazy 14% increase. >> Um, another thing that's happening is we're using the collaborative a little bit more >> and that tends to be a little bit less expensive than uh the other out of district programs. >> Um, so >> great. Thank you. Thank you for all your work over the years. And
097Scott, I had one question for you because I know they were doing the equity audit for sports. I didn't know if the outcome would have any impact on how we spend our dollars in athletics. >> We're waiting to see that. So, I think right now we're waiting to see that. Reports due to be April 30th. I think the impact might be how we redistribute some of it, but the bottom line is change. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you to everyone who came tonight and presented here. We really appreciate your narrative and your perspectives and it really helps us to um and for families and folks in the community to understand how the dollars are spent and you know the impact that it has on children. So it really is evident the
098amount of work that and thoughtfulness that you put into these. So we really really appreciate that. >> Did you want to >> I was going to say exactly that. helps us advocate too. You know, being able to tell the story of how the money is used helps us to be the best ad. >> No, thank you. I think it's been great to hear directly from each department, each principle what what is happening. So, in that area, we do have our kind of traditional presentation, but Irene and I will go relatively quickly through it. So, we don't want to repeat a lot of what's been said, but I think it's important. So, these are really backup slides to everything that has been said. Um, but I'm going to let Irene go through revenue and expenses and
099then a little bit about how the dollars are spent from a 60,000 60,000 foot view and then we'll look at each building. Great. >> We just ask questions as we go. >> Of course, that would be easier actually particular topic of building that would be >> okay. So, as I said in the introduction to the electronic binder that you all received a copy of, I have been on budget all the time for the last three months. Here's the result. So, the first thing we have to determine is how many, you know, dollars are we going do we expect to have? And here we start with how much money we're going to get from the town. Um, you know, as a percentage of the total that they get. And you'll see that for FY27, we're looking
100at, you know, 50,294,317, which is a 4% increase. In fact, 4.05 to be fair from uh the previous year. And I'm not going to read through these, you'll all go crazy. But you can see that very the third to last column, it says FY27 proposed. Go all the way to the bottom. Notice that our total revenues were expecting to be $55,029 29,61. Sorry about that. So, I'm gonna say it again because I think I said it wrong. 55,29,061. >> Slow down. Calm down. Okay. So, again, this represents in total a 4.57% increase from last year. And we're expecting that the state and federal grants are pretty much level. The states going up slightly. Revolving accounts are anticipated to be stable. And of course, we're given the number by the town in terms of what they'll
101provide. Uh it's it's worth noting that obviously the money we get from the town is the largest part of our budget. Um, our enrollments, these were the enrollments from last year, 2744. And our enrollment for this year, bottom right corner, 2726. Basically flat. Okay. Technically down 18 students, but and if you look at the projections, which I believe are in here, no, we don't have that one in here. Uh, it's pretty much flat going forward. uh no one's anticipating a huge change. We're not going to ant um probably not see a huge drop. We're also not going to see a huge spike. Now, if two years from now or next year or whatever, somebody says, "Hey, we're building a 1,00 unit apartment building, let me know because we'll have to adjust accordingly, but I'm unaware
102of any such thing happening." Uh so, here we move into our salaries and expenses portion of the budget. this is how we're going to spend the money. Uh, and I apologize for the fact that some of these don't have the percentages on them. I worked with Excel for a very long time and because there some of those smaller ones are so crowded together. This was the best I could do. Okay. But you'll see how our budget looks based upon each school. um our special education um from the central point of view that does not include the special education teachers at each of the schools um our transportation etc. how that all uh falls out. Salaries versus expenses. Not surprisingly, 80% of our budget is salaries. And that is not a typical, you know, for a
103municipal school district. Um our expenses run about 13% and our out of district expenses are about 7%. And in terms of the total budget, 71% of the money is spent for quote regular education and 29% is spent on special education. That includes everything. That means all the teachers, all the supplies, the transportation, the out of district um tuitions etc. Okay, this is the U big picture. What you want to focus on is that dark green column towards the right. That just gives you a total amount for each school. And then for each of the departments outside of the school, the special education department, uh the central office, um your department chairs, your athletics, technology, uh the early childhood, and then transportation. The most important part is very down on the bottom there which shows you
104that our expenses equal our revenues and thus we have a zero. Okay. So my expenses minus my revenues are zero. It is a balanced budget. >> I just had a question. Yeah. >> So if you look at the supplies line Yeah. for Gates 211 and SHs is 506. >> Yeah. Can you help me understand why there's such a big difference given that enrollment at both of those schools is very close to the same? >> If you can hang on, it's a slide later on. So, we'll show the details. >> Okay, great. And you'll see I can hold on. I'm sorry. >> I promise it's coming. >> I'll give you a sneak preview. >> A lot of it is because of the sheer variety of programs going on in high school. Okay. >> Things like our
105project lead the way are a good example. Okay. >> The other thing we did add to this chart as opposed to previous years was an FY26 comparison. So we had never put the prior year comparison. So you can see all the way to the right a comparison to the current year in terms of the overall spend. >> Yeah. So you'll see that the high school actually hasn't gone up, you know, a whole lot different, you know, 75% increase. We also kind of blew past it, but I think it's what I found interesting about enrollments is it's true enrollments may be flat, but if you drill down into the schools, I think as a school committee, it's really important to be mindful and supportive of big jump that the middle school is seeing. And so while
106it's flat, we're seeing changes within schools. So paying attention to that, I think it's going to be really important as we think about budget allocation. >> Oh yeah. So this is why that bottom line is a good one to look at. What's coming up from here, you know? So if I know that I've got 193, you know, students in kindergarten this year, that means in eight years. >> Yeah. >> Okay. They're going to be freshmen. And like, whoa. Okay. You know, that actually trends about right because we probably, let's assume it was totally flat everywhere. We're gonna lose a few kids after 8th grade, primarily to the vocational schools, you know, to to our our member vocational school and then also to the agricultural schools where we typically have one or two students, you know,
107going. Okay. Um, this is a quick look at the full-time equivalent positions for the district. I know. I'm sorry for the uh what was what was the word you used on that, Tom? The aspect ratio. I had a heck of a time getting this copied in here. But the bottom line is that in FY25, we had 511.25 full-time equivalent positions. For this year, we have 515.65. And for next year, we do have an increase at 519.45. And you can see here, you heard the various school principles talk about this. Um Cushing didn't mention this. Oh, actually she did that they do have one parah. They've been losing one parah. Hatherly on the other hand, as she mentioned, which is growing, is adding an elementary teacher because they're going to need now to have the third
108grade go to three sections and one more special education teacher as her subsparate program is in need. Uh no changes in Jenkins. Watuck is um losing one elementary teacher and one parah at the early childhood center. While we're not changing the number of people, we have increased the paris from 0.8 to.9 full-time equivalent. Okay, so that makes it look like we've gone from 11.4 to 12.6, which we have, but it's not because we've added any people. we have simply increased the hours for those paras and that is because we went to the five day a week program for the four-year-olds. That's where that comes from. Um Gates, you can see is going to be getting two paras and that's because they've got students coming up, you know, from the other schools who um who have
109needs for a parah. And then uh in the high school, we're adding the 6 drama teacher and one parah. And then no change in FTE for technology but we have increased the technology parah from 184 to 220 days and I will get this chart to the comm I apologize presentation but we will get we will get to first. >> Okay so I'm just going to quickly you know blow through the schools. Stop me if you have a question on any particular one. Uh so this is the overall view. You'll see that Cushing has increased a total of 3%. Um 3% for salaries, 10% for supplies, but supplies is such a small portion that the overall increase for the school is 3%. And then this breaks it down by particular category for the salaries, your elementary
110teachers, your kindergarten, etc. And then this is the supplies. So this all fits all of the um elementary schools fit on one page. So again, look at the green column. That's the sheer um and it is a 10% increase. And you'll notice that most of that is right here in the science supply line. And you heard um I'm going to confuse Heather. Heather mentioned that they she's back there urging me on um going into the new science program and that is going to require a fair amount of supplies. >> And just for the sake of context, each of these expense charts speak to everything that was just talked about. So if anybody's wondering where is all the money that was just talked about housed in the budget, they're housed on all of these expense lines.
111>> Okay, this is Hatherly again. Here's my overall. Notice that they're up a bit more at 7.49%. No surprise since they're the one getting a couple more positions. And then this just breaks it down by the positions. And then again, here's your supplies again up 19%. And notice that 72% increase on the science supply line. And then here we have Jenkins. Okay, notice that they're actually down a little bit and that's because they're not adding any staff. Okay, and they've got I believe she mentioned um a couple of retirements. And here's their um salaries. And here are the uh supplies. And while the total's only gone up 5%, again you can see the bump in science supply. And then here we have Watonic. And again you've got your salaries. Again, remember that they are losing
112a position or two. So their change from last year is 0.92%. Here you've got your salaries for your different types of teachers. And here you've got your expenses. Okay. The early childhood center again we know that they've got that increase um primarily due to increasing the powers from 08 to 0.9. Um and that you know they're going to be.1 of them. Uh so this one is the Gates Middle School. You'll notice that they're up 2.45%. And here's all the information on the various personnel. This one is the um the supplies. >> One of them. >> Now, I was just going to say this is page one of two. So, if you're looking at the bottom line going, whoa, wait a second, zero. That's just for the health services supply. You want me to go to
113the next page, then? >> Yes, please. I wanted to mention the gates expenses, why it would be perceived as a huge cut. Last year, when we did the social studies textbooks, we put over $200,000 in the high school and middle school to cover those. Um, so for this coming year, English does not need that kind of degree. So, the 200,000 did automatically transfer into English. Um, the department chair mentioned, you know, better part of $100,000 in needs. We've incorporated all of those. um but it's not the same level of spending as social studies. So that number came down significantly at the middle school because we did remove the social studies text line and redistributed to other areas. Um and actually it's redistributed throughout the elementary and middle school and high school where we talked about
114not only science but English as well. That's one of the reasons it might be perceived as a little different from the high school in terms of the as far as schools go. Last but not least, Situ High School. You see that they are up 3.64% in total. And there you see there salaries for the various teachers. Uh and again this is you were looking at the supplies line but notice that variety in terms of types of teachers, subject area teachers, which is a bit different than the elementary schools. And then again we have two pages for supplies. You're seeing the first page here. And then I'll go to the next page. There's page two. And then down at the bottom, you'll notice again they are down 13% not because they've been cut, but because they
115too last year needed that extra bump for the social studies curriculum and for fortunately the English curriculum is not as expensive. >> And I think you know to address the question of the difference between the district expenses of the high school as well as the middle school. A high school carries graduation expenses which are more expensive. A high school also carries more expenses more expenses in guidance as well. And so if you look throughout they also carry more expenses in music than the middle school. >> I was just going to bigger areas there. Yeah, high schools are expensive. And if if you ever look at the chapter 70 uh funding formula and they give the dollars, you know, per activity based on whether it's a elementary student or middle school students, etc. Uh the most
116expensive students are vocational students followed by high school students. >> I don't know if it's possible. I remember in the binder you start at the habit of these great notes to the right and so not all supplies are created equal and so I just wonder if like even an asterk that gives those examp like you just said like high school graduation music and I'm like oh of course like even just a couple of categories would help like the public reading this to know that that's why >> okay >> it's more expensive just they think >> yeah they do I mean >> I Okay. >> Right. They're like, "Wait a second. There's almost there's only 20 people different." Right. So, like so much more. >> I wasn't the broadness of that category. Right. So, just having
117some examp. >> Yeah. Just a little more detail. >> Yeah. >> And I think when you do when you prepare something for town meeting, maybe that talks about the negative numbers on some of these schools like how you've been >> explained to show how the reallocation explanation. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Uh so you've already seen this one which was the athletics. And so this is the special education. You'll notice that you'll see the salaries totaled at the bottom. Uh these are district-wide positions, meaning that they are not assigned to any one school. They they float as needed or do a fair amount of work kind of in concert, you know, with with other staff. And you'll notice that increases 3.2%. Uh you'll see up here as most of you know notice that the FTE proposed
118for Michelle for next year is zero because she's retiring. Okay. And to be determined will be whoever you know we we find to uh to come in and fill the position. I won't say replace her because you can't replace her to take the position. And then these are the uh various expenses. Uh, one thing just to point out here, and this was done in part to aid me in my um reporting, the private school tuition has been broken down uh between day tuition and residential tuition. Okay, so that the only reason those two are broken out is is for that. It is something that that helps me with my reporting to Jesse. and the central admin salaries. Um you'll notice that they are up in total 2.97%. And in case it wasn't obvious what I
119did with people who had been in the budget for this year but eventually were not. Um such as Dr. Burkhead, you know, goes to a zero to be determined as you go through your search process. Um, and then here currently it looks like, you know, Tom won't be there, you know, and I would and we'll see what happens because I do know that for some reason he's not superintendent. That means he goes back to being the business manager to I hope I hope it works out, you know, differently. And then down here, you'll see the same thing where our DVI DEI director um Jamal Adams um has been replaced again not replaced but the new position the sea director will be the full-time equivalent that is filled for next year >> just to clarify I
120know you mentioned it but just the uh private school tuition you separate into private school and residential and also collaborative >> right >> those three equal the outer correct district okay >> yeah so the the I said you're right I could actually break that down >> I preferred this All right. >> This is very I think if you look >> you can see >> right gives you a more f you know >> Yeah. >> a more finessed Yeah. >> look at what's going on. >> Thank you >> Tom. I was wondering maybe this isn't the place to talk about but since the sea director was mentioned um you know in the Excel spreadsheet there's costs for the pair and then character strong. Are you I feel like with this new person, are you going to
121give them an opportunity to weigh in on those things before we move forward or >> a little at the same time? So, I'm really hoping the new person can start. We'll talk about this in a future meeting in this year, like March, April, May, and really give them a chance to dig in and see what we're doing. Okay. >> So, I want them to review what we're currently doing. >> Okay. >> And I'm not sure we'd make immediate changes in September, but they'd absolutely have a chance to review everything that we're doing. So, you're going to be open to that that item changing if I thought or being adjusted in some%. >> Okay. And you'll see that we have a 1.6% increase in the total expenses for the uh central office. >> Not not many
122changes there. Um in your packets there's a breakdown of district uh contracting services. just so much understanding yourself contracted services that we are currently using. Um, and that's broken down in your packet, but basically this is going back and forth with what we need from one year to the next. We did increase uh electric and gas a little bit just to be sure. It's a very cold winter and just to make sure that we are covered not only for this year but for next year as well. Um, but honestly uh even though it is a 1.6% 6% increase. Um, most of that is the gas electric kind of back. Tried to keep this really flat. >> So, is the 85k that is under the weird line of school committee teacher professional is that 85 is
123the rolled up number from the Excel spreadsheet that shows the different >> PDS that were no. So, what that is is reimbursement to the teachers for their classes. It's a very strange place to put it, but if I >> That's what that 85 is. Okay. So, that's not the same as the PD for Okay. >> What we're going to show in a moment is Mr. Lynch, I believe it's $475,000 total that's in the PD budget. >> That's why I thought that was really Okay. >> Yeah. There's a difference between individual PD versus districtwide. >> Yeah. It's just not It's just hard. That's such a weird It's a weird >> It is. I try to move it It's not yours. Sorry. It's sta contract though. It just happens to be in that spot. >> Maybe add
124a little note next to that. >> Well, it does say contract. >> But I don't think reimbursement. >> Yeah, just Yeah, that would be better to >> Right. Because it does it's a little misleading. It's a lot >> like Oh, wow. Those people make it >> we can we can name it whatever not >> to clarify that would be zero >> teacher reimbursement. Yes teacher course reimbursement they get >> that makes sense. >> Okay just where it's housed >> I know it was >> so next up is um technology. You'll see here the salaries. One thing that's not noted here, um it is worth noting that two of these people where it says tech staff, um Ian KD and Tara Godet are actually um teachers. They're in the teachers unit um and they go to
125the different schools and you know give courses to the to the students. So a little bit different than for example somebody like um Susan who's you know in my office helping me figure things out on the computer. And then this is the category. I broke it down very similar to the way that um Jackie mentioned. So I've got all the hardware, you know, put together. Notice the Chromebooks, the tablets, etc. This also includes things like the panels, uh the software, the different licenses, the security programs, etc. And then the contracted services which is our rate consulting the network project that she mentioned you know for Jenkins is here and then summer help and this is the curriculum. >> Yeah this slide is just some of the districtwide uh curriculum review cycle um expenses. So benchmark
126data assessments under contract services that 186,000 the science tech and engineering uh PD the ELA curriculum review process. So instead of materials you see this budget's a little higher just with contracted professional development services and same thing with the uh line that's 97,000 the uh curriculum professional development. So, um PD for ELA, PK through 12. You heard Megan talk about um writing for elementary as well as Laura talking about secondary focus on writing. So, that's a lot of that number as well as um budgeting some amount for the curriculum review that's beginning with school counseling um and other departments. So that's the slight increase here um in capturing a lot of the district uh YPD. >> Ryan, when you when you and the staff think it's appropriate, do you think the school committee will get
127to hear about some of the great experiences that folks are having at PD? Because I know there's so much good work going on in so much social studies and math and ELA and writing. So it' be great to hear not just the quantitative but like I'd love to hear like what teachers are thinking about there's how they're being supported or not. So again so we can continue to advocate if there if you're all feeling like you're not being supported like what do we need to be talking about. So it'd be awesome to hear I don't want to put a burden but just a few people come and share maybe their experiences. >> Yeah absolutely and we put together the schedule for the teaching and learning updates for our our departments. Um and perhaps given that
128a lot of in the audience they can use that request and uh infuse the presentation with anecdotal teacher feedback about uh professional development which is huge like the uh social studies teachers uh went on the national conference and with English teachers and like they typically those are just two examples people come back just really gushing with professional enthusiasm and so um that's actually reflected in this part of the budget as well. So absolutely we'll both have the quantitative and qualitative and then as well um the professional development I do a professional development report once a year and so I'll include that as well >> because working with the consultant too be good to hear what they're up to. >> Absolutely. >> And don't forget to include yourself and Dr. Rab I heard you guys you
129know talking very positively about the professional development that you've been doing. >> Yeah. That's right. >> Actually, my girls. >> So, I'm just kid, you know, just that spot, not >> he's teasing me. I live up closer to there. >> Okay. And then, of course, transportation. Um, and that's, you know, the drivers of course are, you know, a contractual um salaries. Uh, fuel I have not increased it that much. The reason being that fuel prices have come down. Okay. So, they're they're looking pretty good, and they look like they're probably going to stay stable, at least for next year. So, I did do a slight increase, but not too much. Um, our bus lease, of course, is a fixed number. Um, our contracted services, you know, for things we need outside. Um, homes, transportation, you
130always budget some. You know, in a good year, you don't have any, but sometimes you can have quite a bit. And then, of course, our supplies. We come up with 1.2 2 million, which is about a 7.67% increase, which is actually probably about average in terms of increases. We are planning on um being fully staffed um at 20 drivers between buses and and vans. Um well, the 20 the 20 is actually just for the buses. The vans are understood um being fully staffed with our own drivers. >> That's great. In fact, we just had someone come in last week interviewing, you know, he'll go on the sublist that is planning to join us, you know, starting in August to uh yeah, help ground out our our bus drivers. I believe that's my last slide. It
131is. I have a couple questions. >> Can we ask questions? >> So you had mentioned the equity audit audit and you don't have that. So when when that is finished or prior, can we get an itemized list of the coaching salers because I don't think it's in our Excel. I didn't see it. >> Okay. And in the same vein, because I'm really like mindful of the stories I've heard about robotics, we also get the siphons for club advisors. just so we can see. I just want to make sure that our clubs are being supported and that equity is being >> Yeah, sounds grown a lot. >> Yeah, that's what I want. >> I don't have to wait. >> Okay, that would be great. >> Um, so you you can get a a quick idea by
132looking at the contract, but we'll get you an actual list because there are similar to our teachers, there are actually steps. >> Yeah. So, you know, coaches with seniority are making more than than newer coaches. So, we'll get you the exact information, but if you were like dying to know right now, >> no, it's okay. I can >> Yeah. take a quick look look at the contract for those rates. >> When we look at the Excel book, I can see that there are projected salary increases for different staff members. And I'm just curious like I couldn't detect a pattern. And so can you talk I know this is confidential but like can you talk generally about like how is that determined is it like >> Sure. So every year people rise on the steps and
133>> so for anybody they're hired in a particular step another year of service is automatically on the steps. >> Okay. >> And so they go up to step 13 or 14 depending on what they have >> really. And so that's very easy to predict. We know from one year to the next. >> What's more difficult to predict are the lane changes. And some people go from masters to masters 30 to masters 45 to masters 60. >> So we're always sort of chasing that. And so very recently Irene went through and kind of tred it up for this budget so we know exactly what it's going to be. >> And then we always know that in future years, you know, over the summer might complete a way and complete a step. We're able to fund those
134through savings. So if somebody goes out on a leave, a maternity leave, we'll often save enough money. So it generally watches out so that we can manage those and then uh in our contract here if somebody's been working for 20 years we can also predict that and there's a solid increase there. So it's one of those areas that's a bit volatile but we found that over time if we just adjust it every couple of few times a year we're able to keep up with it. It has >> surprising changes. One other thing since you said you were looking at possible patterns, it is not an even increase from lane to lane to lane. That's what I was just asking. >> It's a higher increase earlier because you're encouraging people to get to that masters. >>
135That makesense. >> Then after that, >> if you want to do it, great. But we're not as encouraging. >> That makes sense. >> Yeah. Yeah. Totally. The last question I had, um, because we've been approving like donations that come in and we're being more mindful of what schools are doing in terms of raising money. I'm wondering is this even our purview to be thinking about the athletic budget alongside what boosters raise? Like should we be looking I'm just curious to see like what they're paying for versus what we're paying for and how it all sort of washes out. >> We're going to get there. So that's that's a piece of the FBO audit, but it's also part of my charge as the committee, you know, recently changed the policy so that we have to report
136all of that information with the boosters. So it's not part of the budget, but eventually we will have all that. >> Okay. Well, maybe like in spring potentially or late spring. Okay. >> Late spring. Sorry. It just would be nice to see them side by side. Yeah. Okay. >> Okay. There's no question our booster will support us well in advance of the million dollar that you saw. >> Yeah. >> Well, yeah, that's what I was wondering. Okay. >> Um I don't have any questions. Just a couple of quick like just little observations. I think I don't know. One is just um I gave up policy impacts and how and I was thinking about first buying a Chromebook card in fifth grade but then someone explained oh it's going to send them home fifth graders I
137think was absolutely the right decision it's like just one of those things you think about sometimes that see coming there's impact the financial one those things are costly and we have such little wiggle room in our budget as it is you know we're now seeing that like a real there's a real cost to that and I think again it was the right move not saying that, but I'm just saying it's just one of those things that sometimes um when we are thinking and that wasn't our policy anyway. That's more guilty based policy, but I just think it's an example of how sometimes those decisions are far removed from the budget when we're making them. It's hard to really point though, but when you're when we're doing policy review, it is something we should what is
138the budgetary impact of this change or decision. >> So, it's maybe something to add to our just thought process. um you know policy subcommittee. >> Yes. >> Um also just I was really reflected on how helpful it is to have the curriculum review cycle. Um just we saw that it was so clear when everyone was presenting just like at what stage their department is and how they can all see that coming and how we can see it coming. That was just like oh so thankful to have that. Yeah. >> Um I thought that was really great. We heard um a number of times how helpful it is to have the support in brand writing that just came really clearly. So that was really nice to hear and good to note for us just was important
139to call out. Um as Peter noted earlier, you know, the budget is mostly salary. We're not looking at a lot of wiggle room in a lot of places. So um I thought it was really nice to hear how many people noted that they're able to kind of make do with local funding. Um and I know sometimes takes creativity. So I think she's really helpful that we have people are willing to kind of work um in that space. Again, just as Nicole noted, really helpful to have those narratives and the storytelling is kind of what sticks with you. I think when you look at the spreadsheets, it's like just so many numbers. Really hard to remember, but don't always think what would be really helpful is having heard from everyone tonight. If someone were to ask
140me, you know, I think I'll be able to remember much better just from having heard from everyone. So, I think that new format. That's it. You >> guys have any thoughts on your first budget? >> Interesting to see where all of the >> actually is cool. >> But it's interesting to see where how much these do cost and the impact that they have. >> Especially such a big budget. wonder where everything goes. >> So, really, >> right, thank you so much. Any any final thoughts? >> No, other than, you know, we'll be back next week. So, we'll certainly, you know, there's really if the committee has anything that you'd like us to consider, any other changes, let let me know and then we'll present a final next week. >> All right. Well, it is time
141for public comment. Although there are nobody there is nobody who is watching virtually. >> Hold on. >> Let me get out of here so you can >> except for 16 on there. Um and nobody in person. However, we will have um you know we're not voting on anything tonight. So plenty of time for feedback and comments. >> All right. Um nothing else. We will I'll accept a motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjourn 804. >> Second. >> Hey. All in favor?