School Committee Meeting - 4/15/2026

001Can't wait to tell my wife something like that. That's weird. So, we we were able to bring 35 students and give them the experience that that they will be able to prepare themselves from all the events. It's obviously different. They have different um prep procedures and they're representing American members of Congress, not countries. But the idea of like I have to take on a role, I have to do research, I have to interact with others. It's very similar um in that way. And and so it's over February vacation um which for many is like oh we can't do that. But I I think it actually fits for a lot of families that that want something to do that maybe aren't go Excuse me, that aren't going away. So, the numbers seem to be pretty good

002and the feedback I got from the students was pretty positive, too. And um overall just the it's the excitement of the seeing who they get and it's quite a range from members of Congress that I've honestly never heard of. There's 435, so I don't know all. Quinn, you were I was Nathaniel Moran. And that was a Republican from >> Texas. >> Okay. So, that's a perfect example. I have to do some homework to to dial in on his background. Um all the way up to US senators that are were better known. We had um um Markwayne Mullin and Amy Klobuchar. So, kids obviously get They get a range. It's not you get one ideology or one It's it's random. We um we had students this year on uh FBI. So, they were doing sort of

003uh FBI um analysis and almost like um I don't want to say conspiracies, but they were trying to to to prevent some sort of action against the government. Just like really interesting scenarios that I think intrigue kids. Um and and and overall I had a blast with the kids going. It was a great time. I enjoy seeing them in committee, but I honestly also love seeing them just in the social setting of the experience like going out to dinner with friends, uh being social with kids from other schools. I I value that as much as the, you know, the the X's and O's of of presenting a bill before committee. So, for me from a teacher's perspective, zero issues. It was it was nothing but you know, well-behaved kids that were following the rules and

004meeting curfews and and they were really a joy to take and I thought Quinn could share a little bit of his perspective as a student. Yeah, I think it was a really awesome trip overall. In addition to like a fun Boston trip, it was also a really informative experience and I think it's something that like students are you don't really get that anywhere else. So, this is my second year, but like last year was the first time I'd ever experienced something like this. You have to take on the role of someone else and kind of put any personal beliefs aside and just kind of look at the objective facts and then with the research you've conducted, you have to think about how your politician would approach the issue. So, I think it's something that I've

005never it's very challenging and it's something that I've never experienced before and you tackle real world issues. Like I was in I was part of the House of Representatives, so I was in the House Ways and Means Committee. So, the two main issues that we talked about were social security and tariffs. So, it's real world issues that Congress is working on today. And so, it's really cool not just to be able to create your own bill and how you would tackle the solution, but also or the issue, but also to hear how other groups tackle the issue and then you either you can speak in favor, you can speak against and then at the end of the day getting to vote for what passes is really interesting. And again, Doc's like the social aspect, I

006think it's just really cool to meet people from all around the country, which is not something that you can really get in Co-op City. So, I met people from all over and I learned so much from them and yeah, it was really a really great experience. I'd be happy to take questions. >> Yes, absolutely. And I think uh committee members, since we have such a robust agenda today, I'll let you will rather than doing roll call and calling on everyone, please fire at will if you have questions or comments from Mr. Luvisian and um and Quinn. Not a question, but just a full support. I I think that being exposed to experiential learning things are, you know, so valuable for the for students. You take away so much more from it and remember these things,

007these, you know, few days will stick with you for your life. Whereas like, you know, three days of history class as a government student of the law doesn't necessarily always stick with you. And that as a government student of the Um so this is this is definitely a way to access learning and and and to really engage in a way that's that that's fantastic. So uh um Mr. Quinn, do you want to do the health and safety questions? Um you're always up. We neither approve anything. No, we're not. Yeah, right. It's already happened, so So everyone was safe. I just wanted to know and if it's not the right time, if I have to come back or do the follow-up, was going to ask for a return for next year, but I don't know if

008that's Going to come back. Got it. Going to come back. It's okay. So the health and safety then worked out well. So actually It's great. Well, thanks for doing it. I love that you mentioned how role-playing or having a different character forces you to have a different lens perspective. And that practice of kind of forcing yourself to approach a problem from a whole different way is really the only way that you can broaden your mind, right? Because you can learn all the details of one perspective, but until you have the moment where, okay, my job here isn't to be me, it is to actually understand somebody else, that's something which is just it's so rewarding and it's so Glad you brought that up. That alone made the trip worthwhile, I think, for all for all

009of you that went. And but it sounds like it was also a a of fun. So uh two great things and looking forward to hear the next year's proposals. Thank Nelson, anyone else? Then, I I will just add my thanks for um um leading this trip. That is a um wonderful gift that you've given to the students. And students, thank you for taking advantage of the opportunities that are given to you at the Cohasset schools. Um I think um we're we're very lucky in a lot of ways to have faculty that are interested in these hands-on um learning and have students that are um excited and ready to engage. So, thank you both. Um and thank you for representing the student um delegation tonight. I know you probably have homework and practices and other things

010that you need to get on to. So, um thank you for that. >> Great job. Great presentation. I want to thank Quinn for coming tonight and being our representative, wonderful student. Thank you, Quinn. Yeah, thanks, Quinn. >> Wonderful. Thank Thank you both. All right. Um next Um next we have Dr. Brandon Wiley from Challenge Success. And I don't Dr. Shannon, would you like to do a more of an introduction? Great. Great. Do you want to come to the front table? So, um I would like to welcome and introduce you to Dr. Brandon Wiley. Brandon is a school principal from Challenge Success. He will tell you a little bit more about himself in a little bit. And with the financial support of the Cohasset Education Foundation, we've able to partner with Challenge Success to help us

011work towards Compass Point 2. Um Compass Point 2 is about wellness. And our objective in Compass Point 2 is to foster belonging along with physical and mental health through inclusive, culturally responsive practices that cultivate self and social awareness and care. And as part of that work, we have three strategic initiatives um that are really important to what we do. And the first is defining what district school and student success means for the Cohasset Public Schools. The second is to identify and understand the stress students and staff experience and to build a plan to support them in finding balance and wellness. And the third is to transform our educational environment into a space where every student feels seen, valued, and connected. The work of Challenge Success is to help school districts improve student well-being, engagement, and

012belonging. And so it's really a perfect partnership and we're very excited about the work that we're able to do together. Um earlier in the year, we had parents, caregivers, staff, and students all fill out a survey and Brandon's going to share a little bit of that data today, but he's with us all day tomorrow to start to dive a little bit deeper. Um he's going to visit the schools. He's going to speak at the gift also hosting a parent caregiver workshop, which I'll reiterate at the end of this. Um but I'm going to turn it over to Dr. Wiley so he can share more about himself, Challenge Success, and the work we're doing together to help us achieve our district and school goals. Okay, thank you. >> going to share screen for you. Oh. It's

013a It's a real pleasure to be with you tonight. So much of my work with the school district so far has been through Zoom. So to be in person with you all is great. Um yes, my name is Brandon Wiley and was as described, I'm a school partnership coach for Challenge Success. Basically, what that means is I have the pleasure of working with about 10 schools, school districts um from Shanghai to New York uh and now Boston in the Boston area. And so uh the pleasure of a school partnership coach is to work with schools to really unpack the lived experience of their students. So tonight, I don't have the time to go through all the data with you, but I wanted to give you a few highlights of what we've been learning and then

014certainly invite you to join any of the activities that we have in happening tomorrow. Challenge Success has been around for over 20 years. We are based at Stanford University's Graduate School of Education. And as a research-based organization, we are really trying to bring best practices to schools and districts to help them again understand the lived experience of their children, particularly so that they can live healthy lives and what we would call a balanced life, which I don't maybe all of us are still seeking, I'm not sure. Um but our work is really you know, been prolific over the last 20 years. Part of the reason it's resonating is because we're seeing more and more an increase in students identifying with mental health issues, self-harm behaviors, and just dealing with stress in unhealthy ways. And so,

015we want to understand while stress is a part of life and it our goal is not to try to get rid of stress completely, it's really to try to help students understand the coping skills that they need, to identify when they're feeling stressed or unwell, and how to deal with them in in better ways than maladaptive behaviors. And so, wherever we've gone around the world, this has resonated this resonates with different cultures. So, for us we really focus on three things. It's really focusing on the students' well-being, so that they are mentally, emotionally, and physically well, they're able to advocate for themselves when they don't have what they need to be successful, that they have a sense of engagement when they come to their classes, they see purpose, value, even joy in those classes, heaven

016forbid they have fun. Uh and then lastly that there's a sense of belonging, that when they come into their schools they see other students who look like them, think like them, share identity. Uh and we believe that when we can bring all three of these entities together, it creates an environment in which students can thrive. And so, part of our job is to help collect data about the extent to which your students are feeling these three things and to help you think about what are the conditions that you've created, what are the structures? What are the experiences? We just heard heard about an awesome experience. All right, first of all, I wish Quinn was in Congress now. But but like that's just a great example of something that you have allowed your students to experience

017that contributes to all three of these things, right? The authenticity of the experience speaks to the engagement. The well-being of being able to like get out of your comfort zone. For some of your kids, it might have been the first time they were on a on a bus or in a hotel room. Uh and then of course the belonging we heard about as well from him. So, we have now uh surveyed nearly half a million students around the world and over 750 schools. So, the data set that we have is very robust about what students are experiencing and what that allows us to do is to look at how your kids are doing, uh they're reporting their experiences compared to this much broader data set. And as you can see, the survey asks them things

018about their well-being, their engagement, like how much homework do you have? How much sleep are you getting? What's what's stressing you out? Um these types of things. Uh what we've noticed across the years, and this has been pretty consistent. We did a report in 2024, we're actually updating it at the end of this year, but the headlines are this. Kids are not getting enough sleep. Shocker. Uh and by the way, schools are actually contributing to that. I'll talk about that a little later. They're feeling high levels of stress and academic worry. Uh we have unfortunately many kids in our community still that don't feel like they belong or that school is a safe place for them emotionally, physically, or otherwise. Uh in some cases, they don't have an adult that they feel comfortable going to,

019a universal problem. And they're not fully engaged. Here's the good news. The good news is many of your students have at Cohasset are actually reporting high levels of these things, the opposite of what we're seeing in the national trend. And I'm going to highlight a few of those tonight really quickly. Um but that that we're having we're in a moment of crisis. We really are. That we are seeing particularly since the pandemic that more and more students have withdrawn, more and more families are not sure how to support their children, and the pressures that our society is still putting on children to get great grades, to go to the right quote unquote right college, um to be involved in a half a million different activities outside of school, those pressures are not diminishing, they're continuing

020to persist. So, uh our approach then is to collect the data. So, in your case, your community engaged in three different surveys. They did the student survey, the faculty and staff survey, and the parent caregiver survey. So, we have a very robust data set, and part of our job tomorrow is to really start to dig in with key leaders in the district, and to start talking about what comes next. So, here's just a few highlights of the data. One of the first things we asked kids to do is to report, like, write three words that describes your school. So, it's open-ended, anything that they want to write. And the more times a word is written, it's obviously bigger. This is a word cloud. This is from the middle school, and as you can see, the

021top words that the middle school kids had fun, safe, inclusive, kind. Like, that's what we want to see, right? Here's the thing. I want to show you the high school now. Any guesses what the high school might say? Stressed. Stressed. Stressed. Guess what? Demanding. >> You're wrong. I have to tell you, I don't know if I've ever seen that in a high school. Like, this is really interesting that that was the top response from your students. And obviously, there's other words up there that are really important, but I think the essence is that students that go to this school district, we saw this, we surveyed students from third grade through 12, they feel that this is a safe, engaging, supportive community where they actually enjoy learning. The engagement rates were higher in all three of

022your divisions than we've seen in most any other school district. So, I think there's a lot to celebrate in this data, and we're going to unpack that, and we're going to have to get the chills thinking about, you know, talking with faculty about this. But I want to also be honest with you that there's some areas for growth as well and some things to consider. So, let's talk about stress very quickly. The top we asked students to name uh some of the things that are Oh, sorry, this is the categories. Then we categorize um what the kids say. So, things like caring and warm, uh welcoming, fun, safe, educational. This is from your middle school and then from your high school, again, very similar uh theme. Let me get the two advance. Uh very similar

023themes. So, I think what that speaks to is there must be some coherence here in the district in terms of the experience that students are having as they progress through the levels, right? For students to consistently be reporting these types of experiences. Uh the other part that I think is really critical is that they have a a trusted adult and other peers that they can go to. So, on the left-hand side uh 83% of your middle school students said that they have at least one adult they would go to if they had a personal problem. That's 9% higher than the national average. And whopping 95% of your high school students said they have at least one adult they would go to if they have a personal problem. That's 17%. So, this community is clearly investing

024in relationships. Right? We are in the relationship business after all and it's working here with your with your students and teachers. And then 90% of your middle schoolers are saying they have at least one friend they would go to. Of course, it doesn't necessarily mean their friend knows what good advice to give, but they at least have someone they can go to, right? And 92% of your high school students. So, this is an this is a protective uh indicator. When students are feeling stressed, if they don't have people they can go to that they trust, the likelihood that they would do something uh uh uh behavior that perhaps isn't in their best interest actually increases. Um so, then stress, let's talk a little bit about this. This is what your kids in the middle school

025said were their top stressors. Every school I work with, that top one is the top one. Right? And when you really start to talk to kids about what it is about those things, some of it is the pressure to get good grades, whether it's pressure they put on themselves, pressure they get from their peers, or from their parents. Uh workload, that is that's not unusual. Um we ask questions about homework, which I'm not going to talk about tonight, but I just want to call out a couple things. Lack of sleep is a consistent theme. So, a third of your kids, minimally, are not getting enough sleep in every night. Right? And while that might sound like a home problem, actually is a school problem as well. Because you also see that sports, nearly a third

026of your kids are saying sports are a stressor. Now, I don't know much about this community, but my guess is sports probably matter here. Right? And my guess is kids are also coming home late from games and practices. So, if they're coming home at 9:00 at night, and they're just starting their homework, and oh, by the way, they need to get some sleep. They have what I would call a conflict, a loyalty conflict. Right? Because am I going to stay up and do my homework, or am I going to get the sleep that I know that I need? I don't want to miss practice because I don't want to let my team down. So, we're doing that to middle schoolers, as well as high schoolers. And at 15, 16, I don't know that kids are

027always able to make the best decisions. So, the high school looks a little bit different, but not much. You'll notice that grades, tests, quizzes are still number one on the list. Workload still up there. Now, you start to see things like your future plans creeping in. Uh procrastination and time management. Because they have so many more things that they're juggling, some of them are able to develop skills to deal with it, some of them are not. Again, I just want to come back to the sleep. Um your middle schoolers are reporting they get 8 hours of sleep at night. Now, my suspicion is they might be in their bedroom for 8 hours. I don't know if they're actually sleeping for 8 hours. They should be getting 10 hours of sleep according to what you know

028pediatricians will tell us. Your high school students are reporting 7.2 hours a night. One thing if you hear nothing else from me tonight, one thing I just I say this to every community, find out where the phones are. This is the number one thing getting in the way of most kids sleep at night is their cell phones and devices. So your students reported in middle school that 38% of them sleep with their phone in their room, 30 in another room, and 32 don't even own a smartphone. That's awesome. Right? We actually would love to see most middle schoolers not have smartphones until eighth grade at the late at the earliest. Now, I know as a parent that's a fighting battle. The reality is and then high school almost all your kids are sleeping with it

029in the room. So one campaign that we've seen some districts do is really try to help families think about everybody in the family is going to charge their phone in the kitchen and it gets the phone because this affects you all too by the way. That phone is near your bed, it's also distracting from your deep sleep as well. But we do know that for these kids it is critical to their physical, mental, and emotional development that they're getting enough sleep and I would suggest this is an area for the district to consider. And then lastly, um you know, the last this is a this is a statistic that breaks my heart everywhere I go that we are seeing more and more kids that are having stress-related health symptoms as it relate as it relates

030to their stress. So these are things like headaches, stomach aches, you know, trouble sleeping, right? So in both your middle and high school, 70% of the students reported that in the month preceding this survey they had at least one health symptom issue. Now, here's the kind of good news. The kind of good news is it's lower than what we see nationally. Right? So in some ways your kids are coping better hopefully with the stress that they're feeling. But this raises questions about curriculum and support programs, you you that the school can uh use to support them. All right, that's just a little taste of the data. Sorry I couldn't give it to you all. It's really, really robust. I'm sure there will be a report in the future, but I just want to just emphasize

031that adults create these conditions. We can't control everything, certainly that happens outside of these walls, and we're not here to tell parents how to raise their kids, but there are things that we can do as a school system to create the conditions that shape our students' ability to succeed. Um and so our goal in our partnership with the district is to really just think about how do we take this data to action now? How do we unpack it and understand it in such a way that you can evaluate the programs you have in front of you, the things you're already doing to try to grow the things that work, and maybe let go of some things that are not serving kids the way that we hope, so that we can just make some small shifts

032that really have lasting impact on your students uh because we want them to be successful today, tomorrow, and in their future. Thank you. Thank you. Um School Committee members, do we have any questions or comments? This is This is interesting stuff. What do we What do we do with it? What are the What What are the next steps? Great. And then I'll share my perspective that don't have to. Um so my job tomorrow, I'll be doing several things. I'll be doing listening sessions with students. So we're going to try to better understand some of this data and get some concrete examples from directly from students. We'll be meeting with a leadership team, a broader leadership team of administrators, some teacher leaders, counselors uh to dig into this data a little bit more deeply. It's a

033full robust data set. Um and then we'll have the parent because I want to be able bestow some like tips to parents about things that they can control about this data as well. So that's sort of the next step immediately. Longer term, the partnerships typically what will happen is districts will take the data and they will develop pilots. They will They will look at something that they want to try. Um be as big as things like changing your master schedule, which I'm not here to tell you to do, but like some districts have done that. Two small pilots, things are changing in their advisory program, curriculum shifts. And so our job is just to reflect back to the district all the different opportunities that we've seen other schools do, and for you to make an

034informed decision for your community. But And so for us we're going to use all that we're going to do with Brandon and with Challenge Success to try and work towards those three strategic objectives. So we're focusing using this data to help us define what success really looks like, helping us um better support our students and staff in having balance in their lives. We're trying to balance having high academic goals and expectations while also doing that in a healthy way. And in districts like Cohasset that can be difficult, so we're trying to figure that out, and that's part of this work. Um and we also want to make sure that we look at this data and think about where are the shifts that can be made, as Brandon said, in the academic areas to create more

035engagement, to create a greater sense of belonging. You know, one of the things in my entry plan last year that I reported on was that I I've never been in a district where the staff and students care so much about one another, and you see that in the data that was shared here. And that's such a wonderful point, and there's more that we can do. Um I think there's we're going to see a lot of alignment between this work and the project-based learning work that we're looking to do as well, because that's another way to increase our engagement levels and to actually build stronger relationships, not just within the schools, but also within the community. So those are some of the things we're looking to use this data to help us move forward. Um but

036this is really just the beginning of the work. Um tomorrow is diving deeper into the data and starting the conversation about what's next. I I have a question. Um I was interested interested to see that um procrastinating and time management to show up as a stressor. I I certainly understand why. I'm wondering if the way in which your surveys work, whether or not it can parse out whether those are digital distractions or whether or not that's more of a sort of executive function, learning how to plan, knowing how to use the planner, etc. etc. Or if that's just sort of lumped together as a student experience of I feel like I'm distracted or I'm procrastinating. Good question. On that particular item, it gives students a list of all the different potential uh stressors and they

037like pick the ones they rank the ones that they think are the most um so it doesn't get to the level of what you're asking. Uh the way the way all the survey items are developed, so we don't ask kids, "Are you stressed?" Or we don't ask them, "Do you feel a sense of belonging?" We ask them a series of um experiential like descriptors. To what extent do you experience these different things? That gives us sort of a rolled up score. So, for things like procrastination, um then we'll ask them items around sort of uh to what extent do you use your time well? It doesn't say there isn't a question that asks specifically about technology. But this is why we do the listening sessions, right? And so I'll do some listening sessions, but then

038I'll also teach the team here how to do their own follow-up listening sessions, whether it's a fishbowl or uh there's something else we do called the I Wish Campaign. There's a lot of different ways because the other goal of this uh project is to elevate student voice. Right? To have students like Quinn be able to come forward and talk about their lived experience. Because at the end of the day as adults we think we know what kids are dealing with but the reality is they're the only ones that go through the day and experience it from start to finish. So tomorrow will be the beginning of a starting to model what that could look like and that'll be a follow-up question I'm going to add to my list now. Thank you. Stay tuned and I'll

039get back to All right, I love that. Thank you. Are there any other questions from the committee? Just going to say I know you probably thought of this but the connection we have we have a group in town called Safe Harbor. Um it's it's the mission of Safe Harbor is is to encourage good behaviors directed towards reducing substance abuse. And one unique thing about this community is that it's actually it's run by students. It's not just adults talking down but also we've had great partnerships from leadership here and we actually just went through a few weeks ago a big presentation about the data that Safe Harbor collected about coping mechanisms and stressors and and how the students are reacting to these things. So we've got a really good base already here for student empowerment, student

040voice but also being able to have at least the terminology right to know how to discuss it. So when you when you all talk certainly ask questions about the Safe Harbor data because it's guided a lot of decisions I think in a really positive way. It's also encouraged us to have screenings for like a screening angers like all these things are funded through that program at least partially. And then the last thing I'm glad you brought up timing homework sports. This is a very sports priority town but we are going through that transition now where this year really was the year where homework at the you know sit first second third grade has really come down. We've had meetings about it with parents and so far it looks like based on our data kids are

041learning more right when they're when they're having the time away from kind of looking at actual homework sheets. So I hope our data supports and your data supports the idea that we can give kids a little more time to breathe. And so hopefully that's we're on the right path with that one too. And we have a whole data set on homework and how homework does not work in most communities. Okay. And so there's deep deep research on this that more does not equal better. And then if we're not creating the space for kids to have what we call play time, down time, family time, which is something I want to talk about with the families tomorrow that attend. Um that there's a point of diminishing return. It's more important that it's quality work over quantity.

042And the discussion I think where we at least the conversation that we're having with parents and and teachers here is how do we build the handoff though cuz at a certain point there is homework. That's right. >> And we had teachers or parents reporting it was great but then all of a sudden there was homework and it it's hard to kind of figure that out. So that's what we're working towards in the future discussions about yeah how we how we ramp that up in in the best way possible. So Thank you. Do you have any other comments from the committee? If not, Dr. Shannon, I want to did you say that the CEF helped to fund They are. this? They are funding this. So I I do want to publicly thank the CEF for their

043support of this undertaking. Very much so and I would also like to reiterate we sent it out in the newsletter and again today that Brandon will be presenting parent evening tomorrow night 6:00 in this same room. Um you know, parenting and raising the well-balanced student and child. So I hope people will come and listen to what he has to share. Um it's about you know, should go till about 7:15. So an hour and 15 minutes learn some good information about how we support our kiddos. Wonderful. Thank you, Dr. Wylie. Appreciate it. Next up we have the alternative energy committee and Ms. Toni Bodela is joining us. Hello. Hello. I'm Bonnie Badell, the chair of the Alternative Energy Committee. I'm Lauren Hollas, I'm an an associate member of the Alternative Energy Committee. Yes, and he's humble.

044He also has been very involved in the energy industry in his day job. So, we are here to follow up on your November vote, which unanimously allowed us to then go to the town and ask for their permission to lease the school property at Osgood and Deer Hill for potential solar energy arrays. Um, this process we've gone through before with you in 2020. At that time, we were given some opportunities and didn't pursue them, and that's okay because we can go back again. We would like to ask you for three things and answer any questions you may have. The first is your official permission for the Alternative Energy Committee town to go out and do a procurement process for solar energy arrays at the Osgood and Deer Hill school in accordance with the town meeting

045vote. Um, the town would like to make sure the school committee is behind this before we go through that process. The second is if you can send somebody from the school or the school committee to be on the evaluation committee. Last time what we found worked very well was to have a multi-disciplined evaluation committee which included somebody from the advisory, capital planning, schools, town, and Alternative Energy. Um, and that just allowed for things to go very well. And and the last is I do understand, we do understand that there are some plans in place about maybe looking at flow at those schools. There has been some examination past about additional parking, and to the extent there are specific locations where you'd be amenable to carports. This was prompted by the Osgood school roof being replaced,

046but we do not know. And we're going to ask the professionals out there whether or not that is a good location for solar energy rate. And we don't know, but we have we would also like to look at other alternatives such as carports. And if there's a location where you've been looking at, for example, bus parking or additional parking, we would appreciate that. But if you don't have that, that's fine, too, because whoever we would go ahead and choose would be available to work with the schools as part of the flow process and parking process to help identify locations where carports might be very useful. Did I miss anything? I would only add that the procurement process that we're asking for it on is limited to selecting a contractor on a non-binding basis to do

047a full evaluation of the property to determine the best and highest use of an installation of a solar array so that we can make a determination of an estimate of how much money that could actually save the school by going through with the installation. It is a Again, it's it's a non-binding type of approach, but the solicitation using the town town procurement office is necessary. So, in other words, it's not like we're authorizing a proposal to be brought to us that then we would then look at and talk about in the context of what that proposal would be. So, this is just an authorizing that document to kind of be made and brought to us for for It's authorizing the procurement process under 30B for the town schools to ask for um companies and their

048ideas for solar energy arrays. >> proposals. Right. And so we will look at multiple proposals, look at look at qualifications, look at how they are thinking about it. And from there ideally choose one or two with whom we could do a letter of intent to then move forward and proceed. The letter of intent again is non-binding, but it's important we try to get that done before July 4th so that we can buy ourselves more time with respect to the solar energy arrays still getting a 30% investment tax credit under the federal. If we don't make the July 4th letter of intent date, we have only 1 year to be able to move forward and complete a solar energy array. If we're able to get that letter of intent in place before then, we have until

049the end of 2029, which then gives us more timing with respect to your efforts with respect to parking and and other things that you're doing with schools. Maybe Finally, Deer Hill would have a fresh roof for us to put solar panels on, but maybe not. But the point is the more time we have the better the optionality, and this is the first step in obtaining as much optionality as we can get with respect to solar energy for the schools. Any other questions from the committee, Mr. Evans? A comment on the the carport. Um My kids always go over the summer we have the the summer camp program is run by Megis Rec. Picking them up, they're baking in the sun like in that parking lot for like every day and it's like I've always worried

050about did they put sunscreen on them? So having some sort of shade in front of Osgood, I think would be I would love that. Just for my kids not not sitting out there baking. Um So that would be my input for a carport location. Um what so what what is the the RFP that we're we're we're approving for you to do is it specifically? So, the request for proposals is the same exact request for proposal we put out in asking for companies that install solar energy arrays to provide us with their qualifications and their ideas with respect to the site. In 2020, we asked for a wide-open set of proposals for all town properties plus the third-party sites is very focused on Osgood and Deer Hill. And you may remember when we came and presented

051to you some of the proposals that were being offered for the schools including Deer Hill roofs which obviously couldn't go forward and the carports. So, this is that step to get those proposals along with pricing associated with that. So, this is the this collection of proposals from vendors about potential solar options for the schools. >> That's correct. It's an updated version of what we already did, right? I'm sorry? >> updated version of what we've already done in the past. It is a version of what you've already done. What is that was 5 years ago cuz we just gave up approval recently for something. No, not recently. 5 years ago I'm talking about. They did give me direction to just start this process again. So, this is an this is this is an addition to that.

052This is the next step in that process. What you gave approval for in November was the unanimous approval of the barn article that would allow the town to >> Perfect. Got it. properties. I'm just trying to trying to get my head straight. And then are you also seeking approval to engage the letter of intent or is this just to get the RFPs? Right now, it is just to get the RFPs. Okay. That's super helpful. And by the way, I don't don't don't want to come across skeptical. I think this is a a great initiative. I just want to make sure I've got I understand I understand what we're we're approving cuz it hasn't come to us in this form before. So, I mean, maybe 2020 but I wasn't on the committee. Thank you, Mr. Dial.

053Um other comments from the committee or questions? So, Ms. Bedell, would we be set looking for a motion to grant permission for the AEC to engage in the RFP process? Yes. Okay. Is there anyone What's that? I. Okay. Motion made by Mr. Evans, and second by Mr. McLellan. Um Mr. Dial. I. Mr. Evans. Mr. Squatrito. I. Mr. McLellan. >> I. Janlusky, I. Thank you for this opportunity. Um I I hope we can somehow save the environment and help bring down our energy costs at the same time. Yes, it's a little bit selfish. So. Thank you very much. Thank you. And we'll certainly keep you posted on on um having someone from this committee um liaise with you and serve I've already been talking to superintendent about potentially doing a site visit by bidders. Last time

054we videotaped it because of COVID, but this time they'd like to come onto the site, look around, and and even though they can see everything from Google Earth, but they still like to come on to the campus. So, we'll arrange all that. If you're interested in the materials, you can look at what was posted in 2020. There's going to help be a whole new set of materials for this round. We're ready to go tomorrow. So, we were waiting for the school's approval, the town wanted the school's explicit approval, and thank you again for that unanimous vote of approval, and we look forward to going through this process with you again. Great. Thank you very much. Thank you both. All right. Next up we have the high school program of studies with Mr. Brian Smith. Do

055you want me to share this on the screen, or do you want it You can share it if you'd like. It's fine. Don't need to. I'm ready. up. I mean, um So, we have a Not drastic changes, but I think it's a good move for the game. Both. The first one is unleveling US History 1, which is our 9th grade US History course. Um we've seen it We There's a couple of reasons for doing it. One, we had have an imbalance of accelerated and CP. Plus, this makes scheduling easier. Um We think that it's a It's a good way to reduce some of the academic stress that 9th graders feel coming in. So, from a waiting standpoint, it's still going to be weighted as an accelerated course, but ultimately that doesn't It could be weighted

056either way, it doesn't matter because everyone's going to take the same thing. Um we've done this in Introduction to Physics and had really positive results again. What we've seen in that class is that it's almost like a rising tide lifts all boats type of thing where everybody's performance improves. There were a couple of questions um from parents about whether or not students would be ready to take AP US History. Absolutely, they will. This will not limit them in any way, but I think it'll provide for richer discussion. I think it'll be good for um introducing them to some of the foundational skills, and I think it's a good uh I think it's a good move uh for our social studies. >> That's right. The Health and Wellness is really just diversifying our PE courses, and

057this comes out of a couple of things. One, First, there are a couple of just name changes and and revisions to some of the descriptions, which really just uh came out of the curricular review and are more in line with what we're actually doing. Um make sure that we're in compliance with the state. The other one comes out of kind of a dual um request. One was from the department itself and the other was from the kids on the wellness committee. And this is really just to diversify and broaden our PE options so that it's not just PE. Uh we do have sports officiating right now. We have um advanced fitness. Uh and we're looking to take our existing PE classes and transform them into yoga, uh mindfulness, recreational games and team building, uh advanced

058or competitive pickleball and badminton and net games around that stuff. So, uh guidance has put a survey out to incoming juniors to see uh what their interests would be and we will design, with your approval, the PE schedule to reflect those uh levels of interest. So, instead of eight sections of PE, for example, you might have three sections of yoga and two sections of pickleball, one section of PE and so on really. Well, it's whatever we're doing in PE. Uh so, those are really the two changes that that we're requesting. The others are just up to the You can see the updates to the actual course offerings. Okay. So, this is just what you explained, right? >> Yeah, those are just the descriptions. >> Okay. And if it doesn't fill, it won't fill. It'll be

059based on student interest. Okay. Rest of the program of studies remains Consistent then, yeah. All right, any questions or comments for Mr. Scott? Would you say that the change to US history is more shifting everybody into accelerated and everybody into CP like somewhere So, it'll be interesting because they have a choice of which textbook to use. There's a little bit of debate on that because we used two different textbooks. I think we can use the accelerated textbook and differentiate it to meet the needs of all students. We have a class right now that we had to combine uh cuz it was the only way we could have run it. And that has a variety of different needs in there and you know, there are ESPs in the class and stuff like that. Mr. Vici teaches

060those things in there. And we haven't found that it has uh if anything it has it's brought students up to a better place as opposed to Yeah, potentially you know, bringing them down. Yeah, you just have more diversity of opinions. Kids get to interact in an academic class in a way that they don't really do that in an elective class or a non-academic elective class, so I I don't think it'll teaching to the middle. I think it'll be the same thing that we're already doing. Thank you. Any other questions? I will just say I love that student voice that that wellness committee actually had a real impact on something that is brought before the school committee read and allowed to the public is the course of study for the high school and it was it

061were it was their ideas um and so thank you for listening to them and for just making those opportunities feel real, authentic, genuine, and powerful for our students. I think it's great. Listen to students for their opinion and I I stress to them that we're we actually do take them seriously. You know, the success survey, the pickleball survey, the wellness surveys, all that stuff we do actually listen to the students. Well, it's working cuz apparently they're having fun. Yes. Well said. All right, so we need a motion to approve um the um amendments to the high school um program of study. >> Program of Thank you. We have a motion by Mr. McCollum, second by Mr. Evans. Um Mr. Dial. Hi. Mr. Evans. Mr. Squatrito. Mr. McCollum. Hi. Janliski, I. Love to come play some

062pickleball sometimes. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Thank you, Mr. Scott. Thank you. Good luck, guys. He does not lose. Yeah. All right. Um now we have the middle school program of studies um with Mr. John Scapellati. Thank you. Hello. So, good evening. Um the changes are minor program of studies as you may have seen in the executive summary. Uh just very simply uh it's really that it's for accuracy and consistency of formatting. Um a small change to the process for uh course override requests um due to the fact that that that we're looking at not having department chairs for next year so just making sure that language is accurate for that process. Um removal unfortunately of course of our digital literacy excuse me coding and robotics classes due to the elimination of that position. Um honor

063roll language was in the handbook but that's a recognition that the middle school has not partaken in. So, just to keep things accurate and simple that language was removed. And then just copy editing for consistency and clarity. I was once a copy editor so for better for worse. I can't stop it. It just yeah it it it couldn't couldn't couldn't end to itself. Uh that's everything that happened there. Other than that, everything remains the same. Wonderful. Thank you. Um any questions for Mr. Scapellati about the studies at the middle school? Good question for me. I have obviously it's all the studies last year and year before and year before. And I like it. I mean, I think we do a good job of giving diverse offerings. Um but you're coming in with fresh perspectives and

064and not seeing a lot of changes. Obviously, I think you like as well but I guess what's the process for really evaluating that? Uh you know, it's one thing to just carry it forward but you know, have you thought about digging into that? Alternate perspectives and and really I guess but obviously it's it's it's good but um I guess should we expect future changes or you know Right now I think it's a great question and so much of that comes down to our schedule right in the way that we have the team scheduling and the staffing that we have in terms of um what could be available. So the the short answer is I don't anticipate any changes having said that um it is something that when we move into um student and parent school

065council that but there's some desire for uh perhaps a better variety specialist courses um I've heard consistently from parents and caregivers that can we get more art into invested in the schedule somehow. Um a lot of those are tied into staffing however so that's what makes some of at least those initial ideas a little bit challenging. Uh challenging doesn't mean that they're not worthwhile um and I think that I I think that a as good a first step for us to help obtain just to try to help identify what those um particular areas could be. Okay. Thank you Mr. Dial. Any other committee members? Thank you for leading um the middle school through this first almost first year um of your tenure here. So we're we're looking for a um motion to approve the middle

066school program of studies um as presented. Thank you Mr. Dial. >> Second. Seconded by Mr. McClellan. Mr. Dial. Aye. Um Mr. Evans. Mr. Dial. Squatrito. Aye. Mr. McClellan. Aye. Jenlesky aye. We're approved. Go forward. Have a great next year. All right. Wonderful. Before we move on I do want to give the opportunity for anyone who is online and missed the um the request for any public comment to make a public comment if you need to do so. I apologize there was a um audio issue at the beginning but certainly public comment um is important and if there is any from online participants you can take it now. At this point, seeing none, I'll keep an eye on that. We will move ahead to the superintendent report with Dr. Sarah Shannon. Um so, tonight I want

067to take a moment to celebrate two unique events that happened together. Um last week. Um they actually happened on the same night at the same time and they are very different, though they are very supportive of one another and those are Mosaic and Treps. Both which occurred here last Thursday night and are just it is by far maybe my favorite night of the year. There are other things I love too, but this is way up there. Um and so, I would say I'm going to talk about them for a moment, but if you have never come to Mosaic and Treps night, I highly recommend coming next year. Um Mosaic is one night in our year where we celebrate our community's diversity. Families and staff from all grade levels from our littlest ones up through high

068school come together and celebrate their individual roots by showcasing their cultural histories, food, and celebrations. This year we had families celebrating cultures from Brazil, Syria, Honduras, Sweden, Italy, Philippines, and more. We had Irish step dancers, we had Indian music and dancing to entertain us, and most importantly, we celebrated what makes us unique and what brings us together. It's a true night of celebration, love, laughter, and food. You will not walk away from that night ungrateful. Um and we're very grateful to Alyssa Gittens, Carol Janet Bleuen, Hilda Leal, Ashley Colliery, and Garrett Spell McDonough for all the work they did to make that night was And thank you to all of the families who participated. They bring things from their country. They bring food. It's just a wonderful, wonderful night. And it's You know, we talk

069about joy and fun. And that is a night of joy and fun. But before you get to Mosaic, you walk through the TREP$ Market Place. So, TREP$ is a national organization that is a entrepreneurial program curriculum designed for middle school students. And Ms. Eileen Weislanger brought TREP$ to the middle school. And she started it last year, and it was a nice size. There were students who participated. Um, they were maybe, I don't know, looking into the audience, like 15 to 12 to 15 different groups of students who were selling their product. This year, it exploded. She had to bring on Ms. Gabby Lima to help advise the TREP$ club. And there were probably 25 different marketplaces. Um, and as part of this group, the students have to design their own business, they create their own

070marketing, they create their own products, and then they sell it. And their grand showcase was last Thursday night, and our students sold everything from hair accessories to candles to baked goods to handmade blankets to made syrup that you can put in drinks, like non-alcoholic to get appropriate drinks. To a drone operating business to take photographs of your home, your yard, the ocean, whatever the case might be. Um, it was a phenomenal example of our students' creativity and ingenuity, as well as their desire to contribute to our community. And so, I'm very excited to see what happens next year and how big it grows. I had a conversation with Principal Scarpati and that we might need to expand into the cafeteria as well as our student businesses grow. And I know that there are some of

071the some of those students also sell at the farmers market in the summer. So, this is not just a one-shot deal. Um and so, I again next year will continue to celebrate both of these nights early and often and I highly recommend people attending. Um I also want to share an update. So, we've had a communication goal all year. We have a communication committee. And we're going to share more about that work next week, but I do want to um give you a little sneak preview into some new communications that have been happening. Um one of our goals has been to do a better job using social media media to share out what our student experiences from pre-K all the way through grade 12. Um Lisa Porteleci, Meg Giuliano, Cassie O'Brien have been working to

072get our website up-to-date to showcase some of those things. But we've struggled with the social media piece. Um maybe because we're not And so, it's really exciting that Kate Darling, who's our assistant principal high school, she met and has partnered with a parent volunteer, um Susanna Arabello. She owns a marketing business and she came to Kate and said, "I do this work. I love doing this work pro bono with students." Um so, together they created a digital leaders club at the high school. And these students are learning about marketing and branding and PR and video and print design and social media strategy from Susanna. Um she her business is Cilantro Marketing Studios, but she does this work and she really loves working with youth at the high school level. Um so they've already started building

073content and putting it out into the world and I have to say it's better than anything that we have created because it's kid-driven. Um so I'm going to show you our newly launched Facebook page, Instagram page, and LinkedIn accounts. And hope and I'm going to put it out in the newsletter, but hopefully people will start to follow because they have content from the high school, the middle school. They went down to Deer Hill to capture content, down to Osgood to capture content, and we are now in a place where we're starting to tell our story. We're not just sharing out a picture of something that has happened. There are videos. It's just wonderful and to know that kids are doing this work is even better. So I'm just going to share really quickly. So our

074new Facebook page it's not really new, but it's way better. Um So we got together, we redid the banner so it looks engaging and it shows off everything about Cohasset. I mean, what better to put on than that? Um but this is a story about art at Deer Hill. There's a story about um Mr. Humans' phys-ed class and what the students are doing and the skills that they're learning. Um Katie Connelly who's done an amazing project and is >> I need to save this. going to present at the state level, kindergarten registration, what it means to go from kindergarten to first grade. All of this is out there now in the world, and it's on Facebook, it is on Instagram, because we've not had a district-wide Instagram page, and this is where a lot of

075people are getting their news. Um and then LinkedIn is similar, but a little bit of a different lens. Sharing some more things that are a little bit more LinkedIn appropriate. Um so we're really trying to rework how we put ourselves out. Um and I'm just really grateful to the students who are now part of the Digital Alert Leaders Club, and to Ms. Darling and Ms. Arvallo for the work that they're doing with this group. Um I think what they're helping these students do not only benefits us, but will really be amazing real-world experience that they can put on their resume for whatever they want to do next. So wanted to share that with you tonight. And then well, if you have social media, go be followed. Yeah, so at this yeah, at this point why

076don't we take any questions that the committee has about um that report? Um parents who requested that their children not be or do you have policies for that? I mean, so this sounds exciting, but it you know, I see a lot of videos and I want to be sure that any student who appears in a video we have We do. Okay. >> Yep. Um The group has the list of all students who are Um it's a do not publish list. Okay. And so that is guiding all of that. Uh when you announce these things, can you also include that in your communications? Yes. >> For parents to say, you know, as a reminder, if you would, you know, like to specify your child not be included in these things, just to include that in any

077positive announcement we have, new things, let's also make it clear that they can So at the beginning of the year, everyone signed that form. It's It's specific as to what they do and they don't want. And so, we Yeah, we follow that to the T. Good. Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. I was I was wet blanket and said the same thing, but now I don't have to. So, uh there's more There's more opportunities. So, yeah. So, uh I'll just I'll just second the on the just be clear on the communication line because this is a a new initiative, it might be good to remind people that hey, look, of course we're going to honor your requests. Uh if you if you go down on this, so um one thing I'd like to just uh underscore Trips

078Marketplace. I think that is a phenomenal uh opportunity, and I'd love to see us you know, lean into that, do more of those things because honestly as I'm thinking about the way the world is going to be in 5, 10, 20 years with the advent of AI, I think entrepreneurship is going to be a bigger role for everyone. And to teach that value to our kids early on, I think is is is really important. Um and I think it's probably more important now than it was, you know, when when I was growing up. So, you know, I'd love to I'd love for them to um maybe Ms. Wise to come to the committee and talk to us about the Trips program and all that and so. I will I will see if I can get

079who? Um Or Or just No, at the end of the year. At at at any point or or um you know, or or the kids who participated or or maybe see some of their ideas. I think that'd be uh uh I don't disagree. I just I'm thinking about her and her schedule. And it's right. I would I'll see if she does. Absolutely. And with some students. Any other comments from committee members? I'll just say thank you for that report. And again, I just feel like we're getting loads and loads of this authentic learning where student voice, student vision is actually being brought into the real world. Um I think it's not existing in the vacuum of a classroom or being done as an exercise that really has meaning, which I know is just an exceptional

080way to learn. So, thank you. Great. And so, I'd like to invite Miss Wilcox Hi. Hi. So, we have to introduce you to Dr. Beth Wilcox this evening. So, as you know, in February, we began a thorough and thoughtful search process for a new assistant superintendent because Dr. Scallions has chosen to retire. And so, that search process yielded 38 applicants. From that 38, we elected to bring 11 in for first-round interviews, and three finalists emerged from that 11. We held finalist days for those three candidates. That included public forums and opportunities for feedback from students, staff, leadership, and community members. Based on those experiences, stakeholder feedback, reference checks, and more, I'm excited to recommend Dr. Wilcox to you for appointment and a vote for her to be the next assistant superintendent of the Cohasset Public

081Schools. Dr. Wilcox joins us from having been the assistant superintendent at the Duxbury Public Schools for the last 5 years and the principal of the Foster School in Hingham for 4 years prior to that. Dr. Wilcox has also served as an elementary principal, assistant principal, reading teacher, Title 1 coordinator, and classroom teacher over the course of her time at the Whitman-Hanson School District. Those who participated in the forum shared consistently positive impressions of Beth, noting her strong experience in similar school communities, her deep knowledge of curriculum and instruction, and her readiness to step into the role with both confidence and competence. Across all stakeholder groups, she was described as thoughtful, intelligent, and well-spoken with a calm and steady presence. Students appreciated her genuine interest and perspective, noting that they she got them to talk so

082much that they didn't get to hear enough time. Um in her ability to connect in personable and engaging ways. Many also noted her broad range of experiences as both an educator and administrator along with her ability to listen carefully and respond with an intention and care. As assistant superintendent, Dr. Wilcox will oversee teaching and learning, curriculum development, professional practice, and key district initiatives. Her experience, perspective, and commitment to students and educators are well aligned with our values, our strategic priorities, and most importantly, our commitment to placing students first. Since her finalist days, I've had multiple opportunities to speak with Dr. Wilcox, and I'm very much looking forward to hopefully working with her. In collaborations with Chair Lusty, our legal counsel, and Dr. Wilcox, we are at a point where we can have a finalized contract,

083positioning us well for a smooth leadership transition with Dr. Fallon's and myself this summer. So, given all of that, I am recommending Dr. Beth Wilcox for being her appointment and vote as the next assistant superintendent of the Cohasset Public Schools. I'm confident in her leadership experience and steady presence will serve our community well in the years to come. Thank you, Dr. Shannon. Thank you, Dr. Wilcox, for being here. Um do we have any questions or comments from the committee before um we see if there's a motion on the floor. Do you want to say anything? I appreciate you having me here. Now, yes, thank you for having me. Um I appreciate the opportunity to serve and work in the Cohasset school community. It was great to get to know the community a little bit during

084the day. Getting to talk to the kids was certainly one of my favorite parts and certainly the I agree with the values and the work that is being done do align with my values and I am looking forward to hopefully being part of that work and and continue to be Thank you. Any further questions or Yes. Justin Duxbury and Duxbury's gone through some I think Duxbury's a few years ahead of us in the financial experience if you will. So I look forward to talking to you about lessons learned when it comes to narration or communication and those sorts of things. I think that's something that we are we've publicly stated this before that this is a a process that we have to start grabbing by the horns and living it I think is probably a

085good experience and I look forward to hearing more about it and how we can as a committee you know set ourselves up for success. Yes, it certainly while the focus is teaching learning of the assistant superintendent's position it is clear that every decision that we make is student centered and students first and has budget implications. So I think it is important to keep that in mind when we're making decisions as we move forward being thoughtful about priorities, students and the understanding of the budget implications. Okay, seeing no further comment. Can I have a motion to approve Dr. Dr. Beth Willcox as our next assistant superintendent? So moved. Have a second? Thank you. Moved by Mr. McLellan, seconded by Mr. Evans. Mr. Dial. Aye. Mr. Evans. >> Aye. Mr. Squatriro. Aye. Mr. McLellan. Aye. Jarmolowsky, enthusiastic

086aye. I was sat on that committee and I'm very pleased that you are here in this seat tonight and and well, soon to be part of the Cohasset community. So, welcome. Thank you. I look forward to working with you. Congratulations. You're more than free to stay or go whenever you so choose. A lot of these. Yeah. Right. We will now move into our teaching and learning block with Dr. Leslie Scollins. Um so, first on the docket is that we are shifting the before and after school program to be run by the district. Um and there have been some shifts in the requirements for the before and after school programs through the state. And those changes um would mean that the Rec Department would have to get their licensing through the Massachusetts Department of Early Education

087and Care, which just isn't something that they're um ready to do at this point. And so, um so, we want to take that program over as the district. But, in order to do that we have to reapply cuz now we will be the sole people. Um and so, I need your approval in order to fill out that form online to get that going so that we can move forward. So, um so, that's really what I'm looking for from you comfortable today. Um just giving me uh the okay to go ahead and fill out that application. Are there any um operational procedural or other or budgetary implications of us taking this from the Rec Department? Um I think I think it's actually going to benefit us financially because we'll be doing doing all of it and

088so any of the funding that is surplus will go right to us. the district. Does it Does it operate at at a surplus now? It does. Okay. So So no budget impact operationally we get Everything will be it'll self-run. Okay. Um to to your point >> difference will be that cuz it's our staff members currently who are running it. Um but and we actually pay everybody out of the schools. Oh so we pay for it anyway? Do we pay for it anyway? They make deposits in which ends up being for it. The biggest difference is they now are doing some of the um the day-to-day the word I'm looking for. Well so like the day-to-day activities so collecting the money one of the schedules, registration, all those kinds of things. So we'll be taking those

089in-house now. Okay. Yeah. And And just I don't know if you know but I guess what was the history as to why it was originally sponsored by the wreck department as opposed to by the school? So it was I think a long long time ago the wreck department did it was was for whatever reason that ended Champions was here. Then um when Dr. Sullivan got here I think there was this um decision to try and rebuild that and so it went back to how it was and so the goal was to then use the wreck department um because the wreck department itself can't run it um unless they have some certain things. And we're like, "Well this would be a wonderful thing to have." But now where the rates have changed a bit, they really

090need to have their license for them to So that was kind of the reason to move away from it. And it don't just to make it clear it's outside the budget. Um so it's like a revolving account. So that was my question. Are we going to set up a new revolving account to bring the funds in? >> We have the revolving account now. Oh we do? Right but it will be because it'll be ours. You guys are going to We pay all the salaries. And then give us the money that they collect for the Oh, so so so it's hopping multiple steps down. >> Yes. Now it's just hopping multiple Town hall takes the money and then transfers over to the publishing. Okay, so so we will have a place to put >> self-funding. Yes,

091okay. Wonderful. Will we any Will or will there be any projected changes? I know it's It's kind of uniquely structured program, so anything that parents should be aware about at this point right now or what is to come? I'd say more to come. >> Okay. All right, thank you. All right, any other comments? You? While we are thinking about scheduling, I did have a neighbor with very young children say, "What are the hours?" And I think parents of those younger children are looking for hours, so I if that are earlier in the morning so that parents with who have to get to work can do so. So if that's if we're able to accommodate that or at least consider that in the planning, I think that would be um helpful to at least one family

092in Class A. And I'm guessing many others. So I guess on a on a point of order, has what specific motion or you mean committee? That you're going to approve that I can actually make the application to the state. I need to put in that you have given your okay and I can put the date in. Okay. So the motion to authorize assistant superintendent to proceed as requested. Second. Aye. Mr. Dial? Aye. Mr. Evans? Mr. Squatrito? Mr. McLellan? Aye. Jen Lesky, aye. Thank you, Dr. Skolnick. I think that will be a maybe it sounds like there will be some economies there that will work for us, just more efficient and potentially revenue building. Thursday. And then the other item I just want to share with you, you have it in your packet, but um we

093were in the process of our title one monitoring that happens, um, and it's a six-year cycle and it's a federal program program review in conjunction with other state reviews and it aims to ensure that all children in Massachusetts have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education. The review provides evidence that that federal programs focus on improving student academic achievement, which is what title one and title two, uh, four and title three, um, are um they ensure that districts are operating in accordance with statutory and regulatory requirements. In addition, the review is a means of ensuring school districts are using resources appropriately. And finally, by informing Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education of local activities in the program review, allows the state to identify both effective delivery models and technical assistance

094needs and to share promising practices. And so, um, we were in that process. They, um, let us know last year that we would be in that and it's in conjunction with, um, the work that Mr. Stapleton was doing in his, um, monitoring also. And so, um, we were fortunate to get this letter that says, um, we are good. And so, I was really happy to see that because I'm not really sure when you're doing it and submitting them, um, and there's multiple things that we have to submit. Look at page, um, three. This is my favorite page because it says yes all the way down and so there's no corrective actions. Um, and so it shows that our programming is, um, up to par with what the federal and state regulations are and that we're

095doing our job and meeting the needs of our students. So, I was really happy about that. You really don't know until you get the delivery. Right, right, Mr. Stapleton? We do our best. Uh, so yes, it was wonderful. So, anyway, I just want to share that good news. It's always nice. So, we don't worry about it for another six years. Thank you, Dr. Spellings. Thank you. You left one thing, right? Um, are there any questioners helped out? Are there questions or comments from the committee on the um title and report? Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. Yes. I just pulled it all together for them. It's it's it's a lot of work for everyone and I'm glad it had such a happy um result. Um Mr. Stapleton. Student services report. >> Please. Hi everyone. Thank

096you for having me not on the first school committee of the month, mid mid-month here today. >> Yes. Um but I have two updates. The first is my standard data update from March. Um as you can see there, March was a very busy month in the office of student services and special education. There were 59 total meetings held during the month of March. At the elementary level, there were 18 annual reviews. There were nine reevaluations. There were seven initial evaluations. All seven of those came from family requests. And as you can see there, only one of those um were found eligible, the other six were found not eligible. Um there were four class of resident evaluations and then one independent evaluation. The secondary level, there were eight annual reviews, six reevaluations, three initial evals. Um

097two came from families, one came from MTSS. And the one student who was found eligible, that did come from a parent request. And then as the out-of-district coordinator, I um held seven annual review meetings. So we had a number of you know, number of meetings. It was quite a busy month. Um which is my, you know, standard update, but I'm really excited um to talk a little bit about specialized writing tonight here. Um so we have Marie Boris and Lauren Flynn, two of our elementary special education teachers. And last year, through all the work that was done as we were applying for um we're really looking at um building the proficiency gap for students with um special needs on statewide assessments, specifically for ELA, you know, reading and writing. An initiative that uh was really

098spearheaded by our elementary staff was looking at, you know, what is specialized writing? Um and as students who require this through their IEPs, and so Lauren and Mairead are here today to talk about some of the consistency that we have at the Deer Hill school for teaching writing um, to students that are on IEPs. Um, talking about different structures or teams that they have, and then how we're really aligning that at that level to make things consistent for our students. So, I I was excited to have, you know, people join me for these presentations, so I'll turn it over um, to Mairead and Lauren um, for the presentation. Thank you. Uh, I'm Mairead Borris, I'm the fifth grade special ed teacher at Deer Hill. And I'm Lauren Flynn, I'm the fourth grade special education teacher

099at Deer Hill. Um, and so last year I was here um, with Karen Johnson, a classroom teacher, and we started our um, work with really looking at it executive functioning skills and test-taking strategies, and then that transitioned over into um, really looking more into our specialized writing instruction. Um, so just specialized writing in well, writing in general general really can be simplified over simplified to kind of two categories. So, we have those transcription skills, you're thinking letter formation, uh, punctuation, spelling, but then we also have the actual composition and then writing. So, looking at those word choices, the evidence, your ideas, the organization, and when we have those two um, in conjunction with each other, that really it creates the writing proficiency. Um, so then when we think about, you know, specialized writing instruction for

100our students with different learning profiles, um, different disability categories, and then what we're targeting in our specialized writing instruction, they kind of fall into these four buckets. Uh, so the first one really is that executive functioning piece. So, the working memory, the processing, um, the breaking things down into more manageable parts, and that attention piece. So, we have direct instruction in that as part of our writing instruction. That also socioemotional regulation, so that motivation, goal setting, planning. Um, writing is one of those tricky things where there's not always a definitive end, and sometimes it can feel extremely daunting when we think about the start to the end of the process. Um, so how are we um, encouraging our students to self-advocate and process through that writing the writing process? Um, then we have the writing

101process that which we typically think about, so breaking down the prompt, um, looking at our idea generation, what are we going to write about, uh, organizing our ideas, organizing our evidence, and then the actual writing. Uh, but also a huge component of writing, especially as, you know, Lauren and I have worked been working up in the upper elementary and as we get into middle school and high school, is we do a lot of writing about our reading. So, thinking about how the our understanding of language, how our reading, um, impacts our writing, the topic knowledge, and then we have, um, you know, handwriting, spelling, phonology, um, and then really that higher-order, um, thinking. So, taking all of, uh, what you've gathered together and really synthesizing it in that analysis piece. So, when we're thinking about

102specialized writing instruction, um, you know, it's not just writing a paragraph, but there's a lot of things that are woven into that. Um, and so for our goal, as we've been collaborating more, uh, laterally, um, and across other service related service providers, is really how can we, um, effectively implement our specialized writing instruction? And with that is really to have as many authentic opportunities, um, for students to engage in the writing process rather than just having those sole isolated lessons. Um, so, what we've been working on is really that explicit, um, instruction, working on self-regulated strategies development, which we'll talk about a little bit in some of our tools that we're using with our students. Um, really looking at that genre-specific lens, um, so that students are understanding the difference between expository and narrative writing.

103Really taking a multi-sensory approach. I think multi-sensory reading is the thing that, you know, as a community we've gained a lot of knowledge on, but how can we translate that also to our specialized writing? Um, and then really working on, uh, those metacognition skills, so thinking about our thinking, um and thinking about our writing process, and um the progression through each step of it. Okay, so when we think about the writing process, to develop that like writing proficien- proficiency that Bri was talking about, we really need to address each part of the writing process. So, that involves the planning, the organizing, the writing, and then as well as editing and revising. So, I feel like when I think of writing, I think of the kid actually writing or typing, but there's all of these other

104steps that go into it that we need to explicitly give these students um instruction on, as well as give them the scaffolds. And our goal with that is that they'll eventually have um their own independence and application of it um on their own. And so, within this framework, there's mnemonic devices that help these students with retrieval. This is one of my favorite parts of this framework is that the kids have these mnemonic devices that help them throughout different stages in the process. So, in the planning stages, the mnemonic devices help them with um the graphic organizers, which Bri will talk about. And then with the editing and revising part of the process, they have um mnemonic devices for that as well. So, that's really going to help our students who have those um executive functioning

105difficulties, they just have like one spot for everything. So, it's one of my favorite parts of that. Um and then one of the things we've really worked on, too, is pulling apart the prompt. I think often times, no matter um what the student profile is, there's always someone who sits down and says, "I don't know what to do." So, how can we um really increase that task initiation? So, we've been looking at targeted um verbs and vocabulary. So, identifying those verbs and what those the verbs are connected to. So, explain the difference between or compare and contrast uh the characters' emotions. So, pulling apart the prompt, and then we're doing it in a way where we almost make a T-chart, so that the students then end up making their own checklist. So not only are

106they breaking things down for their understanding because sometimes as we get older those problems can be a lot more lofty and have a lot of words that you have to tease out. But then they have something that they can go back and make sure that they have have completed each component of the writing. Then they go into picking their ideas and their evidence. They can do this with annotating. All these different ways to do that, highlighting, underlining, circling, dots, whatever the student is most comfortable with and how their brain works. And then the organization of it depending on the text structure they can paragraph, Venn diagram, boxes and bullets for about main idea and detail. And those are all strategies that we as educators are explicitly teaching them to again help them be more independent.

107Next slide. Another thing that we've really been focusing on this year and that we've been planning laterally is the consistent use of a graphic organizer. So there's so many fantastic graphic organizers out there each have different functions but really picking one for expository writing. So for what we've been working on we've been using tide which stands for topic, important information, detailed examination and ending. And then at the middle school and high school they transition it to CER. So having that fluid transitioning of consistency for expository and then we've we've been using C-space for our narrative writing rather than beginning, middle and end. And we've also been using a summarizing framework the gist which helps students really pull apart what they've read and summarize it kind of within 10 words or less and we've also been

108embedding grammar in there. So this what the sentence looks like when you move around the prepositional phrase and and things like that. But for those for students keeping the consistent graphic organizer really helps them because then it's one less thing to think about. What is C E R? Claim, evidence, reasoning. C E R. Oh, yes. Um and then of course there's flexible options for their written output. Doesn't always have to be handwritten. We know a lot of students that benefit from speech to text or typing. Again, all students learn differently. They show their learning in different ways. So we honor that. Well, something. Um another thing we've been doing is um color coding for revising. When we think about the science of writing and we think about evidence-based practices, uh revising to tends to show

109us a higher indication of whether students understanding the text structure that they're writing and how they're writing. Um and so really color coding it, making sure they have all the parts. How can we move things around? What is my writing missing? What uh do I need to add or substitute? Um so using a lot of color coding techniques and a lot of um peer editing with that as well. And then the additional accommodations, we see a lot of these on They're really helpful with um writing instruction. So or brainstorming, when students want to talk their ideas out loud rather than writing down. Word banks that target the academic vocabulary they're using, sentence starters, and then having a visual model of the end product so they have something to kind of work toward and look at.

110Um so just to add on to this year, um not only have, you know, Lauren and I been working laterally to make sure that what she's doing at fourth grade and I'm able to transfer that over to fifth grade, but we've also been collaborating with our ESPs to um explain to them how to use some of these um strategies in the process of that so that when they're they're in the classroom or outside, um being pulled out for specialized instruction, everything is consistent. And then um we think we have some examples. So the it's a little small, but um on this slide we have some examples of using some of those acronyms. So for us the mnemonic device POWER, um we've been using that to break apart the writing process. Um and then there is

111a do what chart in there pulling apart um a sample MCAS prompt that we were doing. So, these are some of the uh planning pieces. And then there's a gist framework um on the bottom right for that summarizing piece. So, this is really that planning piece in action, picking their ideas um before they begin to organize them into their graphic organizers. And then if you want to next slide. And so, these are just some student work samples um of fourth and fifth grade students. These are all students names blurred, but um that received specialized writing instruction. And these are some of the outputs after um implementing these strategies and having that small group instruction. So, you can see there's three that were snipped from Google Classroom um that are text uh based responses. And then

112there's two on the left where we're doing that color-coding and analyzing, do I have all the parts? So, kind of goes from green to red. You have your topic sentence, you have your evidence, um do you have your analysis, and then your conclusion. Uh and I do have It's not on the slides um today, but I do have some anecdotes from We did some student interviews um that I'd like to share. I don't know if you want to read one of them. >> I'll read the first one. So, the student said, "TIDE so that graphic organizer helps organize my writing. It is really easy to use and can help to make writing fun and easy. In my opinion, TIDE is my number one writing template for questions." Um and then we have another one. It

113says, "I think TIDE is very helpful. I think it's a very helpful and quick way to organize a piece of writing. And I feel confident when I'm planning a piece of writing. It is my go-to planning format." Um and then just to share, you know, another success. We had um MCAS the other week and um students have all day to complete it. And there were a a students who tend to take all day um that finished a little early and they were so excited and shared you know I I planned my writing I had it done I didn't take all day and there's you know the different prompts we have to read at the end and they're like I can't wait to hear the prompt at the end where you tell me I'm finished I

114can submit. So just thinking about you know and past is one little snippet of our day but it is something that is truly independent so seeing some and having that it goes to show they're feeling successful with what we're doing in this small moment of instruction and in the classroom then transferring it independently. And I think too just this work has been great and I'm proud of like the work that's being done because it was an area that we need some more consistency in when we think about like specialized reading instruction obviously there are other specialized programs like the Wilson reading program or in Bellingham this framework really provides that consistency and that can be used in fourth and fifth grade and we can see documented progress and improvement with multiple writing samples this spring

115and also the fact that the specialized teachers are taking the initiative to to train some of the power professionals and the ESPs that are helping implement in the classroom when they're not always present has been huge too for my professional development standpoint. For those ESPs and you know Marie did present at our teacher led PD day back in December and some of the middle school staff have adopted this too so we think about that vertical alignment of tools that are used and especially when you know writing is such as such a challenge for some of our students with specific learning disabilities for example or even how we think about the executive function component that goes into writing that they have also talked about tonight. I think that this framework and these strategies have been you

116know super helpful for our kids and we'll continue to grow it out more and adapt it as well and moving forward. I appreciate you guys coming to share on that tonight and for the hard work too. Any questions for Marie or Lauren? We're happy to Questions from the committee? Mr. McCollum? Um thank you Madam Chair. So first of all thank you both. You instill a lot of confidence you clearly love what you do and support our students so well. I I to me so teaching our students how to effectively communicate with the written word is probably the most important thing that that the most important skill we can deliver to them I think throughout the course of their their education. So this is um it's first of all it was a lot like I that's

117it's it's it's um really robust program >> that you're bringing there's a lot of thought put into it. Um it makes me feel really good about the extra supports that our students are getting. I wonder So these organizational tools and writing resources seem to be I feel like they would be generally helpful though not just for special education students but also are we are we sort of introducing similar concept concepts of the general education level as well we're using the same I would imagine we're using the same tools or You want to start it off? >> And this question is directed to anyone who knows so I'm not I was doing something I want to put anyone on the spot but Right so we this has always been a focus for us right whatever the

118thing that we're looking on at and there are as was stated there are lots of different organizers that students can use and so we have really thought about the fact of just using just a few or one or two organizers cuz otherwise if there's a plethora then kids are like it's just too much. Um and so certainly using that I think the fact that they have brought this to us and looking at it from a specialized instruction but certainly any student can use it right but when we're targeting students that are really struggling it's it's um a very positive strategy to use for kids the code the color coding the um you know the mnemonic devices and all those pieces so um it's not that anyone can't use them right now I think there are

119classrooms that are using them, especially co-taught classrooms. So, we you know, we've just been piloting it all, this particular piece, um to see what it looks like. Yeah. Michael, do you want to add to that? >> Yeah, so I guess Right. Like this is this a framework for like four specialized instructions. So, we think about like within an IEP of a student requires specialized writing instruction, we're talking about like those different pieces when it's like that multi-sensory component. It's direct and it's explicit, right? So, the specialized teachers are directly and explicitly teaching students with disabilities how to use these graphic organizers um in a way that's different from a regular education student. Um and so that is like the the key difference why it's not just available to everyone, um but it's really identified based

120on student need and then how it's delivered in the methodology and the delivery of that instruction. Yeah, we have brought it into our co-teaching classrooms, um but we've we've introduced it to, you know, the general education classrooms, but then when we think about our um specialized you know, small groups in the classroom or pull out, um it's a lot more in-depth into level that we're um bringing it to those students. But I'm sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. Go ahead. Go ahead. We are, you know, we have introduced it to um students that aren't necessarily on an IEP or a 504 that aren't that are just in the general education classroom. Okay, and I'm not suggesting it should be I'm just I was curious cuz it seems like something it could be generally helpful. It

121is. Absolutely it is. I went into the observation with the reading specialist in a fourth grade class and they were doing the gist. And so, um it was nice to see how it everyone had access. And depending on the students' needs, you could see how how much they depends on the I got it. Right. So, cuz it's what you're speaking about, some students really need more explicit and direct instruction around it. So, Dr. Scoggins mentioned that you're piloting this. Is this just something you've been recently using like this year with the special education students? I've always been using a variation of this, uh and then I took a training over the summer that really, you know, kind of wrapped it up into um more of a concise uh format. So, then I started to using

122the strategies uh and the practices more explicitly. And then we've been working together uh and sharing it with all the other special education teachers um as well as the reading specialists um and then some of the related service providers that also work on similar goals. So, like occupational therapy does the piece of writing um and then when we think about the comprehension piece with um like speech and language pathologist how they might incorporate these strategies. Um And you both feel that it's very beneficial. Yes. I think the level of student independence um and confidence that they have in this process and their ability to walk that step to the writing process has just increased tremendously. Um I think I've only been a class teacher for 3 years of teaching for 7, but so far this

123is in terms of specialized instruction, this is um the most confident I feel in my students' production of writing. Ms. Glenn, do you agree with that? >> Yeah, I was going to say I'll add on to that. I feel like before like I came to Marie cuz she was using this and I was like, "Please like teach me because I feel like when I would sit down with the kids to do a piece of writing, I had graphic organizers, I had the Oreo, I had the you know, all those things that I've been using, but this like gives these students the confidence and instead of just sitting down and getting a prompt like I feel like I used to always hear like, "Okay, I don't know what to write." And so, this gives them what

124I mean, we teach them like the strategies and now they know at least I need my tide, I need my sea space. So, it's really helping their confidence. Yeah, I think for us is that the consistency is like is the key, yeah. Uh the consistency which is leads to the transfer which leads to the independence and the confidence. Um and that has been a big uh help cuz before, you know, we were teaching a lesson about opinion writing, we were teaching another lesson, they the students are now seeing the connection between all the different types of writing, seeing more of the connection between the writing process. So, I think that's really helped. Okay. Um, and then the student examples that you showed in the slide, were those the products of uh all in-school work or

125or did that reflect any at-homework? That was all in the classroom. >> So, no parent involvement in that. >> No parent involvement, no tutor. Um, actually, not really even myself. Um, that those were independent writing samples. From students that have learning differences. Yes. So, um, so this is really impressive. Our student services department has come such a long way, and I'm not trying to say that to besmirch anyone in the past. I'm just saying it's just like this is really encouraging, and I'm so appreciative of what you just shared with us and what you're doing for the kids. You demonstrate a mastery of this even just after that the single training that you you had. Both of you do, and I'm really appreciative of it. So, thank you for sharing. This is a really interesting

126presentation. Thanks for sharing. And obviously, I always but I always um sort of um pair these positive statements with the fact that I know that there are probably families who are still struggling despite these things and that we're going to continue to try and address their needs as well and that to always reach out to either their special education teachers or our director of student services if you feel your student is still struggling, but this is certainly something that's very encouraging. This is a really informative um inspiring presentation. Thanks a lot for what you're doing. I will just add my thanks. Um, as I was listening, Mr. Stapleton, your last little summary of comments about aligning across school buildings, lining across classrooms, the initiative that the two of you took to bring on um your

127colleagues of, you know, all natures so that there's consistency. I think that's so incredibly important for building confidence in the students that they know no no matter where they're sitting down in Deer Hill, they're going to be able to find the tools that they need and that they're familiar with and I think that's a huge gift to give to those students. And I also want to commend you because teaching writing is such an amorphous thing. It is really hard to do and it and kids do have emotional feelings about I have nothing to write I have nothing to say you want me to then erase things that I already wrote like this is this is a hard hard topic to teach in the upper elementary years and so the way in which you're approaching it

128with a really sort of logical straightforward approach is wonderful. So thank you for that. It's it's really exceptional. All right. Madam Chair I just know Thank you for being here tonight. I I know that you too like our students who present have things that you could be probably correcting doing planning or laundry whatever it is you do on your Wednesday night. So thank you for being here tonight. Just to just sort of point of information our CPAC representatives couldn't who usually who usually appear in tandem with Mr. Stapleton, they could not be here in person. They're here virtually. So if anyone had a question CPAC related, they're willing to field those. I'm just letting everyone know. Okay. You see that they are still online so there are any CPAC questions I'm sure we can take

129care of that. All right. Thank you both for being here tonight. Thanks. Nice job. Thanks. All right and and thank you Mr. Stapleton. We will move on to budget resources and governance starting with our monthly update. Um from Ms. Owen. Thank you. >> Okay. Um Good evening. This is the um financial summary and budget outlook for um through the end of March. And you can see um our actual expenditures are approximately 16,229 thousand and 16 million 229,704 dollars. I wish it was 16,000. Um we have encumbrances of about eight 8,749,000, um which also includes our salaries. Um so we're totally committed at about 24,000 24,950 um 157 dollars. Um budget utilization to date is 99.99%, so we are holding the line very closely. Um uncommitted balance or the available balance right now is 1,039 dollars.

130Um that number is definitely going to change. It can go up, it can go down. Um we're closely watching. So we're currently conducting um a comprehensive review of all of our outstanding purchase orders um to assess the continuing necessity and alignment with our other our other current operational needs. Um where obligations are deemed no longer required, we can close the PO, liquidate those encumbrances, which will free up some funding um and give us uh and additional uncommitted balances. Um the the the big um difference may be in utilities now that we knock on wood are hopefully through um the worst part of our winter in our in our old month. Um after we get probably February's February's utilities paid, um we can reassess our encumbrances on our purchase orders and hopefully free up some more

131money to be available for the continuation of the school year. Athletics, we as you know, we started with a negative $150,000. We are now in a positive balance of $12,097 as we have begun begun collecting spring sports. Fees, so that number will continue to grow. And roll into the next year in a positive balance. So in in summary, any any projected shortfalls will be addressed through our tree interest from available revolving funds including the kindergarten, the transportation, the facilities rentals in addition to any salary savings that we may see. At present, we have approximately $55,460 in dollars in salary savings that that's also available to help offset any potential deficits that we may see. But pretty confident that we will see um some money float to the top as you The way I look at

132it will float to the top when we close out some of our utility purchase orders cuz we we've estimated based on last year's usage and we've estimated pretty high. I've projected pretty high so I'm hoping to see some things in those areas as well. You you said if February bills haven't been paid, have we received them or do we already know what they are? What's the status of the February utility bills? Still, they come when February closes out. We don't usually get them till the middle end of March and then they get put on a warrant. So they're probably not either on the current warrant coming up or about to be. But do we know what those are? Um I I'm sure we have them. I don't know what the numbers are. That That's the

133month I'm worried about is February. And then secondly, um you know, this is on the other town side is plowing costs. Is that Who handles what? Is that in the budget at all? >> It doesn't We don't get it. Okay, so that's not an It hits us. Okay, that's That's great cuz that's a big unexpected cost that would be really hurt us this year. Okay, um that's uh Thank goodness. Okay. Thank you. Uh the only other thing I would I would just put a plug out there that anyone anyone interested in being a bus driver um we um and thank you for the patience of the community and the families. Um we are definitely short on bus drivers, so we have been having to double up some routes and I wanted to just thank everyone

134for their patience. It seems to be going somewhat smoothly. I know it's an inconvenience. Um we're making it work. Um and we're we're advertising. We've been advertising. It's probably not the best time of the year to be um bringing in a new bus driver. Um I guess they don't usually work in the summer, so I'm hopeful that we'll be fully staffed and then some for the fall. And I did raise your idea with Kim and she was going to start looking into it and talking to surrounding towns. Great. Yeah, if we had an an IMA with three towns, we had the three bus drivers that cancel. Great. Well, awesome. And the um current bus driver situation that we We had one of these a while back and that seemed to be a days in the

135life statewide issue. No one could find anyone to drive buses. Is this one just We've had a concur confluence of circumstances with our bus drivers leaving or is this, you know, indicative that there's not enough bus drivers statewide or is this It's It is statewide again. Um cuz typically we can reach out to Scituate or Hingham um or plus student um and borrow their spare drivers or their sub drivers and there aren't any. There aren't >> So, does it Does this suggest that bus drivers aren't getting compensated enough? Like I guess what's the what's the solution to this Right. That's Um that's a good question. It's a good question. I I know, you know, for like a from from Medco, um I know they lost 15 or 17 Boston drivers um due to changes in

136the laws um for bus driving and CDLs. Um we we lost one of our own. Um They're not granting They're not granting CDLs or bus driver licenses for um illegal immigrants or question to illegal legal immigrants. Um So, we've lost one. Um and when we talked to um Boston and the Medco program, they lost like 17. Um so, it's it's hitting statewide. We're trying to be creative, but CDLs are state licenses or are they federally run? They're state. States still have a I think it there's different statuses which were acting impacted and others, you know. Thank you. You're welcome. Any other questions for Ms. Owen at this point on the monthly budget? Okay. Shall we move on to capital? Yes, thank you. So, I just wanted to post move on capital. So, these were our

137capital requests. Um the capital board actually approved all except for the football upgrades. So, that was great news. And so, that work will all either move forward or ordering will happen as of July 1st. Um there is one addition in here. Earlier in budgets we had requested approximately $46,000 for um laptop device replacement as part of our laptop device cycle replacement cycle. Um that was part of the operating budget. We actually requested through capital for that to be covered which opened up more space in the operating budget which then benefited the schools. And so they approved that as well which was really So we're grateful to them for that and for approving all of our other requests. So we did want to just share that information back with you. That's great. So really good news.

138Yeah, that's that's a big portion of the total capital fund. That's wonderful. That's really great news is given particularly all that we've been working through this year. Are there any other comments from the committee on that? >> I just mentioned that that demonstrates that the town is very much working with and supporting our school district not working against it Yes. or trying to shortchange us in any way. I that's I don't think I've seen that since I've been on the committee that level of support. Uh so in 7 years I haven't seen that which I think is not only a testament to the collaboration between entities but also I think to our district leadership that has been you know really involved in the the budgeting process and I think has established some really good relationships

139working relationships with various town departments. Um specifically our superintendent of schools so um thank you for that Dr. Jen. That's that's I mean that's I've never seen that. Also, I mean in that number is hidden savings, so I think you Dr. Shannon you mentioned that the athletic bus Saturday athletic budget allowed us to get out of the $40,000 a year of fleet. So, there's you know, proper capital plans and execution leads to operational efficiencies and we're seeing this right here. So, um yeah, thanks for sitting through all the meetings. Which we need the additional bus and the multi-purpose van. Well, two buses, right? Because you have the two buses we got to Actually, we were able to save a lot of money money because otherwise we were renting out buses from other companies and other

140districts. See that savings. Both of And the Atlanta buses cuz we're going to have eight and then one and one or what what did it end up being for those schedules? Well, you've got one more year on the eight buses and then we're going to going to try to get them all together. >> All right, so it will be great. Thank you. Any other questions or comments about capital? Okay, seeing none we will move on to a public hearing and so Dr. Shannon will lead us um through that. Every year you as a school committee need to vote on if we want to be a school choice district or not. So, today is the day to engage in some conversation around that um answer any questions that you have around school choice and then in

141our next meeting in May 6th but I'm not good with dates. Um would be a vote for school choice or not. So, we have not in the past been a school choice district. School choice for anyone who isn't aware would if you vote for school choice, it would allow students and families from other districts to elect to come to Cohasset. It makes sense. >> I just I don't have a point of order before we go on. I just want to raise this question. So, this public hearing is a requirement under state law, and I think in prior years we've done it separately from the school committee meeting. Do Does that ring a bell with >> So, I had Jennifer look. She said it has been done both ways before. Um but instead of So, So,

142are we Are we okay that the public hearing can be done at this meeting? Okay, perfect. Yeah, but is this the hearing? This This is This is what needs Cuz we have Do we have to Does it fall under we have to announce open the hearing? Or is it like the other hearings that we have to do where we have to do a vote to open the hearing and then close the hearing? So, I have never seen it done in the seven years I've been in the committee. It's usually kind of like how we did the budget hearing. Yeah, that's what Um that said, I mean, I I imagine that the Look, I imagine that the And it's easy enough to do this a different way if we need to, but I imagine if we're

143posting an agenda with the public hearing, and the agenda itself has a time on it, I don't really know what the functional differences are. >> This is a hearing, so I don't Like it And this is a hearing. >> That's right. >> Posted. That's right. That's right. Which is why There is a time when it was part of our agenda. There was a time where it was requested to be separate. Um and many other districts do it this way. She was going to post a separate one for 5:45, and but nobody had been aware of that. And so, being able to have everyone be together for that. Thank you. So, yes. So, I'm fine as long as we're as long as we're comfortable that we're meeting the requirements of the law. So, okay. I'm less

144comfortable. I I mean, this is a big This has to do with, you know, again, class size and budgets and all these things. And I would like to Personally, I I guess I'm fairly agnostic about it. I want to hear more, but I do want to hear as much as possible from families who are interested about it. Because as I saw today, certain things are under-subscribed in that of people, right? So, if you know, is there a version of this where we want to have five or 10 kids in, you know, certain grade to allow us to have keep a program open or allow us to add a program. I I mean, I've I haven't had this discussion before, so my lean is let's let's open it up more. I don't want to create problems

145for us, but at the same time, I I feel like if it's 8:00 and we've been through a lot of stuff, I don't I don't really feel like we're getting we're encouraging feedback. I think there's something we can encourage more. We can move it to 5:35 before the next meeting on May 6th. Well, and I don't know how I'll offer this. In the six years I've done this or five years, maybe Greg's done the something on the five sec, whatever it is. We've done it separately. And I don't think we've ever had a attendance or a or a public comment. And we've we've, you know, gone gotten all the information. So, I mean I agree with you, it is important, and I'd love to have that, but our track record suggests that it's not a

146an issue that our community has has has resolved to engage on. And I'm happy to hear the balance of superintendent here in this presentation, but it goes like it hasn't prior years as the issue whatever I can into with the the budget is that we don't have a lot of spots and capacity to to bring it in, unless we're going to go a different direction. No, I I actually would not recommend voting for a school choice at this point because of the potential budget implications. There are times where it can support the budget, but the risk of two things. One, chapter 70 money doesn't always cover the true cost of having additional students in the district and we are already struggling with our operating budget. Also, when you open yourself up for school choice, you

147also open yourself up for all of the additional costs that can come with a student. For example, if a student through school choice enrolled in the Cohasset Public Schools and then for some reason needed an out-of-district placement, Cohasset has to cover the cost of that district placement. So, while there are potential financial benefits, I think the risk is not a risk that should be taken right now. Is this vote open to having a hearing at the next meeting? Okay. Is I I was wondering if it's it is not time-sensitive in terms of Okay. I think it's by June 1. By June 1. So, we could fit that timeline. I agree. I fully expect that it'll be the same as previous previous years, but I do I feel like the opportunity we shouldn't prejudice this year

148on previous years and we should at least have the opportunity to have it like it was encourage impact and I I fully expect that your conclusions are the right conclusions. Um I think this is more just process and being sure that you know, we we we open ourselves up to this if if if there is anybody in the community that wants to give us feedback. So, would Do we have a motion um to move this to a a future meeting? I was just looking and trying to find in the statute, but uh I I I I I mean, I don't I think it's it doesn't define hearings. I didn't even see the hearing part of it, so It's a paragraph D. Okay. I I I didn't even see it. It doesn't I mean, I just

149I just know that we do this every year and it's not the right fit for our district, but you know, I think to Mr. Evans's point, you know, if if if this posting somehow made people confused or you know, would somehow chill a voice from being shared, then I mean I don't know about the caution. We can just I mean I I I you know, I'm personally comfortable with how we're doing it, but it's also easily rectified. We can just do it at the next meeting without a problem. Um So, whatever everyone thinks. I don't have a strong view. I just want to make sure that that that had been addressed. I just didn't know if there was a somewhere a report that had a meeting with me because I think it's how we've done

150it in prior years. So, I would just move I would just move to uh re-re-convene the the meeting at a time prior to the next school committee meeting as to ensure that everyone's comfortable with the way that we're proceeding. Is that a motion on the floor? That's a motion on the floor. Is there a second? Okay. Mr. Dial? Mr. Evans? Hi. Mr. Squattrito? Mr. McLellan? Hi. Ms. Gigliotti? All right. So, we will move at that public hearing um on school choice to a future meeting before June 1, 2026. So, it will be we'll have the hearing May 6th at 9:45. Okay. Thank you. And then our vote will be at at the second meeting. Thank Okay. You want to just split it up a bit, too? This is when I'm rescheduling. Can we just You

151can >> the hearing and then the I think you can have the vote at at the meeting after the hearing. I I you know what? I will vote. Yeah. Yeah. Cuz I can't vote. I Yeah. And I think that's what we've done in the past that we had to get the hearing before the meeting. We have the meeting in the week. I think we do it both the end of the hearing or immediately at the beginning of the uh next one. Yep. We we we can do them both the same day. Fantastic. Thank you, everyone. Um community relations and communications, do we have any reports from school committee subcommittees at and or liaisons. May I it well. No reports from >> Thank you. subcommittees. All right. So, great. Foreign puppets. Okay, fantastic. Um school committee

152governance a governance we do not have any topics not reasonably anticipated by the chair. We have no minutes to approve or a reason to go into executive session. So, I will be seeking a motion to adjourn. So moved. Thank you, Mr. McLellan. A second? Second. Thank you, Mr. Dial. Um Mr. Dial. Aye. Mr. Evans. >> Aye. Mr. Squattrito. Mr. McLellan. Aye. Janliski, aye. The meeting is adjourned. Thank you, everyone, for being here. Thank you.