001Welcome to the Weimoth School Committee meeting of January 22nd, 2026. Please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you and welcome. Um, first agenda item is the consent agenda. >> Thank you, chair. Um, I would take a motion to uh accept the confirmation of warrants 28-2026 dated January 12th, 2026 and the amount of $545,51628. Also, confirmation of warrant 29-206 dated January 20th, 2026 in the amount of $4,4845.70 with money to pay. I'd also take a motion to approve of minutes of policy subcommittee from December 11th, 2025, organizational meeting January 5th, 2026. Meeting of the whole January 8th, 2026, and a regular meeting January
0028th, 2026. >> I second the motion. >> Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> So moved. >> Um our next item is the overnight um field trip request. Did you just read that? >> I did not read that. >> Just do that. Make a motion. >> Yep. I'd like to take a motion to um approve the following field trips for the Weimoth High School Model UN team to North American Invitational Model United Nations Conference in Washington DC February 12th to February 17th, 2026. And the Wayoth High School robotics team to first robotics championships in Houston, Texas on April 28th to May 2nd, 2026. I second that motion. >> Um, any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> So moved. Next we have our student coun council presentation. >>
003Hello everybody. I hope you guys are having a great evening today. Uh my name is Manon Du and I am the president of Wemouth High School's student council. Uh we only have two seats up here today. So we're also joined by Ashley and Thomas over there. Hello. Uh I'm Charbell. Uh I'm a junior at Wemouth High School and uh I would like to talk to you about uh what our high school is doing currently. Uh for uh me and my fellow classmates are working hard during midterm week. Uh we has teachers, tutors, and virtual reality experiences to help students uh reduce stress and prepare to the best of their abilities. During this exam week, all regular classes were suspended and we take one 90-minute classes uh test for each course. Secondly, I want to talk
004to you uh about the yearbook. Uh our uh Weimoth High School yearbook staff have been working hard at creating a book that captures all the best moments of 2025 2026 school year. The senior class that purchases a yearbook for all members of the class of 2026. Underclassmen who want to purchase the yearbook must order it before its deadline, which is February 1st. Our music assembly performed at holiday concert. Also our uh uh inducted 18 members performing music-based community service. Uh salsa uh highlighted the dangers of smoking through this poster instead of advocating for gratitude. That was the uh music that we had in our previous slide. Next up, uh we have our uh DECA students. It's basically a business stu uh competition that our high schoolers can participate in. And Wayimoth is very proud to
005have done amazing at regionals uh with several of our members qualifying to states. Uh those members are Liam Wilman, Gotham Pavat Denny, Nicole Moray, Elsa Mustin, Harry Aazidz, and Noah M. Bak. Sorry, I'm I'm butchering that. Um, but we're very proud of their hard work and we can't wait to see what they do at states while representing Weimoth. Next up, we have Dungeon and Dragons Club. Um, it's more it's one of our more uh niche clubs and they've really developed a super tight uh role playinging base. It's basically a game where they can roleplay fantasy characters and they've had a really amazing group over there working hard, enjoying d-stressing after school. So, it's a great experience for everybody there. Uh, next up is our Asian Student Alliance. Um, they had a super fun gift swapping
006event uh during the Christmas season that we weren't able to highlight in our previous uh showcase. And then after Christmas they started off the new year with some great resolutions uh for themselves but also what they want to see the club become in terms of educating um the way students about the various cultures found across Asia. Uh next up we have cancer kids first. It's one of our most uh newer clubs which was approved by student council and they've had a very large and booming attendance rate. I think that it's one of the largest clubs at our school now and they're working hard on many different handcrafted uh arts for our community cancer patients to show their support. Uh finally on my end we have the human rights coalition which this December they decorated a
007board in recognition of universal human rights months to raise awareness and educate students about the rights that we have in the United States but also to highlight how many countries around the world do not share the same rights that we share and that it's important to not take what we have for granted and always advocate for those universal human rights. that are so important. And they're also currently having a fundraiser with Santa Fe to try to gain some more money for the club and afford future events as well. >> Good evening. My name is Ashley Thai and I'm a freshman at Wayimoth High. So we have Model UN. Um, model UN has been hard at work preparing for their way conference along with their trip to Ney. They had like a lot of fun. Next,
008we have Model UN's travel team. The travel team recently went to St. John's Prep in Danvers on December 6 for the Mud Conference. Linda Khil and Mia Kylie won the be won the awards of best negotiator in their committees. Finally, congrats to Way High's M Secretary Emlara Dilva for winning best representation in her committee on the 2013 Euro Maiden Uprising. Then we have robotics. The new the new competitive robotics season just started called Rebuilt. The robotics team is working hard to fund raise and get parts as seen in the photos to build a winning robot. Lastly, Wemouth High's theater company. The Waymouth High Theater Company just announced their new show, She Kills Monster by Key Wing. We're so excited to see what they cook up in their performance. >> Um, good evening everyone. My name
009is Thomas Fam and I am a current senior at Way High School. Uh more than 60 seniors were honored with the John and Abigail Adams scholarship recognizing their strong academic performance on the MCCAST examinations. Recipients are eligible for a tuition credit for up to eight semesters of undergraduate study at participating Massachusetts public colleges and universities. Uh next up, the class of 2027 have been working hard to raise money for their class. They recently made candygrams and supported boys hockey via Santa Fe fundraiser. Uh, next up, the class of 2029 is also fundraising from Papaginos and D'Angelos for their class. And to wrap up this presentation, the student council recently finished up our first biggest fundraiser. By partnering with the Weimoth Food Pantry, we were able to raise $8,470 worth of food for our community. And
010that wraps up our presentation. Do you guys have any questions for us? >> That's amazing. You guys have been busy. >> Does anyone from the council? >> I just have a quick question. I um can you just talk about the process to accepting a new club because I I was I was able to see kind of that process. I thought it was a really thoughtful process you guys go through. I think it's great to highlight how you really truly look at you know that that adding a new program. >> Yeah. So, uh, starting this year, it was a new thing, uh, by our administration at Weimouth High School where students interested in starting a new club would get a club proposal form, >> um, from the office or from an administrator or a teacher and
011they would just fill that out uh, with their potential club advisor and also get signatures of students that are interested in participating in the club. So that way um everybody who reads this club proposal knows what the club is about, what their mission is and also if the club will be pretty popular based on how many people show like pre-interest to it. Uh after that uh it goes through administration and they send it to us uh student council. So, at some of our meetings this year, we were able to uh talk about these club proposal forms and discuss amongst our members to see what is a good fit for Weimoth High School in terms of new clubs. Uh we've accepted a couple of clubs, but we've also found some clubs uh to not fully detail
012what they're participating in and what they're trying to do. So, we've sent those clubs uh feedback and once they complete that feedback and maybe add a little bit more detail about their mission or how they hope to accomplish the goals that they've set out, uh they send it back to us and we just approve it. uh for us I guess as a whole student council finds it really important to have a strong student voice and that a part of that is allowing students to participate in a bunch of extracurriculars after school to enrich their learning. So we try our best not to like just flat out reject any clubs. We try our best to accept the clubs or offer feedback in ways that could benefit the high school community as a whole. >> It was
013great. It's a great It's a great and and I'm a huge advocate for student voice, so I think that's a great opportunity for students to be heard. >> Yeah, we're super excited to appreciate it. >> Yeah. Thank you so much, guys. We really appreciate it. And we hope you have an excellent evening. >> You're not going far. >> I know. I just want to say this is the second time you've mentioned Dungeons and Dragons. And can I just say I am so happy that that club is so successful as a tw for as a mother of a 12-year-old who is I am in the middle of my first campaign and how involved and how what it takes to really run that that game. Um I love that that is taking off so well and I
014really hope it's still there in two years. >> It is. It's super great and they set everything up themselves too. So it's all studentr run. It's great. >> That's great. Really great. >> I just had a quick question about the theater production. Is that the competitive one that we go out to compete against other schools? >> Yeah, it's for festival. >> Festival. I can think of the word festival. Thank you. >> Of course. >> I'm going to turn it over to uh Miss Lindsay over here. >> Thank you, chair. We're going to embarrass you a little, Manton. I apologize in advance, but we do have some an incredible accomplishment that needs to be recognized that I want to share and with the committee and the public that Manton was accepted early to Harvard where he
015will be attending in the fall. So, we're so incredibly proud of you and >> so excited. Well done. Congratulations >> all that hard work. You'll do wonders. >> Congratulations. Thomas will expect an update from you when you make a decision as well. But please know how proud we all are of you. >> Thank you. The support means a lot and it's it's great to be able to sit up here and talk to you guys. >> Use us as a reference. >> Congratulations. Enjoy the rest of uh your tomorrow's a half a day, right? Last day of finals. >> Yeah. >> Midterms. >> Joy. Midterms. Midterms. >> Midterms. Enjoy the rest of the weekend. >> Thank you everybody. Have a great night. >> Thank you. Well done. >> Our next item on our agenda is uh
016sub reports of the subcommittee. The first one it Oh, I'm sorry. I skipped over. >> My bad. >> You go. >> Report of the superintendent. Thank you, chair. >> That's all good news, >> right? All good news. Um two announcements tonight. Uh the first one, we are so excited. Uh we learned this week that principal Monahan has um assigned or appointed Kristen Kelly as our permanent um assistant athletic director. Wonderful. >> We uh couldn't be happier for Kristen. Um our athletic community um the connections, the communication has been remarkable and we are so proud of her and uh the relationships she's creating with our athletes and our families. We couldn't be happier. Uh second announcement is kindergarten registration is opening Monday, January 26th. So this coming Monday, K registration will open up. I know it's
017moving fast. Um and one other update I wanted to just go over budget planning. So I want to thank uh Mayor Malise and Chief of Staff Langel, all of our families, all of our staff that came out last night for uh our budget sub meeting. Um as we mentioned last night, we are very early. We've started this process pretty early. We're trying to be super transparent with everybody. um walking the community through what we what we're doing. Um and you know, if some of you uh might know that the governor's state of the state is tonight, so we're we're anxiously awaiting her budget is going to come out in the next week or two. Um but we are still early in the process. We still have one more presentation of our um our uh elementary
018schools. That's going to be at our next budget uh subcommittee meeting and then that will kind of finalize all of um our um our schools and all of our departments will have gone through um their budgets in front of uh budget sub. The other thing is this Wednesday I'm having my first strategic planning meeting. Um, and the reason why that's important in the budget process is, as I've mentioned before, um, we have about 18 members of this planning committee and part of their job, our job is to identify the things that we value the most in Weimouth. And whether we're growing our budget or we have to reduce our budget, we have to keep those things in mind. So, that is part of our budget planning process. And that will kick off this Wednesday night.
019Um, we will continue. Brian and I meet with the mayor. We meet with him every month. Um we have the next uh budget sub meeting is February 4th. Um that's where the elementarymentaries will come. Um we probably might give a couple of um overviews of what the budget might look like at level service or if it has to be below level service. Um February 25th we have a budget sub that by then we might have a clearer picture of the budget. At that po at that point we might be a little bit clear about what the cuts will look like. And when we say cuts, what we're trying to um help the committee and the uh community understand is the impact um of what we're starting to um see as a budget unfolding. Um in
020March 4th, we have budget sub that at that point we're going to go over fee increases. Um I think at that point I can also identify some of the priorities that are coming out of the strategic planning. Um and then March 12th is our public hearing here for the school committee. and then uh we will present May 12th to the town council. So that kind of lays it out. I mean, if you think about when I say we're early in the process, it's because we're going all the way to May and or even you know, March for our hearing here. So there's a lot of things that are moving. Um and you know, we will keep everybody informed, but there's still a lot of information um that we have to put together. Um, there's a
021lot of information we have to gather from all of you, from our community before we start to really lay things out in front of everybody. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> And I'm thrilled about our athletic director. I feel like we've already gotten more information and um feedback. Um, so she's doing a fabulous job. So, I'm really excited. >> Um, our next item on our agenda is subcommittee reports. Budget subcommittee with Danielle. Thank you, chair. Um, the budget subcommittee met on January 14th. Uh, the following things were discussed. We talked about the Allison Trust donation, which I believe is on the agenda tonight, so we'll talk more about that later. Um, the athletic sponsorship program has raised so far $38,300. Um, there will be the transportation um contract is up, so that will be going
022out to bid shortly. Um, we reviewed the fees and revenue generation. um department head that presented that night were special education, curriculum, health services and operations. Um and we talked about the budget forecastes if it if it was a scenario of 1% increase. We also met on January 21st. Um we heard from the high school athletics CTE. We talked about capital planning and revenue. Um, we welcomed the mayor Mike Malise and chief of staff Ted Langel who talked in depth about revenue and we discussed staffing requests that have been submitted so far and technology changes. Um, and that's it. Our next meeting is February 4th. We will hear from the primary schools then. >> Great. Thank you. And if I may, I would like to read a little bit of a statement. Um I thought
023about this after we um finished last night and all day today and I really felt import that it was important to um to speak up. So um I was very encouraged to have so many community members, educators and town administrators at the table to openly discuss the very real challenges of declining re revenue in the town. I appreciate the significant work that goes into forecasting and I am very grateful that we're starting this process so early in allowing for a clearer understanding of what lies ahead. That being said, I would be remissed if I did not share my concerns regarding the talk of the buildout of Union Point as one of the biggest solutions to our revenue problem. While it is exciting to see progress and to have the support from the state on this,
024my concerns is that the growth, though beneficial for increasing town revenue, will place additional strains on our schools before the comprehensive plan is in place to address the impact. The reality of how to support the schools often comes later once the growth has already occurred. I also do not believe in pinning one town department against another. We all rely and value essential services such as police, fire, DPW, and other others. However, the school department is the largest department in the town and it is fundamentally peopledriven. Proper funding is critical. We often say that students need to be in the seats for learning to happen, but it's equally important to ensuring that the stu the teachers are in those classrooms to do the teaching. No one wants layoffs. No one wants cuts to services of any
025kind. We heard from the town that the revenues are down. We is a huge town and it's clear the revenues aren't keeping up with the town's needs. Like many other communities facing similar challenges, we must begin to think outside the box and explore solutions not just for the short term but for the long term. And one opin one opinion I believe is the community should be seriously thinking of considering a proposition 2 and a half override. I believe it's time to pay a little bit more for what we need. Having one of the lowest tax rates isn't a feather in our cap if our schools and other town services are going to suffer for it. And as a school committee member who sat here for 12 years, I cannot and will not accept a 1%
026increase to our school budget. It's just not enough. Doing so would mean that we are not fulfilling our responsibility as elected officials for the schools. I hope in the next few weeks and months that we can collectively pull our heads together together and find solutions that work for all of thank you very much for giving me the opportunity to speak on this. I'm I'm scared what it would happen and we need to find other revenues and it can't be a band-aid situation. So, that's my two cents. Thank you. >> Can I could I add >> Go right ahead >> through you. Thank you. Um in light of your um statement, which I truly appreciate and I appreciate the transparency that took place last night. Um I would like to invite if I may the um
027newly appointed education committees from the town council. So that would be Chair Blazo um Sherlock Shangra council DeFazio and Matthews and H to join us in the transparency and work with us as a team um to show that we are all sitting at the same table working through this. So I would love to see them at any of the next meetings. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Um our next um subcommittee report is our collective bargaining. We are continuing to collective um meet with our unions to um come to a um satisfying um contracts. Um we are meeting every other week just about for >> four five hours at a time. Um so we'll keep you posted. um and I'm sure they're well aware of the forecast and um what's going on for revenue as well.
028So, next is policy subcommittee. >> Uh thank you, chair. Um we are planning the next meeting is February 5th at 5:00 p.m. at Adams. Uh we're create working on the agenda now which will include um wellness um which is a follow-up from the last meeting. Um, games of chance will be on the agenda as well as um relooking at artificial intelligence and the school committee handbook. >> Athletic Mary Ellen and Kelly. >> Um, we are also we are working um currently to set up a date prior to the May 14th so that we'll have more current um it'll probably be a wrapup of the winter sports looking into the spring sports >> and wellness with Kelly. >> There's nothing new to report. Chair, >> thank you. CPAC with Danielle >> CPAC met this Tuesday, January
02920th, um with a presentation for mass advocates on educational rights of immigrant and multilingual families. They successfully secured a syn asynchronous Portuguese translator for that meeting. It was super successful. There was a great turnout and um they were able to offer closed caption um translation in any basically any language that you could think of. And now because of that relationship with Bay State, Bay State interpreters offers telephone translation for them. So if there's a family that needs um some special education support or you know even parentto parent support um they can offer the telephone translation going forward. >> It's wonderful. >> Unified um games planning will start January 30th. Their first meeting is um that day and the annual resource fair will begin planning this month too. Great. >> Our next item is new business
030and that is the vote to accept the uh William Allison Trust gift. This is a ch um uh action item. Superintendent, Assistant Superintendent Smith. >> Thank you, chair. Um so in front of you, you have the acceptance of gift and creation of donation and huge thank you of a gift from the William Allison Trust. This was passed by council on December 15, 2025, presented and signed by the mayor in December 17th, 2025, discussed at budget sub on January 14th, 2026, and before you tonight for a vote. Uh the gift totals is $100,000 and it is for the use of the high school to award scholarships to students that either pursue music opportunities in higher education or CTE students that will further their skill or trade with education or training beyond high school. >> That's great.
031Um I would take a motion I'll make a motion to vote to accept the William Allison Trust gift. Um it >> I second the motion. Any discussion? All those in favor say I. >> I. >> So moved. That's wonderful. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um and now we're uh next item is public comment. And public comment shall be in accordance with policy BH. Is there anyone here that would like to speak on behalf? Please come forward. You're welcome to stand. You're welcome to sit. whatever works. >> You'll be quick. Uh Gasparez, you would wrote uh I'm just going to comment tonight, Madam Chair. Uh thank you for the powerful statement. Uh I wholeheartedly agree with the highlights that you spoke about. Um definitely it's a challenging situation. U I'm not going to repeat what
032I've already said at prior meetings, but I'm still looking for reality communication about the significant damage that's going to be done to women public schools. Uh the unraveling of progress since 2008. if that 1% budget holds and there aren't significant improvements to it. But in that context, thank you for your strong words. I would hope that the rest of the committee uh echoes those same sentiments because I know that I do and I'm sure that the community as a whole does as well. Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Gus. Anyone else? >> Um public comment is closed and now we're going on to announcements. >> So I'd like to make announcements of the upcoming meetings. So, we have the bud next budget subcommittee meeting is February 4th at 6 PM at Adams. The policy
033subcommittee meeting is February 5th at 5:00 PM at Adams. Townwide parent council February 10th at 7 p.m. at Weimouth High School. Does anyone else have any other announcements? >> I do. >> Uh CPAC will meet February 17th. Uh that meeting will be on um disability history and inclusion by a current Dwayne High School high school student and myself. Um, and we'll give it's going to be a fun interactive disability history and that will be on Zoom. >> Ashley, I'm gonna try holding a constituent coffee hour this Sunday if the snow um doesn't happen from 3:00 to 4:00 at Starbucks and South Wayoth, but if there is snow, I will reschedule it. I'm going to try to do like once a month constituent uh kind of like office hours. Um if if before we adjourn if
034I could ask one question of assistant superintendent Smith. Um there was mention in one of the um weekly messages from principal about the Chzna donation. >> Thank you. Yes. Um we meant to mention that last night. Uh so I think on like last year a tournament was held. Um I think it was maybe December 29th and the proceeds from that uh tournament, the Chzna soccer tournament is going to the high school um to go towards gate fees. That gift is estimated to be around $10,000. When we have that final number, we will share it out at budget sub. But thank you for bringing that up because we feel >> and thank you to the cher and everyone involved in that soccer jamberee. >> Anything else? I will take a motion to adjurnn. >> I make
035a motion to adjurnn. >> I second the motion. And our next meeting is Thursday, February 12th at 6 PM right here in the chambers. Thank you everyone and good luck shoveling.