NMRSD School Committee 10/21/2025

001Regional School District. I'll do that again. Welcome to the North Middle Sex Regional School District School Committee meeting October 21st, 2026. It is 603 and this meeting is being recorded. For roll call, we have Keenan France >> here. Randy Rush >> here. >> Alexander Vancoui >> here. >> Lisa Bloom >> here. >> And for administration we have Robin Ivy, Kevin Kier, Gary Bour Ree or Dr. Ree, Brad Morgan, and Jeremy Hammonds. All right. Um, we'll come back to the executive session. Can we jump to the consent agenda and [clears throat] we'll approve that? The minutes for the finance are not in the packet, so we won't approve those. And was everybody able to look at the September 16th minutes? I know that Robin had sent out a a email. Randy. >> Yeah. Um, I did

002get a chance to take a look at the the September 16th minutes. It was on the late side. I had three minor changes to it. >> Okay. Do you want >> I >> Do you want Yeah. >> Yeah. Uh the three minor changes were on um the I think it was the um following the procedures. Um it listed MASC Alicia Melon. It should be Melon. M A L L O N not Melon. Um and then on the um one moment legislative advocacy uh it was hold on one second. [sighs] Um under under the um end of the first sentence it says uh no direct advocacy with committee vote. It should be without committee vote. Um and then under the um oh and then under the community outreach uh for the towns and um it reads

003that the that Kenan and I were requesting from Townsend. Um and I wanted it to uh just reflect that we were asked by Kim to request that from the town. It wasn't something that we brought forward. >> Okay. I can make those updates. No problem. Thank you. >> Thank you, Robin. Anyone else have anything? All right. Can I take a motion to approve the consent agenda with those corrections? >> Um, I will move uh to approve the consent agenda. um removing October 2nd, 2025 finance uh minutes and the minor changes to the September 16th, 2025 school committee uh minutes. >> I'll second. >> Was Randy and Kenan with a second? >> Randy, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Kenan, >> yes. [snorts] Alexander. >> Yes. >> And myself. Yes. All right. Would somebody want

004to read the executive session? >> Um, I will move that the school committee meet in executive session pursuant to Massachusetts General Laws Chapter 30A 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, superintendent of schools. >> Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay, we got Randy as a motion read and Kenan with the second. Sorry, Lisa. >> Okay. >> Um, we'll take a vote. Keenan, >> yes. >> Randy, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Alexander, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. We'll be going into executive session for about 20 to 30 minutes so that the public knows. If everyone wants to jump over to the Google Meet, that would

005be great. Thank you. Lisa, can we just ask members to log out of this meeting? Um, so that there's, you know, there's no mistakes made. So, log out of this meeting and into the the Google. >> All right. Kim has her hand up, but we're going into the Google. All right. Lisa, our student representative, Natalie Stupc has been familiar as a panelist. Just letting you know. >> Thank you. All right, we did approve the consent consent agenda. Um, Robin, is everyone back on? >> We just need to do a roll call. >> Excuse me, Lisa. I also just I looks like um >> in the waiting room or in the attendees is Nancy Haynes and Kim Craraven. >> Yeah, I promoted Nancy. Um hold on. >> I'm seeing Alex Vancoui, too. >> Yep, I promoted

006him too. So, I think it's just taking a few minutes for it to come through. If anybody else is in there and you could raise your hand, it will bring you to the top and then I can see you. >> Thank you, >> Madam Chair. Can I just make a suggestion? >> Yes. >> Uh, can we I I think it might be prudent. I don't know if we have Mr. Dear here as well um to Oh, actually, no, it's a different section. Never mind. Uh, but I think we might want to just move a little bit out of order just so um we can our guest uh here, Natalie, just so she can do her report and then uh let her have her night. >> Yes, we will. I have to take roll call and

007then we'll allow Natalie to do her report and then we'll go back to the agenda and do public communications if that's okay with everyone. All right. Is Jackie White in yet? [clears throat] or Carla. >> Carla might be in the attendee side. >> If Carla, if you're in the attendees, could you please raise your hand so that I I can make sure to promote you? Thank you. And I know that Jackie was having some technical difficulties joining. >> There's Carla >> previously to the executive session. >> All right. Well, I'm going to take roll call and then >> go get Jackie on. Okay. >> Keenan Francois >> here. >> Randy Rush >> here. >> Alexander Vancoui >> here. >> Kim Craraven >> here. >> Lisa Bloom >> here. >> Carla Lima >> here. >> And

008myself, Lisa Martin here. Um, Natalie, let's jump to if everybody's okay, we'll jump to Natalie to have her do her student report for us. Go ahead, Natalie. Okay. [laughter] [clears throat] Okay. So, for student council and class officers, the one big thing is that we have spirit week the week of the 27th through the 31st. And then um powderpuff the powderpuff game is coming up on the 28th. Um and then the honor society so NHS Roappa and Tri have all been having induction ceremonies. I think the last one is tonight for Ro Kappa. And then sports the fall seasons are like starting to wind down a little bit and then a lot of them have done their senior nights. And then service learning groups are doing like their respective fundraisers. And then for like the

009drama department, their play, they will have a production of like our town on November 13th and 14th. And that's kind of all that I had. >> Thank you, Natalie. All right, then you can go Natalie if anyone wants to say anything. Any everyone's good? Thank you, Natalie. Thanks, Natalie. >> Okay, thank you everyone. Have a good night. >> Yes. Going back to public communications. >> Did we have any public communications tonight? >> I had two two people signed up for it, but I don't see them um as attendees. >> I know at least one of them is going to come to the next meeting. >> Oh, to the next meeting. All right. >> Yes. >> Yep. I don't have anyone. Okay, then let's move on to the chairperson's report. Um, I do have to mention

010that there's a fixing the formula meeting with Lunenburgg and Graten Dunstable November 20th. This is going to be held in Grten, I believe, and I will send out information. There will be posters about it. It is about um Brad is one of the speakers um that night. A second. me. It's a panel of discussions about the the formula. So, there'll be elected officials and guests and special guests. It's going to be at the Marian Stodart Performing Arts Center in Grten. I don't know exactly where that is or the they don't have the address, but those will be sent out to everyone. So, please do attend. and that is November 20th 6 to8. Um going back we do have two community relations um things that were submitted. It was about the accreditation to the New England

011Association of Schools and Colleges. um NM earned that degree, the high school, the same um accreditation that we had spoke about earlier in the year. Lisa Bloom. Okay, Jackie's been promoted or Jackie's coming on. Lisa Bloom, was that your question? >> Yeah. Okay. All right. >> Yeah. >> And then um Anna Bowen was commended by a National Merit Scholarship. She received that honor. I think Natalie touched on several of the happenings in the district with several of our um inductions into National Honor Societies. There's a showcase, an M showcase, and a powderpuff game and several parades going on at the um elementary schools and the preschool. That concludes my report for tonight. Superintendent Morgan. >> Sure. Thank you. >> And I'll be quick. Um, as I mentioned in an email to the school committee about

012a week ago, we are struggling in a few key areas. Uh right now I would say the most significant is around some of our class size issues which was really expected uh based on some of the reductions that we made last year. We are paying close attention to our salary line item. Um right now it is um it is looking good but we do have um some leaves and some um long-term substitute positions that will need to be addressed um at least in the next several weeks. So, I would say that we would like to start looking at some of these um problem areas right around Thanksgiving to see if there's anything that we can do to try to relieve some of the stress that our um staff and students at this point are starting

013to feel. U but again, we do want to make sure we get a little deeper into the school year. Um with regard to that salary line item before we do that, I'd say the central office administration is trying to get out as much as possible and and lay eyes on these classrooms uh just so we're able to see what's happening and make the most informed decisions when the time comes if the money is available. And that's all I have at this point unless there are questions. >> Any questions for the superintendent? >> I see Randy thinking. All right, Randy. Um, other than, um, yeah, rather, including hiring, uh, new staff to help out, I'm all in favor of doing stuff for the students. Uh, will the school committee be informed of um any extra purchases

014or anything that's going to be made uh to help out? I'll certainly keep the school committee uh informed as to what's going on, but um the goal at this point in time is to stay within the salary line item, which is what was passed by the committee with the budget last year. So that is the goal. It is not our intent uh to go um into the red in that area unless we absolutely have to. And by have to that would be special education um decisions where we would be mandated to fill those positions. But I will certainly keep the school committee informed as to what's going on and what problem areas are being addressed. >> Okay. So, basically, it's just staff uh that's uh looking at as a solution at the moment. >> Yes.

015>> Okay. Thank you. >> Mhm. >> All right. If anyone if no one else has any questions, we're moving on to Dr. Reese and his [clears throat] reports. >> Good evening everyone. Um, as you know, or in your package, you have the homeschool report. As you know, each year in October, we share out just the numbers and also provide you with a 10-year look at where we are in terms of our homeschool student and family population. This year, we have as of mid October, we have 72 homeschool families and 149 homeschool students. So it's up about 3 and 12% from last year, but that 3 and 12% is actually just five students. So it gets to 3 and a half% because of a little bit of decline in enrollment plus the five additional students. Um

016the we have 10 new students um that are homeschooled students this year. Five of them come from families that were already previously homeschooling other students in their family. And then there are five new students um or new families, four new families, five new students to homeschooling programs here at North Middle Sex. Happy to answer any questions about homeschooling. >> Does anyone have any questions for Randy? Um, I'm looking at the report. Um, and it looks like we're still very high compared to uh before the pandemic, before COVID, and I'm wondering if you have any feel for why that hasn't come back down and why that's staying up there. >> Good question. Um, so that's actually something we've talked about with some of our other neighboring communities and everyone kind of saw a large spike um,

017when CO first hit and people are still seeing that recovery. So, we're not unlike other communities in terms of getting back down to our precoid numbers. Um, I think this year was probably the first year recent in recent time that we saw a little bit of an increase in terms of our number of homeschool families, but not anything um alarming or concerning. Like I said, it really was representative of five additional students. >> Okay. And do we have this broken down by town? Um, is there any trends in towns versus >> Yep. So, I took a look at that. That's a good question. I looked at it just for our new students and we had one new family from Ashb uh two from Towns End and one family from Prol. So it was across kind

018of equally distributed across our three communities. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Jackie White. >> Jackie, you're on mute. This might sound silly, but I think one of our competitors here is influencers and social media. I think the number of people who are out there creating accounts like talking about homeschooling has just like really gone up since co too. So, I think families are feeling more empowered to do it. So, Randy, it might not be like a district thing we're doing or not doing. I just think it's more out there and acceptable and there are resources to help families do it um more sustainably. So that's one idea. >> All right, [clears throat] any more questions? All right, moving on Gary to your next topic. >> Yes, and actually I am going to pass

019this on to Dr. Cormier. As you know, last year he presented the MCCAST data and I felt like it was really valuable and gave a different look um than what we had seen in previous years. So, I asked him um to do it again for us this year because I I think it it's more meaningful the information he's sharing. So, Dr. Cormy, I'm going to pass it over to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Ree. Um yes, I'm going to try and keep this quick just, you know, given where we are in the evening. Um, so as Dr. Ree said, I I took a look at the MCCAST and accountability results as they've come in. Um, there's been some more data around school culture that just showed up last week and I haven't really had time

020to dig into it to get it to this um presentation um with any sort of depth. So if people are interested in that, I can certainly revisit that at a later meeting, but uh it just came out on Thursday and um it really wasn't enough to to take a look at. But so I'm going to stick with just what we have for our state testing and for our accountability results. So um as a lot of you know, uh 2025 is the first year where uh the bill in November had passed removing MCCAST as a graduation requirement. Um there's no full research done on what effect that may or may not have had on student engagement. Um but there's some there's an initial trend that people are going to be looking at that may or may

021not have affected uh North Middle Sex. Again, it's super early in the process to to make any sort of um you know concrete uh decision on that sort of thing. But I do know some people are starting to look at it right away. So we may have a better sense of some of that in the next year or two once we start to see sort of repeated data come in. Um so the basically for statewide the results were were pretty flat. Um we've stalled on some of the the recovery from uh precoid. Um the number was released at only 13 districts in the entire Commonwealth are at or above where they were in 2019 in both math and ELA. So, you know, it's not great. Um, and we are not one of the 13. Um,

022so that's just something to kind of think about as we we sort of contextualize all these numbers that we are still in uh some sort of a recovery mode u that we'd hoped to be out of by now, but we we just we aren't and we are we are in the majority who who are not. Um 82% of schools in the Commonwealth are designated as not requiring assistance or renovation. That was basically the same number as last year. Um again, no better, no worse. uh 55% of schools met or exceeded or made what they called substantial progress towards their accountability targets. That's down. It was a little over 60% last year and 61 schools uh were identified as schools of recognition. That's up. There were 50 last year. Um none of the uh schools in

023our district, however, were were fortunate enough to receive that as a designation. Um yeah, this is this is quick. get just you all have the slides. So, I'm not going to just read slide by slide, but these are what the indicators are that uh talk about your progress towards uh targets. It's different in different schools. So, for example, um your growth scores uh in elementary schools only apply to grade four. Uh so, it's not a really a schoolwide measure. It's really just a one grade measure for us. whereas other schools that we may be measured against might have K to 5 and they have two years of data they can use. So it's not a it's not an apples to apples comparison between schools. It's really just sort of more about trending uh than anything

024else. Um and it goes up and then there are just the high school only indicators such as your graduation rate, your extended engagement and your your dropout rate which they don't um obviously have a graduation rate for elementary schools. Uh so for us this year we have no schools uh that are requiring any sort of assistance or intervention. Um Squan Cookook is on it does have a school uh profile page but it uh understandably has what they call insufficient data. So it it does not measure it. Ashby does have a page but it's not readily available because it is no longer an active school. However, Dr. Ree was good enough to um make some inquiries and find the data for me. So we do have the data. Um, but if you are trying to kind

025of um source this publicly, it's a little tougher to find because it doesn't show up on our district page any longer. Uh, so essentially, I mean, there's good and bad. Um, and there always is, but um, when it comes to our accountability percentiles, you know, five of our six buildings uh were uh at a higher ranking than they were last year, which so that's that's good. Um, you know, we've seen some some positive growth in some areas. the growth is really and again I don't want to get too much into the weeds. It's really better internal data than it is sort of the statewide data. Um but uh scores like this sort of um reward a lot of the hard work that the the buildings were putting in last year and they they are to

026be uh commended for looking at goals that they set in order to address problem areas and in many cases um really did a great job with that. Overall, um, one of the things that we had addressed last year was that the pepper schools seem to have a, uh, disproportionately high absentee rate. Uh, both schools did a tremendous job in lowering that rate. U, they're about average now where they were significantly above average. So, it's not, you know, if if you look at it compared to other schools, it looks about the same, but it wasn't last year. So, they did a really really good job um targeting their kids about making sure they get to school, get in front of teachers, get in front of, you know, their their classmates and, you know, do some active

027engaging learning in real time and not have to do a whole lot of makeup work, which, you know, as as we all know is not necessarily the most effective way to to teach. Um we do need to uh given the the uh uh landscape around uh MCCAST and state testing, we do need to make sure we are further committing ourselves to what our internal progress monitoring for students is. Um because we don't we are we we may not be again I don't want to say not but we may not be able to depend on state testing end of the year to really give us a true indication of how our students do and what they are learning. uh we do have to do a little bit better job internally making sure that along the way

028you know throughout the year we're able to gather this data we're able to give this to our teachers and our teachers are able to make the uh instructional decision making based on real time data and not necessarily the autopsy of an MCCAST test that may or may not maintain uh some sort of validity so individual student again uh we have ELA math science we added grade eight civics um as a as a test last year. Internally, we have shifted from K to3 was using a program called I Ready. Uh we discontinued that program and we moved to a program called Dibbles, which is a longstanding we actually used to use it as a paper only version in this district years ago. So, we've sort of returned to that. Uh and then we still have the

029LL for ELA um for grades four to eight and then math we're one to eight we had tried they had a new diagnostic last year and we had we had uh shifted to that to kind of give it a try didn't get great feedback from uh teachers or students so we returned to the original assessment u I heard almost no complaints about it this year I didn't have to reset any tests uh looks like it went back to normal problem is it's really hard for us to onetoone compare compare this year's diagnostic data to last year's diagnostic data because the measurements don't add up. They they change the way they um they group some of the questions. They change a little bit the rating scale. So we can get again we can get trend data

030um but one to one comparison data is going to be hard for us to get. So starting with ELA uh the growth scores they were good. Um, so again, for people who are kind of new to this, they call typical growth, it's on a percentile basis. 40 to 60 is considered typical growth. Um, it'd be nice if we were all at 99s, but that's that's uh, you know, really not reasonable. U, so if you're in 40 to 60, that means that your student on average made the one year of progress that they should have made uh, with respect to all students across the state who have scored in their same range the two previous years of scoring. I know that's that's a lot there, but so you know for the again the shorthand version is

031you want 40 to 60 and if you look down all of our buildings we're basically 40 to 60 is a tad bit low but given the numbers of growth again it's only the fourth grade each student seems to hold like a significantly more of a percentage um in a in a school the size of Spalding. So, you know, to me that's that's right there on the line. That's not uh that's not bad to be at 36 because one or two kids would swing that a little bit either way. So, um it's definitely not anything that we're really worrying about. Um they're they're they're doing just fine. Um if we want to talk about the internal data, uh we have there's five measured domains um on our diagnostic. In four of the five, uh the middle

032school students scored higher at the beginning of this year than they did the beginning of last year. So that means that they're retaining more. That means that the um instructional practices that teachers are are using, it's not just memorizing a bunch of stuff to get it through a test. It means they're keeping that knowledge a little bit longer and it's settling in with them because they're able to contextualize it. That's a very good sign. U that's something that we haven't really been able to point to on a consistent basis. It looks like for a year, definitely for two years kind of we've been doing that. So we are turning a corner in that way where it's not just learn to pass the test, it's learn to actually remember this stuff. So that's that's what we

033like. Um how does there isn't really the the June 25 to September 25 uh carrying to the next rate level that's been a little bit tougher. Um it's kind of all over the place. There's not really a trend to to to carry out there quite yet. I'm still looking at stuff um but I haven't really found anything that I can point to um as far as a trend. It is kind of scattershot where just some classrooms did well, some classrooms did not. And something that um you know bringing that back to the schools and the buildings and the teachers and have them sort of dive into this data themselves. They'll be able to interpret it a lot more than I can just sitting behind a spreadsheet. They have a lot more of the contextual day

034in dayout knowledge that would help explain a little bit uh more of that. Like for example, you know, things taught later in the year, you know, if if teachers felt like they needed to get things in before June 1st, you know, it may not have stuck with the students because they just ran out of time. We all know if you've been in the classroom, you know that we have 180day calendarwise, but we really have about 150 days to teach kids. When you talk about half days and you talk about, you know, miss uh skipped and schedule, you talk about assemblies, you're talking about things like that. and you know you have about 200 days worth of material to cover. So it's already a challenge um trying to get everything into the calendar. So the things

035at the end of the year tend to be the ones that we see not necessarily have that retention. Luckily most of these will then cycle back the following year. So they'll get it. It's just it might take a second time through. Um the best thing we saw was that the growth of foundational skills in the early grades of literacy is already matching where we were a couple years ago when when we had teachers who had been really comfortable with the what they've been doing. We've asked them to look more at evidence-based instructional strategies. There is a spectrum of comfort level between teachers. even given that we're we we are where we were. So once teachers get more comfortable with it, there's no reason to not expect that those foundational skills that growth will absolutely skyrocket.

036Um because we we have, you know, the the the talent in the classroom to make this happen and it's just a matter of just getting familiar with the new routines. And to have this level of success, you know, really two years in of the skills block is pretty remarkable. Um, you know, most people will tell you it takes three, four, maybe up to five years if you're changing evidence practices, you know, checking changing your instructional routines to the level that we we were asking teachers to start to look into. They're ahead of the curve. They're ahead of the pace and that's really really encouraging stuff. That was probably the the best thing I saw uh when I was going through this. So, our key uh takeaways um again going back to the high school thing,

037the North Middle Sex declined but less than the state declined. Again, that's going to bring up those questions about the engagement where it's not a a graduation requirement anymore. You know, we the level in of investment in engagement of of students, we just don't know yet. But we do know that we didn't slide as bad as the state averages did. So, that's helpful. Um, we had a good increase in performance for our multilingual learners. Um, again, something that we've we've put a lot of time and effort into. Um, you know, some resources, having more teachers, having more training. Um, and it's really paid off. They're they're doing really well. That was good to see. And we do have um, you know, when it comes to our writing conventions, they're still well above our scores of

038idea development. So, what this basically means is that students can write as long as you tell them what to write about. They're very good at putting sentences together, putting in their proper punctuation. They're they know what an adjective is. They know what an adverb is. They do that very well. generating ideas to write about. That's still lagging behind. Again, that's also a trend statewide, but it's still something that like we should probably start to have kids get a little bit more of a solid uh foundation in because as they move through, whether it's postsecondary, whether it's career, whatever, they're going to have to be more of idea generators than just sort of straight copying rules. Um, so, but both scores were good. It wasn't that either of them was bad. It's just that gap between

039the two. uh there's something that we should continue to address. Um yeah, so math, same thing, right? 40 to 60 is is the uh the range. Um again, we're right there. We have a couple schools that are just on the edge of 40, but again, with statistical differences, they're essentially 40 all the way up to uh Ashby, their fourth grade, uh did a tremendous job. um you know Karen Rickford and Karen Walsh to be commended for the work they did to have their kids average outside the range of typical. That's uh rare and that's um you know something that that uh they should be proud of and I'm sure that they are they're working every day to keep this year's kids at that level and it's setting up the fifth grade in Hawthorne to be

040very successful and give the those kids a good head start and now this year was combining them with Spalding. they can work with their uh their teammates there and you know help sort of share some of the successes that they've had and we can elevate uh the entire fourth grade a little bit higher. So this um speaks to what I was talking about about the internal uh assessments being important given uh the possible uh easing of MCCAST. So what what I've done is I have asked teachers the last couple years to to track some common assessment questions. I took those questions and I compared them to what our excl diagnostic had for those same standards, that same type of question. And so basically what this graph does is it just tracks the percent correct or

041the percent of students who show proficiency I should say um at each of the grade levels. And you can see that through grades one, two, and three those two assessments are pretty close to each other. you know, you either one of them would probably tell you the same story. Once you get to grade five, you can see that there's a gigantic gap in some of these years. And all that really tells us is that the importance of multiple means of assessing these students because if we just used to try and talk about how our students were learning, well, that's a really really dire picture of our fifth graders, if we only used their common assessments in class, uh, that's actually really really good, right? So the truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Depends on

042how the question was asked, depends on the time of day, you know, all the things that go into the variables of students showing their learning. And I think this is this is what we as a district have to um make sure that we're helping our teachers and supporting them to give them not only the data once they have done this, but the tools to also, you know, be able to do this. Because if I'm a fifth grade teacher, and this is about, you know, the um I think this was for number sense and number relationships. you know, if I'm a fifth grade teacher, I don't know if I need to help my kids or not. Um because these two, you know, if I only had one, if I only had the ISL, say, "Oh, these

043kids need a lot of support." If I only had the common assessment said, "These kids don't need much much support at all." Again, truth in the middle. So, the the more data we can provide for our students and for our teachers, um the more we're going to be able to help them along the way and find that true sense of student learning. Uh the takeaways from the math data is that again it was pretty flat. Um grades six and eight saw a bump back to where they were two years ago. They had taken they had both taken kind of significant uh downturns last year. They're back on where what a trend line would expect them to be at this year. So that was a good recovery from both of those those grades. Um so congratulations

044to them for that. Uh subgroup data, same thing. Um you know whether we break them out by our low-inccome students, our students with disabilities, it was it was essentially flat. like it was really um kind of more the same and this was at the district and the state level. This was this was pretty consistent. Um so, you know, nothing to really write home about, but also nothing to really panic about. It's it's it's just kind of staying the course. And again, with the grade 10, they trended downward a little bit, but it was less down than the state was. So, we're again kind of following what the the the general pattern, but a little bit better. This is one place that we do overall still need to find a place that we can support our

045ML students a little bit more. Um, you know, just they didn't quite make the strides they did in ELA, which you know, it's fine. Um, ELA does get uh seem to get a lot more of the focus. So, how can we take those those strategies that are working and apply them to math? Uh again, returning to that greater use of the assessment data to drive that instruction and then really just making those student experiences consistent as they progress through the grade levels. There's a lot of vocabulary in math. There's a lot of different processes in math. The the less students have to completely whiplash between grades to grade um and really have more of a consistent experience that just has a tweak, the better off they're going to be. Um and and so we just

046we still have a couple places where we do need to kind of tighten that up. Um but overall, you know, again, it's the we're doing well. It's just, you know, we're talking about the margins really at this point. Uh and then quickly, we'll just go through science. Slight increase in grades five and 10. Grade 8 was kind of declined. Again, that's what the state did. Um so it could have been test, could have been many things, but we we were pretty much right in line. Um our students with disabilities gains at all levels. That was great. um we're really helping uh support those students uh in a much more robust way and that's always uh great data to see and uh grade those above the state levels and all the subgroups as well. So, so

047really really strong um science work. The AP exams uh we maintained our student participation. It was 172 students both last year and this year and then the number of tests was only up one uh which was good because it was a big jump last year. So and then the the uh performance was about the same again the the percent of students scoring three or higher went from like 60 and a half% to 60% flat. um which again given the one test it might have been one test. The takeaway from that is that whatever was done last year or I should say the prior year that made students feel safe to take the risk of taking an AP test that worked the year before but then that also remained the culture in the building and allowed

048those you know another group of students because again some of those students graduated so new students stepped into this AP test taking realm they also felt safe and supported and able to do that and I think that's awesome I think that's That's a quite a shout out to uh Principal Smith, Principal Demar, the whole staff there for, you know, having those kids really feel like they had the space, they had the ability, they had the time, they had the courage to put themselves out there um for an AP test or multiple AP tests. And um so that's that's really um heartening to see. And that is all I have. So, do you have the slides? And all these are linked to actual data. I didn't want to just put a bunch of tables up there,

049but the tables are all linked in here. So, >> thank you. Thank you, Kevin. Anyone have any questions? >> Randy, >> just a quick one. Um, and you may have kind of skirted around this, but I didn't quite catch it. Um, I know we have I think it's great that we have multiple ways um especially internal to be able to evaluate uh the students progress on a one-on-one on a more um consistent and in the- moment uh way to do that. Um are especially with MCCAST no longer being a graduation requirement um can we see any kind of trends on how our internal um evaluations are going versus how they perform on the MCCAST? Is that even an uh is that even something that we want to be looking at? And that's actually helpful. Oh,

050>> it's a great question. And um ultimately, yes, we we do want to do that. And um I've done enough work um with curriculum and with with uh I mean my dissertation was on this. I've done a lot of this work over the years. So I I I feel like I can do this. The problem that we have had is that we're still sort of in the phase in of getting all of the data collected. So I have some data. I don't necessarily have enough where I feel like I can make that statement, but I have systems in place to do so, you know, and then we're just going to just stay with supporting teachers and how can we get that data from them in the in the easiest manner. So that is the goal.

051Um the the idea would be and I always said this even to to my kids when I was teaching. I was like the MCAT should be the easiest test you take all year. We I should have a great idea of where you are before you ever step in that room that day. And I think a lot of teachers also teach that way. Right. So now it's just a matter of do we have the data to back that up. I believe the data exists. It's the collecting of the data that and how can we support teachers to not you know throw like you know another thing at them. How how can I in my capacity give them the tools to be able to more easily be able to do that? >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone

052else? All right. Thank you. We'll move on in the agenda. Our next topic is on to new business. We have uh is Mr. Dear here speaking to this or if Brad knows anything about it. It's for an athletic sponsorship banner. >> I I do not. I did not ask to have it put on the agenda. So if Mr. Demar is not here, then >> yeah, we'll have to wait, Lisa. >> Okay. I do know that it was senior night for the soccer team. So we'll just continue that to the next meeting. All right. Moving on to the second under new business. The second item is the committee member attendance and participation expectations. All right. So I Whoops, Randy. >> Yeah, I just had I just realized I think we ended up accidentally skipping over public

053comment. >> Oh, no, we did. There was no one. >> Yeah, there was no one there. >> They weren't. >> We did talk about it. >> Oh, there was Okay. I I thought somebody had told me that they had put in for something to be read. Nope. >> I didn't receive anything to be read. >> Uh Lisa Bloom, if you're talking, you're on mute. >> Um yeah, Kathy Bolores actually had said that she put in a request to Robin and asked for me to read it. >> Um she didn't missing that earlier. >> She signed up um until when we speak. I didn't see her in the in the room. Usually what you do is >> she's at another meeting and couldn't attend, but I think she said that she was going to send an

054email to you asking if I could read it. >> I didn't receive anything. Um, usually they send it they'll send it to me, but I didn't I haven't received anything from her. >> Okay. because she did sign up in the sign up, but she's not here to and she didn't state that somebody else was reading it or send anything forward to myself or to Robin >> Jackie. >> Did I see in the meeting packet too? I thought Rob Templeton had asked to speak about something. >> He's going to speak at the next meeting. >> Okay. >> He had to jump off. Yes, he had to jump off. Yes. Okay. Thank you. Okay, now moving down to um the attendance and the participation expectations. Um, I need everyone to follow the goals or not the goals,

055the norms that we everyone say that they're coming to the meeting or give me notice that they're not attending. Um, that's important so that we can make quorum for any of the committees like subcommittee or the main committee. Lisa ask that if you could accept or decline the meeting advice would be very helpful so that we um we know who's attending and who isn't and then it also allows you to see who is attending and who isn't. That would be very helpful. Yeah, that helps us a lot to see if we have quorum and especially like with the workshops, we did pay for Tony and [clears throat] there were a few that did not attend and so um that was meant for all of us to attend and be as a group together. All right,

056moving on to the school committee workshops and professional development. We did have Tony and MASC come in and present to us about the roles and responsibilities. If anybody has any comments about them, I thought they were wellreceived and we learned a lot of great feedback. Um, things that we can take forward as a committee. Um, I would look forward to doing our next workshop on setting our norms, protocols, and goals. Um, if people are interested, I'd like to do this or see if there was be a date available before November 18th, our next meeting. I know that November 4th, and that week probably does not work because I know that's MASC week and people may be attending that. Um, so it's probably the following week. Um, and I can send out an email to everyone

057and just ask for feedback to what date would be available for everyone if that works. Yes, Jackie. >> I would fully support doing another workshop. I thought it was a really good opportunity for us to come together like in physical space and kind of be with one another and talk more about like us as like what drives us, what we see our roles as being and sort of having an outside perspective from Tony was helpful too. I think we all benefited from that for sure. Randy, >> uh, first is logistical. Um, are you thinking, um, that we should have MASD back in for doing the protocols? They had suggested that if we were going to do another, um, workshop >> because I need to get in touch with them about their availability. >> Um, >>

058yeah, possibly, Randy. or we can do it as a group together and then like do some things you know with MASC and see if they like it you know >> we can I think just meeting as a group is important for some of our goals and things >> absolutely um you know I noticed that um we we had a couple of workshops on and we've used uh two of those which is wonderful I think they were very well used um I very much uh thought that both the MASC and the workshop with Tony Bent uh were very valuable. Um and I I think we can take a lot from those. Um we don't have any more of those workshops until I think you know late >> we had one scheduled for November 4th but we've

059taken that off because it's MASC week and I know that a few people could not attend and so that's why I'm thinking the following week would be a good week. >> Right. I would just say maybe we try and put on um another two or three if you're going to be asking everybody for their availability. Uh this way we know ahead of time if we want MASC to come in or somebody else. We have those dates available to ask them if they are free. Um and and it gets onto everybody's calendar. So it's kind of plan out a little bit more than just one meeting. >> Good idea. >> I know that we run into the holidays and things coming up. So that's tricky for everyone. So, we'll when I send out an email, I'll

060put a few dates on and we'll see what we get and then come back. All right, Lisa Bloom. >> So, November 4th um isn't on the calendar then anymore. >> No, it is not. Not at this time. >> Thank you. >> Excuse me, Madam Chair. Um the MA, if you're referring to the conference, that's the 12th through the 14th. >> The 12th through the next week. Yeah, the conference is the following week. So maybe we will make that week work somewhere, but we won't do the fourth. I know that some availability wasn't available on the fourth. Any more questions or concerns with that? I do, one thing I do want to bring up in here too is that people please take tours of our buildings. I know that we will be doing some looking at

061the capacity and different things happening in the district. So, I do ask even if you haven't been in the buildings um in the last year, I ask that you do line up tours to see the buildings and what is happening in each building. Um I think those are great for our development as well so that you understand what is happening in each building and what the building looks like before we make decisions about a building. Does that make sense to everyone? So, and Brad can help or Superintendent Morgan can help you line up um tours and things. We just cannot do it as a quorum. A few members can do it at a time, but just not as a quorum. >> Randy, >> uh just for logistics and especially for the newer people, how would

062you suggest or who would you suggest we go through set up the tours, individual principles, uh all through Brad? Uh is there somebody else to kind of set that up? um on so all the members know which way to go. >> Yep. I think um I will work with Brad and send out some dates to everyone and see if people can fill in those um of availability and then Brad and I will get the tours lined up for you. Cuz it may not be Brad taking you on the tour. It may be somebody on his admin team taking him on the tour. I know maybe Jeremy would do it. I'm not sure. But Superintendent Morgan can figure out the logistics behind that and I'll help schedule everyone for tours. And I know that several of

063you have not been in the buildings in a few years. They have changed. So I do recommend that you see each building. All right. Now moving on to the North Middle Sex band. Nancy Haynes, >> can you hear me? Okay. So, we have a renewal for we're borrowing uh short-term for one year to renew the bond anticipation note which is for the high school um and the accelerated repair projects which were projects done um started I think back in 2018. Uh we are still rolling um a short-term note um until the MSBA closeout is completed and then hopefully that happens within the next year and we will have a final uh long-term borrowing. Um in the meantime, we essentially are borrowing to hold that um and paying a portion of the principal each year. It's

064just um only on a one-year basis. So, our financial advisor at Uni Bank helped us with this bid process. Um, rather involved in your packet. We included the bid result for um the borrow the borrowing and um Bank of New York Melon Capital Market. It's the low bidder with a net interest cost of just under 2 um 2.60 um and some change. In addition to that, there is a um premium which is money that the that they also will give us at closing towards that reduces the net interest cost of 241,633. who did really well with the borrowing um particular time. There is a a large uh vote that has to be we usually read in from um someone volunteers to read that in and um is required to close on the note which is

065um rolling. It'll again roll on October 31st and then be due next October 30th, 2026. So, if we we don't have any questions. Maybe we have a volunteer that might be able to read the the motion. >> I think Randy looks ready. >> I was just about to say I had some water. Uh I'm ready to >> to speak until my mouth is dry here. >> This is Go ahead. [laughter] >> Okay. I move that the school committee vote um we hereby determine in accordance with GL chapter 70B that the cost of the um I new district high school project authorized by a vote of the committee passed on February 10th 2014. Um I I uh Varnbrook school feasibility study project authorized by a vote of the committee passed on September 12th, 2016. And I

066I I Hawthon Brook School feasibility study project authorized by a vote of the committee passed on September 12th, 2016. Um IV uh Varnum Brook Elementary School renovations project authorized by a vote of the committee passed on September 12th, 2016. Uh V, uh Hawthon Brook Middle School renovations project authorized by vote of the district passed on April 3rd, 2017 and VI Squanakook Elementary Child uh early childhood care renovations. Center renovations project authorized by a vote of the committee passed on April 3rd, 2017. Each being financed with the proceeds of a portion of the notes defined below, together with all other bonds and notes of the district previously issued to pay costs of these projects, does not exceed the portion of the total cost of the projects that are not being paid by the school facilities grants.

067And we hereby approve the issuance of notes and bonds to finance these projects under GL uh chapter 70B. further vote to >> Can I interrupt? >> Sure. For for your sake, can we just say as written? >> No, we're not allowed to. We actually have to read. >> This one has to be done. Okay. I just wanted to clarify. >> Yeah. There's a few things that have to be actually writ. >> Okay. Thank you for reading then. >> Okay. Further vote to approve the sale of 17,12 uh 100,257 4.00% general obligation bond anticipation notes. The notes of the district dated October 30th, 2025 and payable October 30th, 2026 to BNY Melon Capital Markets LLC at par and acred interest, if any, plus a premium of $241,63347. Further vote that in connection with the marketing and

068sale of the notes, the preparation and distribution of a notice of sale and preliminary official statement dated September 30th, 2025 in a final official statement dated October 7th, 2025, each in such form as may be approved by the district treasurer be and hereby are ratified, confirmed, approved, and adopted. Further vote that the district treasurer and the chair of the committee be and hereby are authorized to execute and deliver a sign a significant events disclosure undertaking in compliance with SEC rule 15C2-12 in such form as may be approved by bond council to the district which undertaking shall be incorporated by reference in the notes for the benefit of the holders of the notes from time to time. Further vote that we authorize and direct the district treasurer to establish uh postisssuance federal tax compliance procedures and

069continuing disclosure procedures in such forms as a district treasurer and bond council deem sufficient or if such procedures are currently in place to review and update said procedures in order to monitor and maintain the tax exempt status of the notes and to comply with relevant security laws. Further vote that any certificates or documents related relating to the notes collectively the documents may be executed in several counterparts each of which shall be regarded as an original and all of which shall constitute one and the same document. delivery of an executed counterpart of a signature page to a document by electronic mail in a PDF file or by other electronic transmission shall be as effective as delivery of a manually executed counterpart signature page to such document. and electronic signatures on any of the documents shall be

070deemed original signatures for the purposes of the documents and all matters relating there to having the same legal effects as original signatures. Further vote that each member of the committee, the district treasur uh secretary and the district treasurer be and hereby are authorized to take any and all such actions and execute and deliver such certificates, receipts, or other documents as may be determined by them or any of them to be necessary or convenient to carry into effect the provisions of the foregoing votes. >> I'll second that. >> Right. So that was Randy and Kenan. >> That deserves a round of applause right there. [laughter] >> Anyone have any questions? All right. So then we are going to vote. Carla. Sorry, I'm on mute. Yes. That's okay. Jackie White, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes.

071>> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Keenan Francois, >> yes. [snorts] >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> And Randy, >> yes. >> All right. And myself, yes. So that is unanimous. All right. Moving on to MAFC delegate selection. So every year at the Cape they do a conference um for the school committee. It has different workshops and different featured speakers. It's get me right on the dates. Um Dr. Ree, it's from the 12th to the 14th. Correct. Um you can go for partial or you can go for all of it. Would any committee members like to go to this? >> Anyone? >> I will add that if anybody is free to go, uh they generally are worthwhile especially for newer members. Um they have some really good um uh sessions there on a range of different

072things. Those sessions should be out now so you can see what is being held there. Uh it's a good place to find out a lot of information and do some networking with other uh committees >> and um they're like little like 40 minute sessions I would say. They also do offer charting the course on Saturday. I think it's on Saturdays that they do charting the course. Um it is it is a good event. Um, you do learn a lot from the event, especially if you are a new member. Jackie, >> normally this is something I'd be all over. I just don't think I can get time off of work to go. And I know you said partial like >> Yeah, I'll look into it a bit. Um, but >> that's okay. It's a really good

073opportunity to do this and I'm glad that we have the like ability to do something on this line, but I'll let you know. >> And I do I do think that they film some of these too. They may have some of the um the sessions filmed and taped. >> I'm gonna offer that. Kim, >> can you just clarify how many spaces and how would the configuration go or is that something that we would just divide up? whoever would want to go and you pick the courses that you want to see or the um speakers that you would like to go see. >> Yeah. There's no sign up usually. You just kind of show up in the room where they're going to be having that. They have a whole schedule. >> Yeah. >> Um yeah, I

074could potentially uh go on one of the days. >> Okay. So, would you like to be the representative? >> Well, um we have to take a look. I didn't I didn't notice usually they have the voting on just the Wednesday. So >> it's just the w just the Wednesday. Okay. >> That that they have the Wednesday >> the vote on the on the resolutions. Everything else is >> you know yeah schedule >> sometimes. >> Okay. >> Um sometimes they had it on a Friday morning. >> I believe that it's scheduled for Friday afternoon. >> Friday afternoon. The de it says the delegate assembly will take place on Friday, November 14th at 3:15 p.m. >> Yeah, I would not be helpful then. >> Okay. Well, you can still go to the conference. You don't have to

075be >> Yeah. >> You don't have to go as a delegate. >> So, Kim, if you're interested, um, let Robin know and we can make she can make the arrangements if that is okay with everyone on the committee. And if other people would like to go too, just contact Robin. >> I mean, I would I would love to go, but I it's it's a child care thing for me. Single dad, you know, it's hard. >> It's okay. It's okay. Um, for the resolutions, since we do not have a delegate or would we want to vote on these resolutions or discuss any of the resolutions? That is up to the committee. I think we passed on this last year because we did not send a delegate. >> Yeah, we did. >> Yeah. Um, generally we've been

076we we've obviously discussed and voted on them when we had somebody there to vote in the larger uh delegation. Um, especially in the uh light of uh the time. Um I would say I would suggest we pass over everyone can go ahead and read what's being suggested. Um majority of the resolutions do get passed. Um so if you're reading through them and you have questions or would like to discuss something on the committee, we can certainly bring that back just to have an internal discussion about what MASC may be advocating for. >> And this is where MASC advocates for these things at the state level. So that's what these resolutions are so that everyone has an understanding. All right. So we're going to move on. Let's go to the superintendent's goals. I'm going to hand

077it over to Superintendent Morgan to discuss his goals. First, I do have a correction to make. Um I did state in one of the meetings that we did take a vote on Brad's goals being two years. We did not take any type of vote or a binding vote to that and so we need to discuss this as Brad discusses his goals but his goals are presented in a way that they are at a two-year cycle. So I will let Brad present his goals first and then we will have a discussion. >> Sure. And and I'm not sure if the committee um I I know I don't believe last year I read through the goals because I shared them in advance. So I don't know if you want me to read through the goals or just

078take questions. Personally, um I don't have any questions. You sent them out in advance, so I think I think just taking questions is fine. Me personally, >> I agree. >> Do you want to just like briefly give like goal one, goal two, goal three, Brad, just for the public? Just briefly, it doesn't have to be >> the extent. >> Goal one is um essentially on around district improvement. We do have a a team of central office administrators who will be participating in a series of workshops and coaching sessions that have been that will be hosted by the Mass Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and education re resource strategies on resource use specifically on how to best navigate some of the pressing resource challenges that not only regionals but really all districts are facing at

079this point. So we did have our first meeting at Holy Cross. It was very beneficial. Um you know there were four other districts in the room and again this is how to really look at resources, how to um better utilize those resources but also giving um building based administrators the ability to make um more building based decisions around what their needs are. with that in mind having to potentially make difficult decisions as well. So that um any type of addition would have to be likely offset by um some type of um subtraction or reduction. Uh so that is the first goal. Second goal is that Dr. Reese and I are doing this goal together. We are both taking a train the trainer course on AI integration. And this is essentially again a group of educators

080from around the world really um being introduced to AI um teaching, learning and operations. And the goal is to o over the two-year time period to get all of our instructional staff initial training on AI's tools, the ethical and effective use of student facing AI, develop an AI literacy plan, and begin the work of developing foundational skills in grades 6 through 12. But again, this is really going to be something that we going to start with staff on. I I do think we're a bit ahead of the curve uh with regard to other districts, but we are hearing more and more now that districts across the state are are immediately instituting consequences uh to students using AI without fully realizing that students are using AI on a regular basis without even realizing it in some

081cases, not necessarily just chat GPT. um it's being used in their daily lives and again not always being aware of it but again just looking at how can we best prepare our staff but also make sure that students are aware as as well um and with regard to how AI can be used as a tool but um it should be something that you know based on what we decide as a district could be something that can complement their education rather than do the work for Um um and the third goal uh again is um something that I'm working on with the assistant superintendent and director of special education working around um doing um monthly visits to each school and our focus during these monthly visits in addition to meeting with the building administration is to

082begin the process of doing some classroom walkthroughs. I do try to avoid using observations because we are not doing observations. Uh that is something the building based um evaluators will do. Uh but looking at um instructional strategies in our inclusion classrooms, also looking at some of our subsparate special education classrooms and determining what types of supports our staff need to best serve the students. Um, you know, again, in addition to the large class sizes that we're dealing with, we are dealing with a large special education population that is growing in the district. So, we want to make sure that the staff um are properly trained with um to enable them to differentiate and really push each individual student to attain their personal best. But on top of that, looking at some of our um subsearate

083programs and making sure that those staff members are properly trained as well and that they're getting the support that they need. And that's something that Dr. Ree, myself, and Miss Upton will be working on over the course of the year with the hope of hopefully dedicating some professional development time and some observation hours of someone coming in and observing um some of our special education staff in the instructional setting and then using PD time to debrief and work with the staff um and support them on areas in need. >> All right. the there are timelines, but I would say that the timelines, and again, I'm happy to continue to um keep the school committee in tune with regard to the timelines, but some of them are likely going to have to be adjusted uh just

084because, you know, in some cases, for instance, if we're able to identify someone to come in and offer PD or potentially use someone in house to offer that PD, that may take time uh with um when it comes to scheduling and then being able to align it to our professional development day. Well, so I I do see it being um like the other goals, a two-year a two-year goal, just using that one as an example, because all of these things take time and then eventually make it part of our teacher induction process as well when we're bringing new teachers into the district. >> All right, any questions on the goals? Uh Kim Craraven, >> thank you. Um I appreciate you sending them over for review. Um I did cause me some additional reading um to

085learn about what schools are doing around the AI piece of it. Um because that was an area that while in my profession studying it a lot, not so much in this. So thanks for the additional reading, superintendent. Um, one thing I wondered, um, with that though, is there a nexus somehow between, um, not that you have to totally codify it or put it into your group, but as the, um, education um, component is going through looking at how AI works, is there anything that um, you think would benefit by connecting with the law enforcement community on what they're seeing with AI? um just as a protective measure. You know, any connection that you can have um with the homeland security folks or the cyber security folks, they're really doing a lot of work. And I'd

086say that just coming back from our international conference where there was a ton and I'm sure Chief Satell, he was there as well. Um you know, connect you with similar folks. Um even just for a conversation with some of them, they have some amazing information um on just the things to be wary of. Um if that would be helpful to you. um I know that he or I would would you know not to speak for him but I know that he's very um accommodating to get you in contact as you're going through that goal. Please reach out. Um and the other thing I had is as as this is moving forward I know the timelines can change. Um but having this set up as we move forward for this whole committee I think would help

087us um and I don't know what the others feel is if we had some sort of a like grid structure so that as we have our meetings um I can now look back at your old goals and see things that you were informing of us of and where they fit. But I think for efficiency is you have these goals now as you're doing things. If we, you know, see them in a good structure, I think it will help us for the future. Um, but I appreciate you sending them along and I I don't disagree with any of them. >> I I can certainly do that and I um I will certainly reach out to the three police chiefs um to get their thoughts on it and and really a lot of this is around if

088we don't do something with AI. we have seen that um in some cases um teachers and potentially students will go off on their own. So this is something that eventually we're going to have to look at policy on. Um we're going to have to include in our handbooks. Um but that is something that we have seen I I wouldn't say a lot of but we have seen and you know if we don't do something um eventually we will have um you know members of our school community exploring on their own and we do want to make sure that we have guidelines in place to make sure that if and when it's used it's being used appropriately and again to complement education and it's being used um you know that that you know respectable um AI

089um sites are being used just to make sure again that that the students are are getting something out of it, the staff are getting out of it. But a lot of this is is going to come back to the school committee I believe um and be based in policy as well. >> There's definitely a lot um going on with it like even in my profession. I'm sorry for everyone if I was smiling when the superintendent was talking. my kitten. Every time you talk, superintendent, she starts talking back at you. I had to take her out of the meeting once already, but that's why I was chuckling. It wasn't at anything that you were saying. So, for anyone that saw me laugh, it wasn't at Brad. >> Not a problem. >> Thank you, Superintendent. >> All

090right, Randy. >> Um, thank you, Brad, uh, for, uh, breaking this down a little bit further with some, uh, intermediate goals. I absolutely understand, especially if we're going to be approving, uh, two-year goals. uh these are soft dates that you're aiming for. It just has to be with especially with such large um undertaking for these goals. Um kind of go where everything leads you. Just keep the school committee updated when something's got to change. Um and I think that is uh perfectly fine. Um as far as the AI, um we had a brief uh exchange on this. Um, so again, sounds like you're really looking into what's best for the students, but always just keep in mind as far as uh how and what they're actually using. U make sure that it's educationally appropriate and

091not just a fad. Um you know like we had said technology between the phones and some other things you know everyone was like gung-ho brought them in and then we're pulling them you know phones out of the schools now because we have found that it is a distraction that it is not helpful um it is not uh being used and um and helping the education process as we once thought. So just you know make sure that as you're learning about all of this you're keeping those things in the back of your mind. Um, and once you have a direction, if you can bring back your findings to the policy subcommittee, the school committee should have a policy on this before we implement things. Um, but we definitely want to have your input on what you're

092learning in these courses um, and what's being advised so that we can have an appropriate policy uh, going forward that everyone agrees on. Um, as far as >> Okay. As far as all of the uh goals um in general um I think you've done a nice comprehensive uh job at explaining what they are and what the key actions are uh as we are doing development on the school committee side for the evaluations and we definitely have more um training to do on how to do the evaluation on our part. the guidelines reading through them now do have um uh these standards you have here we should probably call out the exact um standard and not just the name of it under instructional leadership curriculum there were spec they're specific like uh you know I D4

093whatever I don't remember the numbers offhand but we should make sure that we have it set so that when it comes to the evaluation >> there's no question at that point what we agreed to um evaluate you on um as well as maybe it doesn't have to be done at this meeting. I would be happy to approve these goals and work on some of this stuff after the fact, but some of the evidence to bring forward other than just a um list uh from you of what you've accomplished. Uh that's something else that's in the evaluation um that we have some kind of evidence of what was created um what was accomplished um and we can work on that to for an agreement. Um but definitely trying to move forward with education on both sides.

094>> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. And I want to touch on Rand what Randy brought up is some of this some of these things can be worked on in one of our workshops like the evaluation process and how we're going to do the evaluation of Brad's goals. It doesn't have to be decided tonight. Um which I don't think we all want to stay around and decide tonight. we will push it to another workshop and do that and bring that back to Brad and have final approval on that as well if that's okay with everybody in the committee with the evaluation process and how that's going to be handled. All right, Alexander, you have a question. >> Yeah, I just wanted to um add to the uh to the whole AI thing. Um, so while

095I am personally against AI in the classroom in most situations, I do think it's a valuable thing for uh Superintendent Morgan to go to these things. Um, I think, you know, I I I think basically AI is like a calculator uh for writing and it will atrophy your brain just like a calculator will. If you don't practice your math enough and you rely on a calculator all the time, you lose your ability to do math. I'm worried about kids losing their ability to do research and their ability to do writing because they become so dependent on AI. So, I think it is very good to have programs in place um as far as when and if they should use AI at all. Um, I think that's a good thing and I think it's good that

096we're looking more into this, but I do think we should be extremely extremely cautious on how much we implement it in the classroom and in um I also don't think we should shove AI tools down the throats of teachers. I personally don't like to use AI tools. Um, and uh, you know, I would be very resistant if one of my administrators came to me and said, "You have to use AI now." I would I would be uh that would not be I would not be a very happy teacher at that point in time and I think um a lot of other teachers might feel similarly. So, you know, um just my two cents on the matter. Uh since I'm in a I almost didn't say anything, but since I'm in a classroom every day, I

097think I have to say this. um just because I've seen kids use AI and it's it's to for a lack of better term it's making them dumber because they become so reliant on the computer for all the answers um to the point where I don't let them use computers at all in my class unless it's specifically in the curriculum they have to do a computer-based assignment um and even then I try to find a workaround way to do it on paper or way to do it um hands-on um just because uh it it's it's become an epidemic. So, sorry to drone on about that, but I just felt like I needed to add my two cents. >> Thank you, Alexander. Any other questions or concerns about Brad's goals >> is Whoops. Jackie White, >> just

098quickly too, I think one piece that I don't know if it's missing for me, but I just feel like there's still some of that community relationship piece that we're all going to have to be working on over the next, you know, bit of time. So, I don't know if that has disappeared completely or if that's, you know, it's always something that's being worked on, but just to throw it out there that that's on my mind, too. So, I I do have a couple different advisories that I'm working with um that are made up of community members, but in addition to that, um I'm trying to get out um in the communities. Um again, not just beyond the schools, but also become to the best of my ability more of a voice around the education funding

099formula. >> Um I I did speak a couple times last year. I'll be speaking a couple times again this fall and I intend to keep that effort up um in making connections with other community members, state legislators, as well as other uh school districts as we continue to try to push for more equitable funding for regional for regional schools. >> So I I know and I think I see that work that you do, right? And so I feel like having it reflected here on this document will allow you to then like get some credit for it too at the end of the year, right? It's taking up significant time. Just my thoughts. >> Okay, I can certainly try to work that in. >> Okay, >> Carla. >> Um, yeah, just to piggyback on, um, Alexander,

100um, I I think AI is great. I mean, we, you know, it's the way of the future. Everyone's using it and it's it it's here to stay. I don't think it's going away. Um, just like technology is always evolving. And I think it's great um that you're proactively looking into this. Um but then just to piggyback on Alexander, I think there should be also, you know, the additional caution of it not being um um you know, the kids not using it as a tool to substitute their research to um um go forward. And and and I'll use Alexa, not totally AI, but somewhat AI. And my own kid, you know, he's he's seven, he's in second grade and he's doing his homework and I'm telling him to write certain things and he's running to Alexa,

101"Alexa, how do you spell this?" And I said, "No, you can't cheat. You got to do it the right way." So, just to piggy back on Alexander on that, you know, um he he's a a very early learner, but you know, there are kids that are in middle school and high school that, you know, we don't want them to think of it as, you know, a way to cheat out of doing research, but, you know, as an additional resource as they grow and evolve into their career in the future, you know, wherever their endeavor may take them. So, >> thank you, Carla. Carla, you did set off my Alexa in my house. >> Sorry, because I called her. [laughter] >> All right. Um, so I just have a few comments about your goals, too, Superintendent

102Morgan. I do I strongly like goal number one with getting the central office involved with the doing the um the team building and doing the resources to get more funding and looking at how to bridge that gap of budget creation with all of us and our communities. I think that's an important one. um along with AI. Um I do um I'm glad that we're getting ahead of the curve on this one. I think it's important because it is here to stay and we're going to be using AI going forward. Um [clears throat] but I do think we need to be smart about our practices around it. And the third professional goal of getting into the buildings and doing the observations or walkthroughs, I think these are critical. We do have um needs that come about

103in all of our schools and I think it's important for leadership to see these. So I do like this goal as as um there too. Anyone else have any questions? All right. Um I would like to discuss a two-year cycle if everyone is okay with the two-year cycle on these. Um, Superintendent Morgan has been with the district for seven years. After four years, he is given the privilege to go to a two-year cycle. Um, if we would like, if the committee would like to go that way, I know that he will be giving us updates as we have requested. Randy has requested, Brad has said he will um, give us those. So, does anybody else have any concerns or questions about going to a two-year cycle? >> You need a formal motion. >> Yep. I

104can have a motion. I think there's one written. >> Oh, >> if you want to >> I got it. I'm looking at it. >> Okay. Thank you, Kenan. Um, I move that the North Middle Sex Regional School Committee approve the superintendent's professional goals to be set on a 2-year cycle with a formal check-in and progress review to occur at the end of the first year. This review will serve to assess progress made toward the established goal, allow for any necess necessary adjustments, and ensure continued alignment with district priorities. >> I second the motion. >> So, that was Kenan and Alexander. Any more questions or concerns? >> Discussion on the motion, Madam Chair, >> or discussion. >> Yeah. Um I I I would just do a friendly amendment and leave the motion um after at the

105end of the first year. That should be the end of the motion. The the final sentence with the explanation shouldn't be part of the motion. >> Yeah, sure. I it doesn't delete anything material. So I do we want to just restate the motion. >> Yeah. If you want to do a substitute motion from the amendment that would be great. >> Okay. I will amend my motion and strike out the final sentence. This review will serve to assess progress made toward established goals, allow for necessary adjustments, and ensure continued alignment with district priorities. >> All right. So that is do we have a second on that amendment? >> Second. >> Okay, that's Alexander Keenan made the amendment. Alexander seconded. Can we vote on the amendment first? Is that correct? All right, Randy. >> Yes. >> Jackie,

106>> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Alexander Banci, >> yes. Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Keenan Francois, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Myself, yes. Now we will go back and vote on the motion. Uh, Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Randy, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right, those are accepted. Thank you for the work that you did on them and looking forward [clears throat] to seeing more. >> Do we I'm I'm sorry. Do we need to move to accept the goals because that was just for the cycle. Is that something we need to do? It's in the in there. Professional goals to be set. Two-year cycle

107with a formal check-in. I think it was all in one motion unless people see it differently. >> No, >> if that's how everyone else read it, then I just I thought this was just for a two-year cycle. >> Yeah, that's the the motion reads. I Lisa, when I asked you for the formal motion, I wanted to grad because what Kenan >> read was to accept goals in a two-year cycle. So now I will move to accept the superintendent's goals for the uh years 2025 through 2027. >> Okay. >> And I'll second that. >> So we have Kim Craraven making the motion and Kenan seconding the motion. All right. Any discussion on the goals? All right. Randy. >> Yes. Jackie White. Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Arla Lima, >> yes. >>

108Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. All right. Now, we've accepted your goals, Brad. >> Now, we can move on to the next >> to finance. Kim Craraven. >> Uh, thank you. Um, we have a few things um coming up on the 27th. There'll be a uh regional meeting at Brightenbrook at 10:00 a.m. I am actually um away speaking that day. So Kenan will take my spot and attend that meeting. Um he also was in attendance at our most uh recent finance committee meeting where we went through um step by step um all of the different funds that were coming in because at our last meeting there was some confusion perhaps on where the money um actually came from. um what was from supplemental, what was from the

109insuranceances and a bit of perspective that everything um was you know this miraculous or um as somewhere we're putting it that you know the all of a sudden this money just like came out of nowhere. So there was intentional money that was requested from the state as supplemental that we discussed. there was money that had to be set aside from the insuranceances. They were kind of lumped into to that and then there had been borrowing done from some of the line items. Um so that's leveled out. The um END will then get certified um later in the year um you know or early next year. Um a letter did come in from the municipalities on October the 6th um reminding the school district that they can only spend up to the approved budget. Um there's

110um discussion and we have openly discussed it at the finance committee and at this meeting that if there is a way to lessen the impact on the municipalities um you we can you know discuss that we can figure out what that looks like um to you know we we are one community the north middle sex district community even though we have the three different communities um within that and so whether um it be a or police or a planning unit um everything has to be there in order to make the municipality run. So I can understand the perspective of the leadership of the municipalities um wanting to get that figured out right we we want to do the same. So I know we had said you know for October time um to start to look

111at where our numbers are at. So, you know, we have to think um you know, if if we're at that place that we agendaize it um if we can for the next meeting um madam chair so that we can have it as a discussion point. This is just my report right now. This is not um anything for vote or discussion from this committee. This is just what I'm reporting forward of, you know, we've kind of go gone through that process, heard the numbers from from Nancy. Um and so we have to evaluate as a committee at our next meeting where we are at um with the numbers that have come in. >> Great. Thank you, Kim. Okay, moving on to policy. Randy. >> Okay. Uh hold on. All right. We have a lot on here.

112I'm going to take two policies right now um out of order and away from this. There are two policies that I'm bringing to the school committee that have not been approved and gone fully through the uh subcommittee and the reason for this is uh a time constraint. Um there is one policy uh policy JG on pathways is listed under policies for a first reading. Um, I got all confused with the letters and everything. Um, Robin was good enough to put them in where I told her, but I made a mistake. This is the policy that I need uh for us to suspend our normal um process for uh for policies. And this is uh called uh pathways uh for Oh, sorry, not JG. Yeah, JG. I I even had the wrong name wrong. Uh JG

113is North Middle Sex Regional School District middle school pathway exploration policy. Um this is something the state has said that they need in place by November 1st. We already do all of this um in the schools, but we need to have it documented. MASC says not a policy. dees says policy because we have the grant in um trying to get the um you know the CTE program in the district. We want to make sure that we have this in place um even if it's not 100% needed. So I'm asking for the school committee to um vote this adopted today without a first reading um suspend our normal processes. We can always come back and make alterations later if something is found. Um, but this is just the program that we currently have in place and

114we're documenting it for the DEESC. Um, so I'm going to move that we uh adopt policy JG, the North Middle Sex Regional School District Middle School Pathway Exploration Policy. >> I second. >> All right, that was Randy and Lisa. And this is moving JG middle school pathways >> ways exploration policy >> adoption >> to be accepted complete adoption no first reading >> tonight all right does everyone understand that >> Kim just point of clarification Randy should we suspend the rules for you first I'm >> I'm all for it but just protocol I think we need to suspend the rules first Okay. Uh that's fine. We can certainly have an official vote to do that. Um so then I will make a second vote. Uh or motion right now is um that I move that the

115school committee um suspend our normal policy adoption policy for policy JG, the North Middle Sex Regional School District Middle School Pathway Exploration Policy. >> Second. So that was Randy and Lisa. This is just a um suspending the process that we are following. That's what this vote will be for. All right. Is everyone clear on that? Let's take the vote. Randy, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. And so that now we've suspended the policy or the process. Now we'll take a vote because it's still on the floor for policy JG to be accepted and put in to following. All right. Randy, >> yes. >> Jackie, >> yes.

116>> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. >> All right, continue. Randy, >> uh, the next one is the JFA school enrollment residency. Uh this was talked about at the subcommittee level but we didn't have exact language yet. We were waiting on uh council to vet the language in this policy. So I wanted to bring this separately from the other policies because the subcommittee did not vote on this. So I'm bringing this just as the chair um tonight because again there's another constraint on this one. We have time for a first reading but it does need to be in place for December. So, I couldn't have a policy subcommittee meeting to approve it before

117bringing it to you. Um, but this was vetted through uh our um uh legal council. Um, and we're basically putting in a residency policy. Um, so I will move that we um we pass for first reading uh policy JFA, school enrollment residency. Second. >> so this is the normal process. Kim, um, the only difference is the subcommittee is not putting this forward. I am putting this forward on behalf of the the superintendent. >> Can you just give me the the letters on that one? >> JFA. >> Okay. I I I did have a question. >> Okay. before we do it. Um, somewhere in there this policy mentions T'sboro. All right. Um, we can go ahead and correct that between the first reading and um, the adoption. We will make sure that we go through this.

118Yeah, that's why I wanted point it out to you. >> Yeah. >> Um it it's on the last page. Um um the last um under V the first bold bullet, second open or third open bullet. It's under there. If we could just fix that. Okay. Um All right. I I will make sure that that is out before we adopt it. Thank you for catching that. You're muted, Lisa. >> Oh, man. All right. Kim Craraven, are we ready to vote? >> Yes. >> Okay. Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. Lisa Bloom. >> Yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> All right. And myself, yes. All right. Continue, Randy. >> All right. Now, it gets a little bit easier.

119Um, there are two policies for adoption. These were um I have not received any um any feedback from the community or anybody uh within the district uh for changes that need to be made. So I am going to move that policy JB equal educational opportunities and JBB educational equity be approved for adoption. >> I second. >> That is Randy Rush and Lisa Bloom with the second. Any questions on these policies before we vote? All right. Alexander Vancoui. >> Yes. >> Carla Lima. >> Yes. Keenan Francois. >> Yes. or Kim Craraven. >> Kim, >> yes. >> Uh, Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Randy Rush, >> yes. >> Myself, yes. All right, moving on. Randy, >> and then moving on. The subcommittee has been very um busy with our five-year reviews. There

120are some minor changes uh to the majority of these. Um uh so I'm going to just make one large motion unless somebody has a reason that I should do them individually and this is just for a first reading. So, I'm going to move that we approve for a first reading policy JNDB, use of technology and instruction policy JNDD, social media policy for school districts. Policy EFC, free and reduced food services. Policy JIB, Student Involvement in Decisionmaking. Policy IMG, Animals in Schools. Policy JFAB D, homeless students uh enrollment rights and services. Policy JFAB, Educational Opportunities for Military Children. JFABF, Educational Opportunities for Children in Foster Care. JIC student discipline. Um, JIC C also E AE C student conduct on school buses and then E AEC also J IC student conduct on school buses. >> I second.

121>> All right, that was Randy and Lisa Bloom. The second. Any questions on any of these? These are out for the first reading. Kim Craraven, >> thank you. Um I have a question on img the animals in schools. Mhm. >> Um so we need to um alter the policy to um cover the K9 in the school that is different than the you know any infrequent use of the K9 in the school by law enforcement and making sure that there's you know policies procedures in there um related to you know kids kids that might have allergies And then one in particular that that we I believe need to look at. Randy, um the prince of the building must approve all animals to be brought into the classroom. Um interpretation wise, we might want to um fix

122that sentence because if you read that literally, the principal must approve all animals to come into the building. Um, it should be that the principal must approve if any animal shall be allowed in the building, not approve all animals to come in the building. Um, it it looked like it's a blanket that the principal has to allow them all in there. So, we just might want to word smith that one a little bit. >> Okay. >> Um, and I don't know if if out of session if you want me to help you with any of the language or how you proceed with that um to make sure that all the other pieces are covered for Miss Ruby or that might come along in in the future. >> Can Can I actually >> Can I get

123which policy that is? I'm trying to find it. >> Okay. Because there was some things that there there was language that was added. >> I just want to point out >> what was added. Um >> yeah, I'm looking for that as well because that was the whole reason on um updating this was to have it for the uh police dog. >> So it says on the exception um just before it goes into service animals or guide assistant dogs. >> Y >> it says exception guide hearing and other service dogs or law enforcement dogs. >> Um so law enforcement dogs was added. >> Okay. And I did work with uh our um our director of health services or excuse me, supervisor of health services on language around allergies. Um >> I just have to find where

124it is. >> Yeah, there there is something in there in one spot, but right under the the language that was added, superintendent, >> it says that it may be allowed. >> Um >> yes. Yeah, I see. It says um these animals may be allowed in school or on school grounds with proof of current rabies vaccination. >> It's in bold where it says exception. >> Yep. Right in the in that um it's page two or three. Um I would put it in the conditions for allowing though. Not it to be an exception because this isn't an exception. She's a She's every day. >> Okay. >> Right. >> Okay. Makes sense. >> Right. Because now now this is a part of the the contract with with the um department that it's allowed if they have a dog

125that it could be part of the the SRO. Like that has to be in their contract. And so it should be reflected in our policy that if there is a dog, it's allowed. That it's not an exception to the rule. It's it's a an assumed that if there's a dog, it's allowed. >> Okay. I can certainly work on those. I don't think those are major uh changes to the policy. So, um we are allowed to make changes uh per feedback between the first reading and the second reading. Um so, I would still suggest that we approve it for a first reading tonight and I'll make sure to um point out the changes that were made when we look to adopt. >> Yeah. No, I wasn't suggesting not to approve just as part of the discussion.

126>> Okay. Thank you. I I made note of that and we will look into that. >> All right. Any other questions? All right. Ready to vote. Randy, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Isa Bloom, >> yes. >> Craraven, >> yes. Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> And myself, yes. All right, moving on to legislative advocacy. Keen and Francois. >> Yeah. So, we just had our first meeting on September the 10th and we had um it was myself, uh the chair, and uh Kim Craraven. Um and we had a great conversation with Representative Scarsdale. Um the discussion was focused primarily around transportation and what we can be doing uh on the state level to advocate uh or advocate sorry uh for a regional school transportation

127and trying to uh fix or come up with solutions to fix the uh shortfall that we're getting uh from the state uh as opposed to the 100% reimbursement that we're owed. Um you know we get fluctuating rates every year. Um so we we were coming we were trying to brainstorm some solutions to uh solve that. Um I highly recommend that everybody here if you're interested to watch the recording of that meeting um to get into it. Um the motion that you see on the agenda um we did kind of run into a little bit of a speed block um where we do need a little bit more uh uh leverage um per se um to conduct our business. uh efficiently. Um since the way that our meetings are scheduled monthly um and you know the

128subcommittees are scattered in between, we can't uh feasibly come back to the committee every single time uh to uh for a vote to participate in any of our uh business. Uh so that's what the motion uh on the agenda is for and I think uh Kim Craraven if she wants to elaborate that on any further she brought this forward >> you're muted. >> Sorry about that. Um what was happening during the meeting, especially as dynamic as it was with the representative there is with the schedule that she must adhere to to get things forward and our schedule, we could be left behind and that if we know the intent is to try to get additional funding and be more flexible with school transportation or to get um more funding reimbursed that the committee needs that

129flexibility. to to move forward because otherwise there could be missed opportunities for us in the district. So if we have to bring every proposal back to the school committee, um things are going to move forward without our district. And that's why we wanted to move this forward. And it's I I think it's in that lane, right? It's not I'm I'm trying to think of a scenario. um that would not be well served. Um like we're not going to sponsor legislation to change the curriculum, right? It's it's on these topic areas. It's about reimbursement. It's about transportation. Um it's in it's in the areas under the jurisdiction of this committee as it stands, not a new topic. Um it's not to become a super district. It's not to, you know, we're not going to merge, you

130know, we're not going to get pine legislation. And I'm making this up audience. No one has mentioned this. This is an illustrative example. It's, you know, this committee isn't going to get on board with something to merge with Bratton Dunable district school to have, you know, a five district school. It's about the two topics that are on there right now um in the legislation that might come up to support our district. Anyone have any Oops. Anyone have any questions? Randy, >> um would there be a way um so that your hands are not tied but the school committee at least knows and says and gives a blessing for the topic. Um like you said, you've been talking about transportation. Um, I don't think we need to bring back every proposal. Oh, we're going to go

131advocate for um the legislation for the reimbursement and for um allowing us to have a fee and have and all the little details of it, but just that you're legislating and you are going to be active on the transportation front to try and help the district financially. >> Um, and have broad topics ahead of time that you can go ahead and do the work. But the school committee says, "Yes, we think that the legislative um advocacy group should be working on those larger topics this year." Kind of like the MASC has their resolutions. That's much more detailed than I'm looking for. Uh but just kind of have it passed and a quick vote from the school committee could be beginning of the year on what you plan on concentrating on on the topics. >> Right.

132And I think that's already >> Sorry. I I think I think it's in the prerogative of this entire school committee to direct um subcommittees to look into any specific thing. Um so if again wild illustrative example if this committee decided that they want to refer the legislative subcommittee to look into uh coiculum uh like legislation uh then it is the duty of the subcommittee as a subcommittee to look into that. Um you know given that this is a new committee um we didn't really have such a a thing at the beginning um but going forward we did establish that we are going to be looking into fiscal matters especially um that would be beneficial for the district in terms of legislation going forward like just going forward I think that's perfectly appropriate at the beginning

133of you know every school committee um to you know set up some priorities that we want to see in legislation or that we want to see the subcommittee follow. But I think the the motion uh which hasn't been read yet, but the motion on the agenda does a good job of um narrowing it down enough but still giving enough uh leeway for the committee to do what we need to do. Um I don't know if anyone else has comments on that. Lisa or Kim? >> Yep, I have a comment. It would be like giving areas um the broad spectrum like transportation. We would, you know, do legislative with transportation. We would do special education legislation. We would do about circuit breaker legislation. Those would be the areas that um that um our legislative advocacy group

134is going to do if everyone is in agreement with those big areas. Does that make sense? The bigger areas you not the fine details like we're going to go um sponsor bill 277B like you don't need that. that detail. Is that correct? >> Right. Um and that's kind of what I'm just looking at because I don't I I just don't want especially if you're trying to move very very fast on some of these things and you can come up with stuff um after the fact um come back and just inform the school committee and then everyone's here going you were working on what you know um kind of a thing. not the details but you know we didn't want you working on you know special education at this time we thought this was more important

135um for the financial matters so just kind of a general uh guide each year on where you're going to be concentrating certainly the um looking for the subcommittee to bring stuff to the full committee say you know what we've been researching this and we think this is you know we're going to you know we'd like permission to work on transportation Um, and it goes the other way where the school committee can sit here and say, you know, that's a topic for the legislative advocacy group. Let's vote to give it to them. No, no details, no, you know, fine print, but just everyone's on board with what's being worked on. >> Yeah. And I think that's the during this subcommittee report section that we have during when when it is uh optimal when when it is

136possible for me to report to this subcommittee and you know maybe if it's something bigger to let like like let's get a vote on this then absolutely when that's possible um yes we will we will do that we will report out we will make sure that everybody is in in the loop. All right. Any further questions? >> All right, Kenan. >> Oh, I was going to say Kenan, would you like me to give the motion now? >> Yeah, please. >> Okay. Uh we I move to vote that school committee authorize the legislative advocacy subcommittee to research, discuss, draft, and recommend legislative initiatives and positions that align with the school committee's efforts to have the best learning environment for the students attain funds or policies that support operations. >> I'll second that was Kim Craraven and

137Jackie White with a second. All right. Are we ready to vote? Any questions? Randy, >> just a quick question uh on the language there. Um uh draft and or recommend legislative initiatives. I'm assuming you're talking about uh uh recommending those to the state or to our representatives or >> Yes. >> Okay. Uh what is what is that process? Would it be to the state reps um that you would be making those init uh those recommendations or do you put something directly on the floor in front of the house? >> No, it it goes to the legislators. >> Yeah, the we we can't bring anything to legis like the legislative branch of Massachusetts. So, that would all be going through state senator Cronin or Representative Scarsdale or whoever might take their seats. >> Okay. Thank you.

138I appreciate the explanation. I'm not real familiar with the whole process. >> All right. Anyone else have any questions? >> All right. Let's take a vote. Uh Jackie White, >> yes. >> Uh Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Barla Lima, >> yes. >> Alexander Vancoui, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Kim Craraven, >> yes. Randy Roush. >> Yes. >> Randy Rash and myself is yes. All right. Thank you, Kenan. All right. Going to s uh school committee operations. Um we did have Patrick McFillips resign. So we do not have a chair for this committee. I would look at another um school committee meeting to appoint somebody to the committee and take his responsibility or also I think as a group we may have to think about some of the committees and regroup. Um this

139is something that we could do in our workshops like discussion about if we think things need to change or where our priorities and our goals have to align. So, um, if everybody wants to think about that as we move forward and as our workshops come. All right. All right. Um, going on to community outreach and town leaison. Carla, you had an update from Ashby. Yes. So we do have um so we had a meeting about a month ago and we asked for some for a followup on some action items from our last meeting. So we do have a meeting scheduled for Thursday. Um so the town administrator asked if you know our superintendent could join that meeting which um he he's not able to make it. Um his agenda is already full but Brad I

140did have questions on that. So, should we just gather the questions that they have for you and then present them to you or email them to you so that you can follow up and we can turn back on them because I don't have some of those answers that they're asking for >> that that would be absolutely fine. And the reason uh that I can't attend, just so you're aware, is I have both collaborative meetings on that morning. I have the Keystone then the Valley back to back. >> Um so happy to answer any questions that they have. um and certainly get back to them as quickly as I can um on answers. >> Perfect. And then um that's all I have on on that aspect. And I think Lisa, we discussed in the future having

141that added to the agenda to relay back to the full committee. um what we're discussing. It's in preliminary stages right now, but um we wanted to to share that with the full committee just cuz it's all very new to me. So, I wanted to get some feedback from the committee as well. >> And so, that will be a share back with you working with Kim in that working group. So, we will get that on the committee or on on an agenda going forward. All right. >> Thank you, >> Jackie White. Question. >> Yeah, I just had a quick question for Carlo. Was this with just the uh town select board or was it with like community members? I'm just wondering like was there any anecdotal feedback? How is everyone doing? What's the sentiment like? Any

142of that stuff? >> Uh this was just with the town administrator, Kim and myself. Um so this is under that that that subcommittee. Well, not subcommittee but that work group that we have going on. So, this is a follow-up to that and we're just trying to get some feedback from the town administrator on, you know, next steps. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right. And now I am moving to PPL's outreach. Um there are some things happening in Peril. There is um some hearings going on that they are adding some new residents. There's a 180 complex of [clears throat] Randy, correct me if I'm wrong because you reached out to the planner. 180 >> 180 unit >> apartment units. >> Yeah. >> And then there's another >> and it's affordable housing and another 40 um

143condo based units that are looking to be done in the future. Right now, these are just in the hearing modes of um of the town. I don't know when final approval will be. It's rumored right now that it could be this spring. Um there's also rumored that um they could do some scale back to some of these units. So there's a lot of unknowns around this yet. Um but um Randy and I had discussed that we do need to be in talks about this with the entire committee and see um for future planning. So, this will be a topic going forward because I know that other towns, Ashby may have some um additional units they're putting in and towns in as well may have some additional units. So, we just need to do some forward

144thinking and planning. Did I cover it, Randy? Okay, go Randy. >> Yeah. No, ba b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b b basically, yeah, you covered as far as um the the town planners seem to think that um approvals could be, you know, this next spring for both of those units. I don't know how long it might take to uh build once they do that, but that is definitely a wakeup call for us as far as looking at capacity within the district. everything that has told us till now um from a lot of the studies from 10 years ago and and more recently is

145that um our enrollment was leveling off or still going down just slightly. Uh having uh 180 um units for affordable housing and another 40 for condos um in another area that could potentially be a lot of students coming into the district. Um I think we really need to kind of step back and take a look at how many students that might mean coming into the district where we have the room. Um whether we have the capacity um and I think it needs to bring up uh you know looking at AES we have to make a decision on that building. Um, and I I think we truly need to know if these go through and other uh other towns uh projects go through, do we need AES for capacity reasons to be able to house all

146the students and the special education uh programs that we've brought in house uh effectively. Um it's a conversation I think we need to have sooner than later being that um we have to make that permanent decision on AES. once we make that decision um we can't reopen the school um will be extremely difficult uh at that point and the MSB made it very very clear that if we closed a building that we would not be looked at for 15 20 years for any additional building or additions to existing buildings to increase capacity uh because we we closed the school within that time frame. So, I think we need to do some real um analysis to take a look at that and discuss as a school committee. >> All right, moving on to Townsen. Um Kenan

147and Randy. >> Wendy, do you have anything? Cuz I have something, but >> uh go right ahead. >> Okay. Um the only thing uh we had referencing our last meeting, we had some bus issues um between uh some towns and road construction going on um we I followed up with uh Valerie Goodrich from the towns and select board um about that um and about the process or whatnot. She got back to me rather promptly. Um we forwarded that on to uh Superintendent Morgan. did not have a chance to uh converse about her response. Um but it seemed according to her um it might have just been a simple miscommunication. Um I don't know if secret or secretary um Superintendent Morgan has anything more to say about that, but that's the only thing from Townsen. >>

148No, it does appear as though there was a a miscommunication around that. So um moving forward, I think we'll be okay provided there's any additional road work happening in any of the towns. All right. >> And the only thing that I had um just was a followup. Uh Kim had uh requested the last time that uh that I request a employment uh study from the town of Townsend. Um I have not gone forward with that and I apologize. Um in the moment I said sure uh when thinking about that that I believe is out of our purview. Um that is the town budget. We um we have to have some trust going back and forth that they are managing their budget and giving us information uh the same way that they have to have that

149same um confidence that we are managing our budget. Um unless we're going to go ahead and and invite them into our budget at the same kind of level to ask for reports and analysis uh going forward, I don't think that is something that's appropriate to ask of the towns. Um, I'm happy if you have another um, uh, you know, viewpoint on that and listen and um, if you can change my mind, I would be happy to go back and ask. >> Yeah, I'll I'll speak to it, Randy, because I was going with the ask. Yeah. >> Um, somehow we need to figure out what the what their ask is, right? So they they say that they're struggling for some funding and the easiest way to figure out what they need for money for their staff

150is to figure out what they were planning on and what they actually have, what they're drawing on. So it's not like a staffing study. It's like what where >> it's still asking about their budget. They told us they need $200,000. It's not our place to question where they need that money, whether it's for staffing or other things. It's not our place. We can choose to believe them and try and find the money or we can choose to tell them, uh, we can't come up with it, but it's not our place to step in there and say, "You don't need it for staffing. Stop asking for it." >> So, is the number actually 200? Because I did not hear that in the meeting that I was in with the superintendent. Um I don't have the exact

151number. Uh when I was talking with Valerie, she was saying um as little as uh 200,000 would help them out. I can uh talk with her and see if they have a more concrete number to present to the school committee. >> Yeah, I think we just need something and however they want to do it. Um >> Yeah. And and I don't need to like split hairs on it, but I was trying to give them a path forward to figure out what they need because right now it doesn't seem clear. Um, and so that to me was like, okay, if you do this and this, you can figure out where the delta is. Um, because they had money left on the table as well. Um, I just want to know what it is and no one

152seems to be able to tell us that. >> Okay. Again, they're not questioning the money that we have on the table. Um, >> yeah, >> we need to take them at their word on what they say they need. um and that they have in their budget. I don't think it's our place to start d diving into their budget. >> Yeah. No. Um as a school committee, no, not necessarily. But as towns people, yes, because what I would hate to see, Randy, is that they say we need 200 and it's 217 because they haven't done the math. >> That that's that is fine. Um but that is also on them. Uh we are here as school committee and representing the district. >> Yep. I agree. Um, but if we could get a number, >> okay, >>

153maybe they'll have it on Monday and Kenan will be there as well as um, you know, Nancy and the the superintendent and whomever else. Um, >> okay. I I will I can certainly pass that along. That is certainly um appropriate. >> Um, Randy as can you also ask them what they have planned for their buildings within or building units within the next two to three years? I can certainly ask that. >> Okay. Anyone else? >> Can I clarify what you mean? Um, by that, Lisa is >> like their affordable Yeah, they're affordable housing units and things that they're >> planning. I think there's really two different questions of what they had to put on the books as lots available for MBTA versus okay what is actually a project filed for [clears throat] are are two

154really separate like what's happening in PEPAL those are five years with plans and engineers and meetings with planning board ours is just a voted town meeting to designate a space >> okay and that's where you can help us as a committee to understand these things, Kim, because all of like the buildings going on and what is happening at that level is new to all of us, I would assume, except for you. >> Yeah. So, I think that would be the question, Randy, that that you would need is what has been filed to date. >> Understood. >> All right. Anyone else? It is 9:18. I think it is time to take a motion to adjourn. >> I will so move. >> Right. That was Kenan. Do I have a >> And Alexander? Seconded. >> Shoot. I

155have one more thing. I apologize. >> Okay. Go Randy. >> We didn't vote. >> I'll hold the vote. >> Okay. >> Just really really quick. Um we have um a policy on uh END's e or fi fiscal uh reserves that we were discussing in um policy earlier today. It's a very big topic. We are working and I'm hoping to have a first reading coming to the school committee next meeting. Um it would be very good if people can go into it. It is a public document. It's also in the drive start to get familiar with it. It's not finalized yet. We are working on it. But the more you can familiarize yourself with it, the easier the conversations will be on it. >> Randy, would this be something that you would pull out of your

156policy and put it up for a bigger discussion? >> Uh, it will be brought to the full committee uh once we have a draft um and we will discuss it either, you know, as we're presenting it for a first reading. We can have those conversations and decide whether it goes forward as a first reading. >> Okay. All right. >> Thank you. Everybody good? Ready to take a vote? Kim Craraven, >> yes. >> Kenan Francois, >> yes. >> Carla Lima, >> yes. Randy, >> yes. >> Jackie White, >> yes. >> Lisa Bloom, >> yes. >> Alexander, >> yes. >> And myself is yes. Good night, everyone. Thank you. Good night.