001okay good evening everyone welcome to the October 16th 2024 meeting of the coass school committee with all any members that are present please indicate so in roll call Mr dial hi present Mrs Hannah present Mrs leki Mr Carr is not with us he's traveling but we do have a quorum with four members present the chair is also present so I will call the meeting to order would all individuals who are willing and able please stand restation pledge allegiance pledge allegiance to the flag United States of America and to the repblic stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all as always this meeting is being recorded and it is also being live stream to Facebook you can participate virtually by logging into zoom using the meeting ID and passcode at the top
002of the agenda and you can participate by utilizing the Q&A feature on zoom and you will be able to do so in just a moment public comment um I do not see anyone with a public comment at this time I'll give everyone a few minutes to do that or a few seconds rather and again public comment is reserved for comments questions areas of concern that are not related to 730 on the agenda if you have a question or comment uh or an issue relate to something that's on the agenda just wait until we arrive at that point in the meeting and please we would encourage you to share and invite you to share your thoughts so I don't see anyone that has submitted a public comment virtually I don't see anyone with their hands raised
003in the audience for public comment so we'll just move on to the first section of the agenda which is our invited guests and our first invited guest is a member of our uh awesome faculty uh Mr Robert erinson who is a science teacher at our Middle School uh wanted to come before the committee to discuss uh the uh question two referendum um it's coming up for a vote in November Mr lson please have a seat at the table gonna join from CPAC oh and Mrs Frasier uh from CPAC yes and a Cass Public School parent is going to join him I would just note at the outset of this um we obviously encourage uh our school Community stakeholders um especially our students to share their perspectives if they would like to and we encourage participation
004at any level at this um committee however I will state that the Cohasset public school district is not endorsing a particular position on this this is something that everyone has the right to uh vote on based on their own position and their own um judgment so it's not something the district is taking any sort of official endorsement on this is uh Mr erinson individually requested to come here and discuss this and Mr Frasier must share a similar perspective and wants to join him in that so we are giving them or providing them an opportunity to do so so Mr lingon I uh I turn it to you sir sure I'd like to thank the col school committee and superintendent Shon for the opportunity to present the yes side of to that we remve the mcast
005as a graduation requirement now I will be asking you to to support a resolution which would ask you to take a side and I really think it's an appropriate position for the school commit like other school committees in the dist in the state have done so to really stand up for our students and so I hope that'll be clear after our presentation so let's be clear about what a yes vote won't do it will not stop mcast testing that is feed mandated it's going to continue um it will not reduce the high standards that Massachusetts is known for those are here to stay what it will do is remove a narrow standardized test from consideration for awarding high school depl to our students uh over the past few weeks I've had the pleasure of participating
006in the visioning exercises a district Works towards the goal of a new Middle High building as we have imagined what the teaching and learning will look like in such a place uh we've heard heard amazing ideas of what um we're hoping to accomplish we talked about Project based Learning Community involvement other Innovative means to teach as well as assess our students learning in those conversations not once did I hear about more standardized testing and that's not surprising we know that standardized tests are very limited and narrow mode of assessment that does not measure the whole of the child if we truly believe in our mission that is focused on the student we have to reject a system that punishes students simply for not being good test takers now we can argue about the validity of
007the incast as a way to address District inequity uh accountability measures that it provides to make sure standards are being taught those are valid discussion points that are that are to come I hope uh but it's indefensible to continue to deny High School diplomas to students who otherwise can meet the graduation requirements on their perform solely on their performance on that test uh as I have knocked on almost 1 thousand doors literally across the South Shore this summer and fall I've heard the argument that no but if they don't pass they can take it again you know have the remediation courses the problem with that is that trying to force these Square Pig kids into the limited round hold the mcast takes these students away from the very courses we want them to be in
008arts music electives that give these kids their wonderful Square edges that are removed as we deny them the pleasure of those creative arts and instead of remediation courses I've had so many conversations with people who are business owners visual artists and other creatives who feel they would not have been able to pass that test and would have been denied a diploma High School diplomas that are the difference between getting financial aid you have do far pass uh being accepted into trades programs uh maybe even staying in school some of these students just give up as they realize this s away and I can not to do this testing then we create a whole another social problem the map now I'll be honest uh the way mcast data is collected is distracting to good teaching and
009the cost of Masters as taxpayers is way overpriced but the use of that data to punish students is offensive and frankly makes me very upset as it should to all reasonable Educators who know and understand the limitations of assessment and make allowances for our students on a daily basis to show their understanding in the modes that they do best with that in mind I implore you to take a stand with the 60 plus state legislators dozens of school committees for State reps including aana Presley and our including um Senator Elizabeth Warren all in favor of this to pass this resolution and support of our students that are the reason why we do what we do thank you so much y to um I got an email from Patrick OK Conor the state senator who was
010thanking for the support he said the Thrive act addresses the longstanding equity issues associated with the high stakes nature of the mcast test passing this bill into law is victory for all and creates a more Equitable and accessible education system I truly appreciate your advocacy of this bill um so I've been a member of the Cohasset CPAC and I'm representing Cohasset CPAC tonight because I have I don't know how many I have three different children that are on IEPs and they are the square pegs described by Mr E they're smart creative um very highly intelligent kids that don't do well on standardized test and should not be penalized for that um so I wrote a letter to the members of the coaz school committee we would like to express our support of this ballot initiative
011and encourage parents and Educators to vote Yes on question two Massachusetts is one of the only states which requires a high school graduation test for a diploma this is an unfair and inequitable requirement for students with disabilities and for students in underprivileged communities the mcast test is not changing the test will continue to be administered and it will be used as a diagnostic tool data collection will continue to be helpful in determining a student's eligibility for an IEP Service delivery accommodations children with learning disabilities are at a higher risk for depression anxiety and other mental health issues they often have to work harder than their peers to just access the curriculum they need accommodations which are not provided during an mcast exam and these students should not be punished because they have a disability they
012deserve to get a high school diploma we are confident that removing the mcast score as a graduation requirement will reduce stress and also empower the teachers that we trust to do their job this relieves all students from the pressure of performance on a standardized test that is not reflect ction of their intelligence sincerely the class at CPAC board so I I just want to just emphasize that I feel like there are a lot of miscommunications about this mcast bill specifically where like oh you can't take it away like We need to hold the school accountable we need that data for our IEP eligibility and we need to do but I think I am not a teacher but from talking to teachers it's takes over the classroom like that time where they have to be preparing
013for the C and here is a worksheet from the sample test and like let's do this sample test and it puts a lot of pressure that kids especially ones on disabilities are already under on a daily basis so I feel like all kids deserve especially if they're attending school to get a high school diploma I mean that that seems like a no-brainer yeah and so we really would ask you to as the elected representatives of the town to represent the educational system we have here to to take a stand and stand with us and and and vote to approve this resolution or language that you feel comfortable with that is supportive of our students their uniqueness and and their ability to move on with their dreams so thank you thank you very much mron thank
014you Mr Frasier um and thank you for coming here and participating um are there any questions for Mr lingon or Frasier about the insights that they've shared in their perspectives just Hannah um I don't know the like if you take the mcast and you fail how many kids are failing so the numbers that we've heard so far are around 7 to 7 700 750 students per year do not get solely because of the mcast U and there might be more because of other you know you have to still be able to pass your courses grades and all those but those 700 students are they might be able to get their G later on here but this is this is again they they're internalizing this message that they just can't do it and it's just for
015what reason uh it just isn't there's no good reason to to to expect the standardized test for for high school diploma the data is there we get the data for all the purposes uh accountability everything else but but to punish a student for that as an educator when I have a student who can't perform in a certain way I know the student they they they can do this mode a lot better that's set up something like that and I can then find their understanding in that way andc doesn't allow for it's just fun and that's just educationally just inviable I just can't yes um with like how does it change teaching I look I was terrible at standardized house so like I am who you're talking about but how does that change teaching and the
016stress that it puts on so I understand like a lot of kids get anxiety having to come into the room so even if it's voted that it's not a graduation requirement they're still taking it right get opted out no and you still have all the data that's the thing like you know I think a lot of people are like no we need to hold the Stu this the school to a certain standard but honestly if a if a School in Massachusetts is at risk it's still at risk the mcast is not changing that it's not like oh we're having the mcast now they're not at risk anymore it's a it's a fact that it's like it's just sort of a tool to say where are the holes and like maybe the principal and the teachers
017and everyone can look at it and say oh look it we missed this maybe we can work harder on that next year in eth grade we have three different mastes actually last year we piloted a four four mcast tests last year and all the time that went into that uh but a lot of the time I spent as an eighth grade science teacher we have a science test in eighth grade they haven't had one since fifth grade is basically setting them up to to approach it as just the the data collection tool it's not to be too anxious about it I try not to focus and attention on it but I give them an opportunity each year that you guys want to take a week and kind of review some of the content from the
018last couple years and they usually do they want to go in their feeling comfortable and so we take a lot of time out that we normally would use for our curriculum to to advance that as you get into the high school fores um this is now the high stakes this does matter and and you talked to students how how level anxiety is already so high from them already um if they don't pass that then you really start looking at the negative consequences do they continue on do get get pulled out of whatever courses that uh they would have rather taken instead that to me is just that the loss of that learning that couldn't happen in that part class or they may be focused on what be going to you know as a science the
019science test in high school I would love itone be a scientist but because everyone need to know the three different Newtonian physical laws know if to to be able to to succeed in their lives I don't I I I would I would hesitate to to push that on everybody um math English you can make an argument for those tests but but all three have to be passed and that's just and is that also for advancement like so in the ninth grade if you don't pass the science one you you can still go on test still Advanced it's you know ADV next graduation yeah instead of if they don't pass that IPS test this the introdu physical science test in nth grade then they take biology in 10th Grade and they'll probably take the bio test
020which was harder to be honest or they might retake the physical science course and redo that and then take the test that get there so um there's options for it but it's limiting the students experience in any other questions okay seeing and seeing none um Mr lingon I do appreciate uh that you had drafted this and prepared this uh I am not going to entertain a motion to adopt your resolution and I will tell you why uh it is not because uh we as a committee disagree with it I have no idea what everyone's perspectives are on this um it is because uh I do not feel it is our role uh or perview to uh endorse a particular vote that is for the constituents to individually go decide how they feel uh about an
021issue and then we will obviously uh adapt however the law comes out if it passes then you know we will need to follow that and if it doesn't then we will continue uh as we have but um I don't want to as a public body representing a public entity I don't think it's appropriate for us to tell people um how we think they should vote I think that that is a private individual decision in a democracy so I am not going to entertain a motion I know that some committees have and I know that you noted that um this particular committee is not going to do that um for the reasons I just explained um but I certainly appreciate you coming and we I think all appreciate you coming and sharing your perspective and and
022having a discussion and feeling Mrs Hannah's questions about this very important issue that is related to education undoubtedly so thank you so much for bringing this to the table and uh bringing it up for discussion and we will see how it comes out in a couple weeks well thank you so much for providing the Forum in which to speak and kind of hopefully educate a few more people about this Bill yes I think that was a really important role of this discussion because I think that a lot of people think that uh a vote in favor of this is going to do away with the mcast so vote Yes on to says one member of our community thank you guys to see you thank you okay moving on uh we have uh the disposal of
023some um some library books and we must have that is agenda item C1 that you have been provided with in advance of the meeting and it is a list of quite a few um Publications that we are proposing to dispose of and I think we do have a representative here if anyone has any questions but I don't know that anyone does so does any member of the committee have any questions about okay Mr dial does so maybe we can um have our representative from the library from down and answering questions thank you um I guess this is we we did this a few months ago with a a simly large um set of set of books and you know I just a core and a little bit of a packrat so I just if you
024could just give us a a refresher on how these books were chosen what criteria um you know made them subject to disposal and how we'll be replacing them because there's some you know the some there there's a lot of books on um yeah this one is more for the fiction section of it so when we had the consultant coming and helping us um see how our wiing process for the library would go uh one of the things that uh we're told um is that mostly um when you have fiction books that are like more than she was saying that the average that that a lot of the uh more vibrant libraries had was like five years old um if you can see like the average of the books that we put for wiing as a
025fiction are 31 years old so the uh average publication date for those books are 1993 um what we've done through going through the fiction books is that uh I personally went through each book one by one um so we've kept all the books that um are classified as Classics and not only we've kept them also we've marked them we do have special stickers that Mark each of the books are classic so all the books that you'll see um through the shelves um have classic stickers if they are really old we wanted to keep them uh if you see any Classics in the weding probably most probably is because they were in really bad shape and what we've done is like putting them on the weding list and then basically ordering a new set of books
026um the new one um so basically it's been an age process of of withing um we' realized that um students mostly like the middle middle grade is the ones that are uh checking out most of our fiction books um having the newer books have made a huge difference we've seen many more uh books being checked out um they are coming to us to get newer books because they know that we are going to be ordering them they know that we are putting them on the list um and um when we they were coming here and then were reading but not really taking out books now we see those checks so it looks like we have on this attach list of 1240 books that will be puring um and I respect the um the way you
027decided to to do that where does that leave our fiction collection what we so I think now we are in very good spot uh this um leave us now with a collection that's much newer uh we still we are going to go through as we go because as we get new books we are at some point we're going to have to get rid of some older ones uh but having marked the classics that makes the process so much easier because nobody's going to take them just because they are old so now they're identified as a classic and that's the reason why we want to keep them um and the way that we uh gather more books is going through um different lists like we have the uh like for example we will go through good
028good reads and see what are the best books of the year we'll go through the cus review or the New York Times uh the library journal and through those lists uh we take the best books that are been published both for young adults and middle grade and that's how we decide to buy the boooks and then we just keep also an eye and we have spreadsheet both City series that we have so that we can provy the following books as far as numbers of books though I guess I don't that we do have a number I think that it's more uh we'll see what comes uh it's very difficult to say a number I think that as of now we do have very good collection of newer books and it's going to be just a
029matter of uh keeping it fresh with the new series that are coming out and maybe new like as those lists are going to be published every year we'll go through them and we'll see them but we don't have a set like a goal of set numbers no I just mean how many books do we have now versus so we're getting rid of, how many we have oh and the uh for the whole Library yes I think as of now the whole library has about 6,500 Books Okay so this is about about a third 20% of yeah about 20% of the books but I think that um I know that uh it seems a lot when you when we say it that way but I think that the best way to see it is that that
030before we didn't have that many well they're not being checked out they're not they're not and kids aren't reading and kids will read so for example I do have um so let's see in uh the school year of 2022 we had um fiction in uh particular we had 38 books checked out um and three graphic novels that number for 23 went up to 74 fiction and 23 graphic novels uh and last year we had 105 books uh fiction books and 29 graphic no and I think that we've already passed both numbers just on what the year goes I it was up to 133 I think this year thank you that's all I had satisfy your curiosity by and my duty of oversight indeed any uh anyone else any other members have questions no okay seeing
031none thank you very much is there a motion to approve the the proposed uh disposal list of the books that appear in exhibit C1 to our agenda motions made by Mrs Hannah is there a second second seconded by Mrs leeski all in favor I I all opposed extensions motion carries by a vote of four members thank you so much thank you so much receive at the disposal of those items thank you for being here and for sharing that information we have uh an exciting uh item for the next agenda item and that's another last third last but not least uh invited guest Mr Grassman Mr cter please come forward to speak to us about our French uh exchange student Exchange program yes thank you everyone for having us speak present tonight so would you like
032me to just start or do you have questions please no I think just you know share whatever information I know you you had come before us uh in the past to sort of give us an outline of this but please share whatever information you'd like to uh communicate to the board and then I'll everyone ask questions if they have any all right perfect so previously there have been friendship changes uh with the school and I'm looking to start it up again so the process would be the same as I proposed last time which is that um well first of all I'd like to talk about how how this seemed to be so we had a match and there wasn't enough interest this summer coming back from senagal flew through Paris and from Paris to Boston
033I met an English teacher from strabo and we were just talking and she said you know you seem like someone that you know loves your job we have an interest in common why don't we try for an exchange and so we've been communicating after lunch in Zaftigs in Brooklyn uh we talked more about this and made some plans and it seemed really exciting we had some of the same goals she's been doing this for many years and I've been running trips not exchanges for many years as well in my 22 years of teaching in New York so trying to bring that here our goal is to have a pedagogical immersive experience that reaches all three aspects of the vision of The Graduate so inspiring the character really allowing them to take risk that's outside of
034their comfort zone um the purposeful travel becoming Global Citizens in not just a way that they're aware but really having firsthand experienes that they can become they can come back become agents of change which is one of the standards the framework LS so we've already been in contact she is excited to have whatever numbers that we can provide uh right now we have 20 who have interest and that doesn't include all of the students enrolled as sophomores and juniors who will for this trip be Juniors and seniors so those are the two grades that would be uh able to join us and participate so there are still more students that I don't I haven't had yet because they're spring semester Cas and what would happen is that we would start signups if this is approved
035in December get a sense of who is going to be signed up and start filling out forms about interests uh are they morning evening people do they have pets are they allergic all different kinds of interests so we can begin pairing up because once March April happens we want them to be able to start the report we'll have an opportunity for them to meet online emails text messages all being overseen by Miss elnik and myself so that way they're not strangers so during the summer they have other opportunities that are informal to start to get to know each other December of 2025 December 10th through 20th is the anticipated arrival of the French groups they will come here spend one week with our families and do everything that the families do they generally would have
036the one weekend to have more free time that's just with the families so it's that's the real fully immersive they're forced to speak English and then during the days they would come here for one school day and then explore Boston on the other days so then in 2026 April sorry February so during winter break we would propose going from the 6th through the 19th so they would miss one week of school and then the second week would match would be parallel to our break and so the same exact thing they already will know the people they're already familiar with their host brothers and they will be staying there of course we will be staying in the same town me and whatever other shop room to be determined um the school employee of course so we
037would go to school as well for one day go see storg and other areas and we come back every afternoon when the students are finished with their school day to come back do some evening activities hang out in town and then go back to their respective homes so we would be supervising every single day during the school day that we would be there um there would be activities the French teacher over there the English sorry the English teacher has already told me that she has a lot of experience with how you welcome the families uh what to look out for so she's going to be sharing with me as Mr Cotter what that experience is like he's already been a great guide and we had discussed I think one of the main issues was Corey
038checks and so that was one of the first three questions I asked her once we decided okay this could work and so there is the ex which is the French equivalent so basically that is that's what I was I just couldn't remember the name of that was it yes remember that disc so yes and so that will be able to be provided we will make sure all of our parents that participate are also Cory checked and I allow any questions oh sorry let's go to cost 4118 we are going to work on fundraising there is a tware um community in ner they create jewelry and through this charity group in California we will get the jewelry and we will sell it at whatever minimal markup to help reduce costs and if there are other ideas
039that the families decide on so I want there to be a lot of agency where the students would become leaders as well and they decide what works for them what do they think is interesting but what I love about this jewelry selling is that we're going going to meet one of the members of the community and that begins their immersive experience and really becoming those agents of change learning cultures brings back information to create more than just the one story if you've ever watched that Ted Talk which I think is vital to uh a great graduate that moves on into the world okay well thank you so much um Mr C you have anything to add before we go into questions or no I don't I think you did a great job of it explaining
040it I know um not when I was running exchange here did six exchanges when I was uh teaching Solly French uh here since 2006 and um we had great participation in it and we uh had uh let's see we ran it in February break typically so the same thing we was a week out of school and then a the holiday week following that sept in sorry February April and uh it is a credit bearing class it's in the program of study so there is a work product associated with it so the kids get one quarter worth of um of a grade basically but there the work product includes uh a lot of elements that will help students um strengthen their French so that they can perform well on any um in class but also on
041the uh to help achieve the seal by literacy which really strive for and whatever else they choose to take AP but that's not our goal necessarily with the AP but for them to be able to be proficient particularly in speaking which is uh our data has shown recently that that is the one that's the one uh aspect the one modality our students have the hard hardest time achieving in order to re achieve the seal by literacy so this will help with that you kind of getting over that understanding that fear that ability to speak we we have had a long tradition of that before I was here there was another program with a previous French teacher as well with W in Normandy so there's been a a strong tradition of exchange programs here and um
042you know I've heard from various students over the years that have felt that it was really um an eye opening experience even if they're French they've been not dealing with French in this part of their lives later but that really helped them see the world differently and and gained confidence more importantly I think for sure um okay well uh did any members of the committee have questions we'll just move along in alphabetical order Mr kle um thank you uh very quickly first um thank you for putting this together uh my own view on these is that they are absolutely Priceless learning experiences that give kids memories that they'll have forever I will um defer to our chair on the security and safety questions I know he will that will have coming I just have two
043uh and these may be for you or maybe for our superintendent how do we deal with the um Miss week of of school is that made up do we work for the teachers how does that how does that get covered yes it's always been a matter of similar to any athletic Endeavors or other trips that um you know we the students know well how time as do the teachers so they address that to be able to um address any work ahead of time um that needs to be achieved it's in February so um It's relatively new in the new semester for those classes most of our classes our semester long and gives ample time for the students to kind of catch up typically we're back before that first weekend uh like on a Friday so
044that there's a weekend to adjust to the the jet lag as well as you know get some work I am amazed at how many students are on the plane with highlighters and and doing reading I just I'm impressed with the with their their dedication um but yes there's a it's a matter of them do ahead of time and in some depending on the the class there and some teachers will help them you know find to identify some kind of work they can do uh not to replace it but in it in the stad that they were doing the classroom and these are not considered absences okay so that's um that's that and then um the uh question on cost I mean it's actually it's a high number but I mean for what you're getting seems
045like a good deal the one thing I am concerned about ra this for number of trips is I don't feel like I have a good handle on the number of trip opportunities we're giving to each students in each grade to be able to assess the full I'll call it a burden for parents who want to participate in all these things and so you know we people be able to know okay I've got this opportunity here but that means I spend $4,000 and I won't have enough that means that I can't spend the money on a later trip like do we have a kind of road map of all the various trip opportunities so parents can plan out their you know trip budget I guess if you will because I mean these are not insignificant sums
046of money they're absolutely not insignificant experiences so it's it's not a question of value for money it's just a question of you especially for parents with multiple kids twins and grads you know you're talking a couple hits of $10,000 maybe yeah um I think that's a great question it is a great question yeah I think you know as for a list probably not but they have to get it approved the year before so there's opportunity for parents like this is a couple years out exactly so this will be 2026 and the only ones that I know that run consistently is the Euro trip which will be spring of that year well I don't know what's approved yet it generates the every other year this one's hopefully going to be every other year and students already
047know about the Euro trip and then they're just Happ to be others in my experience that just get approved and aren't known as institutional yeah and I think that um Mr Scott had actually shared with us a proposal where he's trying to create a process for planning trips that starts two years out so that we will have a better handle on what trips are being planned and when I think the question then is really about communicating to families what is upcoming so that people have an opportunity to know so so I guess request is if there's a there's a way we could get a kind of calendar of what's been approved or what's the pipeline so when we consider these we can about that going for but I appreciate your um your work on this
048and giving appreciate you Mr D you have any questions um I will just say that again I just like Mr di said I I think these are invaluable learning experiences um it would be great to understand all the trips across the board because I can also Imagine a freshman coming in might say I want to go into French because they're doing a trip as Spanish he's not doing a trip so I think having that line of sight and everything down the line uh will be important everything but I love this thanks for effort of putting it all together so yeah thank you s m leki I'll add my appreciation um for um the efforts putting this together and also listening to the feedback from last time around our concerns with the with the Cory checks
049um so I appreciate that you sort of took that to heart and were able to sort of work around that um and and it sounds like you met a a lovely person along the way um I appreciate the opportunity to save challenges and risks um for students I think that that in addition to the language and the culture that being able to grow by being a little bit further away from the parents than you typically are is a really wonderful thing um so I'm fully in support of that and I guess my only question is around cost and I'm always concerned about those families for whom a trip like this would be prohibitive um not even just like oh we need to plan for it but just full on this is not something that we
050can work with um and how we make make sure that those children in particular have these um opportunities within within the school or within the district so whether that's offsetting completely oh thank goodness that's been fing me too sorry just how you might accommodate for and let families know that some form of financial aid is available if it is going to be available for um these kind of trips because I wouldn't want someone not to go go or not to approach you about going just because they made the assumption that it's not financially viable for their family I I completely agree I think it's essential to have Equity amongst all students I do struggle with so fundraising and bringing the cost down is separate from this statement I I do have trouble I have difficulty
051communicating to students please join uh on flyers on interest Flyers it's not like I could say cost won't be an issue or like you'll definitely be able to go please do so it's more in the face-to-face Communications which at least for the French trip you know and I think that part is really helpful and as it's institutionalized word will get out but it's it's a proposal of mine to find out are there other ways that students or that we could support this Mr mentioned there being a potential scholarship in the to be explored and is there someone such as guidance I don't know who would put this message out there is it people who directly uh work with these students in particular that they just like I think you're aware uh the people who should
052which students would be eligible um that should have those conversations that do not there are no ceilings there are no closed doors we will help you open all of them and so how does that message get um transmitted to the people that really need to know that we want to support we will be there for you and everything is that yes we can somehow we will find Solutions as for other trips the fundraising uh I think it was Guatemala that they fundraised all of it $4,500 yeah the Euro trip I believe is over 5,000 and at least Guatemala that did it which was Panama this time uh they were able to do that and it's the volition of the participants and so when it comes to this that's why I spoke to the idea of
053they're the ones they decide what happens this is their trip what would they like to do they know better the night to this community what works what won't work where to go what events and so I bring some of my own ideas but I'll will be listening to others especially the parents and what do you want to do that's what we'll do well I I appreciate your awareness of that Equity issue and already thinking just about those sort of side connections around like is this have you thought about this TR um and and if if not why and then sort of getting getting those conversation started and T jewelry is beautiful I it's gorgeous yes okay let me know when this fastic so we're thinking holiday troll would be a great opportunity for that so
054the community has already uh helped me out in giving me ideas the students also helped me out a lot and I think having presented this the first time listening to them what their needs were what their misunderstandings were about this and listening to my department and what we're doing I think is really help for me thank you Miss leki um so you should both be committed for doing this for delivering this experience to our students it's exactly the type of thing that we want to see our students doing and there were there's a lot of work and a lot of planning that went into this and uh you're obviously very passionate about your job and your students are benefiting from that passion so thank you to you both um and I love the story the
055origin story of it is uh is pretty unique and inspiring as well um you addressed my concerns surrounding basic safety concerns and that you know poost family should be you know have subject to a background check and they're going to be now so that's great it sounds like there's going to be a debrief with school staff every day um when they're over there which is excellent as well so it'll be a great experience I am completely in favor of this and uh I thank you very much for your presentation and I would entertain a motion to approve the 2026 French Exchange program as presented and proposed by Mr Grassman Mr C so moved motion has been made by Mr dial is there a second second seconded by Mrs leski all in favor I all opposed
056exensions so the motion carries by a vote of four members and the exchange program for 2026 a French exchange prog program excuse me is approved so thank you so much look forward to hearing an update after it yes yes thank you so much and also thank you Mr coner for Contin guidance first pres here tonight Ace thank you we'll move right into the next section of the agenda which is superintendent update I will say we're running a little um behind so I'm going to start enforcing time constraints a little bit so hopefully our our wonderful superintendent can deliver this uh update within a five minute period and then 5 to 7 minutes why don't we say that I think I can do it and and then we will move on from there so we got
057to we got to make up the time somewhere those were important issues so um they took a little longer than expected so I turn the meeting to our superintendent of schools Mrs Sarah Shan great thank you and I do think I will be relatively quick I have just two Updates this week um it's been a busy two weeks but they've been really good two weeks um and part of that is that they were you know a professional day on the Friday and then we celebrated indigenous people's day on Monday so there were a few days off and Dr scollins will speak to the professional learning in the moment but I'm excited to share that we have successfully held two of three visioning meetings for our Cohasset middle school high school feasibility study um we've met
058two mornings so far bringing together administrators teachers students parents Town committees school committee and Architects to talk about the future of student learning experiences in the Cohasset School District the work's been Hands-On collaborative and highly engaging which is a exactly what we're trying to produce for student learning experiences it has celebrated what our schools and teachers do well currently and pushed ourselves to challenge our thinking about what else is possible the work's been really exciting and while the first two sessions have really focused in on the teaching and learning the third session which is being held in about two weeks um we'll focus on how we take that learning and translate it into face and design and so that's where it all comes together and we think about what the new facility could potentially look
059like it's going to be a great session that I'm looking forward to um one of the things that has really excited me the most about these sessions is that we have had students with us and to bring students from 7th grade through 11th grade really and to have them be able to speak in a room of 40 plus adults is not easy for our our students and so I want to just take a minute and mention them by name I'm very grateful for them they are you know we talked about learning experiences this is a great learning experience for them and they're missing class for and so they have to do a little bit more because they have to make up that work but I do think that the experience makes up for that lot
060of time in their classroom but they are giving us really wonderful Rich feedback and it's been great to have them a part of the process so I want to thank Amara Pierce Shera Gibson Fiona reny Nora Khan Zack Sheeran Bley Sheffield Jack Ryan and Caroline mallan for their time um they've been awesome and I'm so glad they're a part of the process um the I also want to mention and thank the Meco Inc um they host did a couple Fridays ago a great Leadership Retreat for us Alisa gens Carl our Meco director Dr scollins and I attended this dayong really powerful Retreat we were able to learn from Dr Ernie um Dar Dr darnisa Amante Jackson and Lee tidle um who are wonderful facilitators in the um they help us learn about diversity equity and
061inclusion they bring things to us that help push our thinking and think about what our practices are you know you talked about you know how we're making things inable for our students and they really um are powerful presenters so we're grateful for that opportunity and look forward to December when they have another workshop for all of us so those are all of my updates thank you very much superintendent Shannon well done thank you any questions for superintendent Shannon relative to her updates here okay seeing none we'll uh thank our superintendent for that update and move right into our teaching and learning section uh which we will uh hope that our assistant superintendent Dr Les scol will be able to complete within 5 to seven minutes I believe I'm up to the challenge and H you're
062agenda May reflect a capital budget conversation within this section that is not going to be on Dr scollins so Dr scollins worry not that is going to be on it was just mistakenly put in your section so we apologize trying to make was she was I think I think may have taken over Mrs sas's Computer momentarily and uh made that a moment that changed so Dr scolin so I will um add on to the conversation that that um superintendent Shannon just started so we did have a professional development day on Friday was always one of my favorite days um and this year we're continuing our work from last year so our middle and high school continued their work looking at our curriculum last year we did a lot of mapping of the curriculum and now
063they're looking at um our benchmark assessments and so that work was done with um the whole school and in departments on Friday which was wonderful um and then the elementary school has had a little bit of a Different Twist um what we've done this year as we did last year is really focus on what the schools themselves need um and so the elementary schools worked on responsive classroom and that was actually a presentation at deerhill by their own teachers sent some teachers to level two trainings and so they brought that back and also they did a lot of data analysis I did a presentation with some mcast and they had somewhere to look at their own data um not just their M but also their I data their data so that was a really healthy
064day for them the odds good um worked on ntss they have a new principal so they're doing some work to build capacity and so that was also run by staff so with some others um and then we had teaching learning l consultant Jer come in she did some work on literacy it's their second full year of readers work came in and did some work with the staff so that they're ready for the year um and then we also had secured another Grant with Meco and so we are training another uh Team on restorative justice practices and so that was really wonderful and that was it the likee keepers actually we sent them over there um and then we had safety care which is something we need to do we our staff have to do that
065every year they either have to be fully certified every two years or they have to have kind of a little renewal um and so that took place and that's actually taken place a couple of other times and our nurses did work at Children's Hospital so um there was a lot happening and the one nice thing well there are many nice things but one of the things we did which um superintendent Shan started with us in the beginning of the year is that we came together and did Community circles and that was an opportunity for all of the prek through 12 staff to come together and be in groups that are Universal right right so they were randomly selected so you could have a preschool teacher a middle school teacher a high school teacher all together
066in a group and then we had about an hour together to get to know each other um and so they really liked it so we continued it and we did it at the end of the day on Friday and it was funny because people said I can't believe like they they really sent to us I was really bummed out that I had to do this and come all the way over here to do this because everybody was all over the district but after it was done they said this is awesome and great way to go to the weekend so um it was really wonderful and some more professional development the mass Q um conference is happening today and tomorrow at Gillette that's a massive conference on technology and Innovative learning um and so we sent
067probably in total we're going to send about 10 people so principles and teachers instructional technology instructors so um that's wonderful so I can't wait to hear what they bring back and then quick update this is my last one so I'm think I'm going be under thank you so um our families will receive information around their I ready diagnostic scores and their Dibble scores and so um grades one through five those will be available um tomorrow and then the mcast and they're in as so you just have to log into as but you'll get notification from your um building principal and along with that if your child is in need of extra support you'll get notification also um we do that regardless but then um if any child is at risk for um dyslexia so you'll
068also get notification of that um and then on Friday all the mcast scores will be available so that notification will go out tomorrow so families will know and those are also available as everybody everything's an aspen which makes it really nice for families because it's all right there um and that also will include the I ready Diagnostic in reading and math for grade six through eight they'll get theirs on Friday and that is it Well Done Dr scollins thank you so much does anyone have any questions for our wonderful assistant superintendent on any of her updates okay you did so well that I do have two questions quickly okay one is responsive classroom is a term that we frequently hear could you just briefly describe what that is for everyone sure it's really based in
069social emotional learning and building and creating relationships in the classroom um and it's actually I actually was a responsive classroom teacher way back when and I absolutely loved it um it's you did a way to to manage your classroom so it's respectful and everyone knows what the expectations are but it's also involves making sure that children learn how to self-regulate they learn how to um make amends or um if there's a situation where they um have hurt someone's feelings how do they do that or if they have had their feelings Hur how do you communicate that so it aligns really nicely with restorative justice and so those are the things that we're going to be looking at because at the elementary we doing responsive classroom and actually when I was at Deer Hill for the
070presentation the teachers really would like some more um some more information so we're going to look to see how we can beef that up for them um so that they can have some more professional development about it because it does take practice and it does take time and so it's um I think it gives us a nice language too to use through 12 when we're looking at how do we manage our feelings how do we work respectfully and kindly with each other but also how do we stand up for our own selves but at the same time be respectful of other very much for doing that and lastly if uh any families have questions about how to interpret the um scores that they will be receiving I think you said tomorrow for I right yeah
071um who would be the best person for them to contact so um probably their classroom teacher that's what I would suggest and then if you received a letter from a reading or math specialist then you certainly could reach out to them also and they'll give contact information if you need that um within that there's also links so parents can get some information about what you know what what dibles means and what are what are the reports me ready so there's some self-help stuff too okay thank teacher appreciate that report Dr Collins scollins and U thank you for responding to my questions um moving on to the next section of our agenda is uh budget resources and governance and at this time we turn the meeting over to our director Finance operations Susan Owen who will
072provide these updates within a 10 to 15 minute period great can sh yes I will only minutes are you not able to share right now there you are something so this is representative of um what's happened from July through the end of September so this is the that 25 September comence report I'm not going to go through stuff what budget the of budget amount was there we had a separate time allotment we are 14 we are 25% through the school year and our school budget is 14.41% of the year so we're still um running a little bit on it but that's that's good considering the budget constraints of camp this year we've encumbered out suppli materials um in the amount of 2.5 million with the remaining balance of 18 million we again will closly monitoring
073and freezing accounts has become exhausted um there will be no um overriding of budgets um unless the superintendent approves we also as we talked in my B report of encumbering our entire payroll and purchase order which we did do um last week so it doesn't show up on this report but in the next report you will see there about 21 million probably 18 million left now of payroll that has been set aside so we have enough money to fin pay at the end of the year sped tuition we budgeted at about $926,000 um are they're all currently incumbent on our purchase orders there is a short fall of $263,100 um since the final voted budget um the district has had three unanticipated out placements and one student that moved from a collabtive school to a
074private school um which is definitely um most times it's a renal which the is much higher this is just to break down again by school we talk about circuit breaker um circuit breaker in fy4 was 1.77 um do us short fall we had to um un exended expenditures but just need to utilize um a little over a million leaving a balance of 98391 to be carried into 25 to help offset um ours second of funding to be received currently um it's been allotted at 1,9 um being paid to us in for installment so we've already received that first installment Su bre State program that provides School District with reimbursement for some of the costs incurred providing free and appropriate education for students with special needs our capital projects for the year um many of these
075are completed or in process of being completed the de Hill tiing the floor has been finally completed um even with our effective glue problem there this is a list of our grants that we get from federal state um in a private it it is dwindling um we're receiving less and less each year um we lost a title one Grant so you'll see board it's zero this year um and each year it's been it's been decreasing um so we we saw it coming and then the revolving accounts again see um we are bringing in some revenue for you know things such as placement fees you know PSO CF after school program Athletics so these are all our involving accounts and what we have brought in um to date so we and um what our total is
076and you can see the school lunch program um is definitely um being spent down we've been doing lots of um enhancements in that program program so that right now um it Balan down to1 13 31,000 but we haven't receiv receiving any of our federal state reimbursements yet which usually come in know 10 12 $50,000 right so that number will probably grow quite this just gives everyone a breakdown um of our of our staff um school budget it's regular EGS special EGS or undistributed means not designated to either and how many FTE are in each area there's a summary Personnel by Titan so you can see um 62% of our budget is regular education 21.8 mandated special education and then there and if you have interest in how many positions we have in each school and
077how are funded um each school is here and the FTE is in the budget um FTE line or the grants revolving it because our grants rolve will also support um some of our staff middle the high school you can see our grants um fund about 11.3 staff members and are involving cover about 22.9 our enrollment for the month of October well ENT of October 1st the enrollment and the class sizes by R our enrollment is has decreased slightly over the last year we like 446 um last year this time we're down to 1397 and just a you know short updates Food Service continues to be very successful um the pizza oven they are selling out daily staff are actually buying whole pizzas we just can't keep up with the pizzas um and I wanted to
078start giving you you know show you um a food service meal report so last year at this time um the total total served was a little over 20,000 meals um total served this month this year is about 20960 so so um you can see the difference between the breakfast is a little bit low for the month of September because at the elementary level it didn't get started immediately as SCH started um so you'll see different numbers coming into October um but you can clearly see the the lunches have increased from 14,499 to 16575 um which is quite significant and we are growing our own so this came out of our own garden right in our Courtyards is just little T of salads anybody can have them whether you buy lunch or not that's one of
079the things that they're doing the Gard so Rie a transportation on goinging as a rip has increased as I mentioned last month we had over 80 students register PR school um that has definitely slowed down and you know we're trying to um think of other ways next year that we can get people to sign up um before school starts um just so we don't have such a um a rush of registrations and scarring to find buses for students um also we've been notified that nlx um North America which is the the lead company in our electric bus project is I I I shouldn't say it's going out of business it's no longer in the United States um and is no longer supporting electric bus or charges so um we are working on that we are
080working with anel we are working with um school committee's been involved or at least the chair has has been involved briefly just um to go over it um but so far um we have received no communication from nlx other than a couple weeks ago um but if you go on their website really says they're now stationed out in Italy um so we're not really sure what what that means the we do know um that the bus has been paid for through the deal anel X did pay for the B pay the deal for the bus um they nlx has not reached out to us for any type of payment um and I like I said I've had many emails and phone calls um trying to reach out to someone nlx um andell the the Press
081kind of LED this charge for this ELC bus is away this week so she and I touch Bas next week when she gets back to see um what we what we can come up with and who can we get a hold of they seem to be vaporized the United States um not great news um the charges here from what I'm hearing it's the software the nlx provided um and there other software companies out there that we can purchase um to run it but then there's a cost to us for electricity so it's no longer free weren't they also covering the maintenance of the bus yes and they also had committed to help us move the Chargers yes so those are now back on honor presumably back presumbly they are back on us we we're still
082trying um there's a lot of unanswered questions right now it's very early this a very early update I think it would be best for Mrs Owen to continue her efforts to ascertain what exactly the status is but uh we thought it was important to share with everyone that that company is going out of business so we're responding to it but there are a lot of um variables right now so I think it would be a little bit speculative someone to answer any questions Rel to any specifics um other than that this point of school year without the you know concerns for the utility cost and the tuitions um second of year so um with caution but we're we're watching our accounts um and Shen and I are going through budgets line by line question okay
083thank you so much Miss Owen uh right inside the 10 minute uh time frame thank you so much so any questions we'll pause there for now I know you have something else but we'll pause there on the budget update and ask the committee members if they have any questions for you moving out order di just a couple questions and of course we're paying close attention to this because I we have a a very tenous budget situation so our sped tuations looks like we have a short fall of 263,000 um do we have identified a source where we will be able to obtain that money to make those payments no no no because between now um and the end of the school year that that number is going to fluctuate up down up and down we
084could lose a student but student could age out um we could have student come back to us um so there's lot of variables and and with the new directors to the services I know Mr Stapleton is looking um at all his Avenues of you know how can we support some of the children back in our own District um or have collabora um Partnerships with other schools so but but right now we don't have so if if we go to the end of the year what happens do we just can we just not pay them do we have to just cut something else like what what what will happen is other parts of the budget that have not exhausted all their funding will have to so it remains to be seen what where that money would
085come from okay so that's that's helpful um and then I noticed on the more detailed report in the back school budget summary report um there were a couple line items utilities and and I think you your conclusion so it looks like the special ed tuitions on this indication with when looking at the unincumbered balance looks like we're 436 ,000 in negative with utilities $200,000 in negative um taking into account what's already been incumbered I just want to make sure I understand is that another 600,000 that we're 650,000 that we that we need the source no okay no so the special in tuition line item um includes um other things including tuition uh Transportation as well um transportation count 60 special oh they have right the the accurate number for the special education defit right now
086is minus 263 um I can through the line andem okay bu to see you know discrepancy the 436 but currently it is and what about the utilities utilities utilities may or may not come in at that at that negative number what we've done is if if you look we've encumbered so we have projected out through the end of the year and we projected High based on what this past year um look like so we projected High um hopefully it doesn't go higher than that that's um equal to plus a percentage 10 15% increase over the previous year so really not sure it's going to be based on usage and um Fe so we so as of right now again numbers will move but right now we are looking at a $500,000 at the end of
087the year yes and last question is an option that we have utilizing the circuit breaker that will be coming for this that is with the circuit breaker so this is assuming a complete extend ofy 25 oh I have no more questions all right thank you m uh not very wellknown bylaws that the vice chair of the school committee actually takes care of any shortfall at the end of each fiscal year um I move to send that by byw thank you Mr dial U Mrs Hannah do you have any questions for Miss Owen on her on her budget update I don't thank Hannah Mrs leski do you have any questions for Mrs Owen on her budget update I just have a quick question and um forgive me if this has been covered at some other time
088but why is the high school budget almost twice all of the other schools where the pop student population is relatively equal amongst the schools so that we have you know $7 million budget for the high school and yet Osa Deer Hill and the Middle School are all in the four million range so a high school um a middle school can't divide out utilities okay or custodial um cafeteria so they're all in the high school so it does incre make that budget look inflated um just because we don't have separate meters or readings for Middle versus high it's all all same thing like Staffing um the sh Staffing all gets put over at the high school yeah because the Staffing isn't double so I guess I was looking at the Staffing but okay so that that
089makes sense that they're just sort of expenses that it's two schools worth of expenses okay you'll see if you look at the SCH there is no utility budget no your budget okay welcome thank you m leki and just to add a little bit of color to our uh to our financial situation I had asked the um superintendent to provide a sort of tangential update to a potential solution or a potential I don't know uh I guess solution or or yes path path to uh to remediation here so superintendent Shannon could you share with the committee what you have been looking into sure um so when we presented our goals for the year one of those goals was to really look at all of our resources and to do some analysis of those resources and so
090Mrs Owens and I have been doing that and um there is an organization called open Architects and they are basically a financial institution that works with municipalities and they come in and do a financial overview um they come in and they look and analyze our finances in 10 different areas um and they assess our risk in all areas and they provide us with Rec recommendations as to how we can make adjustments so they know that we are expected to be at a deficit at the end of the year um that we will be using all of our circuit breaker funds and still have a deficit um and what they do is they come and they look at all of all of everything the big picture of everything um and they provide us with recommendations as
091to how to close that Gap and so we are we talked to them on Friday and um we are going to be moving forward with their services and we are optimistic that they are going to be able to help us identify a stronger path forward than we would have been able to do ourselves um and they have successfully helped many other districts do this um they are not going to solve all of our problems because some of the problems are bigger than what we can even solve just at this table um you know some of it is inflation some of it is a loss of grant funding some of it are continuing increased costs from out of District providers we've been getting notifications from some of those providers that they are going up in their
092tuitions next year already so we know that that is ongoing um we know that mass the um superintendent Association who does a lot of legislative lobbying is is trying to address some of these issues everything from how Chapter 70 is funded to putting some caps on our out of District um Partners however we think that open Architects can help us with what we can control and so we will be engaging them and our goal had been to come to you towards the end of November with sort of our plan and path forward there once they start they said it's about a six to 8 week process so it may be you know more mid December but we're looking forward to partnering with them and having them in and take a really good look at everything
093that we do and offering us some suggestions and we're optimistic that uh their services will be more than paid for yes by the savings that they identify that's the experience that the districts have had so we were concerned about the additional expense when we're already in a tenous budget situation um but this was a highly interesting solution because um or resource because uh of that structure so yeah Mr um how are they um you pre-aged my my question but how how are they compensated are they compensated by a percentage of savings or they compensated just flat fee it's a flat fee $9,500 okay that's that's around the here um these right and so that's why we felt like it was worth it and then um one solution I think we will have to explore is
094obviously working more with the town about greater allocations from the town resources have we G engaging yet with Chris senior and the and um this m about what we can do there yeah so we've met with um chair M and I have met with them um twice now monthly um we have another meeting in October they are aware of our situ situation um We are continuing to keep them updated um the other thing that open Architects will do is sort of look at that town School relationship and identify if there are any areas there where um they suggest some shifts one as as a longtime resident you you might know this better than I do but one area that I learned is a sensitive nerve is the allocation of new Revenue that was apparently fixed
095in a agreement that was very difficult amongst the town several years ago and so they landed on a percentage of new Revenue that goes to the schools uh and people are you know there was an uneasy happiness about that but opening that to debate asking for more of it might bring out people who are vly opposed to it so that's something that we have not tried to touch in the past um but I would say that given where we are now there's certainly needs for revenue and there overrides or um things that we need to do the earlier we are able to Canvas and campaign for that the better off yeah thank you for your efforts on this I know it's a tough year to come in to be a new superintendent it is what
096it is and you know I think just we're hoping to collectively be able to get creative and figure out all the things that we can do that and help us move forward in a better situation thank you superintend Shannon any other questions for superintendent Shannon relative to that initial update relative to that resource that we're going to engage okay seean we'll U Move Along to now miss ow I didn't oh yeah excuse me I'm sorry it was included in your budget update um folder which is the capital list because we're going to turn towards the initial capital budget discussion led by Zen and again this is our initial discussion so this is like the first time of several that we're going to be visiting this but why don't you give us a high level overview
097of this so thank you all right um so we met as a we met as a leadership team um already to discuss priorities and what what was important to us on the list um we also then had a collaborative meeting um with we we invited um super Shen and and I we had facilities there we had members of the school facility committee there we we had technology there um we had everybody at the table so we doing peac mail meetings um and we you know we focused on school safety um issues of equity um and and we prioritized um really we thought we should prioritize um so it's very very raw um data we had that one meeting um but at least we all know now from each department what what our priorities are um
098you can see here you know some of them are our our regular you know bus Lees um one of the top things that we've talked about for years is Window Shades fixing replacing in all buildings um they're Gathering how many how many shades in each building um they're coming in um there quite a few that are broken um that need to be replaced so um I'm gathering the numbers now and then um Nick or Jak and Facilities will reach out to a company to come out to give us some quotes um same thing on our um replacement of the projectors I believe initially we said we were going to do de Hill but I think we're going to split the projectors between OS good and de Hill so we're Gathering those numbers and quotes um
099security cameras was a top priority um we have many areas that that have blind spots and you can't see um Day Hill doesn't have many inside cameras at all um so we're I don't know if the V it's come or not but we're going to bring in a vendor to walk schools and look at all the areas of need yep they came in and they all the schools with Ron and with building principle in each building so we should be getting that quote soon and then the furniture replacement um de wants to start maybe with some of the main offices um getting some furniture so we're waiting on quotes on furniture for for Deer Hill um middle and high school as well we're looking at some offices the counseling offices we want to get um
100upgraded so this F furniture about off they quite old and damaged um when we walk through so again we're waiting on quotes from them um and then replacement some some replacement desks in classrooms so we'll have a list in a in a number of actual um what what what we're looking for um and we're just we're we're being proactive and getting the quot very early on um so we have ative list um also on there we have we have the quot already is the two the two new athletic band So 43666 for two and then iPads at yeah iPad at oood um we' like each class to have their own set um so we're waiting on quotes on those and then um facilities brought up a soft starter for the elevator the mid High School
101um which we've had problems with and then if you see blow and blue are some of the some of the areas that have you know been discussed of all of our buildings um it we're looking for facilities to build a multi-year plan and take quotes um for our asphalt roads and sidewalks between schools um the roads need to be surfaced the sidewalks and curvings that are broken and extending the sidewalk um from Bar Street um so very preliminary um that's what we have on our list okay thank you m um any any members of the committee have questions res with on the uh on the initial very rough um have not obtained quotes on most of us uh estimates of the cost for the capital okay seeing none u m Hanah do you um do
102you I know you have been um just initially talking about some painting work the Deer Hill School in the rear lot for the sort of to guide people that are coming in engaging that zippering you know pickup line um and I think it would be helpful because we have a new wave of parents every year that come in there right that don't necessarily know and what happens is it it's impossible to get out of the parking lot because people form two lines coming in parking so um do you I can't remember was that going to be um were we looking at that for capital or do you remember how I just put it forward to the side roads and sidewalks Committee in general but I haven't heard back from um Brian who kind of oversees
103that okay um we do have a meeting coming up next week though okay so I should be able to get more information on it there was um there's been several situations though where emergency vehicles haven't been able to get through because there's block up happening that s your street so that happened after the email was sent about trying to get people off the street is there a bur situation so that was brought to my attention yesterday um so I mean it is becoming a bigger issue I think across the board yeah I think it's I think it's a good suggestion that you made and U so like I just I was just want I was asking you because I was wondering if it should because there may be some economies of scale we can realize
104so I I guess could you find out what their position is and then report back and then see if we to maybe incorporate this because if they're going if we're thinking about developing a plan for you know asphalt road between DHS and J it might make sense to sort of roll that if we can't get the money from another okay um thank you and thank you miss moving on uh we have um reports from subit positions or Community liaison positions are there any reports that anyone would like to share this time Hannah no you just kind of gave a Roos sidewalk mki I do not have any particular updates to share at this time either so we'll move into Block H of the agenda which is school committee governance there were not any were not
105topics that were not ra anticipated 48 Hours of this meeting we do not have any minutes to approve at this meeting but we will have minutes soon and I want to add an update about minutes or just a um an issue about minutes the district recently received through me a um request uh for our meeting minutes for 2023 2024 um the request came from a gentleman by the name of Patrick Higgins who um is an an open meeting expert of sorts who I think seeks to enforce certain open meeting laws and has done so uh you know in connection with various districts throughout the Comm off um he happened upon our district and uh in my opinion helpfully pointed out several deficiencies with our minutes and so we I had a nice conversation with Mr
106Higgins and we are going to Endeavor to rectify those issues um we need to rectify issues with executive session meeting minutes and we need to rectify issues with our um posting process as well as some of the content of our meeting minutes we need to list the um documents that were included as exhibits to each um meeting so we're going to be doing this over the Mr cars obviously traveling but I'm going to be speaking with him about it and um and and we're going to make these changes because you know look it's a volunteer board and we are all doing the best we can and we're all very passionate about this and we want to make sure that we're serving our constituency as um in as excellent a fashion as we can so we
107want to make sure that we're fixing all errors that are brought to our attention and so I just wanted to let everyone know about that and we thank Mr Higgins for bring that to our attention and he provided a resource which is sort of a I think a template of a compliant um set of meeting minutes from a district that he I think had formally um done some work with or was associated with so we're going to try and maybe adapt to that template a little bit more as we move forward to make sure that the district is in compliance now things that we have already done we are going to um look into there's either an online training or Council might give us a a a brief training on um open meeting um law
108in terms of minutes and taking minutes and approving minutes also um our superintendent and our assistant superintendent and probably others I don't know who else was involved in this effort but we created a so right now if you're looking to access the minutes for any Town board there's this town website that you go to and I think it's called the agenda Center and you can get these documents and um but it's every Committee in town and uh I don't know that it's all that intuitive but you know you can access them um we have just created a database now on our website where you can easily obtain not only the minutes but also the documents that were used at each um meeting uh so the exhibits like the lettered exhibits on the right-and column and
109this is just this was just done and I just want to thank um Jennifer cettus and Lisa pisi they really did all of the work okay so there you go I I I suspected there was someone else involved so thank you and thank you for correcting me so we can give credit where do um but this was a partial response to you know this inquiry and so we are taking immediate steps and trying to be responsive to that so I just want to let everyone know that uh there was an issue with minutes and we're going to be fixing them and to that um end I'm sure Mr Carr uh will have minutes for us at the next meeting that he is present for and we can approve those are there any suggested future agenda
110items from any members just move along in alphabetical order Mr dial do you have any future agenda items yes two um one I mentioned earlier but uh it would be interesting to have a agenda item talking about some of the trips just going through the here we had Guatemala the Euro trip DC Panama Montreal um and strawsburg as just and then you know could there be a trip for Spanish um you know mention that so just it just be interesting to to kind of hear what we've done and what looking forward would hold and then as a second suggested agenda item um I noticed on our Capital list we have a lot of good items there uh but nothing for the stabilization fund and it'd be good looking forward to see how our planning is
111and I know we're working at the school facilities committee on that to see how we're budgeting for some of the giant items that we know are com in like RS and boilers and and things like that so um so you want the school facilities committee to come if it's school facilities committee or an outline of plan if the school committe if the facilities commit put together a plan of how that stabilization fund will be deployed uh over the next kind of five or so years or if we're doing it just it'd be I mean that that is a pretty significant pool of money that is I think oversubscribed with needs so I just want to make sure we've not lost sight of the planning for it okay yeah we've talked about with that with school
112facilities committee about that and have sort of the next few years planned out that we can do a whole I can share later let's do that we'll invite Jason ears and um we can have superintendent Shannon lead that for us but we can have Mr ears here as well in the spirit of collaboration so ask and you shall receive Mr D thank you m Hannah do you have any future it I do not okay thank you Hannah uh Mrs leki sure um I feel like there's been a lot of great movement on the curriculum project could we have a little update on what is like where we are now and what those final steps are um to seeing that project fruition um and then I believe that last year we also talked about writing in
113the schools and that being a focus of the district moving forward so I just didn't want to lose um that thread and love to hear any updates on that front as well okayy thank you very much and we're going to start getting some spotlights on learning as well in the near future um super Shan and I already talked about that so we're some kiddos in here again we just needed to give a little bit of a Runway to our faculty members for getting you know underway in school year before we started asking to come in after hour with the kids um okay thank you all I'm I just I I sorry zone I'm going to hop into DeLorean and go back in time for a second because I have a question about uh um the
114budget update um could you please figure out what um percentage like what the participation rate is in the in this in the Food Service program um at each building so like in other words just Asain what 100% participation would be and then whatever our numbers are and figure out what that percentage is I'd be interested and then the Garden Club the garden situation the Middle School um that provides the the the food that we saw in the picture there are the kids involved in processing that in other words in like cleaning it and plating it or cupping it I guess you could say so so the students are involved in that yeah I think that was through the Grant Middle School there's some students that are part of the club and they meet they get
115a grant they I don't know that they're I don't know that they're washing and prepping it I think there I think that's The Next Step yeah yeah there's some training I think that has to be involved and some things like thatz yeah uh what about the harvesting right now are they harvesting so they're harvesting at some of the at all of the schools a little bit at times and then some adults are doing some of the harvesting the Middle School Grant specifically this year was about just the planting and then they're going to start bringing the kids in but there's a so yes because the New Garden Club at the middle school just began and that Garden Club will be doing the harvesting um and then the next phase is to start to get the
116classes in for that Grant I just I think it would be really uh enriching for the kids from like full cycle right and then at some point we may be able to have some sort of Farm Stand type thing in the ceter where they're sort of Manning that and showing it's showcasing it and this is what you know it would be really cool yeah because this is that is a Project based learning experience so um and it's just it's shaping up so it's early and I know they just formed I just I was just curious where we're in so so that's awesome yeah thank you sorry everyone thank you for indulging that I just forgot to ask a question earlier all right uh the last item is executive session we do need to move into
117executive session tonight we will not for those of you that are watching at home no one's here in person we will not be reconvening in regular session to adjourn we will adjourn directly from executive session we are moving into executive session in accordance Master's enal laws Chapter 30 capital a section 21 uh subsection A3 for the purpose of collective bargaining and litigation or to discuss collective bargaining strategy and litigation and um we need to do that in a roll call vote I will go in alphabetical order Mr dial oh I'm sorry excuse me is there a motion to move executive session for that reason stated so Mo the motion's been made by Mr dial a second second second by m Hannah now uh we will vote on that motion in roll call fashion Mr di
118I Mrs Hannah I Mrs leski hi Craig mclen I that motion carries by a vote of four members and we are now in executive session we thank all of you that were watching at home for your participation have a great night