001Uh, good evening, Hollist, and welcome to the great January 22nd um meeting of the Holl School Committee. Um, we'll call to order at 7:02 and um at this time I will entertain a motion to approve the consent agenda. So move >> second by Dan. All in favor? passes and we will move right on to our report from student representatives. >> Hello. Um so six students travel to Worcester on Saturday to perform at Mechanics Hall for the senior central districts festival. Um they had previously auditioned in early December for spots in the orchestra band and chorus and it was an excellent showcase of talent. Um, and this Saturday, students who received an all states recommendation are auditioning for spots at the Massachusetts All States concerts, which are happening in March. Um, also coming up, the detentions,
002which is a um, jam band at the high school, are having a concert on February 4th at Craft Roots Brewery. Um, several teams have their senior night tonight with the boys and girls track teams facing off against Denim, hoping to close out their regular seasons on a strong note, as well as a swim team going up against Hawington. And girls basketball senior night is coming up on Tuesday. Individually, both Ethan Ethan Shahida and Sean Klein were nominated for the Metro West Daily News Athlete of the Week for strong performances in basketball and wrestling, respectively. At their kickoff event, um the robotics team received their competition objective that they will work to achieve during this season. They'll be building a robot able to sequentially launch foam balls into a target and then successfully climb a ladder.
003They've begun making prototypes and are very optimistic and excited about the season ahead. Recently at DECA districts, after the achievements of the day one competitors, which included four first place finishes, day two competitors continued the success with seven first place finishes. In total, 39 out of 115 members, over a third of the club, qualified to complete compete at the Massachusetts State Career Development Conference in Boston this March. Um, last night students enrolled in the service learning class presented their semester projects at the service learning community celebration and these projects were worked on throughout the course of the class with the goal of making a difference in a local and national community. Students have begun have been hard at work studying for final exams which are taking place tomorrow and Monday. Um, coming up is testing
004for the seal of biiteracy where students have the opportunity to earn the Massachusetts state seal of biiteracy in languages like French, Mandarin, Spanish, and Portuguese. And on Tuesday is opportunities night at Hollston High School. Students have been tasked with speaking about different aspects of the HHS community, including endorsements and programs. And then also there is an NHS leadership project running um being ran by Autumn Smith and Lizzie Roth which is to clean up teachers classrooms to promote organized learning environments for students while giving back to teachers. And that's all I have for you tonight. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Um we'll move on to school committee individual comments. We'll start with Joe. >> Hillary Frank. I just want to thank the uh superintendent surge committee subcommittee. Um there's a lot of work coming up I
005know. So thank you, thank you Dylan and all others that are involved. Um a lot more news coming out later this evening for next week in the search >> comment. Thank you. Um just a thank you to um principles and our um admin staff that came tonight to present priority needs for the district. We always [clears throat] appreciate the ability to have the face to face and and hear from each of our schools about some of their needs. >> Um and then I'll just say um quick note about something that's going to be coming up later on our agenda. Um, you know, last year we all attempted to retain retain a well-loved, um, person here, uh, Jess Bey, um, our student services director. So, um, we're kind of thrilled to have the second chance and
006we'll be talking about her later tonight. So, stay tuned. Um, okay. And let's let's move on to public comment. Um, we'll go with Stephen Lima. Um, and should we do a time or >> Sure. We'll like two minutes. That's okay. >> Two minutes. [laughter] >> We'll be flexible. >> I thought I a little more. It's okay. >> Okay. >> I'll take three. We can do We can do three. Okay. >> All right. Thank you. Hi, my name is Stephen Lima. I'm the president of Holland Deca. Austin Deca is a business club at uh at Austin and as Adele had said we had 115 members compete at our district competition in Mansfield and 39 qualified for our stage competition in March. DECA is in a very expensive club which is kind of why I'm here talking
007to today. So as it stands there's an activity fee in place. This activity fee is a $50 activity fee that everybody has to pay if you're in a club or that's how I that's how I understand it. The issue is not the fee though Mr. List would know that I don't I don't really like the fee but it's the fact that the fees not being enforced across all clubs. DECA is a very expensive club and just to lay out the costs just so you all know it costs $60 to register each student and we had 126 students just some dropped. So we have to it cost $60 to register each student $75 for each student to compete at districts. $500 for each student to go to states and the base cost for nationals is 16-800
008and that's doing nothing. You just show up. So I went to nationals. It was in California. Great time. I spent $2,300 at nationals. So the the important part is that there's a cost involved. And I believe and as kind of we've been talking as like a a leadership team that the the activity fee is in place to go back to the school budget. and the the budget as a it's important that all clubs pay pay the fee. I'll see about that. So, I know like my sister does Leos. Leo, just so everybody knows, has the same amount same amount of members if not more than we do. They don't pay the fee. My mom's never got an email, never got a letter home, nothing. Art club 2. They don't pay it. So, why why I'm
009here is just to try and ask. It's the grand old question that we're all wondering. Why is DECA the only one paying the fee? And why and and what are are you doing as or not as what you're doing? Sorry. Uh I'm just Okay. I'm just trying to understand essentially I'm trying to make sense out of why Beck is paying this fee. And I get we're we're a big club. Our club's based on business. every this fee has been here since as long as I can remember when my sister was here. So, I'm just kind of wondering has we already have so many expensive costs. Why are we the only one that is paying this fee? >> I don't know anyone has an answer. >> Thank you. Thank you. So I I don't want to
010get into a uh direct discussion because we've been trying to avoid that. But I do think that you know something that we can take up a budget and if you want to come talk to us at budget maybe we can put that on the agenda >> or someone can get back to you because I do think there needs to be equity and those those fees do need to be enforced across the board. Um Mr. uh Dr. the Leos are they are they a school associated club? >> I'm not aware of that being a stipended position. I don't know. >> I was just looking it up. >> It's a volunteering school-based club. So members of the school like I'm I'm the treasure of Leos. Um so members of like the or students of the school basically
011go they sign up and then we provide uh community service events. So it helps you get NHS hours, helps you for college. Um but there's like there's a whole list of club like art club um ones I know. >> So certainly um those are managed at the building level but Dr. Jordan and I can speak with Mr. list and see, you know, kind of if there's other collection things that we need to do and look into that further >> add a little bit to the fee and the level of budget and get back to you. I I do think the deals might be because they are associated with the lions and so there might be something there that >> it may be and it's not being stifened is not a stipen position. So that's might
012be a unique situation but I'm sure explore it. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And let's see. We've got Jamie Koutan next. >> Oh, of course. Yep. Good evening. My name is Trisha Clark, 59 Call Road in Hollist. I am the parent of two daughters who graduated from Hollist schools. One is a special ed teacher in another district. I was a PAR in this district for 18 years and I'm currently the HFT par profofessional chair. This evening, I'd like to express my support to Holliston Public Schools in hiring Jess Bey as our student services director. In my role with HFT, I represent all the PAR professionals ac across the district. As part of that responsibility, I regularly meet with and collaborate with the student services director to advocate for our members and address district-wide concerns. Excuse
013me. During the times I worked with Jess, she was always willing to meet with me and openly discuss my thoughts or concerns I brought forward. She listened, collaborated, and approached every conversation with professionalism and respect for paraprofessionals and the students we serve. I consistently felt that Jess kept the best interest of both pair professionals and the students they support at the forefront of her work. At a time when our district is struggling to hire and retain pair professionals, it can only benefit us to have Jess Bey. I've worked closely with Jess on gathering feedback from new hires, conducting temperature checks, improving professional development opportunities, strengthening the liaison roles, supporting RBT certification, discussing training, and so much more. This work was true teamwork focused on building stronger relationships and better support for the PAR professionals across
014the district. Jess leads with trust, collaboration, and a deep respect for both staff and students and that is why I strongly support her as our next student services director. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. >> Thank you. Yes. Yep. >> Hi there. Uh Jamie Katone. Uh I'm a parent of two children at Hollist public schools. I live in town. I teach high school biology and I am the HFT president. So thank you Trisha for all of your kind words about in support of Jess. I echo all of them wholeheartedly. Um, I am thrilled uh with the opportunity to be able to welcome Jess Bey here as the assistant superintendent for student services. Um, and I wanted to take a moment today to to express um where I stand personally and professionally as
015an educator, as a parent, and as a union leader here in the district. The expertise and relationships that Jess brings will provide the districts with the stability and continuity that we need to best serve our students and staff. I'd like to specifically commend Jess by highlighting a few of the many accomplishments uh she made during her time with us at Hollist Public Schools. Jess worked with staff and administrators to support the redevelopment of our continuum programs. These are programs that are tailored to the specific needs of our moderate to severe special education student population. Jess ensured the district was following the Massachusetts dyslexia guidelines with dyslexia screening and tiered intervention and she enlisted the experts at Landmark to help the district refine the language-based program at the elementary level. that is a program that is
016designed to meet the needs of our students with dyslexia and language-based uh learning disabilities. And she started the conversation about the need for or she worked with us in in the conversation about the need for an effective paraprofessional training program. Uh a training program to be able to help our paraprofessionals who are new to the district, new to education, uh be able to be successful in our district by supporting students. And [clears throat] while I could go on with this list, uh what shouldn't be overlooked is the desire Jess had to work with people and to solve problems and make sure our schools are a better place. I look forward to partnering with Jess and other administrators to move forward with supporting the continuation of the languagebased program to support our students uh with dyslexia
017in grades 6 through 12. That was an objective that she had, a plan that she had before um she left our schools um almost a year ago. And I look forward to seeing what she can do with that program when she returns. [clears throat] I look forward to working with Jess to collaborately uh collaboratively develop and implement an effective paraprofessional training program for our new paraprofessionals and to [clears throat] work alongside David Jordan, Jerry Elier, Dan Mloud, and our other administrators, central office administrators to improve our school culture and workplace morale. While it is a bit unconventional um to go this route with hiring and an administrator, I fully support the school committee's decision to entertain um the vote to offer employment to Jess as the assistant superintendent of student services. I think that is
018a choice that will move our our schools in the direction that we all intend for them to go in. So, thank you for your time tonight. >> Thank you so much. Um, is there anyone on Zoom that wanted to make a public comment? No. >> Any other public comment here? >> Um, should I move this up? >> Yeah, you can. Okay. >> Oh, you know, why don't we just So, this is further on down in the agenda, but um since we were talking about just Bey, um maybe we can just jump down to new business, uh we had an agenda on the item to discuss the student services director, assistant superintendent, um >> of service of student services >> of student services. Um, >> and I guess do we have any questions about Jess or
019do we want to just >> No, I mean I'm excited. I know that last year um we attempted to retain her. She was in the district for a number of years. I I mean I was it it's wonderful to hear the public comment today. I know that when um Jess was leaving, we had heard some outreach too of of, you know, how much she had done for this district and what she meant to families and students. So, I feel like speaking at least on on behalf of school committee and administration, I'm really happy that that she'd be uh ready to return. Um and we certainly well, you know, speaking on her behalf, we were attempting to retain her last year and I'm thrilled that she would like to return. >> Yeah. I'm I'm incredibly excited
020that she she wants to to to come back. Um I think that um I didn't want to lose her last year and um so I this is uh I think this is really, you know, great for our district. Obviously, we we have a lot of turnover. It's always good to to to uh see when someone I think 23 years in the district before, you know, so this is I mean I think that while >> you know, we were just sort of beginning kind of a search and then we were it may seem like we're going kind of off the normal sort of process. I think when someone's been with the district for for 23 years, has the support of so many people. Um, and we can we have this opportunity, we kind of need to
021to seize it and um, so I'm incredibly excited and incredibly supportive of of both Jess and this and this appointment. So, >> this is incredibly great news. I mean, just have her leadership come back in and abroad as we as we vote on it. when we vote on it. Um just to be clear, um I think we'll be great for our district and um yeah, I'm incredibly excited. >> Yeah, I agree. I know we heard um a lot from families last year. Um you know, we're disappointed to see that we weren't able to retain her last year. We heard a lot from our CPAC families as well. Um, so I think this is this is good news for our community. Um, and kind of continuing that continuity of the programs that uh have been built
022in for students with disabilities in Hollston. >> Yeah. Um, want to echo what they say like with so many changes happening in this district, you know, it it'll be great to have Jess back. I mean, she knows the district. She's been here, like Dan said, for 23 years. Um, the community wants her back. So, I think that it'll be great to have her back in the district. >> And following our our recent discussions about the listing of the position, um, as well as a student services director and an assistant superintendent for student services, um, Jess said, Miss Be had reached out um, and it's with an interest in the assistant superintendent of student services position. Um, and so I think, you know, if we're ready to vote on it, I think we should move forward
023this evening. I I I think that we touched upon this at the last meeting and I think maybe the one before. There are a number of schools that are um you know, we're seeing this move from student services director to an assistant superintendent uh of of student services. Uh because a a lot of of what the work entails has has broadened. Um, >> and just to add, I mean, you know, last year when when Jess did decide to leave and we did a search, I mean, we found it incredibly, you know, challenging to to find uh candidates and it was a little later obviously in the process and, you know, we ended up with a with an interim who's who's filling in admiraably, but um I think that there are positions that are opening up
024now and I think that it's it going with someone that a we we we like, you know, has done a good job and and that, you know, who kind of come home, >> you know, >> and has those relationships, right? >> Has those relationships. Yeah. I think it's a no-brainer, though. I did want to ask, >> have we talked with CPAC at all? You just want to make sure I mean, I think we put the answer there, but I just want to make sure they're we're in alignment with them and >> Right. So, this was certainly posted out there earlier this week and I think >> as as I think many of us had had seen um in the spring, we had we had received feedback, too. >> Yeah. Um I it's a little different
025because it's a former employee and we're that we were >> totally >> uh that that's returning to us >> barely former. I mean still >> um so I guess I'll I'll make the motion to um appoint as assistant superintendent of student services subject to contract negotiations. >> Correct. >> Second. >> All in favor? Passes. So, thank you and thanks for your support. Okay. [sighs] Um, let's go back. So, we do not have presentations tonight. So, why don't we hop right over to policy um two policies? Yeah, we have two policies. um continuing to go through our policy manual um kind of updating um some existing policies and then also looking for where there are policies um recommended by MASC that we don't have. This is an MASC policy um that we Oh, looking at the
026different one. >> Okay, we can start with this one. Yeah, special honors. So, this is one um we reviewed um in a prior meeting. This is um [clears throat] a an older policy 1979 is our first date on this one. So, we were looking at updating this. Um the changes made here are just removing some of the language um that gets specific. Um, so it's kind of more of a broadening the scope of this policy in a more general language so that we are not when we look to recognize and honor employees um, we're not limited by the language in the policy. All right. Do I need to read what we're deleting or >> since it's like policy already in place, it doesn't mean you can just um, >> and it's deletions. They're not adding
027it. Just needs to be voted on as um as >> Yeah. As >> Okay. >> All right. Any questions about the policy or what we're removing in terms of language? >> No, we're not limited to a plaque. [laughter] >> What about the permanent pass though? We did talk like should we not be given permit >> pass a per like a pass to enter school related events. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> Well, we have we know just so you know um when we've had a number of people we I started an end of the year breakfast and then we were presenting people with it's a h lovely little lap robe holl with the H on it and we wrap those and bring them if it's someone midyear I literally bring it over and we celebrate them
028at the building level and we give them a certificate as well. So it's, you know, a modest gift, but it's still something nice that reminds you of where you came from. >> Yeah, we should times do change it where it makes sense. So I think the flexibility here is good. So not limited to a plaque. [snorts] >> Okay. Do we should I'll entertain a motion to approve >> um policy GC QE which is for special honors >> moved by Don >> second all in favor that passes and then the next policy is let's see GBGB >> yeah so this is staff personal security and safety. This is a new policy uh recommended from MASC that we did not have. Um so I'll do the first reading. Um through its overall safety program and various policies
029pertaining to school personnel, the Holl School Committee will seek to assure the safety of employees during their working hours and assist them in the maintenance of good health. The superintendent may require an employee to submit to a physical examination by a physician appointed by the school district whenever that employees health appears to be a hazard to children or others in the school district or when a doctor's certificate is legally required to verify need for sick leave. The superintendent may also require a doctor certification to allow a staff member to safely return to school after an extended absence. School employees, their families, and members of their household are eligible to use a confidential services provided by the municipality's employee assistance program. >> Any questions on this policy? >> Sure. Is there anything in particular that prompted
030this policy? This was actually um if I recall, you know, a couple of these have been brought to us to reminder by our council as well. Some of them are referenced to in our employee handbook, but have not been specifically in there. So, it's just as things have come up and and I also um when I got when I arrived, we didn't have a lot of the the G policies. So, we've been trying to go through all of those policies for each section. And this is one that I think makes sense to have um things on record related to health and safety. But we already are like reminding employees about the the EAP, right? >> Mhm. >> And yes, and we specifically use that. I mean, they get it in the handbook and and it's
031referenced on the website and things, but then in particular situations when people might have something going on, we we give it to them in hand or send it out electronically all the time. So, Does anyone have questions? So, we just do the first reading today and Okay. Okay. Um, moving right along. So, superintendent update. >> Yes. So, a few updates. Let me just stop sharing this. Um, I wanted to take a moment to congratulate Dr. Joanie Manard for being um, chosen as the East Long Meadow Superintendent pending contract negotiations, but she is into the process and I'm sure the good news will be finalized soon. So, we're sorry to see her leave, but we're excited for her next chapter on her journey. So, congratulations, Joanie. And then a couple of quick things I did want
032to reference. Today we had our second learning walk as a district leadership team. Today we were at Miller School and most of the team was there and we went to six each group of three went to six different classrooms and were able to look for things like student engagement and what kids were doing and um be able to provide feedback in a positive way, not in an evaluative way. And we find it as a very great growth opportunity for our leadership team to help calibrate what we're seeing in the classroom. And also it's an opportunity for us to see what goes on at all levels, especially for our administrators that are in one building to be able to have our high school team go down to elementaryaries teams and see what's happening there. I find
033it every year it's eye opening and similarly to have our prek2 go up to the high school. You know, I think those shared opportunities for us is a really um an attempt to grow and we've been really every year trying to enhance the learning walk experience. So, thank you to the Miller School for welcoming us today. And then my final thing is really about data wise training during priority needs. I talked about the challenges with our administrators filling in for lunch and um always being tied to a certain schedule, bus duty and after school duty. Sometimes it's it's a struggle for them to actually enhance their own growth. Um, but we really this year and going into next year, our leadership team has really talked about what doing more in tier one for accommodation. So,
034we're working on revamping our decap district curriculum accommodation plan so that the things that should be happening tier one and retraining staff with what that means before kids go out to referral for tier 2 or tier three. And then similarly tied to that is our MTSS, the multi-tiered system of supports, which is tier 1, 2, and three, but really trying to increase and enhance training in tier one for all staff. Jony's going to talk about some professional development that relates to tier one and how we're trying to support staff, but with us trying to create a district-wide team. Um, we've been working with an MTS district team and four of our administrators, Dr. Slaney, uh, Dr. Kaf, Mr. Taylor at the middle school and then Miss Gadoo no sorry who's the fourth one from the
035oh sorry Miss Morrow at Miller. So the four of them agreed to volunteer for this data wise training through Harvard. It's an incredible training. They've revamped it over the years. I took it many years ago. Um and they spent three days in Boston last year last week from 8 to 4. They also had to do a ton of prep work. So, the fact that they took this time on their own to do all of this extra work just shows the commitment to this work and I applaud them and they're bringing back that work to us as a leadership team and working on a train the trainer model. But I can tell you they were hesitant to leave their buildings and we all tried to jump in. I know Dr. Jordan did lunch duty at Rams,
036Dr. Manard was at the schools. All of us have just jumped in at dismissal and things like that because it takes that effort as [clears throat] a team. So again, I just want to commend them and remind them of the importance of our the reason we put some of the priority needs forth that we did today is because our administrators are stressed to stressed to capacity and can't get the training that they need. So we have to come up with ways to do that and I'd like to see them do more um building base capacity as well just like we try to grow our teachers in the same way and send them out to professional development. So thank you. You'll hear more about that as the year goes on. Jody, I've asked Director Mloud to
037come on up and help me for his part. And I'm going to share a presentation, a very brief presentation. >> Share go. Whoops. Okay. All right. On January 16th, we had our third professional full our full third third third full professional development day of the year. So, we have one more after this. And we covered a great deal of work. And that's why I stopped uh almost Dr. Mloud, you're getting there. U Mr. had to come up and help me with this too. But we did a lot of concentration on tier one instruction and like Dr. Kusca said, so we did a lot of work on executive skills and at the elementary schools they did both building based work and then they worked with uh Peg Dawson who came to us uh convocation day right
038before school started. Also the high school worked with Peg in the afternoon. We fully capitalized on having that full PD day so we could have district people get together across the board. So we continued our prek through five ELA curriculum review in the morning. We had Placentino science review in the morning, Miller science review in the morning, RAM science review in the morning, and in the afternoon I help facilitate the preK through 12 ML curriculum review. So we really are capitalizing that time. That works very well because it's very hard still for principles to cover people due to subs. So that's what we're using professional development time for. Those are some pictures that we took in our curriculum reviews. And in the ELA curriculum review, we were lucky enough to have a representatives from school
039kit working on us with us on the potential uh curricular resources that we're going to choose. going to turn it over to Director Mloud. >> Sure. Yes, we trained all the elementary pairs in the morning at Placentino. Uh cyber security was the topic. It's part of our strategic plan. Uh we we got access barely thanks to Chris Mayo to a training portal. It's the gold standard for cyber training. It's called NOB4 and um Chris got us the licenses through a grant and we got all the uh pairs onboarded and uh we had some lively lively discussions about it was mostly online but we're able to kind of track um their participation and their completions and everything but there were some lively discussion about passwords and the future of passwords. So they they had some great
040questions. Uh I don't know the answer to that but I think I know what's coming. So, um it was very very good to see them um actively participating and that that is a u in case you don't know that's been some of our um some of our fishing attempts that were successful. Uh Paris sort of fell victim to those attempts. We survived them, but you know, who knows when that's going to change um because they they were not getting the regular training that they need. So, that's the main reason we wanted to make sure we had that in place. And the good news is we have these licenses through the end of December 26. So if we wanted to take another opportunity next year prior to the expiration, we could do that. And then hopefully
041faculty is coming soon because we want to follow up with them. That's the second part of the grant. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> Other training we did at RAMS um they are going to do the executive functioning training in March with Peg Dawson. So instead they had choose your adventure for AI literacy. I don't know if you wanted to speak to that Dan at all. >> I saw the topics. I wasn't able to go and see. >> Okay. I wasn't either. So right. >> I was excited to see the topics. Yeah. >> Yes. And uh they were excited to make their own choice there and direct their own learning. they work together as a school to really problem solve and look at some standards and kind of assign them to teachers that um
042we had some room for improvement in addressing. They also worked on UBD mapping and uh that stage two and also transfer test rubrics. Rams also had some other work in for their guidance counselors and school adjustment counselors. They were working on SEAL data and what does it tell us? Really struggling with that and also school refusal process and protocol for special educators. I'm sorry that dropped to the bottom there. Um they worked on UBD tier3 instruction for their students. Then for speech and language they were doing some virtual PD that's directed right for them from speech.com or Massachusetts partners for um youth. Paris also worked in addition to what Dan was just talking about RAMs how to be an effective support for students as well as occupational therapists working on some virtual PD executive functioning
043and writing at the high school they were really concentrating on the shift coming next year. So the individual departments were working with each other with their colleagues and working on what shifts they were going to have to make in their UBD stage one maps because of the length of their classes. Now as well as updating their UBD2 UBD stage two maps due to the length of their class. Special educators and school counselors were also working on uh supporting students with that shift and Paris also had a session at the high school about setting classroom expectations. The nurses had a full day together and they did two trainings from the National Association of School Nurses. They worked on school emergency triage training as well as the legal survival series for school nurses. and they also collaborated
044on the creation of an emergency response plan. So as you can see it was a full day and um we will just continue our work but again it was directed towards specialized groups and really concentrating on that tier one focus. >> Thank you David. I guess um first uh a big congratulations to Dr. Manard on uh being soon to be named superintendent and barring her contract negotiations um on that. But big congrats to her and and the time that she's uh given us here in the district. Um also I'm I am a big congratulations to Jess Bey um on that process. Um I have known and worked very closely with Jess for the last 15 years. um from the middle school to central office um and am very proud of the things that she's done
045as this district. Um and I'm I I'm appreciative to Dr. Kusca and Dr. Pataldo. Uh but I'm also uh was nervous about kind of being the the the lone person here. Um and knowing that uh Miss Bey will will be here uh as well, I think speaks to some continuity uh that we'll have uh at the district level. So, um I appreciate the school committee support in them that way. Um and I think that is in the best interest of the district. Um on a on a budget, uh level, we had our priority needs uh presentation um at this point in kind of our um in there is some is the capital that is there. Um our next step on February 12th will be the superintendent's budget. Um, I think that that will have uh
046of a significant budget sub uh before that as far as talk about some of the capital needs, but some of the other moving variables. Um, at this point, you're still working off of kind of the original cut of the of the the district budget. Um, there are some moving things that happen within special education that happen. We have a better sense of our utility costs. We have a better sense um of some of our uh tuition bills and what they're going to be for FY27. uh as well as um what some of our staffing will be and some of the favorability that may benefit from that. So um we we can kind of start those discussions of what that kind of second pass of the budget will be. Um I plan to kind of for
047the for our next meeting also just to kind of bring kind of a a budget memo uh and an update on some of our grants and revenue uh as well. So with that uh let's keep an eye on the snow uh for for Monday. >> Just keep an eye on it. We can watch it. >> I don't know what's going to [laughter] happen. I heard there might be a snow on Monday. >> Rumors are rumors are swirling between 178 in. I heard [laughter] >> Don't stop. >> Unfortunately, we can't take the cafeteria trays any longer and go down the hill since they're styrofoam. >> This will work. >> Okay. Um, so thank you very much. Uh, just as if if Jess be listening to Nai's reassurance, her room is looking exactly as it looked when
048she left. I've taken nothing down. So, not even a file has come out of a drawer, so she'll be fine when she returns. And I'm sure Michelle will make sure I keep it that way, too. Um the plug I am going to give to you our conversation during our discussions of at the five o'clock meeting. I just want you to know well everybody is doing this data wise um activity at Harvard which is one of the best things you can ever get. I've done it. It's fabulous. You're so lucky to have it here in the district. But I couldn't help in the in the schools because Monday and Tuesday between those two days I was out of the district 7 hours doing meetings. So, there's a plug to say it really, really, really is necessary.
049Um, and I hope you'll you'll look favorably upon that, making that change. In terms of what's happening in the district, uh, we continue to push forward with ESY and refining how we're going to be doing this things this summer, meeting with the um with my SSAs, meeting with Michelle, and February 1, we'll have our packets together, try to get everything out to people, provided there's no more snow coming. I also had a chance to meet with Trish this week along with all of the par liaison of which I know we had serious business but we did find plenty of time to laugh as well and we got to talk about where things are how you know what the paras are saying they need what they feel they're getting fulfilled on and so forth and I
050thought that was really important last week I think it was last week it seems maybe it was the week before now that I think about everything's flying so quickly we had a CPAC meeting is it last it was the week before last week Yeah. And during the meeting, one of the things that came up was the fact, and I'm going to read this because if I don't read it, and I try to paraphrase it, I will make a huge mistake with it. So, please forgive me, but uh I did receive notice from the CPAC group that it's the time of year for people to start looking at submitting information about senior class scholarships. We're in the throws of looking at schools. Uh no wonder we're hearing colleges cost six figures now. I think the last
051time I was in college, my room board tuition, you'll all laughed, was $4,950 for the entire year. And I could earn it all in one summer working. We know that's not feasible any longer. But meanwhile, the CPAC group will be doing two, not one, but two $500 scholarships. Uh, and they will be presented by someone at the CPAC at on the recipient evening on June 3rd, which I believe is the day before couple of days before the graduation. certainly the day before graduation rehearsal and I am sure every senior will be excited. Uh but they were talking about the wording of the scholarship. I'm going to read uh what I have here just so the community knows and you know as well. The Hollist CPAC Education Parent Advisory Council offers scholarships to students with physical
052learning, social, emotional and or intellectual disabilities. CPAC gives back supports students who have received accommodation support and/or services through an IEP or 504 plan throughout most of their education. The student may be pursuing any one of the following post-secary educational opportunities. A 4-year uh gra undergraduate college or university, a two-year undergraduate college, a trade or technical school, a vocational school, a transition cooperative life skills program, andor a focus on a specific area of interest such as a creative project, performance, and or participation in classes, training activities, or competitions. Six areas, which is pretty impressive. Applicants do not need to submit the HHS universal scholarship application, but do need to submit the following supplement. And it talks about a required essay. It says, "Submit a personal uh statement, video, or audio recording no longer than three
053minutes that describes your goals, interests, andor skills, and how you would use the scholarship award to pursue these." I just want the comm the community to know about it. We've already pushed it into the high school the day after we had the meeting. So, it's out there. The only thing we realized is that there was no deadline on it. So, we're getting that information and that will get pushed out again. But, I wanted you as a committee to know that that's come forward. I want the community to know because it's really exciting that there are two scholarships. And what's even nicer is that if ch a student, they're not children anymore, a student, young adult decides to attend a performance, a class, something creative, a vocational school, there's an opportunity for them. It doesn't have
054to strictly be a two-year or four-year postsecondary school opportunity. And I'm really appreciative that CPAC does that. And CPAC does so many wonderful um voluntary things and fundraising things and and you're really invested in the community and I'm very happy about that. But I wanted to share that with you tonight because that came along I think after our meeting. So anyhow that is it. Thank you. >> Thank you so much. That that all sounds great. >> Um okay so next up is personnel. We had a job description for principal. >> So I put in um a draft job description that Lisa Delusio helped put together um for you. and really just because the one that we had has been quite honestly was hasn't been updated and it really was limited. So, you know, I felt
055that we really should have um more specific information in there. So, you'll see that there is the um draft in there that you could vote on. Um we do already have it posted. I would then once it's voted on, then I would update it on the um the hiring site as well. Were there any additions or additions from previous? So >> if you look at the old one, it's it's it's has no responsibilities really. It just has some qualifications. It's very very limited. So this is really a whole new job description. >> Is it I know you posted very, but is it is it worth saying elementary school principal 3 through five? I don't >> Well, we usually do that. Um, yes, we put Miller, I believe. I I'll double check, but we always put
056Miller. So, I'll I'll make sure she has three to five on there as well, >> but we'd like to try to keep the prescriptions, so it might apply to >> Oh, yeah. specific. Okay, sure. Oh, so this is the general. Okay, gotcha. >> Yeah, it really I think we should try to do it as principal and then add things if we needed that are specific to that job as additional things. >> Sure, that makes sense. Sorry. I don't have any questions on >> No, I don't either. Looks good to me. >> Do we think we'll have any uh you know internal interest? >> I really don't know yet. I think so. Um but I haven't, you know, put any failures out or anything like that. But now once it's posted, that's sometimes what conversations get
057initiated as well. So, we should vote on this. >> Yes, if you could, if you're okay with that, that'll be updated. >> Questions? I'll entertain a motion to um approve the job description for elementary. Will it say elementary school principal >> um >> for Yeah. >> And for now? Yes. And if we need to revise it from other level, we can do that. So since >> approve the job description for elementary school principal as presented here >> second. >> All in favor. Thank you. Thank you. And then we have the job description for assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction. >> So I actually um took that one down because for some reason it was linked to the wrong one. So, um, I look at that for you. The principal one's linked twice accidentally. So, I'm
058not sure. I'd have to go find the other one. >> That's fine. >> And I don't think you're going to look to post that right now. So, why don't we hold off till February 12th meeting? >> I think it's just worth some conversations, you know, suggestions and everything about >> to go forward. >> Yeah. So, we'll kind of post that pone both that and then under new business. Yeah. For February 12th. >> Yes. I'll I'll make sure it's linked in there properly. >> Great. Thank you. Um Okay. So, we're on to reports from subcommittees. Uh communications. >> Yep. So, with the uh interviews next week with the finalists, uh there's going to be a lot of moving pieces, a lot of opportunities for community get involved from Tuesday through Thursday. Um and Sarah, you'll be
059sending out the email with details to the community shortly. it. Yeah, probably Monday morning I would expect an email to go out with the named finalists and then the schedules for the interviews which will be hopefully we're anticipating um >> Tuesday 7:30 to 9. >> Yep. T Yep. >> Wednesday and Thursday 7 to 8:30. Correct. >> Yeah. We'll send an email but between 7 and 9 Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday we'll have the finalist interviews. Um they're public meetings so folks interested in the community can attend. Um >> and they'll be recorded and >> and it will be recorded. >> Public meetings will put not public participation. >> Not public participation. Good point, Dan. But definitely if anybody's interested in coming, they're more than welcome to. They'll also be via Zoom. Um and then as part of
060that to have discussions with the school committee after the finalist interviews, we will be hosting two office hours next week. Next weekend, not this weekend, next weekend. Um those dates surpass me. Just want to be specific. >> That would be February >> 31st. January >> January 31st. I'm jumping ahead. January 31st and February 1st. Um Saturday the 31st. And this all be an email um we can send out tomorrow just with the dates and times. Coffee Haven at 9:00 am. Um and then a new location on Sunday the 1st we will be at Rushford and Suns at 3 PM. Um so definitely anyone interested in talking about the finalist the more than welcome to come and have that conversation with school committee. We will entertain more if interest surpasses or there's need to follow up
061uh as we go through. Um in addition to Sarah we will also be sending out a survey shortly after the finalist. Correct. >> Yeah. Probably Thursday evening. Thursday evening >> likely Friday morning but yeah >> by end of next week >> so that people will have the weekend to watch the zoom if they haven't >> been able to >> participate live um and provide any feedback. It will be a short window because we'll be making decisions very quick thereafter but >> um we >> and then just we're not rushing it's just the pro how the process moves like we can't sit on it. So, um, definitely there's a number of opportunities, but there's any feedback, obviously, reach out to Sarah and, uh, we can figure out more time. Yeah. >> Or fill out a survey.
062>> And everyone has our email addresses. >> Yeah. Yeah. Our email feel free to reach out. Um, so two emails will probably come. One from Sarah regarding the schedule next week and then we'll send a separate one regarding the office hours for those that would like to attend. >> Sounds good. policy. >> Uh we met last week. We're continuing to kind of just review some of our older policies um for updates and we meet again next month. >> Uh so we we've not met since since last time. Uh we are going to meet at least on the 12th and if uh Dr. Jordan, Dr. Gusco think we need one in the interim as you build your your um your budget. If you have any questions, you know, we can certainly discuss whether we want to
063have another meeting in between. >> At this time, I don't think so. I think we can spice with that and um just based on what we had tonight kind of you kind of have an ide. Yeah. My my only thing that I wish to which I I I stop talk with Dr. as far as timing of it would be any potential proposal for some tuition adjustments for preschool and being able to kind of get that >> whatever the committee decides is being able to kind of get that information out to families. >> So, >> right. Let us know about that. We can also talk about that on the 12th. >> Yeah, I think >> I think for the 12th Yeah, it's fine. >> Nothing. >> Okay. Um So, just update on the superintendent search. We
064pretty much just talked about it. We'll we'll be you'll be expecting an email Monday morning with the finalists and that'll include names and um the schedule for the interviews which will be >> but but also an opportunity for when they're all going to be in the district for a day, right? So, then opportunity for people to meet them >> during the day, right? Yes, we will be scheduling. It's probably around four o'clock, I think, is what we were looking. Um, an opportunity for the community to meet uh the candidates in person. Um, but we will send that schedule out. So, they'll be here Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. They'll be spending the entire day in the district. They'll be meeting with teachers, students, admin, town officials. Um they'll be touring the all of the schools. Um
065so they'll get a real good feel for the district and and all of us. Um and then again there will be later in the in the afternoon time for the community to meet them. Um and then starting at 7:30 on Tuesday and 7:00 on Wednesday and Thursday, we will be doing the public interview in this same space. So, um, is there anything else on that? >> I guess it goes back to our other agenda item with the listing of the, uh, principal search. I had seen you put out the email regarding the makeup of the committee. >> Um, and that includes one school committee member too. So, we we may want to discuss that who wants to be part of of that. and and I think um it looks like the makeup of the the
066screening committee for the principles, the assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, the director of technology and digital learning, um a Miller uh SSA, an admin assistant, two teachers, a school committee member, principal, and um two two parents. But do >> well I mean I just think that you know it's for the Miller school and so I think that you know if possible a swami member who has a child at at Miller makes sense. >> Yep. [laughter] >> Since there's one at least [laughter] you can't put that on her unless she wants to accept I did. >> I would just put her on the spot. It doesn't mean she has to accept it or not. [laughter] What >> does anyone else want? >> Because it easily could be someone with upcoming who might have >> Yes.
067[laughter] >> That's like decades away. I mean, >> it goes way faster than you imagine. So, >> yeah. >> Anyone have a strong desire for the position? >> Did you see the dates that were >> February 10th, um, 23rd, 24th, and then holding the 25th? It's a rigorous timeline. Just again just trying to tie everything up >> like a four to six, >> four to eight on two nights. >> Okay. >> Because you'll have potentially a number of people those nights. >> I'm moving up track for you. >> I know. I'm just showing [clears throat] up the timeline again. >> One of those is my >> committee committee makes recommendations. >> Welcome to the team. I've had meetings on my birthday, [laughter] too. >> Principles are not something that the school committee then votes on.
068Right. the the recommendations are made to the superintendent and who then makes the appointment. >> Are you asking or are you stating? >> I don't know. >> You are correct. Yes. >> That said, they're obviously very critical positions. So >> I I I can do it. >> Are you sure? Yeah. Okay. >> So, do we vote on that? >> Too late. >> Oh, wait. >> No. >> Sure. Or we could just >> you can also just >> submit your name on the screen and it is the superintendent's putting it together. So submit your name. >> Okay. >> Um >> that's great. Um so we we already did just bey and then I think we're going to >> table on February until February 12th. So yeah. Is there anything else? >> No. Record meeting records. >>
069Let me get that done before you. >> Okay. I'll entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. All in favor? That passes. Good night, Hollist. And we will see you February 12th.