001Okay. Good evening everyone and welcome to the August 13th regular meeting of the Cohassid School Committee. Will all members who are present please indicate so in roll call. Mr. Dial >> present. >> Mr. Evans virtual lead. >> Miss Hannah I know is going to be absent to a family obligation. Mr. Mlen >> present >> and Miss Leky present. We have a quorum of four members. So I'll call the meeting to order. Will all those who are present and able please stand for the pledge of allegiance. >> Even Corey. >> Thank you Cy. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Just for the good of the order. Do you have a
002flag there that you were looking at? >> I was looking around the corner. >> Okay. Well, good. Good. Because that's that's where the flag is. Perfect. [gasps] >> Okay. So, as usual, we will start um with a opportunity for public comment. Um but a quick reminder that this portion of the meeting is um reserved for um topics that are not otherwise on the agenda and just for public comments. Um it is not an opportunity for debate at this point in the meeting. Um if you do have something to say, we would love to hear it and please state your full name and address before addressing the committee. Also note um if you are watching the meeting from home you can participate using the Q&A feature on Zoom and you can access this meeting using the
003Zoom link that was shared with the agenda with this meeting. Um this meeting is also streamed live on Cohasset43 TV and on Facebook via Cohasset live streaming. We'll give it a second for any public comment. We have um just an invited guest today. We'll have an opportunity later to make a public comment. Um, everyone is enjoying their summers. >> We don't see anything in the Q&A items either. So, um, we will move move on. Um, so we're actually moving straight to part C, the superintendent's report. Um, so I will turn it over to Superintendent Sarah Shannon. >> All right. Thank you and welcome back school committee. Um, we weren't together at all in July, but there was a lot that happened in July. And so, I'm going to share out a bit around what's been
004going on in the summer. But the very first thing I'd like to do is invite Mr. John Scapalleti to the table and introduce him to the community and to all of you. Um, John is our new Cohasset Middle School principal. We spent a good amount of time in at the end of June and into July um conducting a search. As people know, John Mills has left Cohasset and Cohasset Middle School and is now serving as the assistant superintendent in Carver. And while we wish him well, we also wanted to fill the big shoes that he has left. But I think we have done a really great job. Um, we had a great pool of candidates and a strong representative committee that worked over the summer to narrow the candidate pool down to six who we
005brought in and scheduled interviews for. And John rose to the top. And when we brought him in for a finalist day, he was able to meet with students, parents and caregivers, staff and leadership. and every group across the board had wonderful things to share about John. And so we are very excited that he accepted our offer. He comes to us having a breadth of experiences. Everything from having started his teaching career working as a educational support professional at the Perkins School for the Blind to being a longtime classroom teacher and of English which go English teachers. I can count myself part of that and then a department head 6 through 12 in situate and then also worked at Southshore both tech both as a teacher and as the director of curriculum and instruction. So he
006comes to us with a wealth of knowledge um all secondary experience lots of um time spent working with and leading middle school curricular and school-based initiatives. Um he has hit the ground running. He has his very first well I guess his second day he attended our leadership retreat um and has been meeting with teachers and getting to know the district and actually has started calling he's his goal is to I'll let him talk about it but his goal is to call every parent of all of the middle schoolers and is well on his way and so we're very excited to welcome you John to the community and to the district and to the middle school. >> Thank you very much. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Um I I really do feel like I
007did the lottery. Um I just feel incredibly grateful. Um I'm thrilled to be here. I'm thrilled to be a part of this leadership team. I'm thrilled to be part of the middle school community. And um I'm really excited about all the great work that um that we as a community will be able to do together. Um of course, if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer those. But, uh, as as Superintendent Shannon had mentioned, um, for me, the most exciting part so far has been talking with the parents and caregivers that I've been able to call so far. Um, and just hearing about the kids, right? I mean, that's they're the best part, obviously. That's why we're here. Um, I'm very eager for the orientation that we're going to have for sixth graders um,
008next week just to finally meet some more kids. I've met I've met a handful here and there. Um, but uh I'm really excited to welcome them in and really just to get to know and and be a part of the community and just continue to extend the great work that John Mills did and that we will continue to do uh as the Cohassid Middle School. So, thank you very much. I'm really excited to be >> Thank you. Welcome. Congratulations. Um I've had the the pleasure of meeting you several times now. Um and I think that you will be a wonderful fit for our school and we are very lucky to have you. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. >> Do any other members of the committee have other words that they would like to
009say to Mr. Scullet? >> Welcome. Um and um excited excited to have you here. Uh you will you will find out if you haven't already. I'd love your idea of outreach to all the parents. In fact, I think my uh my wife got a middle schooler myself um mentioned that she had gotten a note that says that you might actually just start randomly calling parents, which I think is is is excellent. um we have a uh a a very involved set of parents here, but we we also have some parents who um you know can profit from you know kind of pulling them in to the uh to the school community. So I definitely applaud that and I think that uh much of a successful tenure for principal here in Cohasset uh hinges on the
010ability to form relationships with the with with the parent community. So the fact that you're coming in and focusing on that I think is a real a real tailwind for you. So, uh, glad that you're you're here and, uh, look forward to what we're going to do going forward. >> Thank you. >> Congratulations and and good luck with everything. We're excited to have you. Uh, as Principal Mills said when he was outgoing, uh, to me, he said that, uh, he thought he had, uh, done a lot of, uh, great, you know, uh, foundational level work here and that he was thought it was the right time for someone to come in and build on that and he was excited to see what someone would do. And we're excited to have you and, uh, and we
011look forward to great things. uh under your tenure here as the principal middle school which is a very high performing school for our district um and as you are well aware a very unique uh sort of development time uh in childhood so it uh it does require a lot of expertise and energy and enthusiasm and uh I think that uh we believe that you were bringing all those things so good luck to you it's a pleasure to meet you thank you >> thank Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. And um you're free to hide out if you'd like. >> Stop. >> Yeah. There you go. >> Have a good night, y'all. >> Um in other updates, I want to take a moment and acknowledge and congratulate Principal Scott and all of
012the high school staff for the commendations from the New England Association of Schools and College, otherwise known as NEASK. Um in the spring the high school went through the through their dennial accredit accreditation process and they received recently the letter that awarded them continued accreditation for the next 10 years. Um the letter came in and highlighted a lot of commendations for the school. The process itself is long and intense and I want to thank and congratulate the high school staff for the work that they did this year just to make that happen. It's actually a multi-year process to make that happen. Um, and of course all of the work they do every day that led up to the accommodations and the award. Um, in the fall once we get going again, Principal Scott will come
013to the school committee and share more details about the actual process. he will share more about the accommodations and the recommendations that were made. So, we'll look forward to that. Um, and in the summer, despite what many people think, it's a busy time for us here in schools. Um, and two things that have really been going on have been facilities work and hiring. And so, want to be able to share some updates on both of those things. So, first, some building updates. The middle school and high school fire alarm system is well underway and almost done. The the not repair, we're getting a replacement of the fire alarm system. It's um expected to be mostly complete by next week when new teachers arrive on the 21st and will be fully done by the 27th when
014all of our staff returns. Um they've been working a lot of hours. they, you know, have been through the entire building and in in a few days we'll have a whole new fire alarm system that is up and running and really able to keep this building and all of the people in it safe. Wi-Fi upgrades have also been happening in all of the buildings. They're on track to be completed by next week. Um, they have been happening at all four schools and actually across the town. Um, but I'm just reporting out on the school piece. Um, what still has to happen once they complete all of those upgrades is they'll come in and they'll do heat mapping just to make sure that they're all working appropriately. Really, we need all the people to be in
015the building for that to happen just to make sure that people are connecting to the right spots. Um, as you know, we were also upgrading some of our safety systems, some cameras in the PA system at Osgood India Hill. all of those things um have been done. Um so that's great news. We also have an unanticipated project. So the central office location has a garage. It also has a lot of storage. People might recognize that from the um the Bitcoin, not Bitcoin, mining. That's that's that area. Um, and over the years that space has flooded. In July when we had those massive, massive rains, there was the worst flood that has happened there yet. Um, and while that houses a lot of storage materials, the biggest concern was it also houses all of the electrical
016supply for the entire building. Um, so Nick and Brian Joyce worked together and recognized that we can't risk having a flood in there again because if what Nick shared with me is if that ever flooded again and did impact the electrical system, the entire building would be without electrical for quite some time and we wouldn't be able to occupy the building. So with some quick work, they were able to bring in some folks to locate the problem. um and to repair the problem. If you can't have you've been if you've been out in that parking lot area, you will see that the majority of the work is almost done. I think all that's left is to repair the road a little bit. Um but we are greatly appreciative of how quickly they attended to that
017issue. um Nick, Brian Joyce, Michelle Liry, and Chris Senior. It was about a $70,000 fix, and there was a recognition that those funds needed to be allocated swiftly um to address that emergency repair. So, we're grateful to all of them. Um, additionally, work has been continuing with the Ozgood roof. Um, our OPM and design team have been working hard this summer to complete the schematic design process and the engineering study. They submitted um the schematic design to the MSBA in July. Since their submission, we met with the MSBA to review costs in the total project budget. The total estimated cost of the roof project is not to exceed 5,858,000. This includes contingency costs. Um the MSBA has determined their reimbursement rate will be at 32.46%. which means that their grant will be about $1.9 million
018and the cost to the district will be just under $4 million at a maximum. Um, we're going to be attending the next MSBA board meeting which will accept the schematic design and support that total funding, the total project budget. Um and then once that board meeting happens, we can start to move on with the next steps in the process, which will include allocating of funds, which will happen at the special town meeting. Um it will include starting to build out in detailed construction documents, hiring of contractor, and eventually the work. The work is not expected to be done until the summer of 2026. Um and the majority of the funds can be supported with the school facility capitaliz capital stabilization fund. Know when talking with Chris he may because there are other building projects happening
019in the town he may look at you know other ways but we know that the funds are available. Um and so that's something that we'll continue to work with him on leading up until the um special town meeting in November. >> Would you like to pause here? It looks like Mr. Evans has um a comment. Sure. >> And I'm wondering if we'll take it now. >> Sure. Yeah, this is absolutely my lane. Other things not so much, but this definitely is. So, a couple questions for you. the repair costs for the um utility room. Do we know um where how those are being funded right now? And then should we be expecting some sort of uh adjustment transfer or will the school committee need to do a capital request for that repair going forward? >>
020Nope. From what I understand, they just the town has allocated the repair costs. Um, so they got approval, emergency approval to do that and we're going through advisory to get that done. >> Okay. So it's coming out of the advisory fund. Gotcha. That was that was the question. Okay. But usually we have to >> there has to be advisory has to get retopped off, right? If we if we tap that, that's really the only way we can tap money without going through a a town meeting cycle. Uh the advisory reserve fund, but then it has to get topped off later. So, something to follow up on just to be sure we don't have, you know, we're not counting money that's already incumbented or expended if we're expected to to to top that off backwards uh
021from our facilities fund. >> In my conversations with Chris, that was not part of the conversation. >> Okay, gotcha. Other thing is uh the Osgood number. I want everyone to hear that again, right, which is it's $5.8 million to do one our like our smallest building. Yes. And again, I think that the fact that we're in the accelerated repair program here is just phenomenal because again, that's $1.9 million, but the final price is still, as you said, four. Our school stabilization fund gets a million half dollars a year, right? And so when we look at that fund and we think about the projects that are in front of us, this is why we have to be so careful about how we spend that fund because just this one roof is more than two years of
022allocations. And we don't have enough cash money to to to to do it on time. If we wait another year, we would, but we'd h we're going to have to do some sort of probably bonding, which is not a problem. But whenever I want to put this out there because when people talk about, well, we've got this fund, we've got that fund, we've got all this money, it's already going to the highest priority projects and the fire alarm system, right? This was something which the study was funded last town meeting, one year ago, right? And then we got the study and we funded it special. We've executed it within a year. We went from funding to full execution. I think that's a phenomenal success and that's exactly why we have this fund. So we have
023to be sure as a committee and as a town we understand that these funds need to be available to execute the same level of speed on these high priority projects and we're not using it as a shopping list. We're not using it you know with any sort of you know relaxation. This is high priority only and we're going to defend those high priority projects because we can't not do it. Uh, I also want to also just point out and thank the tech team. The Wi-Fi repair, the amount of Wi-Fi units that had to get installed across town was incredible. And uh, I know that people had Wi-Fi connection issues. I've had Wi-Fi connection issues throughout the town. And I'm thrilled to hear that the funding that we put towards that that the school submitted, the
024town approved, has been executed on. And I think that's going to make a huge difference. It's not just the Wi-Fi modules, it's also all the switches behind the scenes. So it's not just the antennas, it's all the communications between it's a huge project. Uh so you know uh Rammenard, the entire team over there that put that together, our team as well. I think that long overdue and I'm glad we got it done. So uh there's my soap box. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Can I um ask a question on that? Sure. [snorts] >> Um >> while we're on the Yeah, while we're on the last good. So um and uh Mr. Evans and I can share this passion for the stabilization fund. Um, so are we able to what's the current do you have the
025current balance of the stabilization fund? >> So Sue's been working with the new town accountant to figure out the exact balance. We think it's just over it's between$2 and $3 million, but we're trying to get that exact number. >> It's it's about 2.1. Yeah. >> And and I guess but the only debit on that should have been the fire alarm, right? So also the the initial costs for the OPM and the design firm. >> Correct. >> So there's that. Um and then the trying to think what else because those were the things since I have been here. >> Did they take the D finish the flooring out of that? >> Potentially the floors. Um >> no the floors were not. Yeah. So the fire >> Sorry. Um yeah. So the the floors came out of
026uh capital, not out of the stabilization fund. Uh but yeah, I mean the fire alarms were a million trying to put >> Oh, that's that that was going to be my question because we estimated one and a half. >> Yeah. >> Uh >> so will we So since this is going to be done 26, I guess the the qu and we don't have to do this now because it's summer, but and I know we're going to do a budget subcommittee, but I'd love to model forward what our balances look like from that stabilization fund to make sure we can do that. I'm a little bit and I'd like to learn more not necessarily in this forum but uh at some point on the the Chris senior moving stuff around because that again we got to
027be very jealously guarding that stabilization fund. It's it's a purpose-built thing and >> I don't want to get involved in a >> course trading situation. >> No, it wasn't that. It was the it was he's trying to decide if it's smarter to bond some of it or to use it. And so he was he's looking at that and that's an ongoing conversation >> I think. Yeah, we'll be we'll we'll be short. I mean, if we the thing is that with MSBA and Sarah, correct me if I'm wrong. If we're in this round, we're going to have to appropriate money in special town meeting in the fall for the roof. Is that correct? Do I have my understanding correct on that one? >> Correct. >> Okay. Which means that we're going to be ahead of the
028next million and a half dollars of funding that would go into the fund uh next summer. So, next summer we could get the balance up to 2.1 plus 1.5, 3.6. We're still a little bit short. Uh but it looks like we're about a year short here, but we have to do it this special. So we'd have to put in a bud a funding mechanism that bund that bonded against that that fund. Um and so we just have to work out the mechanic of that or Chris town. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Yeah. I just want to walk through that because I'm it's going to I mean the whole point of this and where we came to town on this stabilization fund is to pay for things like this. And so if we're going to special
029town meeting to ask for money for something that we have had a million and a half dollars a year to plan in advance for knowing I just want to make sure that we've we've got the story correct and how the how the balance has worked out. >> Absolutely. There's a question in the [snorts] >> if you want me to read it. >> It's from Catherine Katherine. I believe the balance stabilization fund is 2.1 million. Where's the $ 1.9 million coming from is what she's asking. >> The $1.9 million is the um >> is the reimbursement the grant from the MSBA? It's the 32.46%. >> But you might be asking the 1.9 if the current balance 2.1 where's the delta to get you to four? And that would be 1.5 from the next allocation because we're
0301.5 every year and then we're 400 grand short. That's what we probably have to bridge. So, >> yeah. So, we could we could do a the thing would be you'd bond you you'd issue a bond, but it wouldn't be a tax override, right? It would be within the $ 1.5 million fund. We're allowed to borrow against the future proceeds of that fund. So, um you you it would not be a it's just like we did for town hall actually this circle. Again, my apologies. I'm wearing my capital budget hat where the amount of money that were spent on the town hall repairs exceeded the available capital stabilization fund cash balance. And so we agreed that there was going to be a you know a bonding period of I think whatever it was five years uh
031for those repairs that would then reduce obviously the the availability of that fund for the next five years. So we do the same thing here as well where we would bond against the next couple years. But that also means if we do that um we can't count on $ 1.5 million in year three four five six right? it's going to be reduced by whatever we so just we we have to have keep a current accounting in our heads because you know we've got Ozgood we're going to have Deer Hill got other things to do as well uh and so we just have to be very judicious about every of every piece of it. >> Yeah. >> Mr. Evans would you mind describing what a bond project is for people that might not be familiar with
032what you're talking about. Uh yeah well so and again not uh I'm speaking as just a elected member of the board not as a financial adviser or anything so I will share my knowledge of it but this can come from town >> account that's why I'm asking >> fine yeah so it would be basically uh the town is allowed to take out uh debt on um future uh on projects as long as that debt is something we can pay for we can pay the the payments on that debt within the funding that we already projected coming in. So, it's within the current tax amount. So, we currently bring in 1.5 million, a little bit more than that, in the school stabilization fund. So, if we have a project that's more than 1.5 million, we're allowed
033to issue debt uh and have 1.5 come from this year and five, you know,.5 come from next year, that sort of thing. We can do it among a different amount of time as well. Uh, you know, there's different benefits to all that, but that just means we can afford something now and pay for it over time. does not mean a tax increase, but it does mean that we would have less available cash uh until that debt is paid off, just like any type of debt. Is that sufficient, Mr. McCall? >> Yes. I just thought it might be helpful uh for folks that are listening, especially people might asking question. You never know what background people might have and you know, all of us live this and so we're a little bit more familiar with these
034municipal government terms. Some folks might know >> and we put anyone who pay attention to sleep. >> I knew you did describe it the best out of any of us. So that's why I asked you to do. >> All right. So um a different and another MSB update MSBA update is that um they reached out about the core project, the middle school high school project and we have been invited to be a part of the senior study for the core process. And so they are coming specifically to look at the high school that is the that was our prioritized SOI statement of interest. Um and in my conversation they are well aware that it is a colllocated building that shares all of the same systems and many of the same spaces. So given that she
035has she being the woman her name is Jennifer at the MSBA who I spoke with um has asked that not only do we speak to and tour the high school but we speak to and tour the middle school and have both principles in attendance at that meeting. So, that meeting will happen on September 9th at 2 p.m. Um, it will be a meeting with several MSBA officials as well as school and town officials. Um, and really that just means that they're coming to learn more about the buildings and to see the buildings and to be able to better gauge where and when this project should be accepted into their core program. Um, I recently learned that this year the MSBA received 27 statements of interest from 20 different towns. that is a much lower number
036of statements of interest than what they typically have received and in the last two to three years they have accepted into their core program between 18 and 22 projects. So where they are coming out and the numbers are a little bit different this year. You know, I don't know what that means. I would like to think that that gives us a little bit of a leg up um in the process in addition to having the revised statement of interest and the completed feasibility study. But I will certainly keep people up to date um as that process continues. Just superintendent Shannon full disclosure this is the third time that they have visited the school but they have to take it yearbyear so just because they came previous years they came so it's all part of the
037process but >> uh it >> it is unlikely they would you know be doing that if they weren't seriously considering the school and taking their time. So it's I think it's you know you never know but it's certainly I think better than not hearing anything. >> Absolutely. It was better than having them dismiss us before the senior study part of the process. Yes. Um so those are our building updates. We've also been doing a lot of hiring and um along with Mr. Scrapleti. We did hire Kate Darling who is the new assistant principal at the high school. She um joined us at a school committee meeting before the end of the school year. Um and they've both been wonderful additions to our district leadership team. Um, we have filled all but one staff position. Um,
038we are still looking if anyone out there who might be watching knows of a high school special ed teacher who would love to work in the district, we would love to hear from those folks. Um, and other than that, we are actually all hired. We are I would say that um, our principles did an excellent job hiring this year. We did ask them to hire with a specific lens on being economical with their hiring uh for multiple reasons. One is just the budget that we're trying to stay within, but also we knew that if we could hire economically, we could potentially bring back the French position to lower the class sizes in both Spanish and French at the high school and not have to teach multiple levels together. and we have been able to to
039successfully do that. So, that's been great news. Um, I will put a caveat around all of the hiring and say I'm not sure I've ever worked in administration where there wasn't a surprise something as we near the start of the school year, but right now um we are doing really well, knock on wood, and um our new teachers are going to join us on the 21st to start new teacher orientation. So, we're very excited to welcome them in. Many of them have been in already um and around and we've met all of them. And so, I think we have a really great um new induction of teachers coming our way. >> And and just to be clear, these aren't ads to staff. These are all replacement positions for existing positions. >> Correct. Except for the
040fourth grade at Deer Hill, which we knew was going to be an additional position. Um the other thing that we do during the summer is to continue to build our plans um for where we're going in terms of goals, work ahead of us. Um and this year we really are focusing all of that work on our new strategic plan and get we're getting ready to share all of that information with you again as we start the school year and with the staff. We also, as I mentioned earlier, held our leadership retreat earlier this month where we also included all of our department heads this year. It's the first time we've been able to do that in some time here in the district. It's an exciting shift for us because our department heads really are important
041instructional leaders and they play a large role in us being able to implement our new strategic plan and achieve the bold goals that we've set. um as a whole leadership team including the department heads were reading the book leading strategically so that we can maximize our effort and impact across the district and wanted to throw it out to the committee that if anyone's interested in that book we can make sure that you get a copy. Um and finally wanted to share with you something new that we've done this summer. Um, we introduced optional staff book clubs across the district and they have been really wellreceived. We had over 20 staff members who participated in book clubs this summer and several of those people actually participated in multiple book clubs. Um, each book that was chosen
042was directly tied to the strategic plan and our goals and is led by either a school or a district administrator. and each book has been meeting either in person or virtually over the summer to talk about the book and its significance to the work that we're doing. Um the conversations have been really rich and meaningful. The books that we're reading are Never Enough, a book called 10 to 25, Fish in a Tree, and Radical Listening. Never enough is of course our district community read for any adult or student in the community who wants to read it and join us at the September 24th forum. There is still lots of time between now and September 24th to grab that book and um and get it read. Buttonwoods has lots of copies. Um we invite everyone to
043be a part of that conversation. And additionally, we're going to continue to offer those same books as book clubs in the fall and the spring for staff. Um, and the success of the book clubs is really exciting because it has allowed us to draw attention to the priorities of our strategic plan and the commitment of the staff to continuous improvement for themselves, our own learning, and the district has been really amazing. So, that's the the work that we've been doing this summer. Um, I'm going to move into some transportation. Oh, no. We'll hold on transportation updates. That's it for me for right now. Anyone has any other questions comments or questions from the committee? Fire will >> one one question on the this at this point of the process with the MSBA. We're we're just
044we're at step one again to Craig's point like we're just they're visiting the school. We're going through it with step. Okay. So, it's not like we there's any steps we get to skip because we've done this so many times. Okay. Just Sure. Okay. Thank you. No, they will. They if it had been last year that they did the senior study, they might not come, but because it's been two two years, then they come out. >> Gotcha. All right. Thank you. And that's at this point there's no we're not in any determination or any decision- making. This is just a walk through type of Okay, that's where we are. Just so anyone who's listening or watching is wondering what an update is, the update is people are going to show up and walk around. [laughter] That's
045all there. Okay, great. Thank you. And >> I'll just comment. I love the um the the book clubs over the summer. I feel like it's summer's such a nice time to rejuvenate, regenerate, get inspired. And I think secondarily, just that the sort of connections that can happen amongst um uh administrators, faculty, and staff. Doing something like that is a nice way to stay connected over the summer in a way that has has to do with your professional lives, but also I think allows you to develop personal relationships as well. So, I think that's a great way to keep the team feeling going over the summer. So, thank you. >> Been super fun. >> Great. Um, then we will move on to a block F. Oh, block D, sorry. Uh, budget resources and governance. And we'll
046start with you, Miss Oan. >> Thank you. It will be brief. I'm just going to give you a a summary of how we ended the FY25 year, which was a a year of struggle. Um, but we did okay. You know, the approved budget was the 24,251,86. Um, total expenditures was 25,479 resulting in a budget shortfall. Um to cover the deficit, the town provided a trencher of $757,000 um leaving the remaining balance of $4,127 which was returned to the town um probably just because one of our purchase orders cancelled um or came in lower than [clears throat] otherwise there would have been we have no open purchase orders. We're not income with anything over the summer. We were very very tight this year. um everything had to be what if they need it, they had to
047purchase it and if they didn't need it, they didn't purchase it. Originally, the town had approved um to give us additional funding of $650,000 um to balance our budget. However, the funding um ultimately needed was 757 due to two anticipated. Um one was payroll posting ever error. The first payroll of FY25 was invertently recorded in 24. Um and it wasn't until the new we have a should say new town accountant we're about to have a new town accountant um consultant um realized that that the prior town accountant had posted it to the wrong year. Um so she since corrected it and spoke to Christ senior um select board advisory to see if they could fund us a different additional amount. The other piece was the electricity bill. um a bill came in with a correction
048saying we're being charged the wrong rate and they plucked the $30,000 bill on us um which had to be paid before June 30th. So that was the other piece um that that brought us up together. Those two adjustments increase the funding by about $17,000. Hopefully we never have that problem again. Um we're working very diligently not to end up in the same place. circuit breaker again um also helped us out. We were initially supposed to receive um1 million 1,11100,826. Um additionally a fifth payment came through of $110,414 um which brought our second break up to 1.2. Um so that also alleviated some of the deficits. um we were able to um bring down some of the revolving accounts and do some shifts um because we had two revolving counts that were in the negative that
049we can't um by September 30th they cannot be in the negative. So um we'll talk about that when we're on grants um we have expended you see we've expended all grants um there's no carryover and then the revolving you can see what the balances are. So the athletics is down to 153 minus 153,000. Um currently with money coming in it's down to 146,000 cuz they're starting to collect um fees for the fall. Um so that 153 or 146 should decrease. And the other one was the school transportation um currently is in the negative 57780. Um what I looked at today is down at minus 33,000 and was a collecting transportation fees. So that that should go away as well. Why are they in the negative? You said >> for what expenses? So well the fun
050it funds certain number of FTEES of of positions and schol materials athletic revolving covers a lot of coaching stipens the the refs um the software that he uses to schedule with athletics half of the half the half of the transportation is covered by revolving on the other half school budget um so we've had to do some shifts on as as much as we could this year budget versus the revolving. Currently, those two accounts are frozen. Money can come in, money cannot go out um until those balances are brought back into the >> raised fees um to help offset those deficits. >> Sorry, point just clarify. I might cut out frozen. You said there's there's no money coming out of those revolving funds right now. Is that what I just heard? >> Okay. So, how are
051we then paying for things that these revolving accounts would usually pay for? >> Right now, everything's coming out of the school budget. >> We can't continue to drive that deficit down. Um, >> no, I I fully understand. Yeah, this is supposed to be a revolving account, not a line of credit. Um, so, you know, we're we're operating not not in a healthy way here. Um, so but did we in the FY26 budget is do we have an increase which accounts for the fact that we can't tap revolving fund revenue? I mean, we're cutting off revenue. We're putting in 153910 just to get just get even. We're going to have a 153910 revenue gap in our budget. Um, have we accounted for that FY26 projections? >> We did. So, um, when we put the budget together,
052um, we increased utilities by $150,000. We increased supplies, materials for custodian. Um, we increased the athletics by $100,000, and we increased transportation by $150,000. >> Okay. Yeah, that that that math still doesn't doesn't work out, but we'll we'll meet on this during our our our normal meeting um so we don't take up the whole committee's time. So, just to share a little bit more is that um we also anticipate that the cost may not be as high for athletics this year because we have we'll have an extra working bus and we now have the van and so that will minimize hopefully the extra expenses in athletic transportation that we've had to incur. So hopefully >> would it be possible to ask for just a little any sort of memo or projection about when we could
053get that revolving fund to zero based on you know revenue I don't want to say revenue but but uh fees collection just so that the committee can have a little bit of understanding when this thing can level out. Um if you if that's easy to do um I'd appreciate that. >> Sure. Yep. Absolutely. And then the last piece is just the food service meals count. Um obviously participation was a little bit lower. We were up to 80% participation which is phenomenal. Um the last month we were at 67.8 versus last year we were at 60. So we're still ahead. Um and that's it. We you know extend my sincere thanks to all who played a role in addressing and helping close the budget deficit. Efforts were greatly appreciated. It was not it's definitely not an
054easy task. Um, and it took a lot took a lot of hand, a lot of team members to to get us to a balanced place. >> Thank you, Miss Owen. Um, I see Mr. Evans has a question and then we'll um allow other U members to chime in as well. No, I just now that I'm sitting on this committee, I want to thank the town and everyone who's involved in the town for a $750,000 bridge. This is huge. And you know, there's a lot of I think stress right now when it comes to how things are funded. There's a lot of discussions, but I want to point out that at town meeting when it was proposed that the schools get an extra $650,000, town meeting supported that, advisory supported that, select board supported that, right?
055So, it's really easy to get the knives out, but when it came time to step up and help us really give us a life raft, the town didn't hesitate. Now, we can't take that for granted. We can't be saying, "Hey, next year we're going to do that again." No. With RAF, the life raft works once and then it doesn't work as well. So, one, I'm grateful and I think we all should be grateful to the town for what they did and we should work forward and commit to doing our part to not put the town in that position again. Uh, and everyone, parents, teachers, us, other committees, let's all get to a collaborative space. Every budget is really hard right now. Every single one. We saw a $6 million for a roof. Everyone's stressed out,
056but we can get through it if we do it smart. We do it collaboratively. There's a lot of really creative things we can do. So, just saying we're at a collaborative, we're at a collab collaborative point at town meeting with this life raft. Let's stay in that mode and we can get through everything that's coming forward for us. So, that's my speech. >> Thank you, Mr. Evans. Mr. nothing here. >> Just to address Mr. Evans's uh statement, uh I think that uh our new superintendent brought exactly that um spirit of collaboration. Um I I've um been only a few times where I've seen something like that um done within the school with that scope. Um and I think that uh the town was certainly collaborative but uh our superintendent of schools I think um demonstrated
057outstanding leadership around that budget um issue and the way it was not only uh explained and presented to uh our staff and our families but also the way that Miss Shannon uh conceived innovative solutions. uh and and approaches in confronting the significant challenges and and and and as as I said uh when presenting at our joint select board meeting um you know the buck stops uh not with the superintendent of schools but with the school committee and we are solely responsible for any errors in the budget and you know we will I think we we we pledged at that meeting to do better and I I echo Mr. having sentiments, but I just want to make sure that it's clear that um Superintendent Shannon I think uh really delivered uh in our time of need
058as well. >> Thank you, Mr. Mlen. Um and I actually both of you, Mr. Evans and Mr. Mlen took both the words out of my mouth. So, um for the sake of brevity, I will say I concur. Um, we do have a comment from uh Stephanie Saunders of 10 Stratford Terrace um who writes in the school budget uh summary slide, can you explain the reason the allocated money for utility cleaning supplies and sped transportation went down in 2025 given the prior year trends? This is confusing. I'm not sure if there's a prov I don't remember providing that slide. I'm I'm sorry. I'm not sure. >> Miss Saunders, if you could um let us know if this was one of the slides that was just presented. Um our our comments are um and discussion are going
059to be limited to that material. Um so if it if you're referring to something that was just shown, we can certainly bring that back up and um talk about it. >> Yeah. Maybe the the final slide was in the summary report. >> Oh, gotcha. It It wasn't Okay. >> She just repopulated. >> Okay. It's um Miss Owen's last slide that was not um was not there yet. Okay. Um, thank you. So, I think um those look like they're ex expenditures, not budgeted correct um pieces, but someone who's an expert should speak to that, not me. >> Yes. >> So, can someone answer question? >> Yeah. No reason. >> Go ahead. >> So, an F when you look at the report, it's FY23 is expended and FY24 is expended versus FY25 is the budget amount. That's
060what she's referring to. And then you can see in FY25 the expended amount and then the remaining balance of the 14 4127 that were returned. >> I don't know if that answer your question. >> So yeah. So just to be clear, so like if I look at utilities in FY25, it was budgeted 676,000, but we actually spent $991,000. >> Correct. >> In special ed, I'm looking for special ed transportation. >> It's 0060. >> Yeah. So, we budgeted $377,000 and spent $365,000 approximately. So, that didn't go that went down a tiny bit. Um, and the cleaning supplies were budgeted at 61,000 and we spent 121,000. So, I guess my question is they don't they didn't go down. the budgeted amount did not match the expended amount which was part of our shortfall um and part of
061our problem for FY25 >> and and just we have a and and for Miss Saunders we have a um budget and resources uh subcommittee meeting uh where we're going to dive into this for uh next Monday. So, um, if you want to learn more, I'd encourage you to attend that. Um, so we can, um, look at this kind of with a fine tooth comb and feel free to send the committee any of your questions as well. >> Evans, do you know what time that is? >> Uh, it's 11:00 a.m. Uh, it can be over. We can send a Zoom invite if she's available. So, >> so I think it was posted to the town today and it has all of the information on how to attend. Correct. Yep. It's it's on the the website, right?
062If you go to the calendar, the agenda center, it is there. Yep. Thanks. Thanks, Superintendent Shannon. >> And thank you, Miss Saunders, um for engaging with us. Appreciate it. >> All right. >> Um so, no further questions on there. We're going to um Oh, we have transportation. >> Transportation update. >> Excuse me. >> Yeah. >> Do you want to start on the electric bus? on the electric bus. So we we met multiple times throughout the last six to eight months um regarding what to do with the electric bus [clears throat] came to agreement um between the energy committee the town manager assistant town manager um central office and we decided to terminate our contract with them. the bus has not actually serviced us very well at all. Um, it doesn't hold a charge. It's been
063infrastructure problems. Um, now we're just trying to to figure out the logistics of what happens with the bus. Um, now that we've terminated the the electric bus because we're no longer packing where the charger is. I think it probably has a small charge right now. Um, but we're in the process of deciding or working out an agreement of do they take it back? Is there some type of potential asset to us in it? Um, Michelle at the town of Tom has been working with the state grant that provided part of funding to figure out what's the best solution. Um, we're not going to keep it, but I believe it may end up um going back to the the dealer that it was purchased from. Um, but I'm not I'm not sure that stage right now.
064>> What's what's going to happen with the charger? Because we do have rights to that charger. I think that's ours and we can have it moved. We have a someone's supposed to contractual obligation for someone to move that for us. So, >> I believe there was take that back as well. Um, the charge has been slightly damaged. >> Got [clears throat] hit in the parking lot. truck trailer truck drove over part of it um a few weeks ago. So, we filed a sh filed a sheriff's claim to see um what's happening with that. >> It sounds like someone's responsible to fix the charger. >> Oh, yes. >> Yeah. Um >> um but it's still we're still in works with and now I mean heavily discussing what what is going to happen and it's now with
065the town level between um the assistant town manager and um the one press to end now. >> Okay. Let's do make sure we dust off that contract though because I think we had some pretty favorable termination rights. So >> yeah, and um we're also preparing a document for the capital planning committee because without that bus, we don't have a spare bus. And so we are looking to request the ability to reallocate the funds that would have gone to the year's lease of the electric bus to be able to lease a diesel bus. And so we are working on pulling all of that together, hopefully getting that to them the end of this week or start of next week. And then hopefully we'll have that spare bus. Um this capital planning board will likely have to
066have an emergency meeting to reallocate reallocate those funds. Um but we're working with them to to get that process going. and if not for the very first bit of school, the week after or so, hopefully have that spare bus um just in case something happens. Um, and then in talking with Michelle, also having a conversation after that to see what happens really with the any potential um, money savings with the electric bus beyond that and if that can be used to get another diesel bus as well, which would really help us out um, with transportation in general, but especially the athletics. So, we've been in conversation with Michelle pretty regularly around that and have started conversations with the capital planning committee as well. >> What's what's the driving point? It sounds like this might not
067be the most convenient time to do this if we've got school coming up and we'll be short bus. I guess what's the driving point to terminate now as opposed to hanging on for another? >> Because it doesn't work. It doesn't work. It's never provided. It's never the first the first few months. It's never provided any transportation to to students here. >> Really? So So it hasn't even been used >> the last couple >> the first few months. >> Um the first year we had >> the charging station stopped working. They the NL stopped servicing the charging station and so we weren't even able to charge it the last couple months of school >> and then it got hit by a truck. >> The charging station, not the bus. So we did okay request in this
068year's capital an additional bus which capital granted to us um to increase >> our routes because the buses were were tight. So, we're still planning on having nine routes um instead of eight routes. Um and we're going to hope and pray that we we turn this capital request around quickly, which will give us a spare bus um in case something breaks down and you know it to to help assist with athletics um getting to and from. We also received a 14 passenger activity van. So, that should help us as well. I just I just want to clarify procedurally here. The capital budget committee can't approve this, right? It's an advisory committee, which means its votes go to town meeting. Town meeting is the only place that can reappropriate funds. So, I mean, you can email
069a capital budget all you want. They're not they can make a recommendation, but the actual reallocation of funds, the only body in the town that can reallocate funds is town meeting. So, um advisory has their fund. We've talked about that before, but um so capital budget could meet on this, make a recommendation, but it it's still they the reallocation can't happen until town meeting anyway. >> Just going back to >> we'll have to clarify that. that >> yeah there may yeah there may be other ways to get the funding but just the >> I think that's what we're >> procedurally it's not capital budget doing anything correct >> yeah but um yes so maybe reallocate isn't the >> technical term that I should have used but I they have said that they're willing to work
070with us to be able to get a bus for the start of the school There was a question on parking is >> Yep. So the parking situation um just one of the hot button issues last year was a lot of people asked why we were paying to park the buses over at the lot over near Abashon. Um, and as people have driven by, I hope that they can see that we actually have stopped renting parking space. We are parking our buses here at the school overnight um and during the summer. And once the school year begins, our buses will continue to be parked here overnight, but when school is in session, they are going to be parked over at the ball field um on North Main Street. And so we have been working with our
071new transportation director and we have a process for being able to transport the drivers between here and the ball field. And um we think that this will be a really good way to save the money that we were spending each month in um bus parking fees and still capitalize on as many spots as possible for students during the school day. >> Um Miss Saunders made a >> Yes. And so Miss Saunders does have a follow-up comment um that she writes um to clarify, it seems the 2025 expenditure for utilities, for example, could have been accounted for by looking at the prior year costs on utilities. I don't see how this was a surprise. I'll attend the subcommittee meeting, but think given the concerns amongst the community, this should all be spoken about as transparently as
072possible. Thank you. And yes, I think we all agree that all of this is transparent and that's why our committee meetings are public meetings and that they are posted um in advance for anyone who would like to engage in forecasting and would like to share those expertise or have ideas um to bring those forward. >> Yeah. And I think we did talk very openly about that last year throughout the entire budgeting process. >> Yeah. And we will continue to answer questions like that about around the budget um as needed. Yeah. Now we will move on to block E which is community relations and um communication. Um so we have um if we have any reports from school committee subcommittees or liaison um which I have a feeling we probably don't because school is not in
073session. Um life is a little bit slow in the summer. But if anyone has um something they would like to report on I don't know if our um our finance subcommittee have you met yet? No. So, um you'll have a report soon >> Monday. Yeah. Well, >> we'll look forward to it next meeting. [laughter] All right. So, we'll move on to um school committee governance. Um and we still are not a full slate tonight. Um but I would propose that we move forward in um creating our committees at this point. Um just so that we are ready to hit the ground running. so it were um during the um school year. So um unless other committee members um take issue with that um that's what we will do. But it looks like I don't have
074in my packet the little list of committees. So um I can pull it up if you'd like. That'd be great. Thank you. Um so we do have um several liaison and committee um positions um that have not yet been assigned for this year. Um and that school committee members serve as liaison to each of the school buildings in the district. Um in case anyone's sort of wondering what we're doing about uh what we're about to do um with organizations within the town um and that we do have several subcommittees. Um so um currently um Mr. Dial and Mr. Mlen were are on our school governance um subcommittee. Um Mr. Carr and I served on the communications committee. Um Miss Hannah and I served on food service and nutrition. Um budget and resources um was Mr.
075Carr and Miss Hannah. Um so we could start with those. Um and we know that our budget and resources we now have um Mr. Dial and Mr. Evans in there. >> If I just for the sake of speed, I'm happy to just take all of Ted Carr's appointments if everyone wants to stay on where they are. I these are all things I'm comfortable with, but I'm also comfortable going through a peace meal, but I just want to throw that out there if for efficiency if that was easier. >> Mr. Dial, do you have anything that you need to change on your end? >> No, I think I think staying on school governance and then being on budget resources is uh is good for me. >> Mr. That's fine. I remember that the collective bargaining um
076process has yet to be fully concluded. So, it's a continuation of the last bargaining period. So, I think some continuity there makes sense. Um so, but I can help wherever else needed, but it seems like we're we're good with >> Okay. in in in terms of the collective um bargaining is that something that the chair should be involved in? >> It was it was one thought. I I mean I think ordinarily Miss Leky I would have suggested that the chair I mean it seemed like the chair and the vice chair were on those comm right so it makes sense especially where superintendent eval you you you have to be involved in that because uh you're going to be writing the summitive >> um it's just that for collective bargaining I don't know that it makes
077sense for you to come in maybe a race um it just doesn't it wouldn't make any sense regardless of position Um so um it may make sense for you know these categories. >> What we could do is just just to make it quick superintendent eval is not until the summer or spring. >> No >> we're going to start different >> collective bargain is going to be starting in October. So I could just for for brevity I could stay on school governance and then be replaced after we get where we need to be as as as far as collective bargaining or we could split it up at that time when that needs to be done. >> There are like mid midyear reviews. There's different parts to it's not just the end superintendent eval. >> Yeah, but
078you could do what I did and just don't do that. [laughter] >> Well, uh yeah. So I I I think that Miss Leki is going to need to be involved in that somehow. Um and I I mean we just sort of switch out for I mean what happened was we combined like committees to these categories. Um I believe >> chair person dial. >> Yeah. We had we had 10 subcommittees which seemed like a lot and so we we combined them into categories to have have fewer make better use of our time. Um, so you bring it out. I'm happy to fall off if you'd like to go on. Um, you know, having to continue to consult or, you know, >> again, I I think it makes zero sense for you to to to not be
079involved in the collective bargaining. I mean, you this has been a ongoing process. It doesn't make sense for you to step out of that. It's just that where I I think either of us could be on the superintendent eval with Mleski. She just necessarily I think has to be a part of that. >> Yeah. Um, she she just she just has to, I think, exeicio. So, >> but we can't have three members. >> Yeah, you could you could what you could do is have three members. Not everyone would have to show up. You could post it at the hole if everyone of the hole if everyone showed up. >> Oh, you could split out and just have a collective bargaining subcommittee. >> That would make a lot of sense. >> So, >> hold on that
080then and sort that through. >> I think he just solved the problem. Okay, >> that's what we should do. >> Um, so why don't you and I continue to serve on the collective bargaining subcommittee and then school governance, you drop out and Jen comes in. Excuse me, Mr. Le. >> Yeah, >> you can call me Jen. [laughter] >> He's very professional though. >> As long as we're >> okay, >> convenient. >> Um, so that's that. Um, Mr. Mr. Evans, I don't know if your um your offer still stands um as a basis for reshuffling the representative and liaison assignments. Um I actually have myself at two schools, although I believe it was you, Craig, who were ended up um liazing with Ozgood. Um I'm happy to do one. I don't have the bandwidth for two.
081Um >> then yeah, plug plug me in at Osgood. That's fine. >> Thank you. Um and uh yeah that that the rest of the EB's good uh legislative fine select board fine um elder fair is fine. Um yeah that's all are good for me. >> Fabulous. Thank you so much. And Lance and Craig, do you have any other >> I'm fine as is. Everybody stay as is. >> Is this a vote? I don't believe it is. >> I think you do. Especially if we're creating new sub Oh, all right. Um, so could I have a motion to approve um the subcommittees um as just discussed with the creation of a new superintendent evaluation sub subcommittee um and the new representative and liaison assignments for the 2526 I think it's a new Collective >> collective bargaining
082>> committee. All right. So, let me say that again. Um, I'm looking for a motion to approve the subcommittees as discussed with a new um collective bargaining subcommittee and all other representative and liaison assignments as just previously discussed. >> So, move. >> Second. >> Well, someone has to move it first. >> Oh, thank you. >> Great. Moved. Yeah. >> All right. Well, thank you. Um, all those in favor? Um, Mr. Dial, >> I, >> Mr. Evans, >> hi. >> Um, Mr. McClen, >> hi. >> And, and Chair Ley, I Okay, so that passes 4 Z. Thank you all for doing that. Um and then we um as our final item of um public business tonight, um we have some executive summaries that were uh given to us as a committee and I believe Miss Shannon
083is going to talk us through um what that means and what we need to do next. >> Yes. So um you have in your packet several policies that are all connected to technology. Um, assistant superintendent Scolins and Lisa Portali along with other staff including the technology department have been working really for the last year to update these policies because several of them are outdated. Um, and so what you have are two policies. policy EDCA- C and EDCA- D that are being combined and replaced by the new policy JN DB and that's our new acceptable use policy. This policy includes updated and required legal protections as well as language and it um includes language around artificial intelligence that is aligned to our handbooks. Um the old policies many of them did not include the updated language
084that came into account um in 2016. And so this new policy will supersede and eliminate both of those policies. Additionally, we are looking to just eliminate policy EDCA, which is the home use of laptop computers and other school on technology because it is really outdated and we actually give all of our educators a laptop to use. So this policy would just cease to exist. And then not for v vote but for um information is that we also have the responsible use technology agreement for students. This is aligned to the new policy the new acceptable use policy. However, it more clearly outlines technology usage for our students, parents, caregivers, and teachers. it's aligned to the handbooks and it's written in studentfriendly language as opposed to the policy which is written in more legal language. Um so
085again that the responsible use agreement is not for vote because it doesn't need to be voted. It's not a policy but it falls directly out of the acceptable use policy which is going to be the one policy that we will have around technology right now. And again, this is just a first read. It is not for vote this evening. Um, we will come back to it at our next meeting where we will be looking for a vote because we do want to have these in place for the start of the school year. >> May I ask an operational question around these policies? >> Yes. um with the students. >> Yes. >> I as when I was reading them, I was gathering that a parent and their student or a care adult should do that. I'm
086wondering if also though this information is shared by classroom teachers um you know depending upon the age level because I feel like sometimes when mom and dad want to sit down and read something like this and review it it's half paid attention to but when your teacher sits down with you um depending upon the age level that um it's maybe taken a little bit more seriously. Yes. So, I think um at the elementary schools, the technology teacher >> does that at the start of the school year. At the middle school, I think um if students have um Lindsay, they they get it. But also, um it's something I can talk to Mr. Scotti about because it's something that as a principal I would have addressed at those opening meetings and I think I know that
087Mr. Scott is actually planning to do a whole lot around technology at the opening meeting that he's having with students because of the cell phone um changes as well as really reiterating the AI handbook policy. >> I think that's great. I think making sure that our students know very clearly what is expected of them. >> As a parent, I quivered a little bit. >> Absolutely. >> I think that that was my full only responsibility. Um, wonderful. Any other comments or questions? >> So, um, one thing I I on the responsible use of technology agreement for students, I do like that this is >> put very kind of clear, um, language that that a student can understand. Just two uh, quibbles. Um, >> one, >> there's a line in here that says CPS technology access for
088students is a privilege and not a right. Given that you probably can't go through school without access to technology, I think we might need to soften that a bit. Um because like would we would we honestly take away someone's ability to >> I have seen that happen. Um >> so like they couldn't access Google Classroom and all the things they need to >> we would have to accommodate that student. Um but I have experienced in my time teaching and being in administration where students have egregiously violated the policies in the process and needed to have their rights taken away. >> So then that's then that and that is fine if that is um that is in the cards >> and we would accommodate that student so that they still have access to education. >> Yes.
089Um the last one is uh and I mentioned um on the student responsible. I was very happy to see how how well written it is and very kind of meeting kids and frankly parents on their level. But when we get to uh I'm responsible for respecting the works of others, it's it's really just a link to the entire title 17 of the US code for copyright. Um, and so I'm wondering if we could build out little higher level summaries of, you know, general copyright law says don't have to steal other people's work just just in a couple sentences so it's not just a link to >> Yeah. >> copyright law. >> And um that's in their handbooks more specifically, but I will bring that up to Dr. Scholins, too. And that's the part that really
090um the principles dive into at those opening meetings and then teachers dive into as well. >> Yeah. And and I think you know with plagiarism and whatnot. I think that's one that >> towards spending some extra effort too. >> I just wonder if we take some of the handbook language. >> Yeah. And I definitely don't want to micromanage how how it looks, but that that jumped out at me as I was reading this that there's all this very studentfriendly language and all of a sudden like just a citation to US code. >> Yep. Um, >> yep. >> So, gotta get reading, kids. >> Yeah, >> we're we're raising a generation of copyright lawyers. >> Age of AI. Who knows? I've got one tweak, Lance, if you're done. >> Unfinished. Thank you. >> All right. Um,
091Chair Leeski, is that okay? >> I didn't mean to. Okay. uh in the acceptable use policy >> section one bullet F. Um seems pretty broad that that that kind of caused me to to double step. Um is this in context? Is this saying that we the schools reserve the right to examine the data on CPS technology devices, not personal devices, or is it also personal devices? And if so, are we even allowed to do that? Um, so there are times where we would have to look at their personal devices because we are a bring your own device district and they sign off that we are allowed to do that and we do have the right as a school to do that. Um, we have in certain circumstances we would do that and in other circumstances
092we would potentially bring in others to do that depending on the context. Um, but we do have the right just like we have the right to look in lockers and things like that. Um, because they're using our Google network or our they're using our Wi-Fi network and our Google suite and so in order to access some of that, we need to look at their devices. >> Yeah, I certainly understand anything that we provide, right? software, you know, email, Google Drive, that's all part of the the CPS stack. Um, if we're saying that if someone brings a phone in, we can search it, I'm I'm not sure. >> I'm not a lawyer, so I can't speak for it, but that that >> that strikes me as a little bit more than what we should have the
093power the authority to do. And also, I'm not sure we can do that. >> So, I guess I was thinking I wasn't thinking cell phones. I was talking about computers more um because that's really what we're we're talking about. Um that said, in some investigations with discipline, we do need to look at cell phones and there are ways that school administrators can do that. A lot of it require I and we can talk about that um because it involves you know calling parents and having a conversation and and talking with students. We don't just take and search but there are times where um we need to see what's on somebody's phone at times. Um and you know legally during investigations we we do ask for those things. If a parent refused then we would have
094further conversation around that. But in this day and age with things that come up on cell phones because the majority of discipline issues um at the secondary level end up being social media and technology related. They become key pieces of information in our investigations. >> So I I think we need to be careful about the words like investigations, right? We're not a law enforcement body. Uh you know we don't have you know a lot of things. I know we have that but I I think we need to also understand that certain things if they rise certain levels fall into a different kind of category of of enforcement. Uh and while I do understand the the attraction to having access to device information, I'm also concerned that if we're in someone's personal device and there's something
095we shouldn't see and we don't have the right to see, that's a problem for us. So, I'm not if this is language that we're getting from from somewhere else or it's coming us from from from Massachusetts educa, whatever. But this this overly broad sentence makes me really uncomfortable. Um, sorry, I I was put I was I put a slant on that. This sentence I feel is broad and makes me uncomfortable. >> So, uh, we can look at it and run it by our legal team. Um, and then maybe you and I can have a offline conversation around the investigative process in schools. Um, and legally what we're allowed to do and what we're not allowed to do. Um, the handbook outlines some of that, but I I will say like using the word investigation is
096a term that we do use legally in schools. >> Um, because we often have to conduct multiple investigations. um disciplinary and even legally they're they're called investigations. A title N investigation, a Title Six investigation. Um we hold hearings. Um it's it's very >> um legal process. >> All right. I've got a lot to learn and thank you for that invitation. I'll take up on that. Thank you. Yeah. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay. >> Well, we will revisit this um >> next meeting next week. >> Next week when we meet um I do not have any topics that I have not anticipated that I would like to bring forward. So, we will move on to the approval of minutes. We do have minutes that were distributed many moons ago um from our May 21st
097meeting. Um Mr. Dial, you were not attendance at that meeting, but Mr. Mlelen, Mr. Evans and I were um so and that would be a quorum so we can vote to approve those minutes. Um >> May meeting I wasn't appointed until June, right? >> You were it was an early town meeting this year. >> Yeah, I think you were at the last May meeting. >> It was your first meeting I believe. Okay, let me um Well, the minute say I was there. The minute What's Can you give me the date? I'm looking through the drive right now. >> Uh 521. >> Okay, cool. Yeah. Well, intended to me, so I sit corrected. Correct. >> Um so I would just need a motion to approve those um meeting uh those meeting minutes as distributed and a
098second and then the three of us can vote. >> So so moved. >> Second. >> Thank you. Uh motion made by Mr. Evans, a second by Mr. Mlen. Um roll call vote. Mr. Evans. >> Irlen. >> I. >> Janlesky I. Um, those minutes from 521 have been approved >> and I'll abstain for the record. >> Oh, excuse me, Mr. Dial. And Mr. Dial abstains with one abstension. Um, and finally, we do have a reason to enter into executive session for reason number three um to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining. Um, we will not be returning to public session afterwards. Um, so could I please have a motion to adjourn the public portion of this meeting and move into executive session for reason three and not reconvene in public um session? >> So move.
099>> Second. >> Okay. Roll call vote. Dial. Mr. Dial >> I. >> And Mr. Evans >> I. >> Mr. McClullen >> I. >> Miss Leky I. Um, so thank you everyone. Um, Cohasset. Um, good night. We are moving into executive session. We will not see you again until next week. Well, in our school community, we might see some of them around town because we live in town. >> Sorry. All right. So, we may see you around town. [laughter] >> Is Corey not participating in the Oh, we do need him, don't we? I >> mean, technically we don't because there are three of you. >> Yeah. as a matter of a porum.