Taunton School Committee...October 15th, 2025

001Good evening. The uh finance and law subcommittee uh meeting shall come to order. I'll start off with attendance. Mr. Shavez, >> present. >> Mr. Vieira, >> present. >> Chairman Dlo present. First item on the agenda, we have a food services update. See attached memo. Turn over to you, Mrs. Monahan. Welcome. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Coming from our food service director. He provided us some monthly totals for meals for the month of September. Um, as you can see, total meals for the month of September was over 180,000 meals um for the month, 63,132 of those uh breakfast and 117,133 lunches per month. Average daily breakfast, we have over 3,000 breakfastes are served and over 5,500 lunches are served throughout the district which averages a daily 8,584 lunches. >> Great. Any uh comments, Mr. Shabs? >>

002What's the wishes of the committee? >> Motion to accept the report. >> Seconded >> and place on file. All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Eyes have it. Next up, we have the FY26 quarter 1 budget update. First item is the FY26 appropriation for quarter 1 report. Back to you, Mrs. Monahan. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Again, first one is our line item budget. Again, we are at uh the quarter 1, which is 25%. If you look at all of our lines, again, it goes appropriation, how much we've expended on each line, and the balance of each line, and then the percentage expended per line. And you can see if we go all the way down to the very end to see where we are at for our $131 million budget, we have um spent

0039.08% of our budget, which is um very much the same compared to last year as well. >> Same training. Good. Any questions, comments? >> Wish to the committee. >> Motion to receive and place on file. >> Seconded. >> All in favor? Opposed? Eyes have it. Next up, we have FY26 revolving account quarter 1 report. >> Um, as you can see here, we have all of our revolving accounts beginning balances beginning from July 1st, 2025. We had a beginning balance of $3.1 million. In that quarter one, we've had revenue coming in of just over a half a million dollars with expending about $168,000, which keeps us in our revolving budget balance of $3.4 million. >> Okay, great. So, uh, on this one, I'll open it up to the committee first for any questions, comments. >> Nothing.

004Uh my um my question the food services. So that's not on this. >> No, it is not. >> Okay. And why isn't it uh >> we don't usually track that one here on our revolving. >> Okay. >> Because it's an independent um department. >> All right. Okay. Just so thank you. Wish to the committee. >> Motion to receive and place on file. >> Second. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. And last item is FY26 grants quarter 1 report. >> All of our grants. We have closed out most of our grants from F all of our grants from FY24. So you will see that we have currently FY25 and FY26 grants going through with the name of the grant, the manager, the purpose, start date, end date, the award amount, and how much

005we have spent and current um balance. So for FY25 grants, we have um we have over over $6.7 million in a grant funding which still have outstanding of 6.6, excuse me, $2.6 million to spend. FY26 grants we have um $8.1 million with a balance still of $ 8.14 million. We started out having already with uh FY27 grants and that one just came in at 16,000. So currently we have a total of $14,987,694 worth of grants. Then of course because we've encumbered and expended, we still currently have a balance of $10.8 million in grant revenue. >> Excellent questions. Mrs. Shs, >> just a couple of questions. So uh just to be clear, so some of these GL grants are multi-year, >> correct? Yes, your entitlement grants are, but yes. Yes. And usually I think they are

006supposedly with they should be with asterisks on them as well. Uh fence p there some of those are funds pending approval. Um those are the ones with the stars and those are usually your entitlement grants that are coming through. >> Okay. And is there one person in particular that is in charge of um watching these grants to make sure we don't lose any money that we >> Oh, absolutely. We follow over. We do have um a grants coordinator, Timothy Clark. He and I work um work very closely together. Um we we meet regularly. He sends reports weekly to make sure that we are expending all funds. Yes. >> All funds. Excellent. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Uh I have one uh question. So on uh the 994 CPPI summer, >> uh there was a

007grant balance of 36,458 and it appears that end dates already elapsed. Is there a reason we didn't spend it all? >> Is it the FY26 one? It says start date 7125, end date 83125. >> Right? Because what happens is we have um we do have that some of them is encumbered and you do have a few months still after the grant has um ended and approved to use those fundings. So that will be all um spent out as well. >> Okay. So we're not sending any money back? >> No. >> Okay. Good. Wishes of the committee. >> Motion to receive and place on file. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> I opposed. Eyes have it. And the last item on the agenda is bills payable. We'll start off with FY25 in the amount of

008$316,35340. >> Motion to approve in the amount stated. >> Seconded on discussion. >> Yes, Mrs. Sh. >> I just wanted an explanation for the two um the 311,000 computer custom computer specialist. They are for 650 Chromebooks that we purchased and so therefore when they do all come in that was on part of the encumbered list but once we all um receive all the orders then we go ahead and pay out that um >> Excellent. And the Gregory for the maintenance of the grounds for 3700. Yes, he does the snow plowing um at um at Gallagghan um with the parking at the nearby um church that is there and we had finally reached out well we finally got um in touch with him and then he sat down with us and we ended up um hashing

009out all the invoices that he had and we paid him out. >> Okay. So he had >> well he did we kept waiting for him and kept reaching out but it was a little bit of some time but we got it done. Okay, thank you. >> And just so I can make an um as you know, I know that Dr. Dell, you always ask this kind of stuff. So, I did pull a report for the FY25 incumbrance. Um we had encumbered uh $1.68 million for FY25. We have paid $1.1 million um of that incumbrance. So, we just have just over a half a million dollars left. And we do follow that or I follow that quite closely with the accounts payable staff as well. >> Okay. >> Mr. Have you heard or anything? >> Um

010I I I mean I guess my question would be how long have those bills been sitting around for for Gregory Pimento and >> well probably through the through the spring through March and I mean uh we our staff goes ahead and does their due diligence with contacting and all um and and what we did was we rectified it so it has been completed. >> So they they are from 2025. >> Yes. Correct. >> Okay. That's that's absolutely the question. Thank you so much. So I I guess I guess we need to just uh explain a little bit more about this relationship. So in lie of allowing our folks to park at the church, >> we're responsible for snowplowing. Correct. Correct. >> Is that what this is coming from? Correct. Okay. And then we hire an

011outside vendor to take care of that. >> Pay their vendor. So did they hire >> because the church >> it gets a little wonky with the church because the church doesn't always their hours don't align with our hours. So during the week when they have their weekday mass he comes in to plow the church and while he's plowing the church he's also allowing our staff to park there. So our staff who normally plow can't always get there on time to plow the church. And if we do send them early, we're going to be paying overtime. So there are days where we don't need our staff to go out and plow, but the church needs because of the nature of their business with people walking in and out of the church. They have them come in,

012sand, salt. Uh so that's in lie of pay. >> No, no, I'm not opposed to this. I I mean, I think it's a good deal. I mean, we're using parking for how many cars? I mean, I've been there. It's pretty big. >> What church is this? >> Uh St. Jude is St. Jude, right? >> St. Andrew the Apostle. >> St. Andrew. They've changed a lot of names around so >> no it's okay. >> So Kilmer >> Kilmer yes and Galligan would be the >> used to be just so it used to be cost neutral because in exchange for parking in the lot we used to allow them to use the classrooms for CCD. So now that they're not using Gallagan school for CCD um we incurred the cost for the parking. >> I think it's

013fair. Okay. Great. So wish of the committee. >> We're ready to vote. Mr. Chairman, >> I'm sorry I didn't call the vote. >> No, it's okay. >> Okay. So, bill FY25 bills payable bill amount in the amount of 316,353.40. Motion to >> Does anybody make a motion? >> Yes, we made the motion. Motion was made and seconded. We're ready to all in favor. >> Opposed? Eyes have it. Thank you so much. I won't get sidetracked on FY26. So FY26 bills payable is1,99,9503. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I make a motion to pay the bills in the amount of 1,999,950 [Music] for FY26, >> I think. Yeah. >> Let's restate that motion. 1,99,950. You're right. I I did add an extra n 53 cents. 53 cents. >> Thank you, Superintendent. >> You're welcome. >> Seconded on

014on um discussion, >> Mr. Sh. >> Okay, I have a few of them, so please bear with me here. This was hefty, so we just want to We were over 30 something pages here. So, my first question was on page three. Under the Amazon list, there was an instructional technology line for $2,473.24. And I just thought that was sort of odd that something from technology was coming from Amazon. >> Sometimes what happens is we can't get things quickly from our our vendors that we normally would purchase. This one I believe is um projectors. So it takes a little bit longer. Um and of course we want to make sure that we have the teaching uh tools in the classroom for our teachers. >> Okay, that makes sense. >> It also could have been the monitor

015or the charging. >> No, those are those are just happening. >> Yeah. Okay, page four. Um, American commercial appliance. It says equipment repair. Where was that for $3,432? >> So, those are area different places. That's for food services. That's for ths pole um and ETEs for the grill, oven, steam table, warmer, and steam cooker. >> Okay. on page five, um the B&H photo video instructional hardware for $5,740.30. >> That is for the high school um photography class. Those are supplies for the classroom. And below on that same page, Better Lessons, I have a few questions in some of the software because I'm not familiar with them. So, Better Lessons was one of them. and it's instructional software for $23,875. >> So, that one is it is something that we've normally used in the past. It's

016just got bought out. Um it's ABLE, the um high school scheduling software that we they have been using for multiple years, but again, it has been bought out by better lessons and it was formerly ABLE. That makes sense. That's why I didn't recognize it. Um page eight, um Gale for instructional software 9,900. This is for the high school business department. Um, accounting software. >> Accounting. Thank you. Um, page 10. Dell marketing instructional software for $50,953.68. >> This is your uh Microsoft Office um payments that we have for the It's all the licenses for Microsoft Office throughout the district. >> Yeah, those would be a lot too. Mhm. Um page 16. Um Hide Paving did the site improvement for 30,000. What site was that? >> That's at the high school for the fitness court. Um the

017new fitness court. >> That's what I thought it was, but I just wanted to double check. >> Sure. >> Um the next one is on page 21. Medley Learning instructional software for 25,500. that is um a license for the English language learners. Um it is an annual software license to use by the our students. >> Okay. Page 22. Um nationwide fixture installation site improvement for 36,000. >> So that is the installation cost for the um fitness court at the high school >> which we which we've already pre-approved. Correct. So, yes. And the last one I have is on page 30. Spirit recognition. >> Um, for $3,869.3 says distributed ed supplies. >> That's usually then spirit. That could be for DECA. I'm looking at that. Spirit recognition. Yep. DECA uh store uh supplies. >> DECA store

018supplies. >> Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you, Dr. Dilla. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, Superintendent Monan. You answered both of my questions. Uh Microsoft Office subscription on page 10 and Hide Paven for 30,000 which um you told us was the high school fitness court. So my questions are satisfied. Thank you so much. >> I just have one uh bottom of page 19 to page 20 uh MPD for 2000. What is that? MPD >> 19 MPD MP this is the membership to mass partnership for diversity and education and that is for our human resource department. >> So all uh human resource staff are >> a part of it would be a part of an organization. >> So it's just a membership. >> Yes. A membership to mass partnership for diversity

019and education. Correct. >> Okay. All right, great. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you so much. >> Motion to adjurnn. >> Is there a second? Mrs. Shav's motion to adjurnn. All in favor? >> I We are adjourned. Thank you. >> Good evening. The uh second regular meeting of the school committee shall come to order. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance and the star spangle banner. I pledge algiance 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 last fight. Or the ramparts

020we watched were so gallently streaming and the rockets red. 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 and the home of the brave. Please remain standing. Secretary Fagan. 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 if you'll uh please remain standing, we're going would like to have a moment of silence for uh Mark Evan Peters who was killed in a uh tra died tragically in a work accident on Friday, October 10th. He leaves behind his wife Grace and

021their son Gabriel who is a eighth grade student at Taton High School. He even though he was a number four of number five and it looks like he had a lot of sisters. Um he always took on the role of big brother for everybody who was around him. He was a tremendous husband and father. And by the way he was also a mentor to all his several nieces and nephews that he had too. and just always took care of people. Tremendous father and husband. He was um he and his wife had been together for 22 years and married for 17. And the best buddy in his world was his son Gabriel. He was he was kind guy kind guy that wore the PJs for the holiday photo shoot and always up at for the family

022Halloween costume. and they all had regular routines, had great vacations together, and he truly loved his family. He would check in on his mother, Marleene, after her his dad had passed, and he found a way to be there for all of his friends. Um, and hanging around in his Saturday night man cave. Um, his life was about caring as much as he could, loving as much as he could, and taking very little. He has been taken far too soon and has left a giant hole in the hearts of so many. And his graveside services will be tomorrow on the October 16th and there'll be Shiva at his mother's his wife's home, their home um on Friday and Saturday and Sunday. So please keep this family in in your thoughts and in your prayers. Thank you.

023>> Thank you. Secretary Fagan, if you uh call the role, please. >> Yes. >> Mr. Reus is absent. Mrs. Shaws, >> present. >> Mr. Palowski, >> present. >> Mrs. Fagan is present. >> Miss Santos, >> present. >> Mr. Vieira, >> present. >> Mr. Laura, >> present. >> Chairman, Dr. Dlo, >> present. Thank you so much. Uh first item we have approval of minutes of October 1st 2025. >> Motion to approve minutes of >> October 1st, 2025. Second. >> All in favor? Opposed? Eyes have it. Next up, we have a student advisory committee report. Welcome, Isaiah. >> Thank you. As Dr. Jlo said, my name is Isaiah Wendle and I am part of the Taton High School student advisory committee. Um just a few updates from Taton High School today. Uh progress reports for term one

024were released yesterday, October 14th, and are now available for review on the community portal. This marks our first academic checkpoint of the year and give students an opportunity to reflect on their progress and make adjustments as needed moving forward. Uh term one progress uh term one report card grades will be closing October 31st, um Halloween. Additionally, we're also in the middle of senior night season, which is always a meaningful time for our student athletes. Tonight, our girls soccer team will be celebrating their senior night at 6:00 with a home game. They've had a strong season so far with a record of 6 to 7, and we are looking forward to seeing them continue the year on a high note. In addition, our girls volleyball team will also be hosting their senior night this evening. Both

025teams have shown tremendous dedication and teamwork throughout this season and it's great to see their hard work be recognized. That concludes my student advisor report. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Wendell. Thank you so much. Uh just a a personal note. So, I I frequented uh Mr. Wendell's workplace this past weekend and there was a mini reunion of of TAT and school employees and teachers and so forth. But, you know, as as soon as I walked into the store, I saw Isaiah off in the distance at his podium. And, you know, it's such a great feeling to see you leading that entire store. I mean, I'm so proud of you. We're all proud of you. And, uh, you know, reflects on your reports and everything you do. Uh, and and I went for one specific

026reason. I don't usually frequent that store and it was sold out. But Isaiah left his podium, went into the bakery and found out if there were any left and there weren't any pies left. So anyway, he did everything he could to to keep the customer happy. So thank you so much, >> Mr. Chairman. >> Yes, Mr. >> In addition to that, >> whenever you go into that store, anybody wants to know anything about that store, who's that's who they go to. Isaiah, he just knows everything. All the all of the employees just come over to him and they every question that they ask, he knows the answer. Fabulous contribution to the establishment. >> Thank you. Thank you. I do try. I have the four years experience there. >> Wow. Amazing. Great. Uh next up we

027have public input. Uh we have one citizen signed up uh by the name of Stephen Palm. Uh topic is youth mental health uh Casey project. Secretary Fagan, >> do you want me to read this statement? Okay. from public input. In accordance with Massachusetts General Laws, Chapter 39, Section 23C, we kindly request that individuals wishing to provide public input sign up in advance. A copy of the regulation and guidelines will be provided upon sign up and individuals be asked to state their name and address for the record. The amount of time each registered individual will have to speak will be determined by the number of people who sign the register and will be announced prior to the start of the public input portion of the meeting. >> Welcome Mr. Palm. Uh since we don't have any

028others folks signed up, we usually allow three minutes, but please as much time as you need. >> Thank you. I appreciate that. Uh my name is Steve Palatin Drive, East Taton. Uh some of you may recognize me as your local UPS driver. Um, I'm also the president of the Casey Project and I am co-chair of the Bristol County Regional Coalition for Suicide Prevention. Um, some of you may know my story, but I'm going to share it if you don't. Uh, on July 17th, 2014, uh, I lost my daughter Casey to suicide. She was 14. So, for the past eight years, I've been learning as much as I can, uh, talking to as many people as I can about mental health, uh, mental health struggles. Uh, I've met an incredible amount of people doing amazing, amazing

029work trying to change the outcome for another family, uh, for someone who may be struggling. Um, I did pass out some binders. I'm I'm going to bounce around a little bit. Um on the top page is uh some work that I've talked to other people that um have done work in other communities with their schools with with their their cities there in their towns. Um the first thing I wanted to point out is uh so when we talk about suicide prevention and mental health, it's breaking the stigma. the stigma of mental health. The more we talk about it, the more comfortable people people are talking about it, uh, the more willing people to share their stories, their struggles, and their hopes, and what they've done to get help, help themselves, and help others. Uh, one

030of the families that I've met is, uh, Mark and Cynthia Brisnan. I met them at a grief support group about, uh, seven years ago. Um, they had lost their daughter Ally to what at the time was a car accident, but it was actually she had taken her own life. She was a freshman at UMass Amherst. And she left him a note. And I just on page five, it's highlighted for you in that binder. This was part of her note. It says, "I know I can get help, but I choose not to get it because I don't I don't want people looking at me differently for the rest of my life." and that that's what the stigma of mental health can do. She knew she could get help and she chose not to because she was

031worried about what other people would think. So that's why we need to talk talk about it with everyone uh especially our our youth. So at the Kazy project um I often drag my wife with me. We go to different events. We uh do a resource table uh provide different different information, different programs. Uh I'm typically wearing a uniform all week, but if you see me on the weekend, I'm usually going to have a 988 shirt or some kind of mental health shirt on. Um it opens up a conversation for somebody to approach me. It it happens. Uh some people turn and look the other way, but some people will come right up to me and ask ask about my shirt. Uh, one of the other things we do, um, we do it three times, well,

032three months out of the year, we're able to, uh, put up digital billboards. We've done it on Route 24, Route 140, uh, Route 93, uh, Route One in Foxboro. Um, and we talk about the 98 number. There is help available 24/7. And I just have one that I just wanted to show you, and it has a statistic. It says suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people between 10 and 24. And a lot of people don't realize that that statistic. Um so last last May, you might not be able to see it from there. Um I put out a call and asked if anybody had a would like to submit a photo of the young person that may have died by suicide. And we had 14 photos including my daughter and seven

033rotations. every rotation on that digital bill billboard was two two different photos and that was up for the month of May which is uh mental health awareness month. Um December we've already signed a contract. It's going to be right up the street from um Gillette Stadium uh with the displaying the 98 988 number. It's it's going to say the holidays can be difficult. We are here for you 247. Text chat. A lot of people young people they don't want to talk. They want to text and chat. So, in that binder, I had a couple conversations in preparation to talk about this. Uh, last week, I spoke with Dr. Kim Me. Um, she's the president of and uh co-founder of Sharing Kindness Down Cape Cod. Uh, she lost her 16-year-old son Jeremy to suicide. Uh, she's

034a medical doctor and she quit her practice to start sharing kindness. and they're doing this amazing work throughout the Cape. Um I don't know if anybody is famili familiar with the Hope Squad, but the Hope Squad is it's a it's a peer-to-peer program in for high school students. Um the way it works is a a mentor uh a voluntary mentor. So say a guidance counselor or a library and a coach. Maybe somebody volunteers um a student may go to this person. Anyways, hope squad brings in a trainer. Uh they train the the staff that volunteer to be uh adviserss to students who are nominated by their co- students. Some students are going to they're not going to talk to an adult about their their issues who first person they're going to go to is a

035friend. If they know they have peers in school who can they can go to about their mental health. I'm struggling with my mental health. these students are going to be trained on what to do, who who am I going to talk to, what am I going to say, and that's um that's they now have it in 14 schools down the Cape Cod. And that's that number 14 is that's huge. Um I just met another family that um was able to get the hope squad in Westport and they're working on Dartmouth. Um so I I there is a little bit of information in that binder. Um Dr. can meet Walters. Um, her email address is here and if anybody wants to have a conversation with her or if I I'd be willing to set up something

036I could facilitate a presentation from someone from Hope Squad, their their advisers could come here and talk to you. Um, the next thing I've been to eight suicide prevention conferences over the last eight years in the state of Massachusetts. I meet a lot of people there. I I've sat through a lot of panels. One of the one of the panels I sat through this year was um it was by Lello Cares Coalition and I spoke to Dr. Frank Tiano this week. He's a superintendent of schools of um Lello. And this panel had stuck out with me so much because it was the superintendent and a community organization that came came through came together and on one of the inservice days they trained every single teacher in mental health youth mental health first aid. So that

037they had a full day of suicide prevention training. Um that's very that's an intense program. Uh, I know our teachers have a lot on the plates that it is, but he he said, you know, I'd like to quote him exactly, but I I can't exact. He said it was one of the best inservice days they've had. Uh, his information is there if anyone had a conversation with him. Uh, and then there's some basic programs. QPR, question, persuade, refer. Um, some of you may have done that uh earlier this year. Um, on January 18th, which would have been my daughter's 25th birthday. We were able to collaborate with Ride 22 which is a veteran suicide prevention organization and the city and we're able to open city hall on a Saturday morning and use the big room

038there and we trained almost 50 people in QPR. We didn't ask for any registr registration you know had no idea how many people were coming. So almost 50 people I it was quite a success and I'm hope hopefully we can do that again someday. Uh, and that then I also have a list of available documentary screenings. Um, so I'm going to be retiring from my full-time job next June as a UPS driver. And the current director of the Bristol County Regional Coalition for Suicide Prevention, Amarie Mutullis, which some of you may know, she is going to retire at the end of the fiscal year, which happens to coincide with the time that I'm going to be retiring. So, I will be taking over as director of Bristol County Coalition and I would be more than

039happy to work with the school committee to implement any kind of programs. Um, the cost we we we have uh we've been very successful in our fundraising. Uh, for instance, the Hope Squad, it cost $4,000 to bring in the trainers to train the adviserss. We would cover that cost. And then there's ongoing cost, a yearly cost of $2,500 uh for updated curriculum in retraining. As long as I'm alive and breathing, that cost would be covered. You know, there would be no cost incurred to the school system if if they wanted to bring in something like the Hope Squad. Um so in closing I the if the community and the schools and families can come together and try to solve a problem and and it can be done. You know these things that if I heard

040about this a while ago and said you can't do that but you need some motivated people and the the right person to listen you can get things done. So, I'd like to make a difference in the mental health of our youth and I want to make a difference. >> Thank you. >> Mr. Palmer, I had an opportunity to uh watch you before uh city council a couple weeks ago and of course uh you're here tonight and of course these are all our students, right? Whether you're a city councelor, a planning board member, a school committee member, they're all our community, all our students. So, we don't really comment on public input, but we can refer to the administration if there's a motion. Someone would like to make a motion. >> I would make that as

041a motion. >> Second. >> And all in favor? >> I >> eyes have it. Thank you so much. >> Yes. >> Thank you. Thank you everyone. >> Thank you for sharing that, Miss Lassa. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Next up, we have a capital improvement plan presentation. Uh with us tonight, we have Assistant Superintendent Bren Brenda Monahan, uh assistant superintendent for finance operations. Along with her, we have Mr. Mark Freighus, director of facilities. Welcome both of you. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo, and thank you, school committee. Um as as Dr. Dlo said um I am here with director of facilities Mark Freredus and we've put together a um a brief presentation in that coincides with the capital improvement plan um booklet that you receive in your school committee um packet. So we'll go

042through this and again if you have any questions feel free to um let us know. So how we do this in the facility overview um of course we want to have a facility that is clean, is safe, it's wellmaintained and of course a aesthetically pleasing um schools. We identify and request repairs to the buildings and the grounds. We do this by a district protocol. We do it with a maintenance repair log which is called master library. And I'll go over this a little bit as we go into the presentation. And we do a maintenance of ground logs. So, the facility overview will talk about the current conditions of our um of our facilities of each of our buildings, maintaining and replacing equipment, and some of the preventative building maintenance that we have been doing and

043continue to do so um in conjunction with the city's building department. So, here's our overview. district-wide protocol. We do send out a beginning of year memo every year to all of our principles to remind principles of and our custodians to remind them about what is the process of identifying some issues that are in our buildings. So the notification process, the emergency contact list is also um we update that every year. So, we go ahead and put usually it's your head custodian that um reports to alarm calls and then usually the principal and then if needed the director of facilities, Mr. Freighus. We have a maintenance repair log and our head custodian enters work orders in master library which was previously used was called facility dude and we've been doing this online facility repair log since

0442013. schools can notify our director of facilities if there is an item that is needing um immediate attention, but we do ask that all buildings put in um a work order so that can be monitored through the city and also through with Mr. Freighus. We do do um a maintenance of ground logs. Every morning the groundskeepers will um text the uh Mr. Mr. Freighus to let them know um let him know where they will be and their responsibilities. And each day as the groundskeepers do go into their schools, they do have assigned schools, they check in with the principles and the head custodian to see if there's any situations that need to be addressed immediately. So the first one is u we'll go through each one of our schools and um Mr. Dr. Freredus and

045I will tag team this presentation um and we will talk that each school pretty much will give you an overview of the school um and then um some of the areas of priority that have been identified by each of the building principles. So Benjamin Freriedman Middle School grades 5 through 7. It was constructed in 2001. Total square feet about 165,000. It is located on 44.1 acres of land. We have 682 students in the building with 86 staff members and six custodians. >> Good evening everyone. So the exterior um walls, roof, windows, boilers, HBAC and electrical system is uh original to the building of 24 years. Um area of need uh by priority for the school would be the first floor of BCT tile replacement and also painting of the cafeteria. Now this past summer we

046did complete all the common areas of painting in that school. So this will uh complete the uh school of painting wise. >> Edmond Hatch Bennett Elementary School and this one here should be prek to 4 year constructed in 1968. Total square foot is just over 41,000. Total acres that it sits on is 14.6 with 304 students. this school year. We have about 45 staff members and two custodians that are cleaning and sanitizing our building. >> So again, the age of the uh walls are 57 years old. The roof and windows are 8 years with the MSBA auxiliary repair program. Uh HVAC is 5 years. Uh the electrical system is 50 years. Uh the area needs of priority for this building are the new basketball uh backboards for the gym. um and convert a small data

047room to an office space. >> East Taton Elementary, we have preK to 4 and it was constructed in 1997 with total square footage of 83,000 sitting on 18.8 acres. We have a 584 students this school year with 83 staff members and four custodians. So the age of the walls, roof, windows and boilers and HVAC system along with the electrical are original to the building of 27 years. Um the areas of needs on this uh building were the replacement of cafeteria tables, replacement of exterior doors and electrical upgrade. >> Edward F. Lety preschool is our prek building where it was constructed in 1954 and it's just over 19 sitting um it's just 19,000 square feet sitting on 1.4 acres total students about 239. We have about 38 staff members and one uh custodian that takes care

048of the building. >> So the walls are 69 years old um along with the windows and boiler system uh HVAC system and electrical system as well. Um the asphalt roof uh is seven years uh old and the uh rubber uh flat rear section of the roof was just replaced in 2023. Um so the areas of need on this building are we're looking at exterior window replacement and a new pore in place for the lower uh playgrounds. >> Elizabeth's Pole Elementary School is of course hosted for preK to 4 and our central offices. um year constructed is about 2008 and in this building it's about 100 square feet total acres it's 88 acres but please note that this is sitting on the location of u part of Taton High School for the acreage there's 652 students

049in this building just about 80 uh staff members and four custodians that are sanitizing and cleaning and maintaining the building >> again the walls roof and windows boilers and HVAC and The electrical system is original to the building of 16 years. Uh area needed for this uh would be the provided a shade structure and the seating in the swing playground area which is um off the playground that's uh adjacent to the building off in the premises. Um and also reservicing the outdoor uh basketball area as well. >> Harold H. at Gallagghan Elementary School is grades K to 4 and it was constructed in 1954 with 30,700 and total square footage. It's located on 1.4 acres. We have just under 300 students in the building with 47 staff members and two custodians. >> So, the exterior

050walls are 70 years old. Uh the roof is four. The windows and boilers are three. The HVAC system is 16 with the electrical system at 31 years. uh the needs for this building, additional classroom space, uh exterior turf perimeter replacement, and a new playground. >> And just so I can just say here, and uh please note that you've seen it a little bit in some of the buildings where you see the MSBA accelerated repair project and all of that. What happens is that's where we go ahead and work with the city, put in an application to do um updates or upgrades to the building at a discounted rate. Um and we have been very fortunate to pair up with the city to do that and again Gallagghan is one of those schools um for the

051projects. The biggest one that we have gone through um and with of course is the James El Mohei Elementary School. This was part of the MSBA Corp repair program which that means it's a brand new building. So um the grades are prek to 4. It was constructed in 2019. Yes, we opened in the midst of COVID. Um total square footage is over 132,000 square ft sitting on 24.4 acres. We have um 880 students with 119 staff members and five custodians. >> So this is a fairly new building with six years uh original to the walls, roof, windows, HVAC, boilers and electrical system. Um talking to the principal, the areas of need would be the LBT flooring in the uh main office uh admin suite. Um and exterior basketball hoop addition with the lower ADA basketball

052hoops. John Parker uh middle school is grades 5 through 7. It constructed in 2009 and that building is adjacent to um Tuton High School. Um total square footage is 95,583 sitting on again the 88 acres of uh that is a part of Taton High School and of course Pole as I stated before there are about 490 students in Parker Middle School with 60 staff and we have about three and a half custodians that do clean the building. So the walls and uh exterior of um the walls, roof, windows, boilers, HVAC system and electrical system are original to the building of 15 years. Um the needs for this building here is interior painting throughout the building and gym floor renovation and install LVT flooring in the main office and faculty. I don't know LBT if you're

053familiar with it, it's a luxury vinyl tile. Uh it's low maintenance, easy to replace if there was an issue. Um, and I recommend we've already started at the uh high school at certain areas. >> Joseph C. Chamberlain Elementary School is prek to 4 and it was constructed in 1999. Total square footage is just over 83,000 sitting on 22.1 acres. About 511 students this current school year, 70 staff members with four custodians. So all original with this building are the walls, windows, boilers, HBAC and electrical system of 26 years and the age of the roof was just been replaced with uh with adding solar uh which is one year. Um the area of need in this building here additional interior security cameras create additional space for staff and classrooms in the library and HVAC upgrade to

054regulate temps throughout the building. >> Joseph H. Martin Middle School is one of the schools that also went through the MSBA accelerator repair program in 2014. Here we have grades 5 through 7 that was constructed in 1976. Total square footage of the building is just over uh 111,000 sitting on 22.4 acres with 624 students, 85 staff members, and four custodians between first and second shift. again. So, the walls, um, boilers, HBAC system, and the electrical system are 49 years old original to the building. Uh, there was a unit ventilator replacement in 2020. Uh, MSBA uh, auxiliary repair program for the roof and windows, which are 9 years old now. Um the area of need uh for this uh for Martin school would be the replacement of interior doors and hardware uh a replacement of teachers

055desks and resurface gym floor and repaint lines with logo added. >> Oh good. Taton Alternative High School and Taton Virtual Public Virtual Academy. This is grades 8 through 12. It was constructed in 1924, but it was renovated in 2004 when we had the court system take over the building or using the building. Total square footage is 70,297. Total acreage is 1.2. We have 85 students at the alternative high school, 63 students currently at TPVA. Total staff 16.34 and total custodians in the building is one. So the exterior walls of this building is actually 101 years old. Um the roof and windows are four years old and the boiler HBAC system are 15 with electrical system at 20. Um the MSBA project for this was the roof and windows and I believe the doors as well.

056Um so the needs for this building would be the installation of a vestibule um which currently is going on at the moment. uh upgrade security cameras, installation of office wall partitions, heating upgrade from one zone to control the uh two control valves in each room. Taton High School, it's grades 8 through 12 in year constructed is 1975 with a renovation completed in 2011 and 2012. Uh total square footage of that building is just under four um 456,000. Total acreage again 88 with Parker and Eole part of that building or that acreage. Total students at Taon High School is 2,8 57 students, over 240 staff members and 15 custodians between first and second shift. >> Again, the age of the walls for this building are 48 years. Um the and also the windows are 48 years.

057The boiler and roof system is uh 12 years uh old. HVAC and electrical are 11 years old. And the area needs for this for Ton High School would be installed the Tiger Tots playground shade structure, a replacement of auditorium seating, uh continue replacement of carpet with LVT, uh hardwire exterior doors for alarms, and add a quiet space in uh room 152. Now we're switching over more of departments and the first one is athletic departments and as you may be aware we are part of the Hakamok league and we currently have multiple sports for fall, winter and spring. Again I'm not going to have to read that to you. Um and some of the areas of need for this here. >> So the area of needs would be two new scoreboards in the gym, a purchase

058of a basketball uh score tables and purchasing install and installation of a gym divider. >> Food services. Um just a quick one. There are about two uh for the 2024 2025 food services facts, we have about 78 staff members that um work throughout our kitchens at our schools. Total meals served is um 1.6 million um meals served in the last school year. Average meals served per day. Um just over 9,000 meals, which 3,247 of those being breakfast and 5,813 lunches served per day. >> Amazing. Um so the area needs are for the food services was is to complete the kitchen rebuild at two Hamilton Street. um new service lines at the high school and renovation at the high school grill >> technology department. Uh we'll continue to um continue to go ahead and do uh

059vendor camera upgrades throughout the district. Um that's being that's happening constantly um behind the scenes. update our student information system and doing um a technology refreshment as we do have now considered to be a oneto-one district. the grounds. We have um three groundskeepers for all of our buildings. And as you can see, each groundskeeper is um is assigned to a building. And like I said previously, groundskeepers will check in to with their principal and head um custodian to see if there's any specific need that needs to be addressed. And even though they're there once a week and sometimes twice depending how big of a building it is, uh, principles are able to go ahead and reach out to the groundskeepers if there is an immediate need. And of course to our director of facilities, Mr.

060Freighus. >> So area needs for the groundskeepers would be to replace two of the um, older vehicles, trucks that we have with the outdated ones with new ones. and um through grounds through our district would be reservicing parking lots and roadways through uh through our premises. Um purchase of a 20ft landscape trailer to replace one that's uh too small um and outdated really and uh also purchase uh two new mowers. our storekeeper. Um what the storekeeper does do um the storekeeper mail pickup and delivery within schools, city hall pickup and deliveries, delivering supplies to the school from our warehouse and maintaining the supply inventory that we have in the warehouse for everyday classroom supplies. The area need or priority for the storekeeper is to purchase a box truck with a lift gate. So, a facility

061overview. What are our next steps? Well, we work with the school committee and principles to identify which capital improvement short should be short-term, which is currently this school year, and which items should be long-term. We will continue to build uh vestibules in our schools as like I um like Mr. Freighus did state, we are currently just about finished with the alternative high school vestibule, and we will continue to um with our technology upgrades throughout our schools. And that concludes our presentation and any questions. >> Thank you so much. Thank you so much, Assistant Superintendent Monahan and uh Director of Facilities Mark Freighus. I'm going to open it up to the committee. We'll start with Mrs. Shaves. >> Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Um as I told um um Mr. Karal, I sent him an email yesterday

062after I had opened this up. Of all the things I've received in the two years being on the school committee, this is the best report I've seen. So, I want to thank you for putting it together because I'm a very linear person and I like to see the numbers and it gives us a big picture of what's going on and now if we have a question on a school, it's easy to to access that information. The one thing I would um would ask is underneath students, is that the current students that are currently going to the school? >> Currently, in the future, I would like to see um a number about how many students that school can hold because I think as we start to talk about um whether or not our schools can hold

063the the increased population that's coming into the city, it would be nice to have an idea as to where our space is in some of these schools. But other than that, I thought it was outstanding. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Dilla. >> Thank you, Mrs. Shavs. Miss Santos, >> um I'm just curious like how long do boilers in HVAC systems last because Letty's is 70 years old and it's not on a and it's not on the priority list. So, like >> shouldn't that be a priority if it's and because even like Martin is at like 50. So again, I don't know how long those things usually last, but those are the two oldest ones and they're not on the priority list. >> Right. I mean, >> you know, the how it

064was made back then is a lot better than how it's made. >> I was going to say maybe it's just a how it was made >> with Lety, we've actually were great with Lety because uh that boiler system is still strong. It's still still great. Um plus we have a backup system. Uh we have mini splits throughout and cassettes throughout that school. So, it's nice to have a school like Lety that has in case something goes, we have the alternate there. So, uh we're good there for sure. >> Thank you, Miss Santos. Mr. Laura, >> thank you, Mr. Chairman. Excellent report, uh information, a lot of detail. Now, a question on the electrical system because if you notice all the schools, the oldest system in all these schools is the electrical system. Now, does that

065mean Okay, so now you know how we have to upgrade the the electrical powers to meet certain needs within the schools. How is that done? >> So, usually would reach out to an electrical engineer. Uh, for instance, East Taton is at full capacity like this. We can't add any more there. Uh, the panels are full. Um, so we would reach out to an electrical engineer and talk to the city as well. Um, and they would have to come up with a game plan to attack that school. So this the city does get involved in helping them with that. >> Just a reminder um Mr. Laura, we are considered to be like tenants in um in the buildings and what we do what our what our custodians are responsible for is the everyday maintenance um and

066and any like any extra stuff that we want to do but any upgrades into the into the facilities itself. It falls on the responsibility of the city. Sometimes we have been able to help the city out on certain projects. Um we did the HVAC system upgrades. We did that through a grant. Um so instead of the city having to foot the bill for that, we are good partners with the city and we went ahead and gained that um grant and paid for uh Lety Bennett and Martin upgrades. So that that is again we work it as a partnership >> and that grant comes through the city or does it come through the department of ed or >> that grant was considered to be a federal grant that was through um during um postcoid times um

067there are as I work with our uh coordinator of grants um Tim Clark we've asked him to continue looking for um grants that are going be able to upgrade our HVAC systems in our in our in our schools for our schools. So again, that is something we're always looking forward. That is always one. We're always looking for security upgrade grants. So things like that. Um some of the things that we do cost share with the with the city as well. >> Thank you. You touched the uh uh the Hamilton Street building uh in reference to the kitchen. >> Do we have any kind of idea of cost? >> So that was >> upgrade that or to do it over. So, we have um that was a city bid that um has just closed just about

068a few weeks ago and uh we are currently working with um built uh city building superintendent um Chris Carmichael and Collins Construction who did was awarded the bid. They are currently um putting together some rough estimates. I spoke to the project manager this morning. Um and what he did say is he is uh waiting for sub bids to put together his schedule of values which will then provide us with a more cost like a definite cost but he will give us a um a roundabout cost estimated cost because again he hasn't received all his sub bids but we should have that within the next few days. >> And that cost who is the burden of that cost? Is that to us or is that the city? >> The city is currently having all of their

069um funding currently. they have that money um ready to go ahead and spend that to do the renovations at to Hamilton. >> Thank you very much. Good report. Mr. Laura, as a followup, so the long-range planning and school property subcommittee met this morning. We will outline a little bit of what we covered this morning, but that was a main concern uh for the uh subcommittee this morning and where it's ongoing. So, we'll we'll definitely bring everybody up to speed sooner than later. That's for sure because that was a concern too for me, Mr. Laura. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> So, uh, thank you so much. Uh, like like Mrs. Shave said, it's extensive report. Uh, a long time coming and, uh, thank you for your great work, Mr. Freighus, assistant superintendent

070Mahan. >> Thank you. >> Oh, sorry, Superintendent. So, again, I just want to commend assistant attendant Moan and director of facilities Mark Freighus for refreshing our capital improvement plan. outstanding job in capturing know uh really providing a good state of in condition for our facilities but as you know there's always ongoing work. So, we've already had ongoing discussions about creating that preventative maintenance plan schedule so that we know what are the touch points we have to touch every year, three years, five years. And in addition to Hamilton Street, um even though we're going to have the report out in a little bit, we will be putting together a building type committee that will meet with assistant superintendent Moand, uh Mark Freighus, myself, Assistant Superintendent Chris Barada, similar to what we've done with construction projects to

071discuss the work that needs to be done at Hamilton Street in preparation for that being used for grades 5 through 12. I would welcome similar to what we've done with building committees in the past. I would welcome participation from the school committee in the past. It's been representatives from the long range planning committee. But if representatives from the long range planning committee uh can't attend those meetings and obviously we would welcome involvement from anybody on the board and those meetings will be open to anybody on the board. But again, it's time for us to get on the fast track on our end to make sure that that building is aesthetically pleasing for when students enter it hopefully in fall of 26. And the only thing I just want to kind of preface uh regarding fall

07226 with Hamilton Street is we do have a statement of interest that was submitted to the MSBA, Massachusetts School Building Authority, and we should be hearing shortly, I would hope, before the end of November, whether or not that SOI was accepted. So, if that gets accepted into the pipeline, that calls for complete replacement of all the windows at Hamilton Street. Uh, and that's a huge savings, huge savings to the city of Tines. So, that's the only thing that could mess with our timeline right now. So, we'll but we'll keep you guys posted and I'll get information out regarding that uh building that building committee. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Thank you. Have a good evening. >> Uh, next up we have Superintendent's report. Superintendent Cabraw, please. >> This uh this report is uh short and sweet.

073Uh just again we have not finalized the October one report which and again the October one enrollment is used to project the chapter 70 funding the foundation budget for FY26. So the FY26 October one report based on those numbers once they're certified that's will be used uh for our chapter FY27 uh foundation budget and chapter 70 funds. So, as of October 1st, 2025, uh we had 8,233 students enrolled in the Tom public schools. That's about 78 students less than when we had last year at this time. That 78 students is roughly how many students? If you recall, we were receiving about 60 to 80 students from the Holiday Inn as part of the uh when it was used as a shelter. So, we're pretty much on par with where we were last year. As you

074read in my report, when we talk about preK, because students age into preK once they turn three, our preK numbers are going to eb and flow throughout the course of the year. So, you can expect that 341 number to uh that 354 number to increase throughout the course of the year. At the kindergarten level, uh we saw a decrease of 57 students from 632 to 575 students. In grades 1 through 4, we saw modest gains. Uh, grade one increased by 16 students, grade two increased by 26 students and grade four increased by 38 students. So again, kindergarten decreased by 57. So we're looking at 575 students. At the middle school level, we in grades 5 through 7, we have an enrollment of 1,787 students. That's a decrease about by about 78 students from the prior

075year. Uh this includes a reduction of 36 students in grades five, an increase of 23 students in grade six, and a decrease of 65 students in grade 7. And at the high school level, 8 through 12, enrollment remains consistent. We saw a net decline of 26 students across all grades, while the alternative and the flexible learning options at the virtual school and the tartan alternative school increase by 11 students uh respectively. So again, once the numbers are certified, uh we'll provide you with a finalized report sometime in early November once the numbers are certified. And then again, I just want to reiterate to you as I shared in an email that we are not feeling any impact as of now. Assistant Superintendent Monahan stated during the grants, we are receiving grant funding. We did receive

076some FY27 grant funding. So all the funds that were allocated or that we're entitled to for FY26, we are receiving. The only area that I want to be I want to warn is on the food service side. So on the food service side uh we are good through the end of this month but should the government shutdown continue beyond October we will have to provide the funding to cover the meals through our food service revolving account and then from once the government opens back up they'll reimburse us. So, it's not like we're going to lose the funding, it's just we're not going to receive the funding or be replenished as we're putting the money out. So, I just wanted to make the committee aware, but our students will continue to be fed and we have

077enough in reserves to feed us to feed our students for the remainder of the school year. >> Motion to accept the report as presented. >> All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up, we have administrative business uh staffing report. Superintendent. >> Yeah. So you you have the two uh staffing reports that we provide you with all the appointments and the the leaves. So I won't go into that report, but the report I just wanted to share is that we are 98% staffed. We have eight schools that are 100% staffed. You'll notice that the high school only has one position filled. The RO position was recently filled. So we see >> Yeah, it's recently filled. >> So we have four that are pending or one in the pipeline of the high school. So to

078get the high school fully staffed would be a herculean task. And I want to commend the HR department and our hiring managers for all their outstanding work. You'll see there are only three buildings uh that need that have one staff member missing and at the district level we have three three vacant positions. So we're in really good we're in really good shape as a school assistants. We're very very proud of the work we're doing. >> So superintendent just covered item one and two. Mrs. Shavs. >> Thank you Dr. Dill. I just have one question. Under cafeteria, Chantel Dominique is listed twice. One is a full-time 4hour position and one is a full-time seven-hour position. Is that two separate positions that this person is holding or >> Let us confirm if whether or not she had

079a 4-hour position and then entered into a new position. >> Yeah, because there's two different numbers, >> correct? So, she might have been appointed to a four and then bid because the fees are about a month. >> Okay. Okay. That's I was just asking. Thank you. >> I'll confirm that and share that with the committee. >> Okay. Same procedure, Mr. Chairman, >> for items one and two, staffing report and Taton public schools staffing update >> to accept. >> Is there a second? >> Second, Miss Santos. Thank you. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Last item on administrative business is donationf funded educational travel. Superintendent. >> Yeah, as is our practice, uh whenever we receive a donation, we want to make sure that the school committee accepts a donation and recognize how the donation

080is being utilized. So this donation is being utilized uh for one of our staff members the director of STEM to participate in the national science teacher association. The donation will cover professional learning will cover all food. It will cover travel and will cover three night of a hotel stay. So again this is a donation and it exceeds the amount. Um so that's why I'm bringing it to the committee for full disclosure. >> Great wish to the committee >> need approval on that or >> uh to accept the donation >> to accept the donation as recorded. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I opposed. Eyes have it. >> Next up, we have subcommittee reports. We'll start off with the M&A collective bargaining chairman Laura. >> Uh our meeting has been successful. We continue a

081meeting. Uh I'm not What's the date on the next meeting, Superintendent? We have two more meetings scheduled with them >> for the M&A. >> I don't have the meetings off the top of my head, but I believe we have a meeting with them next week. >> I believe this, but they're ongoing. Very successful. >> Great. Thank you so much for the update. Uh next up we have uh Tessa collective bargaining uh chairman shops. >> Thank you Dr. Dlo. The Tessa subcommittee met on Tuesday October 7th 2025 and attendance was Mrs. Fagan and myself along with representatives for administration and the bargaining team. Miss Santos was absent. This was the third meeting of the subcommittee and negotiations are ongoing. >> Thank you so much for the update. Uh next up we have the long range planning

082and public property subcommittee. Uh, Chairman Vieiraa had to leave earlier due to a family commitment. Uh, but the meeting took place today, October 15th. Uh, here in the superintendent's office at 9:00 a.m. In attendance was Steve Vieira as chair, uh, Dr. Gregory Dlo as subcommittee member, Mr. Enas was absent, Mark Freighus, director of facilities, Brenda Monahan, assistant superintendent for finance and operations, and John Caball, superintendent. The agenda items covered, uh, Mr. Vieier opened the meeting. The following items were listed on the agenda. capital improvement plan presentation more in depth than what was just presented to us. Uh 66 Summer Street update to Hamilton Street construction update, food services board of health report, transportation contract update. Due to the comprehensive nature of the booklet and the depth of the discussion, the committee dedicated the entire meeting

083to this one agenda item. This is the first update to the report in several years. The comprehensive CIP provides information regarding the grounds and infrastructure needs of each school facility and specific department. For example, food services, technology, and athletics. The plan includes the year each school was constructed, the square footage, the acreage, student enrollment, number of staff assigned to each school, and the number of custodians. The plan also lists the age of the exterior walls, roofs, windows, HVAC systems, and electrical systems. Each school has its own tab in the booklet with a detailed review of work completed and work scheduled. Each item include a summary of need, priority rating, cost estimate, funding source, estimated completion date, and a visual. Members of the committee asked many questions concerning all the schools and departments discussed. All questions

084were addressed to the satisfaction of the committee by Mr. Freighus and Mrs. Monahan. Again, given the extensive discussion required, the subcommittee agreed to reconvene on November 6 at 3 PM to address the remaining items on the agenda. The remaining items include updates on 66 Summer Street, to Hamilton Street, food services, and board of health reports, and the transportation contract. Lastly, before adjourning, Mr. Vieira distributed a timeline for two Hamilton Street for the group to review before the next meeting and the meeting was adjourned at 9:55 a.m. This concludes the uh long range planning and school property subcommittee report as presented by Chairman Vieiraa. >> Move to accept the report as presented. >> Second. >> All in favor? I >> I opposed. Eyes have it. And next up uh we have the elementary subcommittee chairman Laura.

085This afternoon, uh, we met with two two principles, uh, the, uh, Bennett Elementary and the Easttown Elementary School. Um both professional teach administrators presented their project with great enthusiasm outlining and highlighting the focus on student improvement on a math and writing skills. Concentrating on the stress of professional development within the staff. uh creating a very positive environment within the school to um to enable uh to get the students to be feel part of that program and their educational training. Uh additionally uh it was also highlighted that the um uh the school team and they wanted they focus it as a team. They work as a team and they wanted to include the fact that they're working with community uh leaders, community uh organizations along with families and parents to ensure that their children are receiving

086the best quality within the school system. Uh they're addressing the chronic absenteeism within the school. uh having regular phone calls with the parents to uh to prevent this h from happening on a regular basis. Uh great improvement in all of the categories outlined to the presentation and um they were just wellvered on their on their program. They were again enthusiastic and very convincing that they were highly professional in their overall uh performance to us. And that concludes the report of the committee to accept >> second by Mrs. Fagan. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next item we have the finance and law that's chaired by myself. Uh subcommittee members include Mrs. Shavez and Mr. Vieiraa. Both were present. First item on the agenda was a food services update. Uh a memo was included

087that basically broke down the September totals. Uh I want people at home to understand the magnitude of these numbers. So for breakfast 63,132 for lunch 117,133. That's specifically for the month of September. Meals served. Total meals served 180,265 with a daily average of 8,584 meals being served. Quite a feat. Uh the next item on the agenda were updates from FY26 quarter one budget updates. The first one was an FY26 appropriation of quarter 1 report. Uh the information provided to us uh was just updates of where we're at as far as spending of the budget. Uh and according to assistant superintendent Monahan, we're definitely online with previous years. There's nothing outstanding or uh irregular. Let's put it that way. We're right online. Uh the next uh uh line was FY26 revolving account quarter 1 report. Just

088an update on revolving accounts. Uh there was one question asked about food services. as I asked that question and that's not included in the report. It's a separate item alto together. Uh and the last item was an FY26 grants quarter one report. Uh Mrs. Shaw's question a couple of the grants to make sure that uh you know the spend period is not elapsed that we have some going into fiscal year 27 and beyond. And uh there were no grants that we sent money back. So that's great. We never want to send money back. So, great uh work with the grants coordinator and the assistant superintendent of finance on that. And the last item was bills payable for FY25 was the amount of 316,35340. Uh there were only two items on that particular warrant and there

089were questions from Mrs. Shaz, Mr. Vieier and myself and they were answered satisfactorily and uh a motion was made unanimously to pay that bills payable in the amount of $316,35340. >> We want a motion now to pay it. >> Yes. Let's split them out. Yes. So, uh >> uh and can we have it on discussion? >> Absolutely. So, motion was made, seconded by >> Miss Santos. On discussion, Mrs. F. >> I I just had a question in the front. um this on this little short little small one. All right. >> It's there's a and I don't know if somebody asked it because I wasn't in the room the whole time, >> but what is this maintenance of contractor services 575 575? What is that for? Because I >> So that Yeah, that was an item

090that we discussed. So we have an agreement uh with St. Andrews uh parish. >> Oh. Oh. Oh, okay. uh in lie of park. So in in uh for us for our staff at Gallagghan which struggles with parking because it's a neighborhood school, we're allowed to park in the parking lot throughout the school year in exchange for plowing uh their lot. >> Oh, okay. I wasn't sure what was what that was. Okay, thank you. >> That's a great question because that question was asked from the subcommittee also, Mrs. F. Well, I didn't know. I didn't. But you know what? When um they you must have had something going on in that school the other day cuz I went to mass in the morning and there was no parking that the whole lot was filled and I

091there were a lot of teachers going in. I don't know if they had something going on in the building, but >> could have been might have been early in the morning. >> Yes. >> It could have been one of their recognition breakfast or something they have going on with family engagement. >> Good. >> So, it's a good deal. So, motion was made in second. All in >> just a question, >> Mr. Lori? motion made. Do you need also an an amendment to accept the recommendations of the subcommittee? >> Absolutely. >> For payment, correct? >> So the maker of the motion was >> uh Christine, Mr. Secretary F. Madam Secretary, >> so Mr. Lure like you to amend the motion to >> include the uh pay off or the recommendations by the subcommittee on the warrants

092that need to be paid. >> Oh, okay. >> So >> I hope I hope she can >> amended by Miss Santos. >> Did you want me to repeat that? Can't miss Mrs. Lassie, you got that? >> Yeah. >> Oh, one other one. What is um >> that's that a different f different fiscal year. >> There's another one on um >> different fiscal year. We haven't got there yet. >> Oh, that's You haven't gotten to that one. Okay. That's just >> So, we're still on item FY25 for bills payable in the amount of 316,000 316, 35340. The maker of the motion was Mrs. Fagan. The motion reads, "Miss Sasser, >> the motion was to amend the motion to include >> payment >> recommendations and pay the warrant." Excellent. Seconded by Miss Santos. All in favor? I

093opposed. Eyes have it. That was a mouthful. FY26 bills payable in the amount of 1,99,950,53. Hold on, I made a mistake. FY26 bills payable1,99,9503 and uh questions, comments? >> Yes. >> I'd like to approve the warrant, but I'd like it on discussion. >> Okay. So, motion was made to approve and pay the warrant. >> Yes. >> And the amount stated on that >> seconded by Miss Dell and discussion by Secretary F. >> Did you want to second it? You know, um, what I was doing when I was looking through this is I don't know what some of this stuff is. It's just a general thing and I don't know what it means. So, on page five, I don't know if somebody asked this. The better lesson, Inc. instructional software. Did Did you ask that? >>

094Mr. Shabs asked that question. That's a >> I just want to know what subject that's for. >> That's a program that we use. Do you remember when the high school uh presented before us the that they wanted to change the schedule? Yes. Yes. And they had those charts and all that data and they went through the consultant. That's the name of the consultant now. They were bought out by a larger company. >> Oh. >> So they they assist with high school scheduling. So trying to schedule 2900 students. We need all the help we can get. >> Oh, I guess you can. Okay. All right. >> Anything else, Secretary F? No. >> No. But I I just wonder if some of this stuff could be a little bit more descriptive instead of like there's one there's

095two pages. It just says food food. And it looks like it's from a dairy. Is that just milk, milk, milk? >> No. And again, I I welcome any board member if you have any questions when you receive the packet, feel free to reach out to myself and I'll work with Mrs. Mahan to get you the answers if that's if there's any questions that you have. And again, but you're also welcome to ask the questions at the meeting. Sure. And we and and Secretary Fig, we also very extensively ask these questions as a subcommittee. So, you're welcome to join us. I know >> uh at that meeting, too. >> I know, but I'm not supposed to be here. >> Say, I ask lots of questions. So >> yeah, I I probably figured you but I was

096I have a list of them every week going over the >> the obituary thing. So I >> Good. No problem at all. All in favor? >> Opposed? Eyes have it. Thank you all. >> Got a lot of paper in front of me folks. Sorry about this. Uh next up we have new business. Any new business discussion that we want to refer to a future? Yes. Uh Miss Santos, please. I I wasn't sure if this was the right place to bring it up, but this is kind of going off of what you had included about the government shutdown and the impact, right? Uh so I don't know if there's possible ability for an update on the Department of Education cutting the special education department and any impact that that might have on our schools. I mean,

097I know that two of our open positions are special education teachers as well, too. So I'm just curious what kind of impact that might have. So I don't know if maybe that's something that we can add >> like to refer to the superintendent. Okay, fine. Is there a second on that? >> All in favor? I >> I >> And uh is there a date certain on that? Uh you need some time on that superintendent. >> Okay. >> So by the second meeting of November. >> Oh no, I should have it by the first meeting because this is we have this is one of those months where we have that extra week, right? >> We should have something by the first. >> Okay, that's fine. So by the first meeting in November, the superintendent tomorrow. >>

098No. And a question I have on that will will you have be able to get the information of the impact of the federal monies coming to because they they've cut them but there hasn't affected >> this is specific to special education Mr. >> Yeah. So I so I sit on uh so as as you're aware I serve as one of the urban co-chairs which also provides me with a seat on the MASS legislative committee. So I can reach out to Mary Burke who oversees MASS and get some information. >> Thank you. Great. Okay. on no business. >> Yes, Mrs. Fe. >> Um, you know, having that couple come in tonight and talk about the suicide thing, I I've been thinking about some of the stuff I've seen around the city lately, and I want to

099keep our kids safe. And one of the things I find that it's not safe in this city, and I I understand from talking to some policemen is that it's something that's being put out on as a challenge on Tik Tok. this these kids riding bikes all through traffic. Um I know the other day I was heading down towards on on Route 44 down towards Providence. The sun when you're going there that sun is right in your eyes at sunset and in the morning like going on Shore Street you're blinded and these kids are going in and out of traffic and I'm watching them. They're doing wheelies on the bikes and it's just they just cut right through the cars. They're doing it on scooters. They're doing it on two wheelers and I don't know is

100it possible to get somebody in here like maybe a police officer like you know your son or something to and and a lot of the police say they don't listen to when you tell them anyway but they're watching this crazy stuff and they're out there and I worry about them and then the kids that go out at night and they're all dressed in black. You can't see them, you know, and I don't like kid this kid. I I had to stop the car because I I caught him out of the corner of my eye. I thought they thought they had gone off on a side street and then you if you stop quick you you run the the ch you know chance of getting rearended. I don't think some of them understand that what they're

101doing is kind of um inappropriate behavior on bicycles and I don't know I don't see kids just stopping and walking the bike through a you know where a crosswalk is or something like that but I I think they're taking a lot of risks and I know we've had a tough year losing students and I don't want to see any more of that and I just wish there was something we could do when it came to just doing a program for kids. Just a suggestion. Thank you. >> Okay, we've referred it to the superintendent. Anything else on new business? Okay, moving on. Unfinished business. Action item updates. Action item update. See, and closure. >> So, depending on the action that the committee wants to take, they we may be able to take action on two or

102three items. So, I'll start at the bottom. Action item dated 9325. So, I did schedule and have taken board members on tours. So I would feel comfortable taking that item off and working with any individual who still wishes to go on a tour. You can just reach out to me. We'll schedule something. So if uh the chair would entertain a motion to remove that item, we can remove it or leave it on. >> Second on discussion. So uh basically we've offered many opportunities, right? We've had opportunities in the morning, in the afternoon. Some could even make those times. So the superintendent's gone out of his way to accommodate the particular member's, you know, needs due to work schedules. So if there's anyone else remaining, please reach out to the superintendent and I'm sure he'd be

103more than happy to send either himself or assistant superintendent Monahan or Mr. Freighus to you know take the tour. So uh the item is made and seconded. All in favor to remove it. >> I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Next one. >> And then we'll go to the second item on the list dated uh 1423. Uh so we did refer the capital improvement plan to the long range public property committee and we did have a presentation before the board tonight and we are going to reconvene uh to discuss the rest of the items that we didn't get to today. So I would feel comfortable if there's a motion through the chair to remove the item from the list. >> If I may superintendent I I wouldn't feel comfortable since this the chairman is not

104here. Uh it's his committee. Uh we have uh in this case uh continued the meeting to November 6. As you all saw, the improvement plan is very in-depth. There's a lot of work. We allocated one hour and that was nowhere near the amount of time we needed. So, if you don't mind, superintendent, we'll leave it there because the chairman is not here. Sure. Okay. Thank you. >> And then I'll just give you a quick update on 82625 regarding the uh uh AED devices. So, I just want to make uh the committee aware, I'm not going to mention the names of the organizations yet, but two uh healthc care agencies that serve the public in the city of Taton are in conversation with the president of the Taton Girls Softball League regarding um potentially donating portable

105defibrillators to the league. So, I'm hoping they get some good news within the next week or two and we can take that item off. So, the wheels are in motion. >> So, we're going to leave it here until we get a final >> I just want to give you an update. >> Okay, great. Thank you so much. Dad, I know you've been working hard with that. Uh we have some excellent community partners whether it's in banking, healthc care, and this is another example of uh stepping up to the plate to service our students. So, uh that's all I have for the action item update. We have any Yes, Miss Santos, please. >> I'm I'm just curious about the letter to the city council. Is that or are you just going to keep that on there

106until they finally decide that they want to respond? Well, that depends on the action that the committee would like me to take >> because it's been a while. >> Well, I I I think I think the concern, Miss Angels, is that, you know, I I guess until we understand what we're going what's going to happen with two Hamilton Street, >> I think we should keep this there to get a comprehensive report. >> Okay. >> Going forward. So, you know, I I think keeping it there would >> No, I'm not against that. I'm just wondering like is there something that we can do to set a reminder since it's been so long? >> I mean it's October, you know, right? >> This was May 1st and there's been I'm assuming no communication >> and and this

107just to refresh my memory, this is a report back from our planning board as far as growth in the city, >> the housing and all of that. And I mean it just seems kind of >> irresponsible to not get a response at all. I think we can um maybe the action might maybe the action might be to um what I what we can do if the committee wishes we can find the letter and put it under unfinished business and have a discussion then from there the committee can take some action on at the November 5th meeting >> November November 5th meeting but that needs to be a motion. So a motion would be in order to refer that >> refer that to the November >> unfin unfinished business >> November 5th meeting of 2025 unfinished

108business. >> Second >> that's motion was seconded by Miss Santos. All in favor. >> Anybody else? >> Press time. Any press in the audience? >> No press. Thank you. Motion to adjurnn. Motion to move. All in favor? I. We are adjourned. Thank you so much everyone. Good luck next week in the elections or two weeks from now. Thank you.