001I call the meeting to order and I'd like a motion to adopt remote participation as written in the agenda, please. >> Second. >> Roll call vote starting with Pam. >> Pam Nactin, yes. >> Sarah Matiku, Arlington, yes. >> Linda Herbison, Bolton, yes. >> Marquee Dover, yes. Okay, Sharon is next. >> Sorry, I was waiting for Charlene. Sharon must Lexington. Yes, >> Jeff Dulan. Yes. >> Yes. >> Very good. Okay. Uh my understanding from Julia is that there was no public comment. The way that public comment works in remote sessions, Mark, is that they have to submit comments ahead of time in writing. Uh if we're in person, then they can just make their comments from the floor. >> Okay. Thanks. >> So Julia notified me that there were no public comments. Is that still the
002case, Julia? >> That is correct, Jeff. >> Very good. Move on to item four, the consent agenda. The consent agenda has only one item. It is the approval of draft minutes. And I'm going to ask someone a motion to approve the draft minutes with one minor change >> from a wordage point of view. On page five of your packet, item number eight, in the next to last paragraph, it currently reads the sentence of note. Ms. Duca reported that the subcommittee reviewed the district's existing building control contract. The key word there was reviewed. Uh, that is not true. It should read instead, M. Duca reported that the subcommittee was advised of the district's existing building controls contract. So, I'd like a motion to approve the minutes as written with that one change. Please move. >> Do
003I have a second? >> Second. >> Any other comments or questions on these draft minutes? Or will then roll call vote? Pam. >> Pam Norton. Yes. >> Sarah Matigu Arlington. Yes. Linda Herbertson, Bolton, yes. >> Maruy Dover, yes. >> Sharon Mosto, Lexington, yes. Oh, Charlene's here. Sorry. >> I'm here. What are we yesing to? >> The minutes with one minor change. >> Uh, Charlene Cabo, Lancaster. Yes. >> Sharon must Lexington. Yes. >> Jeff Stanen. Yes. >> Yes. >> Great. So, that takes us through item four. We come to item five. Before we get to saying hello to Mark, were there any other items for the good of the organization? I got one right there from Heidi Driscoll. >> Um, I just wanted to let everyone know um that we have sent out a minute man
004um New Year's card to your local communities to your to our sending districts. Um and we wished everyone a revolutionary new year. Um, it is from me and from all of you noting your towns so that your towns will remember that we're here. Um, and I would like to thank our students in DVC um, who made these up um, so we could send them out when we got back. Um, and of course our instructors and the back of the card of course links to our website um, with a QR code so people can check us out and share more information about applying. And if you'd like to see one or if you'd like to have one, um, just let Julian. >> Any other comments? So, uh, the item for the good of the organization is
005basically news and that any member has found or the administration has found that would be of general interest that has hopefully a a positive slant to it. So, that's items that may come up um uh during the meeting. That's what that item means. Any others for this meeting? Alistister Luca >> um I attended the uh remote town meeting which is the three towns of the Nishoba district that is usually focused more on the Nishoba district than on Minute Man and that was true this year as well. >> Linda was there too. I don't know where she was but she was there. >> And was it um interesting to attend? >> Yeah, it was worth attending. and I sort of debriefed I somebody was it you Jeff? >> Yes. It was it was very interesting to
006attend. It was um worth going to. Um there was nothing about Minute Man, not a word. So >> yes, I enjoyed it too and I learned a lot. >> They have budget problems of various kinds in different towns and we learned about those. >> Very good. I'm wondering if it would be um uh appropriate to uh take item 6A out of order since 6B may take a little bit of time and our students may want to get back to their homework. What does the principal think about that idea? >> Um I I love that idea to give our students a chance to uh get what they have to get going. So um I'm happy to do whatever the committee would like to get done. Any objections from the committee to take six item 6A out
007of order? I hear no objections. So, uh, students are next. >> All right. One second. Sure. This is the right one. Okay. Matilda and uh Jamie, you're on. >> Hi, I'm Matilda. Um I'm gonna or the both of us are kind of going to talk about um some student events that we're going to have in the upcoming um in the upcoming weeks, months. Um the first one is actually next week and it's for seniors only. Um but we are going to host a senior like snow tubing night. It's from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. It's next Thursday. Nishopa Valley Skir Area is going to be hosting it for us. We will kind of just tube, have fun. Um, all seniors are invited. There's a small fee and then a waiver to fill out, but other than
008that, um, it should be super fun. Um, in addition to snow tubing, we will also be providing dinner vouchers for the Outlook restaurant um to then be able to all go out to dinner after the fact um for fun. Yeah, it's it sounds like a lot of fun. I'm filling out my waiver right now um but yeah, it should be super fun. Jamie. >> Um, hi, I'm Jamie. Um, one of the things we're doing in the upcoming like events are the Boots and Blink dance. It's going to be in March. Um, it's going to be kind of like a normal dance, but for the first hour, we're going to have actually a line dancing company come in. I believe it's the 306 line dancing company. So, they'll come in and teach everybody. And then after
009that it'll kind of transition back to dance. Um we have the DJ that we used from homecoming which is good. He I think was a lower cost because they had like some sort of connection I believe that the parent we knew a parent at Minute Man so they like gave us a cheaper price. Um I think that's about it. >> Open to any questions from the committee. Uh Jamie, why why what makes it Boots and Bling? >> I think we're going for kind of like a country theme. >> Country theme. And you learned about connections, too. If you have the right connection, you can get a discount. Very important lesson for Minute Man being a very practical school. And the other school committee members have any comments on the um interesting items that the students
010have brought up? I can't see you all, so you're going to have to speak up. Actually, I stopped Sharon there. >> Uh Alice, >> sounds like fun, >> right? And Sharon, was your hand up as well? Okay. And is it also true that you have only about two weeks to the middle of the school year already? Seniors, especially the senior. >> Uh yes. This upcoming Friday, the quarter ends, so we are >> Yeah. >> counting down. >> Yeah. Okay. Yeah. I remember seniors the second half of the year. They're sometimes challenging to deal with. Okay. But not Matilda. Matilda will be perfect for the whole rest of the year, I'm sure. Very good. Thank you very much for your report. We appreciate it. Always like to see what the students are up to. It sounds
011like you're having a lot of fun. Uh, and to get back into even more fun for us, I'm returning to item 6A. And let us formally welcome Matt Healey. Is that how you pronounce your name? Healey. Is that correct? >> Healey is correct. Um, Mark Healey. >> Mark Healey. Yep. >> Yes. Um, and I know we've been uh talking back and forth a bit, Jeff, for tonight. I appreciate your help on boarding into this. Um, basically a quick rundown is I um live in Dover and I am a teacher in Nem in the Needm public schools. I've been working in education since 1996 actually, right out of college. um started as a chemistry teacher at the high school level in needm and then am currently a department chair and an engineering teacher at the middle
012school level. So I've you know been interested also in just other models of schooling. I think Minute Man provides a great option for students and um I look forward to just exploring a little more of what's available and um hopefully sharing that with both NEM and do sherborn in terms of just um letting kids see other options for applying their skills and thinking things through. Um I've got three of my own kids. The oldest is just a freshman in college right now and the other two are in high school freshman and junior years. >> Great. Thank you. And I think it would be fair for us to do the same. So I would like for us to do is to go through in our normal order just your name, where you're from, a little bit
013of your background, and uh why why you're on the Minute Man School Committee. >> Sorry, Jeff. >> Could I add one last thing to my apologies, but I have been on the school committee as well. Um three years at the elementary level in Dover and three years at the regional level for Dover Sherborn. Right. >> But uh thanks. you're an expert in school committees and you have the the Maggie seal of approval which is really important for me. >> Thanks. >> So Pam, let's start with you. >> Hi, I'm Pam Nurse from Actton. Welcome Mark. You know, we're really glad to have you here. So I've been on the school committee for yeah, I don't know 11 years. 10 years. 11 years. Been on the Minute Man School Committee for 10 or 11 years. I
014just retired as the executive director of the Federation for Children with Special Needs. So my, you know, work has been um, you know, it's focusing on um, you know, young people who need options and that's what's really important to me and making sure that everyone has what they need to really, you know, um, you know, need to thrive and we need options like Minute Man in order for that to happen. So I feel very strongly about being on the Minute Man School Committee. Sarah. >> Hi Mark. Sarah Montigue from Arlington. Um I'll be on the school committee three years as of July, next July. And um I'm a former Minute Man parent. My son went to Minute Man and I was so thrilled with the school that um I wanted to get involved and and
015help continue to uh help charter its success. >> Linda. >> Hi. Um, Linda Herbison from Bolton. I taught at Motty Tech in Fitchburg for 19 years and I really enjoyed seeing how much vocational school could do for a student. Um, lot of success stories that I saw happening there because of vocational education. So, I loved it and thought this would be fun. I've been on the committee about a year now. I came in mid year last year. >> Charlene Sorry about that. Um, so my name is Charlene Cabral. I am a representative from Lancaster, Mass. And um, I have been on the committee for about three years as well. I joined just before Sarah, so we're having our anniversary soon. Um, I basically joined Minute Man because one, we had a vacancy from Lancaster for
016quite some time, and two, I didn't know whether or not my son, he was in, I think, seventh grade at the time, um, I didn't know whether or not my son was going to be interested in Minute Man, but I wanted to get to know more about it. And, um, we he actually ended up going to Minute Man, so that was a good move on my card. Uh, so that's it. Welcome, >> Sharon. >> Hi, Mark. I'm Sharon MTO. I'm from Lexington. Um, I am a special education teacher since 1992. We won't talk about how old that makes me. Um, but I also have a son who just graduated last year from Minute Man. And I just absolutely love vocational education and I love being able to be a part of the Minute Man community
017and to watch these kids do these amazing, incredible things um, and have these unbelievable skills before they even step foot in college if that's the path that they want to choose. My son did not, but he's very happily a full-time EMT and got all that training from Minute Man. So, it's great. >> Great. I'm Jeff Stulan, the representative from Needam. I've been an owner of a software company. I taught math and computer science at Newton South for 23 years. This is my 27th year on the Minute Man School Committee. And uh there are two main reasons why I've stayed at Minute Man for so long is that um within a year or two of joining the school committee, I learned two very important things. The first is that for a fairly wide range of student
018wider than is understood, the kind of education they get at Minute Man can be a life-changing experience for um uh a child because they're in an environment in which the things that are important to them are important to everybody in the school. It's a very different way of looking at education. It's not for everybody, but it is for a lot of people. The second thing I learned that although I very much enjoyed teaching at Newton the South and I had lots of absolutely fabulous students, there were also a lot of students who were there who would be far better off in this kind of environment. But there uh the families did not have either the information or the inclination to explore this option. Furthermore, although all schools can learn from other schools, I do think
019there are a lot of things that uh are done at at Minaman that uh uh would be very useful for our more traditional academic schools that would um solve some of the issues that we solve, not solve, but mitigate many of the issues that we have, such as feeling that the student has um a place of import to where they are and engagement which are things that when we talk about what's wrong in the schools I think we don't talk about nearly enough and I found that part of the answer to uh student disengagement is found here for a lot of students so I think that that message um uh could be broadcast a little bit um more fully so um that's kind of why I stayed for so long. Alistister Luca. >> Sorry. Um,
020I'm Alistister Luca. I'm from Stow. I am a proud parent of a Minute Man graduate who would come back to Minute Man if he had to choose again and has been back to speak to the students in the biotech academy because he wanted them to know how great it was for him and tell them to take opportunities when they fell in in their lap. And so I'm a proud parent. I'm also uh been on the school committee. This is my 24th year and um I did not expect to do this in my life, but um I am very protective of this school and there's just been many challenges along the way that have required a great deal of thought and um and application of uh skills and so on. And I've been very happy to
021be able to help out when I could. I also um retired out of a high-tech startup uh very fast-paced environment. So, I have some familiarity with a world outside of education in addition to having taught as well special needs in Colorado. So, the longer you live, the more you have to say, but luckily you forget most of it. >> Thanks so much, everyone. Seems like a great group. I appreciate hearing a little bit of background and what brought everyone in. So, look forward to working with you. We look forward to working with Hugh and it's a good deed for you to join this committee. Uh and since no good deed goes unpunished, I would like a motion to add uh Mark to the finance subcommittee. Please moved. >> Second. >> Roll call vote. Pam, I'm
022not going to ask for any comments. So, roll call vote. >> Well, other than I'll say thank you. Pam Nurse, yes. >> Sarah Montigue, Arlington, yes. Linda Herbson Bolton. Yes. >> I forget. Do I vote myself? Yes. >> You vote for yourself. >> Okay. Marquila Dover. Yes. >> Charlie Cabal Lancaster. Yes. >> Darren Mosto, Lexington. Yes. >> Jeff Stan. Yes. >> Alison. >> I did ask him ahead of time if he was willing to do so and I did tell him what it entails. So, I I I believe I've fulfilled my um ethical obligation in in having us take this vote. >> And I think we have a comment from um our superintendent. >> Would like to welcome Mark. Um we had a wonderful conversation um with Maggie as kind of a transition meeting. Um,
023so I'm happy to have you here and I would like to respectfully request from the chair that we take item 7B out of order because we have some wonderful CTE teachers who are here um who will be presenting um some information to us >> and they have homework to do too. So >> they do, >> right? So if there's no objection from the school committee, I hear none. Let's move to item 7B, college and career readiness spotlight. >> Thank you so much. Um so uh as you can see um our item is uh noted mass save green sustainability um technical education program. I was invited down to environmental to check out some of their additional certifications and um uh courses that they've been taking that are really enhancing what we do in environmental. Um, and
024I connected with Sarah who put something together that not only includes the greenstep information but gives an overview of what we're doing in environmental specifically. And um, so I'd like to welcome Emily Cotwell and Sarah Cammer who are our wonderful vocational teachers. Um I will share my screen so they don't have to worry about um this and I will hand it over to them once you can see the earth. Can you Okay. Um well hello. Uh my name is Sarah Camemer. I'm here together with my co-eing partner Emily Cotwell. Um I am really happy to be here tonight because it was wonderful to hear all of your backgrounds and why you're serving on the school committee. So thank you for that. Um, I wanted to start with this picture. It's beautiful. People put it in
025their background all the time. Um, and Earth is home. And that is where we start in environmental. Um, I love this photo and we love this photo because it's a reminder of our purpose, which is to enable students to make this planet healthier both for human health and the environment. Next slide, please. So the way we do this in environmental is we work guided by the overarching goal of teaching students to think sustainably regardless of their field choice. And that enables them to be capable, scientifically literate voters for the rest of their lives. And I just want to point out that this photo is not a stock photo. This is our students and they're out at our field trip to Star Island where they are taking the time to understand how geology and marine ecology
026work together. Next slide please. So to meet our philosophical goals um we basically do two things. The first is that we routinely engage kids in the work of true environmental science. Um we have them out in the field in the lab. They're often either participating in active research um such as the work we do with Harvard Forest or um they're mimicking actual um journaled research that's been done by other scientists. Um because of this work, we've been recognized routinely, as you probably know, through Skills USA at the national level. Um as well as we've uh our students have earned youth conservation awards. Um they've also been um they've placed at Massachusetts Environ multiple times for their community service work. These are all also not stock photos. Next slide, please. And the second way that we
027meet our our large overarching philosophical goals is through um giving our students a multitude of opportunities to earn career licenses and certificates. We have between 12 and 14. Um that list is always growing and Sarah's going to talk more about that. Um we also have multiple career paths that go straight out of high school. Um and uh with additional education the pathways are almost unlimited. Next slide please. Um because of these things that we do um our students have um gone on to these different universities and workplaces. Um they have just really tremendous choice and we're very proud of that choice. Um they can go directly into the workforce. Um some of our kids do. Uh most of our kids go to college and this is just a very small sampling of some of the
028colleges but you'll see everything from uh local state universities and community colleges all the way to Ivy League. Next slide please. So Emily and I we never stopped planning together for the future of our students. This year though, we pulled ninth graders and we learned that 35% of the students in the entering freshman class did not know that this program exists. So, our future goals logically include finding new ways to ensure sending town parents and the public know more about us, but also that surrounding towns learn about the myriad of ways that we can help their community through the environmental work that our students do daily. So, please share out about our programs to your constituents. Um, additionally, we are always working on new certificates, co-ops, and postgrad opportunities to fully and further support our
029students futures. Recently, we partnered with EZRI, and that allowed us to add certifications that demonstrate our students ability to map and interpret data. that lets them produce great works like town street maps to assist in planning and allows them to analyze data to predict the impact of sea level rise on emergency responses in the future. We've also partnered with need the need program which is a national energy program and mass save. They actually work together and this has allowed our students to get several certifications that allow them to enter the workforce as building energy analysts. So, um this program is open to everyone at Minute Man to do um from environmental to um other trades. Um but for us in environmental, it satisfies the need of our students to do something really proactive to reduce
030emissions in the environment. And um what I love about this is our students are always looking for ways to contribute to society. And this really helps homeowners reduce energy costs in the future and also reduces those fossil fuels. Um, and these certifications that we have been adding enable our students to enter the workforce right away with industry credentials that allow them to get involved in the field of mapping or to work for Massave. Um, and through these, uh, we're excited because we think it'll, uh, allow our students reach to continue to expand and allow them to make more contributions to a sustainable world through collaborations with departments within Minute Man, out into our surrounding towns, and then out into the greater world after they graduate. So, Emily and I are always happy to answer questions
031about our program. So, please feel free to reach out with any that you have today or beyond. Thank you very much for your time. >> Uh, school community members questions. >> Okay, then I'll start. Did I see one of the pictures was on Star Island? >> Yeah, it's >> So, could you explain what those students were doing on Star Island? >> Yes. Um, Star Island is an overnight field trip in Ry, New Hampshire. And that island has drinking water facilities, wastewater facilities. Um, and they have to produce their own power on the island. Um, so students are there to learn about how all those systems work together in in a very unique place, but then they also learn about coastal ecology and geology. >> Okay, very good. I think Mark had his hand up. >>
032Thank you. Yeah. Um, it sounds great. I love seeing all the pictures. It gave a nice sense on how you do learning outside of the classroom uh space. And I heard you say 35% of freshmen did not know of that um track. I guess if a freshman comes in, learns about it and wants to um adjust their course of studies. Can they do that after freshman year? I'm not sure how that works. >> So at at Minute Man, we have a minute mini exploratory program. Um, and they actually tour all of the shops in their first first week and then they decide from that >> where to go, where to explore for >> I can jump in though. Um, Mark, if someone um has only heard of carpentry and plumbing and they come here and
033they choose that, but they have a change of heart and sparked a new passion. Um, if there is room in a program, students can apply to transfer programs. Uh the best case scenario for training is to be there from your freshman year until your senior year. Um but we do allow for some movement um if there is space in program. >> Okay. Thank you so much, Linda. >> Um you said students from other trades could also do these certifications and work with me and all. Have you had any of that happen? >> Well, we just started it this year. Um but there has been interest from engineering and carpentry so far. >> Very good. >> Any other comments or questions? Alice Luca, >> this is just a thought. Um you know, whenever I hear these
034really great presentations, there's always talk of the different certifications and I feel like one of the major differences between our school and the sending schools is that there are all of these certifications and expertise that the kids have. Alice is breaking up. We can't hear you right now. >> Oh, can you hear me now? >> Yes. >> Oh, I was just getting all excited. Um, I think um it would be great if there were some way that all of these list of certifications or expertise that the kids have were made more were shouted out more to the communities. like look, our kids come out of environmental with all of this. Not that every kid has all the same ones, but they have, you know, a variety of them and none of those certifications are being
035obtained in the local high schools. I mean, so it makes us different. Can I just jump in? So, we actually uh worked with marketing last year and we have a very nice uh certification by program flyer um which we actually included in the openhouse uh folder this year for all the families coming in. It was laid out by program um and those all got updated this year as well by the program instructors >> and Alice's mute. >> That that is great. Um and can it be emailed to all of us? >> Certainly can. Yes. Thank you. All right, any other questions and comments? Well, we thank you for your presentation. It is always interesting to actually uh see what a program is doing directly. It is one of the uh most fun parts of any
036of our meetings. So, thank you very much. >> Thank you all. >> Thank you both for your time. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And although there have been a lot of interruptions, we haven't forgotten. We are back to item 6B, admissions update. Great. So, let me share my screen again and everyone can can see that. Um so yeah uh obviously our continual discussion uh of admissions that has been going on from last month and the month before. So wanted to give you some updates regarding our numbers and what we're still doing. And um Katie Bashard here is also going to talk about our future events uh to give you an overview of that. So hopefully this works. There we go. So, um, the numbers that I gave you last time, uh, for November
03717th to December 8th, uh, if you look at the blue, that's our total in district applications that have been completed. Uh, the orange is our out of district applications that have been completed. And in the gray, those are started applications uh, that are currently in queue as of right now in our system. So, as you can see, we've had a uh, an increase from uh, December to January. um hoping that uh that increase continues. We do um if I moved down to the next slide actually um we are continuing to do our phone calls, our Zoom meetings, so people that are hung up on applications, we're checking in with them regarding that. Um as you know that um Superintendent Driscoll just mentioned a postcard that went out um towards the end. So, we're continuing our
038postcard reminders about applications, our our uh monthly newsletters that are going out more frequently. I am still currently reviewing data every week. So, every week I get an update of where we are with applications and who's where and what so that we can definitely jump on whatever issues that we're running into to increase our admissions, our uh applications of completions. And uh we do have two upcoming uh events, but upcoming move forward, I'll let Katie talk about that in a sec, is we have our winterfest, which is coming up, which Katie will explain. But also, we've been doing our lunch visits as well. And we actually had one today, uh Clark Middle School in Lexington. And I just want to give a quick shout out to uh Mr. Mike McQuilin, one of our humanities teachers
039and also our engineering and production pathway lead. uh he uh represented us at um at Clark Middle School um promoting Winterfest, promoting applications, uh brought a few uh little trinkets to to to entice the kids uh to really take a flyer and kind of make sure that they put that in their backpacks and move forward. I think that was something that we also started last year. We were getting different people to go to different sessions. Uh, so we want to continue doing that, but I right as I had this down, as of today, we already started. So, it's very exciting. >> I'd also like to give another shout out if you don't mind, Paul. Um, go >> ahead. >> So, Madison Plant also um went with Drew um to that middle school. And as um
040I was walking out today um Drew O' Connor and Madison Plant were in our main office preparing to welcome uh 20 people for tours this evening. Um and we are big on the applying on the spot. That's what we are pushing. Um I don't know historically this is our last year with the uh software program that was adopted two years ago. And I think as Charlene remembers at least the whole I the whole business of making an account and you have to click back and forth and go out of it. It's just that little burden. We want to remove all of those. Um so what Katie will be describing um with Winterfest, we're going to have some on the spot applications that we will literally be doing um super fast with a form and getting
041the the backend work done later for people. Um, so I want to make sure we uh there's a lot of people who are stepping up to the plate um to make sure that we are connecting and communicating uh with our sending districts and families and students um for admissions. So, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Paul. >> No, thank you. Actually, we're going to move over to Katie. Uh she's going to talk about two things that we're working on coming up in the future and uh one is coming up real fast. So, I'll turn it over to Katie, our director of CTE. And uh Katie, you have the floor. >> Great. Thanks. Um so the first event is our winter fair. Uh we do keep using the word fest because first it was winter wonderland, then it
042was fest, but it is winter fair. Um so the tagline is explore programs, meet with instructors, and apply on the spot with confidence. Uh that is going to happen Sunday, January 25th um from 9:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. Um we are going to have a huge push for on the spot eighth grade applications. Um and because I love to up the ante if you're an eighth grader and you apply on the spot, not only will you be eligible for a minute application, but are you ready for this? >> Wait, wait, Paul, will you close your um will you close your presentation for a second so Katie can support this? >> Sure. So, you need to note the new Minute Man beanie complete with PMP pom. Uh, that will be yours as an eighth grader if
043you apply that day. Just a little added incentive. Um, we will also have hands-on activities from advanced manufacturing, automotive, biotech, uh, computer science and cyber security, cosmetology, design and visual communication, early ed, uh, engineering, uh, horiculture, uh, environmental, multimedia and vet science, uh, metal fab and more. Um, we'll also have, um, some free popcorn for folks, uh, cookies from culinary, hot chocolate. Um, we'll also have a mini film fest going on. our students in multimedia uh that have done their film fest in the past. We will have showtimes uh for folks to pop into the theater to check that out. Um we will also be marketing uh some summer programs at that event and we will be marketing the second event that I'm going to talk about uh as well which is our middle school
044career explore. Um so a while ago in the old building probably sevenish years ago now uh we ran a afterchool middle school career and technical education exploration program. Uh we are going to run it for 4 weeks this year. Uh it is going to meet on Thursdays from 4:15 to 6:15 um on March 19th, 26 and April 2nd and 9th. Um it's going to be a free program um offered to our in district students also with free transportation both from and back to their middle school um after school. Uh this event is geared towards sixth and seventh students. So we're starting to rally the troops uh for their following year to get them involved in Minute Man events open houses and them to apply as eighth graders. Um we're going to have a very similar
045um sample of programs um with the addition of plumbing will also be highlighted at this one in culinary as well. Um so we're really looking forward to it. Um the staff team have been wonderful um applying to help us with these programs that are additional hours um to their normal work schedule. Um so it's been great. We've been pulling together a lot. Um, and you know, a huge thank you to Madison Plant who's been helping us out um, instrumentally and also Madison Scaretta, who is the co-op student in design and visual communication, helping us put together all of these flyers and announcements. Uh, it's been wonderful and it's definitely been a team effort so far. Um, any questions on either event? Charming. >> So, is the is the winter fair targeted at all middle school
046students or just at eighth grade students? >> So, all middle school students are welcome to come. Um, but of course, we will be specifically targeting one. We have an eighth grader there. Staff are talking to them. We read them at the door. Hey, you're an eighth grade. Let us bring you over to these kiosks right here and show you how you can apply before you leave. Um, we'll have multiple kiosk uh stations set up within the winter fair. And then how are the how are the middle school students finding out about the um the afterchool exploration? Is that going like to their schools or >> Yes. So that will be going uh to the schools very shortly. Um first we got out all the information for the winter fair. Um we're doing uh interviews this
047week to get a coordinator of the program. Um and we should have that information out within the next week or two. >> That's exciting. >> Yep. >> And I do want to give a shout out to our sending districts. um they have been very receptive um to what we've been sharing, sending it to their um to their parent groups uh and have been much more communicative. >> Just not the case in all districts. >> I would say we're on the upward trend even in the uh the one that is the least um excited. Yes. >> Okay, great. Any other questions or comments so far? Just before I sign off, I want to say that member Healey, I I'm sympotical with you as I was a chemistry teacher before I became an administrator as well. So,
048I share your love for science as well. >> Oh, perfect. Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you. >> Very well. Then, is that the end of the principal's leadership report? >> Yes, that's the end of it. >> So, thank you very much. Which brings us uh to the superintendent's leadership report of which we have already completed item B. So do you actually have something under item A and is it good news or bad news? It's states so I always assume it's bad news but >> well no it's it's just um continued news. So, after our school committee meeting um last month, uh Julia sent all of you um a link to the state graduation council's recommendations. Uh it was not light reading. So, if any of you um had time to go through it, I'm happy to
049answer questions. And if any of you did not have time to read it, um I'm going to share um my screen with um the the essential element of uh their recommendations. So right now um this these seven elements are what the state is recommending that we have for a graduation requirement for um all Massachusetts students. And if you see um these are seven elements. So the first thing is for the foundation of learning students will complete a rigorous program of study that aligns with the admissions requirements for higher education. So right now that looks like math core um which is a series of courses um ending in algebra 2 for math, four years of English um three years of lab science um it's not new to um education. Um and these two pieces um are
050new to Massachusetts are not new to some states. The reason why this is happening is because there is uh no more highstakes MCCAST. So what is that demonstration of mastery? There are two things um that they are recommending is that students will participate in endofcourse assessments that are connected to select courses that are designed and administered and scored by the state. So um MASS um the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent um has been meeting um to discuss the implications of these things. Um it's hot topic all over the state. Um many for example one of the courses that would be required would be algebra 1. Many students take algebra 1 in the eighth grade. We have hybrid courses we have. So this um the end of course assessment sounds simple enough but it does have
051implications um for what curriculum looks like long term. They're also recommending that the students will complete a capstone or portfolio that's defined by the state and designed, administered, and scored locally. So, that's interesting. We don't know what would be um in that or what it would look like. We don't know what the test would be this um and of course state test. This is the conversation right now. Um the other piece the other elements that are recommended um for requirement for graduation is that students would develop and maintain an individual career and academic plan but they are requiring my cap which is something done through the state. Um many different school districts use Navian use all sorts of different things. Um but this is suggesting that it would be um through the state program and
052that's it. Uh also uh a requirement that is recommended is that students will complete the FAFSA or MASA depending on eligibility. Um and we're we're not sure or opt out of this requirement. It sounds that this would be required period. Um we're not sure what an opt out would look out. uh look like if it's an actual requirement. Um students will develop knowledge and skills in financial literacy. So what's interesting here is that we don't know would that be a course, would that be an element? Um currently there is a financial literacy set of standards that's in the um social studies frameworks for high school. Um but it's just a statement right now. And then students will have the option to earn state designated seals of distinction. Right now there's a seal of biiteracy that
053students may earn from the state. Um I'm not sure how recognizable it is uh across other states or even within um and what so what those seals would be and what they mean. We don't know yet. um some samples I shared with you um several months ago um because there was one career uh CTE seal that was undefined. Uh it did not say anything specific about um industry recognized credentials whether that is just a simple OSHA credential or if it's something more advanced like um what environmental was just talking about. So that is um that is the discussion right now. Um the supposedly there will be something formal coming out by the end of the school year. But this is really important that we all read and learn about this discussion because whatever this endgame
054is for a Massachusetts diploma is what is what drives what happens really in K12 education and for us um of course at Minute Man. Um, so does anyone have questions about what you read previously or about what I just shared or opinions or passions or that I I I would love to hear. Sarah, >> I was I when I you went through that, I was thinking to myself, I wondered whether the student projects would satisfy the the student capstone or portfolio project, but it sounds like you don't have enough information on that like the programs that the senior project that exists right now. Would that satisfy those needs? But it sounds like you don't know yet. >> Correct. So, in theory, Mike, that um and we're very lucky that we already have a process where
055these are scored and judged. um other school districts would need to create one of those um which is time intensive and um it's not one of those things you can just flip a switch and it um it takes place. So, but we do have we do have that element. So Heidi, although it's early, which of these aspects of their graduation requirements are you currently the most concerned about for our type of school? Which ones look at and and you say, um, that's going to really be a problem for us in all likelihood. And >> so we have been preparing at Minute Man. um the leads and Diane Dempsey, we've been working with our program of study to make sure we are at a point where we can pivot depending on what the requirements are. Um
056I think that requiring mass core um may be an issue if it is required to end of course assessments. Um so for example MCCAST um and the MCCAST retest if you had mastered algebra 1 and uh geometry uh actually lower than the nth grade level you would meet that expectation. Uh we don't know what that looks like here. And if we do follow mass core, there would be an end of course exam for algebra 2, which would be a much um more rigorous uh assessment than we've had in the past. I would say more rigorous than um I am concerned about anytime the state requires us to score something locally. As Sarah said, we already have this element for ourselves, but I I do believe it should be at the local school district's discretion um
057to score and administer capstone projects and portfolios. Um, if you recall years ago, um, there was there were the, uh, DDMS, the district determined measures that were supposed to I feel like this is a a revival of the DDMS that were um, not a success. Um, and that does concern me. I uh the my cap I do think it's urgent starting in middle school for kids to have a career and academic plan. I do not believe the uh software should be prescribed by the state. Uh, it concerns me particularly because if students start a MYAP plan in middle school and then they come over to Minuteman, um, I assume that would not be a smooth transition with one click and we can have access to that. That, um, is interesting. I love the financial literacy
058piece. We just don't have a definition of what that looks like. Um, and in theory I like seals of distinction. In reality, because we don't know what they are, um, I don't know how that would impact schools um or college admissions or diplomas or uh I I I don't know. So my biggest concern is um the program of study connected to the end of course assessments. Now if we have like we did with MCCAST many years um to develop and pilot this um I feel like we would be in a better position but we don't know what the this is. So um in short um that that is that is my concern. Um in the meantime you all approved a policy. Right now our students meet a competency determination um with an end of course
059assessment. Um we are going to do those um earlier than later. Um that way our students have time for test repair um to meet our mastery standard of 75% on that assessment. Um but right now every school district has a different graduation policy um with the required elements from the state. So we needed algebra 1, geometry, um English and next year we will be adding um history. So there's a lot on the agenda here, a lot of unknowns, and we also don't know if the new commissioner who came to us basically after all this was done, uh what his real feelings are about it at this time. We we don't um and I did notice if you saw the Department of Education's new um flowchart for their structure um Rob Curtain who was the who
060is the data um person for DESIE who is basically the MCCAST group the guy in charge of MCCAST data um he looks like he is directly under the commissioner as a deputy so that's very interesting um because I think this is going to be a a a lot of work that should not be done in short time. But that was something I just noticed on that charter. >> Interesting. Any other questions and comments? Obviously, this is something ideas we've lived with for a long time. We're going to be living with them for a long time. We've seen some very bad judgment from um from Desi and the board. And hopefully the career tech schools uh will not get the short end of the stick and we will hopefully not be insulted by we have to
061be handled special specialty because we don't want that either. >> Absolutely >> Sharon. >> So Heidi, am I wrong in feeling like these competence these end of course competency exams that are designed administered and scored by the state are just another name for MCCAST? It it seems feels more like the regent tests in New York, but New York is getting rid of those. Interestingly enough, um I assume these end of course exams would be more like the biology MCCAST because the biology MCCAST is in fact an end of course exam. Um it is not a um comprehensive exam like math and English were um which or are still they still exist. um which really assesses everything you've been taught from um the beginning until 10th grade and it's an achievement test. So there there are
062there is algebra 2 on EPCAST which is how students might achieve exceeds um an end of course assessment undefined is a very big sweeping statement on that one little page. So, I would encourage any of you if you if you didn't have time to read that um that link with that information, please do. Um and I will be sending up some additional reading um some news articles and things like that historically going back to before that vote. Um so, you can all read up more if you'd like. >> Other questions and comments at this time? Believe me, you're going to have many more opportunities to ask questions and comments on this. No teeth grinding yet. Good. Okay. Very good. Does that finish your state report? >> It does, Jeff. >> And that finishes your leadership
063report as a whole. Is that correct? >> Very good. But but don't go anywhere because you and Nikki are coming back soon. But the PASA resistance of the evening is coming right up. Sarah Montigue, the finance report. >> Thanks, Jeff. Mark, welcome to the finance committee. Looking forward to having another set of eyes on the project. And uh we met recently. We meet um twice a month to go over warrants um look through all of the expenses and really understand um what's going on and ask good questions. and the administration always has excellent answers to all of our questions explaining what what is going on with the different different categories of expenses. So, I'm going to turn it over to Nikki and Heidi to take everyone through the budget. >> Thank you so much. Um,
064so Nikki will share her screen and she will take us through some slides. I want to let all of you know that um what we will be sharing out after this meeting is a draft of the budget book. Um but it is not for sharing. It is for reading and coming up with questions if you have any. Um because we don't want different copies of the budget book to be shared and it is not the budget book is not finalized until after the governor's budget comes out. Um but we want to make sure that our committee is um armed with as much information as possible. Um, and it shout out to Ed McQuillin who is on this slide. One day we'll change it. Um, but, uh, Nikki, you can change to the next slide. Um,
065as we do every year, um, Minute Man's budget reflects our values. Um you'll see in the budget detail um that not only are we supporting academics and vocational studies, but we're supporting a full well-rounded education. And I'd like to give a shout out to once again to our state title winning soccer team who's featured on the right there. Okay, next slide. >> All right, take it over Nikki. All right. Good evening, school committee. Um, happy to share this presentation which will be um, what we present at our public hearing. Um, a condensed down version um, of our budget, a big picture version. Um, and we've gone into detail with our finance committee over the last two meetings in December. So, this presentation will what be what will be at the public hearing and again those
066details from the budget book will be sent after this meeting. So you can look into those a little bit further. So overall, our total budget just shy of $33.5 million is a $2.99% increase from FY26 or our prior year budget. To break that down a little bit further, we have an operating recommendation just under 26.5 million, which is a 3.84% increase. We have our operating capital recommendation which is a about 4% decrease from the prior year. This is majority of our capital stabilization fund which we will talk about in a future slide. And our building project debt which is really important to break out for those member towns who have that debt excluded is pretty break even with less than a 1% change at just over um 5.6 six almost $5.7 million. And what does
067that look like for our member towns? Our total member assessments for FY27 will be 26,827,73, which is $2.89% increase um from FY26. Again, the way our budget um is built and broken out is based on our four-year rolling average. So, while this is our total increase, each of our member towns do see um a little bit different of an increase and we'll go into that further um on a future slide as well. What were the um budget priorities in the FY27 budget? Um we are happy to announce as you all know that we successfully um bargained um and have a 27 to 29 um CBA collective bargaining agreement for our teachers. So this budget includes um the 3% that was voted on or agreed to in the CBA plus the steps and levels for our
068teachers. Um, always uh looking at the supplies and materials as it's so important for our students to be hands-on in the classroom considering tariffs um and everything that's going in on our economy. Making sure that all of those materials that they need for the um you know technical education is is available. Our insurance is is probably the biggest um non salary budget driver. you know, we're estimating uh a pretty big increase for our health insurance as is seen all across the market. We we've had um an increase in our retirey health insurance and um our building insuranceances as well. So, our capital stabilization, as I mentioned prior, um we'll be we'll we'll provide more details in an additional slide, but we are proposing um funding our capital stabilization as well as just reminding all of
069our school committee members and our member towns that we are making good on our promise that we are continuing to offset our athletic field debt service with the rental um money that we receive from renting our athletic field. So, as I mentioned about our capital stabilization account, uh we are building that up. We've successfully um built that up what it looks like to be $100,000 each year, which is about a 10% increase. We've met and discussed with our capital planning committee um that we are proposing a funding schedule of increasing of $100,000 each year until we hit our maximum contribution. This year that would have been 1.3 million. Um that number is calculated and changes every year based on the prior year member town assessments. It can't exceed more than 5%. Um, so that number
070I I'm guessing will will stay somewhat consistent, but within the next few years, we're proposing fully funding that um in line with our on-site insight report um which was an external report that kind of looked at our building and making recommendations. We're really proposing funding this account to ensure that when we have years that we have items that need to be um replaced um and maintained within our building, we're able to utilize that fund with a vote of the school committee. Um so with this um contribution that would for FY27 that would put our account a little over um 6.2 6.3 million and those details are within our budget book as well. We had some other capital needs but we are pausing at the moment. We are currently going through the MSBA recommissioning um project
071or it's a pilot program actually it's a nocost pilot program and the MSBA came just before New Year's um to look at our building and you can see here some of the um systems that they're looking at HVAC electrical plumbing our building envelope and our building management system um and they're providing us with a report um that we're hoping to have by the end of the school year. So, that will really um kind of frame what we're looking at as far as capital needs that we'd like to fund within the building. >> Heidi, did you want to add anything to that? >> Thank you. I would. Um, so just so you know, the MSBA recommissioning is not just the single visit. We just had our first visit. Um, today they reached out with a whole
072Excel sheet of all the next steps that we have to take with them. Um, and if just to refresh everyone's memory, we we opened this building in fall of 2019, promptly closed it in March of 2020. Um, we do have some lingering um HVAC issues, some some things that happen when you don't run a building to full capacity when it's brand new. Um, so I am very happy that we're a part of this pilot because I'm hoping that they will give us some insight into things that we need to do now that would not have come up in the on-site insight report because the on-site insight report gives us a story of what things look like if they operate typically over the next 20 years. Um, and already um things do not match um the
073the timeline. Um for if you remember last year our elevators which should have not needed to be um addressed for I think it was year 11 um we needed to redo um the elevator uh systems and uh the o change the type of oil that we're using things like that um last year um which is which was very early. Um, so it is possible that in the future we might be coming to you for um some capital needs. Um, but it would be um preemptive to make commitments um or requests from our uh sending districts for capital when we really need a full picture and this will help us do that. So, the next item that's always a hot topic with school committees and member towns is our OPED. Um, not sure if all of
074you remember, but back in 2020 to 2021, an OPED study committee was created. Um, we had a big increase in our OPED contribution um last year for FY26 of a $300,000 increase. Now, we're proposing a 5% increase each year. um that's broken out between our active retirey health insurance and our oped contribution. So what that looks like of the 1.2 million um it's pretty much kind of split right in the middle. Half is for our active health insurance and our retirees that we're paying for now and then half will go towards the fund. Uh we do have a total uh OPE trust balance of just shy of 2.4 4 million and um our OPED liability for those that um are looking at that was um re we have a evaluation every two years. So they'll
075look at things such as the number of employees uh the age of the employees um a whole bunch of different factors and our total liability actually decreased as well. So if you look at the whole picture um our OPED liability actually uh is currently funded uh at about 14%. So we are looking to each year continuously um you know contribute to that to ensure that our uh trust fund balance is getting closer to that total liability number. And for those of you that don't or aren't familiar with OPEB, um other postemployment benefits. So for those that that retire and then just, you know, talking about what I mentioned before, our our budget is tied to our enrollment. So just wanted to share those numbers. Um our total enrollment is 658. That's our blue line here,
076which is made up of a majority of our member towns at 614 students um from our nine member towns and 44 from our non-member towns. And just a bit more detail about how that's broken out by town and by class. Um stressing that um out of district seats still exists and our goal is um to maximize enrollment of the district. So, this is very important as we go to all of our member towns um to show, you know, which um towns have which students in which grade. And that kind of brings us into our preliminary assessments. Again, I kind of mentioned um the importance uh that the the enrollment in particular, our 4year rolling average of enrollment plays. Um that was built into the regional agreement. So, if one year your um enrollment goes up
077or goes down, it's not like a big spike one way or the other, it's actually just kind of more of a gradual um slope one way or the other, which helps towns as far as budgeting goes um be able to manage that. So, here we have our total um preliminary assessments for our towns. Again, um the assessment increase 2.89% 89% and our 4-year rolling average of enrollment 3.1%. Our operating budget is um tied directly to the 4-year rolling average in the increase. Whereas our capital um has a a bit more um calculation to be involved. While there's the 4-year rolling average, there's also consideration of the town's wealth um and as well as splitting um 1% of the capital budget between all of our member towns. And just to wrap up our budget, um a
078comparative uh for some people that like to see the numbers side by side, not just the percentages, but again, our total operating budget, uh operating and capital budget at 2.99%. And our non-assessment revenue um which offsets what we charge to our member town assessments. As Heidi mentioned, we do have estimates for our chapter 70 aid and our chapter 71 regional transportation reimbursement. Um why that's important is because the governor's budget is going to be released at the end of January. Um those numbers will change based on what the governor um puts out in the budget. So that is something that when we go to the public hearing there will be a one slide just describing the change of what the governor's budget is. Um right now we're projecting um you know an even as far
079as chapter 70 aid goes um hold harmless. They won't decrease what we received last year even though our member town enrollment um slightly decreased. Um we are projecting a little bit less for regional transportation just based on what um the experts at DESIE are um projecting for the percentage of reimbursement. Uh what I wanted to point out was our regional transportation revolving account which is new to our budget this year. Last year, um, we did a little bit of research and there was a regional transportation revolving account voted by the school committee. As you remember, this is the first year we'll be utilizing it. And what that really is is anything extra that the um state reimburses us um will go into that account. So say you know last year we had budgeted 900,000 they
080paid us more 1.1 million 200,000 is then going to go into that account. What's required is that we use that money to offset the budget the next year. So, what we're doing is being able to utilize that. And each year it may look a little different, but this year, um, it's a great benefit that we're able to use a little bit more of that money, um, to offset the FY27 transportation assessment. Our prior year tuition um, has increased just based on the number of students, our out of district students that are coming to our school. Um, so a 35% increase. Uh we are recommending um using 650,000 of our excess and deficiency fund. Um you know what some people call our fund balance or you know if you think about uh company revenue minus expense
081um like profit. So there's a certain um amount of money at the end of the year. Um so we give that money back to the towns so they don't have to pay as much in their member town assessments. As you remember last year, um we did have over a 5% cap which um put us over the threshold to return that money back. That was because of the regional transportation um being more than our estimate before we, you know, remembered that um and utilized that revolving account. So us being able to utilize that revolving account this year um and all years going forward will really help our non-assessment capital fee revenue again increase similar to our tuition based on the number of out of district students and you know we're holding um our promise to offset
082the facilities um debt with our rental revolving money. So that kind of summarizes our total assessment revenue 3.4% 4% um and makes our required member town assessments at that 2.89%. And lastly, just um the 2027 assessment components, our minimum required contribution, our transportation budget um really decreasing the most because of that additional funds of the transportation revolving um but again that 2.89% of our total assessments. So this won't be for tonight but just as you're thinking you're hearing this presentation when we go to the public hearing um there will be a school committee meeting directly after we where we will be asking you to vote on these items. So the proposed budgets for that date will be a vote on our total budget a vote on the prelim preliminary assessments and a vote on the
083excess and deficiency fund. Um that number has to be certified by the state. So right now this is a placeholder. Our our um report is submitted to the state but it hasn't been certified yet. So that usually is very close to when we have our public hearing. If we don't have our public hearing um if we don't have the certified number from our public hearing, we will ask you to again vote on the certified number at a at a future school committee meeting which has been done in the past. So, just reminding everyone um of what that um why that's important. They require us to send the minutes of the vote with the certification on it. So, that wraps up our budget presentation and we're happy to answer any questions um that you have now.
084And again, we will be um sharing that budget draft budget book um as it's not final until the governor's budget comes out. Um but we'll provide you with a good amount of details as far as the budget that we've put together um today. >> So, school committee members, I can't see all of you, so if you have a question, you're going to have to uh uh speak up because I can't see your hand. >> That's right. Nikki, can you close the presentation, please? >> Absolutely. Now I can see your hands. So comments or questions, school committee members, just put this in some context. Uh the fincom I believe at Sarah will remind me if I'm wrong did vote to um recommend these numbers to you, but they're preliminary so because they might change after the
085governance um budget. And we also have a meeting on the 26th. So you're going to get the uh the more details in the budget book, the draft budget book shortly. And we have a meeting uh scheduled for Monday 26 in which you can come and hear it again and uh ask additional questions if you so if you so want to. So, any questions or comments on the budget as presented today? Heidi, you have a question. What is your question? I'll have to >> Well, I would like to add I would like to add something. Um, I just want to commend Nikki um and actually the entire administrative team on the work that they did to communicate the details of this budget this year. um we really started um a a new process where we go
086all the way to the leads. They're involved in presenting and communicating line by line. So there's less back and forth and it's done in person in real time. So that takes a lot of time. Um I want to say about a week ago, maybe it was last week, we actually closed the loop and met with all of the administrators to make sure they knew where we stood before we came to present this to the full school committee. Um and everyone was um cooperative, transparent and uh made this process something that I think is sustainable. Um and it it I I I am just so impressed with the team. I I really have no words. And um Nikki's ability to communicate to everyone in a clear and concise manner um is uh absolutely wonderful. So um
087that's that's all I have to say but I'm happy to answer um any questions. >> So Mark as a as a district school it means we have nine member towns which means we have nine sets of selectmen nine fincom members nine town meetings all of which may want a presentation from us. So, the presentations are given either e either or plus their uh local Minute Man School community member, but um uh Nikki and Heidi often go on a road show and they have to visit many of these districts to give this the all not quite the same presentation because it focuses on the needs of that particular community. So they take this presentation that they gave us, >> they modified a little bit for that town and they have to do that nine times. >>
088Oh, >> so that's what they do. Nikki >> just also wanted to add and share that we are hosting the town managers of all the nine member towns at Minute Man um literally next week on the 20th. Um we're having a brunch. We're hosting it. We're going to go over the presentation with them. um you know and they will get some food from our culinary department and we ask them at that time um you know are there any meetings that you'd like us to present to your finance committee kind of get the town meeting schedule um so we can really plan that out and ensure that we're supporting um all of the member towns as needed. >> That's great. Thanks. Yeah. So, um, since Lexington seems to have won the prize this year of the
089greatest increase and they just did an override for a ridiculous amount of money, um, I'm wondering if we can maybe if anybody who's had a really large increase in previous years could have a conversation with me about helping with this process or if maybe Nikki, you and Heidi and I can discuss because I have a feeling that this one might be a hard one to swallow. Absolutely. We can certainly um you know touch base the three of us offline. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions or comments? Okay. Now, on that meeting on the 26th, I'm going to ask uh Julia to um contact all the membership to find out how many of you are going to be there because if it's going to be a full school committee meeting posted as such, we need
090at least five of you there, five people there. And if we can't get five, then it goes back to being just a fincom meeting. So, I think uh about a week before that, when what's today's date? Yeah, about a week before that meeting, I'm going to have Julia do a poll of who wants to show up. And if it's under five, it becomes a uh FinCom meeting again. But otherwise, it's going to be a school committee meeting. So, if there's a number of you want to show up, you can without violating the open meeting law. As a practical note, Heidi, >> do have I see um on this Zoom box, I just noticed um I see our our uh boosters uh president Suzanne. I just want to give her a shout out. Um she is,
091if you don't know, u Minute Man has a new athletics boosters nonprofit, very active group of parents. Um I'm actually meeting with Suzanne tomorrow. um and they are very highly motivated um to support and enhance the athletics at Minute Man. Um so we have not hi. So I saw her little box there. So I just wanted to make sure if you didn't know that that's happening um it is and we're very grateful. >> Hi Suzanne. >> Hello. Thank you. Thank you for the shout out. I have a sophomore. I live in Lexington. I have a sophomore. um at Minimman and I'm really just excited to be part of the community. >> Right. And one of my happiest moments on the school committee was when we figured out we were able to have three fields uh
092and and lightning and I come by when I come in sometimes I come in a little early if it's an inerson meeting and I walk around the fields and see all the people using them. Some athletics are very important to Minute Man and to the school committee and will continue to be so. Great. Very well then. Um Sarah, is there anything else on the finance subcommittee report? >> Nothing else. Thank you. >> Great. Thank you all very much on that. Which brings us to other subcommittee reports. And all we have for tonight is the policy subcommittee. Alice Duca and Alice is on mute. >> I'm sorry. Um Sharon and I met last week and we worked on some policies from I. We're going to be meeting again on the 22nd, continuing on with section I.
093We were going to have you have some policies for you today, but uh events overtook our plans and uh we will be back hopefully in um in February with a bestseller. >> Bestseller. Okay, great. All right, I believe that that brings us to all the items on our agenda except for everybody's favorite adjournment. Uh welcome again, Mark. We're very happy to have you. >> Um, this is a shorter than average meeting, so don't get used to this length of a meeting. >> Okay. >> A little shorter than average. >> Uh, what's the average? Eight hours per meeting. >> No. Okay. Okay. Great. So, again, thank you very much. We're very happy to have you with us. Very happy to have you on the fin. Um, you can reach out if you have any particular questions.
094You can reach out to any school committee member. You can reach out to the chair. can reach out to Heidi as you need to. >> Thank you. >> Okay, great. Uh, very well then. Could I have a motion to adjourn, please? >> So moved. >> Second. >> Very good. Uh, roll call vote. Pam >> Pam Norington, yes. >> Sarah Montigue, Arlington, yes. >> Linda Herbison, Bolton, yes. >> Marky Dover, yes. >> Lancaster, yes. >> Sharon Mosto, Lexington, yes. >> Jeff Stan, Nem, yes. Lucas jo. >> Thank you all very much everybody. >> Thank you. >> We'll be seeing you later and have a great rest of your week. >> You too. X