School Committee Meeting - 3/26/2026

001Okay. Uh good evening Holliston and welcome to the March 26th meeting of the Holliston School Committee. Um call things to order. I think we're going to start with a public hearing on the FY27 budget. Um I guess I make a motion to All right. Do we have to make a motion to open the public meeting? So moved. Second. By Don. Second by Don. All in favor? Do you want to roll call it? Oh, okay. We can go through this quickly. I don't know if anyone is is here for for the for the budget hearing, but obviously this is the opportunity for you to provide feedback comments on our our budget requests that we're presenting to the Finance Committee next Tuesday. Um so, going through things quickly and um I think the the the news overall

002is that our level of service budget is meeting the uh the um commitment we made to the town during the override in 2024 at 3 and 1/4%. Uh we do have some additional uh asks that get us up to the 3.61. That is what we are requesting um as our official budget request now, but those are priority needs uh for for different uh uh additional needs of the district. Um if we look um just quickly, part of the the the problem the town and the the district are facing is is continued underfunding of Chapter 70, which is the uh state aid for for school districts. The governor's budget this year is for a 2% increase in our in our state aid, um which is versus a 3.4% I think is what Chapter 70 as a

003whole is going up. Um so, we're getting sort of less than the average district. Other than some other surrounding towns are getting even less than us, which is um sort of shocking, but the main takeaway there is that adjusted for a bump we we saw from full day kindergarten when we implemented that in in fiscal year 2023, our Chapter 70 is going up at 2.1% per year, whereas the town whereas the district's um budget is going up at 3.6%. So, the town is having to increase its support at a faster rate, and that's sort of shown here um by a decline in the amount that Chapter 70 is supporting the budget from 24% down to almost 21% sort of based on the governor's budget for next year. Um just quickly, we had a headwind for

004a while in in school choice numbers. It had been, you know, sort of essentially taking budget away. We've we've moved back in the other direction, and and so in the last 3 years we've actually had a $300,000 improvement or so in our net um school choice numbers. Uh but and we're also seeing a decline in sending students, which is a really good sign. While we continue to accept more students. Uh looking at our enrollment, we are projecting or um Dr. Jordan is projecting a a a modest uh decline next year, but I think it's important to note that this is also before we look at school choice numbers, so I would think it's going to be probably flat more more flat by the time we're we're kind of done um at the end of the

005year, but um there is definitely a an underlying um enrollment sort of pressure I would say, and I think a lot of that has to do with just general housing market, starter homes, um because you're seeing that in many districts and and districts that many of us would probably consider to be much higher per- or higher performing districts. Um so, it is a not unique to Holliston, and I don't think it's a reflection of uh our our our performance schools. So, getting to the operating budget, um through the process through this is obviously a multi-month process beginning last November. Um we worked with Dr. Kuska, Dr. Jordan, budget committee uh met many many times, and uh a lot of work went into closing the budget. There was a We were at initially at a 5%

006um level service budget. So, to get down to 3 and 1/4% um but we are with a uh level service budget of 45,814,162, but and with a an actual budget request of uh 45,972,162, which includes 158,000 priority needs. Um this is just kind of the walk with numbers. Um talking about how we were able to to to make the the reductions. Uh we had um retirements that weren't built in. We had some mid-year resignations, other favorability, and then we did have three position nominations. One from the elementary uh school that was filled through through a known retirement, and then uh two non-classroom positions at the high school. Um just kind of the biggest drivers of the the budget. Um this is also on the website we emailed it out to the community, so if people

007are looking to to spend more time with it, you can do that. Um I think that it's uh a uh interesting to note that if you look at our salaries, our salaries are going our net salaries, so this doesn't include um retirements and all the things that are baked into to our our salary line items is going to increase by 3.62% based up on our budget, which is the lowest in the past 4 years uh increase basis. So, um again, prudent budgeting and and good um fiscal discipline is is, you know, helping us here significantly, especially when you look at a lot of our peers. Um and these are the uh other parts of the the budget that Dr. Jordan presented earlier this year. Um one thing to just note and draw people's attention to,

008which is definitely having an an impact on our budget. Um over the last 5 years or actually last 4 years, uh there's been a 25% increase in IEPs and 504s um in the district. At the same time, our out of district placements are actually are actually down 17%. But the I don't know have it on here, but the cost per pupil for out of district has just been skyrocketing as the providers of these out of district services um have been given uh waivers by the state to increase tuition rates at you know, 20, 30% or more. There was an there was Last year it was 14% like across the board, so um I know that's cuz we've I got some conversations with our state rep, but more people I'm sure have talked with him about

009that. Um it's definitely something that it's continuing to put um pressure on the budgets because as these numbers go up, it just takes time for circuit breaker to come in to offset that. Again, but to be clear, these are services that are are both legally and morally we are obligated to to provide. So, this is in no way, you know, putting on any sort of uh blame on any population. It's just a reality of the sort of post-COVID educational environment. Um I thought this was an interesting to add because I wanted to to demonstrate the work that a lot of our administrators and and staff have do to bring in outside grants to the district to help offset or increase or services that we offer and not putting that burden onto onto the town. So,

010you know, so far this year we've been awarded over over $600,000 in in different grants for for for different um for different items. You can go and look at look at each of them on on in the presentation, but again, this is, you know, 1.4% 1.5% of of our budget, so it's it's a significant additional uh source of revenue for us or in ways that we can um augment our our uh educational offering. Just kind of going forward going through What are some risks and potential opportunities for for um favorability? Again, more out of district placements. Um if we end up having to replace um departing staff members with new staff that are more expensive, um as we've seen, you know, gasoline prices increase, continued, you know, increases to heating and electricity rates could could

011pressure the budget. Um there's always talk about with the the Trump administration cutting uh federal government um funding. We have $850,000 from the IDEA grant that comes from the federal government. Um elimination of that would be a huge risk. So far that doesn't seem to be happening, but change, you know, wait an hour and things could change. Um and then obviously state aid is if if the state the state budget we went we saw the uh the uh Senate President Spilka and Representative Arena Russo were in to present to the to the uh select board a couple weeks ago. Uh it was very clear that they were concerned about the budget and the additional costs the state was seeing. Uh so, if it as they go through the budget process, there's concern about um revenue,

012they could decide to to cut even from the governor's already low number. In prior years, the lower governor's number has been kind of the low mark, and they've been able to increase it, but as things change that could that could uh that could uh change this year. Um potential opportunities for favorability, again, uh well, we don't like uh turnover, you know, more more staff turnover uh does present the opportunity present opportunities for for for cost savings, but it can also end up costing more. Um Oh, just as other districts uh are doing layoffs, you know, the applicant pool there could provide opportunities for us to get some high-quality uh teachers that get caught up in that. And then it does seem like there are solar installs going to be uh quicker than we were expecting

013and we may even be able to see some benefits um to our budget next year from that. That being said, um it's a pretty small number to to begin with, so um it won't have huge impact. Um these are the priority needs that Dr. Cascio um presented. This is our um priority of the priority needs, so that added to your coordinator is your top priority. Um and then we also need uh ELL and multi-lingual learner um tutors, literacy reading specialist at RAMS and a campus supervisor at RAMS. Looking quickly at our at our capital requests, which is uh not insignificant. Um we're looking at a lot of curriculum. We've been doing a lot of curriculum reviews and at the end of that there's recommendation on curriculum, so $275,000 for K through 5 ELA curriculum, um

014$150,000 for pre-K to 2 and 6 through 8 science curriculum, then $100,000 for um the uh high school schedule uh shift change, $65,000 uh we have a maintenance truck that is in dire need of replacement. It's over 10 years old and uh duct taped together a little bit. Um and then we have some technology infrastructure um needs as well. Uh and that's just for for May. We we may have more for for October. Um then we get to to the sort of the the big one, which is the high school feasibility study. And so the the the school committee has supported the request for 2.5 um >> [clears throat] >> million dollars that was um that was proposed by Dr. Jordan, uh Mr. Keefe, and and Frank Vasallo, the uh the town manager. Um this

015is the warrant article that we are working with counsel to just finalize and and and get into the warrant. Um One thing I'll say is I know there's a lot of talk about how we're going to fund this and um one thing I want to be clear on and I don't I know the committee hasn't hasn't taken a position on it, but you know, we have we the town was um favorably supported our our money to set aside for the for the Placentino Miller roof last year of 1.35 million. Uh to me that is something that we absolutely should not or cannot touch. Um that is money that you know, we've set aside for an MSBA program. I think sort of dipping into that to help fund this um is a um is not a

016good look for for the MSBA and it is, you know, something that we are going to need in the future. And so I I am confident after having conversations with the finance committee chair and and doing some more work that we have that money elsewhere and we just uh this is not the appropriate place to to to look for it. That being said, it is a significant ask and uh I know a little bit later Dr. Jordan will be going through exactly what a feasibility study is, but um we really, you know, hope that some people come out to town meeting to to support this uh this warrant article. Um Just a quick update on where our large capital projects are. And then I would be remiss if I didn't point out the fact that

017we were basically right on where we told the town we would come in that 2 years ago. So um that's a lot a lot of hard work has been done by our administrative team uh to ensure that we were able to get there and um just uh very uh proud to say that we [snorts] we did. So that's it for me. Um I don't know if there are any questions. How does it work for If people have questions, they can come up and ask questions or Are there questions on the budget presentation? No. Okay. No. So We did all that for nothing. So we do a motion to close the hearing and I don't know unless anyone on the committee has anything they want to say or or uh but yeah. Okay. Um Does anyone

018have questions? Comments? No. So I'll entertain a motion to close the public hearing. So Seconded by Don. And all in favor? Okay. Okay, so now we will continue on with the like to reopen the regular session. Are we good? Back on the agenda. You're back on the agenda. Okay. Um so we're going to start with the consent agenda. I do want to make a note we're going to um hold off on the March 19th meeting minutes. We're still working on those. Um So at this time I'll entertain a motion to um approve the consent agenda um with the exception of the March 19th minutes. Moved by Don. Second. All in favor? Great. That passes um and we move right on to report from student representatives. Um hello. So uh the band the spring band and

019chorus concert was yesterday, March 25th. Um from students directing and band to beautiful choral choral ballads, the night was full of life and music. And next up for Holliston's music ensembles is the pops concert in the spring. Uh Theater 370's student written show for our competition festival Relevé did not move on to the semifinal round, but two actors and two members of the creative team won awards. And auditions for uh the spring play Alice in Wonderland were last week and rehearsals are underway with the show scheduled for April 30th, May 1st, and May 2nd. And to recap some prior sporting events, the wrestling team has had a successful all-states sending Henry McGillicuddy, Skylar Roadenheiser, and Violet Polney to New England. And then at New England, Henry McGillicuddy went on to match the best performance ever

020by a Holliston wrestler finishing third for all of New England. And then 2 weeks ago Lucy Downing competed in the New Balance Nationals meet in the girls freshman mile and achieved a very impressive second place. She also had a strong performance in the girls 800 meter. And currently spring sports are now all underway. And for track and field three athletes have been named Metro West track and field athletes to watch for their upcoming season. The class of 2026 senior showcase was on March 11th with many incredible acts from dancing to storytelling to live music. And a large crowd from the community came to support the seniors. The group dance closed it off with We're All in This Together from High School Musical. Um and in their previous meetings our Regional Student Advisory Council representatives have

021been collecting data from schools and administrators about the effects of different lengths of unbroken learning time in school. And in their most recent meeting they began to create their final proposal, which includes building in a mental health day to school schedules, which will be presented to DESE. And DECA had a very successful weekend at states. 40 athletes spent 3 days students spent 3 days building their networking, communication, and critical thinking skills at the 2025 State Career Development Conference. After all of the business role plays and exams, Holliston students came out on top including seven state placers and 15 nationals qualifiers. And then 13 of them will be traveling to Atlanta during April break to compete and hope to continue their success there. And then finally last weekend the Robo Panthers robotics team competed in their

022first event of the season. There was a lot of learning done and progress made, but they still finished high in the standings and look forward to New England District Championships in a month. And that's all from us. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you. Um school committee comments? Start with you, Frank. Um Nothing to report. Yep. Tracy. Uh I want to shout out to the third grade teachers, uh particularly the music teachers at uh Miller with the uh Mrs. York and Peterson with the great uh showcase. Third graders and some fourth graders. I got to do the double feature. I had kids in both classes, so double feature on Tuesday night, but it was great and the kids did a great job and I was really impressed with the performance. So that's good. Um I wanted to

023thank the uh high school administrators for the program of studies presentation last week, which was really well attended by incoming ninth graders through 11th graders the high school and a lot of information about um all the course electives and uh different course pathways. Um and also want to say good luck to the RAMS drama group that's doing uh Beauty and the Beast this weekend. Okay. Nothing more to add. Okay. Covered it. Great. Um Uh let's see. Is there public comment? Anyone? No one? I didn't see anyone. Hello. Hi, Anne. Um I almost didn't come because I have so many thoughts about this whole math and science thing and I didn't think that I could What? Name and address, too. Oh, sorry. Hi, Anne Canoni, 1135 Highland Street. So, I almost didn't come tonight because I

024have so many thoughts on this math and science situation that we find ourselves in. I'm fired up about it. There's a lot of community members that are fired up about it. I listened to um Karen's um conversation at the School Committee last week and I felt like um there wasn't really a plan for the science. Um but that's just my thoughts, my takeaway. Um and before anything like that is implemented, I really think that and I I think I've since heard that something's changed. Um but um because I'm a sixth-grade parent, I haven't received that email, which I think is a big problem with this transparency. Um I just think that before any of these changes are made, there has to be a plan. And um you know, it even goes to the fact with

025the sixth grade, they're talking about a fluid program where in the fall kids can switch in or switch out. And if you haven't been in the classroom, that's not an easy feat to do for anybody, never mind the social emotional aspect that goes with the student, but also the fact that they're coming into a class that they've missed. So, I did decide to come because um I feel like I have a lot of important experiences and I want to um I wrote something up and I hope um that I get it out. And this is not intended to criticize anybody or anything, it's just how I feel. Okay, retired educator with 28 years experience including 3 years at Westwood Middle School and 25 years at Holliston High School. I have a wide range of experience

026in both teaching and administration and have been involved in several curriculum reviews including at least three in mathematics. I bring many years of historical knowledge to the table. Um I'd like to begin tonight with a quote from Dr. Brad Jackson, whom I'm sure most educators would recognize. And this is really important to me and I brought this to the Math Committee last year. Um when a third-grade You guys hear what I'm When a third-grade math problem is written as a fifth-grade reading level, it stops being a math problem. It becomes a reading test and it becomes a tool for score distribution. When the language is harder than the math, the outcome is predictable. Students understand the math, they know the operation, they miss the question because of how it's written. And I can testify that

027if you have spent any time on STAR testing, IXL, even MCAS, these standardized testings can be hard for kids that have a hard time or any child, even myself. Sometimes I have to reread them. Okay, this quote resonates with me because I believe there are real limitations to relying too heavily on standardized testing alone. I'd like to remind everything everyone that Dr. Brad Jackson, our previous superintendent, emphasized the importance of MCAS testing for graduation requirements, but also made it clear that that instruction should not be driven by by the test itself. In fact, for many years he discouraged assigning summer work unless it was connected to AP courses. Um in recent years, however, it feels as though our district has shifted to the far too far in the opposite direction. We are now assigning summer

028work at the middle school level and relying on testing data to determine placement in accelerated classes with no teacher input. The message sent to the students and family that strong test performance is the primary or even sole measure of readiness. Yet qualities like perseverance, problem-solving, and intellectual curiosity are just as critical to long-term success and these are not always captured in standardized assessments. I understand that over the past few years the message from the School Committee and administration has been that all students should have the opportunity to take Algebra 1 and or Calculus in high school. However, in practice, if a student does not complete algebra in eighth grade, it becomes very difficult for them to reach Calculus by the end of the high school year. So, why are we limiting these sixth-grade students, these

029little human beings? We have also heard that the math programming at R.A.M.S. will be fluid. I would appreciate a clear explanation of what this means for students in practice. Based on my experiences as a math teacher, it can be quite challenging for students to enter class after it has already begun. At the high school, they have 10 days to do that. Um and particularly in accelerated courses where the pace pace is fast and the foundational concepts are introduced immediately. I am unsure how this model would work effectively at R.A.M.S. and I would still like to see specifically how it will go. I know I have 2 minutes, I'm going to try to go faster. Additionally, I would like to better understand why there's no teacher input into the placement process. It was mentioned that anecdotally

030math teachers are comfortable not having input. However, I believe it's important to rely on quantitative data to support that claim. While I understand that teachers may feel uncomfortable making recommendations, especially since they are often placed in a position of explaining to families why a student may struggle in a more advanced class, teacher insight remains a valuable component of appropriate placement. And I know Dan, you had mentioned this at the meeting last week that well, teachers shouldn't have to burden that task. Well, we do. Like parents don't understand that if a kid used to getting an A, why aren't they getting an A if they move to an accelerated class? We spend a lot of time going over that. Therefore, I propose two um two possible solutions. Could teachers have an opportunity to give a zero

031to three scale along with the other? I don't know, I think there's 12 points maybe already, so could we make it out of 15 where teacher could give some input? Or could we use the students' grades that they have right now, a term one grade and a term two grade, take an average, and make that a scale so somehow those kids feel like their hard work has contributed. Um in all my experience as a teacher and I've had a lot of experience in all these areas, we've always had teacher input. Um and then when you get to the high school, there's such disparity because you don't have to have anything to do with override. So, we're going from one extreme to the other. Um and my big concern is the lack of transparency throughout this

032whole process. We haven't received um we haven't received any criteria. The only way you're getting the criteria is if you reach out to Cara Cross. That criteria should be made available so parents can explain to their child why they didn't make it into it. Um I I know I'm going to I'm going to wrap it up because I know it's I'm running out of time, but I Um [clears throat] the only thing that I do want to say is that um I hope that we can work to a more balanced approach, one that values both academic performance and the broader set of skills students need to thrive. And I think that we need to remember these kids are little. Um and um and I hope that the R.A.M.S. administration will reflect on the lack of

033transparency in the process and consider whether adjustments can be made before the end of the school year. So, and I just want to add a couple more anecdotals. My daughter did get in. Okay, I'm not here because of her. Um I'm here because as you guys all know, this is something I'm very passionate about. And I think that we we as the community are owed more. We owe a community forum. I also just want to say one more thing that my daughter in the fall scored 750 on IXL. Then she scored 610 in November. Then she scored 700 in January. So, is that 610 an outlier? Did she not take it seriously? Was she having a bad test day? Like what Like I think these are things that need to be looked at. So, I

034just want to wrap with that and I hope that um things can go forward. Thank you. Oh, and Dan, did Did you guys I sent I sent a couple people the criteria. Did you guys see that criteria I sent from years ago? Okay. All right. Thank you. Keep going. What are you talking about? Keep going. Uh talking about the eighth grade uh They're talking about science. Yeah. Do you want Yeah, [clears throat] when do you want Do you want to Or just stick with it. Just stay beside you. It's a field trip. Uh oh. Yeah. I know. We're trying to get We're trying to get you all out. Um yeah, Mr. List, if you would like to um if we could we could we'll hop up to the field trip cuz that'll be a fairly

035quick discussion. >> 5 minutes or less. Yeah, 5 minutes or less. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Um Uh so, uh international travel has become a big part of the experience at Holliston High School for students and we were trying to create opportunities for um more and more kids to do it and make it more accessible um for them. Um you know, we we've had some pretty big trips. They've been expensive. We're heading to Japan in 3 weeks. Um but in talking to students and families, wanting to try to um create options, um give them more time to to pay. So, uh to to pay it out over time and to um provide scholarships for students. So, we are proposing a trip um to France, Germany, and Switzerland um 2 years from now. Um that trip is built

036up of some of of course of the the the tour pieces that you do within Paris and and and Germany and Switzerland, but also uh historical visits um throughout different countries um including trips to uh concentration camps um in World War II um sites. Um the goal of bringing this here now um for 2 years from now is that um we're able to offer the trip at um at a price of I think it's 190 about $190 a month um for families um and we would be um having meetings um to sign students up uh after uh spring break. So, uh in about a month. Um again, we have uh we're very lucky um to have scholarship available available to families um who are interested um and um we're just really blessed to be in

037a community that, you know, students want to you know, partake in in these these travel experiences. So, our hope is that um we can um move forward with this trip and continue to find trips that and you know, go do plan these trips 2 2 plus years out so that they become more accessible. How many spots are available? You want to go? Yeah. Yeah. You want to go? Yeah. Um so I mean technically speaking they will do up to two buses, but I you know ideally it's like you know one bus really is where you want to go which is about about 46 spots um on those buses, but um you know if there was interest in beyond that we could possibly run some You can run similar trips in the area, but there's like

03846 spots. It's open to all students not if you don't take a certain class. This is yeah so this one's yeah this one's open to all students. Yeah. And we don't run it through educational tours. I guess it's important to mention that it's an outside vendor. It's open to all current freshman and sophomores. It would be current freshman and sophomores. Yes. Can next year new incoming freshman can they join this late if it's not full? If there's spots then they If there are spots they'll be able they'd be able to um as I said there've been lots of students who want to partake in these and so um I think learning from this Japan trip where we had more students who wanted to go than spots um I've already started talking with another one of

039our teachers who's interested in offering a World War like a World War trip where they go to Normandy they would England they go different so another European based trip that also falls into the same price range. Um so we have to just see what the interest is in in this trip. And the affordability part I know I was really concerned about that when Japan came and Thailand and when when we approached this before do we know how many scholarships are offered and are they full scholarships, partial scholarships? What what are we doing? Okay so the way it works is um EF so nationally EF um there's no better way to say it than kickbacks to the teachers um for for running these tours. Um and so we don't allow our teachers to take that funding

040um and it's done through a point system um and so those points from previous trips the teachers run that goes into like a bank. Um and so when this trip to Japan is done we'll have around between 12 and 15,000 dollars in scholarship available and that keeps refilling with every trip that you then go on. So um and and so that's about where it is and then if it's not fully used you just have more money to use. So um we had a few thousand dollars available for Japan. We did not get any requests for scholarships, but I've encouraged people to ask for scholarship. We want students to go. The scholarship is there for a reason. Do those expire? Mhm. Okay. How much was Japan? Do you Do you not see it there? I don't

041remember the exact dollars. It's much more than this. That's what I thought. It was like closer to It's close to six six something. Yeah. It was probably like 55. >> Yeah it's six something or 55. Yeah. So So what trip we're locking into then Dan I know you're passionate about this April break 2028. This isn't April break. So that was going to be the Oh it is. Oh it is. So it's the it's the way Yeah so the what they do is they give you the earliest possible just based on travel. >> What they do is they give you the earliest possible date that they might book a flight. So I think it's the Wednesday the week before is that date. Usually it's like a Thursday night it does end up going doing that. A

042lot of times you do that because really don't want the kids coming back on Sunday night to then go to school the next day. So there is that that trade-off there. Um How is it different because you're up here? >> [laughter] >> So it's a couple of summer weeks in terms of missing school Yeah so it'll be yes it'll be so ideally it runs through Yeah it's it's mostly during April break. Um it they give you again they give you that earliest date that they would like have to travel when they book it, but again like when you're when looking at these trips it's really hard for the kids to come back really early from them and then have to go to school. Like coming back the day before school starts would not >> [snorts]

043>> Um and I think I asked this with Japan before or maybe it was Thailand, but is there any interest for a domestic trip that's less money too because families sometimes are hesitant to ask for scholarship of this amount or especially if they don't know even a thousand dollars or two thousand even half of this or quarter of this is a lot for some families. Is there any interest in any domestic trips that could be substantially less money? So domestic trips that end up being less money to be quite honest domestic travel in the US is not actually cheaper necessarily than going to Europe or going to other places. Um there are trips that exist where you go for like long weekends to like French trips to like Montreal or something like that, but those

044still end up being in the range for a long weekend of 800 to like a thousand dollars for those trips. Um so a lot of times you're taking the buses which gas prices bus prices now. So um any of these trips that you're going on end up being in the thousands of dollar range. Um and there you know it's it's who offers it what we offer and figuring that out. I know that like Mr. Miller does looking at band trips you know those type of things. Um but even those for the the week for you know five days or four days end up being like two grand. So it's like it's it's it really is like there Yeah it's it's it's like the travel in the US actually ends up doesn't always end up much

045cheaper. Is that financing pending like a credit check? How does that work? No. No. It's >> [laughter] >> Credit check credit check. What What credit check? Sorry. Credit check. For the Usually you have these loans that are given based on a credit check. I mean Right? So that's not that's not how these work. >> Okay so you can >> This is yeah you just you you just tell them you want to pay monthly and the charge if you do that they charge the matter it's no more expensive than I wasn't sure if there was an There and then there is like there if you put down like a 75 dollar like holding number and then there's time for you to back out of it then there's there is so one of the things that's part

046of these trips when you pay for it on there part of the cost on that is mandatory insurance. Okay. So we make families buy insurance. There are levels to that insurance. You can buy like the gold package which lets you pull out like the day before the trip. But we we require that all families buy insurance which get them out. Um it's it's only a minimal loss if they back out of the trip and then they get most of their money back. Um but it's Yeah so we that's added to the cost. It's part of that cost that's already built in um is mandatory insurance because there are issues that arise it's just easier to build it into the cost. Got you. But they don't actually start spending the money until like three months before

047the trip is when they start booking things. So actually if you're you're paying up front the they're actually they're actually making money you're investing. You don't always have to. You can pay but but then if you have a Does it start when you sign up then so you start paying month to Well you can. You do not need to. There are different there are different ways There are different ways to pay for it. There's different ways This is like that that breakdown is like the most like if you start that day you pay that month and you just do it throughout. There are different ways to do it and yeah Dan's right you pay that to them they they don't start booking it until our trip. Yeah this price this price contemplates the most basic

048insurance level or Yes. Yeah. Okay. This doesn't involve host families. This They're all together the groups together, right? Correct. We do still have the you I'll be back you know the end of this year for the French ones that's what the those dates are finalized for like the French exchange and all that. So We still have that program that'll be this coming year. Yeah. Yes that's what No no it's not our sponsored trip it's we're offering it through So then yes I would put it on for both for next time. Okay. I want to make a motion to approve the international school trip for 2028 to go to France, Germany, the Alps. So moved. Second. All in favor? That passes. Great. You want to You go ahead. Thank you. Um So we just continue on

049with the new business and we'll talk about eighth grade science now and then we'll get back to the rest of our agenda. Uh in your um school committee folder uh one is this presentation um but there's also a spreadsheet that just kind of provides a like another layer of detail. So I'll speak to some of the details there, but I just want you to have your visual eyes on um some of that more nuanced detail um as well. So I my recommendation is you kind of look up here, but have on your screen um the spreadsheet and and I'll kind of speak to some of the things that are there. Um You know Karen apologizes that she's not able to be here. Um I think she was able to move quickly and get get into

050the meeting that was able to last week, but this was not something that she was available for. So um I'm offered kind of considering um some of the community feedback um and some questions uh making myself available having been the the former middle school principal and and being able to answer definitely some of the the technical questions, scheduling questions, constraints and kind of understanding some of that background. Um what I can say is uh Karen um has has met with a lot of community members, school committee members um spoken more with teachers, really sat down with uh her guidance department um and her leadership team and curriculum specialist to kind of really uh see how kind of where we can weave in and find um some opportunities um here uh at the middle school. So

051um there is the availability. Uh she is able to kind of offer one section of honors science. Historically, we've had about two to three sections. The current 8th grade has three sections, but I'd say but since we've had our honor science and when even if you go back to kind of 2019 and prior to that, when we had the multiple multiple levels in 8th grade, we historically would have two algebra sections and then two honors science sections. This is this is a smaller class. This is about 183 students that are in this class. If you were to compare it across the average, that would still probably be about a section and a half that we would be able to kind of build without putting too many constraints on like other scheduling needs that we have

052in the building. So, she is able to kind of offer one section of honors science. This is a great collaboration with the guidance counselors and SSAs to kind of map this out. This was as currently stands, yeah, she had the 14 seats. She is immediately moving that to 23, but that does still have buffer space in there. My recommendation, Karen knows this and I'm sure the 8th grade science teachers who teach honor science would they say the same is that you do not want to push the the upper class sizes within an honor science class specifically kind of for the space and and the lab capacity that you would have. So, that's something that she's got in mind. So, if we can move to this is this is just kind of a 26 27 kind

053of offering. I think based off the class size class sizes that we have currently in the 6th grade as they move on to 8th grade, we can we would those are more traditional sizes that we've had above 200 students. So, those are that that gets us to to our two projected if you were to budget it out or project it out your two sections of honor science and your two sections of algebra. Again, depending on the specific kids we've got, the specific needs we have, sometimes we end up at three algebra or three honor science, but that's just pretty fluid based on the numbers that we have. The second slide is just kind of speaking to one of the major driving variables that we have with kind of the the smaller class that we have.

054Um This is a class that is at 29% of the students on IEPs. We historically when we I would say like our current 8th grade, the that class in the inclusion sections had that percent that we have on IEPs is 22% of students. So, we typically try to find a range that's right around around that 20 to 22% in our inclusion sections that we've offered at the middle school historically and that goes back to when we had all the levels in 2019 and prior to that, we typically average right around 20% that we would have in our inclusion sections. The the model and I think what led to kind of kind of Karen talking about the integrated 14 students that we had, 14 16 students and kind of moving that into kind of this integrated

055honors pathway that we had for for this I'm fine where we are. It's No, it's it's buddy to admit. Got it. The kind of integrated pathway that was in the the initial suggestion that Karen had put together, that had us our inclusion sections at 29%. That's a little bit higher still higher than what we typically would have, but something that was sustainable. By adding one section, that that puts us at about 39%. I call that kind of like your yellow range for your inclusion section. It's definitely something that's still doable. I think the challenging part of still the 39% is when we add IEPs into that with one section, we're still at 58%. If we add another honor section, just our IEP inclusion numbers then get above get above the 50% that we have. These

056are kind of like what you're looking at your spreadsheet what are highlighted, those are best case scenarios. There are some additional constraints that that are harder to calculate in kind of the sandbox right now, which are the impact of the two algebra sections, our small group the two sections of small group math, our co-taught two co-taught math sections and the honor section that we have, how that those Tetris pieces match together as far as one one's group moves, what their offerings are throughout the schedule. So, we are even though with offering the one honor section and you have 39% of the students in the inclusion on IEPs, that will that number will rise by the start of the school. It will go up by a certain percentage. We just don't have a good a good

057handle on what that percentage will be. We can confidently say it will not go down below 39%. Um you know, there is some history that's kind of provided there with then there's historically since 2019, this is on this this slide, we hover right around 16% of our students on IEP and that even goes back historically. We have some ups and down ups and downs, but historically we're we're hovering around an average of about 16%. But what I will say is, you know, in this current class with nearly one one out of in three incoming 8th graders carrying an IEP, almost doubles the historical baseline and this fundamentally shapes how any schedule of course offerings can be scheduled. So, if we go on to the the next page and this is getting into some some like

058liability risks that we that we kind of get ourselves into as a district that I want to kind of just be conscious of whatever decision we make as as a district is DESE guidance is that 30% to 50% in an inclusion section. Now, you know, we people kind of quote or talk about like this 50% rule and I put 50% in an air quote. There is this is this is the law that's associated with it is that when you when you're kind of going over the 50%, this is where you start kind of needing to categorize yourself the class as a substantially separate or special education class not an inclusion section, not a general education section. When you do that, this starts pressing on the definition of least restrictive environments. You're not offering a general

059education class and least the LRE is a federal mandate. So, at least restrictive environment requirement is embedded in IDEA. So, with that noncompliance in IDEA is a is a kind of a legal federal law and case law around the 50%. Has ruled when in the majority of students are in a IEP in a class, it is a special education class and not an inclusion class and that's where you can end up in this this space of like DESE PRS complaints where you can get put on to kind of a corrective action plan as a district. Also, you can get into like fake exposure where you can get into places with families that you end up in litigation with families for free and appropriate public education that is there. So, um This isn't an effort to

060kind of create only one section or no section. It's just a very complicated challenging situation that we wish we had better solutions and I think this being kind of the the first major year, we've kind of moved back to offering our algebra and our honor sections kind of bleeding together. Combined with some higher percentage in groups than we had six seven years ago is just kind of this being the first year is some growing pains and I do just want to acknowledge that Karen and that admin team made some great strides in making some adjustments and and learning from the process and we've got a pretty new team. I think Angela Gavin's probably the own only kind of person over there that's been there through that whole process there in the past and so, you

061know, I just appreciate her effort in kind of helping take another look at this. So, I I just want to um thank Karen for going back and taking the time to really take a look at this, listening to the community feedback, to our feedback. Um and just, you know, reassessing and and seeing what what could be done. I think that these are important things for the for the community. We also heard from a lot of people and it's um I really I really just appreciate all the work that's gone into to this from her and the whole the whole team that that I ran and and thank you for for for pitching in. I know it's a little bit, you know, out of what we told you your lane was, but you know, but but

062but you know, I like my voice, you know, I can we know. Um I like mine, too. Um You know that, too. Yeah, but um So, but that's it. I think that, you know, I I like the context of of helping the community also understand what it takes to put together teams, classrooms and and I just I I know that this is was not anyone's intent, but but talking about IEPs and and special education is is not in no way to sort of put any sort of blame or anything on it, but I think it just helps add context and to the complexity of the situation. And I think going back to sort of the the budget slide, one of the reasons why I included like the 25% increase in IEP and 504s is that

063it does have impacts on on they can have impacts on the classroom that just make things more complicated. That's not to say that we should be removing offerings or you know, not trying to get kids on IEPs and 504s into those classes. I mean, the there's nothing that says that someone on a 504 or an IEP can't be in in in honors or accelerated. And we actually should be doing uh as much work as we can to sort of help them get into those into those offerings, but um it does add a lot of uh context around there. One one question David that is in your more in more in your wheelhouse. There's kind of been this this rumor we talked about a little bit last week about how you know, two two budgets ago

064we we cut two um elementary positions because of I don't know, sorry. Middle school positions because of actually this class being smaller. Um and it's sort of a a rumor that that part of the driving factor to this has been the fact that it was budgetary and essentially that we we um eliminated those positions. Can you just speak to that a little bit and how whether that would have done anything here? Yeah. Um unfortunately, it wouldn't do anything in this this situation. So, um it's a percentage thing. So, while you know, more teachers might reduce class size, it doesn't it doesn't change the percentage um that we would have. Uh so, that's the that's the major factor here. Um so, I I you know, I wish there was a great resource solution. That'd be a

065great excuse to come to you all for more money, but um I I just I don't at this time. I mean, I know I talked with some of you offline and and in small settings to kind of figure out like how what are some alternative means? And I know the the school is is looking at like how do we offer things within Rams block? Um Carla Kraus, who's just a wonderful thinker, and I know Susan may may recognize something a little bit later with her. I don't Um but she's she's a a wonderful wonderful uh individual and um is kind of looking at like how does she how does she's trying to already do this within algebra herself? It's like how does she support those students who are going to be accessing algebra who are

066still needing support with the eighth grade standards and seventh grade standards? Um how do we similarly look at potentially, you know, with with further discussion, offering more of an integrated approach for for those students who don't end up in that in in that section of honor science, but really want that honors challenge is how does Carla and how does the team um provide that type of type of offering or support um to to challenge our students? I mean, I'm I'm I'm a I'm a big believer in providing an incredibly challenging and rigorous curriculum and then providing support for our students to attain it. Uh and I think that that's a pathway this district supports and is looks for. And so, that that that means across all of our grade levels we should have an incredibly

067challenging curriculum. And then we should have the resources to support those who might be struggling with that curriculum. Can I say one thing to them about related to faith? Because we we think of this as we talk about special education a lot, but it's also the general education population because if we flip the numbers and have a lot of percentage of IEPs in a classroom, potentially we open ourselves up to liability where the general education students' parents could also say, "You've now put my student in a special ed program, but they're not on an IEP." So, I mean, if there's so many layers to that that can happen and um PRS with DESE becomes a very obtrusive um process and can take a year or more, right PJ? I mean, it's and then typically, you

068know, they make recommendations and we we we show that we comply, but it's the amount of time and energy put into that process and it doesn't it doesn't really um make a difference long term. We're still left with the situation and how to resolve it. And this is something we always try to do outside of the PRS process. I I did want to say thank you again to the administration and the teachers who en- engaged. I mean, we've been at this for 9 days and a lot of these are difficult conversations and they require a lot of um you know, getting us up to speed on the background of it and then also enhancing communication with the community about the whys and what this would look like. And I feel like this is probably, would

069you agree this is kind of an ongoing um endeavor [clears throat] here in terms of communicating what what this will look like. But I I really appreciate the compromise position of opening up at least one classroom and then continuing to look at ways to um bring that increased rigor and increased curriculum at other levels. And one thing maybe just one creative approach. I know we have many of our our seniors um here at the high school who uh take part in the internship program. And we see we see a lot of them down in the elementary schools, but don't forget these are kids who who um have gotten through the science curriculum. Many of them have taken that honor science class that those eighth graders would see the following year. If there is any way

070we could work with guidance and see if we could get some of those um high school interns down into our eighth grade science classes and bring [snorts] their energy and bring their knowledge of some of the labs and and also um help help the teachers in that regard, too. But creative ways to approach it next year. I feel like this is an ongoing conversation. So, a couple more things just >> [clears throat] >> quickly just just back to the budget quickly. Some more more teachers as much as we'd like to always have more teachers would not have solved this this situation. In the meantime, we do get um comments from the community like, you know, you're seeing you know, dropping enrollment, how is your budget still increasing as much? And I think that, you know,

071one of the things that we're doing is it it it is increasing because all budgets are increasing across districts, but we are taking a fiscally disciplined approach and making sure that while we're meeting our class size uh goals, we are moving staff, you know, moving positions or eliminating positions mostly through attrition uh where where we can so that we don't actually can have bigger budgets than than we already would. So, I think that the community and the taxpayers should actually be appreciative of the fact that we're we're not just trying to keep positions just because we currently have them. Uh the the last thing I'll say on this it's just that it's more just sort of talking out there, but it's not to anyone at this table necessarily, but I do think we need to

072work on being more transparent about the criteria for how kids get into these honors classes up front and earlier. I mean, if fifth grade MCAS scores are going to be used as a criteria for getting into accelerated honors math in seventh grade, those kids in fifth grade or at least their parents should be, you know, made aware of that. Um if a kid is sitting down for a for an exam and being told that they, you know, this doesn't um to count towards your grade, they should also be told that, "But it can impact, you know, if you want to go into to to the honors the honors track." Um and not to say that that, you know, we were trying to um you know, worry anyone, but you know, just get a you know,

073get a good night's sleep beforehand if if if it's something that is important to you, just know to take it a little bit extra seriously. And then also just having if there's a if there's a if there is a um formula, again, what are all those components out there? And it does seem like there's a a spreadsheet out there. I don't think it's been shared with with with with the committee, but I I'd love to sort of better understand that at some point. Um not tonight. And and I but I also do agree with uh with Anne that we should try some way to to then layer in. I appreciate the qua- quantitative approach because it does take some of the um subjectivity subjectivity subjectivity out of it. At the same time, our teachers are

074the ones that know the kids the best. And so, that we should at least be trying to find a way to layer that on top of of the selection criteria as well to ensure I think combining those ensures that you're really not going to miss kids. Yeah, I think that the data's useful to to so that you don't miss kids who could like potentially do the work. But I think on top of that, the teacher could also add that for whatever reason, you know, on top of the data, it's there may be other kids who So, it's more of pushing kids into the program instead of keeping them out of honors. Okay. So, I'll take a non-budget angle here. Cuz last time I mentioned budget in this conversation last week, it was was yelled at.

075Um Sternly reprimanded. Communication is key with this. Um I know it took us 9 days to get here. How much can we do this more up front when we make changes like this? Like maybe not to this detail, but even putting this together and and seeing these numbers I think help the community help parents understand why these things need need to happen, right? We can't doing one thing could cause another and not explaining that, you don't get why. The other thing uh specifically mentioned here like the opportunity for access even in parentheses, what is that? Like how do we explain that to parents like cuz it's already in parentheses, so how do I access? What's my opportunity to access? So, explaining that I know this is more of a presentation for tonight, but giving parents

076that um opportunity and what that looks like. What are the steps? I've heard a lot of people say, "Well, okay, what do I do? Do I call up my principal? Do I call up my teacher? Do I call school committee?" Probably neither of all three, right? So, what's the process? I think that would help. I'll just go a step further like we're a lot of we're feeling a lot of questions and we're of course directing them back to Rams leadership. Um but how what's the plan for how parents are going to hear more of this information, especially if they're not listening tonight? I mean, I think that that's that's something as far as you know, was it reflected in the in the presentation, but um Karen and her team as far as definitely as far

077as this next process, what that communication is is looking to kind of communicate a a broader um not only was it kind of the the email I think that she sent out earlier this week was kind of waited until this Thursday and then a then much more kind communication following tonight as far as kind of coming out. So, we should anticipate something from from Karen specifically uh on exactly how uh they will be engaging and then how families can engage in the process. Okay, and I would encourage also trying to figure out ways to get it to parents of of younger kids as well just so that they understand sort of what's going on. I I know that the revert we we also get complaints that there's too much mail coming to people's inboxes. So,

078it you know, it's a a delicate balance, but um And can you talk to also Sorry. Um I I share the frustrations um with the lack of transparency on the process moving forward. It seems to be a a little bit of a gap from what we heard last week in our meeting and some of the conversations that we've had and even this presentation as well what that next step is. But, what led to this class in particular? I mean, I get the size. Like, I understand that. But, to take away both student uh teacher voice and parent voice, I mean, if we look at the high school, they have this override process where they want that rigor. We're allowing our students to take those challenging courses, which we should be. Our goal is to take

079those B students and prove to them that they are A students if they want to be and that's our job as teachers, as educators, as parents. It feels like we're at this very um critical developmental stage where these kids are 13 years old. They are struggling in their own brains to figure out what's right. We're putting a lot of weight as our um public comment earlier on these standardized tests and taking out all these things that should have a pretty substantial basis. And why has that been done now? And is there Can we switch that for this year or is are we just seventh grade out of luck? Yeah, I mean, I think this even goes to I think what what I think some of the school committee has even and said in open session

080about, you know, how do we how do we communicate clearly to families that like if you're if you are going to override if you're going to be in this class, like you need to anticipate that you may significantly struggle in this class and there won't be as much of like the the hands or parachute to kind of catch you um in those moments. I think that that's um having been in it for a long time, you know, there was even like back in like 2013 in that process of having the significant overrides is even the pressure on the teachers teaching those classes and getting the constant critique of being it and this is part of even like not wanting the the desire to not want to do the recommendation process and how it harms the

081relationship with the teacher and the student and the family um is the constant pressure on that teacher to I wouldn't say inflate the grade, but change the way the instruction is or to um or that if the student was struggling in that honors class or in that algebra class that it was some some some way or somehow the teacher's fault um that it was occurring in that space. Um I think that like while right now we're at one section at 23, that's the minimal number we are. So, we are kind of like looking at like who who are who is going to be placed and who's override who's putting into those like extra sections that we have. And I I do think that like same way like a budget process as you get closer and

082closer to the start of the school year as we get closer and closer further, we we more solidify our actual numbers of how we're able to kind of schedule the students we have um as far as getting into a little bit more exact a process of the number of seats that that we truly have for those sections. Just want to add on that I I've done my share share of course recommendations in my professional career. And I understand that piece, but I think by removing both parts and not having an override process that's clearly stated, it does put more of a pressure on the teachers. But, if you do have, you know, I've had many students who are like, I don't think you're qualified. Here's why. But, here's what you can do, you know? And

083the here's what you can do is missing from this whole process that's been shared out with parents and that's frustrating. And I think, you know, it's one of the things we've talked about in a number of the years of because this topic keeps coming back. It's not going away. And the student voice, where is the student voice in it? Because honestly, as much as, you know, as a parent myself having raised four children, you want to encourage your child to be as motivated and high achieving as possible. That being said, I would like to hear from the student voice. Do they want it, too? Because the parent could help them get there, but if the child doesn't really want it, that to me is and at this age I feel like middle school is a

084time where they do they are able to advocate themselves with some parent encouragement. And I think we talked about that a few years ago that can we add a component where the student is actually almost interviewed by the teacher and in part like you were saying, sharing what the challenges would be. Is it something that I, you know, you feel like you can do? Cuz then giving that piece to it I think is important. Um just to add to that while we're while we're I'm definitely hearing some concerns, frustrations from parents, where I'm also hearing it from some seventh grade students. And, you know, about who got identified for this versus not. So, there's definitely some students out there who would like to receive um accelerated or advanced opportunities, but not might not be assigned

085at it yet. So, thinking about that communication piece, that opportunity for access in that um heterogeneous science class needs to be really carefully communicated to students that that they understand how do I take advantage of that? Um how do I, you know, identify that to my teacher? What does that look like? Um and then also on the teacher side, careful monitoring about who's taking advantage of those opportunities so that you can make adjustments. I think that's going to be really tricky, but it would be an important part of the process. I think one of the things that gets lost sometimes um and and um is the communication piece. I think as as educators, you you see all the parts and pieces behind this, but um I think for parents, I mean, even the back to

086school night open house at the beginning of the year at all three middle school levels, that is an opportunity for administrators to kind of talk ahead about what this looks like for the next year and then continue to have those conversations with the you certainly email updates with real specificity before um before the placement tests are given because I I think maybe something that's lost here is that parents didn't have a and families, students included, didn't have a strong enough understanding um about the assessments and the placement and um and the whys behind behind all of this. So, I think it's it's an opportunity to look at next year differently and and do this in multiple ways, too. In person at back to school night, over email multiple times, um just address it in different

087ways. And I feel like it's kind of a conversation that we need to continue to have, too, cuz I think there's probably still some questions. I think what I'm hearing about what science eight would look like in the delivery of of um accessing some of of the additional curriculum. So, I think we'll we'll probably still continue to have have this on our agenda. Yeah, I I think I think Don, you indicated and Dana too is I think these types of presentations or even just opportunities to kind of provide a depth of just kind of some of the constraints and things that we have. It's it's cuz it's not sometimes it feels like it's just cuz we didn't want to or we wanted to do this and there just there are just pressures and um yeah,

088sometimes we're we've we're at the admin and leadership at a building level are are are taking all those variables and these pressures and the constraints by themselves and are trying to figure out a path out of it. Um and, you know, to be to bring in a bigger circle to kind of even just to understand it, just to kind of validate, yeah, you're right, that's a really hard I have no idea what to do in that situation. I think it's powerful and important um as a group and as a community. No, you're sure? Well, I I really appreciate all of the work that went into this and the flexibility that Karen and her team um I it's important and it's, you know, part of why we're here is to listen to the community and and

089understand their concerns. So, I just really appreciate it. Um okay. So, I kind of jumped around. So, why don't we go back to um central office updates? So, I'd love to share some positive information tonight. So, I put together a few slides um to share with you. Um so, I didn't share this before cuz this is a brand new opportunity that tech uh the tech collaborative provided. I sit on the board at tech and at our monthly um tech superintendent meetings, one of the um items that was discussed earlier in the year was what can we do to celebrate the positivity and energy in our teachers and our districts? So, this is the um brainchild of the tech executive director, Emily Parks, and she's put a ton of work into it. So, this is the

090first annual tech celebrates teaching. And we were asked as administrators to reach out to principals and district administrators to find out who might they recommend for these awards. And it's not I don't mean Clark who might be honored. It's really not an award. It's about people that are doing innovative things at the building level. And so two of our educators were nominated. One was nominated by both PJ Cataldo and Jerry Elburny and the other one was by Dr. by Joan Menard and I'd like to share if you don't mind just the nice things that were said about them. So this is yesterday when he asked stuck in the building Oh he's in another meeting. Oh there we go. Just a slight delay. So yesterday the five of us went to hear the nice comments about

091our teammates and also just we had a lovely breakfast together. So this was what was written by Mr. Vene about Leslie Diamantopoulos our school psychologist at Holliston High School. Leslie Diamantopoulos embodies the spirit of everyone's welcome here. Through both her professional expertise and her deeply human presence in our schools. A school psychologist by training Leslie has worked across multiple buildings bringing clinical skill, cultural responsiveness and relational care wherever she serves. She is highly competent in her craft and the kind of educator whose presence positively shapes the climate of a school. Professionally Leslie consistently goes above and beyond. She supports complex student needs, contributes meaningfully to district mental health and SSP initiatives and strengthens system level thinking around student support. Whether refining practices at the high school or collaborating with multi-disciplinary teams, she shows up as

092both a skilled clinician and a thoughtful partner. She is continually expanding her learning, deepening her cultural responsiveness and strengthening her clinical expertise to better serve students and families. What truly sets Leslie apart is her blend of professionalism and generosity. She stays late during crises, steps in when extra support is needed and offers steady empathetic care to colleagues. From high school clinical work to helping with school events, she consistently communicates the same message we are in this together. Leslie builds belonging through consistent action. Students feel safe with her, colleagues feel supported and families experience her as a responsive and thoughtful an educator who strengthens culture and models service with both skill and heart. So Leslie was honored for the title of everyone is welcome here and that was what Mr. Vene wrote about her. And our

093second honoree is a middle school person who as Mr. Dr. John pointed out earlier Carla Kraus is a phenomenal curriculum specialist interventionist and she was put into the category category let's see what happens if innovation at its best. So Dr. Menard wrote the following about Carla Kraus. A true visionary in STEM education Carla Kraus fundamentally transformed our district's mathematical landscape by building a data-driven excuse me data-driven middle school intervention system where none previously existed. From pioneering the frameworks used to identify student needs to meticulously tracking progress across district systems, she has ensured that every learner is seen and supported. Carla's leadership extends far beyond the classroom. She has been the architect of our shift to a rigorous eighth grade algebra curriculum and currently heads the middle school science quick review centered on DESE's implement guide.

094Through her tireless collaboration with the district curriculum team, she has bridged gaps in vertical and horizontal alignment creating a seamless and high standard STEM pathway for all students. So again she was honored for let's see what happens if and I will show you a few other pictures and there were also some raffles given out after breakfast and after um I feel like Carla said right away oh I never win raffles. Well Carla won a very she won the nicest raffle in the place so that was another benefit. And just we put up some we were all asked to also talk about a an individual in our lives an educator that was inspiring to us and then we had to put up cards about that. And there are our two honorees together. So I'll be sharing

095this out to staff tomorrow and it will end up in the community newsletter but we don't often get to see all these positive things happening behind the scenes and next year they'll be have another one and we'll be honoring some other other individuals at HPS through tech. Where's Where's your photo shoot? I know. Oh so they the event was held at the Grazina is it Grazina Grazina event space in Norwood. It's a lovely place. They do catering and events there and we hold some of our meetings there for tech as well. And the food is phenomenal. And she does a ton of gluten-free. Every time I walk in there she'll say I know you're gluten-free we have this so So thank you for Yeah it was very nice. It was. Are you done? Yes. Okay.

096As Dr. Cusick said we are deep in curriculum reviews still. So we Carla excuse me Carla is running the Rams curriculum review for science and we are piloting looking at piloting different resources. Kristen Marino is also running a curriculum review for Placentino science and we're deciding on ones that we are piloting at Placentino. ELA teachers Jenny Mann and excuse me they're not the teachers they're curriculum specialists. Jenny Mann and Caitlin Kinsky are working very closely with a curriculum review team as well as school kid who's phenomenal. Just to let you guys know I did apply for a prism continuation grant which is for $197,500. So hopefully we get that to talk to Mr. Alfred's grant funds so that would help definitely for implementation of a resource next year which would be a huge windfall again

097for Holliston. And I did attend the high school concert last night just wanted to a huge shout out to Sean Bilodeau and Dan Rice had some really phenomenal music and choral selections. So thanks to them. And Ida Pappas for helping them out. And you're done? I am going to just provide a little bit of an update on kind of the MSBA process and our feasibility study. We have a presentation I can Susan if you want to pull it up I can see it. Too many tabs. Second. So the resource is Susan is pulling it up. It's meant to be kind of a stand alone resource something that we can also kind of put this together and post this on online so to just kind of walk families and community members through that process. I'm hoping

098to kind of expand upon this based off of your feedback and others as we kind of get closer and closer to town meeting but wanted to have something just kind of explains what what a feasibility study is and something that gives you all some talking points to go off with. As Dan had indicated we we are for capital we're proceeding pursuing the $2.5 million at May town meeting. I know it's a large amount of money. We are we have seen anywhere from about 1.7 to 2.5 that were based off of 24 assessments. We are starting to see the October of this year feasibility studies that were completed and the cost of those and some of the recent requests that are around $3 million. So I think now is the prime time to to go after

099the funding and and accelerate this process as best we can. I think that that's also the recommendation of the MSBA as well. As far as timing as far as going after this May versus the fall what May does is that we start our eligibility period on June 1 and that shows that gives the MSBA the funding that they need to start the process. If we start our eligibility period on June 1 and we are relying on our feasibility study in the fall we are getting kind of a different response and a different speed and pace from the MSBA as far as what we're going to do so we are looking at a delayed timeline for the completion of that. And if you are watching construction costs they are rising. To our second slide. So what

100what is the MSBA? This is the Massachusetts School Building Authority. This is a pretty rigorous process. I think those who have been in the district or associated or connected with the school committee for a long time we've been kind of on and off connected to MSBA core applications over the last decade and these are substantive documents to put together. They're substantive visits that they come out to do. This is a commitment that a multi-year commitment that we've gone through. We've already gone through a whole decade of trying to push for this and we're still five to we're still five to seven years away from an actual high school at this point even so this is a large process that we go through. So why a feasibility study? This is Sorry Susan um It's that I

101don't know why there's a delay. A little delay? Yeah. So why a feasibility study? It's Gamma Dan. It's Gamma's fault. All right. Yep. No. So if I'm joking with Dan as Dan showed Gamma last week as an AI tool for presentation building and I'm giving it a go. So, you might might see a couple and might get some teasers from some of you on It's even like AI's got a common look and a common language. So. >> pay for this one? This is free. >> have the It doesn't have the made by Gamma logo. Well, I did a thing. >> [laughter] >> Well, it's not Canva, so you know. I took Can- I took Gamma. I then dumped them into Google into slides and then I used AI in slides to customize it from >>

102AI on AI. Wow. I know. Right. >> [laughter] >> Some type of rule was broken there. Do we even need a budget director? Uh all right. So, uh thanks, Dan. All right. Why a feasibility study? Um so, assess the problem. This is This is part of it. This is a a complicated process to do this. Explore all options. So, like really having significant professionals to kind of really look at this this pro- process uh and then recommend a solution. Um this is the proof. Uh you know, we're looking at potentially a $300 million plus project or if we're going the Lexington route, um No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, [laughter] no, no. All right. Just tried, you know. I was looking for a really beautiful

103central office. >> [laughter] >> Um but uh we are looking at a large sum of money and the the MSBA and the state requires kind of this level of proof um that this is something that can be done and to what capacity it can be done and this is what the process that does that. I think you have to go back and then go go forward. >> almost have to go twice. Um so, uh this is kind of walks you through just uh what the the the group of the from the MSBA the feasibility study actually does. Uh starts with kind of your larger program assessment. Um [snorts] what type of building are we looking at as far as building evaluation, the structure of it? Are we looking at a whole brand new building, a

104renovation? What's physically possible with there? Um this is where they kind of give you kind of the options. Um Option analysis might mean, all right, what does it require to do a renovation on the location we are? What does it have to build a whole new building on the physical the the site? So, whether it's on the actual uh address location on the physical building site, on a football field, on a space here, across the street. Uh they start looking at other locations within in town as far as doing that site analysis. Um you get the initial drawings, the schematic design that you would have, and then they do some of the cost estimating for you. So, that gives the town a good sense of what the the actual cost is going to be. Well,

105that's the trick. Yeah. Um So, uh um It does cost a lot. Uh so, why does it cost what it does? Um you are looking at significant, you know, specialists. I I just think about the owner architect that we're using on my own house and what we've we're paying for them for that just seems outrageous. Um it is it's an expensive thing to do as far as um one, we do have our own uh OPM, owner's project manager, um and that that person kind of is the expert. It's not me that you've assigned as the expert on building us a new high school. I know nothing about building any high school. So, um this is hiring a professional to be able to do that and take us through that that process. Um the designer and

106architect costs that you have, the schematic design, building site analysis, um educational programming. Uh this is where you are bringing in actually your space design. Uh this is where they they go through almost like a strategic plan uh with the community to kind of assess, what do you want in your educational programming? What do you want spaces to look like? What are you trying to get out of your high school? Uh and then putting that into kind of that educational design that they have. Um and then once you have this full kind of captured um vision of what the school is and the schematic design for it, you get at your your cost uh estimations. All right. This is This is kind of, you know, a breakdown based off of what the MSBA does with

107the percentages of of the cost, but what how that $2.5 million would be used. Um so, uh this kind of gives you a sense that the majority of it is going to that architect and design designer fee. Um and then to uh kind of any kind of legal market contingencies that we have um kind of built into into that. So, um that gives you kind of a sense of our dollar amount um that's there. Um you know, it's it is it's a significant process. Um I know some I've heard from some community members who say, "$2.5 million to kind of walk around the site and look at a couple things and do a couple drawings." Like, that's not what you're getting. You're getting an 18-month process with um professionals. Still well paid for them. Well

108paid for them. It could be 12 to And they're still walking around. >> [cough] >> Yes. >> [clears throat] >> Yes. Yes, 12 to 18 months. Yeah. Um so, you know, I alluded to this a little bit at the beginning as far as even the timing of like when we when we go for funding for the feasibility study, whether it's the spring or whether it's the fall. We have two cracks at this, at two bites of this apple, um the spring and the fall. If we didn't get the the funding that we need in the fall, um we have the potential of losing our place in in line uh of this um and kind of giving up um where we we are with the MSBA. This might start us over in a 10-year process, might

109look at something that that that's um that just really significantly slows down that that process, further deterioration, um emergency repair that we need to do on the current high school that we have, all the while that we have rising construction costs that are going on at the same time. And David, to be clear to the community, they don't know the exact day. You probably should do. Um February is when we have to have the money approved of 2027. Correct? Um off the top of my head, I know that like our only unless we can go to some kind of emergency meeting, our two opportunities are the May town meeting, the fall town meeting, and then yeah, we have to tell like It is somewhere around that period. >> 270-day window and that's why it's really

110important that May is the first opportunity. May 11th is when we need to have that. Yeah, I I just want to be obvious here, but if we October happens, you have November, Thanksgiving, December holidays, January, and basically no time to have a special town meeting to to do. Well, we don't know how much this town likes special funding. That also costs more money. So, May 11th important. Can we Can we just go back to six and break down the 2.5? >> Yep. If we don't use all of the 2.5, is it possible we don't use it all? Right? Yeah, there's a possibility we don't use all of the 2.5. So, um that just sits similar to any capital capital that we have, sits in the capital account, and then that either gets we can do

111the town can decide how they ever they want to use that, whether we roll that back into the town or whether that sits there just as an offset of we know that a huge amount that the the actual MSBA um the entirety of the house and high school build will be. Ultimately, the reimbursement is on the back on the back end at the completion of the project. Understood. Thank you. Is there a guarantee to a payback or is it like the payback from MSBA to up to 50% of the >> Yeah, we're going to be approximately 50% based off of our town. I mean, there there's a range that they give for all of Massachusetts depending on the type of community, but we're we're approximately 50%. >> 50% of the feasibility would be that would

112be rolled into the full so we would come back later. With just one caveat there, it is gross 50% of MSBA approved uh spending. So, for the study, it's 50% or you know, whatever the number actually comes out to be around 50%, but if we are and I don't think we are putting you put in a pool, which the MSBA does not pay for. That is 100% then paid for by the town. So, when you then look at your net reimbursement rate, it it's it's going to be And and there will be things that we'll have in there. Not not a pool, but other things that we'll >> about pools tonight, Dan. Okay, but tennis courts. Keith Boudeau gave us this example. He said with the Franklin High School, they might have gone bigger on

113some area like the auditorium. Right there. And that Right. portions of that they wouldn't cover. Yep. And so, that we get 100% so then you look at our net reimbursement and we're, you know, we're probably looking at a few percentage points lower in the Yes, so decisions we make outside of the MSBA I guess recommendation will be on I wouldn't say it's even the recommendation, it's just what they get their formula says that they pay for. What size classroom, how many how many how many seats in the auditorium, what kind of, you know, what things in the gym, you know, there going to be decisions I think the community might want certain things that they don't reimburse for or they don't reimburse for as much and And my understanding is also that the central office

114would not be part of that either. That's what I've been told. It would not be. Correct. It's an addition too. And there's there are a lot of things that come into play. So, it is based off of our student population. Our current auditorium and field house are larger than our what would the MSBA would build based off of our student population. So, I know Mr. Boudeau in past years has spoken to that through this kind of conversation process is that a possible scenario could could be some type of construction that preserves our auditorium and field house or that um we get the high school but we still the town decides well we want to maintain somehow maintain this building or a portion of this building for community use. There's like all that's going to come

115out in these next five to seven years. And really that comes out that'll come out actually in the next 12 to 18 months. Yeah. One of the biggest unre- non-reimbursed cost that we will have and we have no choice we will not have any choice about it is the septic or in whatever waste treatment Or in source meter. Or if That was downtown sewers. Or uptown. Yeah, we'll bring it uptown. Anyway, that that is that is going to be a huge cost that is that'll probably be the biggest sort of non-reimbursed cost. I am Actually good. Who makes decisions on uh whether a pool goes in or an auditorium? Dr. Jordan. Or track or tennis courts? If somebody in the town side or a community member proposes that and that would have to be taken

116up at town meeting and it would be made very clear that would be in addition to. So My mission is this is a very transparent process. I think that there are different report out points from the SBC, the school building committee. I think that that is it's discussed and like solidified good ideas and whatever and then things are presented and they're my understanding is there are multiple voting points by by citizens as they go through is this this being communicated. So I think that that's there is a it's a And this is part of the value of the MSBA taking us through this is they they take you through so that it's an incredibly transparent process for the community as we build this high school. And they also come and present at times as well

117when I was building projects in Weymouth and in over they don't come and do some of that communication. It's important to note too I've had a number of people I've like told to put the date of town meeting in their calendars and say like it's I thought this was a done deal that like you just said there are many votes and many steps so even if you vote on May 11th which hopefully the community will come out to do we're going to ask you to come vote many more times so just kind of keep that on the community's radar. And even if we think it's going to pass on May 11th just having more people come out to show more support to the street that all that to the MSBA and our seriousness is important.

118Good dovetail. Hillary and I met with Tina last week for the working group. >> [clears throat] >> We discussed the school building committee which to remind the school building the while we are incredibly excited for the high school the high school [clears throat] is a town process and the school building committee which is will be created will be the governing authority for the school building in conjunction obviously with honestly every board and committee in this town as well as community member. Um we had met last week to discuss the construct of the school building committee. Um so we are marching forward in April select board has the as the the authority to designate the school building committee. There are statutory roles that are predefined roles that need to be part of it. Superintendent's one of

119them. But Hillary you probably know these better. One school committee member uh bunch of others. >> There's several yes. Then the finance and operations director is on the school side is typically they would be the facilities person typically and James Keefe is on it. So there's there's there's a number and then there's a number of at large roles we can define. So as part of the working group we settled between four to five and again that's not written in stone so for the record we're still working through that. With the process being we want to make sure we have enough voting members so a lot of the the statutory roles will be town employees. We understand at this point town employees typically do not have a voting role so we want to make sure we

120have enough voting roles part of the school building committee. Select board has indicated on 4/6 will be a conversation on that. Um where we are tasked with and we're again not completely solidified but a discussion we had was the appointing authority for those at large roles will likely be split between the select board and the school committee to delegate and nominate those roles assign those roles. Um the one thing we're working on with Tina between the select board and then this committee um which we'll probably have to discuss in the April 9th meeting is what are what type of delegate appointee would we be looking for? What's the construct um the background that we're looking for as we think through who should be appointed. Our goal is before May town meeting to have this solidified.

121Again to send another message additional message to MSBA that we got the funding we got a school building committee we're on a roll. Um Hillary anything to add from our conversation with Uh well as we said in the last school meeting there school committee meeting there will be a a website. I was going to give that update in communications I fell behind this week but yes it will be and this deck will be the first thing on it. Yeah there's not a lot to share ahead of [clears throat] the May 11th um town vote but certainly when we identify the roles that are going to be on the school building committee that will be on there. Yep. And I'll just give the update here communications will have a meeting with Chris Mayo Dan's still here

122Dan we got to we're going to set up the website this will probably be one of the first things cuz Dr. Jordan this is an a great presentation covers everything so as a preamble to town meeting start with this and then there'll be more information obviously as the school building committee set up that will become the website and what they communicate and we'll have that link between the school district website and the town website. Incredibly excited. Yeah. All right. My turn. So this is an answer section for you. Who is excited that Jason Tatum has returned to the Celtics? Anybody here excited? More than excited? So I have something more exciting than that to share with you. So we have on April 7th our outstanding unified basketball team at the middle school will be having

123an extra game because WBZ is coming to do a story on our unified team. That is far more exciting than Jason joining the Celtics and I hope that I [clears throat] get to see all of you there at the middle school at 3:20. So your pen should be out you should be writing right now April 7th 3:20 I'll send you a notice to remind you that they'll be joining to write a lovely story about what happens and we'll see it on TV and we'll figure out when that's going to be but I I really hope you'll come and join us for the event. >> And I think they'll have is it Medfield that's playing? Medfield will be coming excuse me for not adding that in. It will be a home game against Medfield and WBZ

124news will be here and what their ideas that they like to highlight the inclusivity and kindness that [clears throat] radiates from our unified team. What a nice thing. So I hope you'll join us and celebrate our team which works incredibly hard. I was over in Hopkinton last week watching the game took some great pictures of the kids in their up in the air pictures as they are uh but we'll send you some more information out right now we're in a save the date permission slip stage but I really had to share that with you so if Jason goes out way I don't care we just want our unified team out on the floor and have the opportunity to see them on channel 4. [snorts] So that was my first good news thing for the night.

125>> Could you also share when you find out when exactly we air that would be great. Yes. >> wonderful. Yes. Um and then the other thing just to share it's it's not exciting like Jason or our unified basketball team but it's to update the committee that we have begun the process of the school monitoring review with the Department of Education and we met uh Dr. Cusker and I met last week this week sorry the weeks are flying together. This week to start the process and all of the different steps that we have to do uh I will be having a meeting with them again next week myself and then from that point on they'll be going through all the documentation that was submitted last year that's been sitting in the portal and then the most

126important thing is the week of June 1st they will be coming on site here in the district they'll be for about two days to go through uh do walk-throughs of the buildings look at several things interview folks whether it might be somebody from SEPAC uh teachers principals and so forth they might ask to meet uh with the chair of the school committee I don't know yet that wasn't one of the names on the list yet but all my other districts somebody from the school committee has always met with the team that comes to visit. So I'll keep you apprised of that. Uh what's in the portal for the department looks pretty solid but they're going to let us know if anything is missing because of the transition in directors uh most of it was there

127so I didn't have to add anything else. They're also emphasizing we have a smaller component on the education piece and a bigger emphasis on the civil rights piece. So that's where they're looking at us this year and then this level of review won't happen again for six years after this just to give you some insight about the next steps but I want to keep everybody up to date on what's happening here as they come into the district and I'll continue to let you know as I talk with them and eventually when they're going to be here. And that is it for this week. Put that date in your books. And buy your shirts in advance and you'll look great as we sit together. Thank you. Um okay. We can move on to reports from subcommittees

128so communications? Yeah my brief update. >> Yeah you already did that. Scheduled next week. I'll see he? I think he's sleeping. Budget. You're all set. I have to go now. You're good to go. And superintendent and dollar. Okay. Um Okay, so I think we are on to our last item. Um We did receive a request from a student to They would like us to um send a letter supporting There's a climate literacy bill. Um I sent that out earlier. I don't know if anyone had a chance to take a look at it. Um Let me see if I can pull it up. Essentially it it um Do you want it on the screen? Sure. Yes, so that's an example of of the letter. Um They were They're looking for it's House Bill 560 and 391.

129Um And it's basically Sorry, still trying to pull it. It's legislation that would require DESE to create a curriculum framework around interdisciplinary climate literacy. Um and it establishes a trust fund and an advisory committee to make to support that work. So I just I don't know if anyone >> a question on the trust fund. Yeah. >> the answers, but I think it'd be prudent of us to think everything what's the right thing to do, but also what could potentially impact the budget and be mindful of both. It was not clear the trust fund would how it would fund this curriculum. Um and without that it's hard to totally behind the effort, but we I think we have to be careful of what we sign up for if we're not fully sure how it will be

130funded. Okay, I think you'd be you know, supporting the potential of this, but yes, it could definitely be a DESE unfunded mandate and that could be a concern as well. Um Any suggestions on how to I Do we want to send a modified version of this letter saying we support the um philosophically Yeah, right. >> We could say we could say we we we support it, but we respectfully request um funding. Um for its implementation, right? We can add something. Does it but the bill passing is automatically also mean that we have to participate, right? No, I think it would. All right, DESE would have It doesn't mandate I think it would but does does this mean mandate DESE to implement it or now it gives authority to DESE to implement? It says to achieve,

131promote, and support the instruction of interdisci- disciplinary climate literacy education um for districts across the Commonwealth. I don't think that like just because it passes would would necessarily Yep. And what does that mean for teachers in terms of uh you know, extra training and uh professional development and implementing some of this stuff into the curriculum. >> It would likely have to be brought into our curriculum review process and how it would be embedded as well. So there's a lot of layers to that is where if there's no funding, you know, I mean conceptually supporting it is is a a good thing, but then what happens later is unknown until we get to that point. Cuz I don't know what grade levels are going to be having it. Are there Are there going to be specific

132standards? >> 391, right? Okay. Why don't we Why don't we look at this because I think there is something in here for funding. Um to achieve, promote, and support the instruction of interdisciplinary climate literacy education for K through 12 public school students and districts across the Commonwealth, there shall be established and set up on the books of the Commonwealth a separate fund to be known as the interdisciplinary climate literacy trust fund. There shall be credited to the fund one, revenue from appropriations and other money authorized by the general court and specifically designated to be credited to the fund. Two, funds from public and private sources such as gifts, grants, donations to further interdisciplinary climate literacy foundation. And interest I mean there there's a component. >> Well, so what they'll do is they initially they'll put

133money in initially. They'll put out there and then they'll be pulled away in subsequent years and We could say in our support letter and continued funding support. We put something in there with that, but I I feel like the Senate bill itself 391 includes funding portion. It includes a funding mechanism should they so choose. Yeah. Yeah. And I think >> Well, but I mean that's everything. I mean I think I My guess is somehow this would probably Wouldn't this be it would be in the form of grants or something like that to get to get districts started? I mean It's unknown because often, you know, as you know, there's been a lot of DESE recommendations and then they don't you know, that if they don't fund it, they just recommend it. So then it would

134be up to the individual local DESE to decide. >> tell you there's any anything that passes forces us No, I I don't think it does. I think you're just saying you're in support of it. Yeah, yeah. As long as It's too mandate that we can't disengage with. Right. I don't hear anything that that sort of >> I'm not reading anything either, so I think It talks about purchasing like the fund would be used to purchase um purchase, distribution, and implementation of curricular materials. Um professional development training and then opportunities for districts and stakeholders to assess and share evidence-based practices. So Um I'm in support of one vote. Yeah. Yes. Okay. Um Are we okay with the wording in the proposed template? Yeah, I mean you know, the funding is going to be on a year-to-year

135basis. So like if we wanted if they don't fund it we want to send another letter. Okay. That would be the time to do that. I think that would be the time to do it rather than say and perpetually fund that fund that, you know, that So Okay. So I'll entertain a motion. I can, you know, fix it. Take care of the letter and send it off. >> to thank the student or students who submitted this. That's That's an awesome something we should encourage and um yeah. So I'll make a motion to approve the climate ed bill letter of support to our state representative and senator as uh written and with any minor modifications and edits by the chair member sending. Second. All in favor? And just um to thank it it's Angaj Pelai. Apologize

136if I didn't get the pronunciation right, but um they're working with the Mass Audubon statewide youth climate leadership program. So um it's it's great um that we have youth that are caring about our world and our climate. So thank you. So you'll let him know that you voted. Yes, yeah. Yep. Yes. Okay. Um Let's see. I just want to make sure I didn't miss anything. I think that's it. Right. Okay. Um at this uh time I will entertain a motion to adjourn. So moved. Second. Um All in favor? All in favor? Great. Good night. Awesome. Thank you.