MGRSD School Committee 03/13/2025

001okay oh there she is I like that voice okay great and then I did just see Steve Miller I drove I had to go out to South Williamstown and there he is oh my God he's at Mount Hope and then I'm coming back from and he's he's up almost to the school I'm like how does he do it yeah he's he's coming oh wait what is he doing at the school it's virtual does he come uh there's a concert at 7 o'clock and so a number of school committees members school committee members children are in that concert which is why we are doing our meeting earlier oh great that we can finish and they can get to see their kids oh that's so funny I was just in the double reality of like but Julie's

002not there and I don't think Joe is but what's happening okay great have a great meeting and um good luck and thank you for all your hard work thank you you too it's a busy season for Willette should I there she is should I stop my video no you just hide me you're fine you want us to hide you I think when it actually plays we're only we're only gonna see the speaker anyway yes which I'm not sure going forward we can talk about that do we think they're gonna extend the legislature any word on that because you're the last one that's only okay I'll look into it again March 23d there is a bill that exists that's going through whether it actually passes in time or not is it we we don't know we

003don't know no I know okay great hi Christina Julia I actually don't know how to just hide a single I don't either um I mean I it's I think that's that's Once video turns off that makes it yes okay um I have not looked at the public comment sheet I don't know how many we just have one so far okay I've got it in front of me are you leaving chat open no let [Music] me chat I think it should be closed now no want me to turn it off I just unlicked it Christina are you able to chat that did the trick thank you for that reminder Joe who are are you expecting anyone on your end no and we and we know that the student council reps had to um right can't be

004here so we know that that item will not be used right is hi Ursula hi krie hello Christina trying to connect hey Christina hi Jose hey everyone hey Julia hello there's a missing dog in my neighborhood and my dogs are going crazy because everyone's out trying to find the dog Julia I did just see an email that Curtis sent 10 minutes ago saying hey I'm at Mount Greylock is there any place where I can come in and do the zoom so I replied back saying just come over to the district office I don't have his mobile number oh in my phone but if if you don't mind texting him text him that I think Steve was headed up to the school as well I decided to start at home and transition later so I'll be

005doing that at some point actually I thought the meeting was in person and thankfully Julia texted me and told me it wasn't because I would have been there in room a109 I looked at the one from the 27th and I was like room a 109 it's an inperson meeting you could have joined if you had brought your laptop but that's the thing I wouldn't have because I was like are you gonna have printed agendas and she's like what like you're welcome to print it so I'm glad we talked because I would have been a little confused it's been one of those weeks UND I think we did talk about it being um you know that you could watch from the from the district at the work oh but you weren't at the workshop so you

006I wasn't and then I I told Julia I went on the school website just to confirm the time and I must have been looking at the 27th because it said inperson room a19 and I was like yep in person and then but today's does say Zoom don't worry I was just looking at the wrong one so it is 5 o'clock we have a quorum I've have H texted Curtis I haven't heard back um so Joe I will try to watch my text but I think we should also get started oh he said awesome thank you so he's probably heading over to the district office right now okay um and if it's all right with you with you Joe I'm G to get us started but I think that'll be enough time for you to go

007let them in and come back um yes absolutely okay thank you so I would like to call this meeting order at five o'clock uh this meeting of the Mount Greylock Regional School District committee it's Thursday March 13th at 5 o'clock uh and we are holding this meeting virtually pursuant to the law signed by Governor Healey on March 29th 2023 that allows remote uh meetings to occur uh this meeting will be broadcast on Willet TV channel 1302 in Williamstown it will also be posted to the mgsd YouTube page within 24 hours of the meeting and on will.org um so with that I would like to do a roll call to get us started starting with you Christina conry here Constantine here uh green here Malloy here Miller here and Curtis is right outside okay Curtis can

008you holler here I'm here and Bowen here thank you I we're saying six feet a pot oh yeah here here still here thank you okay so um I want to just thank everybody for coming the meeting at 5 today and starting early um both the people here the committee and the members of the public um we did this so that we could be sure that the parents on the committee and any parents from the public would be able to attend the con the concer at seven o'clock uh so we are actually going to I'm I'm aiming to finish this meeting at 6:50 so to give people time to transition um over to the concert and Ursula I know you'll need to transition at at differently um so I ask in advance I just share that

009in advance because if you feel like I'm moving things along uh you'll understand why um Ursula if you could kick us off with the reading of the Mission please absolutely at Mount Greylock Regional School District our mission is to create a community of Learners working together in a safe and challenging learning environment that encourages restorative based processes respect inclusive diversity courtesy integrity and responsibility through high expectations and cooperation resulting in lifelong learning and personal growth thank you um item three on our agenda we um are not going to be able to do our student is not able to come given the change of our time uh so unfortunately we will not have a student update this evening I so instead we will move to Joe um I will turn this over to Joe for the

010public hearing budget presentation thank thank you I believe you now have in full screen a presentation in front of you hopefully yes yes okay great yes um so a little setup uh ahead of this I this is the budget public hearing um nothing uh material about this budget has has changed um since the the budget Workshop uh similarly a lot of what I'm about to cover within this presentation um you already heard a month ago and a couple of weeks ago so I am going to take this um fairly quickly that said I'm I'm going to do it thoroughly too I hope so that so that everybody um knows how how this budget was built and why it was built the way it was built um we did uh Carrie Julia and I I were

011with the Williamstown finance committee last night um they had requested that we show up early understanding that the budget had not been approved yet um they did see um pretty much this exact presentation um and we made sure to couch all of this in the caveat that the school committee does not meet until tonight and um and so anything that we talked about last night was uh very much draft um all right so without further Ado um we already read the mission so I'm not going to cover that again um the ways that this budget embodies the vision that we have for the school district as well as honors the history of of our schools and and how they have operated um we strive for academic rigor that is inclusive and supportive of every student

012you know you'll see that through and through I hope within within what uh is detailed added um maintained here um continuing the work of cultivating a school community that gives gives every student a sense of belonging and ability um that is work that's threaded through everything that our employees do every every decision that we make um and and in that way I I I think you know as we work through the years it's really important to note that um each item that we're presenting to you is taking that into account um at its core and then balancing the short and long-term fiscal health of our districts and our towns um some years we we have certainly worked with our towns and said um we will take a smaller percentage understanding that it's a difficult year

013for you we will lean on reserves that we have other years we've said now we really need those big increases um we need you to to work with us and so um that is certainly a highlight within this year um as we've all talked about for the last couple of months so um a little bit of context for us the state and federal picture first like looking at the the the largest lay of the land State funding is not keeping up with cost increases on a percentage basis um that any school district is seeing uh within Massachusetts right now we're seeing a 1.26% increase in the governor's budget from our current year to FY 26 that's $72,000 uh there are very few things in this world that have only increased 1.26% over over the last

014year um Federal funding right around 3% of our budget is directly tied to Federal funding that is our special education idea and our title grants as well as the USDA funding that um helps us with our school nutrition program with our uh breakfast and lunch programs um there is definitely a heightened level of uncertainty around where that funding might land in the future as of right now we're not hearing of any definite decreases in our funding levels um so the budget that you're seeing here tonight is really trying to solidify and push forward the school district um in as thorough a way as we can with uncertainty in mind but also acknowledging that until we we have actionable actionable word um um trying to make a lot of provisional moves uh does not benefit our

015students um within the within the context that we're in next local um we for the last uh four or five years we've intentionally worked with our town spent the funds that we had on hand to avoid property tax increases it's a good thing it's been a great partnership it continues to be a great partnership um but it's definitely a highlight within this budget and within the way that we are trying to work with our member Town's Finance committees and and get this budget passed um in that if we look back five years ago we had we had covid era grant funding we said we will be utilizing that first keeping percentage increases low and keeping the reserves that we have as high as we can once that expired we started to say we're going to

016spend down the revolving accounts that we have um still keeping property taxes as low as we can um but doing so in a way that does not create create any one massive shock year um for our towns meanwhile another integral part of how we operate our school system um and the funding that that that we utilize to operate our school system our tuition student enrollment has declined over the last five or six years um that is that is mostly tied to um just a a student student age decline within Hancock and new asford which are our primary to tuition in towns um so again that is impacting the way we look at the availability of our tuition revolving account um and the way that we can replenish that year toe um as we as we

017utilize those funds within our budget and then our Town's Financial pictures are okay but they're not great um both towns are seeing minimal Revenue growth um they each have some projects that are that are being voted on um that either were voted in the last year or are coming up for a vote this year um so they have a fair amount of um you know hurdles and uncertainty within within their navigation as well um that said and this is going to be a recurring theme we've been preparing them and ourselves for larger increases from our towns um so this this is not a surprise to anybody um who has been following what we do in the in our relationship with our towns for the last few years uh in terms of what it would take

018to just offer level Services meaning do the exact same for students that we've been doing this year we have a uh a number of Mary areas where um we're seeing real shocks to to our system um that that we need to address the the first one was health insurance the 16% increase on premiums associated with our health insurance um that's a $550,000 expenditure increase that's it's a little bit over 40% of the total increase that we are asking um to have uh baked into our approved budget um our contractual obligations through in particular our teachers contract um my teachers contract has columns columns and steps and we're seeing a fair amount of column movement um far more within this budget um than we have seen in recent years that's a good thing because it means

019that that we have a um young developing wonderful set of teachers who are um shifting from having operating with a bachelor's to operating with the Masters which is a requirement for State lure um it shows growth um but it's also a trigger for A1 to $15,000 one-ear increase in pay um across those two years that's triggering a fair amount of the $340,000 increase associated with just keeping the staff that we have um so right there we've got 550 Plus 340 that's 890 um the vast majority of the increase that we're bringing is just from those two those two areas alone then we have in order to provide level service to our to our students we have a number of increased student needs um that have triggered the need to hire additional pair professionals um that

020is about $100,000 within the budget that that we've been working on for the last couple of months so total across all of that just in order to have a level service environment um we're looking at right around a million dollars as far as our increase um our total increase I believe is right around 1.37 um which means the vast majority the huge chunk of what we're bringing forward is just status quo um the things that we view as being great advancements are actually not driving the majority of the cost increases that that we're presenting here tonight and that we've been working with for the last bunch of months um so here's what we're trying to do that is um that is new or that is that was old and is now new again um first

021off we're trying to restore positions that were previously lost at Mount Greylock through retirement without replacement um we've been talking about this for the last couple of months I'm not going to belabor it but on the next slide I will make sure to note the three positions that we are talking about we are um continuing down the track of adopting a new math curriculum for our elementary schools um our last significant overhaul was almost 30 years ago we've made incremental improvements since then um but this really represents putting a new stake in the ground with a modern approach that includes uh embedded diagnostic assessment being able to customize instruction um on a uh very frequent and and um highly structured basis for every student within our elementary schools um it's the kind of move forward

022that that we really need to need to make um investing in our staff through PD that's highly actionable um and making sure to carve out time for them um to uh work within literacy instruction updates um that we're asking of them Based on data reviews and being able to utilize again diagnostic assessment data to update the way they customize instruction for their students um and then within the lanbur elementary school budget we have the the new funding in place um to equip two grade levels which is four classrooms at lboro lboro elementary with um the same types of projectors that we've started to roll out across the district as um opportunity and need arises all of this consistent with everything that we've been talking about um at Mount Greylock the three positions that that we've

023been talking about reading specialist That's special education driven it is a requirement um it is something that I would have within this budget even if people said um let's just figure let's figure out a level service um minimum increase type budget um then the two other positions Wellness this is not about an expansion of the wellness opportunities that we have at Mount Greylock near nearly as much as it is moving away from a model where we're drawing faculty away from other departments their core departments to be able to piece together the schedule that we have at Mount Greylock um this will do to me one very important thing for this coming year which is start to give us the breathing room within our scheduling within how we operate within ways that we have staff working

024within their teams within their departments so that we're able to advance the school as opposed to saying great you go here you go there this this will work this will thread the needle in order for us to to make this schedule work for us um it also importantly two of the people currently covering Wellness classes within our school are social workers who when they are covering a a class period with students they are unavailable for incident response and case workk um which is an important thing to note as well we have two social workers within Mount Greylock there are times when um our capacity to help students in need um outside uh of of that classroom environment um is hampered because of the way we're currently staffed um then within Spanish uh it it's a

025World Language Department that has seen um growth over the years um currently our Spanish teachers have um have student enrollment loads that are significantly higher um than than other departments and in an environment where um we encourage highly conversational interactive classroom environments within within languages um it does not uh best serve our our students um to have uh to have enrollment looking like that and not being able to provide the Staffing that that we should Joe did I did I miss it or did you touch on the this the gentle slope in certain departments I know you did last night but you might want to on that that was actually um within this context of of why might we add an additional math teacher in the future but you have it on the wellness and

026on on the last slide um possibility y so by returning um by returning teachers to their to their core departments English History biology and computer science depending upon um student enrollment um during the open enrollment period and and how schedules are shaking out um having departments that are fully staffed does allow us to consider where we are adding an additional section of a course um to able to make it so that so that at least one of those sections provides a a a better gentler step say for students moving from 10th to 11th grade or 11th to 12th um such that uh they're not required to make the leap that that we often ask of students as they move between those grade levels given the the rigorous academic environment that mount grock has the step

027function that you see for students trying to trying to um progress through those departments um Can often be a challenging one which can be a good thing but it can also uh be overwhelming and so by having departments that are more fully staffed um we are able to um open the open the door to having an additional section within a department that that would allow for that um [Music] and now trade-offs as we've been talking about we are shifting resources effectively to to Spanish and away from Latin um as a part of what this budget is doing um that for this coming year would mean that we would not have um new students in Latin 7 or Latin 1 um we would maintain our commitment to all of our current Latin students to allow them

028to go through the full course progression um that we have offered over the years at Mount Greylock um really the emphasis here is to focus resources where we know student demand has shifted um we've had lots of other conversations around that topic around around the pluses and and minuses um of various decisions and I have a feeling that conversation will continue especially as we as we look at the future and how to make sure we have the strongest World Language Department possible um we're also not adding an additional math teacher or a Middle School Visual Arts teacher at Mount Greylock um those were requests that came from our school council um and we have PR prioritized the other opportunities within this budget above those two uh for this coming year we're also not restoring the

029math interventionist positions where we had one at each Elementary School when we look back a number of years um those are positions again um where with the implementation of a new math curriculum as we look out two years we might start to find a way that we really want to structure the opportunity for a math interventionist to increase the strength of those programs even more um but it's not included here within the budget again just for just because of the way we've needed to prioritize um what we can and cannot do within a um a tight but large budget year in terms of increases for us so summary of the cost increases that we're that we have here um all of that on the left that's what we were just talking about um along with

030within the the local Contex slide or the level service slide previously the $340,000 um in increases that are mostly contractual obligations some of that also is shifts in in what we're doing and borrowing around the field and track project um needed uh increases in costs within our transportation contract um and other supplies and services cost increases um all of this adds up to uh being a a five % total increase on our uh gross operating budget um and the effective increase for our towns it's larger than that 5% because of what we were talking about within the state and federal funding picture which is we're not seeing their contributions to Us increasing in nearly the way that our costs are increasing which means local towns are picking up um a larger percentage overall of our

031budget which is why within the budget that you have here tonight Williamstown seeing an 8% increase in its requested contribution lboro is seeing right around a 7% increase within its contribution request um now other things that we are doing that we are planning that we're working on for FY 26 that fall outside of uh positives and and negatives within uh budget line changes um there's certainly a whole lot as we were talking about last month within literacy instruction um where we're refocusing honing in on diagnostic assessment analysis teamwork with that data and customizing instruction um there are a whole lot of areas there that are budget neutral um but are but are definitely deeply embedded plans in in how we're going to utilize the time and the and the tools that we have um to

032advance the school district in this coming year um we're also refining the roles and responsibilities that existing staff have so that we can better focus on and better live um our incident response measures better Implement restorative practices improve communication between um the district and the community and continue to work on expanding the the cultural awareness knowledge and celebration opportunities for our students um through working with working with families working with local institutions like Williams College um ensuring that our that our staff have the um the ideas and the details and and all of the all of the encouragement necessary um to make sure that we are constantly offering that expanding it for our students and then an openness to change and evaluating all of our options um this bullet is here because um as as

033we started talking about last spring um looking at in particular how Mount kylock Regional School evolves in terms of its scheduling program of studies um that is work that we've been undertaking over the last over the last many months it's something that's going to be a it's a work in progress um and so that continual long-term effort is something that that we are invested in we know that we have school committee partnership in that um and it's and it's an area that that will not lose focus as we move through um the next year and get ready for an FY 27 um planning period that that will probably have um just as much uncertainty but but perhaps um we as a team will have had more time to uh to digest exactly how to navigate

034that so last um this picture is um very similar to what you saw within the budget Workshop a couple of weeks ago um it does have expanded columns where um per Williamstown Finance committee's request for school choice the revenue and expenditure columns that are just to the right of it on the screen are showing the historical Revenue in each one of those years in the expenditures so if you were to take fy21 we started with a million 5153 within the school choice account we added 37872 to it through Revenue we spent 22850 so we started the next year with a net increase um as a result of bringing in more than we spent when you look across this table at all the numbers that that can be mind-numbing at first glance um it tells the

035story of we have been methodically spending our our reserves down across the three primary areas of end school choice and tuition um we have been methodically spending that down over the last 5 years we have now hit a point where with the budget that we are um that we have in front of us for adoption tonight um we are probably if all these projections were to were to pan out and they are projections as we look at the remainder of fy2 what's happening and what will happen throughout FY 26 in terms of Revenue and expenditure um we will probably enter FY 27 with $889,000 roughly um as our reserves we would then have the stated goal of of building that back up um a bit and and I think that trying to build it back

036up by a couple hundred, to to get right around that million dollar Mark that's something that through the budget Workshop a couple of weeks ago we talked about as being a priority which means the budget that we are presenting here tonight and that we're working through in FY 26 um has a number of shocks to us um that hopefully will not be repeated Ed for FY 27 namely the scale of the health insurance increase alone uh drove a lot of decisions and a lot of opportunities within within this budget similarly the amount of column movement that we saw um as we're looking forward towards FY 26 that was really an an unheard of amount of movement for for our staff um and and then last cost increases all around are happening um and if if

037the world levels out of touch that will also be in our favor so those are those are three areas where if the picture is just as increase to use a word that's not a word next year as as it is this year um that will lead to very difficult decisions for us um but if the world is not quite as Inc Creasy as it is this year then we should should be um in in a in a pretty good picture to both bring um smaller increases to Our member towns as well as build those reserves back up a touch um rather than spending them down the way we are here so all of that then you get this Topline picture same as what's in your packet um where um this is this is how a

038portion Works uh this is the revenue that we're using to offset our expenditures and the numbers um that we have in terms of um operating and cap capital assessment proposed for our member towns which is how you get to that 6.82% increase for the town of leansboro and a 7.9% increase for the town of Williamstown so with that I I might have kept to my time limit Julia but I'll I'll be quiet now for a bit uh thank you Jo yes uh you very much succeeded in keeping to the time limit um and if you uh on the agenda we now are going to move to public comment so we can hear from the public before the committee uh discusses and deliberates on the budget I see two people in the room who are the

039same two people on the signup spreadsheet um so if it's all right I'm just gonna I'm gonna ask them to speak in the order in which they um signed up starting with Ashley hi everybody I hope you're well thank you for the time to speak I'm gonna read this just so I don't lose track of my thoughts um so I apologize if I sound like a robot uh good afternoon my name is Ashley bian and I live in Williamstown and I hope to speak briefly about the high school's budget today I'm advocating for a budget that prioritized our students in their learning environment both inside and outside the classroom I have a growing concern that the co-curricular support for students is not meeting the expectations and needs of the student body leaving students feel leaving

040students to feel a lack of belonging in a place where they should feel safe supported and cared for to be clear this is not an attack on Coach Von Holz who have had a the pleasure to get to know quite well this year her job is difficult thankless and too much for one person in my opinion we are very fortunate to have her and other incredible faculty staff and mentors in the building day in and day out but I afraid we are not prioritizing hiring outside the classroom and as a result we are deprioritizing many students co-curricular experiences at Mount Greylock I'm advocating for more transparency in the hiring Pro process for co-curricular programs and more detailed and transparent budget conversations about how programs in the co-curricular environment are maintained created maintained and evaluated I

041believe our mission that states that we are creating a safe and challenging learning environment through responsibility high expectations and cooperations and I offer my cooperation while holding expectations to a level that I believe that we can all meet I'm happy to share my ideas and experiences with you in another venue thank you for all of your hard work I'm really grateful for each of you thank you thank you very much Ashley um we are going to move to Liz thanks Julia and hi everyone I'm in my professional life used to having The Misfortune of following in Ashley's footsteps um so I'll keep that that Trend here um my name is Liz kraton I live in Williamstown and I am the parent of students who attend and Mount Greylock and Williamstown Elementary uh like Ashley I've

042decided to write out my comments to make sure I cover all that I want to say thank you for giving me this opportunity to comment but more importantly for your efforts and service in support of our students and our community I want to acknowledge what what an unprecedented moment we're living through and I assure you that I understand deeply more deeply than I would like how challenging it is to make budget decisions when resources are constrained and funding sources are uncertain again I'm grateful to each and every one of you for the work you're doing under impossibly difficult circumstances with that said I've chosen to comment tonight because I am deeply disappointed by two particular recommendations in the FY 26 budget and those are the decision to phase out the Latin program and the decision

043to prioritize Wellness over the Arts as I mentioned in my email to the committee earlier today I recognize that while these particular topics matter deeply to me and my children there is no doubt in my mind that you have a list 10 times as long of other equally important but different issues that have been brought to you by other students and families in the district I've chosen to comment publicly though because while I am speaking tonight only on behalf of my family I find myself increasingly privy to many seemingly constant conversations with others in the community about a diminishing sense of trust in the extent to which the budget Staffing and curricular decisions being made reflect the mission and values of the district perhaps they do I trust implicitly this group's commitment to making sure

044that is the case but if that is in fact the case I think there is significant work to be done to regain trust that has been eroded by being more transparent with families about the district's values more inclusive of families in your planning work and more willing to share details of the process that is used to consider trade-offs and ultimately make decisions that in many cases impact family's decisions about whether to continue to live in this community or seek opportunities elsewhere I think we're losing tremendous students and tremendous members of our community because of this lack of transparency and I hope that there are opportunities to make improvements on this front as we move forward thank you again for your service for all you do for the children of the community and for my children

045and thank you for this opportunity to speak tonight thank you very much Liz I don't have anyone else signed up and I don't see anyone else so I'm going to move us on from public comment oh and Liz was within three minutes that was my alarm um I'm GNA move us on from public comment and open um the school committee discussion about the budget um that we can now take into account what Joe shared and the public comments that we heard um Carrie do you want to make I'd like to begin by um moving the budget if that's okay yes that's great um okay so I'd like to move that we the Mount Greylock Regional School District school committee approve the fiscal year 20126 budget with the following figures a total operating budget of m781

0461874 with a net operating budget of 26 m275 374 and resulting assessments of6 million 33,2 to the town of Lanesboro and 13, 620,000 with a resulting assessment of $536 1,525 to the town of Lanesboro and 1,199 625 to the town of Williamstown thank you Carrie for that motion do we have a second if no one will second I I will second thank you Steve um and now we can open discuss discussion um about the budget uh with that motion in the second start you can start us Steve okay uh Joe I was wondering if you could you know put some of these numbers in context and just let us know how much had we asked the towns in the past couple of years so if we look at like a three-year or fiveyear rolling average

047what would the change be to the towns you know it's a lot this year but trying to put it in context with which is what we do with a lot of the capital assessments and whatnot thanks Joe do you happen to have that handy uh yes our our FY 25 increases were and I'm I'm always going to do lbo than Williams time 3.38% 3.90 % in FY 24 they were 3% and 3.16% and in FY 23 uh 2.68 and 4.1% thank you thanks that that helps put you know things in context well you know nobody likes numbers this large um the fact that we've been able to keep them so low in the past couple of years you know especially recently with inflation running as it is so thank you Carrie go ahead so I'd

048like to speak to the issue of transparency um I I think every fall we talk about what the budget process is and we uh publish a budget timeline at least we do in the school committee packet um we follow a similar process every year in terms of um asking our school councils at of our schools for recommendations um and then um we consider them as a committee we deliberate at our meetings quite openly um we discuss the pros and cons the different uh priorities that we're trying to meet and we ultimately make a decision based on recommend ations from our Administration um on what to prioritize and how I I feel like it is a very open process so I'm not sure what we could or should do to make it more open and inviting

049we invite public comment at every meeting we um invite people to join our school governance councils um we invite people to run for school committee right and to be directly involved in those decisions our school committee members were unopposed this last spring um if if folks want to have a say in the process um to make change to create opportunities um you know I I think there there are those opportunities exist and they are promoted quite publicly um but I would be very curious to know um you know these are all very hard decisions and we do need to feel confident as a committee and as individual committee members that we making the appropriate decisions in a given year and that's an important thing to remember because next year the decisions are going to be

050different and last year the decisions were different from this year we've been talking about these positions for several years and we decided that this was the year to start to make good on on some of that so I'll leave it at that but I I do you know um I would like very much to know what we can do to improve thank you thank you Carrie um I'm gonna ask if we can just in this conversation maybe if there are responses to car's points about transparency or lizz's points about transparency if we can um focus there so that we don't jump all over um and Jose is that Jose or Steve is that what you're hoping to respond to yes Jose is that your yeah I I I don't know if I would put it

051exactly in that in that that framing but um I'm happy for for Stephen to go and I can go right after Stephen and it looked like Joe had a response as well yes so I was just saying I can understand because you know even as a school Committee Member I have trouble understanding the relative trade-offs of investing in this versus that and trying to have the information you know readily accessible to members of the public who can then quickly look at this and see what's going on when I first was on the school committee we used to get a cycle of reports from the different departments where they would take turns coming to the school committee talk about what was going on talk about what they were doing what their needs were you know it

052takes more time to do that and you don't want to burden people with you know too many reports but I think that helped give the community a sense of what was going on in each department what were they doing what were their needs you it might be worth you know considering going back to something like that going back to um having you know the education subcommittee which we used to have and having just more discussions to to you know keep people you know looped us to what was going on I remember at West years ago do we spend the money on a math Specialist or something else and it's really hard to know what is the effectiveness of each so I I can hear the concerns thank you Stephen Jody do you wanna comment sure

053um I I think Ashley's comment was to to me it was incredibly helpful and also it is not something that I necessarily personally have heard a whole lot um but at the same time one of the areas that that we have um begun working this year in partnership with students is coming up with ways to have the introduction of New co-curricular Opportunities be something that is more transparent where students can say this is a CL or this is an effort that I would like to undertake what do I need to do to get it started um because it has not been something that has had a um a really transparent process or um potentially a a really accessible Level Playing Field for people and saying well I've got four students who want to do this

054can we get money can can we get an advisor um how do we move forward similarly I think that as we've looked at the evolution of sports at Mount grock um which sometimes people separate Athletics and and co-curriculars as being two different two different camps um I think that's an area where coming up with the right for for people to to have conversations for us to talk about um which grade levels are able to participate um within say the JV and VAR City Sports environment and here's why um I I think that's an area where where we can do a lot better in terms of communicating in terms of giving students the tools necessary to be able to um take the initiative and and and run with it um so I I I'd love to

055to put more emphasis um into communication and structuring opportunities I I think it was a great comment and and I I do see some ways that we can improve um numerous ways so I I'm I'm looking forward to that um on on Mission and values and you know some of those things to me are are higher level topics where the school committee might want to look at I I I think the the mission for each school and the mission for the district I believe that was last revised um five or six years ago kind of shortly after regionalization if I if I remember correctly it might be something where every few years we we want to have a process that's inclusive of of family surveys and family involvement um that allows us to um to

056really get at the heart of of mission and value um I would I would welcome being a part of that process you know this past year has been in many ways a transition and and a reactionary year um but I think that starting to to plan down that path would be wonderful um also as we talked about in the last budget Workshop reinvesting in our school councils and in having participation in those um to Steve's point a few minutes ago I think that having departments come through talking about you know at the elementary school level very transparently what are we doing within Ela what are we doing within math what are we doing within science what are we doing within clubs and co-curricular opportunities um making sure that the school councils monthly have that um

057within their agendas to me that's the that's the starting place that's where like that time and that Grassroots effort really can and should be and then by the time it comes to the school committee meetings which are already two to four hours in length that's where liais zon's Representatives presentations or maybe just making sure that materials are pushed up and into packets and people are made aware structuring that in a way that feels transparent um to everybody involved and where we're all able to say here are the documents here are the presentations coming coming from that school council level up to me I would love to see us invest there because I I do think that it would be really helpful for um informing everybody and hopefully building Community involvement in our schools starting with

058school councils that don't require quite the level of public commitment as a school committee um and then having those people then become interested in in being school committee members I I think building that pipeline is really important um so I I I appreciated you know both of it I I I do think that we are transparent you know we're certainly not hiding anything we are discussing these things many of these decisions that we're making tonight are just as Carrie said multi-year conversations that um that have been talked about from many different angles um but that said I think that like with many things within our district and within many districts communication can be better structured opportunities can be better um and making sure that there's a really Level Playing Field for everybody in terms of

059knowing how to navigate the system in order to get something done we can do better so I'm I'm looking forward to that well while Joe has the mic still could I just also say that um it would be nice to get a report out on the work of the curricular review process and the Dei um um committee because you know those were things that we all agreed should happen and um I think the conversations have weighed in to the budget process but not in a way that we're necessarily that you know aware of um just because those of us not involved in those processes um aren't quite sure what the conversations have been uh I'll make sure that both of those have an agenda item for April yeah great thank you Jose thank you Julia

060and thank you Joe for um as always a very thoughtful presentation I think I I'm torn I I'll be frank with everyone here uh about my support for um this motion um you know I could can you know on the academic side very much understand and appreciate you know that we are underst staffed and in certain areas within our Middle School High School uh curriculum in Spanish and in Wellness um but I do hear and and the concerns from you know the concerns that were shared with us today and concerns I've heard um from individuals in our communities resonate with me in that um perhaps this isn't the ideal way to to make decisions about what courses or curricular Pathways we offer are have available to our students my preference would have been to have

061heard from the curricular Review Committee about like what uh a modern um and yeah forward-looking curriculum could and should look like in our school district um and and that's that's where I I'm sort of stuck you know in that you know here we are effectively downsizing the number of world languages we're offering to deal with the understaffing problem that we're facing um so maybe Joe for for for those of us who who have these concerns about about the process aspects of the process that are just uncomfortable to us um and without divulging you know the details of the ongoing work of the curricular Review Committee um could you just give us a sense of of how the discussions might play themselves out moving forward so for um community members who are who are curious about

062whether we'll offer a second world language ever again like what what might that conversation look like um and how could folks play a role in in in that in that topic uh specifically within World languages I think the conversation over the course of the next year um will have a number of of distinct edges one is we over the last 15 years we've lost the presence of any World Language within our elementary schools I don't think there's a single bit of research that goes against the idea that introducing students to World languages at younger ages is is the absolute best way to ensure that that that sticks um that they're able to grasp it in ways that become more challenging as as they get older um and and the fact that that we've lost all

063World languages at are elementary schools to me needs to be right up there alongside how many different languages are we offering at Mount Greylock Regional School um so to me that's I think a districtwide conversation around as we're looking forward to the future if we're creating a long-term strategic plan for curricular offerings across the district we need to make sure that that's a part of the conversation it's something that that we've um we've uh talked about in in small groups but I think creating a a larger scale conversation around that is really important second is um Latin this year most of the conversation has has been around demand it isn't around we just don't have the staff offer the language its demand has dropped precip precipitously over the years um and and at this point

064with class sizes that are as small as the ones that we've looked at within presentations over the last year um as they are within Latin we know that we need to redirect resources to a department that has um rather than six or seven or eight students within a classroom environment has 20 six or 27 students within a classroom environment now in terms of what other languages we offer um I think that is not a conversation that we've had um in as much detail partly because it has not really been an opportunity um and if we're we're underst staffed even just within the Spanish Department um making sure that we bolster that first um and then talk about if we want to create additional opportunities and draw students into other languages which language should they be

065um there was a public comment earlier today around or an email that came in to the school committee highlighting why is Mandarin not not a choice given the prevalence of Mandarin within the world um or Hindi um within the world so those are the types of conversations that I do think we should have in a very transparent um school committee level way um they are they are not the types of conversations that we've had thus far because we we haven't really had that um long-term strategic planning perspective on uh program of study prek through 12 that I think would be helpful so I you know I I I view it as something that we that we should do that we have not done as well as we could and Julie if I could just follow

066up Joe and Joe not to um corner you into committing any any um but I just want to make sure I understood and those who might be listening or um listening at another time might might might understand um is it is this something that you think we as a district can commit to you know exploring this topic and you know we don't have a timeline yet but is this something that you think that we we can we can do yes that said I think it's a multi-year process so I think structuring that process in a way that that feels good to everybody um will be a first step um in terms of the types of of angles that we're looking at um The Way Mount gyot currently operates we've been we've been looking at the

067Dynamics of of the schedule we've been looking at um the ways that course advancement opportunities impact um what happens within within students lives um how they progress happily or unhappily through um we've been looking at the Partnerships that we have with higher education institutions and and the ways that um that those opportunities are are embraced or um or not embraced by students you know what is the net impact of those um we have been looking at um kind of like we we talked about a bit during the presentation what is the what is the natural progression for a student within within our program of study and are there areas where the step from one course to the next um is is too steep for for a large number of students in a way that means

068we really need to develop an additional course offering that provides that more gradual slope um and then we've been talking about the impact of uh tracking and honors courses um there are there are many school districts around the state that are methodically trying to eliminate any form of tracking um and they're doing that using justification of of research that says that that it's not nearly as beneficial as it is harmful to students within grade levels um that said there are also benefits and and we've certainly had strengths in terms of offering our students differentiated experiences and and providing them with the ability um in high school in particular to to be able to do that um So currently we're grappling with some of those those Baseline type um conversations just in terms of what are

069the different Dynamics at play in terms of the types of structures that we have in place the opportunities that we have in place um a next step after we've been able to to really understand all the different ways that we can grapple with some of those things that will be considered subjective as opposed to objective um that's the type of stuff that we'll bring up to the school committee and then I think from there we layer on specific course course offerings and how many different languages can we offer and and so on but we've got some more kind of uh some lower level some some some areas where I think we need to bring some of these things that I was just talking about up for conversation within the school committee level um before we

070can even talk about finer points of um renaming courses and content and and things like that so we've we've got those those basic mechanics um but talking about how that is a long-term and po potentially continuous process um with a good feed back Loop um is is something that that we're I think preparing to do we're just not quite there yet uh thank you Joe go ahead question um Joe I wonder in those conversations um it was raised in the email and it's something I've been thinking about a lot more lately um the fact that we offer accelerated math but we don't offer accelerated English or history or you know other the social sciences and the humanities um is that something that we'll be looking at at some point or that is that is definitely

071one of the conversations and and I think you're explicit you're specifically talking about within um 9th grade um history is still a department where um they as a department and the school as a school has for a long time held we want want heterogeneous groups as as much as we possibly can we don't want to introduce an honors track and and and a regular track within that department whereas other other departments have introduced honors are accelerated and and standard um having a conversation about what are the pros and cons of having having that type of system which departments is it is it beneficial which departments is it not beneficial is it something where if we offer in one Department we need to offer it in other departments um those are the types of foundational conversations

072like with Jose talking about like those to me are foundational ethical values driven things then we can layer on so what does that mean as far as um offering uh offering additional types of forms of of learning um within our within our schools thank you I think embedded in in that conversation is also decision rights and I think I saw that in the email today um that we received uh it's that has been a decision that has been made Department by department and what we're saying is maybe that's not the right way and I think even just changing that like how decisions get made should be a discussion that we're we're cognizant of um that that that's a a reality in in how things have been been done historically other topics about the budget other

073questions other comments go ahead Curtis uh in in some of the communication we've received about budget concerns and choices of what's being offered and what isn't in the next year and years to come uh and the the quest for as trans as transparent a process as possible uh have we in previous uh packets made available an itemized list of the uh teacher line item of salaries and like what departments are getting how much funding like how much is for ELA instruction how much for math how much for like do we have a breakdown like that that is publicly accessible or has been made publicly accessible because with without that I don't know how anyone knows what we're spending money on and not spending money on other when other than when we cut a program or

074say that we can't offer a program um two quick responses there the program of studies review that we do at Mount Greylock along with the conversations that we have around um changes within Ela changes within math changes within science changes within the ways that we have reading Specialists math interventionists social workers and so on um those conversations are the ways that that that information is um is relayed and then by the time we're here within this budget we're talking about the types of positions that we're going to be adding modifying and so on um and so that's how we have handled it here for a number of years years um part of the part of the challenge I think historically is um we we do have a number of situations across departments where a teacher

075teaches mostly in this department a little bit in that department and once you begin to slice it down into how much money is going into each um you also get into pretty pretty easily identifiable specific salary figures years for specific teachers um which in some situations can be a conversation that um that that can be challenging as well why is this teacher salary increasing by $15,000 from one year to the next the simple answer is they they're getting their master's degree um and and within our teachers contract that that that can be if you've been around for a few years within the bachelor's column you shift over to the Masters all of a sudden you see a $155,000 change there um so we have not gotten it down to that level of granularity um for

076a number of reasons but part is that we build this up through conversations over the course of all of the school committee meetings into this very detailed conversation of here positions that we're adding last year we talked about we're increasing physical therapist by 0.2 and here's why um so so we do get to that level it's just not sitting there within a chart other questions about the budget is there anything from the feedback we got at the finance committee meeting last night that we should share I mean we got we received a lot of questions um I think most of them we were able to answer um there was an acceptance um that there would be a significant ask this year um I'm not sure they knew it was quite this significant but by the

077time the meeting rolled around last night they did um because Melissa had been at our budget workshop and had heard the the figures um it's we haven't yet presented at Lanesboro obviously but I don't know if we have got have we received any feedback um from the lboro finance committee since these these numbers have been public for a while not formally as a group um so and and and the lboro finance committee does start its because its town meeting is is an offen June it doesn't start its work until until a lot later um you know through our informal conversations early on with representatives from both towns and finance committees they they very much understood that this was going to be a year with a significantly higher percentage increase than than in recent years um

078right in terms of Williamstown Finance committee's uh perspective as a group um I felt that through the evening it it it felt like a unanimous um body of support they didn't take a vote as a part of um what they were doing last night but but all of the questions were typically leading to oh this is Justified because um and I think one of the one of the lines that that I heard from them that I think does bear repeating is that um this budget that we're bringing forward we aren't building a lot of brand new things at all um we we have really I mean 90% of the budget is um is investing in the health insurance and and the people that we either already have on staff or that we're trying to bring

079back in terms of positions so that so that we can have um Staffing levels that are that are consistent really with with history in many ways from out Greylock um and so I felt like it was a it was as war of reception as you can get when you when you bring a budget that um that says here's here's a 7.96 per increase yeah and that's double what what you've done in recent years they they also clearly heard the message that the what we were asking for in addition to those items that make up 90% was restoration right we're not um creating new things even though we would love to be um we're restoring positions and there was a bit of a caution uh from one of the members of the finance committee which is

080that you know when you think you're doing us a favor by not restoring a position um and you're trying to keep the assessment low think again because it's going to come back at some point and you know in this case two came back at the same time so it was just it was a good you know piece of advice is you know we should be replacing positions when you know when when we lose them if we can and I might argue it's really um The Wellness position is restoring in multiple pull departments uh since we've been pulling from departments reading specialist is getting restored as is and um but right and the wellness position we're only adding six because we're able to retrieve point2 from those you know putting people back where they're supposed to

081be kind of thing so so it's a point6 FTE that we're am I right about that Joe it's the wellness position that that the or is it that's Spanish Spanish position is effectively a 6 ft increase okay the the wellness position is I believe it's actually like a. 2% sorry 8% increase um because we do have one teacher who's currently as a 1.2 FTE in order to make the schedule work um so it's a 08 increase within Wellness yeah I think I think it's helpful just to kind of underscore the point that it's not that Wellness is being prioritized right now and growing it's that I mean it I I hear the point that you know we're thinking about wellness and and not necessarily in terms of positions but also I know the point was

082made that um we go beyond the requirement from the state around Wellness um but the wellness Staffing is technically staying the same the increase is happening in all those other departments as they get their people back and I think that that um just want to underscore that point other questions comments concerns I celebrations or things that you're glad to see in the budget I'm glad L spor Elementary is getting some of those projectors I mean they've been asking for many years yeah and I'm glad to see the math curriculum at the elementary schools it's going to help with literacy as well and I believe we um upgraded the literacy curriculum a few years ago at the ele school so you know that's you know we're investing in ways that are really going to make a

083difference in you know how kids learn and how we assess their learning it's going to make it you know more efficient in the sense that we can address needs as they arise we don't have to wait until some test at theend I mean I know we have been but it will make it even better you know the assessment um part of it so those are really bright bright lights um I'm glad we're relieving the burden um that our Spanish Spanish teachers have been bearing for years now um several years anyway um and that we're going to be able to address um you know some reading some serious reading concerns um at the Middle High School yeah um those are those are really great things Jose yeah thanks Julia just a a second I think a

084lot of what Carrie just just shared um and just speaking to at least my experience of the process I think I'm I'm grateful Joe for how much you and and your team uh have taken on the feedback we reive from school councils and from our principles um and I think I think this budget given all the constraints that we're facing um I think is really reflective of you know the concerns and aspirations of our of our three schools so I I'm grateful for you know the the care and thoughtfulness that you and your team have have put put into this I'm leaving space for those who we haven't heard as much from Ursula or Christina just W to I know no one needs to say things that have already been said but if you uh

085if there's anything else you want to add I want to make sure there's space as a school committee I feel like we should be good with wait time right teachers have wait time in classrooms and with that wait time I think we might be ready to vote do that are people ready to vote okay so let us um we have the motion in front of us I the motion is about the numbers but it's about approving the budget um in front of us we have a motion in a second and so let's do a roll call vote starting with Christina conry I Constantine I alen eye green eye Ursula are you there still I wonder if she's transitioning in off uh I'm looking at the participants so now I got my uh she's listed there

086can you hear me now I'm sorry yes I was double muted I switched to my phone and my computer was still muted I'm sorry I said Malloy I thank you I've been on three devices for this meeting I know what that's like Miller I and B and I thank you everybody for that rich discussion for the acknowledgement of ways that we can continue to improve and grow thank you to our um the folks who provide a public comment uh that is how we will get stronger and better as a district um we know this is not the budget that carries everything that we want um but it is a budget that we feel we can sounds like we feel is the right budget for this time so thank you everybody for that unanimous vote and

087we can move on next on our agenda is the approval of minutes from our February 27th meeting can I get a motion to accept those or motion to approve those no moved thank you Christina and a second Milla second thank you Steve any discussion about those minutes all right let's move to a roll call vote conry I Constantine epain Alin B ey green I Malloy obain Miller I Bowen I thank you that passes um next we need to to I approve our or vote on our 2526 school year calendar that's in the packet uh can I have a motion to approve that so moved thank you Curtis how about a second Miller Miller second trying to make it easy for the notetaker thank you um uh any discussion about the school calendar I I just

088want to share one thing that came up in our in with the finance committee last night um related to the budget but also related to the calendar um and that was I the question of we're putting into place these important um professional development opportunities especially around literacy and math instruction um when are the teachers learning how to how to you know use the new materials but also collaborate when are they looking at data um and Joe I don't know if you just want to speak to that a little bit with this calendar because I think it speaks a little bit to that to that need that came up last night yes uh so just uh answering the question directly teachers have those opportunities um during the couple of days just prior to the start of

089school that are the two PD days that that you see within the calendar there is a third PD full PD day that is that is interspersed that's all stuff that's been consistent for years contractual you know it's it's embedded within our contracts and so on um the uh staff also have um typically a sprinkling of time across their week um within prep periods and and in some situations common planning time um we definitely have a focus within this year of planning for next year on how to best align those times so that teams of staff can can be together at the same time that's a scheduling um um challenge but it's one that that we are undertaking um pretty pretty uh vigorously and then um differing across the the elementary and then the Middle High

090School level um there are also some after school staff meeting times that happened then most prominent within the calendar are the half days um that is something where um we've definitely seen um increased usage of them um from 5 years ago to to today um this year we have one less half PD day than um proposed within this uh calendar that that you're going to adopt um versus what we have this year um we as a team at the district level and within our buildings are really focused on how to make those half days um which are really precious to us because we don't as you just heard we don't have a lot of other time where we can have concerted learning and team team work happening um across larger numbers of Staff members um

091during our school year so while we acknowledge it is not easy for families to have school break um at 11 something um on a on a weekday um we're also uh we're also very much in need of that time and we're very focused on making it as productive as we possibly can um and the approach that we're taking this year and planning for next year I think is the most inclusive model that that we've used within that um incorporating heavily staff feedback working with the teams themselves on how to best plan that time um so that kind of like we've been talking about for students customizing that time for different departments um different teams different grade levels in ways that um Can yield best implementation of new math curriculum um best use of diagnostic assessment

092data within literacy instruction um best work on uh bias riew um within all of the materials used in in and around classrooms um so that that's a it's a focus and we appreciate the time um because it is needed thank you Joe for for that explanation um so we have a motion and a second uh some explanation and if are there any other questions or comments about the schedule hearing none I'm gonna ask Christina to kick us off with a roll call vote conry I Constantine I Elfin Bine ey green I Malloy I Miller ey o and I thank you that passes unanimously I the next item on the agenda is coming from Steve um who has asked that we consider the resolution that is in your pack um and so uh Steve oh I

093don't want to put you in the position of having to read it all but right I mean I I'd like to just do an executive summary I just put that just so we had something to start with I am not wedded to any of the language there it's just the sentiment that you know as a mathematician and you you had mentioned earlier Julie that it's tough to avoid you know the teacher mode at times uh exponential functions grow quickly the longer we wait to address certain problems the worse it's going to be the harder it's going to be it's not enough to say we prioritize education and we advocate for spending money on education we are running tremendous deficits at the state and at the federal levels we have tremendous debt at the state and

094federal levels the Massachusetts debt exceeds the revenue coming in when you look at how much money we're spending on interest payments you we're talking about the 16% healthare increase I think at the federal level pretty soon one out of every $6 is going to be going to interest service service this is not sustainable and the longer we wait the worse it's going to be and I think the Massachusetts Association of school committees I think the superintendents I think the teachers unions I think we all have a place to play in this in you know coming together and advocating not just to the state that we want and we prioritize funding on education but we need to really encourage them to look at what else is money being spent on and say you know in an

095Ideal World if we had unlimited resources it would be wonderful to do all this we don't have unlimited resources it's not enough to just say we prioritize education I think we have to be explicit and start saying look at some of the other things we're spending money on is this really what you want to do we had the painful conversations tonight about we're cutting laddin and we're not hiring in arts and you we're making these very painful choices and so we have to look at the entire budget at the state and federal level and say there are tradeoffs do we want to have as high pensions for people as we do do we want to have as high support for people as we do and so I would strong urge us to draft a good

096resolution and I would be happy to work with a group of anybody who is interested to try to get the masc behind thoughts from others on Steve's proposal Steve I'll I'll share um some of my thoughts and we'll hear from others um I I couldn't agree with you more that there are challenges at the state and National level um my personal take is our job as a our job as a school commit to advocate for our schools um and I do and and tonight we discussed in our budget what we are tradeoffs but those are within the domain of things that I understand and can can um feel comfortable weighing in on um I and I would I would be comfortable saying creating a resolution asking the state to consider that they do need to

097make trade-offs but end of I don't want to tell the state the options I I don't I feel like that is out of our lane as a school committee personally that's how I feel and I feel it's above my pay grade um to tell them those things and I think it steps us into territory that um is not beneficial for our district right I'm I'm I'm fine with something like that and you know again every program hopefully is helping some people and there some value being created and it is a very painful very difficult decision to make we've had to make that decision tonight our elected leaders you know this is what they have chosen to run for and they have to make these hard decisions and I think we all need to hold them

098accountable and it could be that they might say you know what we're giving you enough in education we're actually giving you too much we need to cut education back a little bit there's other things that are higher priority you know that's absolutely something that could happen but we need uh leaders to be having a careful thoughtful conversation what we have is not sustainable I'm I'm quite happy to not have specific recommendations but just to be encouraging them that you've got to look at what's going on you got to look at the trends yeah my my other as you're speaking my other thought going out of my head is is this really the purview of a school committee or is this the purview of like isn't there a Massachusetts budget non a nonprofit that looks at

099like tries to hold the um leg to how they budget so there's the danger of the me too that everybody jumps on board because something is appropriate and you go outside your lane you go outside what you specifically tasked for and so you know the question is does this fall in the realm of what a school committee should concern itself with and the reason I would say yes is because what we have is not sustainable and you know if we believe education should be prioritized and if we believe that there needs to be funds for this we either have to grow the pie we have to be more cognizant and make some painful choices about how what we have is being distributed and we need to tell our elected representatives that we will not be

100able to do our job you know in the future if these Trends continue I mean looking at how much money is going to Debt Service and these Trends are not going to get better and so I do think it is appropriate for the school committees to advocate for responsibility on Beacon Hill and Beyond I'm perfectly fine with you saying that we should not be saying what we think is wasteful that we should just be advocating that painful Cuts have to be made and we have to find a way to talk as a community with people who have you know strongly different views on what should be funded and not and come up with something that's going to bring us to a path that's sustainable and so I strongly urge the masc and other organizations to

101add our voices to those efforts and I think because of the challenges we have in you know creating budgets that meet the educational needs of the children in the district I do think we have a seat at the table um can I ask for a point of order SLO of clarification um if we were how does the school committee and Carrie this might be a question to you um Steve's saying he would like the masc to be getting behind this how does a school committee school committee raise an issue to the masc right so I think the um the um it would have to be in the form that um of the whereas whereas whereas therefore right and uh the school committee would need to vote to support it and then the committee can send

102it to the resolutions committee for consideration as a resolution okay and the committee doesn't accept any resolutions that aren't voted on by a by a committee we can also send it around to other committees and see if anybody wants to post support it or something like that but um okay yeah so put it in the right format and then put it to a vote by the committee yep um thank you Carrie are there other I mean what I hear Steve advocating for is um fiscal responsibility of our state government I mean I my own again my own personal thought is not actually not only do we not say where to cut personally I would say raise taxes so no that's you know like I I don't want to be too prescriptive I guess right my

103real concern and that's part of the conversation you know you have to one way is to grow the pie either by taxes or by creating an environment that encourages growth yeah it's I mean it's the conversation that's happening in every town you know how to um how to raise revenue how to control debt how to I mean I I just don't know that we would be saying anything that isn't already being said at the local state and federal level um unless we're saying something very specific here's what we want you to do I mean I would look at the resolutions they're for very specific things right otherwise it's just a kind of a general something that you would write to your legislature quite quite honestly I want you to be more fiscally responsible you know

104you could write that to your legislature right now um but you know the resolutions tend to be things like uh we need to put cameras on school buses and so let's prevent you know these horrible accidents that are happening that are um you know by allowing or by yeah allowing towns to vote on putting you know so it's it's like very concrete measures that and but but I would look through the resolutions and see if if you think it I mean I think you're familiar with them I would see if if you think that you could come up with something specific enough that it would be um worth lobbying for right because the resolutions set the lobbying agenda for the masc so we've got staffers and um directors going to Capitol Hill and lobbying for

105legislation based on the resolutions um so you I guess that's that's the the issue is what are they lobbying for responsibility I think that's something that is if they're not fiscally responsible in ways that voters approve they'll be voted out of office right so I think a lot of Voters possibly give them cover to do something like this that you we now acknowledge and that we are speaking up that we are you know putting you on notice as a town we we're not allowed to run up debts like this and the longer you wait the worse it is this would have been a much easier conversation to have had decades ago and it so then so then if the argument is um we call upon you to reduce debt in order to better fund education

106right so if you can link it somehow right and and make it a practical um and and put put a year to it reduce debt by x% I mean I don't know if that would actually fly but that that's I mean again I'm fine putting stuff like that in but then that gets to Julia's point of being too prescriptive I mean I I don't like doing immediate changes I think immediate changes are shocks to the system and hard to absorb I would like to see a commitment over the next you know two three four years moving towards you know a neutral budget and then beyond that starting to move to paying down the debt but basically to just say that the masc sets as a priority you know fiscal respons ability because what we have

107is not sustainable and at some point it's going to explode we we can't keep we can't keep doing this right but link it to education and you'll you'll get further yeah okay is anybody interested in helping me craft okay I can look at then previous motions and bring something back to the committee thank you I I feel like this is first draft yep there's some feedback yep um and I appreciate you thinking about the bigger picture and I can imagine we all like there's there's so many different values embedded in this that I think you know we want to just be very thoughtful about how we can speak with one voice right yeah thank you Steve y and maybe along those same lines I just want to name um there are a couple ways that

108we can Advocate with the state without this formal process one is um the masc holds periodic carry hosts periodic conversations with our de our The Berkshire delegation um where we can say to them in a zoom um what are you doing uh to support education what you know this is that is a place to have some of this conversation am I I'm that's Carrie that's how I've experienced those meetings um I and then the second is that on March 24th the house Ways and Means Committee and I'm sharing this I've already sent this out to the school committee as an opportunity but I'm sharing it with those who are listening and those who are watching at a later date um on March 24th there is a house Ways and Means um uh hearing uh at

109the UMass ammer campus um and the rural schools are showing up in force uh with t-shirts so we just have to know soon if you if you want to have a t-shirt um uh and and no public com I don't believe there's any public comment but the idea is with enough of us there in our t-shirts like that will send a really important signal so there are a couple of us already going um but if anyone here um knows anyone who just wants to go have a nice day in um at ums amst it's a beautiful campus um please uh send them my way because that's another way we can be advocating um right now which is something that um to you know to Steve's point we need to be advocating Steve go ahead I

110was just going to say I have gone to some of the zoom meetings and brought up these issues with our representatives and I will leave it at that awesome all right nope not awesome but sorry thank you for sharing that yes um okay I upcoming meetings and um we have the policy and governance subcommittee meeting on March 20th at 5:00 pm and we have our next school committee meeting is April 10th at 6m I do not have any other items for discussion that were not anticipated Joe I assume you don't no okay um agenda requests uh we've heard the agenda I've heard the agenda request for a c an over a review of what's happened with a curricular Review Committee and the Dei um committee I are there other agenda requests okay um hearing none

111let I I'm looking for a motion to adjourn so moved thank you Curtis second thank you Steve going for the Clean Sweep of seconds there we go um and Christina can you kick us off with a roll call vote please uh conry Constantine is in transit let's skip over him and hope he can unmute we don't actually have to vote we don't have to roll call the adjournment is that I me we do it's our custom yeah but we don't have to it's not debatable it's not votable it just great then then I'll adjourn this meeting yay there you go and we will coincidently meet up in a few minutes yes enjoy enjoy the concert everybody yes you all thank you everybody