001I call to order the school committee meeting of June 8th to 2026 if able please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance Can we do a roll call please Miss Ganther Bess Coughlin Chris Oliver Kathleen Amaral John Nunes Mary Beckwith This meeting is being recorded. It will be rebroadcast on DCTV and may be streamed on their YouTube channel. We have allowed 10 minutes for public comment. We have allowed 10 minutes for public comment from the audience on any topic on this evening's agenda. Seeing none, we will go to the next item, which is this evening's recognition. The school committee tonight would like to recognize the 2025-2026 retirees of the Dartmouth Public Schools Mr. Nunes the vice chair is going to assist with giving out the certificates and the golden apples this is what the retirees will
002receive And one of the things that really impressed me about the list was the longevity of folks. It tells me a lot about the folks, and it tells me a lot about the school system as well, that folks would stay as long as they have. And the other thing that I would say is at this time last year, I retired after 44 years in higher education, and I can say that adventures await you. So congratulations to all. Any day that ends in a Y is a good day. And I just have a couple of remarks before we begin recognizing our retirees. We want to take a moment to reflect on what this evening represents. And obviously it's somewhat symbolic. And a golden apple for decades' worth of service doesn't begin to represent what... We know
003that you've meant to the Dartmouth public schools and the students here. But we do honor a remarkable group of individuals and your dedication, your compassion, your commitment have absolutely helped to shape the Dartmouth community. Each person being recognized this evening has played an important role in the lives of our students, our families. and your colleagues, and you've left a lasting impression that extends far beyond the walls of our school buildings, and we thank you for your service. As part of our tradition, which we started last year, we're proud to present this golden apple to you, and as I said, while it's simple in appearance, it represents an important message. The apple has long been a symbol of education, of learning, and of growth. And its golden color represents the extraordinary value of the work that
004you have done and the difference that you've made in the lives throughout your career, regardless of the role that you hold in Dartmouth. Whether I see that we have somebody who is a custodial staff member, we have teachers here, we have a variety of folks that have spent their whole careers here in Dartmouth. A career in education is measured by much more than years of service. It is measured by the relationships, the challenges you overcome, the opportunities that you create, and the lives you change along the way. I loved watching a few of you walk in and recognize probably the child of a teacher that you knew from years and years ago, and that speaks to the history that you all have with one another after a long and successful career. Your work here will
005live on. We thank you for the countless ways you've contributed to the Dartmouth community, and we are offering you this golden apple as a symbol of our gratitude and appreciation. And a number of you are here this evening, and some aren't, but the ones that are here, we're going to welcome you up, and Mr. Nunes is going to present you with your golden apple and just a certificate of our appreciation. If you're not here, somehow we're going to get your golden apple to you. you either if you're working in one of our schools will personally deliver it or we'll find a way to get it to you and with that I'll turn it back over to you mrs. Beckwith and you will share the names of the folks oh and then you're going to come
006right up behind us and we're going to take a group photo so thank you okay our first retiree is Darlene Blanchett from the Quinn school at 20 years Dale Borges from the central office at 21 years. Don't worry. We'll still find a way to get you paid Scott Boudria from Dartmouth high school at 33 years Joyce Braga from the Potter school at 16 years James Brogdon who retired in December from Dartmouth middle school at 30 years Heidi Chase from the DeMello School at 32 years Doran Cohen from Dartmouth High School at 20 years Sara Dekas who retired in August of 2025 from Dartmouth Middle School 25 years Peggy Gallagher from Potter School 33 years Polly Gilbo who retired in January of 2026 from Dartmouth High School, 33 years. Donna Lamontagne from the DeMello School, 25
007years. Dana Mello-Ducette from Potter, 31 years. Lori O'Neill, DeMello School, 15 years. Peter Rossi, Dartmouth Middle School, 29 years. Kathleen Souza Ponce who retired in November of 2025 from Dartmouth Middle School 28 years and Maralia Viana from Dartmouth High School 22 years We're going to take a photo where is our staff photographer oh that's right we don't have one it's all right Jonathan's gonna take care of us Congratulations everybody. See you Scott. we will now move to approval of minutes I'm looking for a motion to approve the regular session minutes of May 18th 2026 so moved second moved by Chris Oliver second by Mr. Nunes any questions concerns All in favor aye now looking for a motion to approve the executive session minutes of May 18th 2026 so moved second motion by Mr. Nunes second
008by Ms. Coughlin any discussion all in favor aye unanimous We have tonight's student representative report. Tonight's student representative is Amalia Dupont of grade 10. Take it away, Amalia. Good evening. My name is Amalia Dupont and I am a sophomore here at Dartmouth High. Here are a few recent updates and highlights from Dartmouth High School. As the school year comes to a close, students are preparing for final exams and wrapping up another successful year. Class officer elections for next year will be held tomorrow, giving students the opportunity to select their peers who will be given leadership positions. As we also like to recognize Mr. Boudria on his retirement and thank him for his many years of dedication to Dartmouth High Soccer and all the students of Dartmouth High School. We wish him all the best in
009retirement. On Wednesday, June 4th, Dartmouth High School welcomed eighth graders from Dartmouth Middle for Step Up Day. Students were greeted by our orchestra upon arrival and participated in tours, lunch, and a presentation featuring a panel of current DHS students involved in clubs, athletics, band, orchestra, color guard, and many other activities. As the eighth graders departed, the band performed for them. It was a great opportunity to showcase student involvement and school spirit. We also like to recognize our music department as it continues to grow with more than 20 incoming freshmen planning to join the orchestra next year. Congratulations to all the students who were inducted into National Honor Society on June 3rd. This achievement reflects their commitment to scholarship, leadership, service, and character, and we are proud of all those who were recognized. Finally, prom and
010graduation season are underway and many members of the class of 2026 have completed their time in the building. We would like to congratulate the graduating class and wish them all success as they begin the next chapter of their lives. Thank you and that concludes this month's Student Advisory Council meeting. Update. Thank you. Thank you. Any questions for Amalia? Thank you very much Thank you For tonight's presentation we invite Katie Malloy the district's director of school nutrition who will present about the district's food service program Oh, thank you. Oh, my goodness. I'm so excited. Thank you. Oh, all right. Oops. There's a whole pack in there. Yeah. Okay. Oops, there's more. Oh, okay. Sorry. Here you go. Oh, wait, I can see it on here. Never mind. I'm good. All right. Hi, everyone. I'm Katie. I'm
011the food service director for Dartmouth. Can you pull the mic down in front of you? Sorry? Pull the mic down. All right. Hi. I started with Dartmouth just under a year ago, so wrapping up my first year, and wanted to tell you all tonight a little about what we've been working on this past year and what we're looking to do moving into next year with our food service program. So we'll talk about kind of an overview of where we're at. We'll go over some of the three main areas that we've been working on, which is scratch cooking, farm to school, and family and student engagement. And then we'll do a financial review at the end, and then I'm happy to answer any questions that anyone has. So this year, as of last week, we have
012served a little over 330,000 lunches, which is about a 62% participation rate for lunch, and just over 100,000 breakfast, which is about a 20% breakfast participation rate. And we have 36 kitchen staff across all of our schools preparing these meals. So as I mentioned, I'm working in like three main areas to move our food service department forward. The first of those being scratch cooking. And if you're not familiar with the term, scratch cooking is just like homemade food. Taking ingredients and putting them together to make something versus bringing in a frozen bag of something and thawing it or a packaged pre-made product and sending that out. So first and foremost, scratch cooking will improve the quality of our food. If you think about like a homemade lasagna versus a frozen TV dinner lasagna, the homemade
013one is going to be better. When we cook from scratch, it also allows us to make... healthier food that has less processed ingredients, less added sugar, and then we can also increase our use of fresh and local whole ingredients. And it also allows us to diversify our menu and make it more culturally representative of the students that we serve. So this year year one we've really been focused on building a strong foundation So that means we've done extensive food safety training with all of our culinary staff Hands-on culinary training. So how to use a tilt skillet how to use immersion blenders knife skills things like that We've introduced standardized recipes So the quality of food that you get at Quinn Elementary is the same that you get at the middle school is the same that
014you get at Cushman and so on And then we've also purchased a good deal of small wares so that we're able to prepare these recipes from scratch. So that includes chef knives, cutting boards, knife sharpeners, containers, immersion blenders, and just kind of all the basic things that we need to prepare food at volume. And then moving into next year, we will be piloting a 80% scratch-cooked menu at DeMello and Cushman, specifically those two schools because between the two kitchens, there are four staff. So they have the smallest kitchens, which just allows me the capacity to train everybody in year one before we expand it to the rest of the district. The plan is for year two for the rest of the district to follow. The other four schools, Potter, Quinn, Middle, and High, will be
015doing an increased amount of scratch cooking, about 30% to 50%, depending on the school, and again, with the goal for everyone to get up to 80%. And some examples of scratch-cooked recipes that we'll have, although this is really limiting, there's a lot more than this. We'll have homemade muffins, homemade mac and cheese, charisse and kale soup, and a million other things. Other area that we're working on is farm to school and local procurement. In Bristol County, there are over 500 farms and I think there's 30 in Dartmouth alone. So we're gonna work on purchasing from them as much as we can so we can support our local economy and also strengthen our regional food system resiliency. Sourcing locally also allows us to have a more seasonally appropriate menu. And then it also starts to build
016a connection between the students and the food when they're able to understand where it comes from and that it comes from nearby. So this year kind of similar to scratch cooking we're really working on building a foundation to build off of and building community support We've increased our capacity for farm to school By increasing our ability to cook from scratch when you cook from scratch you can use whole ingredients when you can use whole ingredients you can source them locally We've also worked on establishing local partnerships with local food producers Including coastal food shed, which is a food hub out of New Bedford Meatworks, which is a nonprofit meat processor in Westport, Red's Best, which is fish out of New Bedford, and a bunch of others. And then we joined a statewide Northeast Food for
017Schools Challenge, which is run by DESE and a movement to really purchase as much as possible from New England and New York across the state of Massachusetts in schools. And then looking at next year, our goal is to source 30% of our produce from New England and 40% of our beef right here from Dartmouth. And then we're also creating professional development opportunities for our culinary staff. This summer, there will be two... Training field trips for kitchen staff to go to a local farm and a local food processor So they can learn more about the farm to school Things that we're doing and then share what they're learning with the kids on the serving line so that the kids are then excited as well And then the last big area that we're working on is family
018and student engagement. I think this is especially critical in school food because school food does not have the best reputation, although we are working to change that. But I think when we engage with families, we're able to increase trust, increase participation. Right now, our participation is... decent because we have free meals for all in Massachusetts. But I think there's a lot of room to grow there. And I think when our kids and our families become familiar with the work that we're doing, they'll be more excited to come eat with us. The engagement also gives us a channel to get feedback on what we're doing and learn how we can better adapt to serve our families. It also allows us to provide better cultural representation for our families and it creates opportunities for food literacy so
019families and students again understand where their food comes from and are able to build lifelong healthy eating habits. So this year so far we I have attended two PTO meetings. Then in April last two months ago. I facilitated a farm to school dinner at two mellow Elementary We got grant funding so it was no cost of families and we prepared a fully scratch-cooked Primarily locally sourced meal that families could come and have everything in the meal will be on the menu next year So families were able to see it They came through the line with five compartment trays sat at the lunch tables really got to experience the whole thing and then we had local farmers there that could meet with the families and we had just shy of 150 people show up to that
020so that was an awesome event and moving into next year my goal is to do more of those I'm trying to balance my capacity, so I'm not sure what that will look like, but we'll definitely do more. I'd also like to attend at least one PTO meeting at every school and bring samples, get to talk to parents, hear their concerns, hear what they want to see on the menu. I'll be working with the middle school librarian on a student focus group so I can get some very specific... direct feedback on what kids want to see on the menu, what they think of the recipes that we're working on. And then we'll start doing monthly cafeteria taste tests. Because we're putting new scratch-cooked recipes on the menu, I want to make sure that the kids are
021excited about them, know what they are. When they come through the line, they've already tasted it. They're like, oh, yeah, it's the kale and sherry soup. I had that last week. Putting in the cafeteria taste test so that the changes we make are successful during the lunch period. And then sustainability, this is kind of woven into... all of the three previous things. But we're working on reducing plastic packaging. In school food, we have something called IW products, which means individually wrapped. So that's like when you get a muffin pre-wrapped or anything else pre-wrapped. Next year, we will not have any pre-wrapped products unless they're maybe on hand for an emergency, but they will not be on the regular menu. Every school will have reusable or compostable trays depending on their dishwasher situation. We'll be sourcing
022local. We'll be adding some plant-based options. We're working on some composting systems. And we piloted a United Way partnership at the middle school this year that will expand. That helps us divert food that is otherwise edible but cannot go back into the kitchen so that we're not wasting it. And then for a financial overview, this is as of May 19th. We have brought in $1.7 million in revenue and have just over $2 million in expenses. There is about a $300,000 gap there, which is primarily from us, not redoing, but revamping the middle school kitchen. They got new ovens, steamers, tilt skillets. And then that also included a lot of plating. plumbing and floor electrical work. And then we also installed air conditioning in DeMello and Potter kitchens. So that's where that 300 gap comes from.
023But that money is coming from our cash reserves, of which we have about 1.5 million. Our operational costs are essentially break even right now. We have also brought in four different grants this year totaling a little over $50,000 combined including a farm to school grant from Henry Kendall Foundation, two different grants from an organization called Balanced, one that went to the farm to school dinner and one that's supporting us in adding plant-based options on our menu next year and then an in-kind grant from the Dairy Council that provided us with immersion blenders which we can use to make make smoothies and dressings and soups and a bunch of things. And that is all I have, and I'm happy to answer any questions. Questions, very impressive. Thank you. Very good. Thank you for your presentation. It's
024great to hear all the wonderful things that you're doing, you're trying to bring forward in Dartmouth. So I personally look forward to seeing what the next year brings, especially I'm happy to hear about more and more scratch cooking. I think that's going to go a long ways. I think that's what our students need. So I'm happy to hear that you're piloting that in a couple of schools and hopefully growing that in the following year. Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. Yeah, I don't have anything else to add. This is a wonderful presentation. Thank you. Thank you for seemingly your creativity of the grants and those sorts of things and all of the points that you made and really engagement to kind of flip the script on school lunches. So thank you. It's great. Mr. Newts? So
025I guess I'm the one with questions, which is fine. Questions are good. Excuse me. You talked a little earlier about, you know, reducing sugar and things of that nature type of deal. How about salt in items? We'll use me as an example. I'm a cardiac, and the amount of salt I'm supposed to intake is very limited. So, you know, when you're cooking, how do you do that? Yeah, so we follow really strict federal regulations. Next year, it's becoming a little more strict. So next year, our sodium limitations will be, depending on if it's elementary, middle, or high school, between 930 and I think it's 10. 1080 milligrams of sodium, which is roughly three quarters of a teaspoon. Also, we have to serve milk and there's 200 milligrams of sodium in milk. So take that out
026and it's even less in terms of putting it in the food. I have a background as a chef and I think with a culinary background, there's a lot of ways to make food taste good without salt using different seasonings and different cooking methods. We make it work. And I think also, you know, we're serving kids starting at three years old in Cushman. So we're able to develop a palate for kids where they're not like heavily relying on salt as flavor. I think right now, most of us, if we taste food that doesn't have salt, we notice it. But if we start you off at three years old and you go from there, I think it won't even be something that's noticed after a few years. Dating myself and going back to my auditing days when
027I did municipalities and school districts and such school lunches and such Used to be looking at commodities from USDA. Do we still get those? Do we get any large amount? So we get commodity dollars that we allocate every March. And then we can allocate them in three different directions. One is DOD, which is produce. One is like brown box. So it's just. food that we order from the government and then they send it to us and we have to check off a bunch of boxes earlier in the year that say we want $2,000 to go to beef, $4,000 to go to chicken, $1,000 for frozen broccoli, and so on and so forth. And then the last one is considered processing dollars. So that's money that we would say, like, we're giving this to Tyson for
028a chicken tender. And then they take that money and they subtract it from the cost of their chicken tender. The most value... comes from the brown box where you order from the government, which is what I allocated the majority of it to. And then I took some of the processing and allocated that towards kind of higher quality or products where higher quality, I think, really shows like cheese and things like that. Okay. And my last question is, how do you design the menus? I mean, you know, when you look at a menu, it's every week, it's different. How does that come about? I'm currently designing five menus, one for preschool, one for middle school, one for high school, two for elementary, because one elementary school is doing scratch cooking pilot, the other two are not.
029So I'm living in menu world right now. Start with the recipes, and then making sure that the recipes one, meet all of our federal and state regulations in terms of nutrition, that they have all the components. Next, I check that they meet our budget limitations. We have roughly $1.50 to $1.75 in food costs per meal, which is pennies. So I make the recipe, make sure it meets nutrition, make sure it meets our budget, and then I start kind of... putting them into the menu. What I'm doing next year because we are cooking from scratch is taking the easiest days and the days that are not from scratch and putting that on Monday. So when my staff come in for the week, they're set up ready to go and then they can have time to build
030up and prep for the scratch cooked recipes. I think about balance. Do we have five days of chicken one week and five days of beef the next week? Switching that up a little. I also think about balance in terms of equipment. Do we have a menu that requires three different things to be cooked in the oven when we could have one in the oven, one in the tilt skillet, one in the steamer, so we're not waiting on equipment while we're trying to prepare? I also think about color. Do I have a menu that's like... chicken nuggets and brown fries and corn and it all just looks brown on the tray or is there variety there? And then I also try to think about how will the students perceive this? Do we have a bunch of
031popular items on one day and then the next day things that probably aren't popular across the board so there's no balance there? Is this something that the kids are going to like if the answer is yes? Great. If the answer is no, No, but I personally think they should like it. Then what do I need to do to get them to like it? Like if I put roasted broccoli on the menu, maybe they don't like it. But if we do a tasting, then we can get them to like it. So thinking about if I put it on the menu, what do I need to do? Do I have the capacity to do that right now? How do I make that happen? I think that's it. That's my process. Thank you very much. Great presentation. Thank
032you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Yes, Katie, thank you so much. This is great information for us, especially if, you know, parents grab us in the grocery store and want to tell us about their, you know, what their kids are eating at school, et cetera. Two questions for you. One is you talked about the participation, the user number. Has that changed substantially in recent years? I can only speak from last year to this year. I'm happy to pull the numbers from previous years. But from last year to this year, we've dropped about 2%. And I think... realistically that's because we've been tightening up on some of the compliance pieces so there's going to be a slight drop but my hope is next year as we start to improve the quality of the food we'll actually see
033that. not just go back up, but go further than it was. Yeah, good, good. My last question is, can you tell me what a tilt skillet is? Sure. A tilt skillet is my favorite thing in the entire world. It goes my cats and then tilt skillets. It's like a giant thing, this big. It has a heat source underneath it, so you can cook directly in it. But then it also tilts. So if you put, let's say, 200 gallons of soup in there, if you did that on the stovetop, you can't lift it unless you're like Superman. But if you do it in the tilt skillet, you can tilt it into a container and then transfer it. It is the most important piece of equipment when you're cooking quantity and want quality as well. Great. Thank
034you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Any more questions? I'd just like Katie to plan my menu for me. Katie, could you do that? The one last thing I'll just say is the sample that I gave you. If you were wondering what it was, because I forgot to say that. These are frozen yogurt bars. It is a oatmeal brown sugar crust, yogurt and fruit on top. Frozen cut into squares. They'll be a little bigger for actual breakfast, but this will be a breakfast item next year Less than 10 grams of added sugar super easy to make all my staff tried it at the high school today and we're very excited and Custodians at de Mello one of the custodians at de Mello said it's better than ice cream All right, thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank
035you And it's still frozen. Looks good. Your freezers are working great. We're going to move to consent agenda. Dr. Saban-McGuire is recommending approval of two requests. The first one is, it's not on the agenda, but it's the Dartmouth Music Department field trip. It's a request for next April, April 2027, to go to New York City. We've got some folks here to tell us about it. Thank you. Oh, you have it printed? I think I have it open. Oh, yeah, I have this, too. I have it open. I'm good. I got it. Good evening, everybody, and thank you for being here for us tonight. So I'm here with Mariel Kripkella, the band, chorus, and so many other things director. So I'm really excited for the first time since I've been here for sure, which is about
03622 years, we've never gone on a music department-wide trip together. And so this will be the first one that we've ever done. We're going to Carnegie Hall because we might as well go big. So we are hoping to go with your approval with a tour company called Harmony Tours. We were accepted to the program at Carnegie Hall by sending in video footage of our students playing. So we had to get accepted and we all were. The trip will be April 24th of 2027 through... It's five days and that is the only time it's happening. So that's when we have to go. It does require us to be out of school for three days, which is tricky. It's at the very end of April vacation. So we would be leaving on Saturday. tour will conclude on
037Wednesday night with a concert at Carnegie Hall. So students will know Tuesday night. Yes, so we'll be back on Wednesday afternoon. And it's every day they're going to be rehearsing for two to three hours with world-renowned conductors and then sightseeing and Marielle would like to tell you a little bit about what we're going to be doing beyond the performance. We'll be also working with students from all over the country. So our students will be paired up with people from orchestras and bands and choirs from different states. And yes, we'll have three days of rehearsals and sightseeing with the conclusion of the concert at the end. I think it's going to be fantastic. And tomorrow night we are meeting with all of the families to propose the trip and go over all the details. Alrighty, so
038I know on those hands out that you have you're able to see a detailed itinerary But I want to just give you some of the highlights here. So on our first day on our first day, we head into New York City and right off of the bus we are introduced to our tour guide and the students will have the opportunity to either choose to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the American Museum of Natural History. I did a little research on which exhibits will actually be featured exhibits in each of these museums during the time that we will be there. At the Metropolitan Museum of Art, they will actually have a Japanese, ancient Japanese ceramics exhibit. They will have a Korean figurine exhibit. They will have several. exclusive featured exhibits while we were there.
039The American Museum of Natural History is also home to, I believe, the largest complete Stegosaurus fossil, which is pretty awesome. And it was also where Night at the Museum, is that correct? Night at the Museum was filmed, so it's a cool scene for the students. After that, we'll head off to dinner, which will be at one of the four dinner options that we have chosen with our Harmony Honors tour guide. That includes either Ellen Stardust Diner. Has anyone heard of Ellen Stardust Diner? The one where they sing at you while they bring you their meals. It's really awesome. Then from there we would be whisked away to a performance at the Metropolitan Opera of La Boheme. And that was the inspiration for Rent. Is that true? Yep. So it's like the original Rent, but it's
040in Italian and it's super cool. Then the next day is when we begin our rehearsals and each of our three ensembles may be paired with a like ensemble and therefore a different conductor. So the options for the orchestra conductors are Jason Max Ferdinand or Kevin Ngo. Jason Max Ferdinand is currently the choral professor at the University of Maryland. He has been everywhere in the choral world. Kevin Ngo. He has also been everywhere in the orchestra world. Jason Max Ferdinand would be conducting the symphony orchestra, so that would include the masked choir, so that's why I mentioned the chorus students in that one. And then the orchestra students also have an opportunity to either be placed with Jason Max Ferdinand or Kevin Ngo. We just haven't figured out which one they're with yet. Kevin Noe is
041also a world-class conductor. He has been the professor of musical direction at University of Texas, Austin. He has been at Duquesne University. He is the conductor for the Pittsburgh New Music Ensemble. He is also everywhere. The band will be with Frank Ticheli. Hopefully a familiar name. He is also a huge name in the concert band world. He has been at University of Southern California for several years. He was also the conductor and composer in residence at the Pacific Symphony. So the opportunities that these students will have are truly college and university level. So they are going out and doing things that are. An incredible opportunity, right? Very, very advanced stuff. So once we have that rehearsal, then we will once again have lunch, and then we'll head to a matinee performance of Hamilton. We asked
042the students today, and we said, how many of you have seen Hamilton? And a lot of hands went up. And we asked, well, how many of you have seen it live? And still a lot of hands went up. And we said, okay, well, how many of you would be willing to see it again? And all of the hands went up. So it's a good opportunity for these guys. We'll have dinner again. Then we'll return to the hotel. The next day, we have rehearsal again. Then we will be taking a walking tour of Lower Manhattan. We have several stops on that walking tour. It includes the Oculus. It includes the Seaport. It includes the 9-11 Memorial and Museum. It includes One World Trade Center. It includes what else? Yeah, a lot of different things. So then
043we will head to the One World Trade Center and ride to the top for an incredible view of the New York City skyline. The next day we will have our dress rehearsal. Then we will explore Manhattan shopping in Central Park. We'll have a dinner and then this is the moment we've all been waiting for. We'll be performing in Carnegie Hall, which by the way, we'll be sharing the stage with performers such as David Bowie has performed there. The Beatles have performed there. Ella Fitzgerald, Miles Davis, the list goes on. And even Tchaikovsky. which is really cool. He was there on the opening night of the hall. We have our performance. We return back to the hotel. And then the last day, we get to take a Circle Line cruise with all of the student participants.
044So hopefully they have made some friends with people from across the country. And then they will get to ride off into the sunset, if you will. So that's the itinerary for our Carnegie Hall tour. And if there are any questions at all, or Ms. Church, anything you'd like to add? You did a great job. Fabulous itinerary. They proposed an itinerary and we were like, that's not good enough. So we went back again. Hamilton needs to be on the list. They need to see their first opera. And we want them to be very busy. keep them busy not actually thank you sounds great fantastic madam chair make a motion we approve the Dartmouth public schools field trip requests for New York City Carnegie Hall performance for April 24th through the 28th 2027 Motion by Mr. Nunes,
045second by Ms. Coughlin. Any discussion? Mrs. Can I just say one thing? Because it just, as you were speaking and we were talking about this trip, it just drew me to thinking about our vision for the Dartmouth Public Schools students. In one statement, Dartmouth Public Schools proudly provides unparalleled opportunities that lead to educational excellence and lasting success for current and future generations. And this is such a powerful example. those kind of opportunities that we and you as a committee have have committed to for the Dartmouth school community so thank you so much for leading this effort that's amazing our pleasure yes thank you very much is this all in favor aye unanimous congratulations thank you good job Our second item is the Dartmouth High School Marching Band and Color Guards request permission to operate the
046food concession at the Dartmouth Living Memorial Stadium for the 2026 football season So moved Second Motion by Mr. Noon second by Mr. Oliver any discussion all in favor aye Madam chair I'm a member of the association and I work in that concession okay along with everything else so I'll abstain okay four ayes one abstention okay we move to old business we're looking for an update on the town budget advisory group suggestion regarding school district audit I'm going to ask Mr. Oliver and Ms. Coughlin, the committee's representatives to that group to give us an update on this committee. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. So it's been a couple of weeks now since we had that joint budget advisory meeting and if I'm being honest, I you know, you know, I was trying
047to get some answers, you know, I came to this This table here at the last school committee meeting, you know saying that I think we something we should consider But we needed some kind of pathway to that and kind of in my opinion you know exactly what are we looking for as well as if we're going to do this it shouldn't just be a focus on the school department it should be focused on the individual apartments across the town and by the conclusion of that meeting I was no we were no closer to getting, in my opinion, getting an answer to what the finance committee, the select board, and what everyone jointly was really looking for. I didn't find, I was a little bit disappointed at the last, I'll be honest with you, and I'm
048just speaking for myself. I was a little disappointed at the way the meeting went. I was hoping for it to be a little more productive. And I felt as though, not pointing any fingers, but I felt as though we took a few steps back with some of the discussion. And there's this, I'm trying to find the best, most. the best words to put this out. There's this mantra out there that amongst some community members that the school department, because we make up the largest selection, the largest portion of the budget, that I almost feel as though that, you know, that there's a lot of, unfortunately, finger pointing. from members in the community and in the town. And I went into this trying to be collaborative and wanting to be collaborative. And I still want to
049be collaborative. However, you know, if you're looking for an update from me, I really don't have anything else to say. I don't, you know, I can't support at this time any kind of remote, whether or not remotely. worded audit or study or evaluation I can't support that right now because I don't feel that we were given any kind of definitive lens to a purpose to yeah purpose for that so I it was an I'm I'm looking forward to our next meeting but at this time I can't support anything remotely around an evaluation audit or study I would mostly concur. I would say at this point the Budget Advisory Committee is finding its footing and doesn't quite agree or coalesce on the exact path forward. But we did decide that for the next meeting, hopefully we
050will have a list of questions that anybody on the committee would want answered, and then we would review. those to see if we all on the committee agreed that they haven't been answered or need to be answered by a third party so hopefully we will find common footing and be able to move forward it's been a little chaotic I just we do need to work together we do it just seems very disorganized at this point and maybe it's just because we're a new committee I don't know well thank you for those specifics in that update any questions for them Or anything you want to say, Mr. Kiley? Only that I concur. I mean, I think the group has... lacked a little bit of direction in terms of where we're going to be headed next. And
051we are meeting next Monday, the 15th. So hopefully we have a productive meeting. But yeah, I think without a real understanding of the goals of the group and how we're going to proceed, I think it's not been the most productive. I know at the last meeting we talked about You know all the ways that the school department is audited and assessed and and I know the school department is prepared to provide that information to us But I think at this point we should probably put that on hold because that's a considerable amount of work until after this next meeting and see if That's even necessary Yes Anything else on that topic we good Thank You Chris Thank You Bess Okay we'll move to new business and we have a request for an extension of the
052current special education transportation contract Dr. Saban-McGuire and Mr. Kiley are requesting the approval of a one-year extension for the district's current special education contract with Tremblay's Bus Company LLC Any discussion, questions? I do think, Mr. Kiley, you wanted to share a couple things. Sure. Yes. Yes, thank you. So just before we get to the consideration of the extension, I just wanted to let you know that we received notice from Tremblay's bus company that they are being sold. to the Student Transportation Association. Student Transportation of America actually is the corporation that is purchasing the ownership interest of Tremblay's. So it's interesting. Student Transportation of America has bought some other smaller bus companies in Massachusetts in recent days. And they are the third largest student transportation provider in North America. So they're a very large operation. What's
053been shared so far, so the purchase has not been finalized, but what's been shared so far with us is that they will be buying the ownership interest of Tremblay's and operating Tremblay's Bus Company, LLC. So it's not that Tremblay's is going to become the Student Transportation of America Corporation, part of it. It's that they will remain their own entity. at least for the duration of our contracts with them. So it will also mean that our understanding is that most of the staff that are at Tremblay's will continue to remain at Tremblay's, which is good for us. We have a great relationship with their staff, and they provide a high-quality service for us, including the vice president, who we... Luke Tetreault, who we actively work with every day, is going to remain on as a consultant,
054a halftime consultant for the new group. So we've verified and checked with legal in terms of we're under contract for regular ed transportation for one remaining year. So the end of the next fiscal year, June 30th of 2027, we are under contract. So we'll be going out to bid anyway for that sometime in the next six months or so. And then we'll determine, you know, who our provider is from there. But they're committed to honor our contract. They're required to honor our contract. Hence the the additional consideration, which is why this is on the agenda tonight, of the consideration of an extension. So special ed transportation is like other special ed services is exempt from the chapter 30b requirements so it's not required to bid it out. You can bid it out but in this
055case what we would be proposing is that the extension for fiscal year 27 We've negotiated an offering at $5.09 per mile, which is the exact current rate in fiscal year 26, so a 0% increase for fiscal year 27, which takes some worries off my plate for sure. With that and so that would cover us through the end of the next school year and again We'll you know have to watch how things evolve in terms of both our relationship with with student transportation of America staff that are now involved in the operation And you know the impact that that has on our students and families so but I would recommend that we do You know we do Extend that by the one year at this point Questions? Mr. Oliver? Thank you, Madam Chair. Just out of
056curiosity, Mr. Kiley, any thoughts or any inclination from them as to how they were able to offer us with rising fuel costs the same? I think it's great, and obviously I'm voting for it, but I'm just curious as to how they're able to keep that number. I do have an idea. So primarily on the special education side, they are well situated with their current fleet of vehicles. So they will not need to purchase a large quantity of vehicles. So that's one way. But in addition, it was expressed to me that we are a significant... part of Tremblay's Bus Company LLC business and there's an interest from Student Transportation of America to attempt to maintain a good working relationship with us and hope that you know we can continue down the road with that business so
057I think this is you know a bit of an olive branch in that in that regard and hopefully hopefully it's something that uh you know that works for us and if it doesn't then we'll proceed in another direction but um you know i think for the next year it'll be a process where you know at least the next six months or so before we would have to proceed with bidding out a contract um you know it'll give us an opportunity to evaluate the service sure no thank you and i think this would be a good point to share at our joint budget advisory meeting how we're or how you're keeping uh special education costs down good point good point other questions do i have a motion madam chair make a motion that we uh approve
058the uh special education transportation contract with uh trembly bus llc for uh school year uh 26 27. Second. As presented. Second. Motion by Mr. Noon, second by Ms. Amaral. Any discussion? Are you ready to vote? All in favor? Aye. Aye. Unanimous? Thank you. Our second one is FY26 end of year authorization. Mr. Kiley is seeking our authorization to extend any remaining funds across the FY26 function code slash line items as we customarily do in June of each fiscal year consistent with school committee policy DBJ. This process will allow the district to Address any overages as well as any other needs consistent with our district strategic improvement plan any Specifics you explain that very well madam chair. So the all I will add is that Any any funds that remain Consistent with you know our practice
059in the past we would allocate towards strategic plan initiatives Principally high quality curriculum materials technology if there are any you know funds remaining so I'll make a motion that we approve the transfer authorization second motion by mr. Oliver second by miss Coughlin any questions discussion just Just mr. Kyler. You'll give us a printout at the end when everything is done as to what you moved around Yes, sir. Thank you all in favor. Aye Unanimous. Thank you. And the next one is that the South Coast Educational Collaborative has asked that we take a vote reappointing Dr. Saber McGuire as Dartmouth's representative on its board of directors Make a motion Second second motion by mr. Oliver second by ms. Coughlin any discussion? All in favor? Aye. Unanimous. And it is now time for the superintendent's update. Great.
060Thank you. So under teaching and learning, we've had some great opportunities for our students recently. I've been talking about all the wonderful things that are happening for the last couple of months, and that continues. And so even though we technically only have two full weeks of school left, there's still lots happening in our schools. Just this past week on May 28th, we had 19 of our Dartmouth High School students who attended the Light Foundation Leadership Academy at Bridgewater State University. Were you there, Mrs. Amaral? Your daughter was there. Your daughter. They joined about 200 other students from nine communities across the region and participated in leadership activities centered around the theme of Own Your Power. On May 29th, 20 students representing five teams from Dartmouth Middle School, Dartmouth High School, they participated in the DESE
061Regional Civic Showcase at UMass Dartmouth. I know a few of you were part of that and got to participate and see students and our teachers' work in action, but our students were able to present their civics projects and receive feedback and recognition for the work that they were doing. Most recently on June 3rd, we had a team from DeMello and two teams from Dartmouth Middle School who also were at Bridgewater State University participating and now for the third year. The Invention Convention, and although we're used to winning, they didn't take home the top prize this year, but they were recognized for their creativity. The DeMello team earned the award for the most likely to be marketed. And one of our middle school teams received an award for most likely to impact the earth. So obviously,
062as I said, lots of really great things happening every single day. We get to read the morning messages at each one of our schools every morning, and you can see that there's a lot happening. Under safe and supportive schools, I'm going to invite Mrs. Paveo. I think we're going to be joined by, I'm not going to say your name. correctly Rachel sorry D is D is desire up to talk about our after-school program and how that went we just finished it up and as you've heard us talk about it's been a really exciting opportunity for us to implement another piece of our strategic plan and this was truly important in a great collaboration with our town so thank you Thanks Dr. Sittemagwaya. Good evening everybody. We'll be pretty quick. We just wanted to highlight. This
063wonderful partnership, as Dr. Saban-McGuire said, is always the case. We're going to route this right back to our strategic plan because this was a really great example of two of our strategic focus objectives, right? And so under Safe and Supportive Schools initiative, under Safe and Supportive Schools was to expand and enrich before and after school programming at all levels to provide students access to a club or activity within their interest and also to establish and strengthen the relationships and opportunities to engage with the school and the group. greater community and so this was such a perfect example of that and we just wanted to come and sort of highlight a little bit of what our students were able to do as Dr. St. McGuire said this is Rachel Desilo I said I was gonna learn
064how to say it right that was my goal for the day Rachel is the substance abuse substance use program coordinator for the town and she's going to talk a little bit about the partnership that we had All right, thank you, Katie. So this after school program was the result of the collaboration between Dartmouth Public Schools and the Dartmouth Advocates for Addiction Recovery and Treatment, also known as DART. Funding for this project was provided by DART, excuse me, through the use of opioid settlement funds. These funds have been acquired through the Attorney General's office as a result of legal action taken against pharmaceutical companies as a result of their role in the national opioid crisis. The use of... sorry, the uses of the funds are outlined by the Massachusetts State Subdivision Agreement, which is publicly available
065on mass.gov. In the agreement, four pillars of spending are identified, prevention, treatment, recovery, and harm reduction. The agreement goes further to identify several priority target populations, including youth, as it relates to prevention of substance misuse. The elementary after-school program was created as a means of prevention, education, and connection. Having healthy social networks and healthy attachments in childhood predict low risk of later addiction, according to the NIH. These spaces created through the after school program give students the opportunity to engage with others, learn about healthy hobbies and mindfulness practices in a safe and trusted space. Ultimately, this program represents a prevention focused investment in our community's youth utilizing settlement funds to strengthen the connections, skills and healthy supports that help young people thrive. So the logistics of the program, we were able to run a program
066in all three of our elementary schools. We had 44 students enrolled at the DeMello School, 72 at the Potter School, and 85 students at the Quinn School for a total of 201 students who are able to participate. We were very grateful to have site coordinators at all three of our buildings who really managed the day-to-day logistics of the program throughout the six weeks that we ran it. And these were our program offerings. So you'll see there was a really wide span of things for kids to choose from. We had kids playing chess. We had kids who trained for and just recently ran a 5k. We had kids who were doing a book club. We had kids that were doing craft circles. So there really was something for everybody to get involved and the kids had
067a great time. And Rachel's going to talk a little bit more about some of the feedback that we've received from families and teachers and kids. Alright, so yes, students, teachers, parents, and caregivers were invited to provide feedback through survey engagement. Parents and staff completed digital surveys and students completed a brief paper survey asking various questions related to the operations, quality, satisfaction of, sorry, and satisfaction of various aspects of the after school program. These surveys will be used for continued program improvement. So just looking at the column for the families on some notable pieces of feedback included this club was amazing for his mental and physical health The after-school program has helped my child read and write better than when they had first started Both of my kids really enjoyed these and were excited to go
068every day My son did chess and really got into it He practices at home and has been learning more about the game and then a student was identified and they truly enjoyed being able to play chess with other like-minded students who had shared interests in one of his favorite hobbies which is very encouraging to see. So 44 parent responses were collected within 24 hours of survey distribution, which I just want to thank all of the parents that were so timely with their responses. It is very, very appreciated. And we currently, as of prior to this meeting, we have a total of 57 responses, which is great. So when asked about positive changes due to participation in the program, other feedback indicated students were motivated to count their steps, they had more patience when things didn't
069go well, probably at home, better sportsmanship, pride in their accomplishments, building new friendships and having social interactions, feeling part of something, coming home calmer, and lots of parents reported smiles from their kiddos when they got home, which is just what we want to see. So when asked to rate their satisfaction in the variety of program offerings, parents Parent ratings indicate a 9.3 out of 10 overall satisfaction with program offerings, which is awesome for just our first session. When asked to rate the program's overall impact on their student, 0 being a negative impact, 10 being a positive impact, parent ratings indicate a 9.6 out of 10 overall impact, which leans overwhelmingly to a positive overall impact on the students. And finally, when asked to rate their student's overall experience in their chosen after-school club, zero being
070very bad, 10 being very good. Parent ratings indicated a 9.7 out of 10 overall student satisfaction. It's pretty darn near close to perfect, so I'll take it. And all 57 respondents reported that they would sign their child up to participate in a future after school program offering under this program. So that is just fantastic. So under the teacher section, you'll notice again some notable feedback, including, I loved having the opportunity to connect with students in a different way while exploring yoga, mindfulness, movement, and reflection together. Watching their confidence grow, their personalities shine, and their smiles light up each session made this program truly special. Another one said this program was a great opportunity to get to know students in a different setting I love seeing their joy when they figured out a game and found
071new ones to add to their own collection So we have ten staff responses thus far and other Responses were as follows so staff were staff were asked to rate students overall engagement in their programming Zero being not engaged and ten being very engaged and staff ratings indicated a nine point six out of ten overall engagement Staff were asked to rate based on their perception the overall impact of the program on their students, zero being a negative impact, 10 being a positive impact, and staff ratings indicate a 9.4 out of 10 overall. And finally, when asked if staff would sign up to facilitate a future after-school club under this program, all 10 that we have so far responded saying yes, which is so encouraging. So there is one dominant opportunity for growth identified by staff responses.
072sorry, by staff responses, which is communication to families of program signups. So communications related to the program were sent solely through ParentSquare. And just one piece of information is that staff do suggest using multiple pathways of advertising to boost program visibility, which I think is fair. And overall, the feedback included. Overall feedback included digitally through surveys and communicated to me during site visits were overwhelmingly positive among students, staff, parents, and caregivers, which is great. And then finally we'll move to students. So you'll see on the screen there is a sample of one of the surveys that we gave the kiddos. Really simple, but I think it covered a lot. It said a lot. So we asked students to... For a couple different pieces of information, student surveys captured whether or not they joined the club
073based on a new interest, an existing interest, and we also did want to know if the club did not interest them at all. We also asked students how participation in their chosen club made them feel, the things they learned, and if they would join another after-school club under this program. 96.4% reported their club helped them try something new or let them do something they already liked. And under the second question of the six options presented, you'll see happier, more confident, like I belonged, bored, sad or upset, no different. The overwhelming majority of student responses that we have are under the happier, more confident, and like I belonged, which again is very encouraging to see. For this is my favorite. So the things that we learned for the students some of the feedback that we received
074Was that students learned we are all a family how to make new friends how to be nice and generous How to do yoga and to never give up which is very nice and of the 167 student surveys that were completed 103 students indicated that they would join another after-school club next year and some even followed up by writing in their own a thousand times yes which you'll see highlighted on the screen or absolutely so we can just tell their excitement based on their responses and some of the ones that did come back as a no or unanswered were written in as they will be moving on to middle school next year so that does make sense. And overall the feedback from all three groups was overwhelmingly positive with a consistent emphasis on student enjoyment, personal
075growth, and meaningful social connection. Responses from students, families, and staff suggest the program successfully created opportunities for youth to explore new interests, build confidence, develop positive relationships, and engage in enriching activities outside of the traditional school day. So that's what we have. I don't know if you have any questions for Rachel or for me. Thank you so much. Questions? Great presentation. Fabulous program. How long are the opiate funds going to last? How long will we be getting them? Yeah, so that's a great question. We get incremental... payments annually. Um, so as of now, I don't have the exact number on me, but we've received payments of just over $600,000 as of the last fiscal year and will continue to receive incremental payments through 2038. Um, yeah, which is fantastic. Dartmouth is receiving just about $2.1
076million and there have been additional sign on opportunities since we received that figure. So we will see what is, what is to come. Great. so I'm just thrilled to hear the positivity out of this and this is something after school programs programming at the elementary level I think is huge I'm just really happy that the district was able to partner with dart to put together this and I'm very optimistic that this will this will happen again next year based on the positivity so wonderful job we appreciate the partnership and thank you Katie thank you Also, I'm Audrey Thomas who's sitting in the back who was my co sort of director at the district level So I just want to thank her for helping me run around we did it and Rachel came to the schools
077and saw the kids got to see her and It really was a true collaborative effort and I it was a wonderful partnership with the town So and I think the other part of this is that next year will start the fall. So this was our first year. Rachel and I have had kind of preliminary conversations about we think we could do probably three sessions similar to what the middle school runs their schedule and the middle school is also really helpful in us to sort of learn the logistics. They run a very successful after-school program there and they were wonderful meeting with Audra and I about sort of how they come to do all the work that they do and so we very much appreciate that partnership as well. Mr. Newt? Yeah, thank you, Madam Chair.
078Thank you very much for this. This is fantastic. You know, to Chris and Bess, you know, when you have your next budget sub in Mr. Kiley, here is more evidence of what's going on. This is, you know, not our budget money. This is, you know, money funneled through the state. you know, for us to use, you know, as you said, out to 2038 type of deal. It's, you know, not costing taxpayers any money, if I'm reading this correctly, because it's coming, you know, from the pharmaceuticals. Yeah, so that's correct. It's not taxpayer funds. This is directly from the pharmaceutical companies. And just to clarify, so the $2.1 million figure that we'll be receiving, it is going to be utilized in different areas of the town as well. So this is just one of our programs
079that we've started, and I'm really excited to partner with you guys with this. It's been great. And thank you for doing this. know if keeping our students engaged after school you know as mr. Shea always says at the high school school does not end at 203 so it did up until this year at the elementary school yeah and so I'll just transition right into family and community engagement because this is a really clear example of a time when you see blurred lines between safe and supportive schools and you can make a direct connection to after-school programming and safe and supportive schools but you can also see the connection to family and community engagement because of the relationship that we've been able to build with the folks at the town level and to be able to
080lean into the what the dark group is trying to accomplish and thinking of ways where we could connect that to what's happening in our schools. And we have some other plans to continue to strengthen that relationship over time. But that's a really clear example of that community engagement piece. And so as I've already said, this, as you know, is one of the busiest and most, it's a celebratory time in our schools and families have had plenty of opportunities to. Sort of be invited in to share part of their students school experiences through things like field days We've had those going on at the elementary level middle across the district. There have been concerts there continue to be Chorus concerts band concerts. There are award ceremonies happening recognition nights and we still are looking forward to
081our upcoming eighth grade promotion ceremony and of course Dartmouth High School graduation it was only a week ago and it was certainly a wonderful graduation the weather cooperated I love that we've moved outside and we've been very lucky but what was really amazing or really stood out to me at this past graduation were the student speeches and how impactful they were about, you know, a couple of different focuses. But I think that from what I could see in looking at the graduates, they were really keyed in to what the students had to say. And how about Andrew Moniz handwriting a note to every one of his classmates? That was pretty incredible. And that speaks, I think, volumes about the students that we have here in the Dartmouth community. So what I know you was mentioned
082was that we did have the Annapolis, I mean the Cochran King Memorial Trophy Invitational, which was the sailing competition. Just to update you on that, we talked about that at the last school committee meeting. Our students placed fifth overall. Which again, in talking to Mr. Christofoli was quite impressive given the competition that they were facing. I mean, we're one of very few local public schools that. actually had a team competing most of the teams competing again this speaks to what I talked about earlier around the exemplary and amazing opportunities our kids have our public school kids are competing at a national level in a sailing competition so congratulations to our students I'll also mention that the DEF grant program is open. I know Dr. Tebow has put out some communication to the district teachers reminding
083them to apply. The program is open, the opportunity for submission is open until June 15th. And as you know, DEF grants can range from $250 to $3,500. And we have approximately $15,000 that has been and can be awarded to educators across, at least across the last grant cycle. also made possible by the generosity of the Dartmouth community this is again connects back to our community engagement piece and I think it's something that's really well received in the district for the Dartmouth spelling bee so maybe next year the committee will have a team that could be fun to see we could have you compete Under budget and capital improvement, as you know, many of you, again, were there. This past town meeting, our budget was approved. We're incredibly grateful to our town officials. We're grateful to
084our select board, and we're grateful to our town meeting members. And Mr. Kiley and I were talking about this, but this really isn't just a one-day event. This is a year-long effort. And, Mr. Kiley, if you, I have in here just an update on some capital improvements and if you just want to make comments about the budget. Sure, sure. Yeah, I mean, town meeting I thought was very well run. And I appreciate the efforts of the town administrator and the finance director to. Really, I think all the work we've done to collaborate with them is, I think it's evident by the way town meeting operated. They answered questions on our capital improvement articles. That's never happened before. So we really appreciate it, and we've certainly reached out to them and thanked them since then. Hopefully
085that we can continue to develop that relationship even further. So the MSBA has assigned an owner's project manager for the high school roof project. It's Collier's Project Leaders. They are in Agawam. And they've also assigned a designer, EDM Studio, out of Unionville, Connecticut. So they're both coming from a little ways away. But we had our kickoff meeting last week. It was a very positive meeting, made some good progress in just one meeting. And they will be down here at the high school on Thursday for their first site visit. So I'll keep you informed of our progress with that. There's a lot to the project. We're in the schematic design phase. And during the schematic design phase, we will develop the options to replace the roof, essentially. So during that, we'll be doing a lot of
086investigatory work along with the owner's project manager and architect, and then we'll know exactly what we have to do. We have, in terms of scope, to accomplish. So then we'll be bringing that back to the MSBA and you folks and talking more about schedule and when we can actually get this thing done. And so I'd like to remind you or update you, is a better word, about where we are with kindergarten registration. So I did commit to updating you on a regular basis. Right now there hasn't been much difference from the last time I reported out to you. So at the DeMello we have 45 total students registered. We have 51 students registered at the Potter and at this point we have 81 at the Quinn remembering that some of those students are also connected
087to specialized programming. And so we'll continue to watch that closely and we'll update you if we start to see any concerns or an influx of registrations. I'd also mention that, and I know you see because you see our updated job postings, that there seems like there are quite a few going out. Well, we just celebrated our retirees, and that's part of the reason. And then other just reasons why things like that happen around hiring and job. job openings has to do with people's personal life circumstances and so We're also really hopeful because we just advertised ESP positions and RBT positions. And so we have a good handful of positions that were really helpful. And at the same time, we advertised just a week ago our associate principal at the middle school level. And I think
088we have at least a dozen and I think more applicants for the positions. So we are getting applicants for the positions that are open here in Dartmouth. And we're excited about that. And so I think that's it for me for tonight. So thank you. Thank you. Any questions? No. Great. And for the report of the chair, I just have two quick items. One is we were going to wait until after town meeting to decide on the June 22nd meeting. Last year we canceled that meeting and just kept the July and August meetings. Thoughts about that? Mr. New? Yeah, Madam Chair, thank you. I guess my question would be to Dr. Saber-McGuire and Mr. Kiley. Is there anything on the horizon that you can see that we need to meet for? Not to my knowledge at
089this point, no. There isn't a reason that we would need to have another meeting. I know you have the budget advisory meeting coming up. I'm not sure you know what that's going to entail obviously but really we'll need your support in terms of signing warrants and approving bills but that can be done you know outside of the school committee meeting of course just let us know on the warrants okay personally And just me, if there's nothing earth shattering, then I don't see why we would need to meet, but I'm one person. I don't. Anyone feel strongly that we should? No, just the off chance that we get somewhere with the budget advisory. If we really felt we needed to meet, we could always call a Zoom meeting because I think that would be the only
090thing on the agenda. But I don't have confidence that that will be pressing. Okay. Okay. All right. Do we need a motion for that? No. No? Okay. So we will at this point cancel the June 22nd meeting, and if we need to meet following the Budget Advisory Committee, just let us know. Yeah. And the last thing, and this can be email me or email Mr. Nunes, for topics on our August 25th school committee workshop retreat, Sean Costello, our mask field rep, will be there and has just asked if he has to prepare anything beyond talking about roles and responsibilities. So if anybody has anything right now that they want to say, okay. All right. If you have any ideas, just email me or Mr. Nunes, and we will take those into account. Okay. Any other
091matters that may not have been anticipated when the agenda went out? Madam Chair. Yep. Mr. Nunes. Yeah, thank you. Just on a serious note, just, you know, we talked about, You know, there's been a little bit of discussion. Dr. Saban-McGuire has talked about, you know, high school graduations and that. And I'd just like to congratulate the senior class, the senior prom, the after prom was just... Absolutely fantastic. I mean, the venue for the senior prom, the kids, the young men and women had a blast. And then back here for the after prom, same thing. I mean, there was plenty for them to do. And, you know, I didn't see anybody sitting there going, oh, I'm bored type of deal. They had a blast. So my congrats to the senior class and, you know, for the
092after prom, for everybody that. you know, had a hand in putting it together. It was a great, you know, evening of the sea type of deal. Cruising. Great. So it was good. But, again, just that's. I just have two things for consideration. If we could put on one of the next agendas, the SMAC quarterly update. And I'd love to hear, I know in recent year the preschool program has been updated. We went to a half day, so I'd love to hear, you know, in one of the upcoming meetings, if not over the summer and the fall, about how the preschool program is going and how we're doing with enrollment. Great. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, so our next regular meeting of school committee is scheduled now for Monday. Is it July 21st? 22nd. I got
093July 20th. 20th. 20th. July 20th. Yes, July 20th. And we were going to try to do 5.30 p.m., correct? Correct. Right here in the Dartmouth High School Library Media Center. I'm seeking a motion to adjourn into executive session pursuant to MGL C30A21A2 to discuss strategy with respect to non-union personnel where an open meeting would have a detrimental effect on the school committee's bargaining position as it's related to the assistant superintendent of finance and operations. So moved. And not to reconvene. Motion by Mr. Nunes. Second. Second by Mr. Oliver. Roll call, Ms. Gentner. Ms. Coughlin. Yes. Chris Oliver. Yes. Kathleen Amaral. Yes. John Nunes. Yes. Mary Beckman. Yes. This meeting is adjourned.