001so I'd like to bring the conical originals called committee meeting order is nowhere on zoom' and being recorded and I will bring the Concord School Committee meeting to order at the same note Molly and I were talking earlier and just to kick this off in the name of the fact that we're having so many meetings and trying to be efficient with them we wanted to just kind of start highlighting quickly at the beginning what we're trying to accomplish here tonight so that we can try to get through it efficiently tonight it's a relatively light agenda we do have a couple things to bring up in the there's reports that are important and things to at least think about but then under reports for discussion we as might have been noted if people have looked in
002earlier today the ninth grade academy update it's gonna be postponed until next week since mr. mr. Lowe is doing important prep for a zoom meeting tonight a welcome meeting so we just have our kuba 19 Casper's update and our budget update and then look into executive session so that's what we're doing tonight we thought we'd kick off first are there any public comments oh and to review if you haven't been a part of one of these before if you'd like to make a comment you can as a participant raise your hand push the raise your hand button and we will see that there's a Henry's if you're on your phone you can dial star nine oh thank you when your phone star nine we learned something new about zoom every day seeing none we'll keep
003going if we've missed anybody you can jump in and we'll try to catch you later correspondence we just had two emails to both full committees one was just a marketing one the other one was about basically equity and some of the questions that we've all been talking about recently and giving us some great questions to think about that was in a correspondence so we'll go right into chairs and liaison reports as I mentioned a couple things here one that I will point out we've all been forwarded an email from the MAS the math Association of school committee's asking us to consider signing on to a resolution which would in effect ask the state to fund any kovat 19 related mandates so asking them basically not to give us unfunded mandates that we have to then
004deal with I forwarded it would it be helpful if I read it or do you all want to just take a look at it and we can discuss it further next time might be better unless people have specific comments about it we wouldn't change it no given that it's coming from multiple committees frankly take a look at it and we put it on the agenda for next week and move it talk about it voted up or down something sensitivity yeah for people listening in it was a very simple very simple statement that said appealed to the legislature for full funding for Kovac related educational changes that's basically all it says if anybody wants to see him they could email this committee and we'll send it to him it'll be on the agenda later this week
005correct yep okay perfect and the second under chairs reports was again back to equity something that we all wanted to think about and Court I think you drafted something for us to consider yeah I did I'll preface it with the note that I did attend the session about talking about race and racial injustice with our kids that was hosted by Laurie and Kristen and Andrew yesterday and it was I thought exceptional work so thank you for bringing in your your experts dr. Martin was somebody that I think we should all pay attention - so you've got a great resource there and we need her you you called it out pretty specifically last week Laurie you you put it in print you said racism is in our schools you're you're making it discussable in a new
006way so thank you for that and you also said that that that's in another communication you refer to this national event this national horror that we're experiencing with the death of George Floyd as being a beginning and it is it is a beginning for many of us but but it's also a continuation of decades and decades and decades of work so it's both it's more of the same but it's also a beginning and thankfully it's the beginning the the fact is maybe this school committee doesn't have to make a formal statement anybody who knows the people on this committee I think knows that we we say what we believe that we do have a deep respect for human differences and the dignity of all but my concern is that in the absence of a formal
007statement maybe there is one or two or ten people out there that might misinterpret and might say that we're not being proactive enough and we are attempting to be proactive notwithstanding the fact that yeah we all know we are reacting also we're reacting to a video that nobody can put away ever again you know it's out there and it's out there as a message for us so I tried to be faithful to Open Meeting Law and simply asked committee members to share some ideas with me based on some thoughts that I shared independently with each member so that we weren't doing any bait or discussion other than what we're doing here in public I think statements by committees are tough statements by committees on zoom' are probably tougher still but but our effort is I
008think unnecessary ones so I can do a screen share Heather if you want or I can simply read it what's the easier I can do both I'm happy to just read it so this is a draft a statement to the community the killing of George Perry Floyd jr. is the most recent in a long line of crimes and in justices that are made possible by persistent bias and discrimination that is embedded in American culture mr. Floyd's death has elicited a widespread call to action and put new energy and commitment toward achieving our goal of racial equality and an end to hate systemic racism and institutionalized prejudice have taken root in our culture and our schools over the past 400 years enough is enough quote unquote is the appeal that these school committees this School Committee
009and school leaders here is a new call to action it is our call to action does hope for a better future died today at the knee of systemic racism we reject that does love for others died as we witness in horror eight minutes of cruelty we reject that does our personal dignity die when we discover that our hands casually remain in our pockets while we witness injustice we reject that furthermore we promise that you will not find our hands in our pockets we have work to do in the conquered and conquered Carlisle schools and we are committed to that work cultural awareness is one part we need to provide our children with positive growth opportunities and first-hand experiences that teach responsibility for the safety and dignity of others we expect the schools to develop more
010across community programs that leverage Concord and Carlisle's privileged position and benefit communities beyond our own toward this end we ask the support of the entire community we commit to listening and learning and acting for change so that the children and families we support are empowered to lovely' and transform American society and realize the dream of equality for all we understand that the killing of George Floyd killings plural of George Floyd and countless other men and women and children of color over the course of our nation's history is made possible because people have accepted it white people have learned this acceptance implicit bias is real and powerful and among us we have learned that it is quote excuse me learned that it is easier to quote go along to get along unquote but we've been grievously
011wronged all along the truth is that it's time to change we will do the necessary work of listening and learning and acting for change so that the children and families of Concord Carlisle and Boston that we support are empowered to love learn and transform American society you realize the dream of equality for all racism has no place here we rededicate ourselves to the cause of racial justice and respect for all human beings thank you garden I'd read and also hard work to put that together court thank you so much for taking the time and also for taking the thoughts from each of us and aggregating what we added to your own needs a very powerful statement that you've put together for us it's heartbreaking that we're doing this and that we have to do it
012do we we've all had this in its original draft form now have this turn you have this one ow as of a few minutes ago as well representing contributions independently from school committee members I think I would say timing is of the essence and it might be if people are okay to support this that we suppose we didn't we should vote to post it so to do that we'd be does anybody have a problem with that person is waiting for next week beautiful ease that Court thank you so can I have a motion for both committees to accept the letter I'll make a motion to accept the letter that mr. booth just spread and I also like to [Music] - posted is that correct yes we do accept the statement as a statement from the
013whole committee SEP better yeah so I'll make a motion that we accept mr. booths saving that he just as a statement from both Connor and Connor Carlyle school committees I'm sorry we have a second for that yes what's not good for gondry good job we need a second for the region right then all seconds of the regions second for the region okay only that I hope this and encourages us and gives us the fortitude for many discussions that that have had meaning mr. Modell is not with us yet tonight but he expressed his support provided his thinking but also was quick to say in his estimation actions really matter which is not to say our words aren't important but will be judged by our actions I agree this is not a statement that stands alone
014without action behind it it's previews action stated something last week during our meeting about this incident and when things are in America today across the globe actually I do want to point out that you know we have over the last two or three years I've been working hard and cultural competency and I think we've done great work throughout the districts but certainly what has happened with mr. Floyd's death and the sea Oh cry that that's created if we're fortunate has turned the time and we as a society will take a different approach of the way we've been dealing with racism and and the statement points out that we here or we have the most effect what is agreed thank you let's take the vote by roll call Tyrolean so rainy rainy for both for both
015food I for both mister fear what stop the i-4 region Johnston I for both thank you thank you hmm anybody else committee reports liaison reports so under this for Brandon's report so while I just jump in quickly the Concord Finn comment last week yeah I think we're going to talk about it during the 21 finance update but there was there was a discussion about capital or articles and they didn't I don't think they really mentioned our capital articles per se but they could have missed it I was listening a hundred percent the other thing there was an interesting conversation about the middle school project and perhaps in a future meeting we could maybe review in a little more detail where that project is but it was a good conversation so other committee members went to
016watch it if they have leave your time okay thank you and yes I'm sure we can do more of an update on the middle school project some point as a reminder right now it's that committee is kind of wrapping up some feasibility work and taking a pause so there isn't a lot to update right now um through the chairs I could speak briefly in regard to the policy subcommittee great just to give people an update that two weeks before we moved suddenly to our online world the policy subcommittee met and to quickly review we spend most of our time this was mr. Ayer liqu dr. hunter mr. Miguel Dorothy presser out of MA SC as an adviser and myself we spent most of our time on two policies that we believe need attention and need
017inclusion in our policies one civil rights and hate speech and I'll speak to that first if people look at our policies which are important they do guide what happens in our schools we might find some overlap with non-discrimination policies harassment policies several gang activity policies bullying prevention policies school the student complaint policy student conduct policies our administration has a lot of tools the discussion was around whether this was a necessary additional tool a policy specifically around civil rights and hate speech the initial opinion from our technical advisor was we've got we've got this covered but to give credit where credit is due evolve err lick before he resigned from the committee pressed hard and after considerable discussion it was agreed that dr. hunter and his would work on drafting a policy to be brought back
018to the policy subcommittee so I want members to know that this work is in progress albeit slightly interrupted what do what do these policies do they put additional what tools at the disposal of school leaders to manage and correct and try to restore if you will what would otherwise otherwise happen absent a strong policy like a hate speech policy the other one that we're working on was around gender identity and that too is a discussion in progress and that will be brought to you for some updates because that one does exist at a future meeting so with that what I'd like to do is suggest to you that before school reconvenes notwithstanding our online world that the policy subcommittee we can be but I have to know and this is where the chairs need to
019attend to membership on these subcommittees we have now two members mr. Modell and me and were absent mr. Alec so that's status of policy Laurie do you want to add anything I don't know if I properly introduced this to you prior as an agenda item Laurie there so I'm gonna guess that I characterized the her role in this accurately she was miss president or working on it yeah no you did Court absolutely and we should get back to that we abandon it for good reasons but it's really important that we don't leave it there so no good thank you okay thanks Court and so if there are no was there any other liaison reports then we can move on to the superintendent's report good thank you I'm actually gonna kind of take that same topic
020and just talk a little bit on the work we've been doing this past week much of my time has been focused on both planning for the sessions that Court referenced and was well attended last night and there's a second one tomorrow night for secondary parents the panel will be the same myself Kristen Herbert and rune amici and then as Court mentioned dr. Paula Martin who's been one of our consultants for years on cultural work and Jean Thompson Grove who's also been a frequent consultant to us and the partnership that they bring and the resources and we did record that last night where it's up on the web page and we'll be sending that out we posted the presentation and we'll do the same for tomorrow night and be sure on last Friday we met with
021Andrew and I and the high school administrators all met with the Metco families from the high school parents and kids and it was - the court referenced you know maybe it's not a beginning but something's different this week and you know I don't think I'm just creating that I think I'm reacting to it too we were able to open up a really frank honest conversation with them in a way that I don't think we'd had before and we had to hear some really hard things about being a Medeco student at CCHS and obviously this is inclusive of any Concord and Carlisle resident families as well of not feeling included and more blatant racism than that as well so it was a really important conversation Andrew and I haven't been able to articulated all that well
022yet as we're processing and I know Mike mr. Lowe and his team as well there was just so much to take in and they came ready to share their stories but also with a lot of suggestions you know and I think that was equally powerful and moving on I've been on calls with other superintendents and courts emotion is not unique we had a pretty tearful session among superintendents last week a number of Metco superintendents went into Boston and were able to stand next to Milly and make statements to the press about the on behalf of all the Medeco superintendents and our commitment and I just can feel something's different the energy heart energy not necessarily positive but some committed energy for something to change is different this week and I'm getting that both in the
023forums and in the conversations and by email and I think there's been an ability to start to talk differently I think it's turning from cultural competency to true anti racism and I think that's a pretty huge turning point and one we're gonna have to work at and sustain it can be a flash in the pan if we don't keep attending to it but I'm I'm hopeful and I'm encouraged and that's actually been really empowering in such a hard time to feel like something can be better and you know I've said in a couple of forums you know maybe we can't change everything but I do think we can impact the world our kids are in in our schools with some long slow hard work and everyone's engagement so we're grateful for the response we've had
024so far and look forward to more to come hopefully more people will join us tomorrow on a totally different note in tone just updates on where we are with opening up the school campuses to the community Jared and I are working on the the guidance coming out about kovat management as faith too starts to take hold just as coming regularly and often and we're trying to keep up with it so we are starting to engage with community groups and usage of the fields it's an eight page protocol document on half of which is about the organizer of the activity and half of which is the facility operators responsibility so that's us so Jared and I met today Aaron John kiss is going to be a lead on this as well as Ian rains Jared's business
025assistant business manager we're making our way through and it'll it'll get there I know the community is anxious for some opportunity but we need to do it right and carefully so we're going to take the time to get the process in place and liaison with the groups and then start to make access available but it may might take us a little bit the advisories just came out Thursday I think and there's a lot to sort through and make sure we're in accordance with the recommendations and requirements for safety and that's got to be first so that that plus the budget and the other things we're going to talk about tonight with the task force so and a lot of end of your things that are just really great that's why make mr. Lowe's not here
026tonight as a senior awards night that I'm hoping you'll wind up so I can go to at 7:00 and middle school awards night we have five we have four more car parades next week at the high school all three elementary schools in the eighth grade virtual ceremonies and opportunities so we are definitely in the end of this school year trying to keep all our traditions afloat and support kids and families as we celebrate such an odd crazy year that um you know it's fun to see some positives to work around so so busy time busy time are we gonna have further discussion about the fields later on the meeting does that well I actually would like to spend more time with Jared's in his Aaron and and we need we're not quite ready to talk
027it through I'd like to bring you some of our process and protocols we're looking at putting some forms together reflective I'd like to get a little further along before we start to talk on it I didn't have it I just in terms of jurisdiction mm-hmm my understanding is it's really the Concord rec that controls most of our fields in terms of usage after school and in the summer is that not correct it's not completely conquered wreck they book the Doug white field and the town's spaces we do all of the other spaces that are regional no I'm not time combat like at elementary schools oh yeah our primary foot because of that Cynthia you're absolutely right because of that our focus right now is on the high school and the regional campus so everything outside
028the Doug white field at the high school yeah thank you okay let me just jump in quickly before the next thing I and not to keep returning to it but in terms of the racial inequity pieces like you said it's an emotional thing and I get a very emotional talking about it and and your leadership in this is really deeply appreciated because it's so encouraging to hear how you take it so seriously as well and that we really are all in this together to make some change and that it's as well I said we've been focused on cultural proficiency for a while and will redouble those efforts but this is this is bigger and it's a new direction and just yeah I really appreciate your leadership in helping to take us in that direction thank
029you then we can move on I think to reports for discussion and as mentioned we're not doing the ninth grade academy update tonight because Mike mr. Lowe is about to do some awards so we can go right into the cove at 19 task force update good thank you so last Wednesday all of the working groups and building based groups met very successfully I have to say I'm really excited by a few things that came out of those one is the energy to is just continuing to see the depth of expertise in this community and the willingness to volunteer that expertise I both I know in the group I was part of but in talking with the others other folks who were in the other groups I you know we just couldn't asked for a more
030robust group of experts to join us so we feel very fortunate about that as well as huge engagement by the parent community and the teachers we're still plugging more kids in into more groups so that's been exciting and really as I got ready for tomorrow's big taskforce meeting where we'll share out what each of those groups spoke on and the discussions that happened each of them worked on some Parshin of creating the vision there was at least discussion of the SWAT or homework of the SWAT and then just had you know topics of their own areas that they're responsible for so whether it was health and safety or whole child or operations or blended learning or one of the building based committees it started to translate a bit in those conversations as to how that's
031going to come together so what we're doing tomorrow and the large task force meeting which is open to everyone that information has already gone out we're going to update and look at the vision which really started to come together one of the working groups we had a bulleted list when we left the last big district task force and every group then had their own discussion and own recording session and one of the groups I don't even know which one started to put it more into a narrative rather than bullets and it just started to come together so last night I was able to compile the bullets from all the different groups and just continue to add to the narrative and so we've got a really interesting draft to look at tomorrow that really captures the
032perspective of every group that's involved in the vision we'd have over the next year for them and I thought it was just really thoughtful so I'm curious to hear the feedback from a large group tomorrow because things did start to really sync up and there were themes there and yet every group was represented so I'm here looking forward to that conversation each group tomorrow will report out and we asked members of each of the working groups and building based tax forces to take on that responsibility and share highlights of the meetings of last week and then we'll spend some time in a working session tomorrow and breakout groups through zoom to start to study the guidance that's come out in addition to the fields and all of that we're getting guidance regularly from deci on
033June 1st we got early childhood and care guidance which is driving the daycares and the camp processes we also got guidance as to PPE purchasing on the 5th things I did not include in the agenda for the task force because we're still studying it and I'm waiting for my call with the Commissioner for more feedback we did get guidance should districts because the camps and daycares opened deci started to move from saying all remote special ed to you could possibly do special at in-person we're still studying that and the depth of protocol and prep and practices we'd have to put in place there were one point that I had concern about that's still being debated up in the commissioner's office and with us the superintendent's waiting for clarification and I it capped groups at 10:00
034and I wasn't ready to have the task force study that until we got more clarity on whether that's gonna roll into the school year or if that was truly a summer indicative if that rolls into the school year there's a lot of concern on the implications of that because group size being 10 means you can't just split class in half the way we might have all been envisioning and some of those other things so we're waiting for clarification on that so I didn't include that in there but it very much those documents reflect very much what I did include so we're gonna do some time together in smaller groups going through those documents and then sharing out reflections and thoughts from each perspective of whomever you are as a representative stakeholder on the committee and
035then we're lined up to be every other week so that one bounces forth and off of the other we still expect guidance from deci that we believe will be varied next week that I hope will then become a big portion of the discussion and feedback for the committee's to be looking at and starting to strategize implementation and finding things that are going to work and finding things that are going to be a challenge and starting to get those named so I'm excited for tomorrow I actually have gotten pretty energized with this process maybe because I don't feel so lonely I feel like I got an army around me now to try to accomplish this and I think we're off to a good start so every every week one of those groups will meet and we're
036plugging away toward the later part of July still trying to have a plan put to paper and along the way we're working with the unions on staff surveys the administrators are working on student surveys at the middle in high school and we as a task force will be working task force and school committee working on a parent survey over the next couple of weeks so and then we'll go from there so I think we're off to a good start more two more to report out after we get through tomorrow's shares up sharing out and such great thank you Laurie one one one question and I don't want to alarm you or anybody else although it may we we the community can wait for a lot of the details on September roll out but one we
037can't and that is one of the odds that there'll be a look at the school calendar yeah no that doesn't alarm me that's very much on my mind I expand this was something the committee will have to think through I don't expect the commissioners been very clear that he believes that the start date of school is a local decision because it's bargained and part of our contracts so we have not heard that there would be a statewide effort to bring anybody back earlier and such but that doesn't mean depending on if whatever they say to us about the proposed split sessions and things like that I feel like we would want to go back once we know what direction we're going there for example on conference dates and early release states and some of those
038things that in a normal year we wouldn't give a second thought to it seems like at some point the calendar should come back in front of the committee just to be sure it still is the most sound plan okay thank you yeah no a very good question very good question and lawyers you know that the ten plus two adults number was it's been widely reported in the press so I have maybe a little bit wrong like you're hoping or low so we actually got an email this afternoon from Tom Scott who's maa the superintendent's Association director everyone's aware that what got put out his guidance for possible summer services if districts felt comfortable and ready to do that got grabbed by the media as the document to guide the fall that is not what came
039out this week so he's making sure we know that and saying that there will be more to talk on as we get the official guidance about the fall next week and yes we're all of all things that's in there so far that's been put out that's the one that you know if 10 is the cap with two adults you can't just split kids up the way we might have been envisioning and pretty quickly you're into how many kids can come to school at a time is it half or is a third that kind of question which is huge and you're getting in your into staffing issues and things that people can't afford at this point so thank you Cynthia for that because the media did grab it extensively this today especially in you know put
040it out as if it was the plan when it's not it's the it's the guidance for how you might do summer school over the months of July or into August if you feel ready to try that so you know communication and all of that we'll try to be sure we share out everything we know as we know it and if questions come up because the press is anxious for things we're happy to clarify at any point anything else hey thank you for all that anybody else has questions I have a question regarding the summer for the special education I sell did the recommendation that if possible to bring the special education students in person in July for some remediation work is that something that we will be looking at with this ever changing situation and
041recommendations dear Ruth and I have had a lot of conversations about it the guidance there's lots of conditional language all through that if you feel ready and you feel it's safe being so soon after we've seen any of the direction this is going whether it be the daycares or the camps or now special education services in the summer there's an awful lot to figure out there and because our summer services we have upwards of a hundred students who qualify that's a very big undertaking for us and we aren't sure we could be ready in that amount of time so we've we've been really leaning towards remote which is what most of the districts are saying are sticking with because we're prepared and can do better job of being prepared for that we understand there's challenges
042with remote learning for some students but we we need to be sure we're ready and the protocols and training and the staffing and all of those pieces that if we'd had the months of April and May to work with might have put us in a different position so there's been it's been quite a discussion at my level ever to answer your question among superintendents and special education directors and I was on a call this afternoon with this Dessie associate commissioner and again on Friday with the commissioner and really they put it out in case the district feels ready to do it I know Carlisle's looking to do it the program they're smaller and a little easier to manage I think we are we are not feeling like we're going to be ready to do that
043this summer and are not looking to do it wrong so that's our take tonight it's pretty fresh off the press so we're going to keep talking about it but I I'm awfully anxious to jump in with feet first and not have thought through and made sure we had it all accurate and we haven't spoken any teachers or anyone yet to see even if we have people interested to do it where I'll lined up for remote though so we're gonna probably stay the course okay thank you yeah thank you it's we've given the state some feedback about the challenges of all this last-minute guidance they're giving and the questions it breeds we totally understand why I think so yeah so two things related to the budget tonight we got a request from the Concord Town Manager
044through the from the Select board through the town manager to look at our review the warrant articles and give consideration to only essential items so Jared and I have been talking and that's that's fairly simple for us we need to remind them that the parking article is not being moved because that still shows on the warrant list so we can remind them of that obviously the budget articles are essential for both districts so that really only left up for discussion of any kind was our capital article which is part of the town manager's budgets but we thought it made sense given the request and given how much things have changed to review that with you and see if you wanted to modify the request Jared can give you an update on where we are with
045the projects that are in there there is room for discussion on what we proposed and put forward and even if we're gonna seek to spend the whole nine hundred thousand so Jared you might just a minute for a minute looking at the are the plan yep so next year our biggest cost always sees the ER use then we're going to be at the alcohol thorough those at this time have been postponed we would need they would have to be a good ten weeks of lead time once we the project to somebody for them to get everything in so we would have had a start earlier so this is something that we could maybe do during one of the vacation weeks you're probably looking at next spring so that's you know 80 percent ish 75% of
046our ask as well as there's a hundred thousand in there for the middle school just life and safety as well as some other items smaller items that could probably the boiler exhaust their high is the in the AC chiller at the Willard so so nothing at this point is we're acting on them at this point while waiting for funding the one question you mentioned the middle schools and I think while I might have brought this up too but given that the middle school project is on hold we don't know for how long we hope it's not a long extended period of time but we don't know do we need to be thinking about any more money that could need to be put into the middle schools if they need to last a year or two
047longer than we initially thought you know hopefully again hopefully it's not that long but but we don't know yet yeah I apologize for some reason my computer is gonna die okay I'll answer why you no problem so you know I in thinking on it you know we have we still have chronic things and so far they're little right so we had a issue there last week with a pipe leaking or whatever and so far the hundred thousands been perfectly adequate to manage those in reviewing the State of the Union over there with the infrastructure I don't think I don't have a crystal ball but I don't think you've seen any major change if we were going to be delayed 10 years on the middle school then things are totally different five 12 months to 18
048months I think you're in the same ballpark of having some risk always having some risk but not having anything become a higher priority at a cost level that would be my impression so I think with the hundred thousand we haven't had any issues with staying within that in the last few years so there's no sign that that would change at this point so I'm comfortable I guess that's a long way to say I'm comfortable with the hundred and sorry about that I did hear all that I agree with that again if we had a crystal ball and we knew it was going to go wrong then I'd say we need X but it's just it's reactionary money its contingency so yeah so reactionary meaning in the best sense of the word its contingency for needed
049life safety repairs that if you don't find them you're not going to look for them correct we find them hard we do check those buildings on the weekends and every day since school closed and we do generally find them so there's especially water we keep finding little water you know pipe problems and things like that so you I guess to your point we try to be sure nothing's going going bad without us being aware of it that's going to turn into a major problem so I think it is reactive but it there's a little proactive attempt to not let it be so reactive we're into a major major cause issue yeah and we were fortunate during some winter events that things that could have gone very wrong didn't sure the building checks every day has
050been a big help we haven't come in on a Monday really in seen something we've always you know lead the Carter on the Saturday or Sunday or the night of so really continue that for as long as the building I'm sure is open and you've got your building shut down safety protocols in there to keep things healthy so you can turn things back on without any additional risks yes okay can you come back to the energy recovery units thorough and all car are the priorities what is the for lack of a better word what's the degree of urgency or the degree of risk were they to be or one were to be put off or are their intermediate band-aids that in a time of potential austerity we should talk about right so I did talk
051to Russ about that he thinks putting him off one year won't be a huge huge deal we would do some preventative maintenance on them just checking them out making sure that they're working they're just not efficient right now so are our utility bills that I was hoping would go down a little bit because of this not huge money but those 1c savings there so I think this is something that could potentially be but not for very long so would a would a possibly responsible move on our part be to and I'm just thinking out loud here I know that's dangerous tell the town manager that were we could discuss delaying one but not both so they are staggered and so we don't pile on the requirements for fiscal 22 is that is that a way
052forward that would be the wisest so the order of priority at least how Russ sees it would be the alcott so we had plan to start there any plan to start there first and it was a two-year project for both as you can see that we have that so it may be stretching it out over three years it will have to be done but an Alcott right now is the priority so if we if if we could you know push off the row for a year and I'll find out how much of this portion would be Alcott I am afraid to say that I think the 690 would just cover the Alcott right what would be the second year but I can I can talk to Russ and come back with an answer on that
053all right the important information and unfortunate okay all right and Judy do you think he could in any way determine what the cost savings might be so they did give me that and I believe it was between twenty and twenty-five thousand first school justo and savings time and a little greener so yeah if you could find that out because I don't think I think they're really trying to determine if we can the finance committee not do capital spending that's perhaps not right absolutely required or maintenance or something like this hmm this is more than we need to do it and I don't think there's gonna be more money in the pot next year I think after so I think this is something we should go forward with so and I think one comment I would
054make is that while I was at the Finance Committee to talk about the building committee I didn't stay on the meeting to hear this discussion and I wasn't part of the Select board discussion directly either to really understand the intent of the conversation so I think we're having a first discussion I don't I actually would recommend we don't make decisions tonight until we've connected with them more directly either chair to chair ETA's Steven or whatever um and just better understand what their question is about essential the definition of essential and what the goal is are we trying to really just reduce costs no matter what are we just trying to prioritize different threat what threshold are we looking for yeah I would appreciate chair to chair and superintendent to town manager mm-hmm in the short
055term yeah absolutely I'm happy to I'm happy to get involved with that discussion with the chair and to that point to your point Laurie what I was just going to jump in Mitte me think this makes sense is that it feels like we're at a point where we don't have a decision of what's necessary and what's not because we don't know that threshold but it might be valuable to be able to communicate that you know there are things that in theory depending on the threshold we could conceivably put it off but we don't necessarily consider it the most fiscally responsible thing to do so if it's possible to support these it is actually more fiscally prudent if you look at the towns you know five-year overlook outlook versus the one your outlook then it makes
056more sense to do it and so that would hopefully give some perspective to them and giving us a little more perspective on threshold you know it's a chicken and egg a little bit but I think that is important context for them to hear also yeah good so we had one other second topic on the budget tonight we're gonna turn you to the regional budget and talk on FY 23-page Erin is that yep plan yep so right now at the high school as I always said it's still fluid but my numbers for the most part are holding so I would like to prepay some items such as tuitions as well as we had above three hundred and eighty six thousand dollars in the FY 21 budget for IT if we could get ahead of that for
057the laptop replacement so that's I have a quote for that that's something that we could prepay so I I just want to know what the protocol I guess would be for prepaying items before June 30th I'm sorry Jade the it's we're just discussing one item right now the laptop replacement prepay and then the tuitions which is something that we always usually pay three months advance for really the summer tuitions we pay usually out of the prior year and that's money that I think I will have available that would not go into D&E because I will be essentially almost maxed out so it would be monies that we could use the prepay to offset the 21 budget that approximately right now last time I reported we were around a million dollars it's now closer to about
058eight hundred but I also know that there's going to be a number of P P items coming in that we have to potentially buy out of the FY 21 to get ahead so I only bought you know masks and gloves 14,000 each thermometers but we're just getting lists now from the nurses so I don't expect that 800 to me to prepay 800 offset the 21 Leavitt and is a laptop purchase replacing Elise in other words we don't have anything if we don't buy them right now yeah it's a four year it's part of the IT plan it's as if I'm sorry I for firing blank the replacement cycle like yeah yeah for years Radim so it would be essentially FY 21 payment or in FY 20 to reduce the budget now I understand the the
059cycle but do we have devices that we will you set you back to a leasing company and we won't have short oh you know what I don't want to give you the wrong answer to it let me find that out I don't know if we're doing any trades yeah I thought we'd buy them out so yeah right it's trying to sending anything bad right and I'm in this in this situation you know this is situation where we might be able to get another year out of a device this is what I do all day so and you know maybe defer that payment a year with that you know if that's not true if the these are on their last legs or their yeah you know we'll bring you the inventory if you want to look
060at it so you can help with this make an informed decision one of the biggest goals I've had the last two almost three years but really the last two is to get the replacements that go back on track yeah because the way it had been managed prior to me was the money would be there but it became it was being used a contingency almost and we got really really behind so I don't know that we're at a place where we can skip it at this point because we still were catching up and trying to sync up that we had a really good plan in place that had us using reliable machines regularly and obviously now that's even more important so we bring you the inventory so you can see yeah okay hindi correct me if
061I'm wrong but I also think it's a different discussion to be cussing buying them out of next year's budget versus pre paying them now where next year's budget is the one with a lot of pressure on it not that we want to throw away money and waste it at the end of this year but if we can prepay something now and get that kind of off the books for next year's budget I think that's the one that's more of a concern so if we prepay it now and we take care of that I feel like that that puts us in a better position going forward again to the point that this might not get better before it gets work you know two or three years out might not look any better and if we keep
062skipping that replacement cycle we end up in a bad position yeah I just felt yeah I think that's kind of where I think about to us let's so we've got the money now let's use it because we we may very well need to have a year where we don't do replacements right a budget passed you we'll bring you the inventory then so you can see the age the life of the machines and where we're at and give that to you for next week's agenda I'll be great good it's a great question I've got three in an hour yeah we're doing great pretty impressive couple of quick questions I know we're watching the time Jared this conversation is predicated on you already intending to transfer money to bring a and D to 5% is that correct
063correct so the way that that really works is the revenue that I'm projecting above what was budgeted for FY 2010 is very close to the 5% any monies left over between xx only about I think we're gonna be about twenty to thirty thousand dollars away from being at five percent so the revolving accounts are all healthy we could add a little bit more to them but there's definitely going to be monies available that we want to prepay dude of all due to the really the freeze on the budget and the prepay is past practice yeah Laurie did I hear you correctly when you referred to the 381 a laptop replacement that this would reduce the budget I think what you meant was reduced pressure on the budget and give us some latitude for the unanticipated
064that are going to be anticipated as soon as we can well and really the committee can go either way with that you can choose to reduce the budget by that number so your FY 21 number goes down or you can use that as offset for other things so there's it just opens up options so we have a responsibility to look at that yes the budget I mean Lori and I are going through it but we are gonna really review it it's gonna be done really after July 1st so I have to put assumption I have to basically have assumptions but a plan to have that money spent and at least a quote before July 1st I can I can pay up until July 15th but I need to have a quote in hand before June
065I understand 30th the longest day in your year one of the things that you know we've heard about last week and I know it's there anyway but you know these guideline mandates the state's thinking about may introduce expenses to our budget you know sometimes God knows we're gonna be six weeks from now it could be two months from now that we don't know about so I think you know having n deduct some things paid for in advance and given that you know we're not gonna have town meeting until fall it appears we you know we have some latitude here to understand where we are expense wise relative to our request to budgets in the warrant and you know we can we can do what we need to do we think we need to do and
066you know make adjustments to that budget or or not if times of uncertainty information has a great calming effect I think we need to look for even more ways to communicate what we're doing around our fiscal affairs even though I think we're doing a superb job now I hope we are I think we are let's be mindful to that yeah for sure if we're done with a budget discussion there's one thing before we adjourn the mosquitoes asked if they can publish the letter that courtroom I was going to ask that we send it to them so they're equal there's no objection to that I guess I would ask or to put a signature line for Heather and I on the letter and also I'm gonna do you shortly it's gonna tell us a look at
067it over okay thank you and obviously I'd love to push it out to the community by email like I have the others that have come up the journal also yes okay so any other business for wager so the carpet I'll have the Concord School Committee in the Concord Carolina Regional School Committee will enter into executive session under purpose to the Open Meeting Law to conduct strategy sessions and preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct a collective gardening sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel and purpose three of the Open Meeting Law to the strategy with respect to bargaining or litigation of an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining allegation or litigating position of the other body and not return to open session it's kind of motion moved for both
068second it for both and roll call vote rainy I for both for both don't I for man stuffy you must stop here for region I am you Johnston I forgot