School Committee Meeting - 4/9/2026

001Good evening Holliston and welcome to the April 9th meeting of the Holliston School Committee. Um at this point I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. Seconded by Don. All in favor? That passes. And we will move right along with uh report from student representatives. Good evening. Um so spring sports are well underway and we have had several athlete of the week nominations including three for baseball. So Aiden Kramer, Ben O'Brien, and Henry Lee. And then additionally, Maggie Morton was nominated for lacrosse as well. And then we would also like to share a milestone for one of our lacrosse athletes, Amelia Langen. She got her 500th career save in lacrosse in their game earlier this week. Um for the performing arts, there's a kind of new event. Holliston High School Chorus is traveling

002to Medway High School for their swing and sing event performing a cappella songs and then Medway's also has their jazz band. And this will be Wednesday, April 15th. And then for some club updates, um again, DECA Nationals is in 2 weeks now and they're holding a big sale fundraiser on Saturday at Fiske's General Store. As a reminder, they're sending 11 competitors and two leadership positions for 13 students total to Georgia and they are asking for support in their fundraising. And then robotics had another successful competition weekend the weekend prior and they were actually able to climb a ladder with their robot. Um so three-term AP classes are conducting finals this week and they're finishing up tomorrow. Um prom tickets being sold till Friday. Prom's in May, yay. Um and then the course selection portal closed

003April 1st and overall students felt prepared and supported throughout the whole process um with the new schedule next year. And then on April 7th, the Seal of Biliteracy redo after there was a slight mix-up with the testing application um went out with or went on without a hitch. And then um also the school has been offering students um to go and learn about the three finalists for the position of director in teaching and learning um just so they can be more involved. And then for NHS, um there was a March Madness collection drive in March which was very successful. Over 1,270 items were donated over the course of 3 weeks to Cradles to Crayons and the food pantry. And then our regional representatives are finishing up their projects and almost ready to send their progress

004into the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. And then also um students uh were given the opportunity to speak for NEASC earlier this week and share their experiences with what when goes on around school. Thank you. Okay, thank you so much. Um School Committee comments, Frank? Uh nothing. Jason? Uh so I I had the opportunity to watch the three finalists for our curriculum position and um so I'd say we got three really strong candidates. So tough choice ahead. I know they're visiting at different times over the next week or so, but uh really excited to see how that process unfolds, but I really really strong candidates. So >> Incredibly excited. Incredibly excited. Just incredibly strong and No seriously, it's very impressive. And no additional comment. Okay. Um looks like we have uh one person for

005public comment. Um do you want to come up to the microphone and state your name and address and share your thoughts. I'm Don Atkins, 663 Highland Street. Um I came out of curiosity for the uh math placement for 7th and 8th grade. Um my experience so far has been mixed. Uh it it's a challenge um to to make the the selection. What I've seen so far is uh has me concerned that it's not in incorporating um motivation engagement from the students. And those are hard things to measure, but very significant components to success of the students. And one of the challenges is that the selection process is a feedback loop on driving more motivation engagement. And so if we fail to include that, it has could have a downward pressure on that from from the

006students we're trying to foster this with. Um so I'm interested to to see the presentation um and learn more about it. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um Anyone else for public comment here or is there anyone on the Zoom? I don't think so. Okay. Um with that, we will move right along to Kerry Bannon. Um I did prepare some slides just um thinking I sort of understood what um what we were looking for and I wanted to be really clear about um communicating that. So oh there they are. Great. Thank you. Um And then I have one more question. Just let me know when you're ready to move on. Okay. I'll be ready in about 15 seconds. I apologize. I I extra apologize cuz my eyes are really old and I know it's up

007there because I can see it, but I can't read all the words. All right. Um so you know, the the process is um has been definitely a little bit muddy and so I'm here to to talk about why that is and um I did talk with some members of the School Committee who had like great feedback and conversations with the community and my understanding was tonight we would talk about placement criteria and the process, um communication timeline, and then the path forward for families and students. So that's what I put together today. Um So if we can head over to the next slide, we'll we'll talk about the placement criteria first. Um so the the process was definitely not created overnight. Um and the criteria um at least from what I can tell have been

008in place since minimally '21-'22 um and maybe before that. So um what I did last year was something different. I did an open choice model as my first year as um interim principal and principal where we did provide the criteria to students and families um and then we just said who wants to to do it. Um and that was sort of uh just a way of of seeing how that would work out. Some things that happened um So there were 30 students who met the criteria that was, you know, previously set um for Algebra 1 in other years of RAMS. Um they were enrolled and they performed as expected kind of in the class. Um this is the first year, so we don't have final grades or placements for high school yet. Um and then

009there were 42 students who didn't meet the criteria, um but they enrolled and we documented some struggle, some stress, some anxiety, um but also some success. Um and I think this year we had the thing that kind of got in our way was that we had um some subcommittee meetings that went from May of '20-'25-ish, I think that's when we started, to like January. So we didn't put criteria into place cuz we weren't sure if we were going to do the open model again or if we were going to do criteria. Um but it was suggested that we do criteria for the course. Um Uh we sat in the in the meetings with um you know, folks from RAMS, from School Committee, from the community, and it was we definitely understood that that there should

010be criteria. So what we did was we went back and we looked at what the previous criteria were for that course um and noted that uh I I just did a a table here. you can kind of check it out. Um So we the MCAS, IXL or STAR, um common assessments, sometimes there was teacher recommendations, sometimes there was not. There's some very strong feelings on both sides of that. Um and then either an opportunity to test um assessment or a placement test. So we were just sort of we were filling in um and pulling back what had already existed. Um And what we what we did decide to do was leave out the teacher recommendation part um because the teachers do have such strong input with the common assessments. They write them, they deliver them,

011they give kids their accommodations and modifications, they um allow kids to rework them um so that they felt comfortable with that. Um and where we landed, we didn't give a point value system um in advance because we weren't sure where the group was going to land, so where we landed was um for the point system the the math kids sort of qualifying for the criteria for the advanced classes was between 7 and 13 points. 13 was the max. And then for science it was 6 to 11 points. The data sources we used, I listed them there in case you want to see them separately from the table. And then the process we modeled um exactly after the processes that were in place in 21, 22, 23, 24. So it started with a data review with

012either a curriculum specialist or an interventionist and then some more additional explanations of opportunities from an administrator and then an appointment with the principal and that's how that it had been done historically. So that's the process that we followed as well. And these are just some of the things we considered. If we scroll to the considerations, it it's not easy to we don't I'm sure you understand this but we don't just look at the numbers and say that's it. These are all the things that we have to consider when making a schedule and choosing courses for the middle school and and we there's two sides to to each one of these so we really try to do the best we can to kind of balance everything. And then I also wanted to take a look

013at the enrollment shift over the last decade. So I just pulled these numbers from DESI for us to take a look at. So this is the last kind of decade at Rams and in the coming year we do have an enrollment dip. We do kind of it looks like we kind of go back up to the to the low 200s again after that but it is a big dip and you'll also note that there is a very large number of students on IEPs. A number of students on 504s and then our multilingual learners. We also have high needs kids and culturally um I'm sorry, historically marginalized kids to take into consideration. So there's a lot of things to think about when you're looking at this data but if we if we just kind of think

014about it in in 2016 there were 246 kids in eighth grade. This year there's 219 and then the rising course, the class is 183. So those are all the things we considered and then if you kind of move into the next slide, I just talked a little bit about the timeline. So um prior to 24-25 was that criteria model which we we brought back this year because it was suggested. Um Some communication was sent earlier in those years. I did not have the ability to send earlier communication just because of the timing of the recommendations from the subcommittee which I was on. There were a lot of conversations in that meeting and I didn't want to put something out to families that I wasn't sure was going to be accurate. So I think we finished

015up in December and I think the final recommendation was voted on in January. Is that correct? I think it was end of December. >> End of December. Okay. So then in January I think we kind of just started going through what we could pull for criteria. I sent out the first communication in early February to everybody. I actually went back and double check that today. It talked about the criteria we were using. It talked about the opportunity assessment and then it announced that there would be a placement test. The teachers also went over that information with the students. From that early February communication we got one question from a parent and responded to it and then we sent out the full explanation and criteria to everyone again in mid-March once the recommendations were in PowerSchool.

016Um And then the communication started and so immediately we kind of tried to communicate with as many people as possible. Science was a big topic sort of in the beginning. I had proposed a an embedded honors course but that wasn't supported by the community. So I did propose a separate honors class which was agreed on. It is full right now with 25 students. We haven't received any negative communication on that in about a week. So I think people were happy with that resolution. And the scheduling reality just so that everyone is aware, my my best guess at that time was that we could have pretty balanced classes for the general science classes but as it turns out we do have two classes that are currently as high as 49% IEPs. So we are in a

017uncomfortable situation there. You know, and it it it is what it is. We laid out what the what services all those 55 kids need and when they can receive them and who we have to deliver them and that's the best we could do. So um so we did we did meet that need of the community and that's kind of where science stands. And then in terms of sort of everything the math and the science together, we we did have so there's 397 um people, right, families that we communicated with. We had 40% or we had 40 families with questions that we received emails from and that's about 10% of the total. We have a tracking sheet. 21 of those are resolved. They're all resolved in different ways. Some families were really happy just to hear

018an explanation about the data. And that's again out of that 10%. Others were concerned about their student being motivated one way or the other. Some were very happy that they their student was going to have the chance to to show their motivation and wanted to wait for the spring and and fall assessments and others did not so we accommodated everyone. There are still nine um meetings that are that we need to have and then there are 10 of those, you know, that 10% that after they received the initial data, they there was no reply so I started today circling back around to those families just to say, "Hey, we noticed you got your data and we don't want to make the assumption that you're happy but are you happy or do you want to talk?"

019So I heard back from one family already and so yeah, we're still finishing up those conversations. We have we keep track of everything. We have spreadsheets and pivot tables and everything from from many many years and I did go back and check to see because the criteria is very similar to previous years, I did go back to see the parent communications. Thank you, David Jordan, because you had very good records of and and all the the interventionists that kind of were doing those things and it looks like the volume typically ranges from 8 to 12% year to year of families that reach out and and have questions and this year is 10%. So it seems to fall in the in the normal range of volume. Um I also put together a visual and this this

020speaks a little bit more to Dr. Jordan's presentation a couple of years ago that just shows kind of what happens when you have those honors classes and then you have increases in some of your highest needs kids. So if you look on the left, that's your 2016-2017. Would you mind scrolling down a little bit? To the next slide? No, it's all on the same slide. I think it's just long. >> Oh. Yeah. So on the left is your your 2016 to 2017 data and and that model shows a typical honors class in 16-17. I think sorry, can you scroll down a little? That's the bottom. [clears throat] I mean out just we can see all the pictures. Yeah. So if you look across at those two models, you'll see they're they're very similar. So we

021haven't had a lot of change, a lot of movement in the honors level classes. We have a small amount of our highest needs kids and that includes students on IEPs, students [clears throat] on 504s, multilingual language learners, low income families, historically marginalized folks. So there hasn't been a lot of change. Where there has been a lot of change is what's happening in the general education classes. So as those needs have increased and especially this coming year where the enrollment is lower, we're looking at some significantly different numbers in those non-honors classes. And unfortunately, you know, the way a schedule works in a middle school typically is when you when you add one honors class, it it ripples out because those kids stay together. Then there's only a certain amount of sections they can fill in

022after that. Um So, like in general, the the honors class composition is pretty consistent, um but the non-honors class density has shifted significantly. Um The enrollment increased about 25% from um that, you know, '16-'17 year to next year. That's a bit of an anomaly um in terms of a low number, that 183, um but we also had an increase in our 504s by 70%. Um And then in 2016, there were about 34% of the kids that needed supports spread out through those classes, and in the coming year, we have about 61% requiring supports um in the non-honors classes. So, those are just some shifts. And then the last thing I think I was um asked to do was to kind of lay out what the upcoming opportunities are for the rising 7th graders and then

023the rising 8th graders. Um we we had this prepared, but I didn't want to put anything out until everybody got to take a look and discussed it and ask questions. So, for the rising 7th graders, we have two more opportunities. Um we had a already scheduled spring IXL benchmark, um and the target that we're learning from the numbers that we got is um 750 plus. And then the spring opportunity assessment, and there will be a choice of a paper test or a computer-based test, and the target from what we're seeing with the numbers is 92%. Um for the rising 8th graders, the the second opportunity for algebra algebra one placement is the same spring IXL benchmark, same dates, different target, 850 plus. Um and then we we laid this out a little bit differently because

024it is a different course, and at times um that could take students, you know, considerable time. We want to be able to provide them with um with with work they can do and practice they can do. So, we do have skills practice sent to all families um scheduled for early May. Um it is on IXL. We we don't have another option to give um you know, prep to families, but it's it's all spelled out. Um so, that will go out to all the families in early May. And then in the fall on the second day of school, um which is the the first full day, um we have anyone who wants to try that opportunity assessment again. Um the goal is a 92% and then for those that are in algebra and then maybe still

025need help with the skills, um that's okay, too. We will have one more year of math lab available for students who are still working on foundational algebra skills. Um ideally, and as has been done in the past, I would want to share this at um curriculum night open house, um and then 4 to 6 weeks before the placements come out. We didn't have enough information to do that at our curriculum night, so I apologize. Um And then I know there were some some questions um kind of out there still, um but what I would ask anyone to do who has questions, especially if they're um philosophical questions, is to just reach out to me directly and we can set up a time to talk. Um you can join us at any conversations in the middle.

026Uh those are all in the newsletter. Um then we could spend a full hour together. No one really ever comes. Sarah came once. >> [laughter] >> And um you know, the bottom line is that, you know, we'll we'll all sit down together and figure it out. We we don't have an override process like the high school because we're not a high school. We deal with all the kids individually. Um I'm not going to go through what we've done with the families already because that's private information, but um it it's just a process, and um I think everybody will will have what they want in the end, the the best we can. Was there anything I missed? I have some questions Yeah, go back up. Go back up. Kind of thinking about the communication piece. Um

027I'm definitely still hearing some questions from parents, and I'm always directing them back to you and asking them to contact you, and hopefully they have. Um but mostly the questions I'm hearing are either from 7th grade parents with questions about what's happening in Sorry, 6th grade parents wondering what's happening for 8th grade, or 8th grade parents wondering what's happening for 7th grade because the different emails went out to different groups. So, are there plans to communicate kind of what um science and math programming looks like to the whole school? I didn't have any plans right now to do it, but I I think that one of the things like we kind of talked about was where we could put uh like a a platform that people could go, maybe a version of this where people

028who could go and kind of check things out. Um And then from there, there there might be able like a clickable link where they could see some more data or contact me or Ron, but I think I was kind of waiting to see what everyone thought tonight so that I would know exactly what to kind of put out there. Um We we don't have a like a program of studies, and and what people are seeing um for courses this year are the courses that are happening this year. So, um I think it would probably be wise in the future to kind of like put something out um for programming in the future like so that people can see it and have that ready. Almost like a I think we we kind of talked about this,

029almost like a like a public relations like here's what's going on. And and that way when people have questions, they have a a resource to go to and they don't have to wait to to get meetings with administrators at the middle school. I might even expand that though to start communicating with 5th grade parents because the 5th grade MCAS scores are going to be included in the criteria for for placement. At least, you know, have a you know, not that we want to work our kids all up with it, but if they think know going in that that might be something that impacts the future. Yeah. >> Maybe that I worry about that. But I mean, I'll Well, then let's not use the let's not use the the test in the criteria, I guess. I

030I I think that we need to >> Yeah. I mean, we're just using what had kind of always been used even when there was 7th grade placement. Like we don't have the current year, so we have to go back, but I I certainly, you know, don't mind not using it, either. Um I I I I understand the piece around removing the teacher recommendation, so the bias uh kind of concerned about the bias piece that you mentioned. Um I I do worry that it is very test-heavy, and so thinking about our kids that might perform kind of more in the average range on assessments might be performing below their potential. Is there any place for where teachers or others can share, you know, this is a kid that can rise to rigorous coursework in the classroom?

031It I mean, there there's a way to do everything, right? I just don't know how to do that and not call it a teacher recommendation. And I think um you know, another big concern was was um the the amount of emails that the teachers were getting um that were angry and I I believe you know, some of it was even brought to school committee before. It's it's a level of of stress. Um I mean, I don't I don't know if there can be like a norm where you you I saw some of the emails, and and then it's really hard, you know, that that that trickles down to the student. Um and they have to know something. It just it it creates a really hard dynamic. So, unless there could be I I don't know

032how to do it. And you know, it is there The bias wasn't that the teacher would have a bias. The bias was an accusation. You don't like my child, or you do like my child, or she always hated me, or he never So, it was like and that for someone who commits their their that's their life's work to teaching, and nobody's perfect, but they did commit their life's work to That's like really hard to hear, especially when it's not true. And so, um I am hearing only positive things about that from the teachers. So, I guess I would have to we would really have to try to balance what people want from teachers with what like they I think they've been hurt in the process, and so that is also part of my responsibility to

033try to I guess figure out a way to make that happen where we're not harming relationships along the way. Was that an overwhelming trend? I mean, is that like a one-off, or is that an overwhelming trend? I mean, I know the high school recommendations come out, and like it just seems strange that there would be like a large portion of teachers receiving that material from people. Um enough that I like considered it. Yeah. Can I on that point Uh we are still making recommendations for our 8th graders going into 9th grade, right? Yes. Okay. So, we do still have that component there. >> Yeah. Yeah. And is sort of the Is and engagement of the student part of that recommendation? I I don't know because the high school sets it. So, uh But the middle

034school teachers are making the recommendation to the high school. >> to the high school. So, I don't know what the criteria is cuz we don't set it. But your middle school teachers are implementing it. They're making the recommendation. >> the criteria because they're making the recommendations. >> Okay. So, there's one honors science class then for eighth grade, right? >> Yes. How many accelerated math classes are there for seventh? Three. Three, okay. Um so, roughly 60 or 65 students? Probably closer to 70 or 75. And that's in seventh grade. >> Yes. Okay. And then for eighth grade, is it one or two classes? It's two. Okay. Can I just follow up with a question about that now? So, with slide two where you talked about the process for families in the community and then slide nine

035here with the math. Um on one it says the process is to go through Ms. Kraus, Mr. Taylor, and then you, and then this one seems to sort of tell a different story where students have the opportunity to test in. Are these running sort of side by side? They can do either Families can do either or. Yep. Okay. And with [clears throat] the class numbers as Don just mentioned, are we sort of at their target? Do you anticipate that you will be able to actually move students in in the fall? >> Yep. So, you have that capacity. >> We're really good at that. We left Yeah, that's our jam. We're good. Yeah. Thinking back and looking at the first slide, I don't need to go back to it, but you we went from a model

036that was almost completely subjective with the open choice with the criteria, but anyone can opt in to a model that is completely objective. >> Mhm. And I think that probably like that's where I I don't disagree that potentially is some events of parents being upset with their teacher, students being upset and then creating, but to go to that model, I think it creates a ton of adversity [clears throat] within like, okay, I missed it by a point. Mhm. And that I don't know if it's a teacher recommendation or happy to think through, but having some sort of potential that's listed there cuz a a test score doesn't necessarily always show up potential. Could have been a bad day, they didn't know what it was about, um they were miscommunicating certain things. So, like missing out

037there that again this is I wouldn't say it's wide scale, but for those those students it's stressful. So, having that little push to say, hey, there's a factor here that is more I know you, I work with you, and I see you have potential, you just missed it by a little bit. Let's get you over that hump. Um I think that the massive change from completely subjective to objective though is is what's driving some of this feedback. And Frank, part of the reason why I did that last year was because algebra one was introduced at the end of the year, and we knew we were going to have kids that didn't have eighth grade math, and >> I didn't want to hold anyone back. Um I taught science for a really long time. You you

038can do honors science in in a general education class. I mean, I did it forever, but I was less concerned about the science cuz they're the same standards, and I wanted to give the opportunity for math in that transition year. Um so, that that that was probably a misstep on my part like in some people's view. I just didn't know how else to do it at that point. Um And then I guess going back to the criteria does feel pretty severe. I can see that. Yeah, and if you take the one year side, if you look at every other year last five years, we haven't removed any criteria. If anything, we've added more, which can help drive some of that range. Like removing something, I think feels like people you're taking something away, an aspect

039away. Cuz if you just look at the chart, there's no years we took away a criteria. >> Right. I think it was just the problems that surrounded that and what that feels like in a middle school. >> Mhm. So, I guess that's a part if if we want that back, we would maybe have to create a different way. Okay. I will say Frank, we we have like we have since I mean, I can I can look out from 2005 and on every year kind of little tweaks to criteria to find that right spot. The reality is in like in your average class sizes like 220 kids that we have in our school is you're you're looking at in eighth grade uh you're looking at two sections of algebra, two sections of honors science. That's right

040That's your eighth grade. That's what we have capacity for. Depending on the makeup, maybe you end up with a third in one section or whatever that would be in a 220 student class. Um that's what we kind of thought was like our holding point from basically like late '90s through like 2015 [clears throat] where we started to get into even the conversation of like removing levels as we started to see change shifts slowly over time that trickled effect of like the students percentage of students we have on IEPs, the number of rising ELLs, high need students that we have that were shifting those percentages in our general education classes. And that's kind of where we kind of got to. I think this particular class is going from seventh to eighth being a little bit smaller

041and having a much higher percentage of students on IEPs poses a unique unique challenge. I think what you're seeing in our in our sixth grade recommendations or seventh grade is you're seeing three sections of accelerated. I know that that's pretty large group of of accelerated, but that that's that's but that fits within the realm of where we've historically been. And I think we're seeing that at the high school too in going to grade nine. I will say I remember in 21-22 Dr. Madan and I were called into a multiple meetings on this topic. We reviewed all the criteria. We met with the the curriculum specialists. We met with parents, I you you know, not the volume. And each year as David said, I I've seen principals tweak this because every year it's a different group

042of kids. We look at the needs and then the limitations. We're trying to keep the teams together, which is so valuable in middle school with the with the kids needing that connection. And that being said, we had some angry people in 21-22. We kind of kept revisiting it each year. This year it is unique just because of that small cohort, so it created a unique situation that we haven't had to deal with before. And I think that when I was looking back at the data um for this chart, I we there was another year or two where they didn't have [snorts] teacher recommendations. >> 22-23 it looks like. Yeah. Um And then prior to 21-22, I think, right? Didn't we We went back in 21-22, I think. >> So, that's been kind of going [snorts]

043back and forth. What we've used before while not teacher recommendation was kind of like a readiness rating. Like kind of a teacher would fill out a rec of like a readiness rating whatever based off of like essential skills that we'd see that they would need access to. Kind of getting to that point where you might have a student that might perform struggle on standardized tests or common assessments, you would have kind of a readiness rating and some of the other kind of less more intangibles as far as the skills that they would have. And they needed to meet like two out of three of those criteria or three out of four depending on which year we were looking at the criteria. What's interesting is I had my student round table at RIMS today, and we

044talked about this a little bit just trying I was trying to feel them out as to, you know, do they have any thoughts about it? Have they heard anything about it? Do they want to discuss it? And it was interesting to get some of the student perspective. Some of them saying how it's very stressful, and not all kids might want to be motivated You know, it's that motivation piece we talked about with the student agency, the student voice. And I I got a quite a mix of um kind of what their thoughts were. They were all in different places. They're still maturing so much, but they were really it was really nice to talk with them about some feeling very pressured to meet an expectation, and maybe they didn't want to be, and they were

045just fine being You know what I mean? So, it was it was kind of all over the place as middle school kids are. >> That is a wacky place where we were in like 2015-2014. That that space is where we had full full overriding is one we still landed on like two sections of algebra is still like the final number that we had as far as the number of sections that we have in as active algebra. The frustration at that point with teachers is that we would we would have we'll call it for a lack of better term like half [snorts] 25% of the students, 30-40% of students who are override students, but then you would have a good 30 to 40% of students that were in maybe the the regular science class math class

046or whatever that had all metrics above the students that were overridden into that space. And so then like the point the conversation I can go through the notes there, and I think you even spoke with the school committee back in 2013-2014, too, is that the conversation at that point was like, all right, well, we need some type of criteria differentiators so that we can have that some type of conversation with families so that we can make sure that like algebra becomes [snorts] like this like you know, very challenging class at that that point. That was just the conversation at that point. And can I just add, I started teaching I'm dating myself back in 1994, and I was teaching special education at the middle school level, and I was co-teaching some algebra classes. And this

047conversation came up every single year. Do we level? Do we not level? What's our criteria? Teachers would come to me and say, why are you letting parents over you know, recommend when the kids aren't ready and all you know, this conversation goes back and forth back and forth every year. It's not unique to Holliston. It's always a struggle, and there's research every which way that could kind of come up pros and cons. Being a small district, it gives us additional challenges cuz we don't have a lot of different places to put kids, but I will say our students did very well in the past few years, even when we reduced the levels. So, I feel optimistic about where kids are going. And I think um tonight when I was talking to David List that about

048a third of our kids, do you want to tell me the numbers again? A third were going into Algebra 1. >> Algebra 1, um a quarter were going into the accelerated um Algebra Geometry, and the the rest are going into Geometry classes. So, they're coming up at least from teacher recommendations and how they're scoring criteria, they're coming up pretty strong this year. Doesn't mean every year is going to be like that. There's different groups of different cohorts every year, and we have to assess the kids that are in front of us each year. I think like we have certain challenges cuz we're a small district, but we also have the ability at the middle school where it's I think most appropriate to work with the families and work with the kids and really try to

049do what's best. So, that that's why we have that process um instead of just an override process where it just happens. Um They have a lot to think about. Families have a lot to think about, and not everybody makes the same decisions for their kids when it you know when it comes down to that process. And some people do trust what's there, and they're just going with it, and other people want to talk about it more. And all of that is okay, and we can do it because we're a small district. Um And then just to clarify, common assessments have really evolved, [clears throat] I would say, over the last 10 years. Um you know, we don't we don't give tests, and that that's the common assessments. Um Common assessments are often projects. Common assessments

050are often posters, papers. Um it could be a test as well. You could take the test three times because you needed a little longer to learn some sections of it, and the teacher will help you. So, those there are six points that students could get for that where it took into consideration their work ethic, their effort, their um ability to persist on things at their ability, and get full points. So, like when we think of common assessments, like when I think of common assessments for me when I was a you know in school, well, they didn't even call them common assessments. They were all tests. And so, but it isn't like that anymore, and I can tell you it isn't it isn't like that at Rams. So, it's it's much more of a of a

051well-rounded um approach where you know the whole like academic capacity of the child is really taken into consideration for those those two-point categories. So, the math common assessments, were those tests? They could have been. There would be some tests in there. There would be some projects in there. There'd be some presentations and group work in there. So, [snorts] it's anything that the teachers did that was like in common with the other teachers in their group. Like eighth grade teachers, um they have like certain standards that they would have to teach. They have certain targets that they want to meet. They have a maybe a a different way of teaching some of that material, but they do [clears throat] a common assessment. Um I know one of them is like the kids have to design a

052um vacation. They have to they have to create a vacation that they're going on with a budget, and they have to use all these algebraic formulas, but it's a you know you can do it with a partner, you can do it by yourself. Like it's a very involved project um with a lot of levels and a lot of layers and a lot of ability to kind of move around and be yourself, but that comes in the common assessment category. And does that do common assessments are they included in students' grades? Yeah. Yeah. Um cuz one of the one of the things I'm struggling with is that it none of the criteria here are are in the students' grades. A lot [snorts] of the parents that I heard from were were saying, "Well, my my you

053know, my child's gotten a 98 in in math. Mhm. How are they not recommended for for honors? And and and so, I guess I think in some ways that may be a place for where the the sort of teacher input cuz obviously teachers are the ones that are doing some some of the grading can can kind of place where we could get student grades, I guess, maybe included cuz I I someone's going to have to explain to me how a student can be possibly getting a 98 in a class and not be recommended for honors in the first place for the advanced level. >> the cut the the the point value, so it was um like you could get one point for as low as a 92 for your common assessments. But your common assessments

054can be 92, your homework can be 100, your classwork can be 100, and then you can have a 98 average. And getting a 98 in the class, I mean I just again, like if you're then then maybe they're not getting a 98 in in the class, but But I think that's all all that's all grade level standards, not the advanced standards, too. I mean, so some kids can score well at grade level, but they may not be able to figure out if they haven't been taught yet. So, we're talking about eighth grade kids. So, they haven't been exposed to those higher end standards because they're in the regular class. But some kids can problem solve and persist and figure out without having been taught it. Whereas some kids need that extra instruction to get there.

055I think we also though have an issue in the district and in the whole with our math curriculum and students receiving outside support. I know a number of families use Kumon and Russian Math School to supplement. So, I I understand your point, Dr. Russo, but I think that assuming that the students who are reaching that don't have outside support might be a reach cuz a lot of them are. >> And that is a dilemma. You're right. I mean, having that's an inequity that we can't um we we don't have a solution for. If parents choose to send students to private tutoring, it's it gets to be out of our hands. I understand where you're coming from though in that it's not something we can >> that's part of Dan's point as well though. If they're

056if they're succeeding so well at grade level standards, then it's our job as educators to promote them into those higher levels, and that's what we should be doing um and giving them access to. I mean, looking at the criteria to know that a child's sixth grade math math test scores when the state decided it didn't count. I mean, we just proctored this week, and the number of kids are like, "Why are we still doing this? It doesn't count for anything." And it's like, "Well, hold on. It like this is not coming up in families' minds." Um same with like winter iXL. I know why why do they the communication isn't there on how important these things are if we're not counting them if they have a week class as criteria. I will say the MCAS

057came up because the students had just had MCAS the last two days, and one particular student was walking with me, and we talked about MCAS and and the other kids did. And they was telling me how stressful and how exhausted they were. Today we met much You know how I've met with them a number of times, and they've been very upbeat, and we've had lovely conversations. Today they were very subdued, and I was surprised. And they were very tired after MCAS and saying it's very stressful. So, I felt like at least the group I was talking to did take it very seriously because they felt it was still important, and they weren't thinking that way. But I can't speak for the entire grade, just the ones that I've met with. I think kind of Tracy

058kind of you know, everything in education gets kind of cyclical cyclical and starts coming back to it. You go back to the the kind of Rick Wormeli, Thomas Guskey like days as far as grading practices or whatever prior to 2015. It's some of those conversations, you know, based on what I'm hearing as far as it's coming up, especially if you're you're looking at classes where minimally where we've got spaces where we've got 20 98% in some classes, and students aren't getting into classes that maybe we need holistically to look at grading practices um and how how students are being assessed. And what what are being counted as grades um in for students. And you have the again, the the sixth grade student math does there's no accelerated sixth grade. All they can get is a

059100, right? And they're getting if they're getting a 98 or 99, why do we think that I mean, how I I I I just I just I I again, not an educator. I'm a student finance geek, I you know, but I just if you're doing that well with the material that you've been given, why aren't you being why do we think that they should automatically qualify to be to given sort of the you know, the opportunity to to try to sort of you know, stretch themselves the next year in the in the advanced class. It it just I I feel like I I I don't know. I I I don't think I ever will be able to totally reconcile that. So, and then why isn't even a factor in in in this? Most of these

060things I guess you're saying the common assessments are not all tests, and I appreciate that. That that is great. Um the MCAS and iXL ones are. I know that you know, iXL could be particularly tough for for kids with dyslexia and dysgraphia. They can go in and reverse the numbers, and the the computer just knows that's wrong, and you know, you move on. You don't get any credit for for your work. Obviously, that's a smaller piece to it, but I but if we're assessing students based on that, that's going to be something that is going to you know, just you know, the fact of be a hindrance to to to students with higher needs. Um So, that is that. Um one request I have, and I would love to see this data, and I would

061love for us to use our data dashboard and really run this data is I I'd like you you said that the students who were over in into eighth grade this year have struggled and have shown some some the color had future had struggled with stress and anxiety, but I I'd love to see how they're doing not individually, obviously, but but on a whole. And um versus their peers with their with their grades. Again, you know, where I where maybe throw in some some iXL scores. And then and then I'd like to you know, go back and see how students over time have also done um those who've been overridden and those who've have placed in it. But then I think all those more importantly taking it a step further How do the students who were

062overwritten into the accelerated math do the following in ninth grade versus their peers who were not overwritten and stayed in the traditional math? Did they just by being in the more accelerated class have a leg up on their peers the next year? Or was there a problem because they they were there were some some stress and some anxiety issues that it was actually hindrance. I mean that could that could be too. I don't know. That's why I want to see the data, but I'm I'm wondering if even just being in the more accelerated class benefited them longer term even if maybe they struggled a little bit and Yeah. Um so I don't know if our data dashboard can do that, but that would be great. Um We could. We'll see. We'll take a look and

063see if we can find capture what you're asking. You got that? We we don't have the capacity. Like I won't be able to come in four weeks and be like I have it. I don't I Yeah. What? By far. Um but no I that wouldn't be I would love to it would be super interesting. >> I think it would be helpful maybe to also in this to talk um principal list as well. The children that were overwritten going into ninth, how many ended up going back down? That might be useful. I might get that. >> Sure. That's all that kind of stuff. So now I'm tasking you as well. Sorry Mr. Lawson. Let's let's really get in there and and break that data. We can we'll work on it and and try to get some

064of that data. And we also there's a neuroscience piece to it. Um I'm going to be vulnerable and say that I took algebra one three times. Um it was a long time ago, but I I took it the first time in in eighth grade and I was like this I have no idea. And the second time I was like oh I've seen this before. And when I hit that readiness I it was like how did I not always understand this? So there is a piece to brain development in early early adolescence and they don't they just don't all [snorts] get there at the same time and that's okay. Yep. It's just um like that piece plays a huge role and I don't I if we just look at data, I feel like we're really ignoring

065that the neuroscience. >> No absolutely. I'm just saying let's let's look at but I but I completely agree and I've seen it personally, but so that um is absolutely true. Um but then again then it's up to us to figure out those pathways for students to get between the classes once it does click. Um and I'll also be vulnerable. I failed my first driving test. Um and some would say I I failed every other driving opportunity I've had since then, but anyway. Um No, but I but I'm being vulnerable. Yes. That developmental piece came up with the kids today. We've talked about because some of them we're just talking about social emotionally maturity, hormones, all the things that can impact them and whether they're ready. And there's other factors because then the following year they

066might be ready and they pick right up. I've seen that with one of my own children. There's there's absolutely more than the data. Absolutely. But but let's start with the data then we can go from there. Um What are Are there any things that that you've thought about how this year's gone with the criteria and with the different sort of way that the decisions were initially made that you're you're thinking about maybe potentially possibly changing for for next year? Mhm. Yeah. I mean communication I think is the number one thing. Okay. Um And balancing that with like pressure and stress. Um And then you know, David List and I talked a little bit about like creating opportunities for kids to do things outside of school that might not be Like all we have right now

067is I excel and and we use it as you know, we we leverage it as much as we can, but just kind of like to to speak to what Tracy was saying earlier like provide more opportunities for kids to take advantage of. We've talked about you know, the potential of that. I think If if we're going to stick with this criteria, it's easier for me to communicate knowing what it is before you know, December and to kind of like share with families like no MCAS isn't a graduation requirement, but it can be a data point for something. Like you're spending four hours taking a test like do your best. And I know that's the message that comes from the middle school teachers, but I also know that when when there was that shift, you know,

068where it's not a graduation requirement. It doesn't count that that you know, a lot of kids maybe opted out or didn't take it as seriously. So I think things like that those nuances are part of like all the conversations that I want to have with families. Um But I also like this year, next year like all the years like I love the middle school and I adore those kids and if a family needs something I want to help. So I think if if there's if someone isn't having their needs met right now, we just have to talk and I I feel like we can come to an agreement. So while we're figuring some of the things out and planning, like I do want to encourage people to reach out. Great. At the same time that

069we got to figure out a way for for kids whose parents are not able to meet with you during during the school day or even surrounding it. Um maybe Zoom or or something, but that >> Yeah, I've done Zoom. I've done phone calls. I've done in person. Google Meets. Like I've done you know, [snorts] everything, but but I know that there are families that just aren't hearing all this communication. That bothers me. So you know, I guess creating those opportunities >> I think sending both that that went back and checked 210. Definitely was an email, but then there was no follow up email. It said you know, in the coming weeks or you know, sort of say hey you know, they're going to be doing this on this date, you know, maybe suggest your your

070your your student get some rest or let them know that if they care about their placement for next some kids might not. It doesn't matter to them and then we shouldn't you know, necessarily overly hype it, but for for kids that are in Yeah, that's a good idea. just kind of you know, giving the parents a heads up. I think that would make everyone feel better. Yeah. And then then it's up to to them. Um I do also think sorry the idea of the and we're kind of on the fence with teacher input in this, but for those students that you know, who do have a 98 that work really hard or the reverse the students who might struggle, but are great kids and have that teacher voice like this kid has a lot of

071potential. Like I see this kid loves the subject area and push them forward is what our teachers are trained for. And so giving them voice I think is important to sort of move forward a little bit too. It's one of the checks them obviously from you know, Emails that probably shouldn't shouldn't be sent necessarily, but at the same time I still think teacher voice is just incredibly important thing that we want to make sure there's meaning in this process somehow. We want the teachers to be comfortable with with with how it they're, but you know, if if a teacher sees a student who they think should be in you know, I I I would hope that they would be at at least the opportunity of a conversation. Even if it's not like an official one

072or even maybe the parents didn't know that it happened. Um Just that team meetings and planning you know, and all that kind of stuff. Um So Uh yeah, I've got a couple of little things about Good ideas. Thank you. Talk to you in a while. The only other thing I'll add is I think it's also interesting to think about um how this all progresses into high school. So especially with the schedules changing [snorts] um We have to math specifically um just thinking about that whole pathway a little differently than you know, it it was easier to double up on certain things. You know, so just helping families understand that progression without putting stress on kids, you know, so I it is a delicate balance I think, but um Any other questions? Thank you for answering

073all of our questions. I really thank you for coming tonight. It's helpful to hear kind of the whole process and how how you went through it. So Um and I think you know, there's still work to be done, but I I I know you've heard the communication piece and just thank you. So I know it's a lot of work and you've had a lot of conversations. So thank you for all of that. Thank you Kim. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Okay. Um Thanks for the policy you sent. Policy. Yes, we have policy JIC. So I put a copy of the middle school pathway exploration if you recall with the changes for career exploration and CTE programs that were put out by the state and federal. We had to develop the middle school

074pathway exploration and we were given a template from DESE and I met with our policy sub. I can't remember was it December or was it and then I sent it to them and I recently heard back that they were concerned that we didn't have all of the dates and the actual name of the program. Now on the Keefe Tech Regional, that's the one that we're a part of I'm part of the collaborative. And so I just added those. So I don't need you to vote on it. I just wanted you to be aware of those changes that it was 15 October 15th in the date for information sharing. And then I added Keefe Tech where necessary just to show that we are that's our school that our students are usually able to go to. And

075then obviously Norfolk I D is another option but it's not our we're not a member of that. We're that's something we pay differently for. So, just to be aware I was going to just send the updates in to them and then post it on the website with those updates but it's really minor changes so it's nothing that you have to vote on. I apologize I forgot to do it as suggested but it was like any information sharing you'll see a date there and then you know where I anywhere I added Keefe Tech that was really the only places. Say it again. I was wondering if you should still vote on it. I mean you're welcome to it's just it was non-substantive changes we didn't change any of the language in it that's completely up to

076you. >> [clears throat] >> Okay. Anything else here? Okay. Great. Um central office updates? Yes, I already mentioned that I had round table today but I thought it's actually a pertinent conversation so I had already spoken with Mr. Lamianing but since our incoming superintendent is here I thought he'd like to hear the students wanted to make sure that I let him know that there were a couple things and they also wanted the school committee to know that there are some things that students are still asking about. They want to know if we'll reconsider adding recess back at the middle school. And I said well really that's a school committee kind of policy thing and this issue is you know I said I would bring that with that. Was it three or four? Oh it's three

077or four sorry. Sorry three or four. Um but I did say I would relay that. And then um challenge day they talked about the one that did challenge day saying that they wish more children could do challenge day they loved it the ones that went. Um I know it's something that's also not for every child because some of the parents opted in or out of that because there are some kids that aren't ready for it. Some of them mentioned sixth grade it's not recommended for sixth grade I know that Ms. Lamianing shared that with me again. So, I just thought the feedback on that for the kids that went was very positive. They felt that it helped them have more empathy and understanding for their classmates that they may have been more let say judgmental

078before they had and their bias was helped by having these interactions. Again, that's not right for every student. Maybe having it earlier in the year in seventh grade and in eighth grade was another thing so I just thought I'd mention that. And then they also um mentioned that they hope the new superintendent would continue the round tables that particularly the middle school kids really like that interaction. And so I said I would relay that I said I talked to him before I'm sure he would love to continue that so they were all for that. And the pre-K two kids love it too they probably didn't they haven't asked me to let the superintendent know that. Um and same with three to five they're really active. I will say this year it's been a challenge for

079me to have the round table meetings at the high school because of the schedule changes and the minutes added and still having uh now that they're assigned to different rooms for they have to choose which room they're going to be in for D B. So, I don't have a choice like I'm not on the choice list cuz I only do periodically. So, I sent out emails and said this is the day I'll be there. I've only had one or two kids this year whereas in the past I've had sometimes 15 or 20 but it's really with the limitations so I would encourage um Keemo next year to reinitiate it with the high school kids as well because the schedule should allow for more flexibility with that so. And then I just a couple of other

080quick things. We will be doing the sending out the central office community newsletter tomorrow with a lot of different updates between our I know that Dr. Cataldo will tell you about unified basketball. There'll be a lot of information in there that we're sharing this spring. And then also I did want to mention I know Dr. Bernard is going to talk about PD on April 3rd. Um we know we made a last minute change that you voted to move the PD day from March 10th to April 3rd which is Good Friday. Um staff were aware that they could request a personal day or religious holiday or potentially sick day as a result if they already had things scheduled. Um I will say I really want to give credit to our administrators that had to pivot and

081reinvent our PD day because we had to cancel um some of the vendors that we had hired for that day. One of them was um Peg Dawson. They didn't get to do that at Rams yet. So, they did that pivoting very well but they also had a situation when they found out you know we were monitoring attendance and it's slightly over 50% of our teachers that were out that day for religious mostly religious observation um some personal and a couple of sick days but that meant the PD day had to be completely reinvented with the small numbers that we had in some schools. And so, I think that I wanted to just acknowledge that and then Dr. Bernard is going to show you um just what was done that day as as I put it

082up. This is our last PD day of the year. There was a lot of incredible learning the people that were here very positive feedback. The people that were here really wanted to be here and capitalized that time they had and collaborated with their colleagues. Um >> Hold that that's right. So, we have April 3rd. Okay. In Placentino you had a lot of different things going on. The preschool really worked on aligning the practice for instruction IEP quality and family engagement. And then the bulk of the learning that was done by classroom teachers Dr. Slaney spent a lot of time in doing a presentation turning data into instruction that matters. Very powerful a lot of very positive feedback that they said made a difference the very next day in their classrooms. Um So, some people also

083attended the presentation that Brenda Morrow did know thy impact really looking at how the teacher can make a difference in how they teach how they approach teaching and then really analyzing data collection and UBD stage two assessments. Some teachers the UA teachers worked on some WIDA training. Remember that's the organization that does a lot of training for MLLs and they um explored how they can make language visible in the classroom in their UA classrooms. Next we have some teachers in Placentino the top picture >> [snorts] >> that's interesting. I can't see it online but it's very interesting. Okay. Um but the top left picture preschool teachers top right teacher picture is your leadership team at Placentino. Bottom left is them working on I can't even I can't see it anymore. Um them working on some

084>> Oh that was uh some of our special educators on the bottom left. >> I can use it. And then we have the library the library group that was working on data. I will say the pre-K teachers were very engaged when I met with them working with um Elizabeth before. >> Elizabeth before. Oh it's Dr. Dr. Bernard yeah. Okay. Next slide. Um Miller um Brenda Morrow like I said did a presentation know thy impact. They also really after she did a presentation they did a lot of work on um how they could take that presentation and really take that knowledge and integrated into their classrooms and how they can impact students right away. Um other people worked on application on the unit planning and placement planning. We also had data collection and UBD stage two

085assessments revising that. And again the UA teachers were working on that WIDA class that I already talked about. Next you can see again this is very strange and I can't see all these but um these were two pictures taken from uh Brenda's presentation. Know thy impact and the right picture John Hattie is very renowned educator um that's very well respected they watched some videos regarding him. Next. Um and so then Jerry Alvord made arrangements for the elementary school counselors as they sees BCBAs and school psychologists. They were doing a lot of different work um on anxiety space treatment SEL screeners what to do with students the remainder of the school year and finally looking at behavior plans and safety plans. Next. Okay. At Rams they had a lot of different things going on. They really

086had choose your own adventure they break out rooms and uh so some groups were working on UBD stage two documentation. Some were working on planning the grade seven accelerated math class. Others were working on uh the science pilot work. We uh others were working on planning the honor science class. We had social studies teachers working on facing history and ourselves modules. Others were working on trends for task differentiated entry points and uh uh UA teachers again were working on that WIDA class. And last but not least if you go to Holliston High School they all concentrated the ones that were here concentrated on the curriculum shift for next school year. They were working on revising their UBD stage one maps and their department landing page as well as stage two teach stage two UBD maps.

087District nurses, they had three big presentations, emergency response plan work, stop the bleed training, and really looking at and reviewing and having conversations around their current policies and procedures. And finally, a huge shout out to the PTO. They do amazing job every single PD day and that's just at Miller all the wonderful snacks they provided. And they even had some really good gluten-free options, which I know both myself and Carla appreciate, I'm sure others as well. So, a lot of great work did happen for the people that were here. So, thanks to everybody that ran the PD. It was very powerful. Uh so, I haven't had a chance to kind of publicly thank the uh search committee for director teaching learning. Um so, I won't thank myself, although I was part of it, but um

088Hillary >> [laughter] >> Sorry. I know I was cracking a small joke here. Uh Karen Manning, uh Brenda Morrow, Casey Canahan, Jenny Mann, Ali Curley, Tom Levec, Aaron Schneider, and Andrew Ale. Um today we had uh or last night we had uh our um video uh community webinar forums uh with uh Dr. Carter and um Ms. Fitzgerald just started something this out uh and and uh Lisa Deluzio was able to kind of moderate for us uh where we had uh 20-to-30-minute sessions with um our three finalists. Uh and then today uh we had um our first finalist do their site visit uh where they met with administrators and uh curriculum leadership. Um elementary staff, uh secondary staff, uh and then with um Dr. Carter. Uh next week, the 14th and 15th, 14th, uh we have

089our and sorry, today was uh Elizabeth Haskell, um who is uh the director [clears throat] of uh curriculum instruction uh for the Somerset Berkley Regional Schools. Um next week on the 14th, uh will be Dr. Karen Rondan Born uh comes to us from Needham, where she is the principal at Eliot Elementary School. Uh and then lastly on the or on the 15th, we have uh Dr. Joelle Peterson, uh who is the director of teaching and learning in Brookline. Um the finally, I think following that same process, you know, this is something we are we are hoping to kind of um have some selections made kind of before before spring break. Um I I do have the recording, we'll be sharing that I either out tonight or first thing in the morning with [snorts] um with

090a survey that goes along with it. Um so, that folks will have an opportunity to kind of watch those videos uh and be able to kind of respond on the things that they uh saw in the candidates that we have. Lastly, um next week on the 16th, uh uh Frank Trabucco, uh James Keefe, and myself are going to MSBA school. So, um we going to Worcester and there's the MSBA story of a building. I think all three of us realized we're getting a lot of questions that we don't have answers to and we need to um go check out uh that space and get a get a lot of our questions answered with that. So, we'll be doing that [snorts] and hopefully we'll be better positioned to kind of support the town uh in this

091um generational um decision. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Multigenerational. Yeah, multigenerational decision. My turn? All right. So, we had this week uh WBZ came to visit our unified basketball game. Uh very energized team came. We played in Medfield right here at Rams. And I've never seen so much back and forth action, but I have to say some of these kids were making nearly half-court shots and swooping them right into the net without hitting the rim. Totally impressed. That's nothing I could ever do even in my wildest dreams, but you could tell from the kids that they enjoyed it. We were able to grab a few pictures. Um Brandon Truitt came in from Channel 4, he interviewed the students, he interviewed some of the adults. He took some time to watch the game. We don't know

092when it's actually going to be on Channel 4. Uh I keep my eyes out every day. I get up for the 5:00 news to see if it's on yet. And we continue to do some cuz that's the time I get up anyway. But uh we're very excited. It went really, really well. And I think the kids are really pleased and they're going to be very excited when they see themselves on the screen. So, then when is the next really fun activity? Well, that is right after vacation. So, we're praying no snow at the end of April. And on Tuesday, April 28th is our Special Olympics Day in Medway this year. As you know, that consists of except Medfield, Ashland, Holliston, Medway, and Millis will all come together. Next year will be right here in Holliston

093doing it. It'll be our first time Holliston has charge of it, but it's a most of the day on Tuesday the 28th, the buses will arrive over there somewhere in Medway around 9:15, around 9:30. They'll gather together so they can do their parade with the police. And then they'll get into their seats at the high school there at Medway High and be ready for the opening ceremonies at 10:00 followed by the actual activities for about an hour and a half. And then there'll be an award ceremony from 11:45 to 12:15 and from 12:15 to 12:45, there'll be a lunch, a picnic-style lunch, and then the students will get on the buses, they'll come back here, and [clears throat] I guarantee you half of them will fall asleep on their way back, no doubt, especially if

094it's hot out. But it's a very packed day in just a few hours. I'm really looking forward to it. If you're open and you're not doing anything, I would recommend you come on over to Medway High and cheer on our students. It's going to be a great opportunity. You'll be able to recognize us. We'll be in our lovely gray t-shirts as the adults, our children will be in their red t-shirts as students. So, So, I wanted to bring that up and let you know so you can plan post-vacation if you have a moment to get on over there and cheer on the kids. And then other than that, obviously, we're continuing work on extended school year. We're really honing in. Uh we really targeted we're trying to target no later than mid-May as having the

095cumulative number of students. That's our goal. I know last year they ran right into June and we're trying to make it so that we have the proper number of adults to work with the students and we know who's coming as a student at that point to help make sure we have smooth transactions all day long as we work with the kids. And again, I'm also continuing to work on our um audit, our special education audit. I know during vacation I'll be grabbing Dr. Jordan to help me with some of it as there's a piece that he has to contribute as well, but as for the rest, it's going very well. They're working with us on many of the items. They said many of the things are that have been entered are already in good shape

096and it that we're at a tweaking zone at this moment where they've asked me to tweak some things and return them out. So, I believe that is it for this week. And we'll share out once we hear about the unified basketball. Yes. Get that sent out to families. I will say I'm not going to share what or when, but there is another event that a surprise right now that they WBZ will be coming to the district again and um I'll let you know more as it gets closer and keep the surprise for now. Very popular here. It's great. Thank you. Okay, um subcommittees, um communications? Uh no update this week. Policy? Nothing. Budget? So, what we didn't meet uh [snorts] there's no update on the budget on the town side. Um mixed, I'd say, but

097um the um I don't believe they actually ended up voting, but uh the finance committee will be and our our the whole budget and, you know, currently uh our Melzer's budget, the 3.25% is is what they are using in the model. Um there does not appear to be >> [snorts] >> any extra money. I think the bottom line currently has $4,833 or something like that. Uh which is um actually uncomfortably sort of tight because if there were changes uh in things negatively as far as revenue assumptions, you could easily find yourself in the in the negative. So, um there was even a lot of conversation around whether where they could find additional savings to boost that bottom line number. Not looking to spend more. Um then we've had a lot of capital discussions and I

098think I don't know how much we want to get into it, but but it's sort of the um it's all inter-related, our capital request and the feasibility study and how we're going to um find the money to fund the feasibility study. We also, you know, need the needs of our request items. We're going to have to meet with the with the budget. Something we before break, um even if we don't meet next week uh as a school committee. Um but I think hopefully there's the community will be flexible with us in in having to make some decisions as we sort of move forward, which we'll obviously bring to the committee for for, you know, final approval, but um things are fluid. Okay. Um MSBA update. Okay. Yeah, we've been meeting uh Yeah. Yeah, the working

099group. Yeah, in the working group and we covered select board. Yeah. It was kind of doubled up. So, in the working group um met with Tina last you went through last week uh Monday we met select board. Um a lot of progress made with uh between us. Uh few things one tonight we need to talk about. Um Actually, I'll double up the second. We have the school building committee um aligned upon in terms of all the roles that will exist. Um three of which will be school committee uh nominated. So, we will and including one school committee member. So, uh as part of that we do need to align upon criteria for the other two. Nothing too concrete. Um I believe Sarah's sent that out. What we did >> Yeah. Uh it's a little outdated

100right now from our updates on Monday, but um you know, we had started off in the working group just with ideas around obviously we want to cover um someone that has an educational facility background. Now, what does that mean? We should have that discussion tonight. Um also talked we had talked in the previous meeting around sports uh music, arts, um and then we also put staff. So, I think tonight as we look for candidates um and I can go into process further, but most of us were there we were watched. Um we'll be stamping this and saying these are the criteria we're looking for candidates. So, the meeting's important. We do like and I don't think we need to vote I mean, we can. So, what candidate what candidates do we need to be claiming

101or No, the criteria. >> the criteria for the nomination. >> I thought the select board set the criteria now in that list. >> No. That is up to our designation. So, if we want some criteria on that Yeah, there there there are two there are three roles of school committee total. Those are in the orange. Right. And one of which is a school committee member. We can talk about that tonight, but more importantly as we start looking for nominations for the appointed seats uh as designated by the school committee, we should align on the criteria cuz that criteria will be used then by the working group in which we will review the um LO or letters of intent and resumes to decide on who to bring forward as potential nominees. What's the time frame? For

102uh our goal is to have appointments in by June 1st. Okay. Yeah. Um so this says though that the school committee put like a resident with knowledge of education mission facility function. In other words, resident with experience >> is that is subject to edit. So, that's subject to edit. Yes, I did not Yes. [snorts] I better understand that. Um I I don't know I think that we want to put out a communication and and seek interested parties. So, there will be a communication going out by the town. We're going to go through the single threaded application process with the volunteer form box in town hall. It'll be managed by the town manager. They'll be brought the if letters of intent and resumes be brought to the working group to review and bring a slate forward

103as it aligns to the criteria that we decide on tonight. Can we also as a school committee communicate that out in the We can. I I think yeah, I mean, we're being asked we want to communicate to the same thing. So, we didn't want to do is create a two-pronged process where nominations come in to school committee and select board. So, there's a single threaded process, but I think the more message we get out there the better. So, the working group is going to come up with the slate which would lead to more which we will appoint. Yes. So, in theory we're going to be given an up or down vote on two people. We may come with more. It's not settled on we're going to come with two. We don't want to come with

10427 for us to review. Just like how we do any other So, what we're doing with like 20 Well, can you the working group could We could make them accessible. Yes, but we will put together a recommendation. >> And then go back in within the working group. Yeah. Um And I guess my my only when we talk about criteria, I guess I'd like to see it fairly broad because it kind of depends on who is up to You could still >> doing this. We've gotten a few emails randomly from people who are either are I got one that was from an architect who's been through the process on other projects and then another who is an educator who went through the process or at her own district. So, she was there from start to finish.

105So, she may not have specific I don't she didn't say if she was stem or music or you know, sports background, but however, her involvement in the process, you know, Yeah, and everyone's going to have unique That's why the criteria is only a criteria not a line in which we're going to say you can't, but I think we need to think through and select board did select their criteria. So, that's listed in the sheet. So, a legal background, resident over 65 uh I believe an architect are the three criteria that they used. Um we're doing that just so we get a balanced uh school building committee as well. So, I I know we talked in the previous who is going to represent the uh interest of like the sports and arts programs and and facilities

106specifically for those. Um I do think that's important cuz that may get lost in everyone we look at it. And just as on the record, we would love to add more to the school building committee. We felt 15 was sufficient uh especially in the town our size. Um the school building committee in their charge will be asked at this point and will be mandated to work with different interest groups in town as I think it would be make sense. Like it's I don't think it needs to be mandated. It's kind of inherently put in there. You need to work with groups in town of what they're looking for. So, there may be additional like There will be a ton of input. >> groups who have other expertise that will feed information to the school building

107committee. Well, it's the same with their sports. And so, the recommendation that that was made to have advisory groups. And so, you could even have a a sports facility advisory group, >> [snorts] >> a music and arts, you know, sort of advisory groups. So, so different people involved in different pieces that then feed information Yeah. to the building committee to to allow for for more people to to be involved. Absolutely. I honestly think that the criteria should be a a a you know, a parent guardian of a student in the high school system. Okay. We did talk about that. And actually we went back and forth. And again, this is open to debate. This work goes also in communication that we'll send out. We'll have the expectation of this role. Um meaning it's expected to

108serve the duration of the committee which could be anywhere between five and seven years. We want to get >> [laughter] >> Yes, we want Obviously Obviously, we should be looking for parents that have vested interest in district. However, we don't want to over index on that cuz once they leave at that point if they're towards the you know, tail end making sure they're signing up for the full duration. So, it could be a piece of criteria we look at, but I don't know putting a saying the criteria we're looking for is a is a parent. Well, that's who we're going to take out, you know, get the pool from and it would be up to the working group and us to to filter through and Yes. make sense of that. So, I don't I I

109wouldn't want someone not to sort of put in their their name into the hat if they don't think that they fit with some sort of high level criteria that we put out. So, I think we can again, model with the select board. You know, looked at as a resident over 65, the legal which is a represent the council agent. They they want that represented on the school building committee. What do we want represented? Parent guardian. I'm I'm serious. I don't I don't think that we want to be overly prescriptive with with the high level Okay. thing. I mean, I you know, I For both roles just parent guardian? Yeah. Yeah. And in that way you'll get the most amount of candidates and then you can balance the different strengths against Do we want to think

110educator and parent guardian? Cuz we Here's the thing with the criteria. If we had just have two great letters of intent and backgrounds of two parents, we could select them. But I also don't want to use the both roles for the same criteria. So, So, yeah, but we do have a lot of parents who are also educators. Um I think that parent guardian works for me. I do think that we I don't believe that we would be able to appoint an educator in the high school public schools if we're following the sort of the criteria for everyone else because there's no difference between them and all the other non-voting That's fair. members. So, is that I mean, if that is the criteria if the I'm still not totally So, what's best practice? I I would

111have everyone have a vote, but one thing that I also realized was forgotten here we do need to bring up with the the select board is is the employment of in an advisory capacity of the town of the finance committee, um And that was discussed. That was discussed. Um I I don't see any anything in our bylaws that would prevent them from from serving as a as a ex officio advisory member advisory sort of participant Sure, I don't know where would we put that, but um bottom. I don't mind. They're They're not going to They a vote anyway, so it's it's just that they just to get them on the emails and be part of the media the opportunity to attend the meetings. >> we'll have a meeting next week likely we got to schedule

112it, but Yeah, I don't I mean we we can if you want to craft some language around you know different things that we would be interested in seeing from people people with educational backgrounds or things like that that find the sort of listing like a job description, right? You have a title and title here is parent guardian and then you know different sort of um preferred attributes that maybe people might have you know prior experience within MSBA projects or you know extensive Well, why wouldn't we just put that then prior experience in MSBA projects? Because because that's not required as part of the and it's not required to apply. We're talking about different Who Who are we what type of person are we looking for? Then you can list 20 different things. Well, I don't

113know if we're going to publish a 27 page like this is what we're looking for. So that's why trying to balance out what a post on Facebook will look like. Okay. Um I am I have I have I'm comfortable saying if we're going to use both roles saying parent guardian that's fine, but you're using both roles to communicate the same thing. Do we want to differentiate them? What if we did one that was parent guardian and one that was parent guardian and educator? And then we we could also under parent guardian one we could put this under both actually prior MSBA experience. Um preferred but not required something like that that Well, then I mean I mean we could then list both those parent guardian or educator. Right? We don't have to make it too

114complicated. Okay. Here the first order would be parent guardian educator and the other would be educator guardian parent. Hillary and I will craft something out. Um okay, so that was the big thing we needed to rely on tonight because on Monday the selectboard voted for I think they created the not like the subcreation of the school building committee. It was a We agree with this, but it's not official. What was surprising to me was that the MSBA came back and said that they will not really entertain conversations with it. They have to approve the slate but they won't do the legal review until June 1st. I guess I thought they would give it a big one and you know Well, they're pushing us to have it ready tonight. Right? That's what our and our charge

115with Tina is to have this assuming again nominations come in and we can appoint the at large by June 1st have this in place. I think we should wait until the end of May to finalize this new member and then That's right. Um have Saturday the 8th and For what? For or be the the working group? No, we we if we have to That's fine. I don't know if the selectboard named a member No. >> No, okay then I don't think the school building committee is meeting in May. I don't think that was the direction. It was just like the I don't even know if we have to ask if they can even meet. Right? Cuz it has to be signed off by >> Well, actually because it's not actually technically Wait, sure they can

116meet. They can meet. They don't actually have to But the good news is David Jordan you were officially put on the committee. Are you Got you on. Um but yeah, we're I think we need to think through it obviously you got to put out something by mid April. Mid April. Our goal is to get that communication out. Or at least officially published so that we can publish it and communicate it out. Um because also at town meeting to also put out a message like we're looking for people. So we may start reviewing before then and we may lock it in or it's a good time to put the message out there. So Do we have the presentation of David Jordan about the feasibility study up on our website? So we are getting that up now.

117Okay. Um yeah, last week we have a website. Okay. >> [clears throat] >> On the school district website we're going to post David's presentation. Okay. Um is that we final on that Yeah, it was so we're actually trying to make it a website. So including you know where we can get it built it out. So not just a very more of an interactive website. So that's what they're building out. Um it's easy for us to just put the presentation up. We can do that immediately, but I think what Dan was doing is trying to build a website for the whole MSBA process that feasibility part being the Wait, we put it up for now and then you can put it up Who's building a website? They did it remember Chris Mayo and D and then

118the town will be building a school building committee website once that is officially formed. So that's how we in lieu of creating a website which we actually did try to have a conversation on it became clear okay, we really can't shouldn't create one before the school building committee is named. Um so they'll create one. We are figuring out with Dan and and potentially can partner with them on how we could link that back to our school district site. Yeah, it's kind of a one in the same conversation. So this is a conversation with Chris Mayo and Dan as well. So um this website is specific to the feasibility study um with some additional expanded resources than just the presentation Gotcha. uh that we are hoping to link there and just bleed blend all the way

119together once we build out the SBC to like a school or a town MSBA website. >> Got it. Okay, now that's perfect. Yeah, let us know hopefully soon so we can publish that out cuz I think for folks interested um one last thing is the MSBA working group we are we need to plan a office hours um we're talking potentially there one our favorite place or anywhere else and one virtual and then we do um we will meet the 28th or 29th I got to look at the routine uh um at the center. So the point of that conversation is we will go together to joint board. We will bring the presentation. I think that might help that's like an artifact we won't go through it, but if there's questions that pop up and Dr.

120Jordan any information you get at your school day um would uh if you could help share that with us and any questions that come up from the the community. So that's kind of our game plan in terms of communicating pre-town meeting. Yeah, I think I think what this is it's called the story of of the building like it's supposed to be soup to nuts like the whole process what it felt like. I think it's supposed to have school committee members people members of the SBC from the towns like board members from that community. Oh, great. Going through the whole process as part of it in partnership with the MSBA. So hopefully we'll learn some good stuff. Yeah, you one idea that popped up is once we have our school building committee set up I don't

121know what the MSBA does, but potentially asking them could we have a partnership with that could the new committee have a partnership with another school building committee to try to get up off the ground cuz I think sometimes starting those committees are not easy. That's the update. I would just say lots of good progress. Yeah. Incredibly so. Incredibly so. Um we have the administrative assistant contract. Formerly known as secretary part of that contract was to update the title to administrative assistant. Um I don't know if we need to talk about it or anything at all or anything. >> already briefed everyone prior to this in an executive session. Um >> [snorts] >> people wanted to take a second to to review I think that a lot of what we were we ended up doing was

122modeling a lot of language after where what was in the teacher's contract. So sort of um following them. Um That's what seems like everyone was was happy coming out of it. Yep. Um Yep. Ready to Yeah, I entertain a motion to ratify the administrative assistant. So Seconded by Don. All in favor? Do you want to roll call? Roll call okay. Frank? Yes. Jason? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Dan? Yes. Don? Yes. And I am yes. Okay. [snorts] Um Do you want Do you want me to send that to Sandy Bowler? Sure, I can do it. Um Okay, so we do need to have a discussion. Anyone watching may notice that uh we're missing a member. We did um receive notice that Joe Peru has resigned from the school committee. He and his family are going to be

123moving, so um we wanted to talk a little bit about the process for um filling that seat. So I have I have some concerns because it's one of our busiest times of year and in addition to like a regular year we also have the MSBA feasibility study going forth at um town meeting. So between that and I I always think of this time for budget as being incredibly important. I think that I would like to see someone get appointed soon. I think we we're going to reach out and find out a little bit about that process. Right. I I did get some information from Ms. Kingdale about the process. Um They received Joe's written letter of or email of resignation. Um There's like timelines I have to I haven't notified the select board yet but

124I plan to do so soon. And then there's you know, number of days and we have to kind of hopefully get people that are interested in you know, someone to fill that seat. And we don't meet again until April 30th. Uh we haven't gotten there yet. We Yeah, it's going to be the 30th. We could do that, huh? We could do that, huh, if we needed to. Yeah. And the appointment doesn't become joint appointment. So what we would do is first put the board sort of a candidate that we So I was engaged in watching school committee meetings at the time but I wasn't part of the committee but we've had something similar happen years ago. Um I I believe Cynthia had run I against Lisa Cochin had not prevailed with that election but at

125some point in that subsequent year um Ian Kelly resigned and >> almost a year ago? I think it was pretty close. >> It was It was a little It's some sometime after but [clears throat] um I believe the school committee went to like they talked about who they would like to to have considered before I I guess I'd like to give Sarah some information that she could then go on um and have those discussions [clears throat] with the select board. So I think we should talk about potential candidates for the position. Have we had a practice this is the first time? I was going to ask if anybody would Jeff but I has anybody reached out to her so new? >> [laughter] >> Sorry. I mean I I have talked to Jess. Sorry. >> [laughter]

126>> Oh, has anyone reached out on your No one's No one The only person who has brought this up at all was And that's actually who I had in mind. I I mean I think one of the criteria I'd be looking at is we all know how hard this is and how much time it takes but someone that has true commitment to it in that they took the time to run for the position, understands the position, stayed engaged afterwards, is you know, has shown allegiance to other groups within town where they volunteered their time and committed to that. Um I I think it's you know, as Keith Buday was with us for many years said, you know, he he likes to see he likes to see school committee members stay on for more than just

127the one term because it takes a lot of time and energy and dedication to understand what your role is and understand how to make things happen and and um I think so I think an important piece of this is showing an interest and dedication to that position which I think Jess has shown by running last year, running again this year, attending our meetings throughout this year. So I I Jess would be the person I would like to see in this and I know she hasn't she hasn't held this position before so it's not like she comes to us with years of experience in it but she has she has engaged in the community in other ways and dedicated to those positions. So what are what are some of your thoughts on it? I'm aligned I

128guess given though it's just means of obviously you received it last week I think but it's news to the community. Is there opportunity to want to give for anyone else who may have expressed interest? I mean they had an opportunity though knowing that there were two other positions open. Like it didn't bother to pull papers. That's fair. No, that's a good point, Tracy. Yeah and that and it like you may have an interest in her but I the the dedication to having her run before and running again and also coming to the meetings is important. I'm I'm obviously looking for a candidate but >> [snorts] >> the in in general we now have three people running our board with three seats. Mhm. So I think it it makes a lot of sense. Um not that

129I don't relish a campaign everyone knows that um but you know, It may be boring. And what if You know, I'm okay with boring for a little while. Um I think you with what you said that there is so much work to be done right now that A having a fully staffed committee and you know, having the ability to sort of concentrate on the on the things that we we need to concentrate on to get get the budget sort of you know, in order to work with everybody, finalizing that. We all know that the budget doesn't stop just once the town meeting approves it. It continues on as we go through the end of the year, feasibility study some building committee all the work is well I think it's also important you know, we're a

130little top heavy with you know, many of us have students that are either at the middle school or high school level. Um Jess has [snorts] kids in the younger schools so she brings that perspective but I know you bring it as well and you will soon but I I think it's really important to have some of that balance on the committee, too. Being a parent of kids in the elementary level. I think the way to look at it, too, if he uh Joe had resigned earlier this would be a three-person race for the three open seats so I think it's a good way to think about it. Just to clarify though for the community and Jess as well like this would be a one-year appointment though for that open seat, correct? It's not a Yes.

131Okay. Well, there's only one year left in the term but in the >> she's taking Joe's term. Yes. Well, but even if even if there were two years it would still be one year and then you'd run for one year. That's that's the most annoying one when someone resigns after one year. Right. So then there's a one-year vote And then you run for one year And then you run for three years. No, no, it doesn't reset the election cycle. You stay on it. That's the that's why it's so annoying. Wait, wait, hold on. How does this work? This is not what we're in right now but if someone were to resign within year one or after year one, the person is appointed for for one year or till the following election. They they then To

132be fair, we have run for a one they then run for a one-year seat Yeah. or someone runs for a one-year seat and then the following year you run for a three-year seat. In this instance it would be a one-year appointment with a three-year seat to follow. Is it a one-year appointment though because we're pre-election? It is a one and a few Does it count I'm It is until the next election the next time the ballot that you So doing it quicker now would also give some you know, give give Jess or whoever the opportunity to then participate in everything that we're doing. I would make a motion that Jess would be our candidate um that If if she's interested. If she's interested. And honestly yeah, I would have I would have Sarah have that

133[laughter] conversation with her. You have a say in this, don't worry. Um of course. But in terms of like our meetings, I'm I'm a little bit concerned about the timeline and I want you to be able to reach out to the select board, too. So I you know, Sarah So the question is do we vote, you vote to select board and they vote or line? How does this work? They vote with us. Oh, they have to vote It it's been handled differently by different boards. It's I won't get into all the details but when when the finance committee we were planning we would actually have a a joint meeting and there would be a a vote. That being said um I've seen the library do it where they put forward a candidate if the board

134that is appointed board with the vacancy has more seats than the select board and the board that has vacancies united then they the the select board's vote what's important is is irrelevant. If we got a if she was voted 6-0 here Yeah. and then they presented the select board and have a new member by by the time we have the next meeting which is the part that I think is important. I mean this Okay, so I think the challenge is how do we get a meeting then with the select board? I I as much as I hear you, Dan, that we could vote tonight 6-0 or whatever it ends up being and then they come in. I do think we have done a lot of work to work together and I do think I I

135actually don't think given that that Jess has actually expressed interest that we would we would vote officially tonight but we could we could vote on a on a sort of a statement of support, general statement of support. Sure. I mean Sarah Yeah, I >> [clears throat] >> I want Yeah, we could convene a meeting before >> Yeah. And we can do it and then we do it if they Obviously you have to talk to her, too, after we we have to get a read kind of a read from the I I'm I'm in favor. I'd love to see Jess sign so yeah. Yes. >> Entertain a motion to show her Who's going to take the motion and then talk with her? Just let me know if she >> [laughter] >> Do you think she knows

136about it? We'll have Sarah reach out. >> Okay. >> [laughter] >> Okay. What's it? So we just Take a motion. Do we entertain a motion? Do we need to vote or I think we're in line. Let's We're in line. Let's vote. Okay, well, she's not voting. We should vote on it. Oh, cool. All right, so I'll make a motion to vote as our uh support uh interest in our support for Jess O'Brien for the replacement seat for Jess or Joe Perruzzi's seat. Second by Don. All in favor? It passes. motion Okay, so more conversations to come. >> [clears throat] >> The next thing is the Placentino solar lease. Yeah, so um Are you ready to No, well, so so yes and no. Um This one I want to review a little bit. I would have

137had no chance to fully read it. I had to do a quick word search and it it's missing something that I would like it to be in there, which is some more language around >> repairing What's that? Does it have language about repairing? It has some language about repairing. We We need to review all of it and I want to hear what Dr. Jordan and Dr. I think about some of the stuff. Um what's missing in my view in there is a a option for the or a right for the schools to purchase the the the first right the panel the the lease issue in in the event of a default. I don't I don't want to purchase I don't necessarily need a purchase option for a certain period of time because I don't think

138we want to get into the business of it. But if the um provider of the solar panels does uh default and they go into bankruptcy, we want to be able to sort of control may own that or I don't know if we can control it, but we can purchase it. We can we can have we can have we we we can decide Well, we we can do two things. We can actually add MFN you know most favored we can add the right to to basically meet any purchase or or meet any price. But we could also add a a uh language to to veto anybody that are contracts all the time that you know I'll give the give the party the the ability to say no that that we For instance, if they were to

139sell the the lease to a to a private equity owner or something like that and we didn't want to have our So the question I guess we say we veto that. What's the other option? We we buy them. No, they then they could put it and they have to go back to to to bid for to selling. I mean, we'd have we'd have to go over to the lawyers and what again it is but I I would like to see some more protections around in the event Because it's a it's a 30-year thing, right? And the the lease itself still has value because it's a cat even in in the bankruptcy because the the the panels are there so it's it's still the the the the cash flows but um having the opportunity to either

140purchase it or ensure that it it goes to another sort of you know friendly party. I mean, for instance, they could they could sell it to an entity that we did not believe our you know our interest were aligned with our and and you know For instance, they sell sell to a to someone who had very clear views that didn't align with our our own. I can't disagree with you. I think there These These are language you might be able to Well, I know there's a the town's town council has has reviewed this and I think we we just need to do a little bit more work around saying So what I what I would like though is just so because we don't meet and I think that I do I mean speaking with Dr.

141Jordan earlier today, he said you know the sooner we get this done, the sooner um they can begin work and then the sooner they begin work, the sooner we start to generate. Yeah. Um would be if the committee is okay with me to have a vote to essentially authorize the budget subcommittee to finalize the contract and then and and sign it. Um you know sending that those type of changes and any other input that that the committee members might want to see. I just say from my end on fuel standpoint as we uh we got to bid as a collaborative among our communities um at the beginning of May and received that back on what our fuel per gallon will be, which I worst case I don't even call this worst case scenario was going

142to might be double what it currently is this year. So um any solar productions we can get would be very nice. Yeah. If you are comfortable with that, then we just don't have to bring it back to the full committee. We can do it at the at budget. But if you want us to bring back the changes, that's fine too. We can do it. I'm okay. All right, so I'll entertain a motion to have the budget subcommittee um finalize that sort and and approve the um Placentino Placentino solar lease. And resident Rams Placentino Rams and Rams. Um so Second. All in favor? That passes. And then the last item on our open session is um the policy advisory committee. We did receive uh email from Pooja Pal who is interested in joining the um policy

143advisory committee. Talent sport Yeah, as the um school committee representative. Um I know she's been super involved in the community and I I think she'd be a great fit. So um Can we yeah? >> to appoint Pooja Pal to the policy advisory committee as a as a school committee appointment um beginning immediately. Seconded by Don. All in favor? That passes. Thank you, Pooja. And um at this point um oh, last thing. I think we will cancel We had a meeting on the books for April 16th but that would give us three meetings in April, which is a lot. So I'm going to make a motion that we meet on April 16th. It might just be I second. No. So I think at this point we're going to cancel the April 16th meeting and the next

144meeting then will be April 30th. And so in the midst of that, everyone will have April vacation and a little bit of time off and um Just a reminder, town meeting May 11th. So fairly soon after that. >> Yes. And we really need everyone to show up and you know support the feasibility study and all the other school school requests. I think communications will have more communication coming. Now it's final. We'll we'll be finalizing. Next finalize. Yeah. Okay, so at this point um I will entertain a motion to turn our open session and we will be going into executive session from which we will not return. Oh, for the purpose to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position

145of the public body and the chair so declares. Superintendent. Moved by Don. Second. And I believe this is a roll call vote. Okay, Frank? Yes. Tracy? Yes. Hillary? Yes. Dan? Yes. Don? Yes. And I'm a yes. All right, good night, folks, and thank you very much.