Quincy School Committee - September 10, 2025

001Hi everyone. Good evening. Welcome back. And um we'd like to open the Quinsey Public School Committee meeting for Wednesday, September 10th. Um we are now in session. Or do I do that after? Roll call. >> Superintendent. >> Mr. Pull. >> Present. >> Mr. M >> present. >> Stand for a pledge of >> allegiance. Algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Please remain standing. Superintendent. >> Uh thank you and good evening. And we have two memorials tonight. Please keep in your thoughts and prayers the following employees of the Quinsey public schools who passed away. Brenda Chin, English learner, education tutor and teacher for 30 years at the Wall Elementary School. and Raymond Joyal, 25

002years of service as a teacher at the Nathaniel Hunting and Athod and How Elementary Schools and Broad Meadows Middle School, later assistant principal at Parker Elementary School and then Atlantic Middle School. If you could keep these individuals and their families in your thoughts and prayers, thank you. Um, if you could just remain standing for a moment. Uh we're in the eve of the 24th anniversary of 9/11, that horrific act uh terrorist act that took so many lives and really changed the world. Certainly changed the lives of this country. We're living in a time where we're in a troubled world. We we see the uncertainty in Ukraine and Russia and the Middle East. Bit of a mess. uh so much violence happening in countries in Africa and some of the outrageous violent acts in this country

003the last couple of weeks and I know the media today brings everything to light immediately so we we're exposed to it uh so deeply so um I just ask everyone whatever your faith tradition take a minute let us pray pray for peace peace in our hearts peace in our homes and peace in our Thank you. Okay. At this time, um, we have open forum, which is an opportunity for community input regarding the Quinsey public schools. Community in this context is defined as a resident of the city of Quinsey, a non-resident parent or of a student who attends the Quinsey public schools or a non-resident employee of the Quinsey public schools. After giving his or her name and address, each speaker may make a presentation of no more than three minutes to the school committee. An

004individual may not exchange their time or yield to others. Residents or non-comm community persons may submit written statements of up to 300 words to the school committee at QSC open forum at quinseyublicschools.com by 400 p.m. of the day prior to the posted school committee regular meeting. Written statements will be posted on the school committee section of the Quinsey public school website by noon on the day of the posted school committee regular meeting. Is there anyone here who'd like to speak at open forum? Is that right? >> Yeah. Hello. All right. Good afternoon, Mayor. Oh, the sun's still out. So, vice chair and fellow school committee members. My name is Kylie from 42 President Zaf. It's great to have the school uh the kids back in the school. My daughter and many of her friends participated

005in the summer quest program at Bernardani uh made possible with your support. She got to see her friends and one of her top activities is how she liked that they read the book holes and watched the movie the movie version of it as well. They discussed the difference between the book and the video. She said the book was more descriptive and uh the movie was well more visual. I like this multimedia approach to teaching and learning. One of the highlights of my son's summer was getting to be part of the summer theater program, summer theater arts academy. He liked that he got to do so much um mostly behind the scenes stuff. He even sent an email out to the coordinator running the program and asked if he could be part of next year's program

006and to have that sort of role again. Thank you again for the support and funding these programs. It helped keep our kids engaged during the summer. There's definitely demand. Uh, I believe there was over 2,000 students that participating and it would be great if there's additional funding made available in the future to expand these programs. Um, this might not be a school committee thing, but I also wanted to highlight the Quincsey Wreck offerings this summer and how much uh we as not just my kids, their friends as well uh enjoy the time spent at the parks and the various field trips. These programs between the Quinsey wreck and the school ones helped make Quinsey a great place to raise a family. Another thing I liked was the update Superintendent Movie and uh Dr. Perkins gave

007on QAV back in August. Uh Quincy public schools in conjunctions with the city maintenance department got a lot done at our schools. It's pretty awesome to find a time capsule from 1948. look forward to seeing what's in there. Maybe a baseball. Um, one other request, our students receive uh Chromebooks free of charge and then expect it to last several years. Um, perhaps we could find uh budget or funding somehow to purchase laptop cases and this will help protect our investment from accidental knocks and falls. You know, kids will be kids. So, thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Is there anyone else? Okay, we'll take this time now and move on to the superintendent report. Superintendent, >> thank you and good evening everyone. Welcome back. It was a very fast 13 weeks since uh

008last we uh were before you. Uh my first item on the agenda is a school committee member recognition. Congratulations to Mr. Paul Begali for being recognized with a lifetime achievement award by the Massachusetts Association of School Committees uh board of directors in honor of his contributions to the children of the Quinsey Public Schools. Mr. Bgalie graduated from North Quinsey High School on an undisclosed date. And after college, Mr. Begali returned to the Quincsey public schools as a teacher, then guidance counselor, and longtime coach for soccer, softball, and basketball. Mr. Begali is now in his 14th year as a school committee member and has served a term as vice chair and is the school committee representative to the city's parks and recreation board. The award will be presented at a dinner on November 14th during the

009Massachusetts Association of School Committees Conference and Hyannis. Please join me in congratulating Mr. Begley for this recognition. [Applause] I >> think Mr. Begley may want to say a few words. >> Thank you very much um for your support and your help during uh my time on the school committee. You can't do it without uh the rest of the committee obviously. SLT uh and the superintendent. So, it's just not a oneperson thing. So, um service is is what I was dedicated to when I was a kid and it just carried through my my career. I'm honored to have this recognition and humbled by it and I appreciate it very much. So, thank you and thank you all for your support. >> Thank you, Mr. Valdley. Congratulations. [Applause] On August 5th, representatives from the Massachusetts School Building

010Authority visited Parker, Atlantic, Broad Meadows, and Point Webster to review in person the details of the proposed accelerated repair project submitted last March. Uh the next step is the MSBA board meeting on October 29th when we will learn if the projects have been invited into the design phase. We are very hopeful for these projects. Uh thanks to Commissioner Paul Hines, Walter McDonald, Dave Scott, Don Martin, Gary Kiff, Kevin Sagal, and all of the custodial staff members who assisted in organizing this MSBA visit. Of course, I'll keep you up to date on um what happens at that board meeting for these accelerated repair projects. Uh in late August we learned that we once again uh were granted access to the United States of Readers program for Clifford Marshall Link Hancock Parker Snug Harbor elementary schools and

011Point Webster and Southwest Grade 5. This fully funded schoolwide program is designed to partner with teachers in title one schools across the country with the goal of empowering students to choose uh own and read their books that they love. Every student chooses two books five times a year, a total of 10 books per student. Every student also receives book plates to personalize their books. And every teacher also receives 25 books throughout the school year to build their own classroom libraries. And of course, we're grateful once again to be selected as one of the Massachusetts communities to receive this program. So, thank you all for that. Yesterday in a ceremony at Point Wessa Middle School, Quinsey Public Schools was awarded nearly $65,000 in new musical instruments through the Ernie Bach Jr. Music Drives Us Foundation. The

012instruments were amazing. Our thanks to Dr. Wilson, one of our instrumental teachers, for his work in securing this amazing grant. Uh this generous support will strengthen our middle school band and jazz programs and expand access to music opportunities for our students. We extend our sincere appreciation to the Music Drives Us Foundation and Ernie Bach Jr. for this tremendous gift. So, thank you. The city of Quinsey will be receiving a green schoolworks grant of an amazing $4.5 million from the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center for school building renovation projects that improve energy efficiency, reduce carbon emissions, or mitigate the impacts of climate change. The grant presentation will be next Tuesday, September 16th at 10 a.m. at the Snug Harbor Community School. Thanks to Director of Coastal Resiliency and Sustainability, Margaret Leaf Forest for coordinating the grant proposal

013and presentation of course to the mayor and his team for all the information and required um work that needed to be done to Snug Harbor in order to qualify us for receiving this $4.5 million grant. So, it really is um trans will be transformative uh for uh Snug Harbor. So, thank you everyone involved for that. Uh next, I do want to touch base on the roll hats weekend for Quinsey High School. That will be September 19th to the 20th. On September 19th, uh volleyball will be from 11 to 1:00 p.m. Um on September 20th, girls and boys soccer. And on September 20th, football will be at 4:30 p.m. So, good luck to Quinsey High School for their roll hats weekend. Uh, Quinsey Public Schools and City of Quinsey. Additional events, the fall open house events,

014the calendar of events was shared with the school committee in the packets and is also posted on the QPS website. These events are a great opportunity for families to meet classroom teachers, learn about curriculum and academic expectations and how to become more involved in the school community. The Quinsey Art Association will be hosting an art show at the Q Arts Gallery on Hancock Street that features artwork from over 350 students representing all elementary, middle, and high schools in the Quinsey public schools, as well as artwork by QPS art teachers. This is the third in a three-year art project celebrating Quinsey 400 and a reception will be held on Sunday, September 14th from noon to 3 p.m. and all are invited to attend. The exhibit will open during regular Q Arts Gallery hours through October 12th.

015So I hope you have a chance to see that. And special thanks to Dan and Jessica Meyers for their efforts and advocacy of our students creativity and the Quinsey Art Association for their support of the Young Artists of Quinsey for many many years. Uh, in again in celebration of Quinsey's 400th anniversary, the city of Quinsey is hosting a hot air balloon and laser light show on Saturday, September 20th from 400 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Pageant in Adams Field. So that that'll be a very fun event. Uh the Quincsey Public Schools music department is beginning the annual music instrument demonstration for our elementary schools featuring woodwin instruments for grades four and five and stringed instrument instruments for grades 2 through 5. Students interested in joining the elementary school band program are invited to attend the

016instrument rental night scheduled for Monday, September 22nd at 6 PM. Students who are interested in playing a stringed instrument in our afterchool string lesson program are invited to attend the instrument rental night on Monday, September 29th at 6:00 p.m. And then lastly, I just want to just quickly touch on our summer programming on se on the uh school committee. The next school committee meeting September 24th, we'll do an indepth review of our summer program. But I do want to thank the mayor and the school committee for allowing us the funding to support over 2,000 students in many different programs that you'll hear about on September 24th. These programs were for enrichment purposes and remediation purposes and was a great success. I do obviously want to thank the SL Dr. Perkins and the SLT and all

017of our teachers. Okay, thank you for your patience everyone. We just had a power outage for those at home. Um, but we are back on and I'll continue with the superintendence report. I was on the summer programming. I again want to thank the mayor and the school committee for allowing us the funding to support 2,00 students in uh remediation and enrichment programs throughout the district. We'll have a greater in-depth review of the summer programming uh on our next uh school committee meeting on September 24th. And I also do want to do a shout out to the I can bike program that will be part of the presentation. Um but the I can bike program supported by the school committee in particular Mrs. Lebo and Mrs. Hubley um allowed our students particularly our students with um

018disabilities the ability for an entire week to learn how to ride a bike. And I have to say be having witnessed the Monday start and the Friday finish, it's incredible the transformative ability of the I can bike program to allow every student who started on Monday to learn how to ride a bike on Friday. And it really was amazing. You'll see more uh next time with pictures and a greater presentation. But I obviously do want to thank the I can bike program and of course this committee for the support and for allowing our students in the I Can Bike program to be as successful as they were. It really was amazing. So with that, that ends my superintendence report. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, old business, which there is none. New business.

019We have the Department of Natural Resource Update by Commissioner Murphy. Welcome to you this evening. I'd like to especially recognize excellent memberation board for the award this evening and also the best teacher I ever had. So, my fifth grade teacher. Uh for those at home that don't know me or the department, my name is David Murphy. I'm proud to serve as the mayor's commissioner of natural resources. The natural resources are made up of five divisions: park, forestry, cemetery, conservation, and recreation. On the park side, we oversee 54 parks. We maintain 101 locations, uh including 21 QPS properties. Uh I'd like to thank the custodians of Quinsey Public Schools who are doing an excellent job in helping out on the litter side. Um the fact that they're picking up a lot of the litter on the

020school grounds makes the work of my team a lot easier when they do the cutting and the weed whacking. And this year has been aces so far. So I did want to recognize the custodians of Quinsey public schools for the work that they're doing. We also support many uh citywide events. We see everybody here there. Uh this has been a very exciting year with the celebration of Quinsey 400. A lot of uh great concerts, events. The superintendent mentioned the upcoming hot hot air balloon festival. Uh it has been a really exciting year uh for the city. We also support the Quinsey public schools by staffing many of the varsity games at Adams, Mitchell, McCoy, Creedon, Veteran Stadium, and other locations. Our forestry division uh uh oversees the care and maintenance of 18,000 trees on our

021streets, more in our parks and cemeteries. uh each and every year through the uh budgetary support of the mayor and the city council, we've planted close to 500 new trees and we have maintained status as a tree city for close to 22 years. One of the more um exciting things we do every year is we partner with the Quinsey public schools to do an Arbor Day celebration where our tree warden and urban forester uh meet with some of the elementary schools and at the end of the day they get a little sapling that you would think uh was a bar of gold. They treat it with such reverence. So, it's a great opportunity and I'd love to continue to enhance the partnerships that my department has working with the principles and teachers in the uh

022school system. Uh cemetery department oversees six cemeteries. Um and I would uh brag that there's as much art and history in those cemeteries as any textbook uh that we have uh in our city. I'd encourage folks uh that haven't had the chance to um uh visit the history that we have at whether it's Hancock and M Wallace and the sailors of Snug. There's some really interesting local history in our six municipal cemeteries. Uh conservation uh it's an element that the mayor introduced when he created this department in 2019. We've done a lot of great work including the renovation of Butler's Pond which is directly behind the old Central Middle School. Uh a flood control project along the Furnusbrook. right now. Uh I'm very excited uh for the Sailors Pond uh renovation project that we're working

023on right now. It's basically a similar dredging initiative uh that we did uh at Butlers, just on the grander scale and a tighter envelope. Uh our recreation department uh I think is really second to none. Uh Quinsey runs 14 free uh summertime programs. This year there were uh more than 900 participants in the free summer uh recreation program. Our clinics drew almost another 3,000 uh young people. Um we worked with QPS to provide a community pool at Lincoln Hancock and we had 764 Quinsey residents participate in swim lessons and open swim uh this year alone. Looking forward um Mayor Ko has already greenlighted the continuation of the downtown skating rink. We're very exciting excited about that. Uh the real beauty of that I think is uh the mayor's um initiative to knock down any barriers

024uh to skating and ice time. You know, a lot of people can't afford skates or won't buy skates um for limited ice time. It's free skate rental, free ice time, and it has really uh opened it up and made it as inclusive as possible for anybody to come downtown uh and enjoy that skater rink and it gets a tremendous amount of use. Um, we work very closely with athletic director Kevin Mahoney to make sure our fall sports uh, facilities are as good as any in the state. Uh, we also work closely with Matt Kavanagh and the Q band to make sure that uh, practice time isn't all for athletics. We make sure that they get an appropriate amount of time on the field so they can continue uh, their excellence in representing the city in

025the way they do. A couple projects of note. Uh there's a lot of projects we have going on, but I'll touch on the ones that I think directly impact uh the school system. Uh the Marshall School playground expansion. Uh we're expanding the uh playground at Marshall working with the Marshall family um in honor of Mike Marshall Jr. who would be Clifford Marshall's grandson who died in 2023 at 35 years old. Mike Marshall senior uh has been working with the mayor and then through uh my department to um honor his son uh with an expansion to the playground. Aviator Park is coming out fantastic. Uh we are coordinating uh right now for dedication ceremony with the school and the family and we'll keep the school committee uh in the loop uh once those details are refined.

026I also want to thank Miss Patch for her cooperation and coordination uh building a playground. Uh we tried to do it mostly during the summertime when the school was closed, but there's always activity at Marshall. Um so I appreciate uh her cooperation making sure that we could get that done safely and in a timely fashion. I mentioned Sailor's Pond. Uh Sailor's Pond will be done during the course of this fall. Um what we're doing is we're dredging u essentially sediment that has settled in the pond throughout the last 50, 60, 70 years that really chokes out the life in the pond. Um, and I think in removing that sediment, we're making a better ecosystem for the turtle, the fish, and the other wildlife that live in that pond. As a kid who grew up in

027that neighborhood, that was the original outdoor classroom. And I think it has the potential, whether it's Beachwood Null or other schools in the district to once again become um, you know, an outdoor classroom that can be studied and used by our school system and the neighborhood uh, children. On the golf side, we're very proud to host the QNQ uh, girls golf team at Furnusbrook and the Quincy High boys uh, as well. We have have a brand new facility up there and uh at the mayor's direction, we've turned into a true community golf course where uh our greens fees are some of the uh most affordable around. We really want to open up the game of golf to populations that typically you won't see on a golf course. Uh our young uh junior membership uh has

028jumped tremendously. We're providing lessons to new golfers. We've got a great team up there that will teach lessons. Our new simulators give the opportunity for the golf teams to practice even when the weather is not cooperative. Um, and I do think that there is a tremendous opportunity to continue to grow um the game of golf uh for folks that typically wouldn't have access similar to what the mayor's done at the skating rink as well. Uh finally, we're in the early stages of creating a challenger ropes course in Quinsey. Uh we're working with Matt Low who uh ran the Botti camp uh the sheriff's camp for many years to design our own course in Quinsey. I know there was talk of that some 101 15 years ago. U but there's a great potential for both the

029uh Quincsey public schools and the recreation department uh to utilize a facility like that for leadership development um confidence building and a lot of the skills that our young people uh need in today's world. Um and I think would be a great addition uh to our park inventory. Finally, I just want to thank um my team. I'm very fortunate to be led by a boss who's incredibly supportive of our park system and beautifification of the city. Uh but the folks that work in my department, I get a tremendous amount of credit for the work that they do. So I do want to recognize uh my team uh who does an excellent job on a day-to-day basis uh making all this happen. So thank you if you have any questions. >> Thank you so much for

030the presentation. This is all absolutely wonderful. I just have one question. Um, when you're talking about the renovations and talking I think it's great that our kids will be able to go down there after it's finished and and see this wonderful project, but I was wondering during the renovations, is this any kind of an opportunity for our students to actually be able to go down Sailor's Pond, Butler Pond, while the renovations are happening to actually have any learning about what the opportunities of the renovations and the drudging looks like in in doing that for their educational purposes? I I think it's possible. What I could offer is our environmental scientist had a list who's fantastic um to provide um educ an educational program, you know, probably at Beachwood Null uh to talk about the project.

031The construction site itself is very tight and there's a lot of heavy machinery there. Access to the site itself may be a little more tricky, particularly with a younger population. But I do think that I'd be happy to offer um Heather uh in my department to give an overview to the school about the work that we're doing if it was appropriate. >> Okay. Thank you so much. I just wanted to mention, I had mentioned this earlier to the mayor that so many things happened in the city this summer um because of Quinsey 400 and so many people from out of town were in in town and people were so impressed with the parks department in this in Mry Mount Parkway. People were just so impressed with everything that was going on in the city. They

032pe people who said, "I used to live in Quinsey. I can't believe it looks like this here." And it's really true. The parks are beautiful and it was such a welcoming space this summer for so many people who came in from out of town. So, I want to thank you and your team for that also. >> Thank you. We work with a phenomenal landscape architect who um really hits it out of the park every time. It's a guy by the name of Tom Ko who really uh really missed his calling as a landscape architect. >> It's extra. >> First, I want to thank Dave for the recognition. It's very nice. um one of my best students >> going through >> top 300. Uh I had the pleasure of uh meeting with Dave, you know, once

033a month and the uh in the park board and the the work they do is obviously self-evident that the the city looks phenomenal and it's a credit to obviously the mayor who's the who's the chief and but he's got a lot of people who uh work very hard for him and get the job done on a daily basis and it's not easy because this is a huge city and if you just look at the u areas that have to be cut by uh for you know lawns uh green spaces uh plantings that have to be taken care of. It's just unbelievable. Our parks are second to none in the Commonwealth. And again, it goes right back to the mayor and the park department. So again, thank you Dave for all your hard work. You do

034a tremendous job. Um and I'm really proud of you. Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, Mr. uh Mr. Murphy, for that um update. It's I'm always amazed at the amount of um things in the city that are under your purview and um that are done very well um very professionally. Everything looks great. So, I just want to join my colleagues in saying thank you and great job. Um I did have a couple questions for you. Um one to sort of piggyback on uh Mrs. Hub's uh comment on the dredging. Uh there's an AP environmental science course at um Quinsey High. I don't know if there's one at North. Um but that would be great if um Heather you mentioned could maybe even go and visit the high school classes as well. Um especially those environmental science classes

035and just sort of explain what's happening there and why you're doing it. Um I think that would be fantastic for even the older kids to understand what's going on right in their right in their community and they can take a peek after the construction's done um and really appreciate what has happened and what the work you guys have done. Uh, so I think that would be great not only for the younger but the older as well. Um, so I wanted to mention that and then um couple things I wanted to ask you about the you mentioned the um park expansion at Marshall which we went and checked out. It's awesome. Um, even my teenagers were uh trying out all the all the the new equipment and it's great. Um, asking about the swings though, are

036they going to be replaced? >> Yes, the the old uh disc swing, which is the larger multi-person swing will not be replaced. they'll be replaced with different swings. Those larger multi-person swings, um I'm sure they were a lot of fun, but we've had uh some issues uh both with maintenance and um we've had some requests at some of the schools because sometimes they get overloaded and it becomes a safety issue. So, um the swings will be replaced just with a different type of swing. >> That's great. I know the swings are a huge huge draw for that um for that park. So, I'm glad to hear they're going to come back at some point. So, thank you for that. Um and it looks great there. Um, one thing you know I'm going to ask about

037is uh recycling bins in uh especially the elementary school playgrounds. You know, I ask you this every time you're here. Um, for cans and bottles, just as you mentioned, the custodians do a great job picking up the trash, but um, you know, these bottles and and cans are just that's all the kids drink. And um, if we had some recycled barrels that might be helpful. Um, do you and I know you explained the challenges of that. Is there any progress that's been made or any new developments on that? Yes, we've rolled out a what I would refer to as a pilot program at uh primarily at Adamsfield and at the Veteran Stadium that tend to get the most use. We can certainly expand and uh move some of our blue barrels into the school playgrounds

038as well. >> Yeah, I'd love that for the elementary schools especially just to um that's where a lot of the kids kind of hang out with the um playground equipment and stuff, even the older kids. So, that'd be great. Thank you. Thank you for uh for keeping that in the back of your mind. Um one last thing I wanted to ask you about. I know you have 100 parks to to deal with and you mentioned I think 18,000 trees. Um I wanted to ask about Pond Street specifically. I know the uh Quinsey High baseball team use the varsity team uses that for practice. I'm just kind of curious what's going on there. There's a little I feel like there's some new trees that are planted sort of in an odd spot and >> Yes. >>

039I just sort of maybe you could um describe what's going on there and then maybe I could follow up with some questions. >> There's a tree in the bullpen. >> Yes, there are some trees in the bullpen going to be moved. Yeah, we uh we planted probably about 18 trees down in that section of the park. Um it's relatively bare. We did a program with a community of 4 club uh on the top side of the park, but there weren't a lot of trees down there. Um so as part of our heritage tree program, we planted a number of trees down there. Um in an effort to plant a lot of trees, we put a tree in the middle of the bullpen. I've heard from both um Quinsey High School uh and a few of

040the other user groups. So that tree will be moved before baseball season. >> Awesome. Thank you. Um and it does look I mean I'm glad to see that it's getting you know it's getting more it's looking a lot better. Um infield grass is there any plan for it for kind of working on that? And the um the netting in the batting cages is uh kind of failing a little bit. I just you know for our varsity teams I'd love to see them kind of have >> as top-notch as everything else other facilities that you guys maintain. So, >> so in the fall we tend to do our uh diamond reclamation because in the spring it tends to get a little too wet to do anything meaningful to the diamonds. So this fall um I think

041there are three or four diamonds that we have scheduled. Pawn Street is one of them um for rehabilitation. The nets will come in for the winter time and probably be replaced with newer nets for the springtime. >> Awesome. Thank you. Very uh very responsive as always. Thanks Dave. Appreciate it. >> Thank you. I'm just echoing the sentiments of my colleagues both for the work that you do every day, Dave, but for the entire staff that you have not only in parks, uh, cemetery, natural resources, recreation, conservation, um, you know, to hire, train, uh, keep motivated. Um, they, as Mr. Bgali said have incredible professionalism, dedication and attention to detail, and you could see it in every corner of the city. And I I don't think beaches were mentioned, but I I noticed some of the

042beaches, you know, which I have an affinity to. You're doing a great job maintaining those as well. And um and the new pickle ball court is open. How's the activity up there? >> Uh it's packed. We've opened up two facilities. One at Fennel Street with the three courts. And any given time you'll see 12 15 people waiting in line. And we just opened up an 8 court bank up at Faxon and before we even formally opened it and dedicated it, people were bringing their own nets up there. And I think there's a tremendous demand. Um so uh we're going to see how the uh new courts at Faxen go. Um it's a great location for the senior Olympics tournaments, maybe even a future Quincsey pickle ball tournament. So, um, you know, it it, uh, it

043is been received very well to the point where we're gauging whether we have to, uh, build even more. Now, we're very sensitive, of course. You've probably seen the stories in the news about people being concerned about proximity and noise of pickle ball. I don't quite get it, but I respect people that feel that way. So, we're being very strategic about where we where we site those. >> Wise wise choice. Yeah. Thank you. >> I appreciate all your support, Doug, through the years, too. Thank you. >> Thank you. Uh, thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, Commission, uh, thank you. Thank you very much. I know we we have Commissioner Murphy in and Commissioner Hines in once a year, uh, to give updates on on, uh, what's going on and to take any questions. Uh, I was kind

044of flippant the other day on a podcast I did, uh, certain people out there continually pushing the city about transparency. Transparency. And I said in the podcast, people should open their eyes because if you look around, you see all new schools, new seaw walls, new parks, new roads, uh, etc., etc. And the parks, I get compliments all the time on how beautiful they are. The entrances to the city. Um, I know you get some very dedicated people to that and they take a lot of pride in it and it truly shows. And uh, and I think for the last few years, for the first time in a long time, I've said it relating to Mr. Hines's department. We're a city of 105,000. a city with major natural resources. We're finally acting like a city. I

045mean, to have a department of natural resources, to have a true tree warden, have an environmental specialist and and doing the restoration projects on the ponds and and I know we got other plans going forward is remarkable. So, I just want to thank you for your great leadership. Uh, and I know you're one of those departments, the phone never stops, uh, nights and weekends. And, uh, thank you, David, for all you do. >> Thank you. Thank you, Commissioner. >> Thank you. Appreciate it. >> Can you speak? The other night you spoke about Mound Street and a new something new that was put in there for seniors. >> Relative to Mound Street, one of the locations that are being contemplated for the challenge course um was Mound Street, uh the old soccer field down there. Uh

046there's still a process that we'd have to go through relative to uh the community sighting and meeting with the ward counselor and such, but it's one of the sites. I know originally when the city contemplated building one, that was the um chosen location. I can understand why, but I still think that there's a process that we would have to go through to um determine that. It certainly uh meets all the criteria. We looked at all 54 parks and I I think Mound Street was um obviously the best location. That's our opinion. is still a public process we'd want to go through. >> Specifically, the beach that you're doing something with for seniors. >> So, at Mount Street Beach this past summer with uh actually a donation from the old beaches commission, we uh installed the

047city's first moy mat, which is um basically an accessible mat that takes folks that are uh limited in their um ability to get through the sand and navigate the sand uh to get closer to the water. We put 100 ft worth of Moby Man down at Mound Street um this summer and um working with councelor Ash and it was very wellreceived. >> I know there's so much stuff that you do so you probably left that out but I think it's important. >> Thank you. >> Public buildings update. Commissioner Heights. Good evening, members of the school committee. Mr. Mayor, um I told somebody I was preparing tonight and preparing my notes in the listing of projects and they're like, "Oh, that must be a pain." I said, "I welcome it because I'm proud of what we

048do." Um and I I like to boast about a lot of it because uh I think in for too too long a lot of this didn't happen and wouldn't happen. Um and we've discussed it before about the mayor carving out and creating the department of public buildings. And I think that was the uh really the renaissance for the these school buildings, particularly the older ones. So I don't find it a burden. I welcome to be here. Um I did pass out to you kind of my standard memo form. Um but I changed it up a bit. There were too many projects to really list in that memo form. So I gave you uh a detailed uh Excel spreadsheet with them. Uh I did truncate it. I took a lot of information off um to make

049it, you know, more digestible and and you know, try to group the schools by colors so that you could uh more readily uh discern between them. Um the we did quite a bit this year. Uh and this report actually covers summer 24 and summer 25. So some of the information presented in the Excel may be seemingly duplicative, but it's because it was done in both years and that would be the reason. So I'm pleased to submit the report to you. Uh again, it goes from approximately June 30th forward till September 1st of this year. So June of 24 to September 25. Um and I would once again like to call out the contribution, the efforts of the custodial staff of the Quincy public schools. um they generally do a good job anyways, but particularly when

050we get into their buildings for the summer, we have a very limited period of time to do a lot of this work when the school is empty. Um this year actually with the cooperation of uh the assistant superintendent and the superintendent, we moved programming out of buildings that traditionally in to allow us the opportunity to get in and do the work. So with the financial support and the encouragement of the mayor and the city council, uh we did quite a bit, more than probably we usually do. And I will say we're tired. Um, but the custodial staff, uh, we did a lot of abatement. And so I'd like to really call out the staff at Marry Mount and Monontlair. Other than how Atlantic and Broad Meadows, we don't just go in, spend three days, and

051leave. We do this. It rips the building apart. Sailings come down, floors come up, walls gets damaged, furniture all has to move. Uh, and they're all very cooperative in helping us put it back together. But I really have to call out the staff, Berky and the others at uh Snug Harbor. We literally tore that building apart from one end to the other between the back building, the west building, the prek building, whatever term you use to describe the link. Um we did over 10,000 square feet of abatement there and ripped down ceilings and ripped out pipes and ripped up floors and ripped out lockers. Um and got it all back together in time for school, albeit the lockers didn't arrive in time. Um but at the front of the building we ripped apart did the

052same scale of work to all of the administration area and the whole corridor down the kindergarten wing and on top of that layered on top of it is the the air handler replacement project the HVAC first phase of the upgrades. So literally from one end to the other that building was just ripped apart and there were contractors in all summer long right up to Labor Day weekend. Um and those guys down there get the building shined, put back together, in order, and open on Tuesday morning for the staff. Um similarly, again, the the guys Troy and uh Austin at Squantum School, uh we all know what's going on at Squantum School, but a lot you don't know. Everything that was from the old school that had to be kept had to get to the 1971

053building moved around like 10 times because of all the work that had to happen in the 1971 building before the modulars were up and in place and going and then that all happened and then they had to redistribute it all, clean all the buildings, get them all back together around an active construction site inside that building. So they killed themselves and I really I want to call them out and I hope you all appreciate what you have for resource with that department. Similarly, I have to call out my own department, the members of my department. Um, everyone back house um, and Walter McDonald and Don Martin, Valerie Stewart, I really challenged them this year. You know, I used to be able to kind of keep my hand on all these projects, but we did so

054many I couldn't. Um, passed them off to them and, uh, everything came together and I really appreciate their efforts as well as everybody else behind the scenes in the back of house in my department. Um, new hire, Margaret Leforest. She's a pitbull. I can't keep up with what she's trying to get me to do, but I'm trying my best. Uh, but that result will show when you look at what's going on at Snug Harbor. We we had an effort going there and she took it and took it even further. Um, so we'll we'll discuss to that. So, to the buildings, uh, the department did help the Mass School Building Authority in their annual 10-year assessment of all the buildings. Laura Owens was instrumental in that as well. Um there was so much information saw it

055on so many all 21 of our buildings that when you printed out the Excel spreadsheet it literally was 60 square feet large. We had it up in a wall. It was insane. I don't know who ever had to adjust uh digested on the other end but good luck to them. Um I speak annually as to our efforts on the school uh water improvement. Uh all of our facilities are completely in in compliance with the drinking water standards, but through the direction of Mayor Ko, we set a lower standard standard. We're still advancing towards that standard. We come in, we do a round, we come back, we do another round, we do another round. Our goal in the city of Quinsey is zero in zero detection. And we've gotten there in several buildings, including Lincoln Hancock,

056which had the highest readings of all of our buildings. We have that to zero detection. Um Monontlair's following suit. We replaced every water pipe in the basement of Lincoln Hancock. Excuse me, the entire building of Lincoln Hancock. The entire basement of Wallist, substantially all of them in Montlair. We're getting there. Um getting rid of old brass pipe and the lead. So we are in full compliance, but we're not stopping. We're keeping at that. Similar to projects we've done at Point Webster and Parker and other schools, we're continuing our efforts to convert lighting to LED. Hopefully not as bright as these ones. Um, and we're making substantial gains there, both through city appropriations and grants from the green communities with the Commonwealth. Um, and the mass saves and other programs and other incentives from national grid.

057The two high schools are our highest energy users in the city. Quincy High School alone uses 10% of the entire energy consumption of the city. So everything we do with that building to bring down costs and consumption is significant. The same with North Quincy High School. It's right behind it at 9%. Another huge user is the mid1 1970s all electric link and handcuff. It's older technologies of all electric. It uses a ton of energy. So, we're going in there. We're replacing transformers, change it to heat pumps. We have a plan we're about to undertake to replace the pool water heating, the shower room heating, all the domestic water with heat pumps and getting away from the resistive electric boilers that are there now. um that those three units there are estimated to save over $200,000

058a year in energy. So it's it's significant the costs and the opportunities to to curl tail them. Uh and then once we get to the payback period for the project, those savings are indefinite. They go on forever. So they they reduce the bottom line at the end of the day. Um, another program we continue from year to year with the support of the mayor and the appropriations of the city council is the eradication of asbestous in our buildings. Uh, the school buildings are heavily regulated for the asbestous for the air program, the federal law. Um, those laws and those regulations do not mandate the complete removal of asbestous. They mandate the inspection of it, the repair of any damaged speestous or the removal of that that you can't repair. We're not doing that. If we're

059going into a room and tenting it to fix a pipe, we're gutting that room. So, that is the mindset. Don't go back three times. I I think I may use this example before. Somebody that did a hallway and up the flight of stairs to the second floor hallway and down the flight of stairs. Never did they do the landing in the middle. It's absurd. Do it all while you're there. And that means take down ceilings. It means do the pipes, do the radiators, do the flooring, do the mastic, do everything. So that's our our MO on it. Um our older schools obviously have the most asbestous in them. Uh and at this point I'm happy to report to you that we have the Wallison School, Bernazandi and Beachwood Null and now adding it to this

060year Monontlair and Point Webster free of all known as Fesus, not just damaged everything. And then the benefit of that is when you go in, you've ripped on the ceilings, you've ripped down the floors, you've ripped open the walls, you finish putting it all back together, you have brand new classrooms, you have brand new hallways, you have energy efficient lights. I'll go back to Snug Harbor. If you go to Snug Harbor today and walk down those hallways and did it three years ago, you would think you're in a different building. The interior of Snug Harbor looks like a new school. It's built like a like a fortress, but it was never cared for. It was never updated. It was never maintained. It looks like a new building now. Uh, and I'm very proud of that

061one. When we continue the efforts we're doing with the HVAC and the continued ventilation improvements, the building would be air conditioned to the same standards as uh, Southwest Middle School, Quinsey High School where it is, uh, Central Middle School, the D Christopher Learning Center, and portions of of Broad Meadows. So, that's one of the buildings that they vacated for us for this summer to allow the scale of work that we did. That's a building that traditionally has summer programming all every year. Um and that will now be conditioned so it' be an appropriate atmosphere for the students that do do the summer programs there. Uh while speaking to asbesus I'd like to speak out even just this afternoon I was preparing this report got a phone call from a concerned neighbor in Squanum and I

062just want anyone reading this or listening to this if if we're on that before any demolition of the Squanum school buildings was was started over the course of this summer we evaded everything out of Squam School. Um there was a very very robust and comprehensive study done uh before we started anything. They took shingles off the roof. They took brick off the walls. They pulled down ceilings. They pulled up floors. They did everything. We even took at least three inches of dirt off the crawl space in all three of the buildings to make sure there's no asbesus dust in the dirt. Then only then did the demolition start yesterday. The gym is gone if anyone's interested. So, um, people are rightly concerned. You hear all kinds of stories. Um, one gentleman that called me himself

063has suffered ill effects from other exposures and was just concerned. Um, so I'd like to assure everybody asus is gone. That is a clean site and a clean demolition. We didn't do it with cookie cutter regulations from the D. That was a specific and tailored uh remediation plan for that building in anticipation of the demolition. Under the watchful eye of the D and all the the licensed uh folks, the demolition is proceeding. Um so it is a safe site. Um I'm great and happy to say that the Squan School replacement project is well well underway. uh this summer in you know I don't want to paraphrase the report but it was an insane amount of work that was done this summer to prepare for the interim condition we divorced the 1971 building from the remainder

064of the complex but the heat and electric and everything else that served the 71 building came through those old buildings so we had to reestablish electric reestablish water reestablish heat plant for that building and needed to provide for the modulars as well so I go on to speak to the amazing team we have with PCA 360 as our OPM, Brian Lar Ro and Casey Hawkner. Um, our architectural team with Arrow Street with with Tina Hoohoo and Larry Spang. They're amazing. And the trifecta was with getting Lee Kennedy as a construction manager. They've been phenomenal. We really have looked at the Squan project as two separate construction projects. One was doing the interim condition that opened on September 2nd of this year, started on June 30th of this year. It's outrageous the amount of work that

065was done. All the while having to keep the eye forward to the bigger construction project of the new school and the lead times in the contracting and all of what it takes to get that building done and delivered on time. And we are absolutely completely on track for substantial completion of summer of 2027 of the new building with the students moving from the interim condition into the new building in September of 2027. At that point, the 1971 building will come down, the modules will go away, the parking facilities will be built, and Commissioner Murphy's gone, but we will restore the park. Um, I invite you, if you haven't already gone down to see it, to please do. Um, they love it. The modulars are the more popular, the mods, as they're dubbing them, must be

066BC grads. Um, but the argument is who gets to go into the mods because they're better than the classrooms in the in the building. Uh do want to obviously acknowledge the support of the city council and mayor Ko for all of our efforts between the Squan included uh and the MSBA as well. But there's another partner I need to reach out to and thank and that's the abutters and the neighbors to that site. It's a very tight neighborhood, very close proximity to some of these homes. Um we've done our best and we continue to improve on mitigating the impacts on the neighbors, but there are impacts and we have to acknowledge that. Um by and large they've been amazingly cooperative. There's been calls, there's been emails and they were deserved. Nothing is uh that was

067complained of uh was inappropriate. Uh and we're responsive to that. So I really do have to reach out to the neighbors. They're they're enduring a lot and uh we're grateful for their putting up with this. So, as I started out with the list of projects really is too too lengthy to go through school by school by school like I've done in the past. So, I would ask you to, you know, take a look at the Excel spreadsheets. I'd highlight a couple of the the more significant projects and some of the schools, not even all of them. Um, some of the biggest ones again and we're proud of it is the asbestous abatement that we've done. How's neck we've now done all of the classrooms. We got house and how we got some pipes to do

068in a basement and a couple of classrooms and then that building is asbestous free. Um and that again comes in with the new floors in the original building at Adlin and how in the original building at Montlair when we did those abatements we put back in the birch hardwood flooring that somebody took out to put in the asbestous. They're easier to maintain. You don't have the chemicals of all the floor treatments. Um and it it's it's a great feel. great atmosphere and vibe for those buildings. Uh Beachwood know the first phase of the unit ventilator uh improvements and replacements has begun. Um the delivery of the equipment was delayed. So we've done the first phase this summer. The equipment's in storage and we'll continue it come June. We didn't want to be in those classrooms

069with significant construction once school started. So early on when it looked like those the equipment like all other HVAC equipment is delayed, we made the the decision at that time to postpone. Uh and I think it was a wise decision and uh we will we'll be happy we did that. Uh I think people that are familiar with Cliff and Marshall might know might know that room 113 has had an indoor air quality issue for years now. Um, and we just got stamied. So, we literally went in and just ripped that room out completely to bricks to studs to make to steel roof deck. Completely rebuilt the room. Found some water infiltration. Found some uh some original construction errors. We've corrected all of them. It's back together. Looks beautiful. And so far so good. Uh there's

070been no reports of of any issues in the building in that classroom. Um, Parker School, the MSBA supported and city of Quinsey supported boiler replacement is ongoing. It's about to be finished. Um, Lincoln Hancock, as I said, is one of the ones that we've been targeting with a lot of effort in the last couple years. This year includes the uh the construction of an expanded and completely renovated now fullervice student food service kitchen that can cook meals at that site and not just have to truck them in. Um there's the granted seat entrance which for years was deteriorating and danger of collapse. We did the second phase of repairs in summer 2024 that is now completed and safe. Um we did some safety other than structural safety. We did some vehicle safety issues with uh

071ballards and stuff so you can't smash and crash and those type things. Uh we reestablished and replaced and added to the outside polemounted lighting on the site. um came back with the the down ambient lighting where it was docked before. So it's attractive and and safer. Um Mry Mount, same thing. 11,000 square feet of asbesus abatement, 12 classrooms painted, LED lightings, new ceilings. Um at Monontlair and Wallist, both of them we've now completed the MSBA supported roof replacement projects. At Monontlair, we're able to get it expanded out. So they contributed towards the rebuilding of the parapit all around the 1920sish30s building that runs down the the length of West Cornum Street. That parapit was not supported and was not reinforced at significant damage and could easily have been a collapse issue issue for us. So

072it was it was um supported and braced to today's building codes repoint and rebuilt that roof put back together and all the new roofs installed. As part of that effort, the ground level uh student bathrooms in Montlair that were original from 1912 have been completely rebuilt. Uh and they are now handicap accessible to all students. Uh they are bright, they are clean, you're able to maintain them. They have full length doors on the stalls. Uh we also constructed a uh custodian closet there so they no longer have to go into the uh the girls' bathroom with their mops and buckets. And we built a handicap accessible staff bathroom in that building. Um, we also on the outside a couple years ago, we put a foundation in for flammables storage shed. Gasoline and snowblowers were always

073stored in the building and it drove me crazy and the fire department. So, we've completed the flammables, the the fireproof flammables storage shed adjacent to the uh the gymnasium building. Um well in the same way long needed handicap accessible but staff bathroom in the ground level of the building. Um we created a handicap ramp from the gym lobby down to the level of the original uh basement level of the of the first building. Um and we completed that roofing project. Um Atlantic Middle School again huge amount of asbestous abatement. Um new flooring throughout. Uh we built a new classroom by cutting walls out and providing access to storage rooms from um hallways and ventilating them. Broad meadows, there's new concrete exterior walkways, improved paving ADA access out behind at the gym. Uh as debatement, new

074ceilings, new flooring. Uh in part of our continual efforts to get all the utilities out of the crow space, we ran the full length of the building out with the domestic hot and cold water above the first floor hallway ceiling. We have one more utility to do that. Then we can finally replace appropriately that hallway ceiling. uh point Webster the city funded boiler replacement is ongoing uh nearing the end and uh we recopied the auditorium and fully painted it and recopied to the ground level u media center and library. Um the two high schools have received a great deal of effort and I looked down the list and like but it was all really stuff that just needs to happen. you know, it's not really any significant project other than the unit ventilator replacement at

075North Quincsey High School to the tune of about $600,000 repiping the system there uh and providing an easier path to the next phase of unit ventilator replacements. Um so there'll be a significant comfort improvement in those rooms with the new ventilators and we hope to get funding. the design has done is to do the next and hopefully the final phase of those univventary replacements. Snug Harbor was a summer of its own. All the work that was done there. I passed out to you uh an email that Margaret Lefarest had done and summarized and sent out to a group of us and rather than re recreate it, I just shared her words just kind of bullet points of all the grants and all the programs and all the opportunities that we chased and now she's chasing

076and all those that she added to it. um that's providing the wherewithal to do what will be a complete rebuild of the interior of Snug Harbor School um to advance beyond what we've already done. You know, everything that we do in all of our buildings, we do to handicap compliance, whether it's required by the code or not. I don't look to see if we've triggered the one-third in the value of the building. If somebody, if a city resident or whomever, a member of the public can't get to a facility that we're maintain, I think that's unacceptable. So anytime we do a doorway or a bathroom or anything, we do it to handicap standards. So we've been doing a lot of work at Snuggaba already. Um some of these grants and some of these programs are

077going to advance that. We had previously designed the elevator, a new construction elevator for Snugaba School. We're hoping that this funding will contribute to do uh finally constructing that. There's ramps that need to be done. We've already done the exterior ramp. This would be door handles, sink faucets. We've already done the gang bathrooms. uh on the city's dime. Um and just the amount of abatement at that this year was crazy. Uh it's a huge building. Um we have some pipes in the old bomb shelter left and then that building is best free. Um we have uh put in statements of interest with the MSBA for roof replacement projects um under the accelerator repair program for Broad Meadows Middle School. about 80% of that building, 100% of Parker Elementary School, about 80% of Atlantic Middle School,

078and it's only 80, not 100 because sections have been recently replaced at Broad Meadows and Atlantic. For um Point Webster Middle School, we put a statement of interest in for the roofs in the windows and doors. Um all three are in the pipeline with the MSBA. We have not yet been invited into full participation, but they have done site visits. They're aware of the conditions. They have all the information. My my gratitude to uh Laura Owens who follows up every time they send an email looking for information. She's got it to him before I can even find it. Um so invaluable resource uh to the school department in general, but to me particularly uh most notably with the MCBA projects. So we are certainly hoping for uh a successful uh endeavor with the MSBA and

079to be invited fully in for those projects. Um at this point in time, I don't know that we have time to have construction in summer of 2026 um given the process and we haven't even awarded the contracts or done any design, but we would hope to do that. Uh if not, everything will certainly be in place to kick off as soon as we can in summer 2027. Um, and I don't know that you really want to listen to me anymore. So, I think I'm done. You can you can read what's in front of you. Anyone has any questions, please feel free to call or uh or email me and I will supplement anything that I can. >> Mr. GRA. >> Hey Paul. Uh, excellent presentation. Good to have you back before us. Um, just a

080couple of comments and then a question. Uh, so I I for one appreciate your approach to environmental abatement and remediation on the asbestous stuff. I I mean just flipping through this list, it's extraordinary how many schools that you touched over the course of the summer. Uh, also on the energy upgrades, kudos to you. I mean, that'll be a huge financial savings to the city of Quinsey for for years or decades to come. So, good stuff there. Um, I I want to echo your shout outs to the Squanum team. That is an incredibly difficult project in a very tight space in a very short time frame under very difficult conditions and and all the folks that you gave a shout out to deserved the shout out for doing what they've done thus far and continuing to

081do it. So, I just wanted to echo those comments. >> Thank you. >> And then um two questions. Were there any security related improvements that your department was involved in before the beginning of the school year that you could discuss? We have added card reader swipe pads and doors that didn't have them so that they don't get propped open like sometimes too often once too often they do. Um we are designing a replacement of the video system at Snug Harbor. Uh, we've done improvements to the alarm system at Marrymont School. I'm hoping to do this. Excuse me, not Marmont, Snug Harbor, and Monontlair. Uh, I'm hoping to do that at other schools as well. Um, there's different schools of thought on the cameras. There's one, you know, your entrances and your main cards are covered.

082Then there's other people that need every square inch covered. Um, so there's a balance there. There's obviously a cost to it. Um so there's through the schools and the the city it's not released publicly because of the sensitive nature of it. Uh there's been studies done of each school. Uh we have made um provisions like when we did the work at Broad Meadows and restoring after the um the floods and this summer atlantic with the flooring and electrical layout to put a second set of storefronts inside their main entrances. So, forgive the sexist terms, but there's a man trap. So, you allowed them into the building. They have to engage in a human on staff. Yeah. Before they're allowed in the inner doors. Um, that's standard in part of the design of our new buildings.

083Um, but we're incorporating the provisions to do that in some of our renovations as well. >> Yeah, because we in executive session, we talked about some of the security upgrades. So, I was just curious to know what what happened over the course of the summer that you could talk about. And then the final question is and this is like a decades in the making saga which is in front of Bernazani school. Can you shed a little light on what's going on and what the endgame is? Okay. So I can't take credit for that. It's probably the gentleman in the center, Mr. Ko. Um I was delighted as probably you driving down Furn Parkway and seeing the work be done. So in years past we've we've put um different types of materials in the ruted tire

084tracks where the parents pull off the pavement. >> Yep. Um, but obviously now there's there's vertical granite curb going in and a repavement and rebuild of the roadway. Um, so I think that's welcomed by the entire community, uh, the neighborhood as much as the school community, but uh, I I'm not even sure if the city funded that or if that's Mass Highway or DCR. I don't know. >> DCR. So, I'm usually critical of DCR, but we thank them for that one. They got a long way to go, though. Hopefully the video is still down. >> And and did uh I mean you wouldn't know the answer to this, but did were there any issues with pickup and drop off in light of the changes out there? >> We received one call that >> um the

085morning of school and by the afternoon it was fixed and it's been relatively smooth after that. >> Good news. >> Yeah, they did a good great job. >> Thank you, Paul. Thank you. >> Yeah. Um Paul helped me out a couple years ago with a project that went under the radar, but I still remember the all the work you did for the for the um locker room at North and uh just a couple of questions. Uh I I saw in here a continued uh design auditorium >> at North Quincy. >> Yes. and >> Atlantic as well, but >> and to follow. >> I know they asked the mayor the other day, but >> yeah, we we've >> significant money >> opened up that file and shook it off again. Um the 100th anniversary of the

086building is coming in a few years. I myself personally would like love to have it done by then, but there's other constraints. There's funding and other issues. >> Yeah. >> Um you have to keep in mind that building was built, the auditorium was in the original portion of the building. when it was built as North Junior High School >> right >> in 2020 20 excuse me 1925 it was built a 100 years ago for sixth and seventh graders and everyone's twice the height they were 100 years ago and we have 12th graders trying to fit in those same rows um so the the renovation is significant we have to basically repour the entire room to spread out the rows >> the design is significantly completed uh it's amazing what Wesling Architects did Um with some

087creativity we thought about raising the stage and different things and they basically created a bigger orchestra pit which is no longer orchestra pit be seating >> right >> so that cured ADA issues and sighteline issues and all kinds of things. So um we're advancing it. Uh I'd love to get pricing done on it and see what it is in today's dollars. >> Just nice to see it's not forgotten. Um and the other thing is the uh units. Do they uh take care of the heating the heat in the summer in the gym? >> That's oppressive. >> No, the uh the air handles in the gym are separate from the unit ventilator effort. Um they are in the crosshairs, the gymnasium air handlers, but they're not yet part of of the of the thing. Quite honestly,

088our concern is the classroom atmosphere during the school year. >> Sure. >> Before summertime. Um, I'm not sure, frankly, myself personally right now, if that auditorium was ever built as an air kitchen space. I'd be shocked if it was. You >> mean the gym? >> Excuse me. Yes, the gym. I'd be surprised if it was. None of the others are. Um, nor would they be. You expect to be out running around and sweating. >> Um, not be in a comfort zone. Um, so even if those EA handlers were replaced, it may not cure your oppressive atmosphere in the summertime if they're not air conditioning. Yeah. Okay. Thank you very much. I appreciate all the work that you do with and your staff is is phenomenal. >> Thank you, >> Mrs. Pertios. Thank you. Thank you

089very much, uh, Mr. Hines, for all the work your group does. Um, you know, every project on here, the the ones that are outstanding, you know, that you've mentioned are the the snug renovations, the asbestous, um, that type that level project, but even the smaller items, every single one is important and it matters. So, um, and it improves the life of the kids, the educators, um, the families. So, thank you for all even the tiny little ones that you didn't mention that are on this huge document here. Um, so, thank you on that. And I did notice a lot of the items from the facilities list from the school improvement plans have been addressed and are on there. So, that's fantastic to see. Um, so thank you for getting those incorporated on there. Um, couple

090questions. Uh, I do want to mention the the Quincy High light board, which is so needed, and thank you both to the mayor and to Mr. Hines for getting that together. I know it's a short kind of a really quick uh issue that we had when you guys installed that, but the house lights there still flicker. Can you discuss like just a little bit of I'm sure there's a challenge. I'm sure there's a bigger issue with that. What is going on with those flickering lights? >> Okay, so we obviously are aware of that. Yeah. Every time the mayor's in an event there, I get a text. Um, and we had the engineers come in, design the replacement system. Um, everyone talks about le LED light bulbs last forever. Well, that's kind of true, but the

091ballasts don't. So, the fixture fails one way or the other. Um, the initial cost estimates to do the retrofit as designed is $880,000. Um, and just don't have that in the CIP this year. I'm hoping to get that. >> Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. Um, and also in the gym, I think one of the last years you were here, there was some talk about those big fans. Is that still happening or is that >> So, we pivoted away from the quote big ass fans. >> Yes. Um, >> I wasn't going to say that. >> Yeah. Well, that is truly the Treybach name. Uh, it's just not me being me. Um, but we really kind of thought, at least I did. Remember being a kid, I thought those fans would be a target for the

092basketballs and baseballs and everything else the kids play with in the gym. Um, and we had the envir environmental and mechanical engineers looked at it and they weren't convinced that was the solution. So, we pivoted away from that and we put in a whole series of destratification fans. If you look in the natitorium at the Lincoln Hack Pool, they're basically the same fans. They look like bullets that hang down um vertically and uh they circulate the air and they push the air from up high, push them down low. The same ones are installed at the gym at Quinsey High School. Uh, and to my understanding, it's a greatly improved atmosphere there. >> Okay, great. Thank you. Um, excited to hear about North Quinsey, uh, and Atlantic auditoriums moving forward. I, you know, although they may

093have been built for middle school kids at North, I can't even get in and out of it and I'm pretty small. I think most middle schoolers are bigger than me. So, um, it definitely is in need of moving forward, but definitely understand the the budget constraints on that. So, thank you for keeping that pushing. Um, couple quick question. Um, so Southwest on this, uh, sheet, I was noticing additional lockers. Was it something that was wrong with the I mean, it's a pretty new building. Was there anything wrong with the old ones or were there just more needed? >> So, the building um, when it was designed and programmed, they utilized the formula that the MSBA uses to project for student enrollment. uh while the building was still under construction uh the population grew enough that

094we had to add 100 lockers during construction. So before it opened those those estimates were wrong. Um since that time with a further influx of students we had to add another hundred. So the first 100 the first series of hundred were added on to where there were available hallway walls and things like that. But if you've been in there obviously you have. There's a lot of windows, there's a lot of obstructions, there's not a lot of wall space. So, we had to actually build walls to then be able to put lockers against. Um, so we we went as usual a little bit overboard and kind of mimic the exact design of the original installations where they're recessed in with the soundboards above them. So, if you weren't in there before to know where there weren't

095walls, you would think this was original construction. >> Awesome. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the explanation on that. And last thing, I think we've maybe mentioned this before and just refresh me as to why this may not work or maybe it's more uh doable as years go on and maybe we could talk about it now, but I think um principles maybe um parents, different people might wonder where their projects are. They put it on a a school improvement plan and they know it goes into the ether, right? it goes to you but where it falls on when it's being looked at it's hard to tell. Is there any way of making some kind of even if it's a rough sort of you know um inventory of what you know is um needs to be

096worked on in each building so that like I say principles can take a peek at it make sure everything that they know about is on there and they could just even get a rough estimate of like okay well these priority this is a a certain color so that's not a high priority right now but it's the next level at least some kind of you know just even general information about where items are in um you know the prioritization because I know you're super busy obviously you've got people everywhere all the time but just letting people know a little more I I don't say transparency but just a little bit more so that they there's a better communication between understanding of where projects are even you know if we had access to something like that where

097we could see different things principles maybe the SLT or something like that like a higher level >> Google doc or some kind of techn technology based system any of you wanted to talk about that at all. >> Okay. So, I do myself review the school improvement plans and facilities portion only um for for the schools. In fact, um I was having difficulty a couple weeks ago and I was downloading them from the website and it reminded me I was coming here tonight so Laura was nice enough to send me the PDFs of them. um I review them and as I explained before my department's informed by them but we're not mandated by them and I don't want to be you know flippant about that but I have to look at globally across all buildings and

098one budget one capital budget one annual budget and all buildings and all needs good security health water as those things I deem in ADA is is primary um a lot of the things on the school improvement plans are, you know, necessary for the educational uh benefit of the students and we we prioritize them. Uh in my department, some of the stuff wants and wishes, they kind of get pushed to the bottom. Um some people just don't like the color of a rug and they want a new rug. When I have another school that they're tripping on a torn rug, well, the torn rug's going to get it first. So, I don't want to tell the principal with the wrong color that she's not getting a rug or he's he's not getting a rug. Um, but

099quite honestly, the lawyer in me says, "I don't want to go through the schools and make a list of deficiencies and put it out there because now we have knowledge and if somebody falls, we have liability." Um, somebody a couple years ago started going through and somebody hired a firm to come through and start reviewing the buildings and I put the brakes on it. You know, I don't want that document out there. Um, I reviewed again when I got them today the school improvement plans. Most things on them are attainable. Um, we've gotten far enough along with all the improvements we've made on the buildings last I'm in the job my 10th year now which is crazy. Um, that it's really a lot of the things on the school improvement plan have become wants, not

100needs. Um, and that has to play into it too. Um, but we do address it. We we will try our best to get to them. But again, I know everybody's very looks very procurally at their building and what they need and what they want to make their life easier, but I have to look at all of them. >> Right. Right. I was just trying to make your job easier so that you know they could see that. Do you know what I mean? Sort of like a global there is a rug that needs to be done, you know, but I I can understand the concerns and I appreciate the explanation. And last question, I promise. Uh, Clifford Marshall, the walkway up from Broadway. um I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna talk about it every time you're

101here because it's a safety concern because families absolutely use it and in the ice and snow every year families fall down that hill and um >> shame on them. It's not an entrance. >> It's I just don't know where the liability is and it's just it's open there. So it is an access to school. So if um it's just I feel that it's that we're open to liability on that and where families are using it and can use it. Um, and it's on our grounds and it's icy and it's tough to put rock salt out when it's rock and um, so >> just bringing it up. >> Yeah. So, as you described it as a granite outcropping, they shouldn't be walking on it. Try hiking the Blue Hills after a snowstorm. You're going to fall.

102Um, it was represented to the neighborhood at the time the school was cited there that that would not be an entrance to the school. Regrettably, somebody didn't finish the fence at some point in time and people got in the habit of walking through there. My issue is if I try to make it an entrance, it has to be handicap accessible and it's all granite outcropping. Uh, we'd have to blast or bulldoze all that granite out of there. the easiest and best and probably appropriate solution is to finish the fence and not allow it as an entrance. Um, and I know people don't want to see or hear that. Um, but that would be my solution to that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, thank you very much. This is incredible. Really is

103incredible. I think the fence is a great idea. >> Yeah. >> Um, just incredible job. I have two quick questions. One is the um pedestrian trap at North Quincy High School. I know you spoke about that before. I haven't seen any action on that. Is that still in the background? >> I'm sorry. The what? >> Pedestrian trap. >> The trap. The man trap. >> Yes. Um, we have that designed. We've done the architectural studies. We're allowed to take out that center entrance or exit, more significantly, the the center egress. We're allowed to eliminate it. Um, building codewise. Uh, it's on hold right now. um pending the masonary restoration project that's almost there. Get ready to to uh to go to bid. Um because that whole canopy that they put on, that horrible canopy they put

104on in like the late '7s uh has structural issues to it. Uh and it's it's leaking water. Um so if we build under it and then have to take it down, we've ruined what we built. Um, so I I understand and I agree that the security is significant there. We need to address it. Um, but I don't want to have to rip apart what we've done because then they're just going to have to go across back across the lobby while the work's being done. So, >> and my other question is, um, I do you think Manet is going to be able to move forward given the issue with Medicare on that clinic? that I can't speak to their financial um position or how they plan to structure their efforts. >> Well, I know when they

105were here before we I asked them what percentage of their clientele were Medicare um and it was a Medicaid Medicare Medicaid um and it was like 82%. So, I'm wondering if they're >> Yeah, you don't know. But >> I Yeah, I don't know that there's there's been no talk about dialing back or not doing it. So we're going forward assumption. >> This is really she's earned her her salary already. >> Margaret, she really has. I mean this is an incredible document. If this all comes true. >> Yep. A lot of it is true already. >> Yeah, I know. I know. >> Superintendent spoke to the 4.5 million. There's other >> amazing. It really is amazing. It's great to see that. point out there's there's a link in it, but there's also um there's there's discussion

106of the the presser or the press relief or the public unveiling of not only our grant but the other grant recipients at the same round. >> Um because of the need at the school and because of what we've done and because of the demographics and everything else um the population of the school, the state has chosen to use Snug Harbor as as their their backdrop for their their announcement. So, I I do invite you all. I mean, it's not that it's a personal invitation for me. So, I guess I should I should remind you all of the event on Tuesday, September 16th at 10:30. And being a local, we're going to ask you not to park in the parking lot so that the visitors can. You can find on street somewhere. >> So, great to

107see all the departments working together. It really is. It just didn't used to be like that. So, I know I've been here a long time. It didn't used to be like that. So, >> thank you. I just want to say before the mayor speaks to have a chance to say something, but um I've been able to work with you on the Squanum um committee, the building committee, and um and when I was at the library and different things, seeing you do your work and um I want to say that I have every faith in how you do your work and how your department runs because I know that just in with working with you or your experience, you're always two or three steps ahead trying to figure out the health issues. issues and safety issues

108and building issues and doing all that. And um it really shows and I'm I'm really happy to hear about the Snug Harbor project because when I was there last year for the uh readers um the US reader program, I I came out and I don't know if I said it to the mayor or or to uh the superintendent, but I'm like we need to do some work over here. And um I'm going to go take a look because I I'm really excited to see the work that you did this this summer that it was needed. And my other um observation is I did go to the Squantum School for the open house that they had. Um one um principal Sylvia was amazed at the work that you've done. Um >> Lee Kennedy, Lee Kennedy um

109first class operation and um Austin and Troy got a huge um kudos from him for the amount of work that they did to get the place ready. And when I went that day, they were opening the next day. It was amazing to see. So, um, thank you because you're experience and you're a professional and you're keeping your team and and and obviously it's a collaboration between everyone in the schools and everything, but um, just by seeing the work that you've been doing and and and we see it in like the mayor did say, um, open your eyes and we look around and we see all the great work that's being done in the city. So, thank you. Thank you for that. >> Thank you. Did you notice the the mural, the lobby? I I noticed

110the outside mural on the wall and the um talking about the man the man pit. >> I thought there was a misspelling in one of the words. >> No, we I don't know that I saw that. I I didn't see it, but I probably don't know how to send us a picture. >> Um but it was great. It was beautiful and there was parents and kids there and they were really excited about the whole It was amazing, you know, and you can see the work that they were doing. So, >> um, again, Lee Kennedy's team, too, and and, um, Brian's team, they've just done a great job. >> So, thank you. >> Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, thank you, Emily. I know, uh, I don't know how many were here when

111we made the decision a few years back, and it wasn't easy because the first year we lost the vote, school committee didn't vote in support of the separation of the departments. And I think the former superintendent, he and I joked about it. Um, had concerns about it. Um, but proof is in the pudding. It has really worked remarkably well. And I know I just like to remind everybody what happened before was you had a maintenance department in the school budget in competition with the classroom. You could never grow it. You could never build a budget enough to deal with the challenges of the buildings. The concern I know at the time by school committee members was if we do this how are we going to know the schools are going to be a priority. You

112know Paul's got more than 80 buildings and structures to maintain libraries firehouses public safety buildings overseeing the new project and and all those things. Um but we're able to grow the department far more craftsmen experts um to do that. And um again, we pulled up our big boy pants as a city, made the decision to move forward. Um and and you know, it it's constant and Paul updates us, you know, and I when Paul told me not long ago that the boilers had he replaced it, the new Quincy High, I said, "What?" You know, they're 10 years old high efficiency boilers, they they don't last. So, uh it's constant. He mentioned the energy that Quincy High uses. Uh it's, you know, with all the technology and everything we have that of course uses a lot

113more energy. Paul was in the law department for many years and when I asked him to do this um um it was because I knew of him his background and his abilities. Uh having him being a lawyer was mentioned is huge when it comes to the procurement the execution of the contracts. Um he sees things and corrects things before um there's any issue. So, uh, you know, that Broad Meadows project we had a few years ago, Paul was down there in the midst of that, putting things on his own credit card to deal with the issues at the time to mitigate before it got any worse. I mean, again, the commitment um and and I know he's the first to say it. He got a lot of great people around him, right? We sink and

114swim with the people we surround ourselves with and he's got a great staff and all. Um, final point, um, the work Margaret did in coordination with with this department, we know in the schools, um, you got to be on top of things and you got to spend some time on grants. We created the grant department in the city. We got a $10 million federal grant for rebuilding abortion and southern relationships. So, it pays off. You know, you you try to make uh the argument for these things at the time, but at the end of the day, you look back and you see the results. and we've got millions of dollars come into the city because of the commitment people have made through grant writing. And um it's so much easier for me to call uh

115Congressman Steve Lynch when you've got the paperwork in right, you got an outstanding application, you got people on top of it. Uh there's a lot of cities and towns that don't have that uh that ability. So that all adds up and again adds to our ability to get a lot more done with all of our assets. So uh thank you Paul for the great job. I know I don't have to worry about a thing. He and I have the same eye. He talked about before you go into a building after an electrician was there and you see all this outside tubing. What you want to talk the easy cheap way out. Well, these things should be done for the long term and that's that's what he described tonight. So, just thank you to you and

116your team. Thank you. >> I think Mr. I just have one more comment which is um there there at least 180 items on the spreadsheet and I wondered and this is more for the superintendent Laura. Is this something that we could put on the news section like attach the spreadsheet so that the public can see everything that happens in their own school? Um just because I think it's we didn't go through the the 180 items so they can't hear those watching at home. I just thought, boy, it's so valuable to see that even, you know, you got the school improvement plans that have the facility checklist, but you can see everything that happened just in the last two, three months in in every school. If we could put that up on the website, I think

117it'd be a real service. >> Thank you. >> If I may, I'd like to add too, this is really the most significant work. Like there's hundreds and hundreds of work orders that come in and have been addressed. You know, hanging whiteboards, fixing chalkboards, broken window, and my flag fell down. There's hundreds and hundreds of them coming in the same time period and that's all laid on top of this. It would kill a lot more trees if we listed all of that. >> Exactly. >> Thank you. >> Well, thanks. >> Thank you. >> Next on the agenda, we will be looking at the school committee subcommittee organizational um chart and go through to see um what will stay and what will be removed from our specific committees. The first one is athletic and wellness. U Mr.

118Begali. >> Yeah. The only thing I'd like to see uh revisited is number two, middle school athletics. Been on there since 2021. >> Okay. >> I'd like to have a discussion on that. >> And then remove number three. >> Yes. >> Okay. And leave the other two on. >> Yes, please. >> Okay. Great. Um next we have EDI, which is me. Um we are go >> budget. Budget. Oh, budget >> skip. Skip the page. Sorry. >> Okay, mayor. Go ahead. >> Got strike two, five, and six. The others are all still pertinent. We'll be having discussions at future budget on those. So, two, five, and six we can eliminate. >> Perfect. All right. EDI. EDI. Um, we will eliminate one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, um, eight. They're all ongoing. Um some of them

119a couple of have been completed. Number um 12 and eliminate number 11. Um basically these are ongoing and they're in our presentations during the year. We discuss a lot of these updates. So um we can take them out of committee and we just have them as ongoing um conversations during the year in the in the different presentations that happen. Um, I know I'm not on the EDI subcommittee, but item number 12, the safest fingerprinting for volunteers. I believe the um origin of why that got referred um was to see if we could expand somehow somehow get um fingerprinting services more widely available for families in Quinsey because the locations to get those fingerprints done are not near us and um limited. So, just kind of keeping the conversation open about ways we could, you know,

120as companies come online or different programs come online to sort of uh make sure that we're bringing every opportunity to Quinzy so Quinsey families can volunteer and be part of uh field trips and different things that the PTO's run. So, I'd feel more comfortable keeping number 12 in just in um in case something were to come up um that we could an opportunity that we could have some kind of fingerprinting office here. I do share your concern, but unfortunately Safest and Moro Trust is the only vendor and there are no we spoke to them and they're not doing anything more than what they're doing currently right now and we thought for sure they would be at one point doing mobile units. Well, that's off the table now, too. And as of right now, it does

121not look like the state is going with any other vendor and they're keeping Moro Trust. We don't see a change in that. Obviously, if it does change, we can alert you to that. Okay. >> But I either way, >> but uh yeah, there is unfortunately >> we're kind of stuck right now with this vendor and it doesn't look like the state has any plans to change it. >> Okay. I just didn't see the harm in keeping it in there just in case something were to change. But if you guys feel it's better to take it out and bring back >> I just feel it. No, I know. But to try and clear it up. >> Okay. >> Um Mrs. Hubley, >> thank you. Um >> facilities security and transportation. >> Yep. We're going to get

122rid of um number one, four has been completed. Five, six, which is the same as 14. So, um take six off. Um nine, number 10, number 14, as I said, number 15. And then I would actually like to add um few years back we had on here um a review of the teacher bathroom conditions and I would like that added back on now so we can have another update on reviewing of the teacher bathrooms and the condition of them. Something we need to make sure we keep an eye on every couple years. >> Okay, we all set with that. Okay. Um next on the agenda is um Mr. Gutro for with policy. >> Um, first I'd like to thank Miss Owens for tracking all of the work that we've done over the last year or

123or term and then say uh policy has been particularly busy. There have been 19 items in policy committee. We've completed uh nine out of the 19. So I'm suggesting removal of item 2 3 5 6 11 14 15 17 and 18. Okay. All right. Um next we have rule. Okay. We'll we'll skip that. There's nothing on there. Special education. Mrs. Partials. >> Thank you. Um similarly, I think a lot of great work has been done in the last uh year, especially uh between the um our the SLT, the the special education um team for QPS as well as the CPAC. Um I think they've worked very well together in trying to uh work on issues that were to come up. Um so I think that we've actually collab that collaboration has allowed for a lot

124of these to get resolved kind of before they even need to be on here. So, um we have seven items currently on, uh the the docket here, and I I'm believe that all of them have been completed or addressed. Uh the special education learning center is now open. Special education transportation has uh much improved this year from what I've heard. Um staff training that was needed to open the RDLC has been uh is ongoing, but also that there was staff training completed for that. Uh special education communication. um I think I believe has gotten has been improved. The new IEPs have been rolled out. Uh the postchool outcomes for students with IEPs uh that has also been they're publishing Desi is now publishing some statewide data on that, but that's been completed. And the pivotal

125response program um we've had a presentation on that. So I believe all of the items have been addressed and I'm uh looking forward to adding some new ones this year. >> Um teaching and learning, Mrs. Leo. >> Yeah. Um I would like to uh remove number one because we get the annual core indicator report that gives us enough information that we can use for that. Also five uh five 7 8 9 and 10 are completed or else just annually done. All set with that. >> You all set? >> That's great. Okay. And that's it. We complete that. Thank you. Um, next we have memorandum of agreement between Quinsey and the QEA. Memorandum of agreement between Quinsey School Committee and QEA. And memor memorandum of agreement between Quinsey School Committee and Painters and Allied. I'm going

126to suggest is that that we defer these uh we go into executive session because I know there's some updates we need vote in executive session come back out to public session and then confirm the vote here. So we'll defer to those and go on to the consent agenda. >> Okay. Um consent agenda roll call vote. Um is there any discussion? >> Motion to approve. Second by Mrs. Huby. Um, >> yes. >> Um, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cahill. >> Yes. >> Mr. Gro, >> yes. Mrs. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Lebo. >> Yes. >> Mr. >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Additional business. There is none. Communications. We have upcoming school committee meetings at the Cottington building room um school committee room at 6:30 p.m. September 24th, October 8th and 22nd, November 19th, and December 10th.

127Upcoming S subcommittee meeting September 24th at 6:15 p.m. Um it's a policy meeting. Then next we have reports of subcommittees, which is none. And um we um need a motion to go into executive session. >> Motion to go into executive uh session to discuss contract negotiations. >> With the caveat, we will be returning to regular session. >> Second by Mr. Burggali. Roll call vote. >> Mr. Bgali. >> Yes. >> Mrs. Kahill. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mrs. Mrs. Leo. >> Yes. >> Thank you, >> Jimmy. We're all set back back in session. U Mayor Ko. >> Thank you, Madam Chair. I'd like to make a motion. We're going back to the uh DE and F on the agenda that we deferred to the executive session. We just met. Uh so I'd make a motion we approve

128item D, member of agreement between the city of Quinsey school committee and the QEA unit A. >> Second. >> Call. >> Mr. Begley. Yes. >> Mrs. Ko. Yes. >> Mr. Gotro. Yes. Mrs. Hubley. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lebo. Yes. >> Mrs. Yes. Mayor >> Yes. >> Thank you. >> Item E, memorandate have agreement between the Quincy School Committee and QA unit C and make a motion to approve. >> Roll call. >> Mr. Mcoli, >> yes. >> Mrs. Gahill, >> yes. >> Mr. Gro, >> yes. >> Mrs. Hubley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lea, >> Mrs. Perios, >> yes. Mayor, >> yes. And item F, memor memorandum of agreement between the Quincy school committee, the painters and allies trades district council 35, which is our custodies local 1911, units A and B. And make a motion to

129approve, please. >> Goalie, >> yes. >> Mrs. Cahill, yes. >> Mr. Gatro, yes. Mrs. Hubley, >> yes. >> Mrs. Lebo, >> yes. Mr. >> Yes. >> And may I? >> Yes. >> And uh on that, I just want to thank Gail and the QEA and their representatives. I know we talked in executive session on the negotiating team. Thank you very much. Uh we're in a good place and good luck this year. >> Motion to adjourn. >> Meeting adjourned. >> Thanks everybody. >> Thank you.