001I will call to order this meeting of the Somerset Berkley Regional School Committee at 6:02 p.m. Due notice having been posted pursuant to the open meeting law, any person may make an audio or video recording of this public meeting or may transmit the meeting through any medium. Attendees are therefore advised that such recordings or transmissions may be made whether perceived or unperceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. We'll do a roll call of members present. Ms. Ferreira. >> Present. >> Ms. Ashley. >> Present. >> Ms. Solomon. >> Present. >> And the chair is present. Also with us this evening our Superintendent of Schools Dr. Jeffrey Schoonover, our Chief Financial Officer Ms. Raquel Pellerin, our Director of Special Education Ms. Megan Ashton, and our Recording Secretary Robin Vaccaro. Would ask you please stand
002for the pledge. >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh please note that the next regularly scheduled meeting of this committee will be held on Monday, March 16th at 6:00 p.m. here in the Somerset Berkley Regional High School library and that this meeting will include the public hearing for the FY2027 budget. Um the first item on the agenda um under student teaching learning is our student representative report >> I do. >> which I think we will um table unless they conveyed any information to you, Dr. Schoonover. >> No. >> Okay. >> Sorry for my tardiness. >> That's okay. The roads are tricky. >> Yeah, with my car. >> We
003just started. Um The next item on the agenda is recognition of our February visionaries. The committee would like to commend the following students: Brady Andry, digital citizen. Margaret Arena, digital citizen. Cali Chester, empathetic. Leland Erizarry, respectful. Madison Rebello, resilient. Ella Reno, independent. Abigail Real, academic. Cooper Void, respectful. And Samantha Weyda, resilient. Congratulations to those students. The next item on the agenda is public input on topics on the agenda. Is there any public input this evening? Okay. We'll move on to the next item on the agenda under new business. We have the superintendent's report, Dr. Spoonover. >> All right, thank you. So, let me first begin by acknowledging uh some students in our fine arts department. Our uh high school drama club uh recently received 26 nominations for the Ocean State Star Awards. They were uh
004they received a nomination in every category that they qualified for. So, congratulations to them. I think 26 nominations might be the most uh that they have received that we have received in the past since their recent production of Chicago. Uh so, good luck to all of them. That the event usually takes place uh let's say early to mid-May. And uh probably Performing Arts Center. So, congratulations to the students and the staff for being uh a really successful production. Uh I guess the only other thing before the statutory appointment, sort of summarizing what happened last week. Um we obviously had an unprecedented storm. Um as the week was going on, I remained you know, somewhat optimistic that we might be able to get a day uh in a school, but we're taking it one day at
005a time. And as you know, uh we just weren't able to uh to make that happen. And in fact, it was until Sunday afternoon where we were still having our uh contractors come out and and clear uh the just Blue Raider Boulevard right in front here to make sure that was going to just be fine in the morning, which it wasn't until Sunday afternoon Sunday morning. Uh So, it it was uh it was challenging to clean up not just our own properties, too. Our parking lot was uh what still uh had a number of spots that were filled with snow on Friday afternoon. Uh but what really made it challenging too were the side roads with the buses. Uh even though the high school buses um have more local stops, uh it still requires still
006requires our buses to have any side roads in both Berkeley and Summerset. And the conditions were just not they weren't good enough safe enough for the first few days. So, with that, we've now had six days of school that we've had to cancel this year. How which is our last day of school as of right now, Friday, June 26th. Uh so, I'm hoping for uh nothing beyond that uh to cause us to go back uh one day on a Tuesday, the 29th or 30th. Uh there is a meeting tomorrow with the superintendents the school department where this is uh uh certainly one of the main topics he's going to talk about and just inform us of what if there are any if there's any flexibility uh in the in the other schedule. So, when I
007get that, I will also share that uh with the school committee and with our staff as well. Uh so, with that, uh the other item on today's agenda are some uh just a few staff appointments. Uh so, I just want to call out one because you'll see that there's a resignation of of one and then that same person is there as an appointment. Uh Tanya Silva was our special education administrative assistant here at the high school. And with the changes uh very recently provided to the central office, uh Tanya has been appointed to that administrative assistant to the director of special education. Uh so, we're going to that. There are a few other I think just one other resignation, a few other appointments. They're there mostly uh if they're all full-time service people. >> And
008just before we move on, I wanted to thank you for the updates last week keeping us all informed and I mean, I certainly agree. I was, you know, visiting my parents a couple of times on the Maricopa Terrace just out of one-way path for each street. So, there's no way a bus could have gotten around any of those streets. And uh I don't know. I applaud the maintenance staff for all their work cuz >> Oh. >> that was a lot of a lot of snow to move and they just plowed me back in this morning at my house cuz there were still winding in the streets. And >> Okay. >> town's doing a lot of work. >> Yeah, it is. >> I applaud all of them. Big big job. >> Yeah, there's still a lot
009of intersections which you know the town has been looking at. >> Yeah, cuz I apologize that we have no visibility. >> clear left-hand or right-hand turns when you're looking out and so on. So, there's still some some work to do, but they really did the highway department knows in Somerset. They they really came out and they were still working throughout the weekend to make sure that the signs were applied. They are a great point with Mr. Fisher Boss. Um Mr. Fisher, I asked him if he could just go around and identify what the concerns were from his perspective and uh he he gave a few uh few areas uh that we could address with the highway department which uh well, and address them right away. They are saying that the roads where we were were
010actually uh were pretty well addressed. >> Yeah, Alan highway department did a really great job. All two of them. All two Yeah. They did a really great job. >> And even here at the building department, as you step out, the custodial crews, they they did a great job making sure that the walkway made it work for them and everything that they were responsible for uh were were done quickly and done properly. >> Um I'm sure you're going to do the same, but we were just wondering, Dr. Do you think after um you have the meeting with the commissioner, find out like if there are waivers or whatever going on, um and maybe when we're safely through winter, which I guess is maybe through April Fools, um maybe provide not only the committee, but just everyone
011with sort of an updated calendar cuz I think yeah, a lot of people might reference the original and forget like what last day of school is. So, when folks are booking their flights, they see final exams and all those that cascade of impacts. >> Yes. >> Um but just at this point, we wouldn't anticipate any changes to the graduation date or >> That is the one Thank you for asking that. That is the one thing last week when um uh local superintendents, we had a meeting with our DESE liaison and that was one of the questions we asked regarding the answer to to see if there was if she could have a definitive answer because we were getting mixed messages. That some school districts were told that they had to change the graduation dates because
012of the snow time. They confirmed that we do not. So it's based on the last scheduled the original scheduled day of school. Graduation can't occur any any sooner than 12 days before the last 12 school days before the last scheduled day. And if snow days push that out, we can hold to >> Good news received. >> Friday, June 5th. >> Okay. Okay. Yeah, we heard a lot of mixed messages, so that's good. Thank you for clarifying that. >> Any other questions? >> Well, the only thing that has kind of come up in my district, people have been asking and wondering, you know, why we couldn't have remote learning days. And I and I'm sure, you know, Monday with the wind and the potential power outages, you know, I know that my power was flickering and
013my internet kept going down. Um and then on Tuesday I had no internet at all, right? So I you know, I would not have been able to as an educator, like, you know, teach students. But, you know, people were also trying to dig out. It the amount of snow that we got with the storm was unprecedented, so Um but furthermore, am I is my memory correct that since COVID now we've moved on and DESE is no longer recognizing like remote learning days? >> That is >> And furthermore, that would require you know, some sort of negotiation with our local unions, right? So for all of those reasons I just felt like I should at least bring it up publicly so that people are aware. We can't just have a remote learning day, and I think
014that many of the days last week it wouldn't have made sense anyway, given the instability. >> Right. So, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday could have been um cuz I think all of our internet was restored by Wednesday. Um but you're right. Uh Massachusetts has stated that uh unlike Rhode Island, I think this is why so so of us around in this part of the state get confused because we see virtual days on private stations for the for the Rhode Island schools, but Massachusetts does not allow virtual days to count. Uh so, right now the rule is 180 days of in-person instruction and 990 hours of learning. So, those are the requirements that the state restricts. Uh must be important to have that in years of successful learning. Which is why there are waivers, yeah, but they don't
015grant them easily. There have to be some extenuating circumstances for that. Um and particularly if it's if there's only days where you're not up until June 30th and then you're trying to take away a public education day or something like that, as some districts do. I'm not saying we're we're not doing that at all, but um in situations like that, when districts have faced them, sometimes those waivers have been granted. So, you will see tomorrow what the commissioner has to say. >> And there will be no more snow. >> [laughter] >> Okay. >> flurry, just not a lot. >> Yeah. >> No, it can't even flurry. We're done. >> [laughter] >> Well, I'm okay with that, but you know. If it doesn't accumulate. Okay. Um all right. Next on the agenda, under business and financial
016matters, um, we have an update from the um, budget subcommittee. Um. I know. >> Yeah, I mean the the summary of the situation is, um, tonight the budget subcommittee voted to approve a preliminary total operating budget of 22,555,800 $75. Which represents a 2.61% increase from the prior year before revenue. And I did not jot down the percentage after the revenue is considered. So, >> So, referring to it now, 1.82%? >> Yeah. Um, the budget does include some reductions in personnel. And there are reductions, um, in some of, you know, the the various unions in the district, um, as well as some non-union positions. Um, the positions that were proposed, um, to be cut, um, the decisions were made based on data, according to Dr. Elsberry and the administrative team. Um, additionally, there were some proposed
017cuts that were made in terms of supplies, and, um, some of the items are just being cut from the proposed budget, while other items, many items, we are going to the district is going to attempt to to purchase in advance with this this year's funding. Um, they're going to continue to look at the supplies specifically. Um, Um we gave them less than 24 hours to bring additional cuts to us because we met last night and then again today. So they did a tremendous amount of work in a very short period of time. Um and it you know, it's not it's not easy to make these cuts, but we know the financial realities of the community communities that we represent. Um and we're trying to be responsible while still provide students with what they need. >>
018Um and I would just add that you know, this budget is um sensitive not only to the you know, financial realities, but also to declining enrollment. So that you know, there's a recognition that in some cases, there's opportunities to do some consolidating that doesn't um have a necessarily it doesn't mean a programmatic cut and and um we still I think even with this are fortunate to have class sizes that are um favorable to a many of our comparable communities and some of the um financial realities and struggles that they're dealing with. So we felt this was a unanimous vote as it needs to be coming out of the budget subcommittee. Very grateful um to Dr. Spoonover, to Ms. Pollard, and to um Dr. Brailsford and the rest of the team who worked really hard to
019um present this to us. We feel that it's a very responsible starting point. Um The plan moving forward is a couple of things. One would be um that you now the entire committee has um the access to the um the spreadsheet with all of the line items, the entire budget um proposed budget. And we'd like to give you obviously time to digest that. You can't do that in 5 minutes. So, but in order to be able to meet our timeline for our public hearing, we're going to need to schedule um another meeting of the full committee. We'd like to propose that that meeting be held on next Tuesday the 10th at 5:00 via Zoom. And just one item on the agenda which would be for the full committee needs to vote on whether or not
020to accept that preliminary budget number. Um If that if we can hold that meeting, then we'll be able to keep our original um public hearing um date of March 16th, which has already been advertised in uh to both towns. So, we'd like to do that. So, I don't know. I know that's news to both of you, but would you be able to do a quick >> do that at any time. Yep. Is the 6th That's a Monday? >> Well, no. It's a next Tuesday the 10th. So, Tuesday then the public hearing is the Monday after this right now. Um and that would be the only item on the agenda. There is a There's a Somerset public schools uh school committee meeting at 5:30 via Zoom right after that. So, we would we would expect it
021to be under half hour. 15 minutes. Um Does that work for you? Okay. Then we're going to go ahead and we'll schedule it. Hopefully the other members can make it. >> I think the only other thing we discussed is if there's what's I mean, obviously there's a lot of stuff that you guys can look at and digest. If we have questions, maybe we can present them by email just so they can complicate it since we have a tight timeline. >> Yeah, once you have a chance to look at the proposed budget, certainly email um I'll just go over this part and any questions or clarification you need before we have discussion on that vote. >> That works for everyone? >> Sometimes it's just a quick clarification. Um All right. So, are there any questions about
022for the budget subcommittee? Um Next on the agenda then is just review of the budget vote process under the amended regional agreement. So, it just asked because some folks are new, but also I also have to reread this every year to refresh my memory um about the process. So, in in your folder is a copy of the the amended regional agreement, amended a few years ago, which outlines the process. Um So, we need a full vote of the committee for the preliminary budget to move that forward, then we hold the public hearing. Um and that is followed by a full vote of the committee on the final budget. Um that needs to occur no later than March 31st. Um So, in order to meet that, we would like to schedule um another again one one-item
023meeting Zoom on March 31st. We have five Tuesdays in March and I guess we need them all. >> [laughter] >> Um If we could do a Zoom on the 31st at 6:00 just for that one item, we'll be able to meet our timelines. Does that work? >> Yep. >> Same time? See uh yeah, 6:00 5:00 on the 10th, 6:00 on the 31st. Both June. And then the um vote on the final budget needs to be approved by a 2/3 um majority. It's not a simple majority of the committee. Am I forgetting anything on that, Dr. Spoonhour? >> No. >> I think those are the highlights. But if you have any questions about that, um feel free to ask. It is in your folder. Um So it's one of those two. But so um following along
024with the um regional agreement, according to the regional agreement, each year this committee needs to consider whether or not to adopt the statutory formula for the assessment to the member towns or to use the alternate assessment formula that was developed um as part of the amended regional agreement. And just for everyone's information, we have used the alt- alternate assessment formula since it's been developed each year, um including last year and the prior year. Um but that does require a vote of the committee. Um in the interest of keeping this process moving, I would um entertain a motion that the district uses the alternative assessment formula as outlined in the regional agreement as opposed to using the statutory formula. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Ms. Ashley and seconded by Ms. Solomon. Is there
025anything on discussion? >> So is So is this the one that they voted 2019 or 2020? Is that the new formula they came up with? >> the one up with it. that got approved in 2020. >> Yes, that's what the document says. >> The members got it cold. Okay. >> And the the main difference, correct me if I say the right but the the main difference is that the alternate assessment of formula ascribes to each member community the out-of-district tuition cost for for this their resident students. >> Okay. >> Um which if you think about it makes sense because those costs have come up from each district's K to 8. And then they just carry into the region. And that was felt to be a much more equitable and predictable way of assigning those out-of-district
026costs to each member community. Um that's really the main >> Yeah, I remember that discussion from when I was on the MS. But that was the main difference between the two. >> I think it makes sense. >> It does. >> Um So we have a motion and a second. Anything further on the discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor of using the alternate assessment formula. >> Aye. >> Opposed? That's unanimous. So voted. Thank you, everyone. >> I um just one of clarification. Is there anything that we need to do a roll call vote of as opposed to I just want to make sure. >> I don't know. >> I'm not aware of any. >> Okay. Just when we get to Zoom, obviously. >> When we get to Zoom, okay. Yes. >> That's fine. I just
027wanted to ask because you know, it's like I don't want to have to do this vote again via that a future meeting because we got it wrong then. Better to ask now. >> No, absolutely. >> Um Okay. Um the next item on the agenda was to set the date for the public hearing. To just to clarify, that's actually already been set but we're going to confirm that we will hold that on um March 16th, which is a Monday. We did not want to ruin anyone's St. Patrick's Day festivities. Um so Monday at 6:00 we will hold the public um hearing on the budget first and then we will any other business that the committee needs to attend to and we'll do that afterwards. Um and both town member towns have been apprised of that date
028already. Um the next item on the agenda is an update on the Somerset Health Plan Group Rate increase. >> Okay, at our our last meeting things are looking a little better this year than they were last year. Um we did do a few um plan design changes last year which which have appeared to help. We did table the vote for one more meeting which will be this Thursday. What we're looking at is probably between an 8 to 10% increase without having to put much money at risk from the trust as we did last year. So, those are both in last year. So, unless anything has changed drastically since our last meeting, which hopefully it won't, I think we I think more people are leaning towards the 8% increase, but we'll we'll see how that vote
029goes on on Thursday and I'll apprise Mr. School as soon as it's done. So, we're not looking at the doomsday scenario with last year potential 20% increase. So, things are moving along smoothly. >> That's great news. So, that meeting's Thursday which you didn't get that information in time prior to even a vote on the 10% number in there. Drop that in to the calculations. That's great. Thank you. >> Yeah, I'll call Dr. School with Thursday afternoon and he can update the town. >> That is Um it's nice to have some good news. >> Mhm. >> Okay, next on the agenda are there any updates from either Berkeley or Somerset public schools relevant to the region? >> Nothing much out of Berkeley. We're still working through our budget our frightening budget this year. We will have
030an override on the ballot in May. The selectmen that number out I think it was last week or the week before. It's pretty significant. So we won't really have a clear picture until we know where that override kind of puts us. So it'll be on the ballot in May and then it then has to pass again in June at town meeting. So we're kind of in limbo until well trying to get that. Until then. But in in better news we have progress with our new school building. We accepted a bid from the GC Bray builders who I think is Somerset used for the middle school. So Bray is our GC and we have a tentative groundbreaking ceremony which is pretty exciting for Friday March 20th. Hopefully we're not standing in snow on March 20th. >>
031You'll need snow shovels to dig in. >> we'll need snow shovels. Right we won't be digging dirt we'll be digging snow right. So we have our groundbreaking we're moving right ahead. The plans look amazing and we're just super excited about the progress of that project. That's what I got. That's all. >> And on the Somerset side we continue to work on our FY27 budget as well and our capital improvement projects that we have in process. >> Okay, fabulous. Um next on the agenda topics not anticipated by the chair. I have none. Next on the agenda action items for future meetings. >> I added a lot but we also added a bunch of future meetings but anything else? >> Well, if anything arises just forward it to Robin and she'll make sure we agenda it. And
032next on the agenda is to consider approval of the minutes. We have just one set of minutes. So, I would entertain a motion to approve the open session minutes of February 3rd, 2026 as presented. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Motion by Ms. Ashley and seconded by Mr. Pasternak. Anything on discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor? Aye. Opposed? So voted. Um And then next on the agenda um pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A, Section 21A3 um I would move that we enter into executive session to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so declares American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees Administrative Assistants and Custodians AFSCME and I'll
033note that the committee will not return to open session. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Uh motion by Ms. Ashley and seconded by Ms. Ferrera. We need a roll call on this. So, uh Ms. Solomon? >> Aye. >> Ms. Ashley? >> Aye. >> Ms. Ferrera? >> Aye. >> Mr. Pasternak? >> Aye. >> And the chair votes aye. Thank you. Thank you everyone. >> Mhm.