Taunton School Committee...February 4th, 2026 (LIVE BROADCAST)

001Uh the uh finance and law subcommittee uh meeting shall come to order today, Wednesday, February 4th, 2026 at 5:51 p.m. Uh start with roll call. Uh Mr. Vieira >> present. >> Mr. Shav, >> present. >> And Greg Dlo present. Uh first order of business is bid opening for the school transportation bid. Assistant Superintendent Monahan. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. We have um One, two, three, four, five, two, three, four, five. Six bids that have come in that were due today by 5:45 p.m. First one is going to be um NRT Bus Incorporated. Just pretending it's an Amazon package. So, we have two copies which is requested required. Here's a copy if you'd like to look. Well, there's also an electronic copies. So again, there's been two copies, printed copies, two electronic copies, and we're going

002to go and look through the bid to make sure all of the items are included. Actually, what we do is uh we check off what's statutoily required >> uh and read the bid award criteria number. Uh and then I will the copy, read through them, do our due diligence, and then come back with a recommendation uh to the committee. The first item is a bid bond. The bid bond is included. >> Again, the bid bond is included. Certificate of non-colision is completed and included. The total amount of the bid is 68 million 539,594. Again, 68,539,594 from NRT Bus Incorporated out of Chel Smith Maths. I'm looking for one thing. >> Okay. Which one are you looking for? >> Acknowledgement of the due diligence or >> acknowledgement of agenda is included. >> Perfect. And Performance bond

003cost year one $120,82310. Thank you. Next bid is Novvice Transportation Services from Randolph, Massachusetts. >> Looks like just one copy. >> Looks like one copy. Just one coffee. Nevice transportation acknowledgement of agenda is included. Certificate of non-colusion is included. I'm going have to look at every page. Bid bond is not included. And the basis for award is not complete. And there is no performance bond. Next bid is from Bloom Bus. Yes. The basis for award 67 million $122,850 and no cents. >> Again, bid award from Bloom Bus 67,122,850. Acknowledgement of agenda is complete. Certificate of non- collusion is complete. Bid bond is included. Performance bond for year one 93, $185. The next bid is Brian Royce Transportation Incorporated. One The cost of the performance bond year 1 $4,14720. >> Performance bond year 1 $4,14720. The

004basis for award is incomplete. Certificate of non-colusion is included. Okay. bid bond is not included and acknowledgement of addendum. is partially completed. Next bid is from RG Services LLC from Middleboro, Massachusetts. A bid bond is included. Acknowledgement of agenda is included. Certificate of non-olusion is included. Basis for award 76 million 919, $390 and 30. Again, RG Services total bid award 76,919,390.30 30 cents. And the bid bond cost or the uh performance bond cost is 15 million443,15 and 80 >> again performance B bond for year 1 15 million $443,15.80. Final bit bid is from ACC Child. electronic. >> I can put it in here if you want. I just wanted to make it. >> This is also an original copy. So, there's two of the same. here. Transportation copy, but original copy. >> Same company. >>

005Yes, it just looks a little different. Here you go. Sorry about that. >> Yeah, these are all extra copies. Multiple copies on that >> bid bond is included. Okay, thank you. basis for award is incomplete. When I uh when I say it's incomplete, what that means is that they did not bid on every category of transportation. uh and so if I read the number it doesn't compare to any of the other numbers people who did complete the the complete bids specification Certificate of non-colusion is included. Acknowledgement of agenda is not included. And the year one performance bond is $10,000. >> Year one performance bond is $10,000. That is all of our bids. >> Mr. Superintendent, I just want to make sure I see two different bids here. One dated the 5th of January, one dated

006the 26th. Are these two separate bids? >> No, they're addendums. >> They're addendums to to the original bid. Every question that came in, we answered by written addendum that went out to everyone who had received the bid package. >> Thank you so much. Our process at this point is that uh we start with the apparent low bidder uh review that bid in its entirety, conduct our due diligence. If that bid turns out to be both responsive and responsible, then we don't look any further at any of the other bids uh and they'll we'll do a uh a letter of recommendation uh to the school committee. >> Great. Thank Uh given the number of bids, it'll probably take us a while to read them all. Uh and we do have the uh the right to ask

007for ask questions for clarification of any of the bids. Uh but you'll see that some of the bids are uh for only partial of what the requirements were primarily from van companies uh not necessarily school bus companies. Uh and so uh uh those will probably be uh uh not not approved and not recommended. recommended at all, but uh we allow them to file because the law requires us to accept any bid that somebody wants to file. Uh and they'll at least go on record with the school department in the event that they have an over overflow of need. Uh they have companies that they can go to that meet most of the criteria that we have in the bid specification. >> So I guess the proper motion would be to refer to administration. >> Motion

008to refer to administration for recommendation and due diligence. Seconded. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up we have the student activity requests uh taught in high school in the amount of $22,000 $143.16. Superintendent, assistant superintendent. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. As you can see, this is um just replenishment of the high school checkbook and you'll see the various expenses that they are requesting um for reimbursement. >> Wish to the committee. >> Motion to approve. Seconded. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. >> Next up, we have donations. C attached. Back to you, assistant superintendent. >> Thank you. Two add two additional donors have provided um some donations to the district. Riverhead Building Supply provided coats, hats,

009clothing, toys, soccer balls, footballs, and National Geographic experiment sets. These are specifically for students at Parker and Cole, and the value is just under $700. Jordan's Furniture provided LA laundromat gift cards, clothing, non-p perishable food items, and Walmart gift cards. And those um are for all TPS families with a value of $535. And then of course those two will average um will be $1,214 worth of donations. And then of course once our um you go ahead, the school committee um approves this, we will then send the the letter of appreciation as well. >> Sure. wishes of the committee. >> Motion to approve as well as send in a thank you letterhead building supplies and Jordan's furniture for their generous donation. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Next up,

010we have the procurement card, PCard information see attached. Sister superintendent. >> Okay. It's requested at the last school committee meeting. These are the documents that we have for the PC card in the business office. So um the first one is the policy manual and it is called procurement card PC card credit card use and this is also the signature page. This was adopted by the school committee on um April 6, 2022. And that's just a listing exactly of what the um and that's going ahead with the the city's um the city ordinance as well. The other next document is the PECAR checklist. We usually give this to anybody that takes out the PEC card in the district. They will um put their name, their position, the date, their funding source. We give them their meal

011allowance of how much they are allowed to um to to use for each meal, an itemized receipt confirmation with PE card payment number on the receipt, and then if we need any additional items, um the business office staff will go ahead and write those document um right on those lines. We have to let staff know that of course we are uh tax exempt. So they must confirm that no tax uh sales tax was charged to the pecard. Sometimes that does happen and they reach out to the vendor and then you'll see a credit on the next month's pecard statement. Uh software purchases must have a printed email confirmation from the de director of technology approving the purchase. Of course making sure that any software is aligning to our district and of course being able to

012be housed on our network. the purpose of the expense and then PE card must be returned within 24 hours or when travel commences. Do not pass the credit card to other staff members. The PC card is only to be used by the person signing the card. And non-compliance with the PECard policies and procedures will result in um the uh I can't even speak it. They will revoke their usage of their PC card. And then we ask the uh staff member to sign it and date it. And then this the next page is our checklist. And this is when we have our PE card is being signed out. And there it's just a quick one that we can see exactly who has the PE card and for what reasons. So those are the documents that we

013have on file for the business office PECard. Any questions? >> Yes, Mrs. Sh. >> Thank you. Um my question is what if someone exceeds the values that are allowed? Are they then charged for it? What do you mean the value? So what they >> say for dinner is 25 and they go on dinner and they spend $100. >> They will go a depending upon where they are. It we do go ahead and uh the auditors work with that. But yes, if they do want to purchase something that is over the limit, they would pay for the that total amount. >> So then you would charge them back. >> They well they'll pres they will go ahead and probably reimburse the district with a check and all, but it does depend upon where they are. >>

014Yeah, that would make sense. But I just wanted to know if someone went rogue that they realize that they would have to reimburse the school system. >> Usually what we've been seeing is people will just say I'm only per I'm going my allotment is you know $25. So I will put the peak card the $25 and then they usually will put it on their own credit card and that's what we have seen. We have not seen anything like that just yet. >> Good. Thank you >> Mr. Vieier. >> Thank you Mr. Chairman and through you. Uh who in the business office is responsible for reviewing the expenses on the PE card >> the when we get the statement? Yeah. >> So, it is um Susan Bulock who is our head book bookkeeper and then she

015goes ahead and provides that to me where I will review it and then that's when I will go ahead and produce the memo um for for the school committee >> and then that goes to city auditor and correct also reviews it. >> Yes, absolutely. >> And then the acknowledgement for the uh use of the procurement card >> is it a one-time signature or do they sign out the every single Okay. I just want to just so I know and the people at home, is it every single time? Is it once a year? Is it But you answered my question. They review it. They acknowledge it every single time they leave with it. So, okay. No further questions at this time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Beer. I I just have one one followup on

016the uh meal allowances. Uh I know you mentioned that depending on where they're going, you'll make some adjustments. Uh, it clearly says here that meal allowance is $10 for breakfast, lunch is 15, dinner is 25. So, how do you determine what the meal allowances for New York City versus Kansas City? >> We would have to go ahead and work with the auditors because this is a city a um ordinance. So, we'd have to work with the city auditors. >> Okay. I I I think a recommendation and I think I've mentioned this before is you just use the federal government PDM rate which is uh accredited by just about every state agency uh that I know of. Uh and we would alleviate you know discretionary decisions. Uh and if you do it perdm whether or not

017they they spend that money or not they're getting that based on the geographical location they're going to. I I think it's it's kind of difficult to make judgment decisions. Uh having more uh manpower uh you know workforce involved to kind of go through. I mean I know the travel isn't that much but in the last four months it's been a lot. So I'm just saying that I I think establishing a guideline uh where you're you're you're you're basically using a reference point that is you know issued by the federal government or even state government. state government has for DMs too that you could just establish that and not worry about someone auditing these these receipts. I mean that's what my recommendation would be. So I don't think it's that difficult. I mean it's >> if

018I could interject and say that this card is done by the city of Taton. So it is so what happens is it the pecard is issued to the city of Taton and then each individual bit offices would be the police department the school department have their own but all of us follow the city ordinance. >> Yes Mr. >> I just I I you know I don't know if it's appropriate totally would would it be appropriate to maybe have a communication crafted to send to the city council making that suggestion from this subcommittee? I think I don't know what the travel volume is from the city, our counterparts in the city side. Uh I know police go to training and all that stuff and maybe the firefighters and so forth. Uh I I just think it's

019something that's so simplified and easy and we alleviate all this discretionary decisions and auditing. Mrs. Shuffs, >> thank you. Mr. Chair, can I ask you a question about So does that amount change from wherever they're going? >> Absolutely. >> So it has a set amount depending on where they're traveling in the country. >> Absolutely. For example, I I don't know if you can get a $25 dinner in New York City or a $10 breakfast in New York City. You may get that in, you know, somewhere in South Carolina or North Carolina, but I mean, in any major city, I mean, we have Philadelphia trips. We have other trips to DC. Uh DC is one of the highest perms in the nation. So, I mean, it's just I don't think it's fair to our employees. I

020want to be fair and I just want to be streamline things. That's all I want to do because again, this whole PECARD thing, if the superintendent will back me up on this, was my idea. I think it would alleviate the reimbursement process and having employees put out money. Superintendent, please. >> Uh, I was just going to echo Mr. Vieira's u maybe that again, I can't make a motion, but I think what Mr. Vieira proposes is a is a sound idea that we reach out to the treasur's office or CC the city council, the city council, CC the treasurer and ask them for that consideration. >> Absolutely. So, yeah. a motion to uh have the superintendent craft a communication with the recommendations uh set forth by this committee. >> I'll second that. >> Excellent. Okay. All

021in favor? I opposed eyes. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Uh next up we have two Hamilton Street expenses. See attached. Assistant superintendent or superintendent >> as requested. Um below you will see the um charges of the amounts from Habib and Associates architects that have been charged to the food services revolving account for professional services consisting of design and construction phases for the kitchen renovation at two Hamilton Street as part of the overall renovation project. The cost of the professional services has been budgeted for 73,000 and we have been totaled um in by invoicing a total of $63,130. So on 11625 2025, the school committee approved $555,000 for the um two Hamilton Street. So we beginning with um all of the architectural um invoices, you will see the ones that have been already um have

022been invoiced and been paid in $63,100. And on the next page, you will see there's a pending invoice of $9,870. Then again at the bottom of the second page of the memo um again the allocation was $555,000. We currently have again the $63,130 that has been um invoiced. We have $9,800 uh pending which means $73,000 and you minus the $73,000 from $555,000 there's a balance on the allocation of $482,000. >> Thank you. comments, questions. Uh, Mrs. Shuffs. >> Thank you, Mr. Dlo. Um, that 482,000 is what's left to actually purchase the equipment that's going to be needed for the kitchen. >> Correct. >> Yes. So, that should be everything in total. So, this amount of money right now is just for the design, >> the ones that we have invoiced currently. Correct. Absolutely. >> And

023as we've done in the sorry, I apologize. As we've done in the past, if if for some reason we anticipate the going higher. We will come back to the committee and request additional funding out of the revolving account, not our appropriation. >> This is coming out of the account for >> food service. >> Have we put out any money aside of this? >> These are the only charges that the district any umbrella this is the only charges that we have in um invoiced for uh to Hamilton Street. This is it. Yes. >> We haven't done any technology. >> No, we have not. So that would be our other probably big amount, >> right? We're we actually are working with the director of technology and she's already putting those big specs together as well. >> Okay.

024Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. VR. >> Yes. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. And through you, I I think this is wonderful. I appreciate the update. I I my thought was that we were going to get um all the expenses, utilities, things that we had gone over in the past. I didn't realize we were only going to get um you know what's being spent on the kitchen and architectural design. I I again I don't know if maybe >> if if I may Mr. Exactly. My motion was exactly what are the expenses? What are the carrying costs >> that we're carrying >> from January of January 1st of 2025 through December 31st of 2025? >> TPS is carrying. >> Yes. >> Okay. This this for the mix >> happen to the bus. >> Yeah. So again, so

025ju just so I better understand for example heating at the building, who who picks up that cost? >> So we have remember we have BCC there that is leasing. So all of their leasing costs go into um a revolving account and then we are charging all utilities out of that revolving account. >> Okay. So we're responsible for the heating >> through the through the cost of the money that we are receiving through the BCC le. >> So we're talking revenue expenses. So let's talk expenses. Okay. Let's not talk revenue expenses. We take care of the heat. Correct. >> Do we take care of electricity? >> Do we take care of maintenance, cleaning? >> No. No. >> No. Okay. Do we take care of what other expenses on that building? >> Security room. >> Security. Do

026we take care of security? Okay. What other expenses do we have there, superintendent? Off the top of your head. >> Pretty much. >> That's it. >> We have very low overhead. >> Okay. >> At the building right now have a presence with director facilities, Mark Travis. His office is based in that. >> Okay. So, basically it shouldn't be that difficult, right? We get all our expenses. We have our income, right? our revenue and we know if we're at a profit or loss and just to find out where we're at. You know, I'm understanding that this building is still going to be a while before we can occupy it and it's a concern. I mean, as budgets uh talked about, uh we know that the governor came out with the budget a couple weeks ago and

027I'm concerned. So, I just want to make sure that we're not in over our head. Okay. So, superintendent. Yes. >> Mrs. Shs. Yes, please. >> Sorry, Mrs. Shs. Go ahead. >> Thank you. What is the status of the replacement of the window? >> That is still on the MSBA project. I believe the next thing that is coming in is um something that the city has to uh provide the and I can't remember the exact um document but um I did bring that to the superintendent's attention and he did say that everything has been allocated by the city. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Yeah. March March March 30th. Um I have I have a one pager in my office that I can share with the finan finance and subcommittee after this meeting. I'll I'll email it

028to you, but there's a one pager with all the milestones that have to be accomplished by March 30th. >> March 30th, >> Mr. Yeah. And I believe the um expenses I believe we went over that last spring possibly in long range planning and public property. >> Pretty sure. So, if we can get an update, that'd be great. >> Y again, my apologies. going to look at the when I look at the minutes. We focused so heavily at the last meeting on the commercial on the renovation of the kitchen that we that we didn't think that was considered as part of the motion, but we'll make sure it's updated to in all the costs that are hitting the Tom public schools appropriation or revolving accounts will be reflected in the one in a summary. >> Great.

029Thank you. Anything else? Okay, so let's move on. Uh next up we have disposal of surplus material mo school laminators assistant superintendent stuff everywhere. >> Sorry, I have it in here. There's just so many papers. Thank you. Right here. I have it. Thank you. Sorry about that. Um, we have two laminators that were um from the original building, which is not that long ago in 2020. They are no longer working. They are poor. Um, and so right now they are just housed in the custodial closet. >> Good wish of the committee. Motion to dispose of surplus materials in accordance with TPS and the city authority. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. And the last item on the agenda is bills payable FY26 the amount of 1 million uh

03010,754.68. But before we get to that u item, I I I just have a bit of a discrepancy. If we could just revert to the final page of the warrant. Um the actual bills payable amount of 1,10,75468 isn't matching the warrant total of 1,47,75468. >> Am I missing something? >> No, >> they had changed it up here. So, it is it is supposed to be 1,47,754.68. >> No, I didn't add up the whole >> No, this is this is stuff I got to remove because I got the whole present business. $37,000 is the difference. I will have to look into that for you. Again, this was changed after and I did not see that. >> Yeah. >> After >> my recommendation would be to with the 1,10,75468 I would approve the less >> I mean

031the only problem is like what item are you approving or not approving it's >> well yeah I don't know what I'm voting on >> I don't >> I have two conflicts on this warrant so I just want to make sure I I don't Yes. >> The difference is again like I said $37,000 >> here. Hold on a minute. it must have been when they add I didn't was not when I was doing it 754.68 68 something was add it's 37,000 directly so it would you said it nobody brought that to my attention $37,000 right here page four attuned so that is the one that was added after >> attuned on page four attuned education partners. >> It's not on there. >> We don't have >> Okay, there's the reason. >> So, approve the amount on

032the warrant will get added to the next >> to the next warrant. >> Okay. >> So, so what are we doing? >> You're approving the amount of $1,10,75468,000. >> Okay. So uh I just have to do some addition here. Just please allow me two seconds here. >> Do you guys have a calculator here? >> Steve, is your calculator work on your folks? Mine's Here you go. So, so it's included in the total but missing on the line in the page. The software allows that. The software doesn't >> This is typed up the memo. >> This is typed up. >> So what happens is there's a warrant that is approved and then when I approve it, I go ahead and when superintendent approves it, I give it to him. He approves it. We put the we

033put the number on the um the memo and that's the number that we had. There must have been something the attuned was asked to be added and it was not brought to my attention to know that we had to change that on the memo. on the finance and law agenda. >> So that's the reason why it's not reflected >> but it didn't get updated in our >> right. Okay. I have my addition subtraction. So, I guess what I I I need to do, okay, is because I guess when we we present something to the body, we can't make amendments. And as we've been doing in the past, we've been doing uh the full warrant and then I asked for an amendment to uh vote present on a couple of items that I have this in

034this case conflicts with or uh you know, how should you say I I belong to boards and commissions. Okay. So, if if if you would allow me to the warrant I'd like to uh take out $7,680, which appears on page 20, which is the amount to Pride, Inc. as I serve on the board and co-treasurer. And the other item is on page 26, which is a yonder $6,150, which I'll be voting no on. So with those two items, the warrant would be $996,924.68. Then we'll come back and vote on those other two items. Is that okay with the committee? >> So you want to vote on it less Pride Inc. on page 20 in the amount of >> 7680 >> and then >> yonder on page 266150. And then I'll bring those two items back

035and we can vote on those. Yes. >> Okay. So, the >> less the >> No, we're coming off the 1 million >> 10,75468. That's the number we're using, subtracting those two items. Okay. So, then >> Excuse me. >> Yep. >> I thought they were going to keep out the 37,000. So, then we should be coming off of the 1 million. >> Yeah. Not Not the last page. We should be coming out with the 1 million. No, the 47. And I'm sorry it should be it should be what was here on the bills payable $1,10,754.68 wasn't presented to us so we can't include it. >> So is that I'm sorry >> that is not including the attuned one here that is different. So, what we're asking is to do what has been posted on um the

036agenda and then again the difference that we have is 37,000 which the superintendent said was added $37,000 of attuned and we'll take that one and add it to the next warrant to get that one built. So, we'll take that off the warrant and then it'll be specifically exactly the amount that is on the agenda. >> Okay, understood. >> Yeah. Could could you say please ask >> could you say the amount again please? >> So the total amount of warrant is 1,10,75468. I am subtracting two items. The first item is $7,680 to Pride Inc. The second item is $6,150 to Yonder. So the net amount that I'd like a motion on to approve is $996,92468. That would be the motion to approve it. >> Okay. Motion to approve bills payable in the amount of >> 996

037924.68. >> Yes. As stated. >> Any clarification for us? Are you splitting these motions? >> Yes. >> It's going to be three motions. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> So, subtracting all Pride Inc. on page 20 and the amount of 7680 and Yonder 6150 on page 26. >> Correct. So, the motion's on the floor. Is there a second? >> Second it on discussion. >> On discussion, Mrs. Sh. >> Okay. I just I'm I'm sorry. I'm a little confused. So, I just want to make sure >> because on our last page, the amount on our last page versus the page with the actual warrant. Clearly, they don't match. So, what you're saying is that the 1,10,76 54.68 again does not include that 37. >> Correct. >> Okay. And I'm fine. Thank you. >> Okay. So, you

038seconded the motion. >> Yes. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Eyes have it. The next motion is to vote on the item in the amount of $7,680 that appears on page 20 payable to Pride Inc.. What are the wishes of the committee? >> Motion to approve as presented. >> Seconded. >> Uh uh all in favor. I will vote present. Motion carries. 20. Okay, that item is done. The last item is a amount of $6,150 that appears on page 26 payable to Yonder Inc. The amount of $6,150. What are the wishes of the committee? >> Motion to approve in the amount stated. >> Seconded. >> Uh, okay. All in favor? I. >> No. Motion carries. 2 one. And that concludes the bills payable. Motion to adjourn. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in

039favor? I. We are journ. Thank you. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone and thank you for joining us. I call the meeting to order. If you could please join us uh in the pledge. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Oh, say can you see by the dawn early light what so proudly we held at the twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the peril Perilous fight or the ramparts we watch were so gallently streaming and the rockets redare. The bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that our flag was still there. Oh, say does that star spangled then wave or the land of the free

040and the home of the brave. Mrs. Fagan will lead us in the invocation. Lord, as we begin this session, let us acknowledge your goodness and mercy and ask your blessings on all our deliberations. We thank you for this opportunity to be of service to our community and to the young people entrusted to our care. And Mayor Okonnell, I have two people that would like to ask for a moment of silence. First woman is uh Lorna Butler Rose. Lorna was one of three daughters born to Ma Emanuel and Mary Butler. She was born on November 12th, 1943. The family settled in the wear district of Taton where the girls attended Walker School and uh where Lorna formed lifelong friendships uh down the wear. She married young and became the devoted mother of of two daughters, Wendy

041and Lynn Fina, who's Peter Fina's wife, and Lynn is is a uh community facilitator for the Toron school department. The marriage eventually dissolved and she became a single parent. But she ensured her daughters never lacked for anything and always offered them her guidance, support, comfort. She advocated for for and gave care, time, and support to many family members throughout her life. Later in life, determining to make herself better, she returned to school and and proudly earned a GED. Um she encouraged higher education in her family and she worked as a com cosmetologist while raising their daughters. Later in life, she fearlessly made a major career care career change dedicating herself to caring for individuals with traumatic brain injuries, a choice that would become her most rewarding profession. She took great pride in recounting her clients

042achievements and was deeply committed to preserving their dignity and rights. Lorna eventually ended up with five granddaughters and eight greatg grandandchildren. Later in life, she opened her heart again and married Raymond, though they chose to live separately. Warner expressed deep gratitude for her son-in-laws, Raymond and Peter, and her grandsons in-laws. Knowing her children and grandchildren were always in good hands, though people made fun of her matriarchal role in the family, she she herself would proudly proclaim, "My family treats me like a queen." In truth, she earned every ounce of that love. She she passed on January 24th with her family by her side. and she was she's already had her uh funeral and everything. So, the family that burial was private. The next one sadly is a neighbor of mine who passed away on January

04313th. Anthony Tony Lopes was 79. Born in Taton in 1946, he was a proud lifelong resident whose voice, spirit, and education enriched this community. He had 56 years with his beloved wife Nancy. He was a devote devoted father of Chris and his wife Vicki and Alyssa and her husband John. Proud grandfather of four grandchildren and had left behind many nieces and nephews. And he had a few brothers and a sister that predesceased him. Tony's greatest joy was his family. He delighted in spending time with his children and grandchildren, cheering them on at countless games and sharing in their accomplishments with pride and love. But he was best known as the voice of Taunt Radio. Beginning in 1991, he hosted hometown talk radio, first as the owner of WP570 and later as general manager in Taunt

044in Middleboro. His program great gained national recognition featuring interviews with movie stars, presidential candidates, governors, senators, and congressmen. His passion for broadcasting was matched by his love of history. And if you didn't know this about Tony, he held a bachelor he he had a master's degree in history and also a master's degree in education from Bridgewater State. Um he shared all this with his listeners and community members alike. He was honored by the Prince Henry Society's Portuguese American Man of the Year in 2008 where he accepted it in memory of his parents Marian and Anton Lopes. Tony de devoted decades to youth sports in Taton. He served the Taton West Little League for 30 years as a coach, manager, league president, and board member, leading the effort to build the Taton Western Little League complex.

045He also founded and coached the wear tigers junior football team and served as coach and president of the Taton area Babe Ruth. He was a high school little league and soft umpire for 25 years. served as director of youth activities at the CIO which that dedication earned him the Marian medal for outstanding social work. Tony embraced the love of travel and he spent his winters in Bradenton Formula where he created a whole host of new friends to play cards with. Tony was a longtime member of the Elks Lodge 150, the Portuguese American Civic Club and other localization local organizations where he built lasting friendships and contributed to the civic life with Tony. Tony will be remembered for his booming radio voice, his tireless work to support young athletes, his devotion to his family, and his

046pride in his heritage. His legacy lives on in the community he served, and most importantly, in the love he gave to his children and grandchildren. Could we please have a moment of silence for both of these individuals? Thank you very much. >> Thank you, Mrs. Fagan. >> Roll call, please. >> Certainly. >> Mr. Palowski, >> present. >> Dr. Dlo, >> present. >> Mrs. Fagan is present. Mr. Laura, >> present. >> Mrs. Mullen, >> present. >> Um, Mr. De'arra, >> present. Um, Mrs. Shabs >> present. >> Chair chairman of the committee. Sorry. And mayor >> present. Thank you. Approval of the minutes. January 21. >> Motion to approve by title. >> Second. >> Motion and second. If there's no discussions on the minutes, all those in favor. >> Opposed. None opposed. So voted. Uh, we do

047not have a student advisory report this evening. Uh, we do have public input and I just want to make um a statement before we go any further that we've been advised to make by legal counsel. Pursuant to the open meeting law, this meeting is being recorded and livereamed via YouTube. The recording will be made available to the public on YouTube via a link on the district website as soon as practicable. I also ask if anyone else present is recording this meeting, please notify the chair at this time if you haven't already. And I see no one. I am informing all attendees that Allison Rosa has notified the chair that she will be video recording the session as allowed by Massachusetts law. Thank you. >> Okay, we do have some public input this evening, Madam Chair.

048>> Um the first one is Jerel Bird. >> Please state your name and your address. and we'd ask that you try to limit your comments to three minutes, please. Supplemental written comments can be submitted uh to the chair. >> Thanks. Uh Jerry Renee, 254 Rama Street to MS. Um thank you for your time tonight. Typically, I'm on the other side of the room as a district administrator. Uh but tonight, I'm here as a parent. I've had the privilege of watching my son grow through the bar foundations, reinvisioning work. uh partnership between Ton High School and the Bar Foundation. When he first started, he wasn't sure how to use his voice and that his voice mattered. But he came home from summits in the convenings talking about the real conversations he was having with administrators, teachers,

049and even the superintendent and about how his teachers and educators really were listening to him. And what's been especially powerful is how his work and how this work has changed the way he sees school. Not just as a place that he attends, but as something that he helps shape. This work has looked like students and educators sitting together, talking honestly about teaching and learning, sharing feelings, reflecting, planning together, away from the daily noise of what school feels like in and what it sounds like in schools and just spending time together. This experience is rare, but it matters. Recently, he shared how he found himself advocating not just for his own experience, but thinking about his younger sisters and the students who will come after him. As a parent, it's incredibly meaningful to hear that. I

050know the work of building schools that truly works for all students is never finished, but I'd be remiss if I did not say how excited I am about this work because I can already see the impact in my son. I have a daughter coming to the high school next year and she's excited by what she hears from her brother. She's already talking about leadership and what she might might be what might be possible for her. This gives me real hope and real hope about the about the possibility of what student voice and teacher partnership looks like in the future. I really hope that uh Totten High School and Taton in general really continues to build this these kinds of partnerships well into the future. >> And I appreciate the time here today. >> Thank you

051very much. >> Thank you. Our second one is Sarah Arbor. >> Sarah Arbor, 49 Bennett Street, Cont. And I'm here um to comment on when I had trouble with impulse control because I'm neurode divergent. So I have a gift and a curse. I'm really good at p pattern recognition and I'm really bad at impulse control. We're working on it. Um, and the thing that triggered me was like an implication that or and this was I projected this on it, an implication about book banning, right? And being like afraid of a particular topic. I'm the child of a librarian. We don't do book bannings. We don't do book burnings. We allow people um to choose. But the flip side of that is children not being able to consent to what they're consuming or what the teachers

052are presenting them with. So I think it's really important that if students are saying we don't want to engage with this material like we live in a world where we can watch genocide live streamed on TikTok. We don't need to read it in this book to get it. We should probably listen to those students. And so I believe that's what Mrs. Fagan was advocating for when she spoke out and not banning books. I believe she was trying to protect the students that do not want to engage with that material and I believe that that's commendable. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Okay. That's it for public input this evening and I would ask for a motion to go. >> So move the motion to go to item G3 number three. >> Seconded.

053>> Motion and second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed? So voted. Um, all right. If you guys could join us at the podium, please. Uh, this will be a very brief, um,formational presentation. >> Madame Mayor, thank you. Uh, school planning members, thank you for having us in. This is a uh, >> Could you just take a moment to introduce uh, yourself, please? >> Sure. >> I apologize, Madame Mayor. Um, I'm Patrick Delaruso. I am the chief financial officer, uh, for the city. >> Matthew Parent, solar consultant. >> Chris Kichel, superintendent of buildings. Tonight we um tonight again we just wanted to provide a brief update on a capital project that um we've talked about for a while, the Freeriedman uh solar project. Uh very similarly to Chamberlain um school roof. Um attached to

054the roof project were uh solar panels. Um the project is slated to break ground in the next couple of weeks. Um provided of course um snow and uh and melting. Uh and this project should um should conclude uh before the end of the school year. We are working uh collaboratively with um the school administration, the building department and our solar solar consultants to ensure a minimal impact uh to the school district and specifically Freriedman. And uh we just wanted to provide a brief illustration of what that looks like right here for everybody. So, it's a it's a little bit of a smaller project than uh than than Chamberlain just due to the uh due to the amount of electricity we can put uh out there, but this is what it looks like for everybody. And

055um we're happy to uh share this with the um with any interested parties, this is, you know, this stuff that we've already seen before. We've already discussed it before, but again, out of a abundance of transparency, we just wanted to share this with the committee. And um thank you, Madame Mayor. >> Okay. All right. Thank you. Is that it for you guys? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Superintendent Cabo. >> Yeah. So, um, thank you, uh, CFL Delaruso, and I appreciate the team being on site to answer any technical questions that I might that might be a little out of my, uh, wheelhouse, but in your packet, you should have received a memo providing you with an update. Uh, the first two paragraphs are really where I would like the committee to pay attention. So, the roof

056the roof replacement project began back on June 20th, 2025. And I am proud to report uh through Mr. Carmichael and also through our director of services, Mark Freighus, that the roof has been completely replaced at Freeman Middle School. And uh today I have not heard any complaints regarding roof leaks with the new roof. So I'm very very excited to have uh the Oakland roofs or the Oakland complex with two new roofs at Chamberlain and at Freeman. And as was discussed with the school committee, part of the project was to install uh solar panels similar to Chamberlain. So, I wanted to make sure that the committee was aware. On paragraph two, I provided you with a timeline regarding uh some very, very aggressive milestones to have the racks installed, the panels installed, and to have the

057system fully operational by Monday, March 30, 2026. So, that is the update regarding the roof, solar system, the Freeman roof, and the solar installation. >> All right. Thank you, Superintendent. Um, okay. If there's um so so again uh uh Superintendent Cabral just wanted the team to come in to kind of update you on the timeline and what's happening next. Um if there's no questions we will excuse our guests and thank them. >> All right. Thank you guys for joining us. >> Motion to accept and place on file. >> Accept >> this report. >> Oh his report. >> You know we need to do that or >> I don't really think so because it's already on file because it's on the agenda is my understanding. So >> but to file an appropriate report. >> Happy to

058motion. Is there a second? >> Second. >> Motion second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed. So voted. >> Motion to go back to regular order of business. >> Second. >> Motion second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed. So voted. Okay. Thank you everyone. So now we are on E Taton High School Southbridge convening update. And we have some special guests with us this evening for a presentation I believe. >> Yep. Uh I'm very excited and uh I apologize to the students and the staff who uh know who I hear that I our meeting went a little longer than expected uh before we started the meeting. So tomorrow you do get a superintendent's homework pass so you don't have to do any homework tonight because you because you're here so late. Uh

059but uh again I'm super super proud of the work that has taken place at the high school. Not only is it transforming the high school, I think in in my report, you're also going to hear about how this work has trickled down and impacted the entire district with the early release days that allows Mr. Bara and our principles to provide meaningful professional development. But more importantly, you know, the work that has taken place at the high school is transformational. The high schools come a long way in my seven years as superintendent. And I'm also very excited and I hope many of the school board members are able to attend Friday's visit with Commissioner Pedro Martinez from Desi where our students will lead the commissioner throughout the building highlighting the great work that has taken place

060in our early college, our chapter 74 and also the work that uh we are doing with the bar foundation. But you're tired of hearing me talk. Our special guests are at the podium and I'm can't wait to hear your perspective and for you to share your perspective with the school committee members who I think will really benefit hearing it through your lens. So, the floor is yours. >> Hello everyone. Um, my name is Ivan Vern and I am a sophomore in Taon High School. >> My name is Maddox Shabs and I'm a senior at Taon High School. >> Hi, good evening. My name is Megan Crocka. I'm 17 years old and I am currently a senior attending Taon High School. Last week I had the opportunity to attend the Bar Foundation's conference for the convening

061of cycle 3 and the initiation of cycle 4. I was in attendance with three other peers who all had varying backgrounds and perspectives in what their ths experience has been. I am proud to say that together we covered many different perspectives and personalities of students. Even though we could not represent each and every student individually at the conference, this experience was a step in the right direction in making sure all student voices are heard. It is with pride and honor that I and my fellow representatives were able to showcase a student perspective and contribute to positive change. I encourage students at ths that have an interest in following the presentation to reach out to me via email concerning questions and feedback. Our task was creating a plan to attack our complications in conjunction with improving

062our learning school community and support. Bar Foundation has been a wonderful partner who allows CHS to reimagine itself as a school with core fundamentals supporting equality, rigor, and companionship. With the enactment of principles learn through bar, we can ensure that students feel belonging are valued contributors and can successfully complete encount themselves with rigorous classwork and course content. In order to work towards this end goal, our taught team was composed of student reps including myself, dedicated and hardworking teachers, members of the bar foundation, curriculum supervisors, our assistant principal, Mrs. Bleno, as well as superintendent Mr. John. Together with our team, we aspired to create a plan by month on how to achieve our goals. To be honest, I was skeptical at first at how much work I would actually be doing on the trip and how

063much my voice was going to be heard. However, we quickly realized and were pleasantly surprised about how engaged and attentive our teachers and admin were in our presentations and thoughts. Building off of what was just shared, I want to focus on our role as students in this experience. At the bar foundation convening, we were asked to bring real assignments from our own classes, which made the conversations authentic and grounded in what students actually experience. We reflected on which assignments felt genuinely rigorous and which ones were less meaningful. And we talked about what truly helps us learn and stay cognitively engaged. What stood out most was that our input wasn't tokenized. In small group discussions with supervisors and administrators, our perspectives were treated as essential expertise and help shape conversations around purposeful learning and appropriate challenge.

064Overall, this experience showed that when students are included as real partners, the conversation around learning becomes stronger and more more effective. So today I'll be today I'll be discussing what rigorous learning means to us. Um so within our community we may think that rigorous learning just includes giving students difficult tasks but in reality rigorous learning means so much more. And with the support of the bar foundation we as a collective group of students and staff have learned three key aspects of rigorous learning. First rigorous academic work is not easy. It pushes us to get out of our comfort zones and forces us to test our knowledge intellectually and beyond our current abilities. Second, rigor includes provided feedback from teachers and peers regarding given assignments in class. Specifically, not only in class feedback gives students a

065time to reflect on where they made the mistake, it gives students multiple chances to demonstrate mastery within their given subject. And third, rigorous learning is expressed through collaborative discussions. Meaning the answer to a question was not handed to us, but was the answer was rather built on dialogue, debate, and shared reflection amongst peers. Within our time spent at the Bar Foundation's most recent gathering, we as a student group were able to convene and get to know a vast amount of educators and administrators across the state of Massachusetts. But what was really eyeopening about our experience was our ability to see our partnership with teachers in action. To further specify, fellow teachers shared lessons that were they were planning to teach to their students within coming weeks. After we followed a structured co-planning protocol to ask

066questions and to provide feedback on the lesson to make it more appealing and to incorporate key aspects of rigorous academic work. And on a more genuine note, it was amazing to see teachers actually engage within our conversations. It truly gave our thoughts and ideas a sense of purpose and value that feels exciting for the rest of my time at Ton High and for the incoming Tigers who should benefit from authentic student and teacher partnership. So where do we go from here? Our focus for the next cycle in initiative are is our work is a three-prong statement attempting to amplify cognitive lift onto students. The first of three segments is improving the eighth grade experience. In the background of our eighth grade implementations is trying to ensure strong transitions into high school, which will create a

067positive transition to the workplace or college. We hope to not only improve the rigor and learning in eighth grade classrooms, but also the support from teachers and staff. Bonding through events and shared work in concurrence with standardized expectations is a factor in our plan to improve eighth grade. Our second focus in our statement was improving academic pathways. This felt like a key improvement and change we needed to make in order to sufficiently prepare for postgrad plans. Our guidance department has been working tirelessly to improve our course selection process by developing a new form, improving course directories, and educating students through presentations. They have also been developing different pathways for students to choose from if they are looking for a specific career. Our hope is that students will be more directed towards classes that will have

068a significant impact on their post-graduate plans as well in being informed of the classes and advantages that ths currently offers. Our last segment in our plan is focused on the instructional work itself. In order to proactively prepare students, we must keep our instructional lessons and activities up to date. This includes more studentled work and discussions as well as relations to their own lives. Our sector hopes to encourage dialogue and productive conversation in unison with rigorous work. These ideas were proposed through genuine conversations and activities from a variety of different levels of staff and students. >> Thank you for listening and thank you for making us feel heard. >> All right. All right. Great job, guys. We are all beaming with pride right now. Um, superintendent, did you want to chime in first or >> I

069just want to recognize some of the adults in the audience who are very humble leaders. I see Carolyn Bono just in principal. >> I think I see Miss Cerabian. Did I see Mr. Gay? >> Did I did I miss anyone? >> So, it really takes a lot of work on the part of the adults to be able to do this work with our students and it takes a lot of time at the high school, too. So, again, I'm very proud of our students. It was as a superintendent to see our kids shining with seven other districts, superintendent, school committee members, district leaders to see our kids shine and rise and hear see them have a voice. I learned a thing or two from you. So, thank you for making me a better superintendent. >> Okay.

070Excellent. All right. And um of course, we don't want to keep anyone too long, but I do want to give the opportunity if anybody has any comments, otherwise we will dismiss. Mr. Laura, >> just briefly if I could um you know listen to you students speak, your engagement, your vision to be able to share your ideas with the educators, you give and take. So it's it's a learning experience as you see that now that you're more engaged, you feel more part of what you want to do in the future, you have a more selective mind in what you're going to accomplish. And it begins with self-evident strength that you have. And not only that, but also the fact that you're able to speak clearly in front of a crowd and you do it very proudly.

071Thank you. Thank you for that. >> All right. Thank you, Miss Laura. Mrs. Shavs. >> Thank you, Madam Mayor. Just one comment that I wanted to say about what comes next. I like the fact that your focus on on the eighth grade transition and their experience because I think that is really important. That's one of the things that the school committee has talked about, especially when we made the decision for two Hamilton Street. So, I like the fact that as students, you've realized that that's a place that you really have to focus on. And I think your voice will really be important on making that eighth grade transition better because you've done it. So, you'll be able to give them input into it. So, nice job. Thank you. >> Okay. >> All right. >> Dr.

072Dilla. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, so did you participate in one of the trips to DC? Was was where where did you guys travel to? This was South Bridge. >> This was Southbridge. Okay. South Bridge, Massachusetts. Okay. Great. So, excellent presentation. Thank you so much for coming before us. How do you bring all this energy, all this knowledge to what 500 other classmates? You're all seniors. Are you all seniors? >> One's a sophomore. >> Yeah, I'm a sophomore. >> Okay. So, there's probably about 500 per class. How do you bring that to your to your peers? I mean, do you have an opportunity to do that? Is there a a a forum that you can talk about this your experiences? >> So definitely one of the things that we were planning on doing I mean

073I know we couldn't share like our entire plan but one of our things for our eighth grade experiences was that we really wanted to have an informational night for the parents but also for the students too and not kind of making it like a lecture and kind of like boring them and stuff like that but more just showing them around the building and having people in places that they can ask those questions. as well as we were planning on having kind of like an upperassman um group that would be available for any questions that they would have and kind of introduce them. >> Great. Thank you. That's it. Thank you so much. >> All right. All right. Thank you guys. Very great job. >> All right. Moving on. We will go to the superintendent report.

074>> So I uh I won't be reading verbatim from my report. I'm just going to summarize key facts. If you just follow along, please. So, I'm very excited as part of our strategic plan and also as a followup uh to my recent evaluation, Mrs. Hoy, our director of student services and transportation, uh she wrote a very com she wrote for a competitive grant and we were one of 10 school systems in the state of Massachusetts to be awarded the Bridges to Belonging family engagement fellowship. So again, it was a very highly competitive process in being selected is very prestigious and speaks to the strength and leadership and vision of the Taton public schools. Again, I want to recognize Stephanie Hoy for leading this work. This directly aligns with an identified growth area in my superintendent

075evaluation and also aligns with priority four of our five-year strategic plan, which is stakeholder engagement. The following teams from Taton High School, Parker Middle School, and Elizabeth Pole uh will be participating to ensure there's coherence and stability as these three schools all feed into each other. and the end product will be a district-wide family engagement implementation plan that is aligned to our strategic plan. I'm also proud to to share and I will be sharing the dates with the committee in the near future. I'm also proud to share that part of my work with principal principal Pereira at the Martin Middle School and also part of my work with the bridges to belong. We're going to be scheduling a series of coffee cafes across the community where I will share the work that has taken place

076in the Taton public schools with those communities and those areas of the city that sometimes struggle to come to our meetings or that we struggle that we struggle to reach or struggle to access. So I'm very excited about that and again I will be sharing those meetings dates with the school board and you are more than welcome to attend similar to how you attended the two Hamilton Street forums. So again this work builds on what we are already doing well but I believe it will take us to the next level as I believe in continuous growth. Uh next just want to give you a quick update. Again this work aligns with something we learned from through the bar foundation which has been the early release professional development. So on January January 14th, we had our

077I believe second early release professional professional day and it was very very successful. Strong teacher attendance, strong feedback from our teachers and our principles and the work was purposeful and tied to the strategic plan and also tied to the school improvement plans that each school write has written. I want to thank the school committee. So again, you made that difficult decision of approving our calendar last year which embedded the early release days. So in addition to having our front-loaded professional development days in in August, September, now we have multiple touch points throughout the school year to make sure that the professional development is sustained and has momentum. So again, I I just want to thank you for believing in us and believing in the recommendation and the proof is in the pudding as the work

078that's taken place at the elementary, middle, and high schools is having a tremendous impact. And then last but not least, um Dr. Harrison provided me with a term two yonder pouch update. Uh Dr. Harrison again reports that the yonder pouches at the high school and the overall implementation despite a few know slip ups here and there is trending in a very very positive way. Academically 75% of our students are passing all their classes which is 12 points higher than the previous year. Also GPA and attendance are also improving. From a climate and safety standpoint, we've seen a significant reductions in suspensions, physical incidents, bullying, and tobacco related issues. The staff feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The student feedback, as we hear from Isaiah, is mixed. Uh, but the the parent the parent feedback is also

079balanced, but again, we believe it's had an overall positive impact. And I want to support the committee for making that difficult decision and also for supporting this financially because it was a substantial cost financially to get this off the ground. And with that, that concludes my superintendent reports. >> Thank you, Superintendent Cabal. If there's no questions or comments, we can move on. Okay. Uh administrative business. Uh so, superintendent FY27 budget. Similar to uh my superintendent's report, I'm just going to it's a very thick dense uh summary as far as the governor's budget impact on the state and impact at the local level. So I'll just give you a high level overview that the the preliminary FY27 state budget. I'm going to give you a quick summary and how it impacts the town public schools. So

080these numbers are based on Governor Healey's house two proposal and it's intended for us at the district level to use it as a planning guide. uh it hasn't changed much in the past but it could change as it moves through the house and moves through the senate and is finalized and officially signed off by the governor in July. So again, my commitment and the commitment of the leadership team is to bring to the committee a balanced FY27 budget that protects the educ educational quality that we have worked so hard to put in place over my seven years as superintendent but also ma ma to maintain fiscal stability beyond FY27. So statewide context know chapter 70 increased by about 242 million or 3.3% at the state level. That's modest growth. Every community in the state of

081Massachusetts can expect a $75 a 75 per pupil minimum per student and again the budget unfortunately represents the final year of the implementation of student opportunity act. So the SOA rates have been fully phased in and the inflation has been adjusted. Employee benefits in the foundation budget were increased by 8.29%. So again, benefits, insurance continued to be one of those rising costs. That's very hard for communities, not just Ton, very hard for communities to try to get their hands around. All other foundation categories, they used an inflation factor of 2.76%, which is up from 1.93% for fiscal 26. Statewide enrollment, as I shared in the last meeting, uh we saw I think I believe it was almost 15,000 students off the foundation budget books. In Taton, we saw a reduction of 93 students. 93,000 93

082students using the foundation $19,200 is about 1.6 1.7 million 68% of that 1.6 1.7 million is about 1.1 million in aid that we're not going to be receiving in chapter 70. So we we do uh we will be seeing a little bit of a hit but again we've been fiscally responsible in the previous fiscal years and I feel very confident going into fiscal 27 as far as our planning goes. So despite the drop of 93 students, the foundation budget is projected to be to increase by about $7 million. The seven million, please remember, includes the f the chapter 70 increase plus the city's requirement. So this foundation budget went up by $4.1 million. Subtract seven from 4.1. That's the city's contribution, which the city makes up for in indirect costs. And again, I just want

083to state that um foundation budget per pupil last year was $18,100. This year it's $19,200. So again, we're a high needs district. Of that $160 million that the foundation budget was established at,4 million comes in comes due to the large number of low-income students we have in the city of Tin, which is about 45 million of the 160. and our English lang English language learner uh funding increased modestly by about 2%. So what are the pressures that we are trying to manage as we prepare for FY27 is our teacher and specialist line on the foundation side only increased by $2.4 million. Employee benefits and fixed charges on the foundation aid increased by $2.7 million. Uh we also saw increases in guidance, psychological services, pupil services and operations. So that demonstrates that the state is committed

084to funding those uh level of services and maintaining the supports we currently have in the school system. In addition to transportation, which is one of the largest drivers in our budget, special education out of district tuition is one of the more unpredictable drivers in our budget, which we spend about 10% of our budget on out of district tuition. And I believe right now it's it's a little under right around 100 students. So big picture the chapter 78 is projected to increase by about $4.2 million just under 4%. The required contribution has gone up by 2.9 which is 6%. So if you look at those two lines the required contribution at the local level is exceeding the aid at the state level. So that puts pressure on the city but again that we have to factor

085in indirect costs and the city for the last since 2000 since FY13 the city of Taton thanks to Mayor Okonnell and the previous mayors has met their 100% NES school spending obligation and uh I won't go into more detail as we'll be having our budget workshop but I just want to again thank the committee for their support when we build our budgets. We've added a lot of programs over a seven-year period of time. You've been extremely fiscal responsible anticipating that the S SOA was going to come to an end and we are well positioned for fiscal 27 and and beyond. And I just want to go on record of stating that. And again, when we have our budget workshop, I'll bring to you our we'll continue to build a budget that models our shared priorities

086that is fiscally responsible but always and always student centered and student focused. And that concludes my budget update. >> Thank you, Superintendent Cabraw, Dr. Dilla. >> Mayor, thank you so much. uh superintendent through you mayor based on your budget message I ask this every year teachers in the classrooms no layoffs programs for the students sustained no problem at all based on these numbers so the goal every year right the goal every year is to roll everything we currently have in place forward it doesn't mean there might not be some soft cuts based on bubble classes so if you have a bubble class in the fourth grade and that that group of students is moving on to the fifth grade there could be a reduction that way but as far as maintaining the 19 to1 class

087size average that we maintain. I believe we have everything in our budget and that we've planned for this to move everyone forward. There may be some again some reduction maybe there's an administrative position that we can uh collapse in two administrative positions we can collapse into one. There would be a savings some of our contracted services that we've already made tough decisions this year that are in the budget that'll roll over next year. So maybe we continue to roll those funds over for unanticipated expenses. >> Okay. just my concern about teachers in the classroom and services for supporting our students and I'm not concerned about administrative positions cutting those. So, thank you so much. >> Okay. All right. If there's no further questions, >> motion to accept the report and place >> seconded. >> Motion

088and second. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed? So, voted. Next, we have the Taton Public School staffing update. >> Uh justformational purposes only, but I would just note uh Sorry, an error on the chart. If you go to the pending column and all the way down to total, it should say three, not five. Just a just a typo. I apologize. >> Okay. All right. Thank you, superintendent. Um, so we'll we can just move on from there. We've already done number three. Um, and then we have next field trip requests. So on the first field trip, we are seeking 90-day approval for the Martin school trip to New York City. Mr. Barat, I believe, has attached a cover memo. And then we also have the Taton High School Key Club competition. You'll notice that

089there that's asterisk because that competition starts it begins or will take place in 29 days, not 30 days. So I'm asking that the committee still approve it despite it not being the a 30-day notice. Motion to approve the uh Martin Middle School, New York City trip. Um, that's the first item. >> Second. >> Motion and second to approve the Martin Middle New York City trip. If I got that correct, >> all those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None opposed. So voted. And then we have the Key Club. >> So I'm I'm sorry, Madame Mayor. Could you explain this is because it's less than when is this trip taking place? March 27th. Yeah, I think we missed the cut off by one day getting giving you guys the notice on 30-day notice. So, I apologize.

090>> Motion to approve as presented. >> Thank you, Dr. Dilla. >> Motion and second to approve as presented. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed. So, voted. All right. Excellent. Looks like they're going. Okay. Then we have uh subcommittee reports. Elementary school subcommittee 220 uh 2426. Mr. Laura. >> Thank you, Madame Mayor. The elementary subcommittee meeting was held this afternoon with the presentation of the Elizabeth Pole school improvement plan. Present were myself as chairman, Mrs. Fagan, and Mrs. Mullen, Superintendent Caball, and Mr. Barada along with Principal Annabella Jones. The meeting was called to order at 5:00 pm. Principal Jones presented a school improvement plan for the Eole Elementary School, highlighting the areas of focus with the overall goals for each area of improvement, including teacher involvement and impact. Staff consists of 77 full-time members.

091In terms of gender, the staff is predominantly female at 73% with males representing 4% of the workforce. Compared to district and statewide averages, the school staff is less racially diverse with a notably higher percentage of white educators. This data underscores the importance of continuing efforts to recruit and retain more of a diverse staff, reflecting of the student population and the broader community demographics. Based on this data, there are key impacts observed. diversity and representation. Staff is predominantly white and female, highlighting the need of for targeted recruitment and retention strategies to build a more diverse workforce. Cultural competency limited racial ethnic diversity underscores the importance of professional development in culturally responsive and inclusive practices. Uh along with this we have equity and student report. Aligning staff perspectives with student diversity can enhance mentorship, engagement and a

092sense of belonging for all students. This was highly promoted by the principal in her teaching in her in her presentation that they are working very focused on issues as I've just mentioned. Um, this school serves a total of 637 students with a diverse population. Uh, this diversity enriches our learning environment and informs our commitment to equity and inclusion in all areas of the school improvement plan. Principal Jones states that academic excellence and emotional well-being are inseparable at Elizabeth Pole Elementary. We are a school grounded in purpose where teachers know their students deeply. Learning is intentional and joyful. Our our improvement work centers in a simple idea. When students feel seen, they engage. When instruction is meaningful, they grow. Three areas of focus along with their um SIP plan. rigorous instruction and English proficiency and math

093skills where all educators use math and literacy data to develop and implement intervention specifically to student needs. A number of resources I utilize to achieve these goals. All students will experience daily uh daily learning that promotes deep understanding, curiosity and academic growth to produce writing in response to grade level text which demonstrates master of the identified writing standard with the overall goal to improve MCCAST. Second area is the uh area of developing and strengthening tier one and tier two social and emotional systems of support to address the needs of our students, their families and all educators. All educators will implement a mindup curriculum, administer mental health screenings and interventions as needed and utilize student support meetings to monitor strategies. In addition, the school will utilize reset room staff and resources to support students that are

094exhibiting tier one or tier three level of need. Lastly, the focus on student attendance and chronic absenteeism. Reduce chronic absenteeism by 10%. Improve daily average attendance to 95.5. Increase the students sense of belonging as measured by Celis and vocal data. Increase a number of per of perfect attendance certificates awarded each month to each student and decrease the number of students referred to the community facilitator and tru truency uh officer. Now with action items again and this is my conclusion here that individual class students and grade level recognition for attendance as they are monthly recognized for their per perfect attendance. There's a lot done with the school. And in conclusion, Principal Jones presented her SIP in a very positive fashion along with the team with much enthusiasm, dedication, and commitment to her position, detailing the plan,

095utilizing a multitude of resources and techniques to ensure her goals and objectives were fully implemented. This according to her has created a more effective learning environment which offers greater results to the student. The meeting ended at 5:30. This concludes my report. >> Thank you, Mr. Laura. Is there a motion to accept? >> Motion to accept the report. >> Motion and second to accept the report. All those in favor? >> Opposed? None opposed. So voted. Finance and Law 26 2024. Oh, that should be 26, I imagine. Um, Dr. Dlo, >> thank you, Mayor. Yeah, it's 24th 2026. We're not going back in time. Anyway, uh, the finance and law subcommittee met earlier tonight consisting of Mrs. Shaw, Mr. Vieira, and myself as chair. The first item of business was bid opening for the school transportation bid.

096We received six bids. A motion was made uh, and uh, unanimously approved to uh, move it to administration for review by the consultant and assistant superintendent Monahan. Uh that was the first item. The second item was the student activity request. It was to replenish the Taton High School uh student activity account by $22,14316. Once again, that was voted unanimously. The third item was donations received and the donations consisted of let's see here one item uh in this case many items from Riverhead Building Supply which consisted of coats, hats, clothing, soccer balls, footballs and other uh other items uh in the amount of $679 uh specifically dedicated to students at Parker and Pole. And the second donation was received from Jordan's Furniture, uh, laundromat gift cards, clothing, non-p perishable food items, and some Walmart gift cards

097to the entire uh, TPS families in the amount of $535. The total donation received and approved unanimously was uh, for the amount of $1,214 and a letter of acknowledgement of thank you was being sent to these uh, two organizations. Uh, the next item was the PE card. Uh the information was shared by assistant superintendent regarding a policy manual uh usage a checklist uh a signin sign out sheet. Uh this of course created much discussion uh and the the outcome uh kind of spurred from uh the meeting prior which I had some inquiry and just for the record uh assistant superintendent did provide us with all the backup and this is basically the backup for the people at home that we received. So uh I thank you for that assistant superintendent. uh the pecard um I

098think we made a recommendation that we now reach out to the city side including the mayor and uh the city council and the treasur's office to better construct a pdeium uh based on our travelers meaning that of course uh what could cost $10 for breakfast in Kansas City would cost $30 or $40 in New York City. So there will be a letter forthcoming drafted by the superintendent uh to meet and um kind of be on the same page uh regarding uh perdm allowances for our employees as they travel on uh school business. Uh that was voted unanimously by the three committee members. The next item was a two Hamilton Street expense uh update. Um I I it was misinterpreted by the superintendent on a motion that was made. The original motion was to receive expenses

099completely related to two Hamilton Street from January 1st to December 31st of 2025. What was presented tonight was an update on the Habib and Associates architects and the kitchen. So basically what was presented was that out of the 550 thou $555,000 approved by the school committee back in November uh there's still a balance of 482,000 towards the expense of Hhabib and Associates. So the superintendent assured us that uh maybe at the next meet next meeting maybe not bills only in the near future we'll get a complete update on the two Hamilton Street expenses that was received in place on file. Uh the last item was disposal of surplus materials. The MLK school laminators. Again, uh a motion was made to dispose of it through our normal policies and procedures. That was voted unanimously to dispose

100of those items. And the last item was a bills payable. And for the folks at home, uh the actual uh agenda item listed a FY26 bills payable in the amount of 1,10,754.68. uh yet the total warrant was a little bit different in discrepancy of $37,000. So what we relied on and voted on were three different motions. Uh the first motion was to and the reason this was spread out is because of uh my participation uh in one of the organizations on the warrant and the other one was because it was a no vote. So we had to separate this out. So, the first motion that was uh voted on unanimously was to pay the warrant in the amount of $996,92468 cents. Again, voted unanimously. The next item was to vote for $7,680 to Pride Inc.

101Uh that vote passed two uh to zero. I voted present as in my affiliation with Pride, Inc. as a board of director and co-reasurer. And the last item was a warrant in the amount of $6,150 payable to Yonder Inc. where I voted no. So it was a 2-1 vote and that vote passed. And the total warrant once again 1,10,754.68. Uh that's it. That's my report. I conclude my report. >> Thank you, Dr. De Miller. Is there Mr. Vieira? >> I'm just going to make a motion to accept the report and adopt the recommendations of the finance and laws committee. Thank you, Madam Mayor. >> Second. Motion and second. All those in favor? >> I >> opposed. None opposed. So voted. Okay. Uh excuse me. We don't have any new business and we have a motion.

102We need a motion to go. I'm sorry. Oh, excuse me, Dr. Yeah. under new business. U I I know we went out of order and uh you know, we have students in the audience. I I I think that our students come first and I feel very fondly about this because we don't know when we go out of order how long presentation is going to take. So in the future if we could just maybe consider our students first I really really appreciate that. That's all I want to mention. Thank you so much. >> Yeah and and we did have that discussion and we were confident it would take less than five minutes which it did. So and I understand too because that thought was on my mind as well that we have students here. So thank

103you. Okay. Jay, could someone make the motion to uh we're on letter J. Sorry. >> Make the motion to go into >> motion to go to executive session through roll call. Can you read the what's on the agenda, please? >> You going to do it, mayor, or do you want me to read? >> If you could uh make the motion, please. Motion to go in executive session to for the purpose of reviewing and considering confidentiality of minutes for executive sessions held on the dates of 11724 35 2025 429 25 41625 and 61825 72325 5 8 2025 and 932025. The executive is session is pursuant to the laws cited for each underlying executive session meeting under review including but not limited to M Massachusetts general law section 3A paragraph 21 addendum three. >> Could we have

104a second? >> Go for the second. >> Excuse me. No, I think we should separate these. >> I'm sorry. >> Yeah. Motion to go >> Oh, there's two. Okay. Okay. I didn't >> Motion to go into executive session on a roll call vote. >> Yes. >> One second. So, I'm sorry. Can we just back up one second? So, do we have two different >> Okay, I see. All right. I I didn't read it that way at first. Um All right. So, uh Dr. Dlo just made a motion, but there was no second, so we can get a second. >> Second motion. >> Okay. All right. So, motion, second. Honor roll call, please. Thank you, Mrs. Fagen. >> I seconded the motion. >> Oh, sorry. >> Yes. >> That's how we went to roll call. Yes.

105>> Yes. >> Not necessarily. So, all right. And then we have one more. Mrs. Mullen, would you like to >> So this executive session uh motion to go into executive session pursuant to Mass General Law 30A paragraph 21 A1 to discuss open meeting law compli uh complaint filed against committee on January 13, 2026 and to reconvene in open session. >> Second on roll call vote. Motion and second on roll call, please. Mrs. Fagen. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> All right. We will be in executive session. What is mine? >> Motion to go out of to go back into executive s to go out of executive session into full session. >> Second. Second on a roll call vote. >> Yes. Okay. We met in an executive session. We voted on all of the minutes identified in

106the agenda. We also voted on the open meeting law complaint. So now we're at K on our agenda. Unfinished business. Um action item updates goes to Superintendent Cabal. >> No this time. >> Okay. Do we have any press? >> No. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> The eyes have it. Meetings adjourned. Thank you.