MGRSD School Committee 09/11/2025

001All right. >> All right. So, I am going to call this meeting of the Mount Greylock Regional School District School Committee to order. Uh it is Thursday, September 11th at 6:04 p.m. Uh we're meeting remotely via Zoom. This is uh being livereamed on Willyet. Uh and it will also be on video on demand within 24 hours after the meeting on the Mount Greylock YouTube channel and on Willlet. Um with that uh let us roll call in and I will start with Bowen here. >> Conry here. >> Constantine here. >> Elenbine here. >> Green here. >> Miller here. >> Thank you. Um Jose, can you read us the mission statement, please? >> For sure. Am I any more audible? >> Yes, you are. Yes. >> Um, at Mount Greylock Regional School District, our mission is to

002create a community of learners working together in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based process pro processes, respect, inclusive diversity, courtesy, integrity, and responsibility through high expectations and cooperation resulting in lifelong learning and personal growth. >> Thank you. Um, we will move to public comment. I don't see anybody here who would be making public comment. I know we received someone saying a note from someone saying they would give public comment but they are not here. >> Did the note say this is my public comment? >> Yeah, I wish to make the following statement. >> I thought he would be here to make that statement. >> Gotcha. We can include it in the >> the meeting. >> Yeah, >> let's do that. Let's do that. Um, excellent. Okay. Um, so let's move to

003the approval of the minutes from August 14th, 2025. Do I have a motion to approve those minutes? >> So move. >> Thanks. Thank you, Carrie. Is that a second from you, Stephen? >> Sure. I'll second. Great. Are there any um is there any discussion or questions or comments? >> I had a couple unless somebody else it can wait. >> Carrie, go ahead. >> Okay. Um on number eight, superintendent search about twothirds of the way down. Uh well halfway down it says she noted that a number of emails and texts from community members had been received in support of this plan. Um the plan that we were talking about at least in the minutes up to that point was to delay in uh for transparency sake. And I I think Julie, as I recall, the support

004was for the plan to hire the interimm superintendent as the permanent. So I think there just needs to be clarification there. Um support of the plan to hire Joe Berseron as Okay. >> So that was one and then Oh, here's Cody. Let me give my >> Yeah. Um so my other comment is of a similar vein. Um under number 11 second line from the bottom um it uses u the word government. So all title and other federal grants have been released by the government. Um I think we're talking about federal government or are we talking about state government? Um maybe we Joe do you remember I mean are we were we talking about both >> just federal at that point? >> So adding federal government makes sense. Yeah. Good catch. >> Yep. Thanks. >> Thank

005you. Any other comments or questions or corrections to the minutes? >> No. Okay. Hearing none, let's move to a roll call vote. And we're going to start with uh Christina >> Conry. I >> Constantine. I >> I >> Bowen I. Thank you. That motion passes. Um let's move back to public comment uh to have um Cody joined us uh and had asked to do uh make a public comment. So Cody, I'm going to give you the floor. Um I just want to name I know you shared what you plan to say, but I need to name for the listening public as well. Public comment um is meant to be three minutes or less and ideally speak to our agenda. Um, and I'm going to turn it to you. >> Excellent. Thank you so much. I

006apologize for my delay in joining. I had uh some uh miss uh wrong links from previous meetings on here. Uh so my apologies and thank you for accommodating me regardless. Um, and uh, as stated, I just wish to express my appreciation to this committee for their consideration in joining others throughout northern Berserker County in evaluating the ways that we might collaborate to best serve all the students in our community. I am excited and eager to meet the representatives that uh that your chair appoints hopefully after this effort uh and to see what opportunities might be devised all without any commitment or expectation. Thank you. >> Thank you Cody. >> Um Julia should Cody also >> can you introduce yourself Cody? So is that what you're gonna ask for Carrie? >> Yeah. Where where he's from?

007What what town? Uh, yes. I am a resident of North Adams. >> Great. Thank you. Thank you. All right. I >> So, Cody might not know that we don't respond to public comment. >> Ah, sorry, Cody. Yes, correct. You might We hear public comment and then we move on with our agenda, but we've heard it and we will uh undoubtedly reference it when we get to that part of our agenda. >> Certainly. No worries at all. Thank you so much. Excellent. Um, I don't think we have any other members of the public here to give public comment. So, I'm going to move on the agenda to our summer programming review. And I believe that's Noel. That is me. Yes. Um, I'm still learning Google Meet. I know how to do this in Zoom, but am

008I able to share? I'm going to try to share. Do I have share permission or do I need special permission? Ah, there we go. Okay. And let's just go to slideshow. Great. All right. Um, there we go. Thank you for having me on. I'm excited to share a little bit about the a really successful summer programming that we ran um this past summer. We had programming at two schools. So, this is the second year that we've combined our elementary school programs um into one uh school. And then, of course, we had programming at Mount Greylock as well. And the goal for summer programming is to provide our students with um academic and social and emotional skills in order to prevent uh significant regression of skills that they have learned during the school year over the

009summer months. Um, so we had a lot of uh fun doing that and um it was really successful. I want to thank all of our students who were um enthusiastic and excited and great participants and of course I want to thank Chris Hawking who was our director and all of the wonderful teachers and pair of professionals and building staff um that uh helped out to make this such a great success. So we had um the combined program at the elementary school. We had two classrooms of prekk. We had a classroom for first and second graders. We had two classrooms for third and fourth graders and a classroom for fifth. Uh then we al also offered related services of occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech and language. Um the uh we were able to offer transportation

010of course from Williamstown uh to Lanesboro and for Lanesboro students to get to school as well. So uh that made it a lot uh more convenient obviously and uh we were able to get a lot more students in our building for summer. Um total enrollment was 45 students for the elementary school program. We had seven teachers and 10 paraprofessionals working with us. And then uh we had a a program at Camp Russell which is a recreational program. And that program um our students enjoy learning um outdoors in a variety of different settings. We have some great photos there of people having fun. We had five students there and two pair of professionals from our district working. We had all kinds of uh field trips both outside and we brought um opportunities into the school as

011well. So we had Birkshere Bird Paradise part of our program. um the um older kids took a field trip to Bakers Golf. We had Touch a Truck um come down to Lansboro and the kids really loved that. And then as as I said, we had the program at Camp Russell. Our older program, we had our sixth grade transition program. Again, this is the second year we've done this. So the um students that graduated from sixth grade, rising into seventh grade over the summer, they attended um that program at Mount Greylock. was a great opportunity for them to come become familiar with the school. Um they were able to develop a little bit more comfort going into that very scary transition uh for a lot of our students and um also another great chance for the

012peers to meet from Lansboro Williamstown before uh school gets started ahead of time. So uh that was a great opportunity as well. And then we had our um academic skills program for students uh that were in eth to uh rising eth graders. And again, we did offer OT, PT, and speech as well. Um, total enrollment of that program, um, we had at, uh, just got to move that out of the way, we had 29 students, uh, total enrollment at the middle and high school, eight students that were rising, rising seventh graders, the sixth grade transition program, we had eight students in our academic skills, we had three teachers, and five pair of professionals. Okay, sorry. One second. Well, I think my screen seemed to have There we go. Many things. Okay. And as I said,

013we are very grateful for the staff um that worked really hard to make this uh a great opportunity for our students and really proud of all of our students for working hard this summer. Does anyone have any questions or anything that I can answer about that? >> Okay. Well, thank you for letting me show off our wonderful program and thank you for your support. >> Noel, thank you for all of that that work that everyone you led and everyone did this summer. Super important. We know for those students. >> Thank you. >> Um, okay. Next, I have our superintendent search slashdeision. Um, and I think we know there's one candidate we are looking to appoint. So, I'm going to look for a motion to appoint Joe Berseron to a permanent superintendent position. >> So moved.

014>> Great. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Carrie. Um, any discussion or questions. >> So, um I'm wondering how the um Willy Net program went. I heard you guys were rock stars. Uh Julia and Curtis did a program just talking about the uh decision to appoint and whether we've gotten any feedback from that or from the public otherwise. I can speak for, you know, for me anyway. I uh have received positive feedback on that program as well. Not a ton, but from a number of people. Um and really I if anything I've received the question, why didn't we vote to have Joe be superintendent in August? Um so I I am I you know I I will say very clearly that I had absolute confidence in this path you know a while

015ago um and I and there's been absolutely nothing to deter my confidence and actually you know with more thought more reflection and more conversations in the community um I'm just certain that we are um making the right decision to have Joe as our as our superintendent. And to the point of anyone who might ask why not in August, uh I would just say due diligence wanting to make sure that we had uh really looked at all options and alternatives and uh spoken to stakeholders and made a decision that we were most confident in. And yeah, we could have said it in August, but we just wanted to be thorough and the timing is good and and here we are. >> Great. Thank you, Stephen. Um, you have your hand up. >> Yeah, just um, you

016know, echoing those points. This is similar to how we have first and second readings for policies is we know people are busy. We know a lot of people are traveling. We really want input from the community. There's no need to rush this. There's no need to rush many of the issues we deal with and we try to make sure that there's plenty of time for people to uh, you know, reach out. This is one of the advantages of having, you know, a small district where, you know, people know their representatives. >> Thank you, Stephen. >> It's a great point. Any other questions? Yes, Carrie. >> So, I just have a question on process because we have a vote, but then we have a vote on the actual contract. So what is this vote? >> This

017is the vote I guess I said to appoint but to offer him a contract. It so maybe the the amendment should an amendment to that motion should be to offer Joe Bjon a contract for interim superintendent or sorry for superintendent. Is that >> Yeah, I think we should do everything together because um what the the vote should be on the contract. We've already made the decision to, you know, wait until August to vote the contract, right? Or >> Yes. Am I am I just >> No, I think it can be two separate votes because you're offering if if we were in in past processes if we had multiple candidates, we would vote to give the offer to the candidate and then separately vote on the contract. >> Okay. >> Is there >> It just seems

018odd that we're doing them at the same meeting. We're voting to proceed with making Joe an offer. >> Okay, I can do that. >> I view I view it that way. >> Okay, I would I would make or second that motion to uh proceed with offering the position to Joe Roger. >> Okay, Curtis, are you okay with that switch in that shift in language? >> That's a friendly amendment I support wholeheartedly. Okay, >> great. All right. So, we have a motion and a second. Any other comments or questions? All right. Then, let us do a roll call vote starting with you, Jose. >> An enthusiastic eye. >> Another enthusiastic eye. Alphenb. >> I I >> Yes, >> Bowen. Yes, >> Conry. Yes, I Yes. >> Excellent. So, that is unanimous. Um, and to Carrie's point,

019we wanted to we didn't want to have to place an executive session in the middle. So, we moved it at the end, but we will have our executive session at the end to um discuss and then negotiate a contract u with Joe. Okay. With that being done, um, let us move to superintendent goals. Feel like should there be like a bell to ring or like I don't know, maybe after the maybe after the >> Yeah. >> Thank you, Joelle. >> Confetti. >> Thank you all. I really appreciate the opportunity and um I I love working with the team that I work with for the students that we serve and um and and also uh as incredibly awkward as a public hiring process is um all of you have made it uh as as um as

020good as can be. So I really appreciate it. Thank you. >> Excellent. Excellent. All right. Um, so Joe, now it's your turn. So, assuming we can come to a an agreement, um, which, you know, hopefully is not too big of an assumption. Um, can you share with us kind of how you're thinking about your goals for this next year? >> Yes, I would love to. And I'm going to go ahead and share my screen now. And so we're talking about goals for uh this school year. Um we're we're a couple weeks in. Um and a lot of this work is of course already um very much underway. Um there are four proposed goals here. Each of them has both short-term as well as longer term aspirations around them that I'll outline as as we go

021through. Um the the first goal is to demonstrate an increased student and staff sense of belonging. The second to demonstrate progress in literacy as determined by uh improvements in diagnostic assessment data as well as MCCAST data. The third to demonstrate progress within mathematics within similar forms of data. And then the fourth is to develop a shared vision across key stakeholder groups for what success looks like within our district, which is a um a precursor to having a successful update to vision, values, strategic plan, district improvement plans, and making sure that our school improvement plans um can all align align with those bodies of work that that we'll be working on. Um all of these goals, as I said, are multi-year. Um but I'm going to talk through strategies and work progress milestones that I am

022um planning on providing over the course of this year so that an evaluation um within a single year cycle is uh very much practical. So overarching themes none of the work to accomplish these goals is done by an individual. Um, accountability, however, is is very important to to me and I think ultimately to the to the success of of any of these. Um, and so as they are goals that I am presenting for for myself, um, they are also goals that I I think I will look to ensure are embedded within the work of of every individual across the district in the various forms that that that is possible. Um it's a team effort. Nothing will happen without without everybody moving in the same direction. The first three goals are very focused on first off

023adopting uh district plans that we have built over the last couple of years. One within behavior. Um we did an extensive body of work last year rethinking how we consider student behavior, how we approach challenges, how we address investigations. Um all of that groundwork is now going through its initial implementation which involves getting all these systems in place. Um having systems that monitor progress that provide data so that we can iterate and adjust as well as making sure that staff and eventually community members have all of the education all of the training needed in order to to be successful. The same story is true within literacy. Um we within our district improvement plan have a fairly significant um set of goals around um both better addressing the topic of dyslexia within our schools, better utilizing

024diagnostic assessment data, ensuring that our special education staff have all of the have all of the latest science reading training possible. Um and and that's another area where we're putting a lot of that learning, a lot of that planning to work this year. Mathematics primarily within the elementary and middle high school age groups. We have a new curriculum that was uh that went through a committee selection process, a piloting process. We started professional learning within that new curriculum this past spring and now we are in year one of implementing it. All three behavior literacy and mathematics all of them have systems that we are that we are implementing um that are implemented now and that we are using for the first time to measure progress. developing team review and iteration practices, regular cycles of review

025both at the district level, at the school level, and then within the teams that that that are directly serving students. Um, all of that is being put into place as we're moving through this year. And all of that facilitates continued learning and growth for all staff. So, as we learn about the things that we need, the challenges that we're facing, all of our professional learning is being geared to serve those end goals better. Um the fourth goal, vision shared across all all hopefully all stakeholders in a way that that is built from the ground up is focused on um a more long-term student and community sess uh success look. Um and and so that's something that I think we have often talked about how once once we have a longer term plan in place for

026the district office, it will be the right moment to to talk about vision, values, strategic planning and so on. So, I have already covered a number of these things, but I do want to make sure that that I'm presenting what what is in year one versus what is in years two uh and three and beyond because all of this work quite honestly is going to be ongoing for for many years to come. In terms of measuring belonging and how student and staff are uh are evolving in that in that regard, we are going to be thoroughly utilizing panorama surveys this year. We also are collecting data as we are moving through all of our behavior and incident response work. Um the panorama data will have values indicating how people are feeling at each of those

027benchmark points over the course of the year. So, we're planning on utilizing Panorama three times. I will bring that data both to you as a school committee, but also in various forms to staff and to the community at large. Um, so year one is about getting that process moving thoroughly. Yes, Carrie, >> I just had to um can you remind us um does the Panorama survey go out to students and families or just students? Panorama surveys there there is uh there are a number of different forms of the survey for students that are age and developmentally appropriate. Uh there is another form for families so households are able to respond another form for staff. >> Perfect. Thank you. Yeah. And then years two and three, although really this is a one-year evaluation cycle, years two

028and three, the plan is to maintain these goals, looking at data from the previous year and trying to demonstrate progress in in in uh years two and three. Um so you can expect a fair amount of consistency here as we move through the next couple of years, but we will utilize um single year evaluation cycles. Goal number two. Well, and actually I' I've already covered a lot of this year one work. Um it was in your packet. Feel free to ask questions now or later. Um because all of these things are are very much long term. Um goal two within literacy and goal three within mathematics have really identical identical paths. Um we are in year one of utilizing I Ready as a diagnostic assessment tool within both literacy and math. Um ensuring the fidelity

029of of the implementation um being able to utilize team approaches to reviewing that assessment data and then iterating from there. That's what we're getting into the rhythm of here in year one. that data will be available along with MCCAST scores for us to utilize um in determining success as we move through then years two and three. So year one is about implementation, years two and three are about seeing improvements within those numbers as we as we navigate. Um similarly I already talked about a lot of the year one work goal three mathematics similar to literacy two different core subject areas same approach same tools too which is which is wonderful u and then goal three that year one work um very much getting getting it rolled out being able to monitor progress yes Julia >>

030um one thing I want to maybe clarify for others but also confirm with you The reason why it's going to be hard to see progress within one year is that the diagnostic assessments from I Ready are not necessarily like they're going to be testing different things throughout the year. So you can't necessarily say they were at X on September 30th and they'll be at X plus 20 or you know you can't necessarily see that growth over the year because it's testing different things, right? I just want to confirm slclarify that. Yes, that and these assessment tools are different from tools that we've used in prior years. So, we can't do longitudinal type comparisons yet. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yep. >> Goal four. This one has a little bit more detail because it's also one

031that's that's much more uh process and and getting to the point of of finished artifacts that represent all of the work. But year one is about developing a plan for re-examining our district and school's vision and values. um beginning to figure out how we're going to approach an updated district improvement plan and strategic planning effort and holding all of the initial conversations within Mount Greylock Regional School specifically um that center around the school's program of studies and schedule. So those conversations will start with staff um really trying to unearth and and be able to discuss in detail amongst staff about the challenges that we face about the opportunities that we have and what type of uh forms of exploration we want to then undertake as we as we move towards a longer term vision um

032for that school. The elementary schools are in many ways already undergoing a lot of this transformation within mathematics, within literacy, and we're going to be able to layer in additional goals, additional additional ways to think about how those schools are going to evolve. Um, so we need to lay a lot of groundwork within Mount Greylock Regional School here to to start with years two and three. I think that uh it would be wonderful if uh during year two if we are at the point where vision and values feel feel much more firmed up so that then all of the other planning um can then can then flow from there. So a strategic plan can make sure that it's living out those vision and values. Similarly then updated district improvement plan will be carrying out the

033strategic plan and and how we want to move forward as a district. Um, so all of this layered takes time and and and there's plenty of work um to go around in many ways within here within goal for for all of us including the school committee. Um, so I'm looking forward to that partnership. I've already presented all of this. So that brings me to those are the four goals. I am excited to share progress as we as we navigate uh this school year because I I think that this is a year for putting into um bringing to fruition a lot of the planning that that we had within those first three goals um and and really bringing it to life and and then being able to to adjust and and continue to improve. And then

034within goal four, it's it's a it's a wide open world and and I know that um so many of us are excited to have the both the stability as well as the the work ahead of us to try to make sure that that every decision that we're making, whether it's budgetary um or or staffing or or in any other way, um can be aligned with with a really shared strong and coherent set of of uh vision. values, strategic plan, and and district improvement plan. So, that's what I wanted to present as uh four goals for this year. Carrie. >> Um, so I'm wondering if um at some point prior to the end of the year when we do the actual evaluation, you will be aligning this set of goals with the eval evaluation tool so

035that we can see how you're covering all those bases that the state needs you to cover. I will share that out ahead of the October meeting. >> Oh, cool. Thank you. >> The idea was for Joe to present to start this process by sharing his ideas around this. We'll approve them in October. >> Yeah. >> And they will be the the correct >> they'll be mapped. >> Yeah. >> And could I ask a second question? Is that okay? I know Jose has his hand up. Um I'm wondering um because you're planning to do the surveys three times a ye three times right during the year and there'll be assessments throughout the year. Um do you see this as adding well I don't I'm trying to figure out how to phrase this. I would hate to

036see the increase in data collection also increase the stress that our students feel around performance and I'm just wondering how we're addressing that um potential and whether you see this as any kind of an issue around the way that we're going to continue to assess our students. >> The a couple different thoughts there. First off, the the panorama survey is it it does not feel at all like a like an assessment. It it ends up being honestly in a a way for people to assess how how the district leadership is is managing a process, but but it does not for students um feel at all like a like a test. Um the one of the reasons and then moving on to all of the I Ready assessments. One of the reasons that I keep on

037repeating diagnostic assessment with the diagnostic up front is is that these tools are not related to grades uh for for high schoolers. They they are not in any way used to determine um grades, anything that goes on a transcript, anything like that at all. They are really used to figure out what do you need next to best help you navigate what do become assessments that go on the transcripts. And so at the at the elementary school level it is it is very much just like the work that students do on a on a daily basis. at the middle and high school. It is very clearly distinct from anything that is considered a quiz, a test, an exam that then leads to to a grade. And I'll also note that although we've had a new focus

038at the school committee level on these forms of assessment, within literacy, we had been using FastBridge for for many years. Within math, we had been using other forms of assessment. So here we're really talking about unifying, updating, and approaching this in a way where the data will be a whole lot more usable um within the within the course of the work that that we do as educators. So um there there isn't um there's not a ton that's new here for students, okay, >> in terms of their their day-to-day lives. >> Great. That's very helpful. Thank you, Jose. Thanks Julia and thank you uh Joe my hand down. Um on uh goal number four on you know developing a shared vision and I think in in uh on that that slide I think there was a

039a mention of of values as well across key stakeholder groups. Um just curious about whether or how we'll leverage school councils and you know in as as sort of you know um as part of our sort of stakeholder you know representing our stakeholder groups in some way and and I was hoping maybe you could give us an update on the state of our school councils in each of our three schools. >> Yes. Uh well so the year is just getting underway. the the voting at Mount Greylock Regional School, I believe, was just opened up um yesterday or the day before. So, school council is being determined at Mount Greylock Regional School right now. Williamstown Elementary School, the plan is to start that process coinciding with its um open house next week. Lanes Elementary School, I

040believe, is approaching it in a similar way. So, at the elementary schools, focusing it around openhouse awareness, building building interest at Mount Greylock, um the voting process is is is moving forward. Um with that, then um those school councils will continue to then have a regular monthly meeting cycle. And I absolutely agree that school councils should be a part of um all of this from the ground up in terms of workshopping around vision and values, being able to bring that information back. Um because it's it's the perfect to emphasize also the the importance of having building based teams groups that are that are uh elected and that contribute um greatly to to the goals and and to the priorities of of the school. And and just to re reiterate, Joe, it sounds like uh participating

041if folks are able, parents or caregivers on a school council is a an excellent way to shape the future. >> A great plug for participating in school councils. Yes. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions for Joe? Excellent. Thank you. Um, >> thank you. >> Let's move to the, uh, just make sure I'm in the right place on the agenda. The, um, student handbook review. Am I looking in an old agenda? That came off. Yes. Great. All right. >> Um, let me get to the right agenda. I the the the next item is the elementary school video camera access. >> Okay. >> For emergencies by local police. >> Um we will be doing just so folks know the student handbook review at our next meeting. That was a conversation Joe and I had. So we

042were going to do it and it got moved to the next one. Okay. Um do you want to lead us through the next agenda item, Joe? >> Sure. The next agenda item is is related to uh both of our elementary schools over the last uh 12 to 18 months received upgrades within their uh security cameras. Um and we have not in the past had any form of of written agreement with our local police forces around how to ensure that they have access in the event of an emergency. So, in the event that they need to enter the building because we need them to enter the building, having them be able to see what is happening to the best of their ability during that process. Um, our legal counsel provided draft possibilities for that within that

043are within your packet. That is what they our legal counsel deemed to be um most common across the state. Now, those draft agreements reference that in the event of an emergency, the superintendent or the principal will in that moment provide access to the police for them to be able to see what's happening inside the building. Um, I I have plenty of faith and confidence in our legal counsel, but I also really would like to have a have a different take. Um, because in the event of an emergency, prioritizing going into a piece of software and somehow creating an account, providing that and having police then access it will take extensive time. Um, so the recommendation that I would like to bring forward is that we we take these draft agreements and we amend them to

044indicate that we will provide access to our local police for the purpose of utilizing those cameras in the event of an emergency and that we create accountability. um such that um we periodically monitor accessing uh who is accessing their accounts within our systems and if those accounts were ever utilized outside of an emergency context, we would then have a conversation and and uh consider bringing that forward to to revoke that. um it is not a a real concern of mine, but it is something that I that I know is um is appropriate to um to have in in the realm of accountability. So, what I would love is to have a vote in favor of providing access for use only only in the event of an emergency and that um we will periodically review access

045and if there's access outside of an emergency environment that we would then um have the right to revoke the agreement um something to that effect. But I wanted to bring that forward for all of you so that then um we could and I would presumably work with Julia to develop a draft that represents that um run that by our legal council and then um execute it. >> So yeah, >> Joe, um I just have just a couple points of clarification. Are we t are we having this conversation about both simultaneously? They're listed separately on the agenda, but we would be implementing the same thing with both towns. >> That to me is the is the practical step forward. Great. But but they should be two. They are two separate agreements. So I I put two

046two votes. >> Okay. Um and so I think and so you have put forth a motion um for you were at looking for somebody to make that motion that you just said and second it so we can have this discussion. And is that specific to which one? >> Could I could I just ask for clarification though? The these are currently offering access only in a state of emergency as outlined, right? So, so all we're so the only revision would be to add in a clause about abuse of access or something like that. Um the procedures the procedures for access at the bottom of page one say in the event of emergency the police department will contact to request access. >> Right? But it says at the top emergency situation access shall be restricted to emergency

047situations only. So that part of what Joe was saying is already um contained that this is an emergency only access agreement. And my understanding was that there might be something added which would just say if access was obtained or um you know uh or used improperly, right? Uh then then there would be consideration of revocation of access entirely something like that, right? Is that what you were saying? Yes, I my personal recommendation is to is to modify the procedure for access such that the the police always have the the technical ability to access via an account that is provided to them. But we hold them accountable for only utilizing that access in the event of an emergency. Oh, I see. So then >> because that second line in procedures for access makes it sound like

048they have to the superintendent would have to create that account access during the time of an emergency versus they always have it but it's they only access the video feed in an emergency. >> Okay. So where it says live video feed access is limited exclusively that is the direction not the practical nature of it. >> Correct. Yes. Yeah. >> Okay. Okay. So, um I I think we need to have a motion and a second to have the discussion carry that you're going down. Is that >> Yeah. So, could I have a motion to >> Millis? So, move. >> Thank you, Steve. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Curtis. Okay. Now, let's open for discussion. and Jose kick us off. >> Yeah, thanks Julia. Joe, um just hoping you could clarify or explain

049a bit more about how we'll provide like a a check of proper usage. Um you know, I don't know if we need to know as I see you get attacked by mosquitoes are after you. All right. >> Um you know in terms of uh um whether we have the well could you explain a bit more about our capacity to perform this uh this function you know this sort of uh periodic checking? Um what what might that look like? What you know what details can you share in terms of our ability to provide oversight? >> Sure. So uh the the the ways that our cameras are accessed are are via web application. Um you you log in using a using an account that is secured by two-factor authentication. Um you once you have logged in that

050generates a log an access log that we as super administrators on on the district side are able to see who logged in and and when. And the the accountability would be held by saying, "We see when you logged in, there was no emergency happening. Therefore, we're asking what why did somebody log in?" And that that would lead us down that path of um potentially taking next steps. Um and and this is all to the end of the the common the the draft that we were provided by legal counsel does not it won't work in the event of an emergency. Um and and so I'm I'm trying to come up with a with a with a path that serves the purpose of rapid access in the event of an emergency but also maintains the level of

051accountability that that I think is appropriate. >> Thank you. Other questions? I I have concerns. I don't know. I I just have concerns about opening uh opening the door for surveillance or you know like who is going to have access? Is it the police chief in each town? Is it the whole department? Um, I I don't know how our families are going to feel. Um, and do they have the ability to uh if it's any officer, does any officer have the ability to share that access with officers of other sorts who may be in town, you know, just through their phones or their computers. Um, it makes me uneasy uh for a number of reasons. >> Joe, I don't know if you want to say anything in response to that. >> Yes. One of the

052things that has uh taken time in trying to figure out how to bring this forward is in an ideal world, we would provide this account this account, but the but the minute it was utilized, we'd receive a notification so that we could say, gosh, I need to jump in and shut this down because there's no emergency happening and we don't know why somebody is accessing it. Um unfortunately our the the software system does not have that provision. Um and so we're really left with so what else c can we do? What what is the next best thing? Um and and I have felt quite honestly kind of stuck between um if there ever was an emergency I would feel terrible if we did not have this access available. And at the same time, I completely

053understand the the questions of how do we make sure that it is that it is not utilized at moments or in ways that that we do not want it to be utilized. >> Stephen, >> so you know, overall I strongly support, you know, something like this. I think when you look at the trade-offs, uh, do we get a report at the end of the year as to how often this was used? When you say do we get a report? We we can an administrator can log in meaning a system administrator would be me or the director of operations or the each principal. >> Um we can log in and then run a report of the history of access. So so we could we could do that anytime. So it's it's an ondemand kind of report.

054So we could I I am hesitant to set to to create some kind of a of a requirement for each for an administrator to log in daily to check or anything like that. Um just because I think that would be ownorous and and probably not something that we could that we could do. Uh, at the same time, I I I understand where you're coming from as far as in an ideal world, we would be alerted as as soon as an account was used so that we could very quickly turn it off if if that was appropriate. I >> I'll say two things. In an ideal world, this wouldn't be necessary. >> Yeah, we've reached the point where we have cameras on school buses because of situations, and that is, I think, a much lower stake

055than something like this. I was just wondering if we could check once a month, once a semester and just see is it being accessed if people are concerned >> or maybe said differently, what feels like the right cadence, you know, maybe a question to Carrie. Um, so think about that and I'm going to go to Christina. I don't know if this is policy or procedure, but how does the proverbial panic button get pushed to indicate to the police department that they should be accessing the video feed? >> Before anybody answers that, I just want to be careful about what discussions we have in public. And so I'm I as much as possible, I would not want to talk about nuts and bolts. one of the and I I I don't think anybody means ill by

056any of the questions being asked right now. I just remember, you know, today is 911. I remember after the plane crashed, somebody asked a pilot, are there any secret ways of alerting people on the ground that terrorists are on the plane? Ways that terrorists don't know about. And I think we want to be very careful about what we say publicly about security systems. That is yeah if we need to at a later date go into that's a that is a um executive >> executive session and we did that before with some things with this >> yes and anou like this needs to be publicly discussed and voted but the details of implementation and and all of the underlying things would not be discussed tonight. It it it is a I I can see the relevance

057of Christina's comment though around this particular point because at some level who determines if it's an emergency situation is is a question and thisou does have a list of things with legal ease that define what an emergency is. And I and I do think that it would end up being in the event of looking at logs and questioning why access was there. We we would be utilizing that, but we would also utilize common sense around um do we have concerns about about the moment and the type of access? >> Yep. >> Carrie, coming back to you. Yeah. Okay. So, so we had a scenario um where there was a a student who had a an implement that turned out to be a toy, but it was a concern for just a you know, a hot

058sack, right? you know, in one of the schools and um I just, you know, if they're mon like the response well I guess we would know if they're monitoring if they just leave if you know I don't want to make the police into bad guys at all right that's not my intention here my my concern is for folks in our community who might be feeling particularly vulnerable to um police oversight for whatever reason, right? And so this is not meant to be a tool for oversight. This is meant to be a tool to be used in emergencies only. I um I I guess I can put my concerns um kind of where they need to be and give this a try. And um as long as it does have some provision for revoking access, that

059does not get us into legal trouble. Thank you. >> Thank you, Curtis. >> Uh I I wanted to say one thing to the question that Christina had raised that is very uh non-specific to our district. Uh but I feel answers the question in terms of who deems a situation an emergency. Uh if if the reason for emergency is first discovered within the school building, the administration rings the bell. If the first party to discover the the potentially dangerous situation is outside of the building, law enforcement or fire department or responsible party rings the bell. uh that would then in my understanding trigger the access to that feed with confirmation from the district. Uh I can tell you just from what I've been because I've also had the same uh similar concerns. Uh Springfield schools wrestled

060with this three years ago. Um and that is a a much more urban population, much more dense population, uh much more higher percentage of uh bipox students and immigrant family students and uh and they had a lot of the same questions and concerns. Uh but in the end the the absurd landscape as you know having and just a couple hours ago having uh reports of shots fired at UMass Boston uh uh and I don't have to reiterate the recent events uh or the last few years of events but the the potential benefit to instantaneous access and emergency uh is what drives my interest in moving this forward expeditiously. Uh but making sure that we dot the eyes and cross the tees uh to protect our students and our staff and to indemnify the district and

061to also uh have a judicious judicious use of access guaranteed uh and monitored by the district how quarterly or however we want to do it. Not every day though that would be bananas. Uh but yeah, all of uh that >> I I had another question about recording. It it says that um law enforcement is not permitted to record or take screenshots or anything, but um I assume our security service does record. Is that correct? Or that it records and then erases after certain? Do you know, Joe? I I would actually like that to be a thing in executive session for strategic understand. >> Yeah. Without going into any details, we have good capabilities within the district, >> but that access is only for administrators. >> Yeah. >> A very small >> I would be happy

062to have a you know because again if we enter into a contract this is not a permanent contract for all time. I would be happy to have an executive uh session agenda item to discuss this. I I'm just very aware that somebody could accidentally say something that could pass on information we do not want to pass on. >> So, thank you, Stephen. Thank you all for noting the importance of confidentiality around our security um measures. uh we do have a motion and a second on the table. I think um and and you know agreements that to potentially amend. Um I guess the question is do we vote on this motion and have Joe move forward or do we want to amend it that he needs to bring them back to us to finalize an executive

063site? like what's >> I'm willing to vote and move this forward and >> you know >> and Okay, I I mean I I'm seeing a head nod from Curtis, a headnon from Christina. Okay, so why don't we do that? We will um vote on the motion as presented and if at a later date we determine we want to have an executive session um to to discuss this in more detail, we can do that. >> Okay. If we do have an executive session, can we invite somebody from the police departments? >> Um, if we do have an executive, we can invite people into executive sessions. Yes. >> Perfect. >> So, if we have an executive session, we will uh think about and plan for that according to what we're trying to achieve and make sure the

064right people are in the room. >> Perfect. Thank you. >> Yep. And um for clarification, we have to make two motions, one for Lanesboro, one for Williamstown. >> Right. So the first motion, can that one be for Lansboro? >> Did I make the motion on that? >> Yeah. >> So then that I I make that motion friendly amendment for Lansboro Elementary School. >> I seconded. So I will accept that as a friendly amendment. The other possibility in the future is you could just have it for the town containing the elementary school, >> right? Okay. So, um, we have a motion in a second, a discussion. I'm going to move us to a vote starting with Curtis. >> I Green I. >> Miller. I >> Bowen. I >> Connor I. >> Constantine. Great. Thank you. Now,

065we need a motion for the same for Williamstown. And so, Joe, do you want to repeat the request so we're all it's still clear to all of us? >> Yes. The request was to approve anou with the Williamstown Police Department, similar to the draft document that we have from our legal council, but where we provide account access upfront and we um that account can technically be accessed at any point in time, although it should only be accessed during the stated emergencies. and that we will periodically review access logs to determine whether or not um the account is being used as as uh indicated by the agreement. >> So, do I have a motion for that? >> So, moved. >> Thank you, Carrie. And a second. >> Miller. Second. >> Miller. >> Thank you, Stephen. >>

066I would have seconded you, Curtis, if you had gone. Make it easy for the minute writer. I for some reason felt it appropriate for a resident of the town uh in which theou is taking place to be the one to blah blah blah. >> Ah >> all right. So is there um we have the same basically the same motion and second but for a different town. Is there any other discussion? Great. Let's move to a vote. Carrie, we're starting with you. >> Green I. >> Miller I. >> Bowen I. >> Conry I. Constantine I >> Elen by an I. >> Great. That motion passes as well. Um we are going to move to our next item on the agenda. Um the regional collaboration study group participation. Uh Joe, do you want to >> Yes. within

067within your packets, you have a a possible motion by our school district. Um background on this is uh North Adams Husk and Northern Berkshire School Union have all they've been having discussions in more depth than that than we have had with them over the last some period of time about the different ways that their school districts can collaborate. um they reached a point fairly recently where they had funding available to uh conduct a study. Um that funding is coming from the state government work by by our our representatives, I think especially Representative Barrett, um to free up about $100,000 for work to do, um the the steps will be first off, a group of school districts collaborate to say what types of data might we want to look at, what types of questions do we

068want to ask, what types of things do we want to consulting firm to help us think through. So that's step one. And really this motion tonight is all about do we want to have a seat at the table to participate in the processes of saying what data is interesting to look at? What can we all share? What types of things are we interested in exploring? Um and then let's get that out as a request for proposals from consulting firms. So, this motion tonight is only about getting an RFP out um or or getting a team together to develop an RFP, not not even get it out. Um and then there would be many other touch points along the way saying what is what is the consulting firm actually doing? What is the group discussing? What

069types of things do we want to explore further? And then way down the road, years down the road, um here are specific things that we'd like to vote to either participate in or not participate in, um the motion, as I have it written for us, is geared towards looking at potential collaboration and or reorganization, whereas the the motion by the districts previously was options for potential reorganization. That that's that's the difference there. Um but but in practice, what this means is um I would love to look at areas like how are we are we best serving students within special education when we need to right now send them a long distance away? >> Could we provide better services closer to home? Are there ways that we currently cannot provide uh diversity of curricular offerings within

070our high school that we could provide if we figured out how to collaborate with with peers? Are there ways for us to share in some of the the operating and and other costs just that are that are not directly related to education such that we could all have better services or less costly services? Um the these are the types of questions that to me immediately pop to mind and I think that there will be other questions that people bring to bear and we try to figure out well what data would we need to share? How would we need to collaborate in order to figure that out? This is only opening the door to to having that initial um exploratory effort where a whole bunch of districts are at the table. And this to be clear

071is Husk Valley Regional School District, Mount Greylock Regional School District, North Adams Public Schools, and North Berkshire School Union, which really is it's it's all of us here at the at the top of Berkshire County. Um everybody north of of Pittsfield. So, and I will also say that this is also very much geared towards secondary school um right now. So, anything having to do with with high school um needs, services, things like that, that's that's going to be the focus. I think I have covered all the ground that I >> Julia, would you like a motion before we start the conversation? >> Yes. And I think we need to read the full motion as it's in our uh document. I was going to see if Curtis was up for reading a motion this evening and

072maybe making it, but at least reading it. >> Sure, I can I can do the double duty. >> Thank you. >> Uh 2025011 motion to explore regional collaboration with other districts. Motion by other school districts. >> I think you can just ours. >> Just ours. Good. Possible motion by MGRSD to authorize the chair to designate up to two representatives to an exploratory working group to deliberate on and make recommendations for the structure and formation of a Northern Berkshire Educational Collaborative steering committee and the elements of an RFP to engage a vendor in gatheringformational data and presenting options for potential collaboration and/or reorganization between Husk Valley Regional School District, Mount Greylock Regional School District, North Adams Public Schools, North Berkshire School Union, giving particular priority to improving the quality and variety of educ educational programming and

073services provided to our member communities at the secondary level. I uh make the motion. >> Thank you, Curtis. Do I have a second? >> A second. >> Thank you, Stephen. And then Stephen, I see your hand is raised. >> Yes. So, just a couple of items. You know, first I think it would be very valuable for us to participate in the conversation. And Joe and I were actually part of a group of people with Rich Cohen and Dan Gedron where we looked at some of the uh thorny issues in regionalizing and it's good to be able to pass on that information to other people. I've been advocating for years that you know we have trouble with small numbers and it would be great to find ways to efficiently share resources. The only concern I have

074is what is meant by the word reorganization? Is this talking about how to advocate and allocate or is it talking about a potential super district? And I just want to be, you know, clear that this is not the first step on a path to trying to form a large district where we are folded in with other towns. >> The the wording is is open-ended. So th this is it is open-ended and at the same time there is no commitment here other than having a couple people from the from the district sit around a table and try to figure out if we want to collaborate what sorts of things do we want what sorts of data what sorts of approaches do we want to looking at the data to figure out whether or not that might

075in the future be be fruitful. Christina, >> um I have a question about the two representatives in the district. Is it anyone in the district that you're assigning? Is it school committee members? Is it administrators? Like what what are those representatives? >> Um my it it would be two school committee members. Um, and my advocacy. >> Wait, I thought it Sorry. If it's only two people, wouldn't it be the superintendent and one school committee member? >> When I asked the other superintendent about about that. I I think it was assumed that superintendent would be that their motions assume that superintendent would be participating but chair would designate to other people from within the within the world the way >> superintendent aren't people that's not >> um >> but they are creatures with finite time. So

076my advocacy well yes so it would be two uh school committee members um plus Joe >> um may I ask a question seeing no hands uh am I right that any proposed changes uh that would come out of this work in the years of work that go into it would then pass through this body for approval So in terms of any concerns about uh super districtricting uh I I I being that we've all been on this body together for so many years I think we all know where we come down on that concept uh at this time it would take an amazing uh feature of data for the sea change in uh those opinions I think but either way whatever comes out of it will pass through this body uh that's I just wanted to

077clarify Stephen, >> I I would still feel better if the language was a bit more explicit in terms of what is meant by reorganization. And I I I would feel better if it was talking more about um you know trying to form purchasing blocks, trying to allocate resources across districts, trying to share classes, things along those lines and not um as something that could be down the road. you that this is a slow path to uh resurfacing the Bergkshire Educational Task Force of the Super District. I mean earlier tonight we were talking about how valuable it is that you know people know who the school committee members are. They can reach out. There's a lot of informal conversations. There was an attempt to have us join a grant many years ago and buried in it

078was you know language that this is the first step towards regionalization. And so I would feel better with a different word than reorganization. >> The um from a process perspective, I just want to name we do have a motion in a second. So I so thank you Stephen. But I think in order to change the language of the motion, we would need to have maybe a mot. This is where like the embedded Robert's rules confuse me. But Carrie, guide us if this is where you're if this is why you're raising your hand. Well, I mean, Steve can ask for an amendment, but um I before before that happens, I would just like to push back a little bit and say we can't begin this process from a place of fear. Um this is an opportunity

079to join a conversation and it's nothing more than that right now. It's an opportunity to lend our two cents and to hear from other districts how they are um approaching challenges of decreasing population and difficulty in hiring teachers and health care benefits rising and all the things that we have been facing. But for some of our neighboring districts, it's it's just much more so. And you know, I I just would encourage our school committee to be open-minded about the conversation and not put restrictions on this from the beginning because we don't know the scope of it. We don't know where this is headed. And if we start out by saying we don't want to talk about X Y and Z but we'll talk about anything else. You know we are going to create a climate

080of maybe not distrust but just lack of of real collaboration. And this is not our conversation. This is a conversation that has been going on amongst our neighboring districts for as Joe said some time now and Representative Barrett has been good enough to sec and and I think Senator Mark as well have been sec good enough to secure funding and I don't know if you all saw but there's an editorial in the Berkshire Eagle um today I think just um adding support for this effort. Um, and regionalization means different things to different people. And, um, you know, I think it may be a word that creates a lot of fear for some and creates a lot of opportunities for others. And we just need to be mindful that it's it's not our job to say

081I mean it can be our job to be whatever, but we don't need to do that. We don't need to do that right now. We can just engage in a productive conversation as members of Northern Berser County. >> Thank you, Carrie. Um, I want to name I'm going to call in Joe in a second or Jose in a second, but I want to name um, we are 10 minutes over our aotted time for this topic. I don't mean to short shift our discussion, but I am going to try to move us through this so that we can try to keep to the overall agenda. Um, and so Jose, you have not yet spoken. I would love to hear your voice. And Stephen, if you have a different point to add, then I would um, welcome

082you after we hear from Jose. >> Thank you, Julia. And uh I'll keep it brief. Just two two questions um for Joe. Uh one is the language of the motion that we have before us is a is um slightly different than the motion that uh was approved by our other, you know, our um school districts, peer school districts. And it's it's in that line potential collaboration andor reorganization. And um you know from your understanding Joe that discrepancy or or difference between these two you know our current the motion that we have before us and the motion that was passed by other other districts does that present a potential problem in our ability or the ability of this working group you know to function? Just just curious about your your thoughts on that. Um and then

083a second question is uh what's the timeline for this working group's existence and when we can expect um a you know a report back from the district. What's what do you how do you see this working group functioning over the next few months? >> Um all right so taking those in turn um I made sure to run this draft motion by the other superintendent. Um they saw no issues with with this language. um our conversations when we talked about what we all might might discuss and what we what we might try to do. Um, collaboration was the was the word that that I certainly kept coming back to, which is why I um made sure to have that within the motion because I I actually thought the potential reorganization was more um limiting than collaboration

084can be any and everything. Um, so, uh, the fact that the other districts didn't didn't use just that to me, it's not as it certainly won't hinder our ability to cooperate, but I think it clarified the intent with which I was bringing this forward to all of you. >> And then, thank you, Joe. That second question on the um uh you know the the timeline of the work that the working group you know is committed to you know some sense of of how this working group will function when we as a school committee can expect you know to hear back from the working group that those details. the the stated goal that that I think I heard when when I spoke with the other superintendents was that this group would meet over the course of

085this fall, six to eight times between fall and early winter, get an RFP ready and then from there get it out and so by sometime early next year potentially a a consultant would be selected. Um and then the timeline for that would really be driven by the scope of the RFP and and how we chose to move forward. So this is really I mean it is the the words exploratory. It can't be can't be said enough I don't think. >> Thanks. It doesn't have a set time. Yep. >> Thank you. And again um I just want to keep us to a really tight timeline here because I know we still have a lot to do. Um, Stephen, we have heard your concern about this being a first step to reorganization and your concerns about why.

086Is there anything different that you want to add to this conversation? >> Just to remind people about how much of a hornets's nest, regionalizations over large regions stood up and how many subtle issues there are. And rather than having the discussions focus on issues like that or potentially focused issues on that, let's go for some lowhanging fruit that can make a real difference about collaborating and sharing resources. So let's just friendly motion. Let's just remove the word reorganization. >> Um Stephen has made a a motion to amend. >> Well, friendly amendment is one of the proposals. >> Oh, okay. So Stephen is asking for a friendly amendment and it would be Curtis and Carrie made the motion and seconded it. So you guys would need to approve that amendment. Ha. Ha. Have the other schools

087taking part in this process already in the conversation uh exhibited or uh proclaimed any attachment to that word in the scope of this work? Uh, so will they care if it's in our motion at all? Then I honestly don't care. uh if we want to keep it, if we want to cut it. In my mind, uh reorganization is such a broad term that yes, it could potentially include what I would also agree is a nightmare scenario of trying to unify all the horseshoe of districts. But to to my understanding, reorganization can mean anything. I think and I agree with Joe that it's not as broad a term as coll uh collaborate, but I I'm fine with it being in there. If it's going to hold up the process of us joining the conversation, I'm fine

088taking it out of there. I'm not looking to enter a conversation by saying this is the limit of the conversation I'm willing to have uh with those parties just out of respect. Um, >> thank you. and and and I can I I also just want to throw out there that I if we do join in this conversation, I very much hope to be one of our uh two committee members having worked in the Hix Valley School District and having worked in the North Adams public school district and having worked at BART for 12 years, I'm very familiar with the wide variety of needs and priorities of those districts uh outside of Northern Berkshire, which I have some familiarity But >> okay, Curtis is a whatever. >> I'm whatever. >> I I just want to say

089that even though we may not be interested in or reorganization, some of the members of this group may very well be interested in reorganization. So it could be I I I would hesitate to take it out because you know reorganization may need to be part of the conversation for some members of of this working group. It doesn't mean all members but you know it is part of the discussion because um you know there there are financial um crises a foot and you know sometimes those drive uh decisions in good ways. Um, and it doesn't mean that every member of the working every district that is part of the conversation is going to talk about reorganizing or uh, but some of them might. And so I think if we ex I I just worry about if

090we exclude it and then it really is part of the conversation. Is that a problem? If it's not a problem, then I'm fine taking it out. I I don't have a I don't want to hold it up over that. >> Okay. We have a mot a motion a friendly amendment request from Stephen. We have a the person who gave the motion the person who gave the second. >> Can I just say something really quickly? >> I mean >> very fast. It's along what Harry said. >> Similar to in the discussion on the police, let's remove the word now and if it becomes a hindrance, let's revisit. Couldn't we do the opposite? >> Yeah. Leave it in. Like >> just leave it the way it is. Vote on it and if it's if it becomes a

091hindrance, we change it. >> I I I think it's much better to go in without the word there. Let's see what the conversation is. I I I don't want to go into long detail. I could go on for two hours about things that happened when there was an attempt to make a super district in the Birkshire. I would feel much better and I could support this. I would be happy to serve with Curtis. I have a lot of experience in how do you handle the subtle issues. I would rather have us focus on that than have people up in an uproar over a potential super district. So, I think it's much better to remove it right now and then if we need to revisit, we'll revisit. >> Who made the original motion? I can't remember

092if I first or seconded. >> You made the motion because you read it. Carrie seconded it. And in order to accept adopt a friendly uh amendment, does it require both parties? >> Y >> uh then Carrie, are you willing to accept that that friendly amendment at this time? >> I would prefer not, but if that's Yeah, I would I would prefer not. >> Okay. uh then I'm fine moving forward without the friendly amendment and vote the way we vote. And as the conversation begins over the next few years when whatever representatives are bringing stuff back to the group, that's when we will do the work of winnowing and sifting and all that. >> Yeah. Okay. So, we have a motion, we have a second. Um I'm going to move us to a roll call vote.

093And I think I last started with green, so I'm starting with Miller. Miller, no. >> Owen, I >> I >> Constantine. I >> Elvin by I. >> Crane. I >> Okay. Um I will I've uh duly noted uh the interest expressed. Um and if others are interested, um please let me know. Um but I will be back in touch especially looking at the um uh work that's already underway with the committee in a variety of areas. Um, I will be back in touch uh and share out what I think is the right answer. Carrie, is your hand raised? >> I I would just like to express interest and since Curtis and I are relieved of the superintendent search committee. >> Yes. I I I mean repurpos that would have absolutely been my instinct. So, yes.

094>> Yeah. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Um I thank you for that rich discussion. Uh, one of the things that I've always appreciated about this committee is we do have a diversity of perspectives uh, and hear and listen to each other. And Stephen, I hope you heard you were listened to um, and and things don't always go our individual ways. So, I want to just share a moment of appreciation for the rich perspectives that are brought into this space. Um, and note that it is clear we share the concerns. how we act on them. Sounds like it is um the the other question. Um and then I also want to thank Cody for um joining us today um and just sharing your public thought before too. I'm going to move

095us on to the policy subcommittee item on the agenda and turn it over to Jose. >> Thank you, Julia. Um you can see uh before you there are two uh policies that are on the agenda. one is a information item. Um, and you can expect this uh policy IKF competency competency determination um to appear as a discussion item in our October school committee meeting. Um, but before us today is a a scheduled vote on policy JA, field trips policy. Uh, the policy and governance subcommittee um unanimously move this to the floor of the full committee. Would anyone like to second our motion to adopt uh this revision? Thank you, Carrie. >> Thank you, Carrie. Um, any discussion around uh the revised policy, the motion that you have before you. Okay. Hearing none, um, we'll do

096roll call vote starting with Julia. I >> Conry I >> uh Constantine I >> Elfenbine I >> Green I >> Miller abstain. >> All right, our motion passes. Um and Julia, I think we pass it back to you and the 20 minutes that you allocated for us. Um I'm hoping you appreciate our gift. >> I do. Thank you. Okay, let's move to the finance subcommittee. >> Carrie, would you like me to >> So, well, it'll mostly be you, but we met uh just prior to the school committee meeting and we reviewed the um uh anticipated FY25 closeout. Um Joe says he's ahead of schedule with the auditor, so that's great. and we should have a final close out for you in October. Um, so we didn't take any votes. We um we'll wait for the

097final and vote as a committee. Um, we got a a quick update on the playground. I don't know if you want to do that here, Joe. >> It it it was financial in nature. I'm I'm sitting right outside one portion of the Williamtown Elementary School playground uh right now because they just finished the rubber surface and it needs 72 hours to uh to cure so that it all stays in place uh when people step on it. So, for right now, we are keeping an eye on it during daylight hours to make sure nobody steps on it to uh to depress it. But um we're excited to hopefully at some point um next week be able to to open both playgrounds. So >> and we didn't really do an FY26 um update. So I know that's

098on the agenda, but um Joe didn't have much to to talk about at this point. >> So we can give you time back. I now sound like I'm a little time obsessed, but I do want to make sure we we move quickly. Um, >> um, yeah. >> So then Carrie, uh, thank you for that, Joe and Carrie. Let's move to the MASC division six report. Am I looking at the wrong agenda again? No. >> Yeah. No, you're you're you're right. Um, so I I don't have anything huge to report except I would like to suggest that um I know I I believe Joe, Julia, and I are all attending the conference and I would love to find a way for us to present back to the committee. Um the last couple of years when I've

099gone, um the agendas in December and January have been very tight and there just hasn't been a lot of room for giving thoughtful feedback on on the conference. Um, so I just think it would be great for us to get together and figure out, you know, what what does the committee want um in terms of feedback or uh reporting back and then um you know what is it that we can provide reasonably. >> Carrie, can I suggest um I assume everybody received the mailer on what was coming up in the in the um conference. So the full agenda has been published. Um could I um perhaps send to the whole committee a link to the agenda and ask are there specific sessions that folks want to hear about um in case so that we because

100there'll be um you know a number of us there we can um sep you know delegate those across us and then also in that email ask for is there any particular questions you have that you want us to come back for. So, just to hear from folks so we know we're being responsive. I think that's going to be fine from an open meeting law perspective. Um, so I'm going to send that out. It's like a little bit like agenda setting. I'm going to send that out and I'll solicit feedback. Um, and then we will work it out. Does that work Carrie for what you're describing? >> Yeah. And then just to know that in whether it's the um because I think the November meeting is before this the conference, right? >> Uh we're proposing that.

101Yeah. or we have we have moved it. Yep. >> Um so either in December or January to have some kind of presentation. >> Um and what is it that we want to collect in order to to do that? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Great. >> Thank you. >> Oh, there was there was an MASC meeting last night and um uh I'm just trying to think. I think there was only one new resolution this year, which is kind of unheard of. So, um, yeah. Well, that might be wrong. That might have been an additional resolution because I wasn't able to attend in July, so it might have just been an additional one. >> Okay. So we'll be able to see those at our November meeting to get the feedback or October meeting to get the feedback

102to for how Right. >> Yes. But you know what that reminds me were were Oh, are we voting a delegate in October? >> Yes. >> Okay. Yeah. So we should do resolutions in delegate in October. >> Yep. Okay. Um All right. Next, I we have um one motion to enter into executive session for two different purposes that are allowed under the exemptions for executive session. Um and so I I would I look I seek for somebody to to make that motion um as written on the agenda. >> I thought I just heard somebody. Um >> someone should read it. also move >> uh we need to so I I'll read it and and Steve then if you can say you'll um move it enter into executive session for the purpose of conducting strategy sessions in

103preparation for negotiations with non-UN personnel and contract negotiations with non-UN personnel with the intent of returning to open session. I have a um the idea here is that we would meet as a school committee um to look at the contract and agree on the contract ourselves that we want to present to Joe. Joe will join us in and we'll bring Joe into executive session to conduct the actual negotiations and then we will um move out of executive session to actually vote on um the contract. Okay. And so Stephen, I hear you have moved this motion. >> Yes. And this is what was written in the packet? >> Yes. Yes. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Thank you, Curtis. Um, Christina, you want to kick us off on a vote to go into executive session?

104>> Conry I. >> Constantine. I apolog. >> Green eye. >> Miller. I >> Bowen. I thank you. And Joe, you're Are you moving us into a breakout room? Awesome. Thank you. I will say, and not as my role as a publicly elected official, but as a a person who's used Zoom and Google Meets, the getting in and out of breakout rooms is so much smoother and more intuitive in this format. For me, >> it's a lot less stressful. Definitely. >> Yeah. That's us. You're muted. >> Me. Can you hear me now? Yeah. >> We are on to item 15 of our agenda. Um, and I am looking for a motion to approve the contract as presented for Superintendent Berson. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Curtis. Do we have a second? >> Miller. Second. Excellent.

105Thank you. Any discussion? >> Just great appreciation for Joe accepting this position. >> Excellent. So uh we will start to uh vote on that with you Jose. >> Well this is easy. Constantine I >> elephant by an eye. Green eye, >> Miller. I >> Bow and I, >> Conry I. >> Okay, now is when the fireworks go off, right? Yay, >> Joel. >> I know how to do these things. Um, >> thank you. >> Um, thank you, Joe. Thank you, Joe. That's awesome. All right. I this is great news, a great day for our district and a great um resolution to to uh this process. So, >> yay. >> Thank you. >> Um all right, upcoming meetings. Uh school committee is o the next school committee meeting is on October 8th at six o'clock. This

106meeting is on a Wednesday. Just a reminder, since our um the high school concert is on the Thursday, um our next regularly scheduled school committee meeting would be on November 13th. I have we already moved that to the 6th or is that a proposal? >> We I I put out the poll earlier this week. We confirmed November 6th will be the date for that meeting. So, Thursday, November 6th at 6 PM. So, exactly one week before what would be our normal cadence. >> Okay. Um, excellent. Uh, so that will allow the three of us to be at the conference without having to hop onto a school committee meeting. Thank you everybody. Um, are there any I don't have any other items for discussion. Joe, >> I have a quick They're not school committee meetings, but

107upcoming important events at our schools that school committee members can certainly participate in. open houses uh next Wednesday at Williamstown Elementary School from 5:00 to 7:00 pm. Next Thursday at Mount Greylock Regional School from I believe 5 to 7:00 p.m. and uh the 25th, which is the following week, at Lansboro Elementary School from 5 to 6:00 p.m. So if if you happen to be available, please please do come and um come and tour. Um, but it's certainly not a requirement. >> Excellent. Thank you. Um, Curtis, >> I don't know if this qualifies as a like agenda request or whatever, but uh I would love it at our October 8th meeting if we can have some ideas or some an agenda item around the opening of the field to the public event type thing. Okay, I

108worded that super good because it's not at all late and my faculties are fine. >> But >> so so you are uh referencing Deb Dne's question around how are we celebrating the opening of the field and the track. Yes. And the the campus more broadly at up at Mount Greylock >> and event to let all of the the folks in. >> Yeah. my um October 8th might be late to actually start that conversation if it's going to be at all tied to the soccer season. Um but I would certainly be happy if you wanted to help think about how to do that. >> So who's who do I talk to? All right, Joe, I'll be hollering at you on Monday probably. And if you want if you want the um assistance of a retired event

109planner um I would be happy to join. >> That would be cool. >> Thank you. >> So I'll I'll shoot an email the two of you and we'll talk about a time to zoom in and or meet in person if if we can. >> Oh, even better. >> Yeah. Okay. Great. >> Thank you both. >> Awesome. Thank you. >> Any other agenda requests for October 8th? More later. Hearing none, I'm going to look for a motion to adjurnn. >> So moved. >> Thank you, Curtis. Is there a second? >> Oh, second to make it easy. >> Yes. Awesome. Thank you, Stephen. Um, and we are starting with Curtis. >> Elfenbine. I >> Green I, >> Miller. I, >> Bowen, I, >> Conry, I, >> and Constantine. I, >> excellent. Thank you everybody. >> Have a

110good one. >> You too. Bye. >> Good night all.