001I'll call to order this meeting of the somerset Berkeley Regional school committee at 6:04 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 UNP perceived by those present and are deemed acknowledged and permissible we'll do a roll call of members present Miss Ferrera present Miss Ashley present Mr Mado present M O'Brien present Mr past present Miss Solomon present Mr Vieira present also with us this oh and the chair is present that would be me um also present with us this evening our superintendent of schools Mr Jeffrey schover our director of curriculum Miss Elizabeth hasell our director
002of special education Miss Megan Ashton our our principal Dr Susan bford did I forget anyone and then our recording secretary miss Robin vakaro I would ask everyone if you're able to please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge aliance 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 regularly scheduled meeting of this committee will be held on Tuesday April 8th 2025 at 6 pm here in the somerset Berkeley Regional High School library um with the committee's permission I'd like to take a few items out of order this evening so um I'd like to start this evening with um the report from our student representative m Ryan VI
003all right thank you so good evening all um so looking at the agenda today I'm going to kind of cut things out and put things in uh where's where they belong so uh to touch a little bit on what we're going to hear uh later from some students regarding clubs uh going on at the school so Deca our uh business organization so three students are progressing onto the national competition um and they're organizing currently organizing fundraisers to raise money for that trip uh academic world quest which uh is a group that works to answer it's like a Jeopardy Style game where uh you answer questions regarding current events world affairs uh stuff like that so three groups went to the competition two groups placed one placed first place and the other placed third so that
004first place team is looking to travel um to Washington DC to compete at the national level so that was um a a great success for them um regarding kosa which is a future health professionals group um they are traveling going to uh the state conference on April 12th which is where students will find out if they are going to be going to the state conference uh in National Tennessee so that is something exciting that students are looking forward to now uh upcoming on April 14th is the stem stem showcase which involves students from HOSA and from Environ so that's on April 14th which is a half day so during school students will be uh presenting their completed projects which will be on either medical uh research projects that they displayed which could be on posters
005or actual uh models I know some students thre printed stuff so that will be interesting to see along with uh the work from Environ students uh moving on to what Performing Arts has been working on so uh Electrify is per uh preparing for their last show choir competition which will be in walam on April 5th uh and then amp the amplify group was awarded a silver medal um at their show choir competition last Saturday so congratul ations to them and uh lastly the opening night of the drama The Adams Family is April 12th at 7:00 p.m. and tickets are already on sale uh on the school website so again like I said looking at the agenda I'll uh I'll leave it there thank you so much have any questions thank you lots of wonderful things
006happening thank you um okay next on the agenda we have a lot to celebrate this evening evening um so let's start with all the good news first so um before we um recognize the members of the two teams that are here with us this evening I just want to note that we will be having the um state championship field hockey team um here with us at our next meeting in April April 8th so I don't want anyone to think that we have forgotten them um they'll be here at our next meeting so join us for that as well um in the meantime if we folks wouldn't mind if we take item two first um we would like to recognize um members of the um Co-op the bishop staying Somerset Berkley Co-op girls hockey team they
007are D1 runner up we have our players here with us come on [Applause] [Music] down we're going to have you stand right here and so everyone can see you and we're going to embarrass you for a few minutes if you don't so um all right so Mr Francis was kind enough to provide us with some highlights that I think some folks may be familiar with but we'd like to share with everyone so we want to um acknowledge um these four student athletes uh Megan Costa Adrien norcot kaiton Morosco [Applause] Ando these um members of the co-op hockey team finished the season with a record of 145 and one which earned them the number 15 seed in the MIAA Division 1 girls hockey tournament these are just a few of the highlights of the tournament so
008in the round of 32 they defeated number 18 winthrip 4-2 and this was the first tournament win in Co-op program [Music] history it gets better um in the round of 16 in the sweet 16 they defeated number two Notre Dame Academy four nothing on the road um which is just let me say that again they defeated number two Notre Dame Academy 40 on the road a huge win to knock off one of the top ranked programs in the state they went on to the round of eight where they defeated number um seven um 10 and advanced to the final four and in the final four they defeated number six methan in overtime 3-2 do I is this all correct perfect if it's not I was going to blame Mr Francis um and last lastly um
009they had the opportunity the well- earned opportunity to play at the TD Garden for the state championship they lost to the number one seed hangam um 5-2 in a game that was a lot closer than that score May indicate and what a wonderful dilemma many of us had here to have two state championship games to try to attend in the same day um we are so proud of you um we want to recognize you and your coaches and all the hard work that you have done and um you are credit to to this school and to this Athletic program and we congratulate you on a great [Applause] season little there we go so we're going to present you thank you there you go we know that Rings maybe are in the future but here's Payton
010there you go there you go and there you go [Applause] [Music] congratulations does anybody want to add anything I don't need to do okay need a sip of water after all those accomplishments um next we would like to recognize members of our um boys basketball division 2 state champions come on [Music] [Applause] down we have Coach Slater here with us you have your coaching staff with you I box out it'll be the first time um I'm gonna um have Coach Slater say a few words about your accomplishments this year all I'll say is uh what an how much fun it was watching you play this year and that I I couldn't speak for two days after the final game because I was um yelling so loudly and annoying everyone around me which was great um
011and I'm sure that there were a lot of other people who um had a similar experience so um I know many of us here attended many of the games and um it was great to watch your teamwork um your selfless play um and um the revenge tour was um just a lot of fun and you made us all very proud um I don't know if coach Slater or superintendent schover would like to add a few words uh yeah I would like to thank the administration The Faculty uh and everybody that came to all of our games uh especially out in Springfield I mean to play a top rank team out in Springfield we had more fans there than they did uh I thought it was great um these guys work their butts off all year
012all through the summer um you know a lot of them gave up that personal stats to make our team better so um we we just really want to thank everybody for it thank [Applause] you Finn do you have any words of wisdom uh I don't know if it's wisdom [Laughter] butd it's not wisdom Max is the team spokesman ma all right Max uh yeah it was a lot of fun uh I'd like to kind of go coach I just thank everybody for uh you know being so involved with us this year it was a lot of fun seeing how like how much impact it had on the town how much the town was involved and that was really cool to see so thank you everyone for supporting and we really appreciate it [Music] [Applause] so
013that last game you know made us a little nervous when they got almost within 20 but then we we settled down and we we felt pretty confident you're going to you're going to come home with with that Victory and I also want to say the fans I think all year long that I saw but the fans at the song Center the Jumbotron it wasn't even close right it wasn't even close so all this I didn't notice it during the game but once we went back and watched the film it was it was so great just it was great for everybody both both towns the communities and uh yeah I thought it was uh it was great for us great for our school um you know put us on map a little bit so I'd say
014a lot yeah so um we know not everyone's here we have certificates for all of you so maybe I'll give these to coach and we can them out to the folks who are here and then get them to um the players who couldn't be here but um I think this is what putting on a uniform and representing your school is all about so we're proud of you we hope you had a lot of fun um I don't know pressure's on for spring sports like we got a fall state champion win state champion so no pressure anyone else but um it's been a it's been a heck of a year so far thank you very [Applause] [Music] much I unun didn't have the opportunity to see any of your games lot I was able to see
015in online especially uh during the playoffs especially when I'm out of town but um one of your biggest fans is the guy who covers your games all the time and um believe it or not the first game after you won um he and I went for dinner and he says they're winning the championship year so I just want you to know he called it right away and I haven't had him ever say that about any other team but he literally called he says this is such a great team uh they will win the championship he threatened us if we didn't make it to was on his Cruise so he said you have you have to make it so just just so you know you know he saw your talent right from the beginning so congrats
016to all of you thank you I know not everyone's here but um I'm still going to you know what I'm going to read your names because I think they should be read officially into the record so Fin and B York and Brady Carpenter congrats and Carson chrisy I'll make a pile all right Alex crook you go sir Ryan crook Aiden Duan not here where is Cav do Santos I'll have to have a word with him Max finlaw spokesperson thank you Max Hansen I'm G to read everyone's name here Zach King thank you Callen langlo Ben Loro Jacob Loro Ben yeah there you go Brenda McDonald congratulations thank Colton Pacho Kaden [Music] rayum and he's only a junior Dominic Taylor congratulations to everyone [Applause] here I'll give you a folder and everything thank you thank you
017very I say one thing so you know when the teams win the Super Bowl and say what are you going to do and they want toing world when I ask coach Slater what do you want to do he wants to be they want to be the Grand Marshall of the music Town parade and he said do you have any pull and I said absolutely not but there's a lot of people here tonight in my house full just thr out I might be able to put in a good word all right congratulations thank you [Music] [Applause] [Music] congratulations thanks again we appreciate it celebration will continue uh the boys basketball team and the field hockey team will be heading to the state house on Monday they've been invited by representative thur sentive Rodricks so they'll have
018t the state house and some recognition there as well great fabulous then get us some more funding while you're there that would be great okay um I think from here we'll kind of we can go in we'll go in order um next item on the agenda is uh discussion and action on the approval of the DECA trip to Orlando Florida where are you you way there's fine yeah the floor is yours let me go here then so we have three students all three of them are here PE i fs and AA Imran um they've been fantastic all year actually they've been fantastic since they've been members of deca and um they have all three have leadership position so we felt it would be nice if they could go to Orlando um we have spots that
019we earned um so they could get some experience and two of them I know I seen Hunter and Ian and they want some that going on to college so this would be a great opportunity for both of them to get the leadership experience with conferences that are offered there and then Aisha who's done an amazing job and um has a lot of passion for Deca she's going to be stepping even further into a leadership position not only with our chapter but with deer with Deca um overall next year so it'd be a great opportunity for her to just absorb as much knowledge and um from all the speakers that will be there and all the workshops that are there and I think it' be a great um experience for her so that's what we're here
020for the requests um if we could you know get approval for the trip does I know the information's in your folder does anyone on the committee have any questions about the trip I I actually have no questions just that I was able to read both their essays very impressive um congratulate to the three of you uh it's definitely something that I would obviously I think the committee as a whole would be supporting their uh achievement and we wish them nothing uh but obviously great success and also the experience that they can earn um the only item that I uh was wondering one I'm glad that they're going to both Disney and Hollywood uh is it Universal as well Universal Universal um obviously the trip is kind of is a little costly are there other mechanisms
021for them to pay for it or we have some fundraising taking place uh to help alleviate some of that pain that they com through with the cost um however they are going to have to contribute some on their end as well um so um that's something that's been done in the past where students that have gone they've always contributed something um it hasn't been covered through just fundraising efforts but fundraising will help lower the cost for sure yeah question I know that in the past that we have sometimes this committee has um made a made a contribution towards some of the registration costs for some of the participants um and I know Miss pin is not here at the moment but it I'm looking that the cost for the registration is $217 per student registration
022is that correct um and then obviously the travel and the tickets um is there um members of the committee have an interest in being able to um offset some of the registration cost as we've done I think in the past yes okay um not to put you on the spot mron over but do you think um at 2177 per student for registration is that something that we could m p and I spoke about this last week uh with the expectation that that would be the request so yes we can cover that okay um so so with that I like to make a motion that we approve the registration fees of $217 times three for $651 um to cover the registration fees for the three Deca students second the motion by Mr Mado seconded by Miss
023Ashley is there anything further on discussion hear none all those in favor I opposed so voted so we know it's not much but we want you to know how proud We Are of all of you and your efforts and we hope that um that will help a little bit alleviate some of the cost um we know that it's a really worthwhile experience for you and it's great for the district that you represent us um in this way and so um a motion to approve the do we have to approve the trip itself I'll make a motion that we approve the uh Deca trip to Orlando Florida on from April 27th to the 29th okay it's it's actually um from the 25th through the 29th I stand correct the 25th to the 29th oh yeah there's
024a Sor I have a correction all right so the motion by Mr Mado is to approve the um Deca trip to Orlando Florida for the international commission competition excuse me which will be held April 25th through 29th do I have a second second uh seconded by Miss Ashley anything further on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted all right I appreciate it thank you for all generosity and Improvement I know they'll enjoy it so thank you congrats congratulations congratulations everyone have a great trip let us know how it goes um the next item on the agenda we have so many students doing so many amazing things this is great I love this agenda the next item on the agenda is to discuss and act on approval of the model un trip
025to Washington DC um from April 28th through sorry 27th through 29th I think and this is for the academic world quest good evening um Alice Ferris and Jack K we are the co-advisors of the model un Club um and we took three teams up to emanu college and we had two teams placed and the team behind me which is going to be in front of me in a second come on guys all right here is our first place team um and we they have this unique opportunity uh we are seeking your approval to go to Washington DC so where they can compete um they will also be um allowed to uh go into a think tank um they're going to go to the world uh excuse me the US Institute of Peace uh and possibly
026the embassy so in addition to the competition they're going to have some activities that they'll be able to uh uh participate in and I think it's just such a wonderful learning experience for them they are a a wonderful crew and I want them to tell you um take take it away guys Jasper is up I think so we have Jasper Troutman de Deano Allison Kettle and Abigail Kettle you all see all right well hello everybody uh so to begin uh I'm very proud of all four of us we studied and worked very hard for this and we're very happy to have the opportunity to go on this trip so as for cost expenses will be paid for by the Boston world affairs Council which is awesome uh we will receive three hotel rooms uh two
027for team members one for an adviser five plane tickets competition registration and some with the meals so most of them will be paid for and provided by uh the Boston World affair but some of them will be coming from us which is totally okay hotel and airfare for one advisor uh is provided or no will be required with some uh some fundraising and will be self-paid but for the majority of us it will be also provided by the world affairs Council and transportation will be to and from TF Green uh so we will be departing from there and returning to there after the trip and this will be occurring on the 27th through the 29th of April uh as for the itinerary uh as I just mentioned it will be through from the 27th through
028the 29th the actual competition will take place on Monday and there will be a live stream up that will be available for all to watch other events uh that we will participate in will include as Miss Ferris mentioned the think tank as well as a tour of George Washington University and we also will have the opportunity to go to a panel with a uh Senator uh or a member State Department uh member of Congress uh which would be very exciting and a good opportunity for us to go through and the hotel that we will be staying at will be the Weston and DC City Center uh which is right by the competition so that'll be great so we'll be able to walk right to there to The Institute of Peace so yeah that is what's
029on top for our trip we're all very excited does anyone have any questions is this the first time that we we did win in 2020 but the event was virtual that year so we had four students attend Washington DC in the bedrooms they gave they sent us a banner in check we did get that but this this is a much better price definitely sounds fabulous any have any questions that sounds like a great opportunity um and thanks to the Boston world affairs Council yes and the the the Washington um office also they provide the meals and those types of things so so both Affairs councils are uh sponsored that's amazing can I can I just ask a question how are you going to be transported from the school to TF grain right now I still
030have um competition um budget line so I'm hoping that I can use those funds that I still have U to use this for the V normally something that the school committee always likes to do is uh obviously try to at least cover the registration fees I'm wondering if uh Mr skuno if you can arrange Mr Rosario to take them with a couple of buses and they this way they wouldn't have to spend just way we can show their appreciation through you know we're really impressed uh so this way at least perhaps you can use that Savings of the transportation and perhaps uh use it on additional meals or whatever you need to do for the students as well thank you we would appreciate that okay with that said I would entertain a motion to approve
031the model un trip to Washington DC for the academic world quest April 27th through 2025 move second motion by Mr Mado seconded by miss oan anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you very much congratulations conratulations let know how it goes we will we'll be back okay continuing on with our student recognition uh the next item on the agenda is to recognize our February Visionaries I'm going to do my best with names please grant me some Grace okay we're going to recognize James Balia independent Shane Delany respectful Analise L resilient Ariana masado academic Aiden Rogers respectful Shelby Smith empathetic Daniels faota digital Citizen and Lily Thomas resilient those are our February Visionaries and catching up we'd also like to recognize the March Visionaries we have Emily elme empathetic
032Kayla Bell academic Savannah defus resilient Eva espanol independent Leland izari respectful Connor McLoud digital citizen metet malanson empathetic Corey tickle resilient and Ryan Vieira academic congratulations to those students for exemplifying our traits um next on the agenda we have um discussion imposs action on the physical education waiver policy um and I know that sorry switch glasses you have the proposed language in your folder I don't know Mr skover do you want to walk us through that or does Dr bford or sure I can I can introduce it and then Dr bford can uh jump into to answer any questions or to expand on anything that um I say or or Miss uh State uh but this is we we've talked about this a little bit in the past about having a waiver for students um
033who are who compete in uh typically in an MIAA sport uh but this is also expanding into some some other groups uh if they are a senior and participate in at least uh two seasons then they can opt out of their PE class in their senior year and uh doing so the the point really is to add another class that they otherwise would not be able to take uh is not to receive an extra or say a full year of a study call uh so the language here is that students in grade 12 are eligible to opt out of their physical education class if they meet the following uh requirements at least two seasons of a Varsity Sport prior to the start of the senior year or at least two seasons of the following musical
034extracurricular activities marching and chire spring musical uh prior to the start of the senior year as I said students who choose to opt out uh must take a course and may not enroll in the study hall and then if for some reason uh they are unable to complete the course or extracurricular expectations they will be automatically re-enrolled in uh ath semester to physical education class uh so this is the first time we are looking to do this uh perhaps in the future depending on how many students uh choose to uh to um have that labor for the PE class maybe we would look atend Juniors and seniors or just see in the future where else um how we might want to modify it but this is our our first attempt so we figured we keep
035it at this level right now anything Dr bford um the only thing that I I'm not sure we made really clear in number one is that it would be um it would be strictly Somerset Berkeley Sports um and that's because we have oversight over the amount of activity and we did decide to put the musical extracurriculars into um that basically comes from me participating in the Christmas concert where I can tell you they do as much uh aerobic activity as as any Varsity Sport and put that out there um so it's two seasons and if you kind of think of it by the time term uh semester one is Over You Got The Fall season over and you've already started the winter so we already know if you're either almost done or at least starting
036and then so that's that's the kind of checkpoint and we're going to Pilot it and see how it goes and we'll be back at this time next year letting you know if we're going to expand it or change it but that's the proposal can I ask you a clarifying question so when we say Varsity Sport do we really mean MIAA inter Scholastic sport I mean if a if you're a junior and you're play JV we mean Varsity sorry that's that was the policy that we went off of was that they were Varsity athletes and this was something that by junior year they were Varsity athletes committed to the sport and you know this wasn't something that I'm going to opt into my senior year type thing so that was that was the policy modeled it
037off of other policies that we had looked at so okay um and then I just want to clarify so the students would have to be two seasons prior to the start of senior year and continue into senior year I think that would probably you probably want to make that explicit I would think um I just have a I I'm questioning the the insistence that it be Varsity I have no problem that be a Somerset Berkeley sport but if I'm a if I'm a junior if I play I don't know two seasons um I'm thinking of wrestling for example right where for wrestling you they wrestle off right to say who plays varsity right like so and only one student per weight class is technically a varsity wrestler um so I I my I would like
038to see it expanded to as long as it's an inter Scholastic sport I mean I think if the if the notion is that they meet a fitness requirement and they're practicing regularly and they're participating as members of a team um I don't know that to me I don't think they should have to be on a varsity level they might make Varsity their senior year who knows but I'm just I'm curious about that piece I have no problem with the waiver and I like the idea of starting small seeing how it goes starting I have no problem with that it's not an excuse to get an extra study hul I like all that I just find the varsity part might be a little bit restrictive um particularly for some sports um and if it's really about
039Fitness I'm not sure there's a huge difference between a a JV basketball player and a varsity basketball player both both run they both do all those things that's my concern about that um and then I would just suggest making it you know explicit it that if they decided not to play their senior year that then they would be expected to take PE course that's just those are my questions rest the communs I actually concur with Miss Andrew a little bit I mean since especially since you have to do it before you seen it year I mean if you're playing JB football your your sophomore year and you're playing varsity football your junior year I feel like you're probably in pretty good physical condition to be able to to wave a PE class same thing with
040basketball and probably many other sports cuz you really have to have this completed by your June year um and then I so that's that piece then I guess maybe I'm not clear so when you say someone said Berkeley what about like the St Co-op does that count oh yeah okay really it's really excluding participation in a club sport or something that is happens to like an a basketball team or something like that that happens the high school and we re that there are a lot of students at this school that are doing sports outside of the Mia but we don't have oversight over how much participation they have so that's why we're starting with this I think I think the thought process behind it um was in the small number of sports that we have
041Cuts there's a possibility that somebody doesn't make a team they seeing the year um but I mean I don't I don't have any problem with junior varsity versus Varsity the junior year and then they're playing as long as they're playing I mean that's kind of the the point so yeah cuz I feel like you know especially say like in football cuz I'm more familiar with it I mean you may have a lot of sophomores who are technically on the JB team but they are playing maybe a little bit of Varsity but they're practicing with the varsity every single day and I mean they're working out hard so I mean that they would probably be eligible to pass any type of physical education requirement they would have by their senior year and then if they're playing
042into their senior year they would probably certainly have that second Varity year so I mean I think this is kind of what maybe Miss Andrews was going at as maybe if we could have that amended to you know Varsity or junior varsity or prior to the start of this in year I'd be more comfortable with that sorry I I was just you know first of all thank you for mentioning the Juniors because when uh this was being brought up just a second ago the very first thing I asked from Mr Vier is how many um Juniors take a full year and he said it's also a half year as well so I'm glad that you're starting off with the because that was my my very first reaction with why the junior but I can understand
043uh regarding the vity piece I completely agree because um show choire for instance um when this was first brought up uh I remember someone asked me to ask my daughter how much activities and I think her her response was a thousand times more uh activity than in a regular uh PE class but um I'll just use the show choir piece as well they have amplify and Electrify I believe Electrify is the vity and the amplify is the junior vity so uh I that was another mentioning that I was going to mention and something else about my own niece she didn't make the G vity team as a junior but she played just as hot in the JB volleyball team and then on the senior year so I'm glad that um you're all in agreement because
044those were the biggest concerns that I had when I first read this so um I if as long as the administration feels comfortable removing the vity piece and I am in complete agreement with it should be a SP that is within the school or a co-op program yes would it start for this next school year so I know they've already chosen classes we'll be able to accommodate what we're going to do is we're finishing the process of sections this week we're going to sit down with guidance and then an email is going to go out to the current junior class saying this is the policy if you interested in opting into this schedule and point with your guidance counselor move forward but they need to know what class they're going to of any other questions
045and that's another issue we currently have with the junior class so going back to what Mr masado said is right now um fed is backed up to Civics um junior year so that would open up a whole new like we wouldn't have anything for them to kind of opt into at this point in time and we we already don't want to encourage students in study halls there wouldn't be anywhere for them to go so we want to Pilot it see how it goes there's there's kind of some logistic oversight issues of how are we going to monitor this that we have to figure out so we're trying to start small so that we can kind of work that all out and and that was my only question in terms of logistics if you have someone
046who plays uh historically a fall and Spring sport by the time spring Sports begin you're already Maybe a quarter into the semester right or you're a term in so you can't necessarily go back and and retroactively implement or or maybe you can right we did we've done a lot of creative things since 2020 right um but you know that what we can do is thanks thanks to 2020 we have a virtual PE class that was created so they would be enrolled in current in class PE and there would be an additional part that they'd have to do on their own to make that any other questions okay so in that case then I would entertain a motion to approve the physical education waiver policy for grade students um beginning with the 2025 2026 school year
047and for the proposal we would um strike the word varsity and maybe just substitute it with Somerset Berkeley that would cover it um and I think that and I think that was really it um all those do I have a motion motion by Mr P pass not exed by Miss O'Brien anything further on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you very much um the next item on the agenda um we have the February financial statement into my is that the year to date M okay so in your folder it's the year to date financials March the PDF um I know Miss pin isn't here but did I have a chance to look at that and are there any questions that we could either bring forward to her or perhaps
048through Mr scov I don't have any questions okay um next then we'll move on to the discussion and action on budget [Music] amendments provided us with a pretty detailed uh memo um regarding um several budget adjustments I think there are a total of a lot of 29 um does anyone have any questions or concerns about any of the proposed adjustments for the FY budget that make sense like the way she outlined to follow for sure yes if you could pass that this is very this format I found it to be very helpful so if you could tell her thank you from us that would be great um in that case I would entertain a motion to approve the March budget amendments as outlined in Miss pellerin's memo dated March 21st 2025 motion by Miss fer
049and seconded by Miss O'Brien anything further on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted um um next if it pleases the committee I'd like to move we have I believe several students present who would like to participate in public input prior to our vote on the FY 26 budget so um I'd like to make public input next so just so for public input I'm not sure how many folks want to participate just as a reminder we generally do three minutes per speaker if you could just state your name and if you're student or whatever your affiliation is and um the floor is yours all my name is keus I a junior here at sprs and I would like to um talk about the use and man the maintenance of the football
050fields as well as all the athletic fields uh as a whole so I would like to ask about usage of those fields over the summer as to how they are used because I asked around to several teachers who are coaches of um sports teams as well as the gym teachers as to how they are used and um the general consensus was they are used about one two maybe generous three weeks over the summer and I would like to suggest maybe the idea of using them for something more productive whether it's running summer camps through them or renting them out to other um basketball teams or any associations for a purpose is a way to get an increased amount of Revenue I asked um Matt bards who is from the Catholic Youth Organization he rents out
051the basketball court at Bishop Connelly for use during the winter months and he said that Bishop Connell charges about $75 an hour and there was one in lrom that charges $80 an hour and those facilities are significantly older than the facilities that we have here at Somerset Berkeley so I feel like we could charge even more than that and it would still be a fairly reasonable amount and so I feel like that's a little bit of an underused um idea and not only just the basketball courts but as well as our tennis courts uh soccer fields football fields are are track as well both indoor and outdoor I understand that the baseball fields and the football fields might be under maintenance over the course of this summer but moving forward in the future I feel
052like it could be a good way to increase Revenue that we don't really tap into very much um and then on the note of the repairs to the football field and baseball field uh I would like to suggest that oh so I was I'm under the assumption that our football fields will be replaced with Turf uh coming ahead that's true I would like to propose the idea of replacing it instead of with Turf with grass with a natural uh replacement for the field because of not only a decrease in cost shortterm but also long term as well as some of the benefits that that could bring to our students uh so so I did some uh calculations so we are spending what $700,000 on the re uh the returing of the football field is that
053correct yes that's correct so that would amount to about 1166 per square foot more or less if I'm assuming that well the actual dimensions of the football field I believe are 576,000 square ft so I rounded that up to 600,000 for a purpose of making calculations easier um according to various sources that I found on the internet around $11 is about right for artificial turf however using local soil that can reduce the cost to about 525 per square foot which would be a little bit less than half but assuming that we get worse than that let like say $6 or $7 that would still be a substantial decrease in the amount of money that we're planning on spending for that for the year coming forward have a couple other statistics such as heat reduction that
054grass retains heat significantly less than Turf does uh and there were the NFL players Association gave a survey to all members of all teams and 82.4% said that they're more likely to be injured on a turf field in a natural field 89.1% said they experienced more soreness and fatigue and 69.4% said that they prefer grass in general for a playing experience over the use of turf and as well as some new developments in that that says that um so for the National Library of Medicine says that that the turf pellets used are in fact carcinogenic not extremely but mildly carcinogenic and the European Union registration evaluation authorization and restriction of chemicals has actually banned the sale of polymeric infill starting in 2031 and extending onward for the foreseeable future so not only from a cost
055perspective but from a safety perspective moving forward as well as the main concern with that is the um maintenance costs are higher for dirt than as opposed to a turf field field um most sources that I've found places the cost of maintenance for artificial t about 5k a year is that about right I don't know if anybody knows that but that's why I found some research and uh the amount would probably increase to about 23k per year which although is a substantial increase would still be a significant benefit to us to do that especially since it does not have to be replaced every 10 to 15 years as the current uh Turf would have to so I would like to propos the idea of um that amendment being in place to maybe cut the cost
056and we could maybe divert those costs to other um departments that are in more major need of funding at the moment thank you for your time thank you hi I'm Daniel sabota I'm a senior at Somerset Berkeley Regional High School School uh and I'm here to talk about stem education uh because it's something that I noticed was in the budget uh with Science Tech uh and math specifically uh so I wrote a little thing uh I'm um I am a two-year member of the math team a 2-year tutor at the middle school and a three-year president of the sbrhs Cyber Club run by Dr Burke I would like to tell you a bit about myself in my journey in stem at Somerset Berkeley in my sophomore year I took the pltw course computer science Essentials
057this is an entry-level course to computer science Concepts and one of the three main entry points for computer science at the high school stem's been a focal point in my life originally wanting to be an engineer holding a love of math and science in school and now Desiring to further my education in computer science the class was an originator for my love of programming and allowed me to learn incredible things both in and out of the classroom's curriculum that would not be possible without our incredible stem teachers I have seen firsthand what happens when dedicated students fall through the cracks of a promised system in my junior year I took both pltw cyber security as well as video game creation both wonderful classes that are exemplary sessions of Technology education if computer science Essentials introduced
058me to the possibility of a life and career in computer science in stem these two classes nailed it down for me as a definite I had planed to take robotics engineering AP Computer Science principles in AP Computer Science a in my senior year but due to low enrollment I wasn't able to take either of the two AP Computer Science classes and was only able to take robotics I have since G out of my way to take the AP Computer Science principles exam through Dr Burke and others so I thank them for helping me in the face of barriers to grow as a technology Creed student uh I am taking that exam without a official class um I'm doing it outside of the school um I have gone to the middle schools for 2 years now
059to present to incoming students about technology and its classes at sbrhs after seeing two years of continuous threats to the computer science program the greater stem program and its classes it becomes more and more difficult to promise future techies that some at Berkeley can hold a place for them in their wonderful ideas I have seen proposals made to cut a science teacher math teacher and Technology teacher I understand the technology teacher position was left vacant but by simply cutting the positions you stretch the remaining teachers thin not only will stem classes like some Computer Sciences not run but the ones who remain will not reliably be able to help those who wish to go beyond their curriculum and create great things stem is important very important without stem education we lose out on students who
060can solve The World's problems we lose out on the next great Creator We should strive as a community to support them and that starts with teachers who can guide them to great opportunities and push them to be better students and better people thank you for your time welome I am Patrick o Donovan and I a junior here at s the high school um this board weighing the possibility of filing teachers namely ones in math and science are deeply concerning to me and many of my peos um this change can jeopardize a lot of our futures um for me like I love science and that's what I I'm really passionate in and this shift in um hiring can definitely heavily affect me because I really want to go into like physics and environmental science and with
061and that with these teachers being caught like they won't be a to teach these courses anymore because a lot of these teachers we have be shifted down to L cles such as like intro physics and other stuff like that and that's deeply boring to me because like this is what I want my future to be I shap my entire future around science and technology and math and with these possible cuts the my future could be in Jey and all the schooles I want to go to like what the what classes they'll be looking at I was won't be able to even get them anymore um some CES that would most likely be affected by these Cuts would be those of um senior level physics so that would be physics anos physics ACP and AP Physics
062um this is due to how more teachers be would be needed to actually teach um intro physics which would be the only physics education running through the school at that point um isn't mentioning how many teachers have shaped my entire life like coming here as a freshman I had no clue what I want to do with my future I I I just didn't know like I had no single thought about it and then going through these three years I my featur has been like shaped at this point but I now have a good understanding that I want to help people when I'm modal that I want to go into science and I want to actually be able to make a difference in the world but I believe that by making these cuts that you could
063be impeding on not only mine but the future of my PS as well while I do understand the reasoning behind this change I believe it does fail to recognize the way of the student body and while I understand you're trying to solve a very Nuance problem here that doesn't really have any clear solution to it I don't believe this should be an Avenue to just solve a budget budgetary Restraint of the school seeing how deeply this solution would actually affect the entirety of the student body and as already said like many ipers who enjoy science and all that I sincerely believe that you want to serve the Su of brly community but I do not believe that this change is helping meet that end and I deeply hope you be consider this change um thank
064you for your time hello I am Jazelle Fano I'm a junior here at sprs you most likely see me as the camera operator to these meetings and I would like to discuss a topic similar to my peers which is I noticed that while reporting on the election of Massachusetts ballot 2 related ballot question two related to mcast the biggest concern amongst parents and people who wanted to keep M was the fear that their children would fall through the cracks and there would be a lock Sor a lack of wanting to uphold standards among schools in Massachusetts by cutting the staff from math and science departments were're proving their point because the school is no longer constrained by the mcast we are DWI uh we are dwindling what keeps us strong in the first place the
065removal of mcass was the right decision as it unfairly impacted many students who had test taking disadvantages however the only way we can maintain a good position in education is to not cut essential staff who make our achievement possible we have prioritized electives over our court classes with this budget which is ironic considering that these subjects are the ones we have to pass in order to graduate we recognize that Math and Science are very core to our students yet we are having teachers be cut causing capacity issues and this will cause a lack of connection between students and teachers and this also leads to lab safety issues as we sometimes work with dangerous materials like chemicals and um fires and it would be difficult to regulate every student cuz we all know that some people
066just don't take things seriously um and we've also progressed as a Society into the stem into a stem based world with no stopping in the future with our technological advancements uh that Humanity has made but the only way we can continue these advancements is to teach a generation of math and science by cutting um these teachers you are consequently cutting the Futures uh of leaders in Innovation medicine and research uh which would leave which we need to advance in to make our so Society better than we left it now the thing that I also noticed on a previous meeting was um Berkeley and elementary schools also have been struggling with keeping their budget and keeping their Fine Arts departments which is why I come here not to just say that we need to help these
067teachers but also that we have to figure out more ways to make profit because we can't simply run a budget by just cutting without figuring out ways to make more money in order to keep these positions so I proposed that we could start using the equipment that we've already spent money on in order to run summer programs for these Elementary schoolers and like say it could be a paid summer camp within Science music and art with the materials that we already use um we could also rent out audio and video equipment to local businesses in order to help them grow and to help them advertise their products as well but the issue with these is that you'd also need people to participate which is why we need to have more advertising and more advertising is
068well it could be free if we use social media and if we contact the right sources um but we also have to recognize that teachers are essentially have such a genuine impact on students I myself when I was younger didn't really take school as um strongly as I do and it was because of teachers who really helped me and who really made a connection with me that inspired my curiosity and inspired my drive to want to make a difference in this world and to want to go into a field of reporting where I can give voices to others but my curiosity was only sparked because of these teachers and the only way that we can hold these connections is by having smaller classes because you can't make a connection with someone by having 32 kids
069in a class it's just going to cause burnout and you won't have enough time to make these connections I enjoy going after class having conversations about the topics that we talked about and that has made such an impact on my life and I feel like the future generation needs that thank you for your time thank you public input all right my apologies for not putting the name up um nille morganberry pck at Rhode Island again as I stated the last meeting my vote won't count I'm scared this is my scared face you cut these positions you cut the hallway monitors you cut the folks in the cafeteria and you leave me in a room with 7 to 10 kids and IEP plans that are severely to moderately behaviorally distressed in some fashion are emotionally distressed
070and I'm going to tell you right now 25 years of experience and I'm not going to make it first time I'm willing to admit defeat before it started and a lot of other teachers feel that but they don't come down here like North Andover did and go out and protest you're lucky you have teachers that are willing to work with little and less each day for the last 25 5 years we can't take much more you only have 888 or 886 students coming in next year that really feels like 1,886 I've been screamed at more and The Last 5 Years that I've been in the last 25 years I've broken up more fights than I have outside the bathroom or stood there and watched them supposedly there's a video clip of me out there doing
071this cuz I have long the Administration staff which won't admit it is exhausted these three women and the one man in the office have done Duty for God and Country without enough support or money they don't even have enough office space in there to sometimes deal with the fits and the spazzes and the fights that take place it's God to stop please find the money I'm coming to the end of my career and I'm really looking forward to it not because I might leave a legacy Behind these four wonderful students have spoken beautifully but because I'm walking out the door knowing that everything I did and a lot of other people have done too is being dismantled in front of us dismantled in front of us each passing day I told Victor masado 15 years
072ago you're going to get what you pay for and doomsday is here you cannot take out the small little pieces of the building and have it work properly we're taking the books out I don't even know what that is for Chromebooks that we can't afford in 5 years what is going on with people in America I'm tired I am old and I am cranky and I've got nothing to lose anymore so please go back talk to the people find the money and it's not pitting technology against the football field it's not pitting the cafeteria workers against the bus people I mean you're going to really try to buy the yellow school buses that was one of the rumors I've heard okay this is we're trying to save the Next Generation and you're teachers that are
073exhausted you cannot have this continue this is your community I get to leave you will be in this and the administrators are downstairs they don't want to deal with it anymore either and I might be putting words in their mouth and I apologize for that but I have a feeling they're tired too so please go back find that Southwest credit card Airlines ticket or Southwest credit card I mentioned last time and just swipe it send the bill to someone but you've got to find the money because I don't want to have to come up here and be like can I please have $618 to pay for the uh transportation to PVD and be happy about that no I want the math teacher back I want the science teacher back I want reading teachers so thank
074you for taking the time to listen I have nothing else to say and I hope you vote negative on this okay so the next item on the agenda is the discussion and vote for the annual budget for 2025 um it might make sense to for us to give a brief update on the budget subcommittee uh we met last week um I'm sorry I can I speak is am I still allowed to do so uh sure thank you um good after oh good evening actually I'm Kim Souza dudo um I'm a former alumni a longtime resident of this community assist principal at uh sua Regional High School and a parent of a third grader and North ele elent I feel compelled to voice my deep concern about the proposed budget for the upcoming school year after
075careful reflection on the potential impacts I firmly believe that these Cuts will be detrimental to the academic and social emotional well-being of our students the proposed budget cuts particularly the reduction of teaching staff will have a direct and negative impact on student learning students in advanced placement classes will no longer have the opport unities they once had as these cuts are leading to single sections of AP classes furthermore students who rely on IEPs and 504 plans will no longer have manageable class sizes or the necessary support to meet the their academic goals this will compromise their ability to succeed over the past few years we deleveled our curriculum combining Advanced college prep and College Prep courses we were told that class sizes would not increase this budget however does not uphold that promise the loss
076of key staff including a math and science teacher will result in increased class sizes leading to frustration among students who are not receiving the level of attention and support they need to thrive moreover the proposed budget cuts to emotional support services including the elimination of a guidance counselor will not will only exasperate the challenges our students face increased class size and lack of emotional support will create a ripple effect negatively impacting students well-being and overall learning outcomes I understand that both towns are facing financial difficulties and the residents are concerned about raising taxes however I urge the community to consider the long-term consequences of these cuts at what cost to our students who are the Future Leaders of our society will we make these reductions we owe them the same opportunities and support that we
077once had while we are fortunate to have a beautiful state-of-the-art buildings at the high school and middle school levels the proposed budget risked reducing these structures to Mere facades without the resources and support systems in place we will have beautiful buildings with students who struggle academically and socially I call upon you to work together to find solutions that preserve the quality of education and support for all our students at Somerset Berkeley our children deserve better thank you so we will move on to discussion of the annual budget for um for members who are not um presid we held a budget subcommittee meeting last Tuesday last Tuesday um and we had um a lengthy discussion about some of the um remaining uncertainties in the budget there are two main um concerns that we had um when
078looking at the preliminary proposed budget um one was the um uncertainty about health Insurance um increase um just so everyone's aware um I believe it's if nothing is done if there are no changes to the policies or if the Surplus isn't um tapped into um we'd be looking at a 30% increase in health care costs for our staff um there are some proposed actions that could be taken and Mr Mado maybe could speak to this more eloquently than I can um or Mr soon over but none of them have been determined as of yet so we are tasked with building a budget based on that uncertainty but knowing that the increase could be as high as 30% which um is um an enormous increase frankly the other item that we were uh we discussed was
079um uncertainty about utility expenses um given the I'm going to phrase this as delicately as I can given the uncertainty um in the markets um at the federal level with conversations about tariffs um and other policies that might impact um energy costs and so um after a lengthy discussion we recommended as a subcommittee that we um increase the utilities line by 25,000 um br as a hedge and all of this is guesswork at this point but we're in a position unfortunately where our normal forecasting models um by looking at Trends and looking at current incumbrances is we are less certain about that than we've ever been before and um the other recommendation was to we had placed the preliminary budget had a 16% placeholder for the increase in healthc care costs we recommend that we
080increase that to a 20% um increase um again that's about 2third of what the potential could be which is maybe a bit conservative but we the subcommittee agreed that at this point um we needed to air on the side of caution not knowing what might happen um I don't know if Mr masado or Mr skover has anything to add particularly regarding the health insance Insurance situation another meeting on Thursday so whatever you everything that you mention is where we're at uh there is no new information um but we there is a meeting scheduled for Thursday I think at 10 o' to see where we're at so just folks understand unfortunately we're in a position where we need to pass a budget we have a deadline that we need to meet um we have an obligation
081and there are there are always uncertainties Chapter 70 is always a question mark and we often don't F we find out after we pass a budget um sometimes Chapter 70 comes in below what we project sometimes it comes in right at our projection in good years it comes in above what we project but we don't we don't have a crystal ball and you probably know there's been a lot of conversation at the state I think there was just a meeting at is that UMass yesterday um a convening where there's being a lot of pressure exerted thankfully on um the state legislature to try to um do do something about the Chapter 70 formula specifically the inflation index specifically the impact on Regional and Rural schools um which would impact our communities um but at this
082point that is all talk um and it's all wishful thinking for this budget so it's not it's not helpful to us at this point so we are in a position where we need to make um you know difficult choices unfortunately when it comes to health insurance we have to pay that bill that is not once when that amount is determined that is not something that we can change um when we get you know we've already um and Mr skover could speak about this we are we've done a lot to try to um conserve and make good choices about our utilities and our energy consumption um and but at the end of the day that's also it's a bill that has to be paid there's very little room for us as a committee to make impacts
083on the budget we have contractual obligations which take up um the vast majority of the budget um and those aren't those are things that we cannot cut so that's the position that we're in um those two changes to those line items would be a a $95,000 um difference so 25,000 increase in utilities um $70,000 increase for in the health insurance to go from 16% to 20% that's our recommendation the committee uh the subcommittee I'm sorry did not recommend changing the bottom line um we are um we hear everyone's concerns about Staffing we're very cognizant of that um but we um we are not comfortable um increasing the assessment to either Town um or the subcommittee was not and so our recommendation would be that the $95,000 would need to come from an additional FTE um
084to be determined or if there's some other way that it can be um that Revenue can be found um but we were not we would not recommend changing the bottom line budget number that's sort of a recap of our subcommittee meeting I don't know Miss Ashley or Miss FR if I forgot anything no I think you All Out Mr scoer there's anything you wanted to add no that sums up last week's meeting does anyone have any comments on the budget proposal I I unfortunately I wasn't here at the last at the public hearing I did attempt to uh call in as you know um and we'll address that later on in the meeting um we didn't come in we don't get into these roles to make these tough decisions this is the worst part about
085our jobs you know um when we hear students um come up and advocate for their positions you know their classes that they need and uh want and enjoy um it is always tough to hear it when we know we can't give it to them um there is no magic swipe card Southwest card this is not the federal government we have to have a balanced budget because you know you just can't charge something and give it to someone six years from today it doesn't happen that way um I wish there was that Magic uh swipe Cod but I did take the opportunity to listen to all the uh feedback uh the public in put at the last meeting I actually watched it two days ago um many of the people who spoke to save positions were
086the same people that was in the room with us negotiating a new contract um we we as a negotiating committee basically said if we were to in give the increases that they deserve there may be cuts and one of the members on the other side of the team actually said well if that's what needs to be done then show he basically gave us the blueprint you know I you can't ask for something and not realize that it's going to affect especially when we want listen there is a limited amount of funds um people are struggling um raising Inc increasing tax taxes um you know go out and ask for more money I can tell you I have never never once you know School cuts hurt schools remember that whole banner I was a person who
087was champion and against it uh because it does it really does but there's only so many times you can ask the public who are also struggling with utilities struggling with uh groceries struggling with repairs on their houses struggling with rent struggling with yes next year we're going to have to start charging for lunch again there are parents who are struggling to put food on the table for their kids to eat um so these decisions that we're making with the budget and again 30% increase in health costs um I don't think it it will be that high I think it we are going to try to fight keep it at 16 20 money tops um because we do have a surplus money but it's not you know I hate to say this this um the thing
088that really concerned me about the last public hearing is when our staff feels like we are trying to take something away from them when what we really need is our staff to come in and try to find new ways how are we going to do this because Shadow you are not excuse me KCK myself out okay because the other you know something I'm going to tell you you want to go even louder I'm going to tell you something having a teacher getting up there and saying that she wants to retire I can tell you right now I would never want my child in your class okay but don't don't don't you want to go in way I would be more than happy to have a debate against you right now because you are thinking about
089yourself right now when there are people who are struggling and I'm looking at the people who are struggling and yet still try to provide a great education for these students so with all due respect you have your time to talk it is my turn to talk because if you think I am enjoying this you are out of your mind thank you so much so to get back to what I was saying we need our staff to work with us I think we have to make decisions on even administration because what we heard is our Administration are also struggling our teachers are struggling our parents are struggling everyone is struggling but throwing more money into it is not the option that we have we don't have that option I don't know um but to think that
090we don't want to do this is what's painful for me right now because I can tell you right now I haven't seen one person out in the street saying yes raise my taxes last year I did last year I asked you remember when we were going to cut our ka8 budget parents were saying no bring it up we will support this I'm not hearing any of that this year and when I also hear that our sister schools meaning um Berkeley is looking at cutting music and and OD from now the K8 level it's painful regarding the new buildings we needed the new buildings you know because you can't teach students when water is Flowing down so the only question I really do have is I'm hearing that math and science classes are going to be
091high in number I know we already have kids signing up for these classes do you have an estimate in any numbers for these classes I know Dr bord still has been looking at these numbers pretty much daily I I can have them for you in a week or so okay because that's the only thing you know uh obviously having classes of 35 40 is outrageous but I just want that would not happen close to happening okay um but I can honestly tell you that the school committee is not in favor of this budget but it's one that we have to support I don't think the administration is uh uh enjoying this budget but I can tell you right now this is where we're at and um and at this point it's not they don't care
092it's we need to get together and finding new ways and how are we scheduling um we really need to think outside the box because I hate to say this in the corporate world when CEOs say come down and saying hey we're having a bad year we need to reduce 20 10% from our budget I can tell you right now the staff says okay they don't say oh I can't do it or I can't because you know what they're going to be saying is perhaps we don't have the right people that's I'm just trying to reality this is the reality that we live in a CER world uh we don't have that luxury so I just think it's time for everyone to roll up their sleeves and try to figure out how to make it work
093because it's not really because of one it's because of the four students that got up and spoke thank you Mr Mado anyone else yeah I'd like to say a couple of things Mr P first I'd like to thank Victor for what he said um because I had a feeling that hopefully or I hope that that conversation took place when they were having Union negotiations and it sounded like it did because it probably would have been unfair for that conversation not to be had because when you see raises going out that's a big part of the budget so money's going to come from somewhere to cover those raises so I'm glad to learn that that conversation was held but what I really wanted to say is I wanted to thank the two of the poor students
094who came up and spoke and you know I I feel they had some very constructive ideas because I think they both realize what we have is a revenue problem and the gentleman came up with an idea of creating Revenue by renting out the basketball court made with a track that's a great idea and then the young lady came had an idea of you know leasing out the audiovisual equipment or hosting things and that's what we probably need to stop doing in next year's budget is trying to increase our Revenue in ever so little ways we can because not it's not just the fact that both towns having a revenue crisis it's the whole state and the whole country and there's nothing we can do about it really here I mean the last couple of years
095um I know Victor is very involved on the town side as well as probably everyone here you know we had really hoped that prism in was going to come in and be bringing us you know $6 Million by this year and probably GE $10 million within the next couple years but that didn't happen the project was delayed and then it got killed when uh Trump came into office so that's not here anymore and if we had that 8 or10 million we'd be in a a different boat right now for sure because nobody wants to make Cuts if they don't have to um we're building all over Somerset and I think you are in Berkeley I mean land just everywhere is being developed to try to increase the tax base and I know that the town
096officials are doing the best they can but like Victor said we have to live within balanced budget on the state levels and on the municipal levels we don't have the luxury the federal government to be able go out and print money and throw any budget they want um so I support this budget and the budget subcommittee 100% And I would just like to thank those two students for um their great ideas and hopefully we can Implement them in the near future thank you Mr C anyone else I just wanted to um point out a few bright spots and also remind folks to give some context to this conversation that this is um we we're all familiar with the the con the financial constraints and limitations that we're facing but I also like to and this
097is not to Pat ourselves on the back but just to remind folks that the district has actually made some significant investments in in Staffing over the past several years um we have added positions uh We've added a third assistant principal we've added adjustment counselors we have added um through the leadership of um Miss Ashton who's done a tremendous job in bringing our students back into District in building up our IND District programs um number one because it's the whenever we can educate our students amongst their peers that is always the right call if when that's educationally appropriate um and it also happens to often be financially advantageous too but but the real impulse by that is because that is what is best for kids and when kids do need um a more significant outside placement
098we obviously support that um so I I'm going to push back a little bit against the narrative that this committee or and previous versions of this committee have not been investing in this District um I you can go back and look at the last several budgets you can go back and look at the staff additions that we've made I also want to commend the uh superintendent and frankly members of this committee for not being in a position that a lot of other districts are right now where people um added on staff with Sesser funds um with one time or expiring funds they added a ton of staff and now they're in a position where they have to either absorb that staff into their operating budget which is impossible which is why you're looking at 40
099layoffs and things like that in other districts um we had one position last year that was Sr funded that we when that s and we made it very clear that when the funding um expired that we would have to eliminate that position one that's responsible fiscal management that's but that's responsible budgeting and we have an obligation to do that a school committee has like three main obligations budget policy and the hiring and and evaluation of the superintendent and I'm actually quite proud of this committee and the work that they've done and the administration um we've we've added more staff than we have cut um and these cuts the conversation seems largely driven by um the financial situation in both towns and while that is true okay it is also true that we have declining enrollment
100and that Math and Science were not picked out of a hat by members of this budget subcommittee or by anyone else at this table math and science positions were chosen because enrollment in certain courses is down and I would love because I am so excited to hear from these students who are passionate about stem because they're absolutely right in everything that you said about how important it is and I would love to hear from them not to put work on you but how do we um how do we get more students with the elementary and middle school um excited and passionate about the way you are so that they want to take those courses because at the end of the day when we don't have unlimited resources we have to make decisions based largely on
101what classes students choose and so I would love to have AP Physics AP all those classes you know at 24 each and that would be that would be great and and frankly if we had the enrollment to support that we'd be having a different conversation right now um so I think we would all love to hear um from you your ideas about how do we how do we ignite that in the younger grades and how do we nurture that and support that so that when students um come to the high school um they're they're voting with their feet in those classes okay um just one sec and then I'll Happ to come back um and and I think also through the um student advisory I'd love to hear plans about that um so these decisions
102about staff are not they're not made randomly I also want to talk about we talk about maximum capacity I just want to be really clear we live by a collective bargaining agreement there's no language in the collective bargaining agreement that addresses maximum class size and so when people talk about maximums I think sometimes the maximum idea that people have here is a little bit different than they have at some other schools so if you if you look at ratios of school to counselor student I'm sorry student to counselor student to administrator and class sizes incomparable school districts who are all facing the exact same in some cases more significant social emotional needs um that students bring and we recognize that it's different than it was 10 years ago um they are doing it with class
103sizes that are 28 that are 30 in fact our sending districts elementary and middle are doing it with class sizes 28 and so sometimes I don't want to let you know rumor Fester into fact no one here is talking about class sizes of 30s in core academic classes Dr rellford has done a tremendous job and it's a really tough spot she's in because her job is obviously to Advocate vigorously for her school for her staff for her students and she's she has done that she's also done the hard work of looking at okay these are the sections these are the numbers and the hard work of where can we consolidate it's not I'm sure it's the you know her least favorite part of her job um but that's what's required we there is no credit
104card there is no one coming to save the day we have to save ourselves and we do that by passing a responsible balance budget but I don't want people to think that we're going to walk out of here and that there's going to be 32 kids in a math class because I don't think anybody at this table would support that um we do have to get more flexible we have to get more creative we have to get more Innovative um which is not to say people haven't tried to do that but the times they are changing and not in a good and not in a good way um and so I but I I think people it's very easy to forget all the things we've added all the positive things that have been done all
105the hard work that people are doing every day um and we recognize that being a great teacher is one of the most difficult jobs there is um and we have a lot of great staff and we don't minimize um the challenge of that work um but we do feel I feel confident that we can run classes with 22 and 24 students in it and still deliver worldclass education um and so I just I don't want people walking out of here thinking that class size is exploding or that we're taking uh removing opportunities from students randomly these decisions are driven frankly by numbers um and and there's nobody likes to think that way but there's no way around it the enrollment is the enrollment class you know we have to pay our bills um that's where
106we're at so um but we take you know we don't take this lightly but that is our responsibility and um we have a responsibility I think to be cognizant of our taxpayers um as Mr Mado said um because the students come to us from those families they're coming into the school they're part of those families and those stresses are real and um I can't sit here and say that it's okay for Berkeley not to have art at all not one art class in the middle school but we and we're running art classes here in some cases with small class sizes we that's the school we built right there's a there's a capacity for those classes that's a great benefit for the kids here we've got a whole town that doesn't have isn't able to even
107feed into those classes so although we represent the region we would not be doing our jobs if we didn't think about the impact our decisions have on all of our students prek to 12 because they all end up here and we need them to be ready and we need them to be well resourced and we need them to be supported so they can be successful here and frankly I think that the K to Eights on both sides have taken the hits over the last few years a lot more than we have here and we could sit here and we could make a budget and we could deliver a bill to Berkeley town meeting and Somerset town meeting we could like some Reg Regal school districts do that serve our students but frankly I think we're
108not we're a lot more responsible and a lot more thoughtful than that we're not going to do that to our communities and so I wish we didn't have to make cuts it all but we do and I am confident that this budget delivers um the education our students um need and deserve and I think we can make it work anyone else have any comment all right at this time I would entertain a motion there are a lot of numbers here so please bear with me I'm actually going to take another water I would entertain a motion to approve the 2025 2026 gross operating budget in the amount of 2,982 $797 with a net operating budget of 9,795 $7 95,4 the total operating assessment make sure right the total operating assessment is 12,410 588 of which
1099,396 689 um is assessed to the town of Somerset and three well hold on so let me back up Capital assessment I'm going to redo this all right 21, 98279 is the gross operating budget total operating assessment of 12,410 588 the with a capital assessment of 2,1 187,188 1, 63343 to Somerset $554,000 to Berkeley in the capital assessment the operating assessment 9,396 6689 to Somerset 3,1 13,890 to Berkeley for total assessment of 14,592 743 11, 29733 to Somerset 3,5 $5 68,0 to birkway do I have a motion so moved second motion by Mr past and seconded by Miss O'Brien is there anything further on discussion hearing none we'll do a roll call vote um all those in favor Mr Mado hi Miss Solomon hi Miss Ashley hi Miss ferera hi Mr PNA yes M O'Brien
110hi and the chair votes I the budget is approved okay the next item on the agenda is the discussion and action on support for the Reeds collaborative purchase of a building for the deaf and heart of hearing program Mr sco Right you presented this and you created a great FAQ for us yes so you were the first school committee that uh this was presented to and I I thank you for the questions that you asked that night and I went back and started putting some of those questions in an FAQ document our executive director at Reeds added a few others and then the next few superintendent uh who also presented added some questions too so I hope that uh that the information that is here allows you um just provide some more information based on
111where you were last time um in order to um share with me what your feelings are on this dhh um the program that re wants to purchase a building uh and this uh re has his next board meeting in early April uh this does not require action from the school committees as most actions uh for uh for the collaboratives just require the the superintendent vote but I certainly want to place a vote that represents uh your feelings on this because this is a significant uh vote that it's not common person to take place uh so the information that is there I know that the primary questions last time were regarding a lease versus uh purchasing and uh you have some financing uh over a longer time uh so you have some of that information that's
112that's provided in the first two questions just why a 5year mortgage versus maybe a 10 or 15 as well as uh leasing versus financing um so anyway you've got that information as well as some others if you have any specific questions I can try to answer them for as best I can any questions well in that case although it's not necessary we'll be happy to entertain a motion to support breeds collaborative exploring the option of purchasing a building for the de and heart of hearing program I have a motion by Miss fer do I have a second second by Miss O'Brien anything further on discussion all those in favor I I opposed I uh so 61 in favor Mr Mado is opposed motion carries thank you the next item on the agenda is update on
113some of our Athletics Capital Improvement projects um first up we have discussion and action on awarding baseball field renovation bid to sports turf specialty uh yeah so you have I'm trying to find the document that is here we had our uh bid opening late February uh we received uh three bids the um the lowest bidder was sport ter Specialties and uh you have the base bid as long along with uh the five Alternatives that the school committee discussed uh in all if all of the um five Alternatives were approved uh the uh the total amount was just under $835,000 uh the the recommendation is to approve the base bid and three uh the first three alternates uh which would be for a total amount of [Music] $796,000 gencies um uh for this project so we
114might be able to do everything for 800,000 but that is the suggestion the recommendation at this point is to approve that and and sports turf Specialties has a has an outstanding reputation they've done work I share with you uh they they've done the field at Fenway they have worked for the Washington uh commanders uh Boston College I think Johnson Wales was another they they do work um at Elite stadiums and uh Sports complexes around the country um so that is the recommendation thank you Mr Speaker does anyone have any questions I kind have a question so I'm a little late to this here but wasn't one of the problems that we had with the field advantage issue that's what this is addressing and then so Al turn it alterate number five talks about a drainage
115trench um and is that part of so that's not part of the recommended bid correct yeah it was when the school committee you're right it it's not part of the uh the rec um the recommendation is for the top three um so the order of the five alternates this was voted on uh at the recommendation of activists uh who is our project manager for this and looking really at the um the base bid and those five alternates so they have to be approved in the order that presented here you can't replace you can't put alternate five above say alternate three um but uh there is some drainage that is along um I'm trying to figure remember from wasn't it the wall going to the track I would help so it's not the field and we
116can get you that information when they did a full presentation I believe that number five was that he wants to do a drain the top of the the water that goes to the the track yes that then goes down it flows through so if we can get that in as well you'd like to do that to rout the water but in the this proposal the drainage of both fields in its entirety would be re so so the drainage issues that we having now have been addressed with the base bit and alternates one two and three really the Bas includes the drainage for the baseball field alternate one is the the addresses the drainage issue we have in the softball field alternate two is the uh the old football practice field and the Outfield okay uh
117between Outfield of baseball andford Holland uh so we've been really unable to used that field for football practices for a number of years and we've had to shift uh to the front Fields so having that work um would allow us to bring the football practice back to that area and we're also uh we would extend the area a little bit too which helps us preserve what happens here in front because we know the football equipment does do a job on on grass uh and then uh alternate three is changing that baseball Outfield so actually change the configuration a little bit shortened uh right field which allows us to expand that practice field a little bit more so we we get more use um from that area then the other two alternates is addressing some range
118issue by the P pen and then as Mr O'Brien said uh the drainage that's coming from that elevated layer from where the turf field is which is contributing to some of the water accumulation uh along the third Baseline so that would address that but activist things that we might be able to get alate four and five um without you know with um the base bit and up to alternate three okay thank you both any other questions questions no I just I just sent you the file um okay if there are no further questions then I would entertain a motion to award the baseball field renovation project to sports turf Specialties for the base bid and the top three alternates so moved second a motion by Miss Ashley and second V so anything further on discussion
119hearing none all those in favor I so voted thank you everyone um and next is an update on um the turf and track project okay so we're also working working with activists on this we signed uh an agreement with them for approximately $68,000 uh to be our project manager for the turf replacement and the Improvement of the uh of the track uh we actually have a kickoff meeting tomorrow afternoon uh we'll um at which time we'll get into Graphics logos um timeline uh what what we expect for uh when the bids would go out which should be in just a few weeks there's already been some work as I I shared with you there isn't um the need for a storm water permit from the town so they've already determined that uh they've sent the
120surveyors out uh just in the last week or two to conduct some uh site work here so the ball is is rolling for that work which would um hopefully take place uh sometime this summer um once the bid goes out we would know exactly when that chart would be scheduled for replacement question here one the buzz is on the color of the I'm sure you've heard is that's something that is that we do have an option and would we entertain possibly letting the students votee uh yes it's an option I did ask that uh we there isn't a single High School in Massachusetts that has an artificial field T field that is anything but green so we would be the first kind of like Boise State uh for college um and I I I think
121it's wonderful I love giving students some opinions and some some voice and and uh decisions like that we can talk about that but uh I I did ask because I was afraid that it would be a significant cost and unless it was a custom color uh there really well I was told it wouldn't be much of any of charge at all for something other than a and I know nothing what it did it draw back to a different color heat I know none of that this is just some of the feedback yeah that I received and I and I certainly would want to ask the miiaa as well I don't know if there are any regulations about that and I know we can't hold tourn here because we don't have bleachers on both sides of
122the field that's why we don't get to host some of the major uh out events but I don't know if there are any regulations regarding that so we we would have to uh make a two contracts inje two boxes Mr mly we had a student who spoke on behalf of grass versus field uh any Turf I'm sure when the um building committee first uh designed the field that we had there was obviously a reason why they went with Turf versus uh grass but I'm just wondering how many schools are there many schools going back to grass or I was just curious about that obviously it is more expensive but there is more of an operating expense um and I know the way we've taken care of our uh Turf for the last 15 years or
123by the time we replace it it's almost like a break even type of thing uh regarding the maintenance or whatever it may be I remember reading about that but I'm just wondering are there any schools going back to Grass I I'm not familiar with any I'm sure that there's always someone who would be considering that but I'm not aware I in just the last few years I believe both dmouth high school and old Rochester Regional both switched from natural grass to artificial like the darkmouth yes I'm not sure that it's accurate for Rochester Rochester just I think oh they may be in process um I think May yeah I think some of the um I appreciate the the data which is all accurate especially in terms of the the football piece of it I think
124that at high schools it tends to be a versatility um issue uh because there are so many groups that use it um so even when you're looking at things like lacrosse which is relatively new here um field hockey our state championship team um Turf is actually the preferred surface and so I think that sometimes at the high school level it tends to be why the the shift has happened um in spite of all of that data that you shared I can say as an administrator in a school that has a tarf I mean I'm sorry has a has a grass field um and that was um largely our community input is located near Lake and there were concerns about um I will tell you that um there's trade-offs with every surface for sure um but
125the versatility piece you you really have multi-use fields for High School athletics I will tell you that one of the problems that we have at my high school that has a grass um field is that you can't use it most of the time because when you play one football game it gets tore up there and then um they can't practice on it um our teams have to uh the lacrosse teams the soccer teams the they practice elsewhere and um games are you know even the games are limited and it's absolutely true that you often will see you see some more injuries with Turf like um ACLS like KN but you also see ankle um injuries on the grass because you've got divots that are is really difficult so it's it's absolutely a trade-off I think
126it's something the building committee considered I think there's been some debate about it I think maybe maybe there's some conversation on the vineyard happening but I can say that just um I was talking to students today who are who were like they have to travel to the Middle School to practice lacrosse because they can't practice on it CU then it won't be in any shape to play so when you have limited Fields when you have professional sports obviously and you can keep you can limit the activity on that field just to that team and what they need then absolutely grass is wonderful and lovely but ours get so much use and then also it kind of ties into some of the suggestions about if you want it as a revenue Source rent out your facilities
127there's no way that we could do that and maintain them if we were to rent out you know the the field if it were a grass field it would just it would get destroyed and our own students wouldn't be able to use it so um that's just been my experience and when I talk to the our kids who play football on it and Taunton travels to Sharon to play field hockey they hate it they hate it because the field is a mess you know from football so it's um it's sort of a utility try to get the maximum life and use out of limited space so that's sort of just that's my experience and in the fall here the field is used from right after school until into the night into the deep into the
128evening between locking practices our games Follow by football occasional soccer Maring band um always buying for their time uh just it's it's used from late August up until about Veterans Day pretty much um seems like around the clock and and then again on the weekend uh so it does have a ton of use and if we did have natural grass I can't imagine what it would look like I think it Alters the the sport a little bit too for like field Hocking soccer because on grass it slows down the game so much I mean I notice it when I go to watch my daughter play field and they go to a grass field especially if the grass is longer the game is just so much slower and to school's point for field hockey at least
129I know you cannot host when you get into later um if you don't have tur you can't do that well we'll look forward to continued updates on that and see what the Mia has to say about raider blue that's what they say I know I just to just for public um I know that folks had had some questions about timeline so our Our Hope if all goes according to plan with the um Turf and track project would be that it would be ready for fall yes this this is work that would take place over the summer it would take about three or 3 to four weeks in total uh to replace uh remove the existing Turf and replace it and and line it and do everything else that's required uh the the track improvements uh
130if that can't happen over the summer that it's not at a point where um it's crucial to have that done for the fall so that might be a project that could be delayed slightly but the uh the focus would be replacing the tur right in the fall it's cross country so right for track like right the fall outdoor season is cross country not on the tractor Spring right okay great anyone have any questions fabulous thank you very much let's keep it moving next item under the on the agenda under new business is we have discussion and action on the 2025 26 School Calendar let just okay uh so the 2526 school calendar uh just to uh highlight some of the key points of this uh the the earliest that teachers can return um for the
131SDA contract is August 25th that happens to fall on a Monday this year so we would uh use the the typical schedule to start the school year that we've had that we've used in the past teachers would return on the 25th and 26th the Monday and the Tuesday uh students in grades uh 9 through 12 would start on the Wednesday and Thursday uh the 27th and 28th also uh the SDA contract uh says that any Friday before Labor Day would would be a non school day so everyone would have the 4- day weekend and then we would return um September 2 uh there are a number of uh just some some days to highlight uh mostly the the early release days that would be part of the high school's 25 26 Calendar uh Wednesday the
13224th would be professional development day Wednesday August um sorry October 29th would be also be a PD day as would uh Wednesday January 28th so three early release days for PD uh and I'll get into the fourth one in just a second uh those three as of right now would be shared with the sumers of public schools but I'll I'll add um something to that in just a second uh the day before Thanksgiving is also a contractual early release day on when on Monday April 13th so the day that Somerset has his annual Town election and the election is open from 12:00 p.m. 12 to 8:00 p.m. so what we've done in the past is have an early release day for students they're out of here students are out by 11:30 there's no overlap between
133uh the voters and our students uh and then after that it turns into a PD day for uh for our teachers who are remaining uh other than that uh because this is a voting Precinct it would have to be it would be a non-school day it's the only other option that we would have there and also by the contract the last five days of the school year are um early release days for the high school only uh so that would be on no uh snow days June 11th through the 17th and the only other uh different component of this actually it would be similar to this year uh I was looking at when February um sorry Christmas break would begin uh and uh typically would be the 23rd uh the 23rd happens to be on
134the Tuesday uh there was so much um there were positive comments that were made this year about the extended uh holiday break that we had so I did I sent out a poll to our staff I included the the charts there and overwhelmingly uh teachers supported uh having the last day of school on Friday December 19th and and really going those two extra days rather than having a the last day on June 15th there would be they would um the last day would be the 17th instead uh so the calendar reflects that twoe break at uh Christmas and New Year's so with all of this uh let see I think those are the the main highlights I don't know if you have any particular questions but I do want to add when I presented this
135to the somerset school committee last week um there is consideration there about the early release days and uh perhaps being too much for our elementary parents uh in particular uh so the some school can be voted to approve the calendar with the exception of the early release days at this point and uh I suggested that that is an item that maybe both committees can uh look at together um at our joint meeting on the 8th question so the only election for this whole school calendar is the April 13th correct there's there are no ST or federal elections either in September or November this year and the concern just for my own edification the concern with the early release the three early release days from the point of view of the um suet K to 8
136is that in terms of families for like how to get the kids kids early that type like that type of an issue and their additional half days at the elementary level specifically that are intended to make up a discrepancy in the prep time allocated for Middle School and High School teachers compared to ele teachers just due to the nature of their schedules okay and so for those three dates we would I must talk about but for transportation purposes and Logistics it would make sense if we aligned aligned right MH okay and is there conversation about those three early release days for the high school purposes are used for PD yes same same for with just a 3 p so is there any discussion about how to an alternate plan for providing that type of that
137PD if if we were to make those full school days that's what we we would have to to tackle that in terms of providing offering time release time for teachers which would involve substitutes in for for them to teach classes so we'd be removing teachers from their students to provide the professional development which is always not something that we really want to explore but that really would be the the next option that we would have to look at and if you recall uh in negotiations we're trying to get a second full day of professional development built in but that it wasn't something a proposal that was uh accepted and voted into the contract so this is what we have we we do have limited professional development time uh but we would work together to create
138a plan to provide PD for U for our staff it just wouldn't be schoolwide we would we would never be able to offer it to everyone so right now under if those three days were made both school days for students the PD days would be the first two days well first two days of school more orientation days orientation there's a I think with have two hours or so of professional development usually and that's it if and then we have a full day in November one full day we still have even though there isn't an election day um a lot of organizations still use that day for professional development and a lot of schools still um we'll schedule that PD day on that particular one so if there is ever ever the opportunity for collaboration with
139other districts we like to hold that one whether or not we have an election day that's the November 4th date yes great okay all right those are my questions um so anyone else I'd entertain a motion to approve the calendar as presented uh with the exception of um September 24th October 29th and January 28th currently listed as half days early release days I should say um it maybe potential full days to be discussed at a joint meeting of the somerset school committee motion by Miss F do have a second second by Mr past anything further on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted thank you next item on the agenda um we're going to really welcome Mr past by giving tasking him with some subcommittee assignments um we're grateful uh to
140Mr masado for uh stepping up especially on the health insurance trust we know what what an important um subcommittee that is and how important that is to our budget and our bottom line um given Mr pastor's experience in this area I would entertain a motion to appoint Mr past to both the OPB and health insurance trust subcommittees so second motion by Mr Mado and second by Miss Ashley anything further on discussion any other committees he can take off my we're g to ease them in I like these great um we get to do all of it again in May right um great thank you and thank you for taking that Mo all those in favor I oppose you don't get to oppose great so moved thank you very much when's the meeting Thursday Thursday Fray
141is Friday Friday all right perfect he's on top of right right into it thank you so much the next item on the agenda is the superintendent's update let just going over yeah uh thank you you know I really with all the celebrations that took place at the beginning of the meeting I I um had originally plan just to to highlight all of the great things that our kids are doing uh but between the the celebrations and what Ryan uh Mr Viera um offered um they did it for me um I do want to add that we started our incast uh testing today at the high school uh from what I understand um you know there was that concern about opting out uh who who would participate but I understand everything went very smoothly and it
142was was Tak PL as if it was any other year uh which is good um I do want to if I may just address similar to um you Mrs Andrews um regarding the students who spoke earlier and one I know there they're uh speaking on you know advocating for um the impact of what cut positions would be but um listening to them I mean can anyone not be so immensely proud of the students that we have at s at Berkeley and I know the name I'm just going to pick one out but Daniel smod we know we hear that I think every other meeting at the Raider of the month uh and he demonstrated tonight exactly why he is so frequently the Raider of the month um it is I know one of the students
143uh spoke about the they all spoke about the importance of stem uh and and mention physics in particular and um I was a physics teacher I have a physics background and stem is near and dear to me and uh whenever we're looking at reductions in in really in any subject but I think I have a bias uh towards them um it hurts it it really does and and Daniel I I do want to um I want to speak to Daniel and the others because um learning about his experiences going down and speaking to our middle school students just as you said one of the things that um I don't understand is why we don't have more kids going into Physical Science and Technology and Engineering we do a wonderful job in physical in life sciences
144which is Amazing Project Lead the way over 100 Kids uh involved in those classes and we heard some of the uh uh the courses that kids are taking um we trying to expand that computer science too uh but we just don't have the numbers in in physical science and and I want to talk to all of these students and learn what can we do to uh to really get kids more excited about engineering and technology and physics and chemistry and all of these because in Massachusetts we are really the life one of the life science capitals of the world but we're also in that physics and Engineering where we're one of the tech leaders in the world too uh so what can we do um to really get more kids interested in that because that's
145that's the future right and it's been the future for for decades but it's always just growing and expanding and changing uh so doing that is is so important and um it was jaelle was talking about advertising and marketing you we need to do a better job with that I totally agree um so anyway I I I'm going to be reaching out to all of you and and I want to pick your brains um because we we need to do a better job and and in physics I know um the student mentioned that like I think next year and Dr bord can correct me if I'm wrong but between AP Physics honors physics and our Advanced College Prep physics I think we had 17 total upper classman between those three courses interested in in taking physics
146like why and we do have a lot of kids who taking life sciences which is wonderful um but you know we don't have that interest in the other areas and when you've got 17 total kids taking wanted to take three different sections of physics it's really hard to run without combining them running sections in of five or six students so to fix the problem we need to get more kids interested in wanting to take those courses so it's a little um maybe so foxy but I just wanted to think and address what the students said and and say this is certainly something that uh that we need to focus on because that this is that is the future and as they said very eloquently so thank you thank you Mr SC and we look forward
147to maybe hearing a report back after you've had a chance to talk with them building that pipeline is something that we know is a challenge um and it's the demand is there I think members of this commit be more than happy to to meet it with the resources required to do that um um it's es and especially useful as we if we are engaging in conversations about graduation requirements and program and studies and duel enrollment and other you know the sort of flexibility in some of those conversations too I think they're it would be crucial for that tooo so bring that back to us that would be great and thank you all again um next up on the agenda is Staffing update and just uh one resignation this month uh a parttime food service worker
148as as as you've seen from previous months uh this is one of those areas where there tends to be U the high turnover U but just just that one no appointment to report thank you all right next up on the agenda we have um updates uh uh M Solon do you have any updates from Berkeley um not really the bulk of our last meeting was our budget presentation um which as we've discussed at previous meetings is extremely challenging I guess is an understatement for this year um we have a $600,000 budget deficit in Berkeley um our superintendent is is exploring every Avenue every every possibility she sort of sent out a so there's an option for a grant through the state a onee one-time um Aid sort of to help us that we are applying
149for she sort of sent out a call to action to the community reach out to your State Rep you know send a letter tell anybody you can um we're hoping to get that uh um haven't heard back on that yet but she is having a a public budget Presentation tomorrow night at the library in hopes of sort of reaching the community reaching those parents that we need to advocate for us um but that's basically all the info from from Berkeley we're still working through that budget I'm hoping to close the gap thank you may I ask or add something yes uh a number years ago and I I don't know I haven't thought of this until just right now we had a subcommittee it was called the tri District collaboration subcommittee and when we met
150it was always through the lens of how can Somerset Berkeley and Somerset Berkeley work together maybe share resources share staff and never transpired into any shair staff but I wonder if there is if this is an opportunity to reestablish that whether it's a formal subcommittee or just some people sitting around a table and trying to you know just put our heads together to see if there is a way since we all three districts are in this position of looking at our staffing I don't maybe there's a way that the three can share something and and alleviate some of the cost for all of us yeah I'll definitely you know have some discussions and present it thank you great thank you that dates we had a meeting yesterday Al I mean last week was like yesterday
151um basically um a majority of our meeting was also on the budget um we are we've you know originally the superintendent presented a 2 and a half% budget it really um it really did a a job on the K8 program nothing like our friends in Berkeley but unfortunately we're in a little better situation with the K8 um so we did add uh a few roles back in and it's at 3 and a half% um I believe we're voting on it next meeting um a public hearing is next week April 1st so um um with that um we're happy to say that our window project at Chase is completed um and uh we did uh speak on the early release as Mr scoon over had mentioned um and basically everything else it was really focused mostly
152on the budget so uh but that's about it the mural oh and the mural that's right and um we have this Otis who's um going to do a mural on the somerset uh the South Elementary um and uh looks looks you know the photos that we received it looks pretty good so it's one of those things that almost at costs regarding the paint so that's about it great thank you very much okay um topics not anticipated by the chair 48 hours in advance I have none moving along um action items for future meetings other than what we discussed this evening does anyone I I'm going to have to ask that we put the um remote meetings um issues again see is you can't hear us you just hear of fact it's it was quite frustrating
153when you're on vacation and you know that there's a budg of hearing and you really want to participate and you were asked because of Might potential quum issues um you know I just feel like you know we've spoke about this in a while but I'm looking at as a simple you know I spoke to a few of my it people and there's something called a daisy chain USB microphones that you can have like 12 microphones and you can work through Zoom so I I just don't I have a lot of issues so I think we'll save it for the next meeting anyone else just I think people probably are aware but I believe the legislature did extend the remote meetings um I forget through 27 okay so we obviously prefer to meet in person whenever
154possible um but that has been extended and so when folks are traveling or unable to be here or sometimes for subcommittees um we'll use the remote option so that's been extended which I think is is good news um any other action items for future meetings Okay um in that case I'll move on to consider approval um you have open session meetings from February 11th February 27th and March 11 I would entertain a motion to approve um those Open session meeting minutes as presented so second motion by Mr mad on seconded by Miss fur anything on discussion hearing none all those in favor I opposed so voted I think I'd probably have to abstain from February 11th don't you can vote to approve me even if you're not here but you can certainly abstain if you
155like I I'll abstain from the feu February 11th since someone in par okay vote me um all right we moveed public input to the beginning so next on um on the agenda um I would entertain a motion to enter into executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 30A section 21 A7 to comply with or act under the authority of a general or special law or Federal Grant an aid requirement February 11th 2025 executive session minutes and please note that the committee will not return to open session second motion by Miss fera and seconded by Miss Ashley on roll call all those in favor Mr M hi Miss Solomon hi Miss Ashley I miss fera Mr past M O'Brien and the chair votes I thank you everyone