NMRSD School Committee 1/29/2026

001Um, welcome everyone to the North Middle Sex Regional School District School Committee meeting January 29th, 2026. It is 6:02 p.m. on Thursday. I will take a roll call vote. Kenan Francois, >> yes. Michael Labosier. >> Yes. >> Car Carla is not in attendance yet. Jackie White, >> yes. >> Uh, and Alex Vancudi, >> yep. Here. >> Uh, Lisa Bloom >> here. >> Kim Craraven >> here. >> And myself, Lisa Martin. Those are the school committee members. >> Um, >> and administration. >> What? >> Lisa, you missed me. Randy Rush. >> Randy, I was looking at my sheet. Hang on. Randy Rush >> here. >> I will. >> I knew I forgot someone. Sorry, Randy. >> And the waiting room. >> And Carla is here. >> So, we'll give her a second to join. In attendance

002for administration, we have Superintendent Brad Morgan. And is that everyone that we have here at this time? >> Kevin Cormier. >> He was here. >> Brad and Kevin look about the same. Sorry. >> You know what they do. >> Sorry. And Carla Lima has joined. I'm here. >> All right. Thank you, Carl. Um, may I get a motion on the consent agenda? >> Sorry, I just had to bring it up. Uh, I will move to accept the consent agenda as presented. I second >> and that is Keenan Francois making the motion and Lisa Bloom seconded. >> All right, this is a roll call vote. Keenan Francois, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Michael Leo, Bossier, >> yes. Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Lisa

003Bloom, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right, we are opening up for public comments or public communication. Robin, do you want to guide us here because you have the >> Yeah, the first person we have uh is Kathy Boleris. If you would please raise your hand, Kathy, so that I can promote you and allow you to talk. >> Okay, Kathy, you should be all set. >> Can you hear me? >> Yes, we can be loud and clear. >> Okay, >> so my name is Kathy Bolores. Um, I live on Erikson Road in Ashb. Um although I was already planning on speaking tonight, um the uh letter sent by the PEPAL board of selectmen to the school committee um made it even more important I believe for me to to

004make my feelings known this evening. Um rather than a narrative um you know uh talking about each point, I'm just going to mention my concerns and utter disappointment. Um, I can only imagine that the PEPAL board of selectmen based their letter on misguided information without performing their due diligence to see if the cost of reopening Ashb Elementary truly will cost um the figures that were provided to them. Secondly, um why were these same cost concerns not considered a year ago when the option of closing Spalding and combining some of the towns and kids to AES and some to Squanook of equal concern to to Pepperin Towns and at the time so that they would speak out then. Um, third, along those lines, to all the school committee members and administration, how have all these costs

005been so easily calculated while so many of the costs and savings that were justified keeping AES open last year were chosen to be ignored. I brought them myself to many uh finance meetings and many overall uh committee meetings. Um and they got little to no consideration to the best of my knowledge. Certainly none publicly. So, I guess my question is, can anyone on the school committee look into their camera right now and with a straight face straight face and honestly say that North Middle Sex is behaving as a three- town district. The behavior by administration and by the school committee is in no way making decisions for three towns, but rather for two. the poor little kids in Ashb. Um, if you put them all in a room with kids from Pero and Townsen, you

006wouldn't know one from the other. And yet the decisions that are being made are consistently putting Ashb at a disadvantage. And to those of you who are new to the committee, I I hope you think long and hard about that tonight before you place your vote. And if you're unsure, don't vote. Thank you. >> Thank you, Kathy Robin. The next person. >> The next person I have is Chuck Walovich. Chuck, if you would raise your hand, please. There you are. >> You should be all set, Chuck. >> Thank you. Um, I would like to read the letter that we sent uh to the school committee and to the members of the pil community into the record. But before I do that, I'd like to say that we did not enter into this decision lightly. Over

007the past two years, I personally have attended numerous school committee meetings, numerous finance subcommittee meetings. I've also attended all of the budget summit hearings or the budget meetings that have been put on by the administration which were held monthly. I've also advocated for the school district at numerous public hearings uh at the state house requesting additional fundings and I've also spoken to our representatives and senators on numerous occasion about the lack of funding for North Middle Sex. During all those meetings that I've attended for the school committee or the finance committee or the budget hearings, while Ashb was always on a topic, it was never presented by any member of those meetings that there was a consideration of reopening uh Ashb Elementary School. We are not looking at this in a vacuum. We are looking

008at it from the reality that we have presented to the school committee to the budget summit what we can afford. We started that in August of this summer. The town administrator for Ashby was there as well as a select board member and they are well aware of the finances that each of our towns >> you should be aware >> are in trouble with. the fact >> has he if he's consider if >> is there someone talking that would like me to answer something >> my ap my apologies Chuck I it was Kathy Boleris I just took her permissions to talk away >> okay thank you I think it is important that we look at all of the students within the NNM district not just one individual school but what all of our towns can afford.

009Uh at numerous meetings it has been indicated that our technology is lagging, our curriculum is lagging and certain activities are being cut from the activities of the school which hurt which hinder the education of our students. It is for that reason and the reasons related to the finances of the school district and a lack of funding from the the state that we entered into this letter that we sent on January 22nd. I'll read that letter now. Dear North Middle Sex Regional School District Committee and members of the Pero community, the select board writes to formally express its opposition to the proposal of reopening the Ashb Elementary School. This is decision has been reached after careful review of the town's current financial position and a significant additional cost that reopening the school would impose. At present,

010the town is facing a substantial budget deficit. While the board recognizes the important role that neighboring schools play in our community, we have a responsibility to ensure that all decisions are fiscally responsible and sustainable. Reopening Ashby Elementary School would require considerable new expenditures, including but not limited to staffing, utilities, building maintenance, transportation, instructional material, and long-term capital improvements. These costs would place further strains on a really challenging budget. In addition to the immediate expense, reopening school would create ongoing fiscal responsibility that the town is not in a position to absorb within its significantly without significantly reducing essential services elsewhere or increasing the tax burden on honor residents. The select board does not believe it is prudent to move forward with a decision that could jeopardize the town's overall financial stability. The more the board remains

011committed to working collaboratively with the school officials, town staff and residents to explore fiscally sound options that support quality education while also respecting the financial real realities that we face at this time. However, reopening the Ashb Elementary School is not a viable or responsible option. We appreciate the community's engagement on these important issues and thank you for your understanding as we work to balance educational priorities with the town's long-term financially financial health. Respectfully, the town select board voted at a remote meeting on January 26 26 or January 26 26 by Mark Matthews and Chuck Wovich. The letter was signed by Mark Matthews chair Tony Bey clerk and Chuck Walovich member. It was sent to the North Middle regional school committee, North MX regional superintendent Mr. Morgan, Ashb Select Board, Towns and Select Board and Pmperal

012Finance Committee. You know, again, I I need to restate that we have been in discussions and working together with the TAs of all three towns and the select boards of all three towns. And this notion of or this the idea of reopening um Ashbell Elementary, the first time I heard of that was in December. And again, we have have been having budget discussions for over two years now that I've been in attendance. Uh, so we have done our due diligence. We have looked at the numbers closely and our town can simply not afford it without a significant override. Thank you for your time and consideration. >> Thank you, Chuck Robin. >> Next, we have Brad Han. Brad, if you're in attendance, if you could raise your hand. You should be all set, Brad. I think

013you're on mute. >> We can hear you now. >> Excellent. Good evening. Um, first and foremost, I want to thank the uh school committee and uh all the members here. Um, I know it's a thankless job and what you do for our communities and our students I greatly appreciate. Um, I'd also like to to thank um the executive committee of of North Middle Sex as well as uh Superintendent Morgan. Thank you for all you do for our students and our communities. Uh, with that being said, I've been analyzing this from a number of different angles. First and foremost, for the students um because I think that's where our focus should be. the second place being fiscally responsible. And when I when I look at this, I I really can't find a reason from both accounts

014as to why Ashb should be opened. Um I saw a Ashb Elementary on the agenda. My understanding from when we last spoke is there are upwards of millions of dollars in repairs that need to happen to that building. And not only would it affect the students, but I don't understand how that funding formula is going to happen if Ashby hasn't been able to already make some adjustments and invest into that building. Um, I think it's unreasonable to open it and expect the community of towns in to fund quite a bit of that. Um the second piece to that is I think the opportunity to growth both of growth both in the short term and long term should we open Ashb Elementary is really going to be capped as far as what we can do. Um

015tie that to what the budget crisis has been. Um I I I don't see why this conversation should even be taking place to reopen the school at this point today. Um, so with that being said, that's that's what I have to say there and I appreciate all your time. >> Thank you. Um, Robin, >> next we have Kate Stapinsky. >> You should be all set, Kate. >> Hi. Can you hear me? >> We can. Yeah. >> Okay, great. Thank you for the opportunity to speak tonight. My name is Kate Stinsky and I'm a special education teacher at Hoeth Thornbrook Middle School. I'm also president of the teachers association. As you make decisions tonight about how to allocate funding for the coming school year, please allow me to ask you to take a couple of things

016under consideration. The first is the process of closing a building and reconfiguring the Ashbian towns and elementary schools was an incredibly stressful and heartbreaking process for staff. And it sounds like the same can be said for the community. Although we work through it, we are apprehensive about going through that kind of stress, anxiety, and cycle of changing plans. Again, the priority of the staff are in adding studentf facing educators and reducing class sizes right now. And I want to ground this conversation in what classrooms actually look like and why reducing class sizes and increasing staff is necessary for student success, safety, and the long-term sustainability of the district schools. Across grade levels, right now, classes are in the mid 20s and in some cases the low30s. Within a single classroom, teachers are supporting students with

017IEPs, 504 plans, students receiving academic interventions, students with behavioral needs, gifted learners, strong readers, strong writers, and students who who are mathematically advanced. This level of diversity is a strength, but without adequate staffing, it becomes incredibly difficult to meet every student's needs. Teachers are hardworking, but the current staffing model simply does not match the reality of today's classrooms. In kindergarten, especially, class sizes of 25 to 30 students are neither developmentally appropriate nor safe. This age group needs close supervision, frequent check-ins, and consistent adult support. Current and projected class sizes make it extremely challenging to provide the level of care and instruction our youngest learners need. But this challenge doesn't stop with kindergarten. Every grade level has its own developmental and academic needs. And meeting those needs for 30 diverse learners in one room is incredibly

018challenging. Students become frustrated by the lack of individual attention. Teachers feel pulled in too many directions and valuable instructional time is often lost to classroom management. Larger class sizes also bring increased workloads, more grading, more planning, more documentation, and more communication. We're struggling to keep up. And when class sizes remain this high year after year, burnout increases and retaining strong educators becomes harder. At the same time, students social and emotional needs have grown significantly. Educators are being asked to take on multiple roles at once and often without adequate support. While smaller class sizes and additional teachers are critical, we also need more counselors, special education staff, school psychologists, and par profofessionals to properly support students. There are logistical concerns with our class sizes. Many classrooms are simply too small for the number of students assigned

019to them. Crowded rooms make it difficult to move safely and activities like group work, presentation, or hands-on learning become far more challenging when space is limited. We recognize that you're making difficult decisions and there's not a lot of room in the budget, but we ask that you make reducing class sizes and increasing staffing a priority. It's not about adding extras. It's about aligning resources with the needs of the students. Investing in staff investing in staffing and class size reduction would be an investment in student learning, staff well-being, and the long-term success of the district. So, thank you for your time and all the work you do and the difficult decisions you have to make. And thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you, Kate. Robin. >> Uh, okay. That's all we had signed up, but

020I did receive uh five letters that >> we were asked to read during public comment. So, I'll start with the first letter which was from the town administrator of Ashb, Mary Dudrey. Uh the letter was received today. Uh it says, "Dear Chair Martin and members of the committee, the town of Ashb and the Ashb Select Board of writing regarding the Ashby Elementary School agenda items scheduled for discussion at this evening school committee meeting. We are formally notifying the NMRSD school committee that the town strongly objects to any proposal to close Ashby Elementary School. The school committee is not adhering to its own policies governing the closure of a school, nor is it following the procedures required by the Commonwealth for such an action. In addition, no alternative options or budgets that do not assume the

021closure of Asheville Elementary School have been presented to the school committee for review or consideration. This lack of required process and transparency is deeply concerning. We will be following up in writing with a detailed outline of the significant and detrimental impacts the decision would have on our students and the town of Ashby. sincerely marry Dartry. The second letter is from Dave Amari was received today uh to North Middle Sex Regional School District community members, school committee and staff. I'm writing this letter to share my perspective about Ashb Elementary School. My name is Dave Amari. I'm a husband, father of three, Ashb resident for 26 years and have worked in the North Middle Sex building and grounds department for 16 years. I've lived in all three district towns and am fortunate to have friends and family

022throughout the area. First, I would like to recognize the time and dedication of everyone involved in maintaining our communities and educating our children. I've had the honor to work with many including emergency responders, town representatives, volunteers, DPW workers, teachers, administrators, power professionals, maintenance and custodial staff. I see the hard work everyone puts in season to season and I am proud to be able to contribute as well as we all strive to keeping things running. These are people who genuinely care about our communities. They work through budget cuts, manpower cuts, shortages, and through the negative effects that economic difficulties create. My hat goes off to all these folks that continue to persevere. Thank you. To give insight into the general scope of maintaining the school facilities, we were uh responsible for seven buildings totaling over 730,000

023square feet of interior space, 163 acres of ground maintenance with approximately 3,500 uh students and staff. The traffic increases when you add all all the after school and weekend use from athletics, arts, events, and public building use. We are responsible for cleaning, maintenance, snow removal, sanding, security, and everything in between a toz. As you can imagine, keeping up with the daily needs can be a challenge. Improvement needs in our buildings are result of age and failures due to life expecties of infrastructure and mechanicals being reached and not from neglect and lack of caring. It is very disheartening to hear the negativity from the public when you see the commitment everyone involved gives to this job. My hope is we can all move away from this and work together to solve issues with understanding, communication, and

024teamwork. Moving out of Ashb Elementary last summer was a very difficult decision. I see the perspective from a taxpayer in Ashb and from what the towns and schools face with tough funding deficiencies. It is my understanding that moving away from Ashby Elementary School was made in order cons to consolidate educational resources and focus operational and capital cost into buildings that best position the schools for future. There were many factors to consider and size and available space in the district were important factors. I believe it was a careful thoughtout process after looking at all the factors with the big picture in mind for the entire student population. Consolidation is something every public school system is faced with and it is an emotional and difficult thing to close any building or cut jobs. We recognize there are

025project and major improvement needs in several of our buildings that we need to address, not just Ashby. Currently, Ashby students make up roughly 25% of the school population of towns and elementary schools. Towns and students make up 75%. Any major school projects that will need funding in the future means Ashby residents cover 25% of the cost to update schools versus 100% of the cost if the update project is for only for Ashb. Sharing the financial burden of 25% of a project seems like a better situation for Ashb taxpayers. If returning Ashby Elementary is the decision, is there a plan in place for funding to address the chairlift and any other infrastructure needs determined as essential? I assume that would need to be voted on by the town. Does returning to AES mean we be continuing

026a to sustain all seven other buildings. If then uh would there be no con consolidation of resources, how does this impact the current budget? Moving Ashby Elementary last year was very challenging as it affected teachers and staff and schools throughout the district. The logistics and impact on everyone involved was substantial. As unfortunate as closing AES is, we moved last year. Going back after everyone has been re relocated and students and staff are getting acclimated will put us back another year. I do believe the school system is not just a building but the core of its teachers, staff, children, and the collaboration that takes place. This is currently ongoing and everyone is adapting to the change. I also believe there is a great benefit to having more classroom options and having Ashby with their peers earlier

027on. I work in all the buildings on a regular basis. My perspective is kids having fun learning and teachers giving them the care and attention in a very professional and safe and learning environment. I believe families should know this happens no matter what and I'm building their children attend and our teachers do an amazing job. Thank you for letting me share my thoughts. I appreciate time and consideration regards Dave. Uh the next excuse me uh the next letter is from uh Sumner Edmonds North Middle Sex Regional School District School Committee members uh to whom it may concern. My name is Sumar Edmonds. I have been a resident of Ashb, Mass for approximately 20 years. I know I am a simple man, so please excuse the simplicity of my comments. Recently, I've seen that there was

028a survey taken and posted on Facebook asking opinions of closing the Ashb school. As a resident of Ashb, I never received any such survey, which makes me wonder the validity of this so-called survey. And what worries me more is what was not a controlled document allowing voting several times by the same individual. My sympathy is with the school committee and Mr. Morgan. I really wish the school committee would take all this pressure off themselves and have the three towns vote. Should we close Ashby or another school and list each of them so the residents decide what they want? This way it will be voted on by the people and not the school committee or Mr. Morgan. as well as lists the cost option to keep all school buildings open as well as any upgrades needed

029to reopen Ashb. No large meetings, just the facts on a voting document. What the residents of these three towns will have to be prepared for is the costs increase of the individual schools if all district buildings are voted to keep operating and list these costs on the voting documents. Being a resident of Ashby, my vote would be to close Ashby and let the town of the building and just maybe the town could attract a business to occupy the building. so that revenue from this new business taxes would generate income and would help offset any future property taxes. I also think residents of this district should spend more time writing letters to their state representatives encouraging, excuse me, encouraging them to advocate for more federal and state monies to help these small school districts rather than

030spending all their energy and thoughts on Facebook. I've also seen on Facebook comments that the superintendent needs to go be fired and is paid too much money and is also receiving yearly salary increases of 3%. Myself, I think he deserves every cent he receives and as far as yearly increases of 3%, it has been my entire career of over 40 years of working in manufacturing that this is an average wage increase. I am not sure residents of this district are ready to pay the ongoing the the going rate for a new superintendent. Sincerely, Sumar Edmonds. The next uh letter is from Don Priest. Uh it was received on Saturday, January 24th. Dear NM RSD school committee members and administrators, I appreciate the opportunity that you continuously extend to our community, allowing our voices to be

031heard and our thoughts to be considered. I want to start by thanking each and every one of you for your commitment to our students and our community. I do not envy your position, particularly given the dire financial circumstances that we, like so many other districts, are facing. I am so grateful for your efforts whether we agree or not, whether we live in the same town or not, whether we have the same pri priorities or not to make the hard choices and decisions for our schools. With that in mind, I do have concerns about the presentation that was shared during your January 13th, 2026 meeting. I know that several of the committee members voiced against the sharing of the presentation as it was prepared by only one member, which is not best practice. I also saw

032the pressure from others to allow it. Although I appreciate the time and effort clearly put into preparing it, it was an inaccurate representation of the facts. The presentation claimed that the student population is leaving our district in staggering numbers. Comparing today's student population count to 2019 is simply ridiculous. There is no district in the country that would consider 2019 to be an appropriate representation of baseline. I have reviewed the data over the past four years and drawn staggeringly different conclusions than the presenter. Although I still lack enough information to be completely accurate, it should be noted that much of the data needed in order to be accurately analyzed is not available on the DESIE website. Specifically, data for the 2526 school year and special education placements. Yes, it is true that private school figures have

033gone up. It was not shared in the presentation that part of the private school figures include special education out of district placements to private schools. Those figures would need to be included in the analysis in in order to accurately determine how this increase actually impacts our general population. Our school choice virtual school numbers have actually gone down. These figures, like private schools, include special education placements to public school districts. Additionally, charter school enrollments dropped by nearly 34% during the 2425 school year. Could these be the same students have opted to enter into private schools instead, thereby not actually reflecting students lost by the district? Again, we don't know because that information was not obtained or shared. The figure shared in the presentation from DESIE of the student population included prek and preschool, our 18 to

03422 special education students. However, the presenter stated that she did not factor anything but K to2 into the analysis. Those numbers should have been adjusted to a K-12 data set if that was her intent. Otherwise, it is impossible to draw accurate conclusions from any of the data. There also weren't adjustments to the figures for outgoing class sizes versus incoming class sizes, which can hardly be considered lost to students. These are just a few of the issues that I found. It seems to me that this presentation was made in a heal Mary attempt to garner support for reopening Asheville Elementary School as opposed to getting real information to the residents. There are a lot of emotions being presented as facts by community members causing division and creating an unrealistic narrative. It truly saddens me. The last

035thing we need is an inaccurate presentation from a school committee member fueling that fire. I would urge the committee to be sure that the data being presented and the resulting analysis is entirely accurate before allowing future presentations to be shared so that the community is receiving the real facts. I'm also slightly confused as to dual representation argument that we are losing students to other schools and simultaneously facing a capa capacity issue. I believe Mr. Morgan's explanation of what could happen in the future if we also had to close Spalding and experienced an increase in enrollments in contrast to the projections was very clear. The closing of AES is by all accounts nothing short of unfortunate. having to figure out how to absorb not only the increases in typical operating expenses, but the increased cost of

036compliance with state and federal mandates while simultaneously receiving inadequate funding is what put us in this position of having to choose the best of the worst option. It was the only option that paired with another massive round of staff cuts, increasing class sizes, postponing maintenance and capital expenditures, increasing activity and parking fees, and chopping every expense to bare bones was large enough to both bring the budget down enough to pass town meetings and provide the students the best education possible within the budget. Another round of cuts would our district. This issue is compounded by turnover on the school committee which makes it difficult difficult to gain traction in long-term planning. As hard it is for some to accept, I do think that every possible has been done to protect the education of our students. I'm

037sorry that everything possible has been done to protect the education of our students. It is where they are educated more important than ensuring that they are educated. I personally cannot answer that question in the affirmative. Again, it's the best of the worst options, but still the best option. Truly, it seems the only option that doesn't harm the students. That doesn't make mean it makes anyone feel good. The division of the community is going to cause more harm than closing AES ever could. I simply do not see how or where we could find 1.6 million within our budget to reopen this as an elementary school, prioritizing a building over education of our children. I also do not see a reality where towns and taxpayers would be willing to take on the capital investments required to repair

038the AES building. To expect that is incredibly unfair. These are repairs that have been discussed for decades and were not prioritized by the town of Ashb. Even with the year the one-year pause knowing that the school could be permanently closed, nothing was done or even investigated. This conversation needs to be put to rest and we need to start looking ahead at outside the box options as to if we can utilize AES building in another way that would benefit not harm our students. I was very happy to read that in the FY27 preliminary budget message about the unexpected positive impacts that have been realized as a result of the students coming together. It is a reminder that the sun still shines behind the storm clouds. Do we really want to not only take away those positives

039they've experienced, teachers benefiting from collaboration and more options to assist students, students fostering new friendships prior to being thrown together at middle school, but also put them through yet another change and at what expense. I'm not talking about dollars. I hope that everyone is able to step back from the emotional piece of this discussion and objectively evaluate the facts. Even more so, I hope that the community is able to choose to come together to support the tough decisions required of the school committee and administrators and find common ground to build from. We must be the example that our children deserve. Respectfully, Dawn Priest, Townsen resident and parent. And I have one last letter. Uh this letter was um received today. Um, dear North Middle Sex Regional School Committee members, my name is Kristen Mclofflin and

040I have been an educator in the North Middle Sex Regional School District for almost 20 years. I am also a parent of a second grader at the Barnum Brook Elementary School. I'm writing to express my significant concern about the future of this district if changes are not put into place immediately. First, I'd like to speak specifically about the current conditions for students and staff at Vonabenbrook. As I'm sure that you are aware, Vonbrook houses most, if not all of the district's special education programs. As a parent of a child with a disability, I am grateful for the amazing educators and the district support of our students with special needs. However, I do not believe that housing all of these programs in one building is appropriate or equitable. First of all, many of these students require

041a significant amount of support during the the days specifically when they are disregulated. While we have staff for these programs, it continues to be insufficient. Most often, there are multiple simultaneous instances of disregulated students. Often, all of our behavior texts are in a crisis while getting calls for more students needing assistance. Sometimes when we reach out for assistance with a student experience a difficult time, we are told that there is not anyone available at the moment to assist. Some of these students remain in a disregulated state for long periods of time, sometimes longer than an hour. These needs are often filled by other staff, including our school counselors, who are then pulled from meeting with student groups. These groups are for students who require specific lessons to be taught based on their IEPs, a legal

042document. uh principal, assistant principal, and even the assistant director of special education are often pulled from the general duties to assist. And this is just the impact on staff. The students hear their peers screaming and running throughout the halls multiple times on a daily basis. They often see their peers being carefully escorted through the halls to calmer and safer spaces. They witness desks being thrown, supplies being tossed, and teachers getting physically hurt. My own child has been physically injured on multiple occasions from a disregulated peer. It even prompted my husband and I to file a district bullying report so that it could be carefully monitored. Well, I know class sizes across the district are similar. 25 students in a class in towns which include no students from these groups is not the same as 25

043students in PEPL. There are more needs, more meetings, more interventions needed for those students. As an educator, I am a firm believer in the idea that fear is not always equal. I feel as if relocating some of these programs would best utilize resources from across the district allow students to learn alongside a myriad of students and ability levels and may even save funds on transportation as now most of the students and programs are from Townsen and Ashby getting busil. As for our kindergarten, I would like to note that their astronomical class sizes have made classroom management unmanageable. They have rugged areas and classrooms that do not adequately fit their students. Managing student behavior while attempting to teach early literacy and math skills has also proven to be nearly impossible. Teachers will see the impact of

044this for years to come. as I am sure these students will move to higher grade levels with significant gaps due to the lack of skill mastery by no fault of the teachers. Teaching 35year-olds is an unbelievable feat and our fantastic teachers are doing their best but they are exhausted, burnt out and disappointed in the lack of progress in their students. They are be bearing the burden of guilt that they are letting down their students and colleagues in further grade levels by not preparing them for the future of their school career. I implore you to keep this in mind for the following school years. Kindergarten is the foundation of education. Reasonable class sizes even with a uh pareducator present play a huge role in laying that foundation. Finally, it has also recently been brought to my

045attention that there's a discussion of the possibility of reopening the Asheville Elementary School. I can completely admire and understand the emotional ties to that building and its small and familiar school atmosphere. However, I do not feel that is reasonable in this financial situation to allow emotions to dictate a decision that would have a detrimental impact on students and staff across the district. During my tenure as a district educator, I have experienced the closure of a school. In my second year teaching, we were informed that our adorable little elementary school, Peter Fitzpatrick, would be closing. There was no discussion, no vote, and no significant notice that this change was to occur. I'm still unsure as to whether or not there was even a discussion with the school committee about its closure. We're told to pack our

046belongings and we would be moved to a school that is still not suited for young elementary students as it was a former middle school. We just continue to make it work. It is my personal belief that reopening Ashby, especially with the funds and effort that it would be needed to move those classrooms yet again, would be unwise and not in the best interest of the f the financial security of the district. As I know you are all aware, we are living in unprecedented times. It is unlikely that there will be any additional funds available for our district anytime in the near future. We need to make smart decisions based on what is best for the future of the district. I implore you to think very carefully about these situations and to make decisions based on

047fact, not emotion. I would also encourage you to come and spend a day at Vonbrook and any of the other district buildings for that matter. What you will see is students in crisis all day long. You will see students with significant anxiety around their peers. But you will also see dedicated, hard-working, thoughtful, and passionate educators doing their best. But we are hanging by a thread. You will see a school that even through every day is challenging comes together because our leader who has taught us that we are better together. I appreciate your time. Please feel free to reach out with any questions. Sincerely, Kristen Mclofflin, grade two teacher. And that concludes public comment. >> Thank you. Thank you, Robin. Um, I want to thank the community for their thoughtful letters and their communications to the

048committee. Um, the com and I want to thank the committee for their attention to this outreach. Uh we are going to move on to our next topic and that is going to be a discussion about Ashby. Before we begin, I know today's conversation is going to be a difficult one and as a committee we have the responsibility to make decisions that will guide the educational framework for our students. As we begin, I hope I can offer or I hope we can offer one another patience, respect, and grace. I ask that we avoid repeating the same points so we can move forward productively. I've broken the discussion into a few steps. So, this is how we're going to proceed to help keep the conversation thoughtful and supportive. First, I'm going to hand it to the finance

049chair and she will ch share some financial information. Next, the committee members will have an opportunity to ask clarifying questions that can lead into discussion. Then, when that is wrapped up, I will give the committee members each time to have an individual statement or reflection if they choose. I ask throughout this discussion that we listen with care, speak thoughtfully, and stay focused. I know this is going to be tough. All right, with that, I'm going to hand to finance chair, Kim Craraven. Robin, would it be possible for you to allow me to share my screen? You should be all set, Kim. Thank you. All right. Um if folks haven't had the opportunity to review the finance committee meeting from the other day, um I am sharing a document that was prepared. Uh we had asked

050the administration to prepare some sidebyside budgets for us to review and that is what you have on the screen in front of you. So the first column is the FY26 budget. Um so that you can compare and then we go across and you can see the current request from the administration at 3.06. The towns can support what is a 2.47 increase. And then we asked for what an optimum for the current situation. This is not the pie in the sky, bring back everything, but what would help the district right now to address some of the concerns around the large classroom size um some operational issues that exist and bring back some of the teachers that are needed for the different functions within the district. And that column um does not uh have Ashb open. The

051final column is um and and that is a 5.35% increase over the FY26 budget. The next column is if Ashb were to be opened. That column is 5.27, but that does not address the issues in the optimum budget. We were trying to look at some basic comparisons of what the budget would look like. Um, I'm going to scroll down. Um, this was sent to each of you so you do have it, but I'm just reviewing it here for you. Um, if we look down to this, um, area here, um, you can see the differences for each of the columns. So the um 26 budget what um what the change over that is in the increase in the dollar amounts for what the administration has asked for um just over 2 million and then what the

052towns say that they can support about 1.6 6 million with the optimum um of what the district would like to see with increase in the teachers to alleviate the class size and um address operational issues be 3.6 6 million over the FY26 and to a open Ashb without addressing any of the class size issues is 3.5 million over what the FY26 budget would be. And so you can see the um full-time equivalent change in the different columns of that and the increase um over the 3.6 of what that looks like. So the town budget would be 400,000 less than what the administration has currently asked to get to the optimum with the buildings that are currently open in increasing the amount of staff to decrease the student teacher uh ratios would be 1.5 million and

053to reopen Ashb would be 1.4 4 million. I just want to be clear again that the final column on the right does not include the staffing piece of it. So it would just be reopening. And to put some of that into perspective, the it it the discussion that has been around um the alternative school closure or additional school closure um if it were to be Spalding that would close the Spalding footprint and students do not fit into the Ashb school as it stands right now. If Ashby were to reopen with fewer grades, there's still an a burden because of the administrative needs that are there. Um, in order to open a school and to reopen Ashb, it would require additional teachers for grades 1 through 4, special education teachers. It would require the hiring of

054a nurse, a counselor, administrative assistant, um, custodial staff, and there would be questions about how some of the contracted special education providers would be able to provide in Ashb. Um, so it's been said that there was no consideration of what it would look like if Ashb were to reopen. Um people can see plainly here that it it was considered and looked at. The other considerations for Ashb reopening right now there is a current ADA compliance issue on the table. Ashb has said that they are going to remedy that issue. There are questions about other ADA compliance issues in there. Um while we are talking finance, there's the longstanding what will happen with the wing that is closed. Um as many of you know, last year it did ask for consideration of a pause on Ashb

055rather than a closure to allow Ashb time to investigate other possibilities for for the building. And I did sit for a time on a committee that was looking at um options of what could happen. Um there's a multitude of opportunities that that building could have um to be revenue enhancing. Um uh not all of those options were presented to the community members of Ashp. Um so from from my perspective that didn't come to a full fruition for the co the finance committee or the school committee in its totality to consider um what sort of that future is. So all that we're looking at is the classroom space that is was there and what it would cost to open that. So, not all of the other um pieces um are are in there. So, we we

056don't have a full a full perspective even at this date of what would be happening long-term with that facility. So, those numbers that you see are just for the staffing piece. It does not include any other additional renovations that would be needed in Ashb or any of those unknowns. Um it's just just the basics that are on there. Um so again, you can see the different levels. And the other thing um that is especially important to note is that the budgets as presented from the administration to us. that is still over what the towns have asked for includes using 2 million of the excess and deficiency which is more than what we are wanting to be used in any given year in the policies that we're creating. So when you take what the towns have

057asked the school district to stay at in terms of budget, what the administration is asking for, and then looking forward of what we're going to be faced with in terms of contracts coming to a close, being renegotiated, that there's there's not a big pot of money sitting there that we can draw from. um we might be able to get closer to what the towns have asked, the governor's um speech at the MMA and some of the numbers that were discussed. We won't know for some time what happens with the House and Senate um of those numbers, but it does in in my perspective look a little more promising. But when you're considering that this is a difference of an additional $15 per student, it's not like it's an incredible windfall, but it's a small amount

058that will help the bottom line of the budget that the administration has outlaid. So these these are the facts and figures that have been prepared that we're working off of. So again, you have the FY26 numbers, what the administration has asked for, which is still um 400,000 over the optimum for what the towns have asked the school to stay at. What if there was additional money could be spent to enhance the learning environment for the children in the second to last column and then the final column being what it would cost additional to open Ashb. So those are the budget numbers and the framework. I'm happy to um have questions asked of of me. Um if I can answer them I will. And certainly we have um the members of the administration here that can

059help us with this conversation too. >> Randy, >> I just wanted to start off at this point uh just to make a correction uh to something that Kim had said is the MSBA last year gave the district a pause, a one-year pause on closing Ashby Elementary. not for the town of Ashby to figure out something else to do with the building, but to for the district to decide what we wanted to do with the building because it was being closed for budgetary reasons. And at that point in time, um it wasn't a capacity issue that we were um saying that we had to close a building for because it was budgetary. They gave us not Ashby a year to decide what we wanted to do with the building. it was not put on Ashby's uh

060plate to figure out another use. >> Um so to to be clear, Madam Chair, um the committee that I was on was looking at reuse. So the school was given a pause. The committee was looking at reuse opportunities that the survey had reuse opportunities on there. But but you're right, Randy. It is it is two different things. The school was given a pause to decide what it was going to do. Ashb a small working group was looking at what was possible with that building. Um and a survey did go out for that purpose. But right now we are this focus of this meeting is to look at the budget numbers. And I also did want to add that the finance committee did not vote on any one of these budgets but voted to present this

061entire document um to the full committee for review. So we haven't come to a conclusion on any of these um but the vote was to bring this forward so that everybody could look at all the budget numbers for discussion. Harlon, you have a question. >> I'd like to just comment um piggybacking on what Randy said is that my understanding is that the district was given a pause, not Ashb, the town itself. I was part of that subcommittee. It was a working group actually, not a subcommittee, and there were only two members, myself and Kim. Um, the request for Ashb to make a survey for additional use came directly from Kim. It wasn't a full subcommittee request or never was it a request from this district to us formally. Um, so I just wanted to reiterate

062that and clarify that, you know, the survey that went out was based on the push to Ashb to make that survey, not because Ashb was looking for other uses of the building itself. On the contrary, Ashb has always been asking um for this sub for this committee to actually review those since day one. I've requested it multiple times for this committee to review other uses for the building in in in conjunction with Ashb. Um there's been many other discussions and options that's been presented to our working group which Kim was the other member of this working group to request to bring that to the school committee because Ashby has been open to many other discussions. Um, but again, I just wanted to clarify that that it was never Ashby's request or push to look at

063other uses for the building, but rather uh Kim's request to the small group. >> Okay, Jackie White, >> thank you. Um, which just in hearing the need for from teachers and staff to add teachers and staff back into the mix, which column here allows us to do that? Does the 3.06 increase allow it? Does just the 2.47 do it? Where are we looking to be able to start to hire back some teachers? >> That's in the 5.35. >> Okay. So, the other two options, the 3.06 06 and the 2.47 brings no teachers back. >> The current request is essential level funded. There is a small increase in some of the staff. Um I would have to go back. It's it's a very small FTE equivalent. And then the 2.47 is the amount that the towns

064had said that they could support. So the increase that the budget is is not necessarily reflected in the assessment for the town. So the increase for example of the 3.06 in the overall budget for the schools is about a 4% assessment. So what gets passed on to the town based on their enrollment is a little bit different than these numbers. This is the increase in the actual school budget. So the 3.06 is what the administration asked for and we had discussed in some of our meetings where they would be increasing in the special education area and then what they would have to come in at a budget which we don't have the minutia of exactly what it would be at this point because we're still a little bit a ways. But that 2.47 47 shows

065where they would put their allocations to get to that amount so that there wasn't any funds over what the town said that they could support requested. The next column, the 5.35, is what the administration sat down and looked at that they would need in funding in order to start increasing the staffing levels to reduce the the class size and address operations. The final column is just reopening Ashb, but does not necessarily add in any of the teachers to address the classroom sizes. And as I mentioned, there's a whole list of teachers that would be reallocated or what it requires in staff in order to open Ashb, which would be the additional teachers for the grades 1 through 4, the two special education, a nurse, a counselor, administrative assistant, the custodial staff. But that is not

066those hires if you will would not be spread across the district to address the class size. >> Kim, will you scroll down for a second? It shows the number of FTEES. >> Yes. If you go to that. So to add teachers, just if we did the ASHB option, it would be 17.65 65 teachers. Um then if the optimal option is chosen, it'd be 19.85 teachers >> or staff members. >> I do want to staff staff >> staff sorry staff not teachers staff members and then so if you look at the FTE line that shows the fluctuation >> right here. So you can see the small number that were discussed around the the special needs and then to go down the projection is it would be little more than one staff position. And this is the

067optimum and this is just for the Ashb reopening. And then this is the difference in dollar amounts here. And there is also a narrative with this document that goes through each scenario. Randy, >> um I'd like to just start off and say, you know, um at this time of year, thank you very much to the administration for doing the different iterations. We always uh wind up here with what you you present to the school committee that you think would be good for the district and fit the towns, what the towns are saying they can afford, what an optimal budget is. And I think that's a lot of good effort going into that and I appreciate everybody putting those numbers together. Um I think um unfortunately I think it was kind of wasted time to put

068together just opening Ashby. exactly how it was K to4 in 24. Um I wish the uh information or that effort had been put forth uh for better uses. Uh meaning that we're putting the cart be before the horse. Um the school committee was not asked what capacity we would like to open up Ashb in because personally I don't think moving the children again in this year is anything good for any of them. I don't think that movement especially when it's multiple movements is good. I would I'm not asking for Ashb to be opened K to 4 next year when I ask for Ashb to be considered to be opened. So the numbers that are here are not representative of a what a true um opening would be for some of the members. I don't know

069what everybody else would have come to, but we haven't had the discussions on the committee. We've had a year of this being on pause and we haven't had any discussions on a higher level even as far as what do we see for the district? What do we want for capacity? Where is our capacity? A lot of the uh questions that the school committee should be looking at, which is not just, oh my gosh, we're in a budget crisis for two years and we're in another budget crisis. What are we going to cut? What are we going to cut? What are we going to cut? But how about we have conversations on how do we help the district? How do we get more um funding for the district other than just asking the towns and advocating

070on capital on state at the state hill there are other ways that we can do things but we never have these conversations I not sure if the whole school committee understands how the foundation budget is um created I'm not sure if everybody knows that we were on the cusp of being out of hold harm harmless, which would have solved a lot of our problems in being able to get more funding from the state on a regular basis being out of hold harmless. Um, enrollments, not just enrollments in the district, um, but enrollments for our foundation enrollment, which covers o other things, has been declining, which is putting us further and further out of reach of being out of hold harmless. But again, these are conversations that we need to discuss what the data is, what

071the trends are, and what we can do as a school committee to encourage um more enrollment, to encourage more funding from the state, to encourage all these things before we sit down and say, what does Ashby look like if we open it up? Do we need it for capacity? And I can make a strong argument that we need the capacity for everything that we're talking about about getting class sizes down for helping the the teachers do um an easier job with the students have the students have a better education and a better environment is we need capacity. We're at especially going to even just the optimal budget here without any increases in enrollment. We're going to be at high capacity. And I know um an option of modular classrooms has been brought up. We can

072talk about that later. I don't think that's an option for me. Um we have a building. It's a better option than modulars and we haven't given Ashbed the opportunity to vote on a project because we hadn't presented them with a project like we have done with every other school in this district whenever we've had repairs needed. So I I this number is huge to open up Ashweek K to4 right now. I can argue a lot of things but that's not what it would look like if it gets open and that's not the price we'd be looking at but we didn't talk about it so we really don't know what the full price is. Thank you. >> Marlo. >> Thank you. Just to add to that um I agree with Randy what she said. There has

073been talk back and forth with Ashb and I've tried to bring it to this committee. I've tried to bring it I think Kim was part of some of the initial conversations um but she she seemed to leave have left the group halfway through our um working group um so it left me alone to have discussions with Ashby itself. there were other options on the table that we have not considered as a school committee potentially, you know, the town to buy back portion of the building so that our costs aren't exactly that amount. Um, I know that Ashb has requested at least a K through2 and I think I brought that up last time during our last meeting and I don't think any of that has been projected here on the finance. Um, so there are

074many other options other than just presenting this and presenting a full closure. Again, uh, Randy mentioned, you know, there would be additional teachers. 17, I believe is what it says, additional staffing. I think that would definitely decrease um, that classroom sizes that we're seeing, especially in the K through four that teachers are complaining about or stressing about. And I really appreciate all the work that you teachers do. You do an amazing job. And I think that you know allocating 19 with the uh higher budget there which is above opening Ashb K through four which is not necessarily the initial or only request that was presented to this committee that hasn't been discussed. Um but that 19 additional staffing where would they go if there's not enough space in these buildings to put 19 additional teachers

075or 19 additional rooms across the district? I don't think that also answers the question that these teachers are asking about being at capacity to their class sizes. So I think yes having Ashb Elementary will help in that capacity will help the teachers and again it doesn't have to be a K through four that wasn't the initial ask from Ashb is that this group initially has that discussion and it hasn't had that discussion as far as um growth that that Randy mentioned. I just wanted to share my personal story. And I think that not having a school in our town, it's not just about the town. It's not just about real estate. It's about the district as a whole. I came to this town because of Ashb Elementary. I did not move here because of the

076district school, but because of Ashb Elementary. It was a seven rating. My son came up from a private school. We came from Graten Private. I paid a very large amount to have my son in a private school. and I decided to pull him out to put him in Ashb Elementary after doing multiple interviews of multiple schools from private to public and Townsen was one of them too. I met with Mrs. C various times, walked the schools with my son and I brought him to every single interview that we did in order to make a decision where are we going to go to. He was in private school and the reason why we wanted to move to a public school in the district is because in p private school in Grten he had friends from v

077various different towns. It wasn't just Grten. We we didn't have that community of friendship. He didn't build that rapport by seeing his friends in town every events or different events. And when we got to Ashby, he had that he had that sense of community. And I felt like this was the place to raise my son where he could build long-term in Ashb Elementary. He had lots of issues going into the public school which the teachers were amazing in helping him overcome. But this was one of the highest rating schools in the district out of all the schools that we looked at um and and of areas nearby. So I just wanted to share that experience. You know, having Ashby Elementary is an asset to the district and an asset to the town because it does

078bring in new families and it does bring in new families with wealth. I had a neighbor last year that moved in in the beginning of the school year. They moved from Medford. It was a town with a lot of wealth. If you don't know, it's a metropolitan area. They lived right near Tus. These two these two individuals were very um intellectual, worked as an IT, you know, high- netw worth individuals. These were not lowincome that were coming into the town. And they moved here because of Ashb Elementary with their two children that were going to start school. But when the school closed last year, you know what they did? They had one year moved into a house down the street. And I saw them every day. They sold their house. you know how much they

079paid in taxes for selling under living there for two years. But they didn't care. They said, "You know what? We moved here because of the school and now there isn't a school and we're not going to ship them to another school in the district if it's not within our town. So, we're going to move to another town that has stability and longevity for our two children. I have neighbors that live right behind me. Their house is worth 1.5 million." Excuse me. Let me finish please. >> They have another high net worth individual. IT parents, very smart. They moved here from Texas two years ago, the same year I moved in, and they made the choice to move to, >> excuse me, >> I >> They pulled their kids out from elementary school because Ashby closed.

080They're not town. They moved them to Mason because they said, "You know what? If I'm going to move my kid to a different district, I might as well haul them to another 7.0 district, which is Mason right up the street." So, I just wanted to give my two cents on that. Thank you, >> Gina. >> I'd just like to um point out um something specific um about the Ashbon only budget. The um the far right column that you see displayed on screen regarding the um class size discussion and um how allegedly um there was a claim made. I it's been so long that I don't even know who made it now. Um that reopening AES would balance class sizes. You'll see a 17.65 FTE increase over FY26. Six 1 2 3 4 5 6 seven

081six or seven of those staff members alone are not teaching staff. The other 11 are the teaching staff. That is 1 point total that is $1.1 million. You it is in that document if you just scroll down a little bit more. The the the purpose of the optimal budget is to bring this district back to a sustainable level to improve the educational standards in its current configuration as it is. It's there's no other agenda to it. This committee was asked on the in the December school committee meeting if they had the materials if they had the materials ready, including all the surveys, if they would be prepared to make a decision on Ashby Elementary. From the testimony that I just heard from the two previous members, I'm hearing a lot that we've never heard before.

082We have been sitting here doing this debate for 2 years. I do not know what other information we could possibly garner. We have been given budget after budget after budget in scenarios and scenarios. There is no possible way that we can make a decision that pleases everybody. There is always a cost to a decision. I do not know how to stress that anymore. Madam Chair, I'd like you to limit further comments to 2 minutes unless there was a question. Um, otherwise we were going to be here forever. And I'd also like any other member who has not spoken yet to please, if you have a question, please ask your question because we have the information in front of us and we are entitled to make a decision. That's all I have to say. >> All

083right, Kim. >> Thank you. Um, following up on Kenan, I'd like to focus on budgetary information and not anecdotal information or third party information that our community members are able to bring forward in public comment. our job is to look at our role and responsibility and I did hear um some accusations about things that we should have been talking about. Um so, Madam Chair, this question is for you. Were there any requests from any school committee members to put an item on the agenda that you denied related to any configuration of the schools Ashby independently or any others? Um any of these things that were brought up tonight were you asked to put on the agenda and denied those topics? >> No, I have always said that we would take on Ashby and that discussion

084which we have taken on. >> Okay. Thank you for for clarifying for the members of the public that none of these topics were asked to be brought in the agenda and denied. Next, we did, as Kenan said, have a meeting and it was asked if we needed anything else from the administration to make our decisions. So, to now be putting it theoretically that other things should have been done. Um, I think we could all come to the table and say could have, should have, right? There's lots that we could do with many of the buildings, but right now we are at a juncture where we have a decision to make so that the administration can solidify a budget and go to a budget hearing. So we we have to make a choice to give the

085administration direction on what to do and and when it goes for other uses, it's unfortunate that you know one thought was to put some tech school um classes there. The grant has not yet opened up. That's not in the hands of the administration, right? They wanted to move forward with some innovative programming. They can't do it if the opportunity isn't there. So, it's not like they were sitting back doing nothing or not trying to figure out a use for it. And we do not have a capacity issue at this time. We have space to expand in the footprints of the buildings that are there. And so, if we have a capacity issue in three years, we we can address it then. But right now, we have a choice to make based on the finances at

086hand. Randy, before I take you or Carla, is there anyone else that would like to say anything on the committee? >> So, just a a question about procedure. We are we're still in the part where we're mostly we're focusing on what was presented by Kim, right? We're still talking just about numbers right now. >> Yep. questions or if you have other questions >> specifically regarding those budgets figures that were presented. We we have a another section later for like our own thoughts and comments. Is that that's what you said? Okay. So, I have things to say at that part of it, but I want to save my comments for that part. I don't have any questions about the budgets presented thus far. >> Okay. Does anyone else have any questions about the budgets presented so

087far? Superintendent Morgan, do you have anything to add or Dr. Kier? I >> I actually do have something I'd like to say. I'm not I'm not sure that it's it's going to be within um two minutes, but I'll certainly do my best. So, uh something I just want to share with everyone, as you know, and it's in the budget message. My job is to advance a budget that provides people. And I want to um point that out. First and foremost, people, programs, and appropriate facilities, supports energized instruction, engage learning, pushes innovation in all aspects of the school experience, and remains aligned with our core values. It's not a secret that the education funding formula is in need of a complete overhaul, and I will continue to advocate for reform in this area. That being said,

088our current budget constraints are real. We're asked each year to do more with less and we're not getting enough support from the state. Last year, the administration presented a menu of detailed options to the school committee for consideration on how we could meet a budget that was palatable for our community, for our member communities. I can say with confidence that the selection of the option to close AES for this year was quite frankly the option chosen out of a list of very difficult options. In addition to AES, several other reductions have been made that have resulted in large class sizes, reductions in curriculum and instructional materials, and cuts to our technology. Each year, we use a significant amount of END funding. END is excess and deficiency, and they are one-time funds. There it's essentially our

089free cash account. One-time funds should not be used for reoccurring expenses as it creates a structural deficit for the following year. The Division of Local Services recommendations to m to municipalities on free cash, which certainly applies to END, is to use END for one-time expenditures, funding capital projects, reducing OPED or pension liabilities, or replenishing other reserves. Anything else will negatively impact the district's bond rating or could create a significant budget shortfall. On October 6th, I received a letter from the three town leaders asking NM to keep the budget in town assessments increase for FY27 below 3%. While this is still a work in progress, we're still not able to fully honor that request with what is essentially a level service budget. Please keep in mind that our proposed budget does not address our shortcomings in

090class size, curriculum and instruction, or technology. As we are now just past the halfway point in the school year, the majority of what I have heard about our current model, staffing issues aside, has been positive. I've heard students enjoy being in a slightly larger school where they're exposed to a larger school community. In addition, the fears of longer bus rides were addressed by DBUS with both the morning and afternoon ride times being in the neighborhood of 40 minutes. Currently the longest bus route is in the afternoon consisting of 48 minutes and that is for a town only run. I do want to be clear that while I remain hopeful that NM will be able to acquire additional funding for the FY2027 budget through the governor's budget, that my recommendation to the school committee and our

091leadership's top priority priorities will be to utilize that funding to address class sizes, a more balanced distribution of our growing special education programs, and to bring back the curriculum and technology items that were reduced to get an approved budget for the current school year. That's all I have for now. All right. Um, anyone else have a question? Because I do have a question. The model that you presented with um, bringing Ashby back. What happens to the special education programs, do they remain or are we able to spread them out through the district? So, I I do just want to explain the special education programs and and how they ended up in PEPL for I know that we do have some new committee members on, but we also have some people on the call that that

092may not be aware. All of the programs were moved to PEPL um right around shortly after I was hired as a superintendent. And part of that was because having them spread out across the district was costing the district a significant amount of money in special education transportation as well as our service providers. We had to hire several fractional staff. And if you have say for instance a speech and language pathologist that teaches at Barnum and then they have to go to Ashby while they're driving to Ashby, we are losing an instructional period while they're traveling. If they're going to Spalding, we're losing an instructional period when they're traveling. So it becomes very expensive. We were able to save close to $300,000 a year in van transportation alone. The issue now is that when the programs

093move, the majority of the students were from PEPL. That is no longer the case in a couple of our programs. On top of that, our programs have really grown exponentially. So spreading them out makes sense. If we reopen Ashb, moving the programs does become more difficult because we will still have some students in Ashb that will be on IEPs and will require service providers, which means we will have again staff traveling to another school, losing another instructional period to travel as opposed to supporting students. So, it's not something that I can say um would be impossible, but it would be more expensive because the service providers again are a part of the IEP. The the students are guaranteed that service and we have to make sure that that service is in place in the student's

094home school um or where the program is located. But again, just because a student is not in a subsparate special education program does not mean that they're not getting some type of service from a service provider. Again, occupational therapy, um, speech and language, things along those lines could be for students that are not in programs as well. The other piece that I wanted to add and again I know K2 was um was mentioned at the last school committee as school committee meeting as well. It's really not something again we weren't asked to look at it um from certainly from anything that I can recall. But one of the bigger issues that we're going to face is is that when Ashby was um was closed at the end of last year it was already a very

095small school. If we're going to make an even smaller school, you still have to have an administrative assistant, a nurse, a guidance counselor, um, to make sure that those students are covered. If there's an issue in the building, you can't have someone that's being shared between buildings in case there's an issue. Um, we need someone there to answer the phones and be the receptionist and and be the lead secretary. We need a nurse to be able to handle um, six students. So, if we're going to go even below the 110 students that were there previously, I'm not quite sure what that looks like as far as job volume for um similar positions in our other schools. >> All right, Jackie has raised her hand. I'm going to go to Jackie. >> Yes. Going back to

096the budget question, I'm hoping that someone more capable than me can explain this um from for my like understanding. keep repeating the message to me and then also help the people who are on the call tonight understand. So if we are to let's say pass the budget at the 3.06 increase and that that hearing is on February 9th. It then goes to the towns. What happens if the towns reject that number? Are we then forced to to dip into the END or how does that process work? >> So, if if the town rejects the number, um it would be um my understanding that we would have to come back to the school committee with an alternative budget and make the decision whether or not to use more END or to make additional cuts to the

097budget. Um, but again, as I mentioned earlier, and I I just want to and I'll keep stating this. Um, we're already planning to use 2 point $2 million out of END this year. And that to me, uh, is is a significant risk because we're in essence continuing to use END for ongoing expenses that should be supported in the budget. Now, again, we're not properly supported in our budget, but that has been clean, that has been seen. We're in the I believe the top 10 for the most um undersupported school districts in the Commonwealth right now um from the state. And we absolutely would would be we'd be in significant trouble if we did not use some of our END funding. But to even consider increasing it would be to me extremely dangerous for the upcoming

098school year. And I know it's been mentioned, you know, there there are budget problems this year, budget problems next year. There have been budget problems every single year um since I've been in the district and predating me. So budget problems in regional school districts are commonplace, especially when they're not properly funded. I this is not something new. Um and I I I do want to say that I think my administrative team does an amazing job um with managing the budget that we do have on an annual basis. And even this year, our staff, our teachers are struggling. They they they come to work every day. They do the very best they can. And I and I can do nothing but commend the excellent work they do on a day in and dayout basis, even under

099the significant pressures that they that they are currently under. So, thank you to the staff. >> Okay, Jackie, I'm going to jump on what Brad said, how the process works. So, coming up is our budget hearing. This is where the towns come forward and people can make um public comment about our budget. We don't have to adopt a budget till mid-March. Mid-March it is sent to the towns and the towns decide if they support it or not. Um and usually this happens through a um they have their town meetings. They decide. Now, sometimes they've put it on a ballot before because they've had a special town meeting. So, there's been a few different ways that we've done this. They've done the towns have done this over the years. Now, if the budget is rejected, it

100has to be adopted by two of the three towns. If the budget is rejected by all or you know we don't get two of the towns to go for the budget, we need to drop our budget at least by a dollar to bring it back to them. All right? And so iterations can go on and then we can go into if there is nothing approved and this happened two years ago not last year where we um went to a 12th budget. So and you run on that for a while until a budget is approved and the state steps in in that 112th budget. All right. Any more questions with that? Any more questions? Randy, is your question about the budget or is it moving forward? >> Um, I have a couple. One just to add

101on for Jackie >> is once the school committee um approves a budget, we cannot raise the assessments to the towns thereafter. So anything the very first budget that we present to the towns regardless of whether it gets to town meeting we cannot raise their assessments after that. Um and that that is the caveat. Um so like uh Lisa had said if they happen to reject and we don't get two towns voting for it then we need to reduce their assessments by as little as a dollar. Not that that we would go back and do that but as little as a dollar. we need to reduce it from where we were and can never go back up until the next year. Um, my second comment is I wanted to dispute what was said before. Uh, Lisa,

102I gave that >> Madam Chair, can I raise a point of inquiry? >> Yes. >> As I understand this portion of the section is for questions. I would like if there were qu if there are no additional questions on the financial impact of this budget that we move on to personal statements. >> I appreciate Kenan but you know what I was told that nobody has been um denied being on the agenda and having a conversation and I am disputing that. I waited very patiently and didn't raise a point of uh contention when it was stated but I had presented a uh presentation for the agenda at the last meeting. It was not distributed. It was put on to be a question when the members force or uh had agreed um after I was trying to

103be denied to present it. There was no discussion on it. We were supposed to have a full discussion about AES last meeting. it didn't happen and my presentation and the data I was trying to raise is exactly what I'm trying to raise this meeting because I wasn't able to fully address it last meeting. So, you were asking about things we didn't talk about. Well, I'm raising the things we didn't talk about because I was denied being able to raise those things. So, uh that is my dispute there. Um you want a question? Um fine. Um, can the administration explain how we keep having declining enrollments uh that's affecting our budgets when um the birth rates have been stable since 2008 and our uh total population within the three towns has been consistent since at least

104209. There is not a loss of population in the three towns. There's only a loss in our district. Can we please address why that might be happening, where they're going, and at the school committee level, would be great if we could have a conversation on how to reverse that trend at a future date. >> We have a point of order, and I'm not sure how this works on school committee versus town meeting, but on town meeting floor, this would be out of order. It is not on topic of asking about the budget that was presented by the administration. Can the administration please explain how this budget has any reduced costs or how anything in this budget is being affected by the loss of enrollment that we are seeing um in this district? If if if

105you might, Madam Chair, if I could take that before the superintendent and the administration because it is something that we have been given in budget material and as we know first of all that a declining enrollment does not mean a declining budget. When there are students that require specialized services, that actually is an increased cost to the district. Further, the uh statement about bringing a presentation, Randy, that has not been vetted is very different than bringing a topic. You did not, from what I could see of the last meeting, ask for a topic to be brought forward. You wanted to give a presentation of data that was not wholly vetted. We've received correspondence from the public on that. I asked you questions on that. Again, that is separate. What we are here to discuss tonight

106are the budget figures that were brought to the administration. We have different scenarios before us to look at budgetarily. And with that, we have on our agenda tonight to talk about a facility and whether the facility is needed for the education of the children at this time with the budget that we have. Other topics I think are fair game to put on an agenda, allowing the administration time to collect data. Um, but it is seemingly very off topic right now to randomly ask how birth rates are affecting our budget. >> I appreciate that. But these conversations just have never been had and they are very very important and pertinent to what we are deciding on tonight. Brad, do you have anything or Superintendent Morgan, do you have anything to >> have have anything as far

107as answering that question? >> Yes. Anything to >> Sure. I I mean, I can certainly add something. I I would say that in in the future if a question like this is going to come up, we would certainly appreciate just a heads up um that it is coming so we can make sure that the details we're providing are fully accurate. Um but but I would say at this point uh that there are public schools again it's a trend losing students across the Commonwealth. It's no secret that um career and tech schools and charter schools um are really um getting all the riches at this point as far as state funding goes. Uh so we do lose a number of students um down the career tech path um but also to charter schools and a lot

108of that especially with the career tech path are students that are looking at other options as opposed to going to college and looking at being looking at um you know careers as an option or potentially both. and having um a little bit of um having the mix of being able to go to a career in tech school and look to see if um they can select a concentration in an area that they enjoy or could potentially enjoy at the high school level and look to see if they want to potentially explore that at the post-secary level. The other piece that we have and certainly I would say adds to the increase um in private schools is is something that we have discussed at round table on several occasions is the fact that we do have

109a growing number of citizens that aren't in full agreement with um the Massachusetts curriculum at this point especially around the social emotional component. Um, so we do have a growing number of residents, which I think also impacts, um, homeschooling as well, uh, of families that are simply just not, um, supportive of the curriculum that public schools are required to cover at this point in time. Outside of that, if it's something the committee would like us to look into, we're certainly willing to to do a deep dive and see what information we can come up with to share with the committee. >> I see Kevin, you or Dr. Come here, you raised your hand. Was there something? >> Yeah. So, this afternoon, I was actually starting to play around with some of these numbers. I don't

110have it pretty and presentable yet. Um, but I do have that over the last three-year trend of students who have left the towns for choice, charter, or tuitions to um to other uh agreeable I think it's like uh other district agreements. I can't quite exactly remember what I think it's like a student going to a different tech school that's not their home district's tech school. Um the unfortunately the numbers are so small that I I have to doctor it up because you could actually probably identify students from this data. So I don't want to present it yet. But I will say that from October 20 sorry October 1st last year to October 1st this year uh the change was only down 17 for the entire district. So, to the point about whether a declining enrollment

111can or can't lead to declining costs, like 17 isn't even a full class. If they were all in the same class in the same town, that's a teacher, but they're spread out against uh seven grade levels in three towns. So, there there's less money coming in for the per pupil, but there's no offset cost uh from that specific ask. Now, private schools, all that stuff, I haven't been able to look into all that yet. Like I said, I just started looking at it this afternoon, but um that is some data that we we do freshly have. >> Anything else? Carla, do you have a question? >> Yeah, I'd like to comment on that budget. Um thank you. I've had my hand raised for quite a while. Um, so a couple of questions I have, if

112I can see that number again, if you don't mind sharing that, is does that budget include paying off the MSBA loan that we have outstanding for AES? >> Um, >> can you share the budget if you don't mind on the screen? Dr. Comey, do you want to take that? >> Um, yeah. So, it's been uh asked before. Basically, the the short version of it is is we don't know how or how much they'll make us pay back. Um, they may ask for a check. They may just take it off a future MSBA project that we we apply for. and uh and Superintendent Morgan has has kind of said they they don't tell you um until you actually file for the closing. So we don't have it included. Um so this it could add to the

113cost, but since we won't know until they actually say anything, we just sort of left it. Okay. So I guess the answer is no. And I know that the MSBA was gave the district an extension to discuss in further of the reopening. It was just a pause of AES. So, I'm a little surprised today that we heard from PEPL that they had no idea there was a potential reopening because it was it was a pause. It wasn't a formal closure. Um, the other question I have is um comment. >> Can I just can I just add something just to that previous question? I I wouldn't say that it's that it's not um >> the numbers are not there, right? It doesn't include it. >> They're not there, but we're currently paying utilities on Ashby Elementary.

114>> Okay. But there's also the the late the fee that you have to pay back for MSBA loan. >> Correct. But but I have never heard of the MSBA requesting a lump sum payment in one time. Um so we know that >> I understand I'm saying >> worst case scenario would be covered in two years, >> right? So it's not in that budget. Um the other um mention I wanted to share with um Jackie, I know she asked a question about the override. Um so last year um Ashb was in full support of an override as long as there was a school that will be remaining in um Ashb. Um so I can I can confidently say I don't think Ashby would support any type of override of this budget if there's not a school.

115>> Madam Chair, I'm going to raise another point. >> You're constantly interrupting when someone else is talking and that's rude because we're here. Carla Carla. Carla, I know you want questions answered and things. Let's remain on top >> about budget override. So, >> this I I I apologize, Madam Chair. >> This is not a question. This is speculation. >> There is no evidence to suggest that Astri will pass an override with or without a school. You cannot make a prediction based on the voters. >> I'm not making a prediction. I was there personally when the voters spoke and it was unanimous across the board that the town the people >> did not agree to an override because the school will be closing. So I just wanted to put that out there if there's any type

116of override. This was a unanimous for hours into the late night of the entire public came together in town hall and they spoke and this was unanimous across the board. I just wanted to share that Jackie. Madame Chair. >> Yes. >> As as a as a point of order, >> um I am worried about this past conversation of questions being asked that are not on the topic as presented on the agenda. Um happy to have our committee discuss these um as points of fact on a future agenda, but we are in in my perspective um skating very close to the line here. Um, we are supposed to be talking about >> The budget and the um decision of the school committee on Ashb, not speculation over birth rates or that wasn't on the agenda and

117overrides weren't on the agenda. I just want us to be careful that we are not going off of our agenda and violating an open meeting rule. um because the community didn't have expectation of us talking about those topics. >> Jackie did ask question about override. I do >> Carla Carla >> I feel I'm constantly being interrupted. So >> Carla >> I need >> I have a question on the budget. >> Need you to wait. >> I'm going to speak for a second. I need everyone to stay on topic. We need to stay on topic. I am going to say that we do not know how the voters in any town will react to anything. They have their own vote. We are as a committee can only put forward a budget to the town's people and

118they get to decide. We can't speculate on if they are going to approve it or not approve it. I don't want any more discussion about the town voting. I want to discuss about the budget and what has been presented tonight. May I continue with my question? So, uh, the superintendent mentioned that there wasn't a a formal request for review of other options like the K through2 that I brought up last week. I think Randy may have mentioned it too. I did try to share it. Um I didn't think that I needed to do a a formal request. I thought that, you know, the superintendent makes the best recommendation brought forth based on budget needs. Um but I just wanted to put that out there that that was an option that was open to the table

119with Ashby as well for further discussion and they are still open to further discussion on that option as a budget um as well. Thank you. I'm sorry, I don't mean to interrupt and I know there's been a lot of interruptions. Um, but just a question on the agenda because uh Lisa, you had mentioned uh and Kim has mentioned that these are not on the agenda. I'm not sure if I'm looking at the right place. I've I've pulled up the agenda from the um website from our district website and I pulled up the two that were in our packet and I don't see AES on them. I see FY26 budget. FY27 budget. >> Ashby is under new business. It's the very first item. >> I apologize. You're right. There's a lot of blue and I missed

120that. That's why I was kind of trying to ask. Thank you very much. >> It's the first topic on our agenda. >> I I see that. Thank you. >> Sorry about uh Randy. The others had a link and that's why that stands out a little bit more. So, >> yeah. Okay. Thank you. Okay, Kenan, >> I'd like to make a motion to move on to the personal statement section of this uh discussion. >> I'll second. >> Okay, Jackie Keenan France with a motion to move on to the personal or personal reflection or statement and Jackie Wade is a second. Uh, roll call vote. Um, Michael Leassier, >> yes. >> Uh, Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> sorry, this was uh to move to the next section. I apologize. >> To um the personal

121statement or the personal reflection. >> Yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. Lisa Bloom. >> Yes. >> And Craraven, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right. in this segment of the discussion. Everyone if they would like to speak um I will give you a few minutes to speak about your reflection on this. All right, Mike has raised his hand first. >> I'm I'm sorry, Madam Chair. Can I just do a point of clarification? Are we can we disallow follow-ups for these personal statements as they are personal statements and should not require any follow-up from any other member? >> Well, we could take a vote of the committee to see how they would like to do that. >> I will bring forward a motion to disallow

122follow-ups to any proceeding statements. >> I'll second it. >> That is Kenan Franis and Kim Kubin. All right, we will go. It's a roll call vote again. Keenan, >> yes. >> Any discussion on this? Because I can understand not following up, but I'd also like to add in that nobody disparage anybody else or disparage anybody else's uh opinions or statements >> because if someone's going to tell me that I'm absolutely wrong on something, I'm going to respond. And I and I absolutely agree with you And Randy and I believe everyone here should be at default always acting in good faith. >> Okay, that is fine. >> And we will be respectful, patience, and show grace to everyone. I think that's the key. >> All right. Any more discussion about this? All right. And it's a

123roll call vote, so I'll start again. Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Um Kim Craraven, >> yes. Jackie White, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Michael Labosier, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right, Michael, I think you were >> all right. So, I don't have any prepared statements, but I was I was I basically I spent this afternoon going through everything that I could uh emails that we've received as a committee and, you know, all of the information that we've been presented, you know, and and obviously I've mostly been focused on information that we've seen recently because I'm a recently recent addition to the school committee. And all I can say about how I feel on this is

124that, you know, and it's been said many times before, there's no good options available to us right now given all the reasons that we have. So we we're trying to choose from among options that are not great. And there are downsides of course to closing Ashby Elementary School. Nobody is saying that there's not downsides to it, but there's downsides to opening it as well. And I think that there's also and I think something that it has been mentioned in the the narrative statements and also in several of the emails that that I receive that the committee received that there have actually been some sort of unexpected positives of the shift of of shifting students from AES into Townsend. And you know, it two at least two of the emails that I read when I was

125going through them again this afternoon used the word thriving to describe what their ch how their children are after the shift from AES to uh I think in most cases it was Spalding uh yeah SMS. So, you know, that new friendships, a broader community, more resources and programs. You know, one said even if AES remained open, they would keep their child at uh at Spalding. You know, there's different perspectives to how this is going to like how people would be affected by opening and closing Ashby Elementary. And you know I I just want to make sure that you know we all understand and that everybody you know everybody who's watching and listening and and you know seeing this decision being made that like you know in the end you know our as as the school

126committee the people that we are most responsible to is the students and sometimes decisions need to be made that are may not be, you know, they're not going to be seen as the best decisions by some people, but again, we need to always be keeping in mind what do what is in our judgment the best thing for the students of the district and that is what I'm going to be doing and that is what I expect all of the other members of the committee are going to be doing. But I also know that other members of the committee may come to different conclusions than me about what is best. And that's okay. And members of the community may come to different decisions about what is best. And that's okay, too. But in the end, as

127a committee, we're going to have to vote on what we do. And it is incumbent upon all of us and I believe all members of the community to remember that none of us are making this these decisions lightly. We are not making these decisions without looking at all of the information available to us and considering the opinions of everybody involved. And if we come to a different conclusion than you, that doesn't mean we're bad. It doesn't mean we're stupid. It doesn't mean we haven't considered all the information. And I just want to make sure that that is understood by everyone. And I understand that too about everybody else who's going to be, you know, deciding on this. They may vote the opposite of how I vote and that's okay. They came to that decision by

128their own judgment and that's and I'm rambling a little bit but that I think that's all I have. >> Mike, thank you. All right, Randy. As a school committee members, uh we yes our number one priority is the students but the school committee is a little bit unique and we need to look at the long range plan for the students as well as the short term superintendent. No matter who the superintendent is all through the years presents first and foremost what they need for the next year. They have an outlook for a number of years, but it's the school committee's responsibility to question, to think ahead, to gather our own information, um, to make those decisions about what's best for the district going long term. This committee has not had a history. I know there's

129a lot of new members and I've been on the committee the longest. So, I certainly want to apologize for this going on, but this committee does not have a history of looking at all of the facts, all of the data, and having a long range plan for the students. We make a lot of decisions isolated from everything else. Um, budget crises and difficult situations tend to bring out when to be able to look in hindsight about what you've been doing wrong. I'm trying to bring forward what we need to do better. And that is looking forward. I said two years ago when it first came up about closing Ashby that I would never vote to leave this district with less capacity than we need to educate our children. The data I've been looking into is

130creating a full story of what I have never seen through the 16 years. We've had declining enrollment. Yes. Back in 2010, we closed a school because we had declining enrollment. our birth rates across Commonwealth and in this district. You can look at Nestec um um historical it shows we were losing you know 100 students 50 100 sorry births each year. That's not the case now. 2008 the birth rates settled out and we've been basically the same. We've been very consistent, which means that our enrollment should not be declining the way they are. These last two years of having fiscal crises after crisis and and and talking about class sizes of 30 or 40 have driven kids out of this district in large amounts. We lost 80 students from FY24 to 25. We lost 150 students

131from FY25 to 26. We're losing them all over the place, including to private schools, to vote through two uh K through eight, we're losing students like we've never done before. You cannot base the trends in the district on the last two years. Looking back to 22, 23, and 24, we should be much higher if we get our class sizes to where we want them to be. The optimal budget does a lot of that. and we take a look at moving the steps program like is what's planned for next year. We will lo we will leave uh Squan Cookook with absolutely no room and using every last little little bit. They're going to have the steps program is probably going to be sharing a classroom and there's no more room for adjustment um and for uh

132any increases. We have a large kindergarten size. Not sure what we're going to do in that school. Uh probably put um specials on carts. Spalding very little room. Hawthon Brook will have no room with those programs. And if we uh can put in those extra four teachers to get the class sizes down, we're shifting what um PPE is experiencing right now at capacity in their schools over to the towns and schools. That means any surge, which Nest says in 2028 we're going to have a bubble year, which means an increased class sizes. Where are we going to put them? If any of the students that currently are out of district now decide to come back in or they graduate and the new births come into the schools and they don't choose private, where are we

133going to put them? When the um housing developments in Pil are finally in place and those kids come into the district, where are we going to put them? I think we need that capacity to spread things out to be able to spread out our u special education even if it might be a little bit more expensive. We have to make those decisions and have the ability to move them. Otherwise, we're going to be looking at the next couple of years of constant reconfigurations and moving students, trying to uh move special education programs, which is terrible for any of the kids, especially for the special education students to be moving them. um and that that and then we're going to have to start looking at mobile classrooms. Mobile classrooms have problems as far as teachers and

134students don't want to be in them. Um they require a full foundation tying into water, sewer, electricity. Um they have to have a walkway to get to the main building. There's um security access issues with them. I've spoken to another district that actually has them in place as a stop gap. They are not a solution. They're a stop gap. Which also means if we're going to use them as a stop gap, we're going to have to build onto buildings for capacity if we need them. I'm making the argument that we need the capacity of Ashb. When we closed in 2010, it was supposed to be the Fitz and Squanook. Squanakook remained open because we did not have the room for the preschools. They used to be in the elementary school. Each elementary school used to

135have preschool. They went into Squan Cookook because Spalding did not have the room for preK to four when they consolidated. All right. We have a lot more special education programs in the district now taking up more space than we did then. We're at the same place. Why would we decrease our capacity when we're full and trying to bring in more programs that are going to take more space coming in the future? That is my argument as far as um we need a budget that's going to go ahead and address the class sizes. Absolutely, 100%. These class sizes are not um tolerable, but we need the capacity on where we're going to be able to put these students. There hasn't been enough thought put into how to keep Ashb on a low budget for next year

136while we figure out how we want to configure and how we want to use that capacity for what our needs are. We can do that in many different ways. Um we kept the fits open by putting the gateway program there and then we had um central office staff at that time in that building is what worked. What's the solution this year to keep the building going, not having $1.6 million in expenses and be able to keep that capacity while we build a multi-year plan for the use of the uh capacity in the district. Um, and I will stand by my numbers. Um, I will give um foundation oh that's the other thing is is the foundation enrollment is based on kids in our district. It's based on kids at choice out of our district. It's

137based on charter school enrollment. Our um our um foundation enrollment has been going down since 20 sorry 25 we were at 3,999 for the foundation enrollment. 26 was 29.93 and foundation enrollment for 27 just came out at 28.69. That means that kids in this district are not going to our school. They're not going to charters and they're not going to uh to collaboratives. Those kids can come back and we have to figure out how we're going to get them back. That is something for the school committee to be discussing. How are we going to bring money to this district? Enrollment is a number one way that we can bring more money to this district. Get ourselves out of hold harmless. We were almost there before we started having these budget crises and started losing kids

13880 and 150 per year. We were almost there. Advocacy advocate for the inflation. I am told by MASC had we gotten inflation we'd be out of hold harmless and we'd be getting more money and we'd be able to do everything that we want to do. Thank you. >> Thank you, Randy. Um Kenan has it. Jackie, did you have your hand up or you have your hand up? >> Alex is ahead. So, whoever. >> Yeah, go ahead, Jackie. >> Okay. Thank you. Um, just briefly, I don't want to take a lot of time, but I do want to say thank you to the lots of people who wrote in to us over the last few weeks of all ages. So, I felt like we got a really good perspective um from everyone and and you really

139did challenge me to think very deeply and thoughtfully about how I'm going to decide tonight. I'm a heart and head person, so I feel like both things come into focus for me when I'm, you know, weighing these things out. Um, someone who wrote in did ask me that if I were to vote to reopen Ashb if I would stand up here tonight and be able to share with you where I'd be able to carve out the 1.4 or $1.6 million needed to do that. I was able to look at a few things, make some cuts here and there, but nowhere near that number. But the other piece that really is swaying me is again hearing from the the families and the teachers who have been positively impacted um by the transition. I think I wasn't

140expecting to hear so much of that side and it really does shine through to hear that we are seeing some real benefits um to the move for this year. My hope is that it's not a forever thing and my understanding is that we could go back to uh opening it as a school at some point in the future, but I think for now the focus has to be on getting our house in order. Um, and my last point will just be about that sense of community building. I feel like community is what we make of it no matter where our location. So whether it's where you go for your career every day or where your kid plays sports, you make the families there wherever that is part of of you know the thread of of

141what makes up your family. So uh I hope that that sense continues. Um I'm also going to call on pepper and towns and residents of which I'm a pepper resident. Um, I'm hoping that we can stop using language in these conversations that center around our residents will not support X, Y, or Z or it's not fair for our town to pay A, B, and C. Like truly, if we're going to embody this we are NM um feeling, then I I want us to kind of move away from that sense. So, that's all I have to say. Thank you. >> Thank you, Jackie Alexander. >> All right. Um, to say I'm torn on this would be an understatement. Um, you know, the people of Ashby really value that school as part of their community, but I

142also have to be realistic in seeing, you know, what, you know, our communities say they can afford. Um, and to be quite honest, lay all my cards out on the table. I'd want, you know, the optimal budget then some and to open Ashb. I, you know, really strongly believe in schools and, you know, I'll, I mean, if anyone's seen me at Peppertown meetings, you know, I'll be there like passionately arguing for more money for the schools. Um, you know, and yeah, if anything, I think we should highball it a little bit, but you know, it's just hard to see right now. um reopening Ashb is realistic. I I really want to and I'm like really really really torn on this, but at the end of the day I you know I'm you know I again

143I would go for that big budget increase but I just I have to be realistic here you know um I want these schools to be funded to the gills. I want tiny, you know, small class sizes, lots of teachers, you know, everything we can give them. All the schools open. Um, but I just don't see it. And I wish I did. I really wish I did. And I want to see it. And, you know, I just I'm I'm I'm struggling to see that path forward. And I, you know, it it really like tears me up to to say that. But, you know, I I'm again, I'm a teacher. I want these kids. I'm a father of a kid in the district. I want these kids to have the best education possible in all three towns,

144but I'm struggling to see keeping Ashby open as a viable option. And I'm really sorry to say that. Thank you. >> Thank you, Alexander. Um, Keenan, >> I apologize if I'm frank in this statement, but I've been elected by the town of Townsend as a delegate to represent them and the conduct of public education. And they've empowered me with the authority to exercise my best judgment in making decisions pertaining to public education and their expectations for the education of this community's youth. Those aren't my words. that's written in the policy of this body. It is not lost on me that much like a House representative or senator that my decisions affect more than my own constituency and I do have an obligation to the children of this whole district. I have and always will do

145my best to reflect that in the in my conduct as a member of this committee including through my votes. In the wake of the January 13 school committee meeting, this body has received 32 emails from members across all three towns regarding the future of Ashby Elementary School. I continue to be moved by how many people have the confidence to speak up and ensure that their thoughts were heard. It is one of the many wonders of democracy and I can't thank everyone enough for speaking out. I can't speak for everybody on this committee, but I read every single one up until the last hour of this meeting. I responded to several of them and I did my best to inform members and community members where I could. This community deserves nothing but unfiltered honesty. From the

146day I was elected, I've been asking questions in every meeting and spending hours on my own deciphering documents that might have well have been written in a different language. I'm not an expert on education. I'm not an expert in finance and I'm not qualified at all to conduct a study on the social economic impacts of literally anything. Despite this, the administration has been nothing but supportive in providing answers and detailed explanations to any questions promptly and efficiently. After listening to the hours upon hours of presentation, revisions, projections, and debates, there is no light at the end of this tunnel. And I will be voting to close Ashby Elementary School because I refuse to let this district and my constituents drown in indecision. This is an unfortunate ladder that I'm choosing as the way out because

147there is nobody coming to bring us a better one. The federal government is not going to save us. The state is not going to save us. The towns cannot save us. This community, this committee has left families in limbo for over 2 years and have failed to give the people of Ashb the dignity that they deserve regarding this matter. I'm not blind to the cost of this vote beyond the ledger, but this is what I truly believe is in the best interest of children of the children of this district and their education moving forward. >> Thank you, Kenan. Um Carta, >> thank you. So again, um I want to thank everyone as well that sent emails in. I think I also read every single one of them from my town, from Townsen, from Peril, every

148single one of them were was heard, the ones that were con and pro to the closure of AES permanently. I've also sat here as a parent, as a member, a constituent of Ashb. I've listened to the town. I've listened to the people. And again, I think we should look at long-term longevity of our students and not just a short-term fall of our budget. There'll always be short-term falls. Budgets get tight, but do we put our children at inequality because of it? Do we displace our kindergarteners from our town because of it? I think there are other options that could be studied and looked at that weren't looked at. I think those come forward as a recommendation from the superintendent. Um, and those are the only ones that he brought forward was of closing AAS. I

149think we could have explored other options to that budget not being that 1.6 or um whatever it is at full capacity of our teachers even though we didn't have a full principal. We didn't have a full um nurse at the previous years when it was open. It's not the best. Obviously, we'd love the optimal to be a full-time, but I think there could be other opportunities that were missed and exploring um prior to making a final decision of just closing because of the budget. Um, again, I am all in favor of redoing this budget and looking at other options and working with the town for other options. And I hope that at the end of the day when we all close our eyes and put our beds to sleep, we don't think about those little

150children that are hauling in the bus and you know the option that they could be in their own town. At the end of the day, whatever decisions we make, there'll be childrens that will be sacrificed and children that will benefit from it. But are we doing the right thing for this district for the growth? And if it does close, there isn't an option to reopen. There isn't an option for 20 years to get funding from other places for expansion. And our possibility will put them into mobile classrooms, which isn't really a full classroom. So again, everyone has their own idea of which way to vote. I'll just ask you to think about these scenarios before you make your final decision. And I strongly oppose the closure of AES and looking at it at other opportunities,

151not just K through 4. Thank you. >> Thank you, Carla Kim Craraven. >> Thank you. I appreciate the input from the many community members, the town administrators, board of selectment members, and my fellow school committee members, and can't thank the administration enough for the time that they have put into uh consistently responding to requests for information, reviewing information, answering questions, and provided the needed framework that we had um to look at to make this difficult decision. As a school committee member and the chair of the finance committee, my responsibility is to evaluate decisions through the lens of long-term financial sustainability while also considering the educational quality and operational realities. I hear and I understand the emotional attachment to the building. I can't let that overshadow, however, the current operational demands and the budget in which

152we have to work. Moreover, we have to think of our communities in their totality and the requests that they have made of the school committee to stay within a budget that they can support. Last year, the school committee reviewed multiple options, held meetings and hearings, and the school committee at that time voted to close AES. Then we went to a pause. In the past year, there's been an opportunity to review much information. For myself, after reviewing enrollment trends, looking at buildouts that are happening within the community, and really looking at what the impact will be long term, hearing from what the um enrollment numbers will be, um the small numbers that will be coming into our community as a result of those developments, the building conditions that currently exist throughout the district, unknown compliance issues,

153unknown costs, some things that I saw myself when I was on tour, um woring through past reports and documentation, our current building utilization, um projected maintenance costs and things that we need to do in the future, transportation impacts and things that have been solved uh with working with our bus company and projected budget pressures and issues that we'll be facing um with the contracts. I look at what could simply be a vote for a number and a budget to open, but then I reflect on what will happen long term and what will that mean. We've tried to envision other uses for AES. Um, unfortunately, some of those decisions are not in the control of us as school committee members or the district administration. Unfortunately, it's become evident to me that trying to keep Ashby Elementary

154School open at this time is not the most fiscally responsible course of action. When I look at what the district needs alone to address the educational needs and learning environment of the children, that's something that I want to tackle first. There's funding that is needed there across the district to enhance the learning environment of everybody. To reopen Ashb with programs that we have currently would mean operating a school at a significant under capacity which disproportionately skews the number in favor of a few classrooms while still having the pressures across the district. So, we would be spending money to open a school in whatever capacity, but not solving problems that we're experiencing districtwide. It's a difficult decision, but from my perspective, improvements that we need to make have to affect the district and all of the

155students collectively. I feel that at this time a reopening of Ashb would subject us to recurring costs that we just can't maintain and we would find oursel back in the same spot after disrupting families, teachers, and students again. This decision for me is not a reflection at all for the value that the Ashb community places on a neighborhood school. I understand that value. Unfortunately, we have to think of our neighborhood in a little bit of a different way. When I look at rural communities in general, many rural communities travel much further than our children do to go to school. I think we as adults and leaders in our community have to reframe our conversations on what is community and what is neighborhood. What I'm seeing is that Ashby children in a towns in school are

156creating a sense of community. It exceeded my expectations. I don't have a child in the school. What I hear is anecdotal. What I see is anecdotal. But I did read some of that in the letters that the parents wrote to us. So for me, financial stability, equitable educational opportunities for all of our students is what I want to preserve. It's probably the most difficult vote that I will ever take to close a school. It's not one that I want to take, but it's my obligation to think of all of the kids in the district and that includes the input that we heard from Varnum. The pressures that we have across the district have to be thought of in their totality. I hate to say that my vote will be unfortunately to not reopen Ashby at

157this time. >> Thank you, Kim. Um, Lisa Bloom. >> Hi. Um, I do totally agree with Randy and Carla. Um, I'm in total favor ofing Ashb and keeping it open. Um, and at no point in time have Ashb voters had anything to say in what happens to AES. All decisions were made among a small amount of a small group, mostly non-residents. Um, Ashb has about 26 or nearly 2600 voters who would like the option to vote on repair renovations on Ashb Elementary. They should have the ability to be able to vote on it and be in this decision of keeping Ashby open. Um, and that's all I have to say. My vote would be yes to keep it open. >> Thank you, Lisa. All right. I know that this is not an easy decision for

158any of us. I want to start by saying this clearly. My focus is on our students of NM always and always will be. Every decision I make is about making sure every child in every town has the education they deserve, regardless of where the lines on a map fall. Our students come with different needs. Some need extra support, specialized instruction, or additional guidance. These needs are not optional. They're essential. I see our teachers, our pair of professionals, custodians, nurses, counselors, IT support, and administration working every day to meet those needs. And as a committee member, it is my job to make sure they have the resources and support to do it through a solid budget. Sometimes doing what's right means making tough decisions. School closures and budget shifts are never easy. But I ask you

159to see through one question. Will this help our students succeed? That's the lens I carry every day and with every decision I make for this committee. I want to be clear about something that's important. It's not buildings that teach. Our teachers teach. Resources don't educate. They make the learning possible. I know that these decisions can be hard for our towns and families. And I feel that. But my responsibility is to all the children. Their learning, their growth, and their opportunities. Their education comes first. That is what guides every decision I will make. I will be choosing to close Ashman. Thank you. >> I'll make a motion to move to question. >> All right. Is there a second? >> I'll second. >> Okay. That is Kim Franis and Jackie White. Any further discussion? >> Can you

160just clarify the vote? >> Um I my motion is to permanently close Ashby Elementary School. >> Second. >> Thank you for the clarification. >> Kenan Francois and Jackie White with a second. I'm going to do this in alphabetical order. Um, Alexander Vancoui. >> Uh, I sadly I'm going to have to say yes. >> Lisa Bloom. >> No. >> Kim Craraven. >> Greffle. Yes. >> Keenan Francois. >> Yes. >> Michael Labosier. >> Yes. Carla Lima, >> no. >> Randy Rush, for all the students in the district, no. >> Jackie White, >> Jackie, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. Um, the next agenda item we're moving to is the calendar. And I think Gary or Dr. Reese has that agenda item. >> Yes. Good evening everyone. Um, I'm just looking for an adjustment to this current school

161year's calendar. Um, over the past two uh professional development days, our kindergarten teachers have been meeting to discuss the kindergarten screening process. Um, as you may be aware, that happens um at the currently the first two days after the April vacation where our current kindergarten students don't have school and we bring in the incoming kindergarten students to do the screening. There have been some questions and concerns about the depth of the screening tool that we're using as well as the timing to administer that screening in April doesn't give us the best sense of what student needs might be come September. Um, as well as the fact that it doesn't help us in terms of best gauging kind of student groupings. So they wanted to shift the kindergarten screening dates from April 27th and 28th and

162actually go to June 3rd, fourth, and fifth for the kindergarten screening. And the reason for the additional day is they've had some extra some additional conversation again around the tool which really looks at more academic skills and they felt like one of the things that was missing from that tool was looking at some of those work habits and student behavior skills that aren't necessarily assessed from that individual tool. Varnham Brookke this year had done an additional screening where they had kids come in and they brought them in to play and the teacher did some observations. She had them stop the task and see how well they transition, see how well they play with one another. And those types of things help them better determine kind of class groupings going into the next year. So, what

163I'm requesting is that the committee approve a schedule change for the kindergarten screening from April 27th and 28th and move it to June 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Gary or Dr. Ree, I have a question on this. Does this mean that the current kindergartener class will be taking the third, fourth, and fifth off? >> That's correct. That's correct. So, and the reason we wanted to do it tonight, um, I know there was a lot of or large traffic on the agenda tonight, but we want to make sure we give families enough time to notify them of the change. >> Okay. All right. Because currently it's only two days off. This is three days. So, >> correct. >> All right. So, I just wanted to make that clear to the public that this is Does anyone else

164have any questions about this? All right. Um, I will take a motion. >> I move to change the calendar as, uh, Dr. Ree suggests. >> Second. >> I second. >> Kim, I think got the second. Sorry, Lisa. Um, so that was Alexander and Kim with the second. I will take a roll call vote. Jackie White, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Michael Bossier, >> yes. >> Keenan disappeared. That's so Kenan has left it. All right. Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> M or Lisa Bloom, I did I get you already? Yes. >> And Alexander Vancou? >> Yes. >> And myself? Yes. >> All right. Dr. Who's on the next one? Oh, you don't have the calendar. Does Brad have the calendar? >> I do.

165Yes. And the calendar has been shared with the school committee, has been shared uh with the teachers. um association in just looking for approval. Um something just to to look at is how early Labor Day is this coming school year. Um so it did bump everything essentially move everything forward a week with regard to August. So, we're going to be starting a little bit later in August just because um starting anything anything early than that would have been too early in the month of August with people's summer plans. So, outside of that, the format is essentially the same with time for parent conferences uh K to8 and we'll take any questions if you have any on the school calendar for 2026 27. Anyone have any questions? Jackie, wait. >> So, I might be reading this

166wrong. It looks like on the graphic of the calendar dates for the end of the school year, June 10th and 17th are circled, but in the text, it's June 9th and 16th. So, I'm just curious. I >> I can look at that. We had some changes and so >> um I can look at once it's approved, I go back and I make sure that everything aligns. Um, so apologize that that wasn't done beforehand. >> Got it. That was my only >> the document I'm looking at right now. They are they match up the calendar and the text. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> I clicked on the link in the agenda. So maybe I'm not >> I did as well. That's >> on the same link. >> Sorry, Robin. >> I know teamwork. Thank you. I

167appreciate it, Jackie. >> So we can make that correction. Right. Anyone else have any questions? >> Can I make a >> And the kindergarten screen Whoops. Sorry. And the kindergarten screening is in here. It's moved. Correct. For next year, >> it ends up coming in the second page of text, but it would be the same same model of the in June the the 3A's. >> All right. Any other questions? Do I have a motion to approve the calendar for the 2627th school year? >> I move that we approve the calendar for the 2026 27 school year. >> Second. >> All right. That was Mike and or Michael and Alexander Vancoui the second. Okay, roll call vote. Jackie White, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Michael Labosier, >> yes.

168>> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. Lisa Bloom. No, I did Lisa Bloom. Correct. It's Kim Craven. >> And I'm a yes. >> And I am a yes as well. All right. The calendar is approved. Next item on the agenda. We are skipping over the Spirit AI summer program that has been scratched from the calendar. Moving down to subcommittee reports. Kim, do you have anything from finance? >> Um, I would say that I don't have um anything more from finance than what I went over. I would encourage everyone to read the four-page packet and that our outcome from the meeting was um just about to bring those forward for all of us for discussion. Um we'll be having another meeting to prepare for the budget hearing on the 9th and then we

169will um proceed with our um our vote for the full school committee after that. >> Thank you, Kim, for that update. Um, moving on to policy. Randy have uh several policies uh for adoption this evening. Um, I had received Oh, one moment it is. I received uh from Nancy uh a comment on DIIB. Um let me just bring it up a minute. Um she had concerns on I apologize. Um she had concerns on one of the statements in the policy. Um, as far as the five the paragraph that said I um the $500,000 um balance that we would uh re-examine uh if the budget, you know, sorry um that the budget if it exceeds $500,000 in the unexpended expenses, it should trigger an examination of the current year's budget for areas that should be um

170reduced. um she had concerns that that would not um that there wasn't clarified as far as the end of the year balance from the previous year if she thought that um if we were like right now our budget um predicts uh $2.1 million in unexpended expenditures that that would trigger that line. Um, so I made a suggestion um, personally I did not hear back from her of um, replacing that with um, the end of the year um or or we can add in the 630 the June 30th end of year final report uh, unexpended would be $500,000 and it would um, it would uh, instead of saying reductions adjustment ments. So there's no link for that policy. There's that. So I would suggest that we change fast enough. Uh >> can I just ask a

171question about that? Yes. >> When you say 6:30, do you mean that it has absolutely been spent or if we have like pending POS that we might not pay until July? Like what's the 6:30 cut off? Is it 6:30? >> 6:30 is the report that comes out for 6:30 when this year it came out later because you were waiting for expenses to come in. So whatever that end of the year budget on 6:30 winds up being, >> right? understand what's the timeline for submitting it because like our end of year reports due September 30th. So I mean do you is it September 30th for the 6:30 end of year report or is it just when we happen to know they're all paid? Like what's the >> I I would say when you have the final

172report um September should be fine. Um what this line in the policy was supposed to do was when we know what our unexpended expenses for the previous year were if they were over $500,000 I understand. I was just more figuring out when when was the cut off like when did we need to know that's all if you if you needed to know on 6:30 versus >> like >> no not on 6 not on 6:30. >> Okay. >> So as long as that's that's clear >> right because again it's looking at we want to try and keep a tighter rain on the budget. So that if we know last year we had, you know, textbooks, we put in $100,000 for textbooks and we spent $50,000 instead of the $100,000 and that resulted in us having a

173million dollars of excess through other things. We may look at that this year and say, you know what, we don't we we haven't been spending $100,000 on textbooks. Let's rearrange and adjust our budget this year. No, I I understand the spirit of I'm just I'm just talking about when is the deadline for us to actually know that or not for the purposes of this policy. >> Um if you can think of language. Um my my thought was when that report is finalized. >> Okay. So I mean like I said it's due to the state by September 30th. So >> So the September 30th is fine. >> All right. Perfect. um because it doesn't mean that we're re um we're not reertifying the budget based on that, but we're looking at our current budget. Again, it's

174it's meant to make the the current budget a living document to really kind of take a look at the actual expenses which we don't have in our hand when we're doing the next year's budget to now take those when we have them to take a look at the budget and re >> 100% I said it's more we our question was just more about the timeline of it like if you meant drop dead date was 6:30 versus those rollover POS counting because it it'll look it could look different on 6:30 than like 7:30. So, we just want to make sure that we have the information to you at the right time. >> Yes. >> Um, so if the end of the year balance Kevin, how would you state that that that would be clear on that

175report? Uh, the end of the year balance reported to the state. Yeah, because yeah, the end of year report is is and you can just capitalize end of year report and that's sort of you know the known title of it. >> Okay. Um so you can take a look in the file that's uh one, two, three. The fourth paragraph says um the last sentence as the end of the year balance on any budget exceeds uh 500,000. It should trigger an examination of the current year's budget for any necessary adjustments would be the change in uh this policy. Other than that, there were no other comments made to me um um on that budget I or on that policy. Did people want to take these one by one or did we want to do them as

176a group? And this one I would take separately because we were making a minor adjustment. >> I think if you take if you take this one separately, I think that makes sense. Randy, let's take this one separately. >> Okay. >> And then the rest we can take together. >> So that was the only feedback that I had on DIIB fiscal reserves. Um and we made that adjustment. So I would move that we approve policy DIIB fiscal reserves as amended for adoption. >> I second. That was >> just ask a clarifying question. Yep. >> Is that the is that the one that in the um Google Drive is the DIIB chair version? Is that the one you're talking about? >> Because I see there's there's two different DIIBs in the folder. There's the DIIB includes proposed

177edits and then DIIB chair version includes includes propos. >> I apologize. I did not realize that that was two of them. Uh Robin, we had voted the the chair version the last time for a first adoption. >> Yes, I believe so. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, that so that's the one that that I should be looking at and voting on, right? Yeah. Yeah. And I see that that has the change to the projected endofear language. It says um analysis adjustments variance, you know, it has the that that different language that you were talking about. So that makes sense. Okay. All right. >> All right. So, we have a motion on the floor. It was Randy >> had the motion and Lisa had the second. Mr. Bloom had the second. Okay. It's a roll call vote.

178Any Before I go to the roll call, any other questions? All right. Roll call vote. Randy, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right, moving on to the next ones, maybe. Okay. Um, okay. Um, I'm just looking making sure I didn't receive any communication on these. Um, the DI. So, I'm going to move uh that we approve for adoption policy DIBA revolving funds. Um, JJF student activity accounts JICJ which is also GBF use of cell phones and portable communication devices. Then GBEF also JICJ use of cell phones and portable communication devices. Policy JI student complaints and grievances and policy JJ co-curricular extracurricular activities. >> Second. >> I second. >> It was Randy

179with a motion and Mike with a second. It's a roll call vote. Randy, >> yes. >> Michael, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. Jackie, >> yes. >> Uh, Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. >> Moving on. >> Lisa, um, do you mind if I just make a clarification? >> Yeah. earlier. Um, Kim confirmed the next finance committee meeting I think she said was the 9th, but it's it's February 6th is the next meeting. >> I just correct, Robin. Yes. Sorry. >> No, I just wanted to make sure it was correct on record. >> February 6th is the next finance meeting >> at 8 a.m. Yep. And it's it's already posted. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you for that clarification. All right. Moving on. Can I just add

180something, Lisa? >> Yes, go ahead. >> Um, now that we have uh approved policy DIB, fiscal reserves, >> um, we do need to decide I would probably kick it over to the um, finance subcommittee for a recommendation of what we should do for this year on whether we should have a transition year or how we're going to um, work this policy into effect. um knowing that this was coming down the lines, it was a little disappointing to see $2 million and us not wean ourselves off of um any of the um END at the very least, if not uh just go cold turkey. But we do need to have um a dis a recommendation to the school committee to decide on how we're going to deal with this policy now that we have adopted it.

181um school committee can choose to um transition or uh wait till next year to adopt to enact it, but we do need to make a decision on it. That should be on the next agenda, I would say. >> Um in addition, I'd like to bring up to the chair that we need to take a look at another policy that we had uh approved um a couple meetings ago. I don't have the exact meeting on hand but on the uh student representative uh for the school committee uh that has changed. We adopted the uh policy and it is not one member that comes to our school committee like we've been doing but we actually have to meet with a group. So that is something that we should look at and figure out how we're going to

182enact and start following uh the law on that one. >> Okay. Is that something that we will have um Superintendent Morgan help us with or the counselor or the high school principal? I'm where do we want to start with this? >> Um I would say we can probably see whether the um student council wants to be that group that we meet with. >> Okay. Okay. And that should satisfy um I forget how many times we need we should be meeting with them but that should satisfy uh the law. >> Is it just one person meets with them or is it a committee meets with them? >> Uh I don't think that's made clear. I can double check and look into that. >> So just let me know and then we can let the rest of

183the committee know how this process works. >> All right. Thank you Randy. All right. And Kim, you're fine with taking the DIIB um policy and applying it with with finance and getting a recommendation from finance. Is that correct? I will follow up with Kim. I'm pretty sure that she is okay with that. And Michael is on the finance committee as well. We will get it on the next agenda. All right, moving on. We are moving to uh advocacy. Keenan is not on operations. None. Outreach. Any information from Ashby? I see that Carla has dropped off. Anything from Pepo? I have not heard anything from Pepro. Uh Randy, anything from Townsen? >> Um they're reaching out of when the um public hearing was and how that was being done. But, uh, I had Oh, I went

184to their border selectman meeting um and answered some questions on the Spaldi memorial lease on where that was where that stood as well as the regional agreement. I explained uh to them where those two stood. Uh, the district does need to start moving forward uh with the Spaldi memorial lease which is out of date right now. So that process kind of got forgotten after we had um cleared up uh some uh some misunder not misunderstandings but uh just some differences on how to address the um one of the groups using our school buildings um over the summer. So we have that in a separate agreement and then the lease never got finished. So that is something that we do need to complete with them. Um, which committee would take this or is it a full

185committee? >> Uh, that was that was generally the administration working with them. >> Okay, Brad, you are fine with taking down the lease and figuring out the lease? >> Yes. >> Mhm. >> All right. All right. Thank you. Anything else from Townsen, Randy? >> No. >> Okay. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to we have an executive session. So if somebody would read the motion >> a qu question before we do is uh probably does it say on the agenda are we are we reconvening in open session after >> we are not reconvening. Okay. >> I just wanted to check that. All right. So where is the motion? All right. So, if I'm going to make this motion, I want to make sure I do it right. Um, do I need to read the

186full motion, including including the purposes that are listed? >> Yes. >> The entire motion, the entire all of it. >> Okay. All right. So, I would like I will make a motion to uh meet in executive session pursu to mass general laws chapter 3A section 21A for the following purpose. Purpose two, to conduct strategy sessions in preparation for negotiations with non-union personnel or to conduct collective bargaining sessions or contract negotiations with non-union personnel, assistant business manager and business manager. uh purpose and purpose seven to comply with or to act under authority of any general or special law or federal grant and aid requirements uh and related to executive session minutes dated December 16, 2025 and January 13, 2026. >> Do I have a second? >> I'll second. was Mike with the motion and Jeffy White

187with a second. Um, roll call vote. Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> And Craraven, >> yes. >> Michael Labosier, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. Um this session we will not be reconvening in open session everyone.