001Good evening. The uh finance and law subcommittee shall come to order. Start the roll call. Mrs. Shav present. Uh Chairman Dlo present. First item on the agenda is the student activity requests from Taton High School. The amount $11,49948. Any questions, comments? No. Wishes of the committee? Accept and place on file. I'll second that. All in favor? I. We also need a motion to reimburse the student activity account in in that amount of $1,499. Okay. So, if the maker of the motion would amend. So, I'll make a motion to amend it to ex to reimburse them of 11, $11,49948. Second. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Next up, we have use of facilities see attached memo. Uh, Superintendent Caball, any comments on this? No, the only thing I'll just mention that the
002uh you'll notice there's there's a little there's a note regarding fees being waved for the SCFOA because they provide inind services, mentoring, and training to the students in our officiating class. So, we wave the fees for them using the facility. What does that acronym stand for? Uh I don't know what the acronym stands for, but I know it's part of an officiating organization. It's one of the boards that gets assigned to varsity games in the Hakamach. So they hold meetings or hold board meetings at Parker Middle School and in turn they provide in kind services to our students students that are learning to become officials and have actually worked in some of those league games. Y very successful. Wish to the committee. I make a motion to accept this and place on file. Uh yeah
003receive and place on file. Yep. That's fine. Uh second. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. Next up we have the special education expense service. See the attached memo. Superintendent. You know, I just bring to your attention that last for the month of February, uh, there were total charges of $6,24. So, year to date, we have expended $49,557.96 on special on legal services related to student services. So, we have a balance of $4424, but I also did check the personnel legal line and the personnel legal line still has a balance of 27,000. So between both personnel and student services, I I do feel comfortable that we will have enough to get us through the fiscal year. Yes, Mr. Sh. Did we allocate more for next year? I went through the um I went through
004the proposed budget. The only thing I could find was is this under contracted services? No, I I believe it's under I'd have to go through the line item budget and find it. It's not on the it's it has its own separate line and I believe we budgeted 100,000 and I don't anticipate we'll have legal costs as high next year because a lot of the negotiating is taking place right now. Okay. Um and the reason why we had high student services cost was last summer there were some heavy cases that legal was heavily involved. We I don't anticipate we'll have the same thing this summer. Okay. Thank you. So So just to define this is the special education piece. This is not the CBA. Yeah. the CBA contractors. Okay, good. So, uh yeah, I think I
005think do we need a motion to move some uh line items to cover I'm gonna do uh the we're going to have the quarter 3 budget update at the second meeting in May, which I think is May 21st 1st and that's when I'll share with you where we are year to date and make the motions to authorize the administration to balance any lines that are in deficit with lines that um have a surplus. Okay, great. wishes of the committee. I make a motion to approve this and place on file. Okay, we'll receive and place on file. I'll second that. All in favor? I I opposed. Eyes have it. Thank you. Next up, we have item four, taunt area school to career see attached memo. Questions, comments? I just have one comment. Yes. based on this
006one and also the other one. It'd be nice if maybe next year we come up with some kind of um form for them to fill out. I find trying to find the details of what is going on and who and how many kids they're servicing to be very convoluted in a lot of these reports. I'd like to see it sort of streamlined a little bit and similar. We have this one and we also had um the um Coaching for change. Coaching for change. Same idea. I don't know if we can come up with I mean it doesn't have to be too crazy, but you know the date, how many kids they were servicing or seeing and just a small explanation of what they were doing because I do I mean I don't mind reading through
007it, but I'm looking for data and it's sort of hard to pull the data out of some of these reports. So if I heard you correctly, dates that they were on campus or dates that they were working at the schools, number of students served and types of services. Yeah, I think that that would be I don't know how Dr. Dlo feels about that, but I just Yeah, as you know, Mrs. Shavs, this has always been you a couple of the U organizations that I I I really want some more accountability. Yeah, I I think that it's uh it's well worth spending the dollars, but again, return on investment I think is important. Um and streamlining Yeah. would be would be nice. My my question on this particular document, this is for March of 2025. Did
008did we have an April or April's too early? April's too early. December, April, and Okay, gotcha. Okay, so this is March. And I think if we had a form and it was a year to date, so we could see like like Dr. Dlo said, you know, you're talking about April. I'd like to have seen the September, October, November, December. Like are we seeing more students? Are you seeing less students? how many how overall have we seen? So, I appreciate the detail, but I don't think we get a lot of data from the detail and really what Dr. Dlo is talking about. Are we getting uh you know, our buck for our money and what they're doing with our students? So, let us work on a template. Yeah. And we'll run it by the financial law
009committee offline and see if it's a template that you think we can work with. Yeah, sounds good. Thank you. Uh and unfortunately there's only one placement in the month of March uh based on the sheet that's part of this uh report uh one placement only for the entire month of March. Yeah, I saw that. I mean the couple of bullets they served 29 students for career mentoring and then another 296 youth so far this year. But I think if we saw a better breakdown, we'd be able to see like monthtomonth how they're doing. Exactly. And also if I may add uh you know we have a placement you know how long is that placement is the student still there come June 15th uh did they start one day and sorry couldn't couldn't do the job
010couldn't handle it transportation issues too much homework you know kind of like a entry and exit type report I think is also essential. So based on that um we should uh probably prepare a motion make a motion to accept the report and place on file. Do you want to add anything to the with the recommendations that I gave um superintendent cabraw please? Excellent. Okay so uh all in favor I I opposed eyes have it. Thank you so much. Next up item five is coaching for change. See attached wishes of the committee. I mean I feel similar. I'd like to do a similar I think with these types of um organizations that are working in the school. Again, if we do a template that they both fill out or all of them fill out so they
011have a similar format, I think it would be easier for us to determine what they're doing. I think here gave us a little bit more information on the total number of hours that they were working with the students, but again, I'd like to see an overall um report. So, I would um I would make a motion that we accept this and place on file with the same recommendations. Excellent. I'll second that. All in favor? I I opposed. Eyes have it. Next and final item is number six, bills payable for FY25 in the amount of 1,84,340. Mrs. Shots, I have one, two, three, four, five um questions. Okay. So, first one is on page three, which was Arts for Learning Massachusetts 25574 for $4,500. Yep. That So, those were performers uh over at the Ley School,
012part of their student activ. And then the second one was the Brazilian Beats performance that uh was contracted to perform at Taton High School during their World Language Week. HS World Language. Thank you. The next one is page nine. The custom computer specialist. I'm assuming this has to do with our computer issues that we have been dealing with for the $118,970.39. Uh it's so it's a list of services including managing our broadband broadband services more managing of our broadband uh services uh CIS CIS Cisco catalyst uh some backup infrastructure and some services that they provided due to the March incident. So okay thank you. Page 10. Um, number 26555, Pillar Construction Services, maintenance of a building. What maintenance and what building was that for $2,250? That was a recent renovation that took place over at
013the family welcome center. Renovation, you said? Yeah, there was a large wall that was removed and some new cubicles were installed. Okay. in the welcome center. Uh, page 15, number 18531, home electronic life protection, some security cameras for what school? Oh, so this was this was a temporary uh security alarm at two Hamilton Street. The existing alarm is in the process of going out to bid to be fully replaced. So, this was something we put in place um to ensure that we have 24-hour surveillance at the at the Hamilton Street property. Okay, good. And the last one I have is on page 30, number 31679, Blazing Saddles, Pony Parties. So, again, that's that's part of the Lety uh school improvement plan. So, they had as part of their monthly themes or their activities, they had
014a petting zoo. Petting zoo. Okay, that sounds good. And then uh before Dr. Dlo if Dr. Melo has any question, I just want to note that is it is a large warrant over $1.8 million, but almost $900,000 of that 1.8 is coming out of is being paid for by state and county grants. Okay. So, just to make you aware, only 724,000 is hitting the appropriation. Great. Thank you, Dr. Dlo. Uh wishes of the committee. I recommend that we um that we accept this and pay this warrant for let's see 1,800400,340 and42. Mrs. Shaz, I'm just going to correct you. Did 1,84,000 400,000 if you just want to repeat it please. 1,8004,34042. Great. I'll second that. And I would also appreciate if I could be recorded as voting present on um purchase order 25502-654 in the
015amount of $14,518 to Pride Inc. as I serve on the board of directors and as co-treasurer. So if you could kindly include that in the motion. So moved. So moved. All in favor? I opposed. Eyes have it. And that concludes the finance and law subcommittee report. We are a motion to adjurnn be in order. Motion to adjurnn. Uh second. All in favor. We are adjourned. Thank you. Good job everyone. All right. Good evening everyone. Thank you for joining us. Call the meeting to order. If you could please join us in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance 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
016what so proudly we held at the twilight last gleaming who brought stripes and bright stars through the peril Roll us fight. Or the ramparts we watched were so gallently streaming. And the rockets red glare. 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. Mrs. Shav 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 of our deliberations. We thank you for this opportunity to be in service to our community and to the young people entrusted to our care. Amen. Please remain standing as we honor a few members of our school committee um school
017community that have passed away. The first one is Brian Kryzinger. We are heartbroken to share the passing of Brian Krysinger on April 17, 2025 after a courageous battle with cancer. Brian was a beloved art teacher at Totten High School and a lifelong learner holding degrees from Bridgewwater State and Emanuel College and was actively enrolled in courses right up until his passing. Brian inspired his students to go beyond their own expectations and was known for his creativity, high standards, and the deep care he had for his students and colleagues. Prior to joining Taton, he taught at Weaimoth Middle School. A proud Rehobath native, Brian returned to his hometown to raise his family in what he called his dreamhouse. He was an avid reader, Celtics fan, bird watcher, fisherman, cat lover, and candle enthusiast. And above all,
018a devoted husband, father, son, and friend. Brian leaves behind his wife Kate and their two young children Audrey and Oliver along with his loving parents, siblings, and extended family. His impact as an educator and human being will long be remembered by all who knew him. Let us keep Brian's family, friends, and students in our thoughts. Moren Buffington. We are saddened to share the passing of Moren Carol Buffington, age 78, of Taton, who passed peacefully on April 26, 2025 at Morton Hospital. A lifelong Taton resident and graduate of Taton High School, Moren dedicated her career to the Taton public schools as a teachers assistant and served as president of the teachers union where she was a strong advocate for educators across the district. Moren was deeply involved in her community, especially through her longtime membership at
019Holy Rosary Church, where she helped organize parish events that celebrated her Polish heritage. She was also a passionate fan of New England sports, and a proud softball coach. She has survived by her son Peter Buffington and his wife Michelle, her daughter-in-law Julianne Clark, her brother Steven Carol, and her eight grandchildren. She was predesceased by her husband of 55 years, James Buffington, her son, Jason Buffington, and her brother, John Carol. Please keep Morin's family and loved ones in your thoughts. Lorna Tobacus. We are saddened to share the passing of Lorna Shamray Tobacus on May 3rd, 2025 following a long illness. A lifelong Taton resident, Lorna was a proud graduate of Taton High School, class of 1971. She earned her BA from North Adams State Teachers College and a master's from Leslie College. Lorna dedicated nearly 40
020decades to teaching special education preschool and the Taton Public Schools and was deeply involved in adult English as a second language education at Bristol Community College. She served on the Taton Literacy Council for many years and consistently chose the classroom over an administrative roles, always keeping students at the heart of her work. Even after retirement, she remained an almost full-time substitute teacher. She survived by three children, grandchildren, siblings, extended family, and many friends and former students who were touched by her passion and dedication. Please join us in honoring the legacy of a lifelong educator and a community servant. And finally, Agnes Pacho. It is with great sadness that we share the passing of Agnes Pacico of Taton at the age of 94. A lifelong resident of Taton, Agnes passed peacefully at Morton Hospital on April
02129th due to complications from from pneumonia. A proud graduate of Taton Public Schools and a devote member of the St. Anony's Parish, Agnes dedicated more than 50 years to the Mason Box Company and later served as a part-time food service aid at Bristol Plymouth Regional High School. Known for her faith, kindness, and quiet strength, she shared her life with her beloved sister Mary, with whom she lived in the family home their entire lives. Agnes is survived by her sister Mary, niece Linda Sylvia, and her husband Jim, and nephew, retired state senator Mark Pacho, and his wife Barbara, along with several great and great great nieces and nephews. Please join us in keeping the Pico family in your thoughts. So, if we could have a moment of silence for these poor people. Thank you. Thank you,
022Mrs. Shabs. Roll call, please. Roll call. Mr. Enus, present. Mrs. Shabs is present. Mr. Powski is absent. Miss Santos, present. Mr. Vieiraa is absent. Mr. Delora, present. And Dr. Dlo, present. Thank you. Thank you. Approval of the minutes of April 16. Motion to approve the minutes as presented of date of April 16, 2025. Second. Motion and second to approve. All those in favor? I opposed. None opposed. So voted. And next we have the student student advisory committee report. And Lyanna Mora is here to deliver that. So you just need your uh mic. There we go. I'd like to highlight some of the academics going on at CHS. First, our dual Thank you. First, our dual enrollment program is wrapping up for the year. Um, many of the courses did wrap last week and AP testing
023also began. Um, as well as the continuation of eighth grade MCCAST. Outside of academics, um, Logan Rebelloo was reelected for Skills USA state officer. Um, and we had three students return with gold in their competitions. Eliza Nester got gold in early childhood while Dylan Clayman and Jason Murphy got gold in audio radio. These students will be attending nationals in Atlanta in the coming weeks. So, congratulations to all competitors. Um THS Link Crew is prepping for the upcoming school year. Interviews are being conducted by returning leaders after school next week. Um Link Crew assists in running eighth grade orientation, providing students with um the opportunity to connect with their peers before the beginning of the school year. We have many incredible athletes at ths, but two were highlighted over the weekend. Braden Bleno and Emerson Deont
024both broke school records in track. Um, Braden Bleno broke the 400 meter school record with a time of 49.36 seconds, while Emerson broke the mile record with a time of 4 minutes and 58.5 seconds. Our volleyball team also won a championship title um being crowned co- champions uh next to the Milford team. This is the first time in the history of Taton High that we've gotten a a volleyball title. So, that's really exciting. Um, congratulations to all the athletes. Um, and this concludes my report. I appreciate your time and attention. Okay. Thank you, Lanna. Great job. And, um, it's so good to hear about all the successes of our students. Motion to accept the report. Second on that. Motion second. All those in favor? Opposed? None opposed? So voted. Is there any public input this
025evening? No public input this evening. And then we have the FY26 preliminary budget presentation. Thank you, Madam May. You're welcome. So again, this this is the second of our four budget presentations that I will present to the committee. So, we will have our next budget presentation which will be the June 5th budget hearing and then I believe on June 17th I and I think it's going to be around six o'clock. We will go before the city council to present our budget. So before I get into uh the House Ways and Means budget presentation, I also do want to note that the Senate did release their budget figures. And as far as chapter 70 goes, no change for chapter 70. But I'll provide you with that update in uh in in June because I didn't have
026enough time to update this presentation and get it to you get it to you within the 48 hour open law open meeting law requirement. So before we get into the nuts and bolts of the presentation, and this will be really quick because I'm only going to highlight the areas that have been updated. I did want to note that for the state of Massachusetts, the March tax collections beat the expect beat the expectation by $101 million, which is 2.5% higher than what they projected for March in fiscal 25. We are three quarters through the fiscal year and to date the state has collected 786 million above the benchmark for FY25. So year to date the state has collected $29.7 billion. In March it collected $4.2 billion. So April, May, and June and the potential of another
02710 to12 million. The state should be right around that $39 billion benchmark, $42 million benchmark that they set for themselves. So again, a lot of that can be attributed to the millionaires uh tax as well as the other revenues that they're collecting. So right as of now over the same nine-month period for last year to at this time, the state is $2.1 billion ahead of schedule as far as receipts. So I provided you uh with the table of contents. The only addition to the table of contents was a document that was requested at the last meeting by Mr. Vieiraa. So you'll notice the last bullet as an appendix. I did add the per pupil expenditures which I'll cover at the end of the slide presentation. Uh again this is us. This is this is who
028we are as a community as a school system. Our mission and our vision vision as I stated Mr. Barado and I had a meeting with the tuned yesterday. So we anticipate providing you with a strategic plan update I believe either the second or last meeting in June. So we are really close to releasing that document. Something that I'm very proud of. I won't go through all the receipts because we covered this at the last meeting. Where you see some changes is here on slide 12. We are now in May and awaiting the Senate's budget, which I did check the cherry sheets this morning and the cherry sheets which followed the state budget did have the uh Senate Ways and Means budget figures in there and again there was no change to our chapter 7. And
029again, our chapter 7 summary, a lot of I mean these this is a substantial increase regarding the foundation budget. So an increase of $13.4 million is large. uh the city's required contribution increased by $2.9 million, almost three million in the chapter 78 aid. Uh so that's attributed to the increase in enrollment of 222 students, the inflation factor of 1.93% and plus year six implementation of the student opportunity act. So we are in what I would call what I described to our principles. uh we're in a like a renaissance in school funding and I anticipate after fiscal 27 we will not be seeing you know chapter 70 increases of $10.4 $4 million will probably be more in line with the two to four to six million that we were that we were receiving prior to the
030student opportunity act. The foundation budget formula this is how everything is calculated. So, real simple, if you take the 153,498,975, you know, um, net school spending requirement or and you divide it by 8,457 students, that gives you a per pupil expenditure of $18,151 per student. So, that's how those numbers are calculated if you want to check the math. And again, required net school spending. The state is saying that the city between indirect costs and appropriation must spend a total of a just under $154 million. The state share is 69% in the amount of $105 million. The city's share again through indirect services and appropriation appropriated dollars must equate or equal 48 million. And I also provided you with the inflation factor. You'll notice that inflation is slightly up from fiscal 25, just under 2%. And
031the largest increase to our chapter 70 can be attributed to low income. Uh we're receiving almost $6 million. So we are in the 10th decile. There are 12 decileis when it comes to calculating free and reduced lunch. We're in the 10th decileis where about six out of 10 students are are considered know economically challenged. And this is again following the budget. You'll you'll notice the chapter 78 on slide 16, nothing has changed. So our chapter 78 stays holds firm at $ 105,442,130, which is 11% increase. The city's contribution is not expected to change. And then when you add those two numbers up, you come up with 153 million and that's a total increase of just under 10%. Again, I want to stress that is being driven by the increase in enrollment 222 students, the inflation
032factor of 1.93% and the implementation of year six of the S SOA. So, in order to get to 100% net school spending, uh this is something that I don't think ever gets clear, but it gets a little clearer every time we talk about it. So, the required net school spending total spend spending on education by the city of Taton on the Taton public school side of the house. This doesn't include Bristol Plymouth or Bristol Aggie has to equal just under $154 million. Eligible indirect costs do not include transportation, do not include crossing guards. So by our calculations, we estimate that about just over $22 million uh in eligible and direct costs. When you subtract the eligible indirect costs from the required net school spending in order to be at 100% net school spending, we need
033an appropriation in the amount of 131,66,515 to be at for the city to be at 100% net school spending. And we have received that commitment from uh Mayor Okonnell and her staff. So, thank you, Mayor. Just a little history on where we are. And the reason why that last column is in yellow because it hasn't been audited. So once it gets audited, that'll be that'll be a fixed number or that'll be a more accurate number. And year to date, fiscal 25, the average net school spending across the state is 130%. There are still 10 districts who have not completed the end of the year report. And and uh Taton has completed our end of the year report and I need to need to confirm that it has been audited so we can update these numbers.
034And this is just a breakdown again uh on the required local contribution profile. So I won't bore you with this. You've seen this already. Uh the dollar slide, just a visual on how the state aid factors in. When you figure the local contribution, it's about an 8020 split. And we're proposing expenditures in the amount of 133,716,544. We're asking the city to meet the 100% NES school spending requirement and to provide us with an appropriation of 131,66,516 to close that delta of $2.6 million, $2.7 million. We are going to utilize our circuit breaker carryover which has to be expended. If we don't expend it, it goes back to the state. So, this is a good use of those funds and that'll put us at 100% NES school spending and provide us with a balanced budget for
035fiscal 26. Again, just providing you with a breakdown something that we covered during the budget workshop and I did provide you with the responses to the questions at the budget workshop earlier today via email. Just a snapshot on how our budget has grown us going back to fiscal 18. And again, that 9.82% looks large, but don't forget, we want to go back here and reiterate that our state funding has increased by 11%. So again, that's why people are not getting 10% increases. Our state funding has increased by 11%. And this was a chart that I had to uh correct. So I apologize for not having the correct pie chart the last meeting. But you'll notice that out of all the of the total expenditures for the city of Taton, which is roughly 254 million for
036fiscal 24% of that 47% of that pie chart of that total can be attributed to Ton Public Schools, Bristol Plymouth, and Bristol Aggie, the three schools. And then you'll notice fixed costs make up about 23%. That's another large area. General uh public safety, they combined public safety. So police and fire have been combined into one uh line on the on the do state report that I extract this information from. This just goes to provide show you where the city is spending its funding. And on average, most school departments make up about 48 47% of a city's budget on average. So, we're right in line with what other cities are spending on education. Uh extremely proud of the fact that we've been able to do these projects utilizing our revolving funds using one-time grants and not
037utilizing appropriated dollars or having go having to go to the community for a debt exclusion or debt override. So to be able to put about 17 17.5 million dollars back into our facilities and keeping the using the appropriated dollars to educate our students. I'm very proud of the fact as a resident and as a superintendent that we have great facilities that'll last our students for generations to come. And it's not just sports know the performing arts. You've contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars thanks to support from the city as well to getting new laner instruments. And we are going to reach that goal of 25% of Taton High School students participating in the performing arts. So again, very proud. And that softball field, if you haven't been on that softball field yet, wait till you
038get to see it. It is um it has to be one of the nicest softball fields in Bristol County. So again, another another jewel in our in our community for our community members to share. And we're not done. I'll talk about another project that I would hope hopefully get the support from the school committee. And we have some support from the city to be able to provide uh our community, our students, our staff with an area where they can know get fit and learn about leading health healthy lives. These are all our partners. I'm very very proud of the work that we've done. I was super proud to have Regina Robinson at the last professional development day to be our keynote speaker. She really did a nice job uh talking to our staff about self-care.
039So much so that I gave I gave staff an hour and a half to go do some self-care before we started the workshops in the afternoon. So, we have some great partnerships and I'm very proud of this work. And then last but not least, something that I'm not proud of, but I think it goes a long way in showing the community that you do get your dollars worth as we were talking about during um finance and law. Now, we have the second lowest per pupil cost in the state out of all the urban schools. Only Lemonster has a lower per pupil cost in the city of time. And if you look at instructional leadership, you look at administration, we have I think the third lowest when it comes to administrative costs because we believe in
040putting those resources in the classrooms, not in corner offices. So again, we really do stretch the dollar and we really do put the dollar in the classrooms and in our staff's hands to be able to support our students. So that just kind of gives you a little bit again little bit of a snapshot um on how we stack up against all the urbans in the urban superintendent network and and then the line item budget which we reviewed during the budget workshop. So I don't think we need to get into the line item budget but if you have any questions regarding the PowerPoint any new information I'd be happy to answer at this time and the only motion needed is to accept in place on file your formal vote to accept the budget will be done
041at the June 5th budget hearing. Okay. Thank you, Superintendent Carroll. Mayor, if I may, thank you. Uh, superintendent, just a couple things. You mentioned June 5th. The actual school committee meets June 4th, just to make sure. And just for the public at home to better understand, we already met as a school committee, uh, a committee, the whole budget workshop on April 30th. We're presenting the preliminary budget today, May 7th. We'll have another presentation which will be the final presentation to be accepted on June 4th. Then we'll go before the city council on June 17th. So, there's multiple opportunities still for the public to ask questions, come down, uh, be involved if they have any questions uh, about the budget. And the other request, I don't even know if it's there, but I know Miss Johnson's
042in the audience. If we could already put this new budget up on the website so that people do have an opportunity to flip through if necessary. And the last comment is when we go before the city council on June 17th, uh I know that they talk about education and the pie charts and all that and sometimes I don't know if it's separated out mayor or not or Mr. Enus the BP and the Aggie school because sometimes they dedicate education the total amount. Maybe if we could ask them to separate what TPS is versus BP and the Aggie school. I think that's also nice for the public at home to know because sometimes that number is a little bit deceiving and uh that would be my birthday so I'll be there and hopefully we could all
043celebrate together. Thank you mayor. Motion to accept the report and place on file. That's okay. Motion a second on can second on discussion. Mrs. Shavs just one clarification because this is the second time we're we're we're doing this. Uh the new bees on the on here on 20 on page 21 that circuit breaker carrier. That's what we had a lot of discussion about last year. Those are the prepaid I No. So what are these? Yeah. So circuit breaker is funding that the state provides us for any student who attends district attends district placement. Thank you. For any student who attends an out of district placement whose tuition I believe is four or five times higher than the per pupil, we receive 75% reimbursement on that amount over the per pupil. Okay. Okay. Okay. So, these
044are funds that we utilize. Should we have a student move into the district from out of district um that we weren't carrying on the budget, we can utilize the circuit breaker funds. If we have a student who's in in the Tom public schools but requires to go out of district and we didn't have that budget, we can use the circuit breaker funds to to make sure that that student can go out of district. That makes sense. Thank you. You're welcome. Good questions. All right. So, there is a first um I mean um a motion and a second to receive and place on file. All those in favor? I opposed. None opposed. So voted. Okay. Okay, moving on. We have administrative business, the staffing update. We get there. No problem. On the staffing update. Sorry, Madam
045May. I'm still a little behind on my paperwork here. So, on the staffing Oh, found it. No problem. Thank you for your patience. So on the staffing update, just I want to just want to report uh we have one position that's pending at MKI school. So that position should be filled shortly. And we have two positions pending at Ton High School. So with regards to TEA classroom educators, we are 99% staffed. Okay, good news. And then there is the school choice participation vote. So, this is that time of year uh where we come to the committee to take a vote on whether or not the top public schools continues to serve or continues to accept choice students. My recommendation to the committee would be that we continue to be a choice district knowing that we
046will only accept students if there is space in our classrooms. If their classrooms or programs are at capacity, we will not accept students. Okay. All right. So, uh, Superintendent Cabraw is recommending and I believe asking for a vote in favor of motion to accept the superintendent's recommendation. Second motion and second to accept the recommendation to uh for school choice participation. All those in favor? I opposed. None opposed. So voted. Taton Public School District 12th grade enrollment update. This was just a memo that I that we generated as a follow-up to a question for Mrs. Shave uh during the last meeting. So, Mr. Shaw, I believe that answers all your questions. Okay, if you have any if you have any questions, feel free to follow up offline. Thank you. Okay, great. And then healthy communities grant
047update. Very excited about the healthy communities grant, which I believe I shared with you a rendering of the fitness project that we're hoping to install just outside the tennis courts in that green space area between the tennis courts and Parker. So, I'm happy to inform you that we have covered all the costs except $155,000. So, we received a grant in the amount of $40,000 from NFC and we have internal grants that are eligible uh to the tune of 93,000 that we can apply towards this project and leaving us with a balance of 155,000. Is it okay for me to share? Madame Mayor, would you like to share? Uh, you can you can do it. How's that? So if the committee um does go forward with this project, chooses to go forward with this project, the
048city has offered to split the difference of the remaining balance of 155,000, which means our share would be 775 and the city would cover the remaining portion of 775 and that number could possibly come down lower uh depending on the bids we get to install the cement the cement pad. So at a mo at a max our commitment would be 775 and the city has offered to match our contribution to 775. So if it's within the purview of the committee a motion to to authorize me to move ahead with this project knowing uh knowing that the funding is spelled out and secured the way I've outlined it would be greatly appreciated. Motion to I would second that. Accept the recommendation and go forward with the project. Second that motion and second on discussion that Dr.
049Dilla. Thank you mayor. Uh this is all great. This is specifically at the high school correct in front of the tennis courts. So William Street campus. Okay. So uh you know I know we have a lot of beautiful parks being built and so forth. And I know that folks are are are seeking or eagerly seeking uh you know also different venues of recreation these parks. I know the pickle ball is all good and dandy, but you know, basketball courts has been discuss discussed and so forth. So, I I just want to make sure that, you know, we're serving the entire city and you know, I we have this at Bridgewwater State University. It works very well, but we're on a campus. Uh, everybody lives there, so it's accessible to everybody within walking distance. Uh, is
050there any intentions of expanding this at other sites of the other parks like the the new park on Deval? is the vault park on Oak Street uh something similar to this so we don't eliminate some folks across the city. Has that been discussed mayor? Do you know? We do not have any of uh these particular what are they called? Healthy community spaces um in any of our plans for Deval Park which is almost done. Our next one is Memorial Park. Um, which we could probably put this in if you guys wanted to move it. We'd be happy to do that, you know, but other than that, it's not already in the plan. Yeah, I don't mean move it. I'm just saying, you know, again, you know, I just don't want to make sure that people
051will say, well, we're spending all this money specifically at Taton High School campus, but yet we don't have anything down the wear, nothing down the Wittington, which is now ever expanding and so forth. So I you know I just want to make sure that we could possibly look at something like this for other parts of the city even within our own campus businesses. This is a competitive grant that comes out annually. So selfishly uh first right of refusal or first right abuse would be the school. So I can picture our gym classes uh utilizing this structure during the school day with with nice weather. I could see our staff coming in before school or staying after school and on weekends. You've seen the high school campus on weekends and after school. It's buzzing with opportunity
052about it. So, it'll serve our student population in faculty first and community second. And it's a competitive grant. I'd be happy to work with anyone on the city side about securing future grants and doing others. Maybe something at Oakland, maybe something at Martin or maybe something at East True because those campuses get utilized a lot. Right. I again because we talked about the Martin Middle School with different uh visions there and you know nothing's really happened there also uh or it has but very slowly. So I just want to be inclusive to the entire city and all the students that we serve uh spread throughout the city. That's all. Thank you ma'am. Okay. Well um so there was the motion y and a second and I just want to say that we are really thrilled
053that John reached out to superintendent cabal reached out to us uh to partner on this project. It's something that we've looked at over the years and haven't been able to do ourselves. Um so it's um a nice way to get it done together. So motion and second. All those in favor? Opposed? None opposed. So voted. Subcommittee reports, long range planning and school properties. Mr. Mayor, who is doing that? Chairman Vieier has asked that he uh report out at the next school committee meeting at May 17. So we'll put that on there. Committee of the whole budget workshop. Thank you. Uh, mayor, uh, we as a committee, the whole met on April 30th. Uh, the first topic of discussion was exactly what the superintendent presented us tonight. The preliminary budget uh, of the TA public schools.
054Uh, it went a little bit more in depth. I think we were there for almost two hours. There were many questions from every committee member uh, regarding different lines and different uh, future endeavors uh, with monies that uh, we're expecting. Of course, we're always very cautious. Uh we don't like to overspend and uh again, it was very very uh great conversation, a lot of good questions, and we accepted uh we we we basically accepted the report. Uh we didn't vote on it, of course, because that's not the time and place to do it, not until June 4th. And uh again, we met for almost two hours. Also part of that meeting uh the school committee uh budget workshop uh participants which of course was the committee the whole uh directed the superintendent to write a
055letter on behalf of the superintendent myself as chairperson uh to Mayor Okonnell and city council president Scott Martin. Uh the letter is contained in your packet. I don't know uh if I have a few minutes to read it if you don't mind. So, Mayor Sean O'Connell, Council President Scott Martin, De Mayor, Dear Mayor Okonnell, and Council President Martin, we are writing to inform you that during the school committee, Taton School Committee budget workshop held on Wednesday, April 30th, 2025, a motion was made, seconded, and unanimously voted approved 70 to formally invite the Taton City Council to participate in a joint meeting with the school committee. Uh the purpose of this meeting is to discuss the city's future housing development plans and the implications of projected growth on both the city and the taunt public schools.
056Since FY23, our district enrollment has increased by over 400 students, a trend we expect to continue with the rise in new residential developments. This projected growth has significant implications for long-term planning, including school capacity, staffing, transportation, and educational resources. A joint session will be mutually beneficial and essential to effective long range planning. It will also help the school district take proactive steps such as preparing statements of interest, also known as SOIS, for submission to the Massachusett School Building Authority, MSBA, and working with the city to earmark and evaluate space suitable for future school construction if needed. We would like to schedule this joint meeting at a mutually agreeable date and time. We appreciate continued partnership leading in planning for the future of our community. Sinclair John Jacob, superintendent of schools, Dr. Gregory Delo, chairperson taught
057school committee. So, uh, it's been successful in the past. We've been before our colleagues on the city council and hopefully, uh, we'll get a response soon to plan a joint meeting. So, that was also voted unanimously. And that concludes my report. Motion to accept the report. So, moved. Motion and second. All those in favor? Opposed? None opposed? So, voted. Elementary subcommittee, Mr. Laura. The elementary subcommittee met this afternoon. Members present myself as chairman, Miss Santos, and chairman dlo participated as well at the end of the meeting. Um along with superintendent Cabal and Mr. Barado, principal Amanda Ahmad. Um the meeting was called in at 4:45 was called to order at 4:45. Uh she presented her school improvement plan at the Bennett Elementary School for 2024 to 2026 highlighting four areas of focus with overall goals
058for each improvement including teacher improvement and impact. Uh there were four areas of focus on the plan uh in a presentation that all educators will utilize ASIT with fidelity in grades 2 to four in grades K and one a progression model of ASIT in order for all students in particular SWDs, MLS and duly identified students to produce writing in response to greater level text which demonstrates master of the identified ified writing standard. U the end of the year the goal is to improve student development in writing in district assessments by 30 to 50%. Uh in monitoring this progress they will utilize wonders readers writers companion and foundations at all grade levels administer and score district writing prompts. create writing folders for grades K to 4 to collect writing samples, assess progress, and look for trends
059to improve instruction. Uh further analyze student writing data from spring MCAST district benchmark assessments and readers writers companion. um including scoring student work to calibrate what at each point looks like and provide teachers with the opportunities to participate in walkthroughs of not only there but across districts. The second area of focus was all educators will utilize mindup curriculum and supplemental SEAL resources with fidelity in grades K to four. With the end of the year goal, student ratings will improve by 20%. Uh this would of course would take action items to monitor progress by analyzing items from sellers, savers and vocal utilization of reset space create flexible groupings using data and teacher input and establish schoolwide incentives for desired behaviors and also to provide guidance and classroom teachers. with materials that would support social emotional learning.
060Now the third area of focus is where teachers will utilize district approved targeted math interventions such as IM bridges exemplars to support struggling students in in closing achievement gaps and increase the pre% of students who are scoring on a below range. The goal is to improve student math score by 40% on district assessments as well as on MCCAST scores. Now the fourth area of focus was to reduce chronic absenteeism by 15% by the end of the school year which would include monitoring of progress to analyze attendance data from school brains and open architects hold quarterly meetings to review concerns and communicate daily to family and students who are absent. The principal presented her SIP in a very positive fashion with much enthusiasm, dedication and commitment to her position, detailing plan utilizing a multitude of resources
061and 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 students. The meeting concluded at 5:20 and this is my report. Thank you, Mr. Laura. Motion to accept Mr. Laura's report. Second. Motion a second. All those in favor? Opposed? None opposed? So voted. Finance and law. Dr. Dlo. Thank you, mayor. The finance and law subcommittee met earlier this evening at 5:45. Uh members present were Mrs. Shaves and myself. The first item was the student activity account uh at Taton High School in the amount of $11,49948. A motion was made by Mrs. Shavs to replenish the account and that same amount. It was voted unanimously in favor. Um and that motion passed. Next up, we have use of facilities.
062Uh a memo was uh given to us by the superintendent. Uh of the five or six organizations, there was only one that we waved fees to. due to inind services uh which is the officiating program uh to educate not only our students but others to participate as officients uh in the different sports and actually earn some dollars. So I think it's a great way of uh giving the space for inind services to our students and once again that was uh accepted and received on fi received and placed on file unanimously. The next up was the special education expense services and that uh was budgeted for $50,000. Uh the uh February 25 charges were $6,204 uh leaving us with a balance of $4424 for the fiscal year of 2025 which which ends on June 30th. Uh
063a request or a question was made by my Mrs. Sh and myself regarding if we needed to move dollars at this time. The superintendent uh explained to us that the other legal services line is well under budget and at the next school committee meeting there will be a request to move some dollars from that line item to uh uh sufficiently cover any future expenses with the special education uh contracted legal services that was uh voted to uh receive and place on file by Mrs. Shaves. voting unanimously on that. The next item was the Taunt area school to career. Uh a memo was provided to us as they always do. And uh I I'll I'll group both of these together. Uh Taunt area school to career, also known as task and coaching for change. Both memos
064were provided to us. And Mrs. Sh made a great recommendation of kind of uh creating a template so that we don't have to dig deep into some of this um discussion that's here that doesn't really pertain to what we're looking for which is a return on our investment. Of course, we're spending uh many dollars. We want to make sure our students are maximizing the uh investment we're making in these contracted uh services uh organizations. So, that motion was made. Uh the superintendent will review and get back to us and voted in favor. uh unanimously to instruct the superintendent to create that template. And the last item was bills payable for FY25 in the amount of 1,84,3402. Uh four or five items were questioned by Mrs. Shaves. Uh just basically understanding uh what those fees were
065for. The one item that we shared commonality with was a security fee for the two Hamilton Street property. uh just to make sure that that was uh up and running and that was uh explained by the superintendent and also as part of the acceptance of the bills payable I was uh I requested to be recorded as voting present on item listed on page 23 for Pride Inc. in the amount of $14,518 as I serve on the board of directors and as co- treasurer. And once again, that was moved to approve the warrant in the amount of $1,84,340. Voted unanimously. And that concludes my report. Okay. Is there a motion to accept the report? Motion to accept Mr. Dell's report. Motion and second. All those in favor? I opposed. None opposed. So voted. New business. I
066believe we already discussed number one the joint meeting. Okay. And number two is uh school roof replacement on Freriedman Middle School. So this uh could not come at a better time because I received calls over the weekend that the Freeman uh theater was taking on some water due to the heavy rains. So as some of you have been in this district long enough to remember when that building was constructed back in 2001 when we opened it and I was there, that roof was already defective. So this is long overdue to replace this roof. So, I want to thank the mayor and her administration um for moving forward with the second roof replacement. Chamberlain was replaced last summer. Benjamin A. Freeman Middle School is scheduled to be replaced this summer. Uh the company that will be
067doing the work will begin staging the materials on campus. I also want to make the committee aware that this project does call for the installation of solar at a later date, most likely in the fall. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Mayor. And Mr. for your work with these roof projects. Much needed. Much appreciated. All right. You're welcome. I is unfinished business action item update. I don't any mayor business with that. Yes, mayor. I believe we want to u add an item to the action item uh update. And superintendent, could you please elaborate on that? I think it would make sense since the NESD report is already outdated sadly. Um, I think it would make sense to add the letter that we sent to uh the mayor and chairman Martin, Chairperson Martin as a as a
068President Martin, thank you as a bullet under the Nestec item just so we have that running record. Motion to place that in the action item. Second. Motion and second. All on this Gotch. Oh, all those in favor. Opposed? None opposed. So voted. All right. I don't believe there's any press here this evening. Any press? And motion to adjurnn. Motion to adjurnn. Second. Motion and second. All those in favor. I opposed. None opposed. So voted. Thank you everyone. Thank you.