001this meeting of the Somerset Berkeley Regional School Committee at 6:05 p.m. Do 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 unpersceived by those present, and are deemed acknowledged and permissible. We'll do a roll call of members present. Miss Barrera >> present. >> Miss Ashley >> present. >> Miss O'Brien >> present. >> Mr. Pastnack >> present. >> The chair is present. Also with us this evening our superintendent of schools Dr. Jeffrey Spoonover. Our chief financial officer Miss Rael Kellerin. Our director of curriculum is Elizabeth Pascal. Our director of special education Miss Megan Ashton. Our school principal Dr. Susan
002Rouseford. And our reporting secretary Robin Buro. Uh, would you please stand for the pledge? >> I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you everyone. Please note that the next reg regularly scheduled meeting of this committee will be held on Wednesday, February 25th, 2026 at 6 p.m. here in the Somerset Berkeley Regional High School Library. The first item on the agenda for this evening was our student representative report. Um they weren't able to be with us this evening. Did they pass along any information about this report? Should we just >> Okay, move that to the next meeting. [clears throat] The next item on the agenda is approval of the DECA
003trip to Boston. Um this is the estate um overnight trip from March 12th through 14th. >> Yes. So go ahead. >> So yeah, here for approval for the uh deck trip. It's from as you mentioned March 14th through the March 12th through the 14th. It is an overnight trip. So we'd be leaving here at 8:45 a.m. from the school. um staying overnight at the Amni Seapport Hotel on Thursday night and staying there Friday night and then we'd be coming back here to the school approximately 2 2:30 um in the afternoon on Saturday 14. We have it's actually we we're down to 14 students. So we have 14 students going and then myself and Miss [clears throat] Bernston uh will be going um as advisor shepherds. >> Does anyone have any questions about >> No, I
004just dec. Um, if there are no questions, I would entertain a motion to approve the DECA overnight field trip to Boston March 12th through 14th, 2026. I'll >> make a motion. >> Second. >> Motion by Mr. Passion, seconded by Miss Ashley. Anything further on discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I opposed. So voted. >> Great. Good luck to all the >> congratulations. So we had 18 students in all. Was that qualified for the state? >> Qualified. And so um four for different reasons and not going so [clears throat] I think they'll do well and they'll represent the school you know I'm sure they do an excellent job representing the school and it's great learning experience for them as well so >> you and the kids >> thank you appreciate that >> come on
005back and let us know how it turns out >> definitely >> thank you >> so the next item on the agenda is recognition of our learning visionaries. The committee would like to recognize the following students. Joshua Aola, independent. Kendall Altonberger, respectful. Louise Queso, resilient. Troy Faria, empathetic. Isaac Lauro, academic. Lily Miss, respectful. Carolyn Morgado, empathetic. And Cole Pierce, digital citizen. Congratulations to those students. The next item on the agenda is public input for topics on the agenda. Do we have any public input this evening? Okay. The next item on the agenda under new business is to discuss and act on the establishment of a capital planning subcommittee. Um just as background at our last meeting um one of the recommendations that Miss put forth was that um the committee um form a capital planning subcommittee
006for long range capital planning um and uh let's see why don't we first I would entertain a motion to officially establish a capital planning subcommittee. >> So motion by Miss Fer and seconded by Mr. pass that. Um, anything further on discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. So voted. We have a subcommittee. And then next, um, uh, based on interest, I would entertain a motion to appoint Mr. Pastnac and Miss Ferrer to the capital planning subcommittee. >> Second. Motion by Miss O'Brien and seconded by Miss Ashley. Anything further on discussion? Last chance to get Ashley. Congratulations. [laughter] Thank you for the vote. So excited for you. >> Got it. All right. Hearing none. All those in favor? >> I opposed. >> So voted. Thank you both for agreeing to serve on that important
007subcommittee. >> Um next on the agenda and the superintendent report. The first item is an overview of the January 24th strategic planning kickoff event. Dr. Spooner. >> Okay. Well, uh good evening. Uh on January 24th, we had a a great turnout. of uh almost 65 members of our community uh students, community members, town officials, uh parents, administrators, uh other community partners, uh engage um for about a 4-hour session with us. uh really talking about [clears throat] uh looking at uh what's been working well uh what our vision of the graduate is, reminding everyone of that and then talking about what things we need to uh to do more effectively or to stop doing uh things that we need practices we need to begin in order to help us achieve our uh vision by 2031. Uh
008we had some amazing uh discussions. Our students, we had a couple of students at least at each table and uh from Berkeley Middle School, Somerset Middle School and from the high school. Uh and they all contributed in uh fantastic ways uh really adding to the uh discussion. Uh and in the end uh so we have some emerging themes. Uh the work is uh is not even closely finalized. So we will uh engage with more focus groups with students with staff uh just to to drill a little bit deeper and and to uh really pinpoint exactly what our goals will be, our priorities, actions uh metrics that we'll be looking at to uh to measure our success. Uh but some of the themes that were coming out uh pertinent to the high school uh a lot
009of um a lot of requests for just more relevance in student learning whether it is experiential learning through internships, more pathways for students, uh career pathways, career prep, um CTE programs if we can offer uh expand our CT offerings, uh more early college experiences for kids. Uh there was so there was a lot there. Uh there was overall um across the three grades spans uh more requests for more languages. Um so it was more of like you know elementary school and middle school but certainly al uh there was some discussions about just looking at the high school and what languages were you offer and if there's an opportunity to expand uh that um a lot of positive comments about uh students feeling safe and a great sense of belonging and having adults they they can
010trust. Um so you know that was more like through the lens of things that we need to continue doing well. Um but certainly there are opportunities uh also about addressing uh gaps in uh achievement gaps for students. Uh special ed [clears throat] uh was one of those areas. in there with some of the students and I think some of the parents were also indicating uh just inconsistencies perhaps at some level in in terms of expectations and rigor depending on what classes they were in. But uh so those are some things that we need to look at but for the most part it's uh the themes were all about making the learning more kids and really preparing them for whatever stage comes next after uh they graduate from Berkeley whether it's a college or career. Any
011questions? It was a great event. It definitely was very impressed with students too. It was good to hear the staff's ideas too. So kind of got parents thoughts, staff's thoughts and the students. It was as a school committee member. It was beneficial. We did have a few parents who are uh teachers, educators or administrators from other districts and they were all surprised at the number of people who turned out on Saturday morning to do the work and it was freezing. >> So there was it was very cold morning. >> Everyone was um was wondering if they would be able to get that kind of turnout in their own districts if they would try that. But this is the third time we've done it on Saturday and the third time we've had a a really significant
012turnout of uh of everyone and everyone who's involved. Um so I'm thankful to uh everyone who who showed up and contributed in a really positive way. >> More to come on that. >> More to come. >> Um the next item on the agenda in the superintendent's report is an update on the FY27 state budget. >> Yeah. So, um, we received the cherry sheets last week. Um, as expected, some of Berkeley is receiving or at least by the governor's proposal, uh, the minimum state aid increase per student, which is $75 per student. Uh so based on our October 1st, 2025 enrollment, uh that is uh reflecting in a uh roughly $67,000 increase uh in chapter 70 aid. Uh as Miss Pelin was just informing the uh subcommittee before the meeting, uh there's a pretty significant increase
013in our regional school transportation aid. Um uh increase in charter tuition reimbursement and uh all the the receipts and all uh we're expecting to receive about $345,000 uh in FY27 over what we received in FY26. Then there are always expenses as well. So we have uh charter school uh tuition stepping out, school choice out. Um and but even with that uh there were some increases, some decreases and it actually turns out to be about a 4,000 net decrease in those expenses. So overall um the shift is roughly $350,000 as as of right now projected in state aid very state aid over 2026. Uh so that's putting us um in a in a favorable position. It would be nice if the $75 per student who were not getting the minimum. Uh but that is the chapter
0147 formula. Any other questions? >> Okay, >> Dr. Smoke, could you just repeat the number of the chapter 78? I kind of missed it. >> Yeah. Uh, chapter 70 and all. Um, currently, uh, FY26 is 7,204,101. That's that's this year's based on the governor's proposal. uh FY27 it's 7,271,1 increase of 66,900. So if you take 66,900 divided by 75 [cough] we'll get our uh October 1st enrollment of 196 or something like that. >> Is there anything you missed or that you want? That's the exact number. [clears throat] >> Um, the next item on the agenda is a staffing update. >> Um, yes. uh staffing update. The only thing this month is a res reservation of a food service worker. Uh no appointments uh to be mentioned. It was just that one reservation. >> Thank you
015very much. The next item on the agenda under business and financial is the January financial statement. >> January financial statement has us about 90% either expended or encumbered which is committed to be expended. So of our budget of 21,000 um year to date the expenses are a little over 21 million sorry too many numbers today. Um 10.1 million is expended and 9.4 4 million are in conferences which leaves me with leaves us with a budget balance of 2.4 million or 11% left to be um that is unexpended under we spoke about briefly in the budget subcommittee that we are working um to review we do not have an actual connection between um the outsourced payroll and our financial system. So we are actually doing a triple check for actually we're looking at all um our
016salaries being paid through payroll aligning them with the current budget and FY27 budget. We're also looking to make sure we are contract compliant. And the third step and the final step is comparing to what we're reporting to the department of elementary and secondary education. Once we have that, that is the bulk of the budget. will be coming back for budget amendments which will align nicely for new present the FY27 budget. I don't know if it's it probably is a little too early uh to talk about utilities right now, but I'm sure not just uh for some separation, but for all of us who uh own homes, I can't I can only imagine that our utility uh bills will be a little bit higher than projected given the stretch of weather that we've had. Uh so
017hoping that ends uh sometime soon. It doesn't look like an extended forecast. Um, but we will keep an eye on that and once we um [clears throat] once we receive some of those, we'll update you just to see how this compares on a month by month by month basis. >> Um, the next item on the agenda is budget subcommittee update. budget subcommittee met this afternoon. I I missed the first portion. So, if you could certainly cover the special education. >> Sure. So, uh this afternoon, um the budget subcommittee met one of the items on the agenda was a review of special education. Um we reviewed sort of the current staffing levels and talked about increases in um need and level of service for some incoming students. Um reviewed an anticipated changes in placements and graduations.
018um um reviewed uh a request of an additional um special education teacher uh to support those uh needs. Um discussed um potential funding sources outside the operating budget. Um and what did I mess first? um special education. And we also um review the superintendent's initial proposed budget um based on uh a level service budget um and revenue production projections based on the governor's budget. Um recognizing that that may change, we hope for the good. Um um we uh the committee requested some moving forward um we're going to talk um about transportation um and maintenance. We um are we asked for some um specific data broken down regarding um enrollment and projected class sizes so that we can ensure we have the right number of FTEES. Um the um picture at this point is still to
019be determined, but we recognize that um with increases in contractual obligations, health insurance, two biggies. Um we are going to be of course as always in budget season looking at having some difficult conversations um about how we can provide the services that we need to uh within the resources that we will have. Um so this project will continue to work on that and um that's sort of next meeting >> February 25th. Oh, prior to our next >> prior to our next meeting. >> Thank you. Um, did I forget anything? No. >> No. You know that both towns have um financial realities. Thank you. Work with our partners in both towns to manage that the best we can. Any questions? >> Oh, maybe for Dr. Bell. Last conversation I had with the town. We're still maybe
020looking at possibly another 15% increase in healthcare. >> No better news. >> I've been trying to stop talking about it's bleak. The only thing I would just add about the uh the classes I mean uh we've requested that information uh I think I believe students are currently they started that process to choose their classes for next year. So we don't have that yet, but as soon as we do, we at least have enough brace for next year. >> And you know, again, that's not the healthcare is not to some said I work in a local municipality too committee that had around the sun. So I think that's probably If anyone who's watching is inclined, if you want to contact your state representatative that can um advocate for increases in chapter 7 funding, that would be
021great. Help us a lot. Um I'll be happy to make the call. Um all right. Next on the agenda under policy, we have two policies for second reading. One is a new policy and one is amendment. So we'll take them separately. Um the first is on artificial intelligence. So I would entertain a motion to adopt the artificial intelligence policy. So moved. Second. A motion by Miss Ashley and seconded by Miss Fer. Is there anything on discussion? Hearing none. All those in favor? I opposed. So voted. The next policy is an amendment to an existing policy JG. Um, again a second reading. So I would entertain a motion to approve the second reading of admission of international exchange student policy JG. >> Um, motion by Miss Ashley, seconded by Miss O'Brien. Anything on discussion? >> I
022got all my questions last time. All right. Hearing none. All those in favor? I >> opposed. So voted. >> Um, next on the agenda, other mattersformational. I'm going to pass on Berkeley because I don't want this to is there anything relevant to the high school that we need to know from the Somerset schools update? Um, I believe there is. So, um, one of the several of the items on the agenda, um, were related to concerns about the regional school district operating unilaterally of the Somerset preK through 8. So, I think that warrants further discussion between the chairs and the superintendent. Um, and something that came out of that conversation as well was a concern about Somerset school committee members who are appointed to the region annually. Of course, um, some of the committee members or
023at least one committee member doesn't think that it's appropriate for Somerset appointed members to participate in subcommittees. So again, I think that warrants further conversation between the two chairs and the superintendent. Um, where we left that conversation was that our policy subcommittee was going to explore drafting a Somerset school committee policy that would prevent appointed members from participating on regional subcommittees. Um, I'll leave my personal opinions out of it since I'm just a reporter at this time and this is not our on our agenda to deliberate on. Um, but we might want to think about you know both the chairs having a conversation and perhaps bring it back to the region if you feel it's you know appropriate. So just to clarify the discussion was that appointed Somerset K to8 member members appointed to serve
024on this committee not be permitted to participate in any subcommittees on this just >> that was my understanding and on this committee >> you can correct me if that's a misunderstanding >> there was discussion about whether a policy on the Somerset side was the appropriate manner in which to create that change um or you know the regional agreement was the appropriate way to you know affect change in that way but um my understanding is that there would be more hoops to jump through on the regional side because of course both parties would have to agree and it would have to be approved by the state right there's there's a whole >> town to town meeting the commission of education needs to approve it it's a lengthy process to amend as we know because we recently
025went through that regarding our district tuition. >> Okay. I'll talk to the chair and maybe legal counsel. I'm not sure that another body can create a policy that prohibits this body from >> operating as outline agreement, >> right? We are beholden to the regional agreement and I'm not I don't think that there's anything in that agreement that dictates I'm not familiar with anything that dictates how our members can serve. I also feel like that would put a disproportionate burden on the elected members and not the appointed members to serve on all of the subcommittees. And furthermore, the balance of the committee is supposed to be so that some Berkeley have proportionate representation. So we can talk about that. Sounds like a violation of the regional agreement. Um and perhaps whatever the concern is can be
026resolved. >> If I can just add something. Yeah, >> please do. >> So, I mean to maybe take it a step further than you would. I mean, I wouldn't say, okay, we're burdened with more work, but however, a lot of the work we do comes out of subcommittees and if we have appointed members here, they're here for a reason. And I mean, we would theoretically want their in subcommittees to bring forth to the full committee. Um it it only makes sense that if they're appointed here that they're doing some of the the groundwork to, you know, bring forth to the whole committee. >> And to take that a step further, those committee members um you would be in some cases diluting their vote because if they >> because they wouldn't understand as much. >> Yeah.
027to move something out of a subcommittee to to a vote for the whole committee >> and I would be moved to >> under we are a committee of seven and I think so >> we're under value under value >> and I I don't know about you but I have zero desire to um make a change to the regional agreement so I'll be happy to talk to the chair and see try to understand what the concern is and maybe we can address it another way Thank you for anything else. >> I don't think there was anything that specifically related to the region. Um just we appreciate our appointed members from both summer and they are full-fledged members of this committee. [snorts] Um okay, next item on the agenda, topics not anticipated by the chair 48 [clears
028throat] hours in advance of the meeting. Do we have anything? >> Um, action items for future meetings. >> I actually have a a little input here. Um, really it's more of a probably like a question or a comment for Dr. Swoon over, but I know recently um there was a posting for the football coach, the varsity football coach. So I think that's probably one of the most highprofile coaching positions in the district and also a very important position. Um I would rather like to see a committee form I you know for that if we could more than just hand it off to one or two administrative people. Um, I mean I I can't say I have I have much respect for football coaches. I mean I played football in high school. My son has they
029do much more than just coach football. They really provide a lot of guidance to the children um students. Um, you know, I think that's a really key position, not just for the school itself, but for those players and I would I know I myself I would like to have some input on that if the honor committee was composed of, you know, a member from the school committee. So my question is can that happen and is it appropriate? Yes and yes. Uh so I think uh normal coaching hires uh usually happen with the with the AD and the principles but there are some positions as you said football is a very high profile one I know there's a lot of community interest um I know that Dr. Brussels I don't want to speak for her but
030for other positions just like teaching positions like she's really trying to engage students and bring more voices to the table when making these entire decisions. Uh so I don't think that is out of the question uh to have it have more voices uh more andor ears uh involved in the process. So I will follow up and speak with Dr. frustrated is to see I don't know what the plan is or or was but I'll appreciate that and if it comes to the point that maybe we do have a hiring comm >> volunteer he's into volunteering tonight. What else do you need? Um, so I I will just um I don't want to speak out of out of terms. I know this is on future items, but uh just to acknowledge uh that that position was
031posted um Thursday, Friday, and last week. Uh and we received report that coach is also uh giving up his uh head uh soccer coach high school, which he's also had for a number of years. that maybe yesterday. So, uh congratulations to coach Le for all the years and thank him for all support and he's also given a lot of uh student athletes over over many years. That is another position too that >> it's a lot of long-term coaching over basketball a couple years ago. Yes, it's a lot of turnover. They've all done wonderful jobs and I mean I can't speak highly enough of coach Ry certainly impacted my son's high school. So I can't say enough about the coaches and that's really where I want to be, you know, involved in this because it's important
032for a lot of those students. And Dr. Brford, she's still in the building. way because I don't know if it's happened yet, but Don Taylor was off,000 people tonight and about 5 minutes ago. I don't know if it's happened yet. >> I think we the building might shake. I was thinking. >> All right. Well, on that then, let's move this along. Maybe we can catch it. Okay. Um, any other action items for future meetings? If you think of anything after this meeting, just forward it to Robin and we'll get it agended. Um, next on the agenda is to um consider approval of minutes. Um, we're looking at open session minutes for January 20th. So, I would entertain a motion to approve the open session minutes of January 20th, 2026. >> So moved. >> Second. >>
033Motion by Miss Ashley and seconded by Mr. Pastnack. Anything on discussion hearing? None. All those in favor? I >> opposed. So voted. >> And then with that, I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. So moved. Second motion by Miss Ippos. So voted. Thank you everyone.