001Good evening everyone. I'd like to call to order this evening's meeting. Quincsey school committee meeting for May 21st. Um if we can have a call to order a roll call, please. Mr. President, Mrs. Kahill, present. Mr. Gro, Mrs. Hubley, present. Mrs. Leo, Mrs. Pres and Quincy High School student representative Annabel Chin and North Quincy High School student representative Anthony. Oh, I hope they didn't go to city hall. Okay, we can stand for a pledge of allegiance, please. I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. We do not have any immemoriams tonight. So, we'll start with the open forum. I'm going to fall off my seat here. Um, open form is an opportunity
002for 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 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 individual 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 schools website by noon on the day of the posted
003school committee regular meeting. Is anyone here tonight that like to speak at open forum? Okay, good evening. Uh, my name is Gail Carvalo. I am the president of the Quinsey Education Association. I live at 404 Adam Street in Milton. I'm here tonight in support of the revisions of both the high school grading system and the attendance policy. In the four years I've been the QEA president, I have not come before you to take a position on any school committee policy, but I feel compelled to do so tonight. These policy changes are an important step towards improving both the educational experience of our students and their educators. These changes will allow educators the ability to create a consistent learning environment complete with sequential lesson planning and effective assessment. This ultimately provides more time for student learning
004and more positive outcomes overall. Every teacher wants their students in front of them every day. It is how we assure that they are learning. Many of us rely on watching for those aha moments in a classroom and it comes when the student is in front of us and we can see that that concept has clicked. Once that cognitive leap has been made, it provides a teacher the chance to look for understanding and check to ensure that a new skill has been generalized in that content area. I believe this policy also provides principles with the ability to address individual student circumstances while giving our learning communities the right to expect our students show up every day. There's a great deal of talk about building relationships with students. I would assert here that in order to change
005climate and culture in any school, we need our students to be an active participant in that community. And this policy change can certainly be a catalyst in integrating students into their respective school communities. While we know that our educators are doing everything they can to meet students where they are, it's easier to meet them if both the student and the teacher are in the same place. In addition, the proposed change to a letterbased grading system for the two high schools provides consistency to our rising nth graders who have been receiving letter grades throughout their middle school experience. Also, it is more in line with the surrounding districts. And when a student either leaves or enters the Quinsey public schools, we are now comparing apples to apples and that student is placed appropriately in their new
006respective classrooms. This policy also addresses best practices regarding equitable grading practices and highquality instruction and assessment. Before I end, I'd like to thank Dr. Perkins, Mr. Moranny, and the other members of the SLT who asked for the QA's collaboration in these two initiatives. We appreciate that acknowledgement that our educators are not only experts in their content area, but have a deep understanding of what the needs of their students are. We look forward to that continued collaboration with the district on these important student centered goals and appreciate that partnership. The QA truly believes our students deserve the best public education and that when educators, students, and parents are in alignment on such issues, we can achieve the best outcomes for Quinsey's future. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Would anyone else like to come up and speak?
007Good evening, mayor, vice chair, and fellow school committee members. My name is Kai Lee from 42 presidents. A Quinsey had quite a weekend. multicultural festival was moved indoors due to potential weather, something I know all too well as a scout leader. We recently went camping when thunder and lightning rolled in at 9:00 p.m. We rounded up the scouts and headed indoors. That's always the right call to make. And the superintendent called everyone to let everyone know. I can appreciate the time and effort that it takes to run an event as large as as complex as this one. Our city is fortunate to have someone like Michaela heading up the multicultural festival. She's hands-on. She went to Lincoln Hancock's multicultural night to recruit families to represent the various countries. When the venue changed, I received a
008call from her about it going to North Quincy High and confirmed that the table was still available for Cub Scout Pack 42. And then to top it off, uh, of four places we bumped to each other at our daughter's dance recital rehearsal. She was on her laptop planning out the indoor events, table placements. I want to say thank you and congratulate Maha and her team, the QPS staff, and the city of Quinsey for putting on such a phenomenal event. And it brought the community together. as the budgets uh being discussed wherever these community events are budgeted um please keep it and increase it. These events help bring everyone together and is a shining spot for Quinzy. I also want to echo what the mayor Michaela and others have said. It is great to see the
009volunteers both from the students at QPS, the families hosting tables and the performances. They put in so much generosity, effort, and pride. Looking forward to seeing everyone at the Memorial Day parade. Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, thank you. We're going to move on to the um superintendence report. Superintendent, hold on a second. Okay, there you go. Great. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Hope everyone is doing well. Uh tonight we have the honor of recognizing and celebrating the outstanding achievements of our high school students have been who have been admitted into the National Honor Society. A great achievement. This moment marks a significant milestone in the academic journey of these remarkable students. And it is only fitting that we come together to honor their dedication, perseverance, and commitment to excellence. Today, we acknowledge not just the
010academic talent of these students, but also their unwavering determination to excel in all aspects of the high school experience. Each one of them has demonstrated exceptional qualities that have earned them a place among the best and brightest in our school community. Whether it be through academic achievements, leadership endeavors, community service initiatives, athletic or artistic talents, these students have consistently demonstrated a commitment to excellent that sets them apart. As we celebrate the accomplishments of our National Honor Society members, it is important to recognize the immense support system that has guided them along the way. To the dedicated teachers and mentors who have served as beacons of inspiration and encouragement, thank you for your unwavering commitment commitment to nurturing the talents and passions of our students. To the families and loved ones who have stood by these
011students through every challenge and triumph, thank you for your endless support, love, and encouragement. to our students. National Honor National Honor Society is not just a recognition of past achievements, but also a testament to the potential and promise that you hold for the future. As you embark on this new chapter of your academ academic journey, we challenge you to continue striving for excellence, to embrace opportunities for growth and learning, and to never lose sight of the values that have guided you thus far. With great honor comes great responsibility. Lead with integrity, serve with compassion, and inspire those around you to reach for the stars. Congratulations. How about a round of applause for our students? I'd also like to recognize, of course, Principal Gilbert from North Quinsey High School, Principal Ford from Quinsey High School, and
012Assistant Principal Smith from Quinsey High School are here to support our students tonight. If we could have a round of applause for our principles and assistant [Applause] princip. At this time, I'd like to introduce to you our National Honor Society adviserss, Kerianne Hart and Edie Marrian from North Quinsey High School and Sarah Lavine from Quinsey High [Applause] School. All right. Good evening. I am Kerian Hart. from one of the adviserss of North Quinsey High School's National Honor Society chapter. On behalf of myself and my co-advisor, Eddie Marrian, we would like to thank you for inviting us to tonight's meeting to recognize our graduating senior members. We have a total of 60 seniors graduating this year, and we are so proud of them. Our seniors are Audrey, Connie Chi, Katherine Chen, Kathle Kathle Chen, Milani Chen,
013Nancy Chu, Meadow Cooper, Akanga Deshmuk, Madu Dio, Anthony Dwang, Athena Dwang, Khloe Dwang, Nancy Fang, Shauna Forign, Joyce Gao, Caitlyn Huen, Suan Maya Pelito, Calla Jones, Aa Kafihi, Kelly Quan. I'm let Eddie finish. Alexia Lacy, Alexander Lie, Sophia Le Penna, Hayes, Tabitha Lee, Yu, Zang Lee, Laura Lynn, Vincent Lynn, Charlotte Leu, Caitlyn Lowe, uh, T. Luong, Vanston Lee, Sahil Mano, Hannah Morardi, Mandy Moy, V New Yam, William Nuen, Kimmy Ang Ruby Pan, Robert Fam, Reine Chu, Joseph Reig, Anna Sangani, Alex ShraMM, Arena Shei, Hannah Sprat, Serena Tachelli, Amy Tan, Andrea Tang, Vivian Tran, Vanna Trong, Tiffany Wang, Henry Wong, Wen Kan Woo, Yongqi Wu, Cece Zia, Rui Yan, Ulan Yun, Singh Zang, Yin Lynn Zoo and Vicky Zoo. [Applause] Sure. You got your problem. I got everybody. Good evening. My name is Sarah Lavine and
014I am the adviser of the National Honor Society at Quinsey High School. Thank you for inviting us here tonight to recognize our 50 graduating members. I am honored to present to you our NHS students from the class of 2025. Lauren Affleck, Cali Alesandro, Kyrie Blue, Ashling Burn, Maline Casease, Liliana Catbone, Abigail Dah, Denal Delinkage, David Dimma, Jack Diaz, Justin Den, Nadia Farakanti, Ashlin Folen, Destiny Francis, Ne Gendren, Isabella Guerrero, Jeamra Gumis, Safa Hadr, Allison Hatfield, Julia Heis, Alexandra Hoey, Ventura, Alyssa Hops, Andy Wyn, Joanna Camille, Cats Cole, Abdul Kurtie, Linda Laauo, Vanessa Lung, Abby Lions, Robert Umbry, Kelly May, Michael Miranda, Olivia Mora, James Mullen, Camila Nabieva, Angelina Nuen, Caroline Mali, Parth Patel, Payton Perkins, Gonna Share, Sarah Smith, Jasmine So, Vanessa Su Mirad Doula Sugi Sugi Nathan Yammeni Joshua Wiiwa James Walsh Samantha Wong
015Elizabeth Wong Weii Mit Jenna Zardis and Kevin Zang. Thank you. ulations to all of our national honor society students. Next, I'd like to recognize another uh student achievement and that is our seal of biiteracy. It is an honor to recognize and celebrate with you a momentous occasion in the academic journey of some of our high school students. the attainment of the seal of biiteracy. Today we come together to recognize and applaud the exceptional dedication, perseverance, and linguistic talents demonstrated by these outstanding students by mastering not just one but two languages. These students have not only expanded their academic horizons but also enriched their personal and cultural experiences. Whether it be through the study of Albanian, Armenian, Cantonese, French, German, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai or Vietnamese. These students have embraced the challenge of
016becoming proficient in languages beyond their native tongue and in doing so have opened doors to endless opportunities both home and abroad. As we celebrate the achievements of our sale of biiteracy recipients, it is important to acknowledge the invaluable support system that has played a pivotal role in their success. To the dedicated language teachers and mentors who have guided and inspire these students along their journey, thank you for your unwavering commitment to fostering a love for language, learning, and cultural appreciation. To the families and loved ones who have stood by these students through every step in their linguistic odyssey. Thank you for your unwavering support, encouragement, and belief in their abilities. The attainment of the seal of biiteracy is not just a recognition of linguistic proficiency, but also a celebration of global citizenship. In a world
017that is increasingly interconnected and indep interdependent, the ability to communicate across languages and cultures has never been more important. As recipients of the seal of biiteracy, these students are not just bilingual, they are ambassadors of understanding and advocates for unity. Congratulations once again and may your linguistic journey be filled with endless possibilities and boundless opportunities. Thank you. How about a round of applause for our students? At this time, I would like to introduce coordinator of English learner education, Heather Wjuk, and world languages department chair Edie Bon from Quinsey High School. Thank you, Superintendent. It is also my pleasure to recognize this extraordinary group of students, 55 graduating seniors from the class of 2025 who have earned the Massachusetts State Seal of Biteracy. Of the 55, nine students received the seal with distinction. Four students received
018the seal in two world languages. This remarkable group re represents the third graduating class from Quinsey public schools to participate in this prestigious program. These students have shown outstanding dedication to their language studies and in most cases celebrate and honor their cultural heritage. The class of 2025 has received the seal of biiteracy in 13 different languages as noted by the superintendent. We are especially proud to recognize two languages for the first time this year with this class, Armenian and Polish this year, bringing the total number of languages recognized in Quinsey public schools to 19 since the launch in 2023. To the families gathered here today, thank you. Your support, encouragement, and commitment to language learning and maintaining language and cultural traditions have played a vital role in your children's success. To all of our seal
019of biiteracy recipients, congratulations on this well-earned accomplishment. You have embraced the power of language to connect, to understand, and to bridge cultures. We are so proud of you. And now it is time to formally recognize our recipients. I have Edie Bowden here at the podium. She'll read the students names from both North Quinsey High and Quinsey High. Congratulations to the following recipients. We are proud of you and all of your hard work. We have Jennifer Akabal Lopez, Spanish. Kiana Asavdo, Spanish. Azat Bagdasarian, Armenian. Violet Ban, Korean. Maria Pia Benoa Croado, Spanish. Mincy Chan, Mandarin. Emily Chen, Mandarin. We Chen, Mandarin. We Chen, Spanish. Rachel Dilva, Portuguese. Maoang Dang, Mandarin. Madu Dio, French. Rea Deor, Spanish. Chujun Gao, Mandarin with distinction. Eduardo Garcia, Portuguese. Gabrielle Jontiel, Spanish. Fabiana Gway, Portuguese with distinction. Fabiana Guane, Spanish. Isabella
020Guerrero, Portuguese. Julia Heis, German with distinction. Liam Hildebrand German. Nepaporn Inopat Thai. Sunni Epilo Spanish. Jacans Gideon French with distinction. Kala Jones Spanish. Conrad Klauscowski Polish with distinction. Chung Tangu Cantonese. Chung Tinku Mandarin. Cats Croll Polish. Ernest Laco, Albanian. Emmanuel Lancheros, Spanish with distinction. Sophia Lena Hayes, Spanish. Steve Lara, Spanish. Alessia Lemu, Spanish. Jun Linn, Mandarin. Renang, Mandarin with distinction. Jessica Lynn, Mandarin with distinction. Vanston Lee, French. Yihang Mai, Mandarin. Kevin Marco, Albanian. Isabelli Martin Zoro Rojo, Portuguese. Feranda Mahia, Spanish. Camila Nabva, Russian. Lucy Nuen, Vietnamese. Gi Al Mandarin. Samantha Padre, Portuguese with distinction. Samantha Padre, Spanish. Ruby Pan, Mandarin. Rusine Chu, Mandarin. Alex Stram, Spanish. Jose Silva, Portuguese. Ashley Sodto, Spanish. Amy Tan, Spanish. Anna Sophia Valencia, Spanish. Henry Wong, Spanish. Yuyu, Mandarin. Jinguanhen, Mandarin. Jing Wanhu, Mandarin. And Yinlandu, Mandarin. [Applause] Bring your
021students up. um need to get home and do their homework. So, um we're going to take a few minute recess so you can go. Okay. Okay, superintendent will continue with the super report. Before I get into the Quinsey public schools and city of Quinsey events, I do want to recognize a um couple of staff members, Elise Olivia and Holly Davis, two of our math interventionists will be presenting at the math or false selfshore conference on May 22nd, which is tomorrow. This dayong soldout conference will be held at Bridgewwater State University. This year's theme is impactful math teaching strategies. Miss Olivera Olivi and Miss Davis are hosting a session titled build it break it where they will share hands-on math activities that promote high engagement and therefore result in a greater understanding of mathematical skills. So
022again, thank you to Elise Olivi and Holly Davis uh for for their work in this area. Uh, next is the Quincsey Public Schools in City of Quinsey events. We have a lot going on. Um, we had a very busy weekend last weekend and we have many more events coming up. Tomorrow morning, 100 rising seniors from Quinsey and North Quinsey High School will gather at Granite Lings for the annual leadership summit. Our newest QPS families are invited to the Welcome to Kindergarten parent academy on Thursday, May 22nd at 6 PM at Central Middle School to learn about the curriculum and learning opportunities for their students. Tomorrow evening, the North Quincsey High School A show will be held in the Atrium of Honor beginning at 5:00 p.m. and at 6 p.m. the All City Jazz Band concert
023will be held in the Peter Chrysom Auditorium at North Quincsey High School. Many schools are hosting observances for Memorial Day, including Beachwood Null on Thursday, May 23rd, and Snug Harbor on Friday, May 24th, both at 9:00 a.m. The City of Quinsey Memorial Day parade will be held on Monday, May 26th at 10:30 a.m., beginning at the Quinsey Credit Union on Quinsey Avenue and ending with a ceremony of remembrance at the Mount Walton Cemetery. The city of Quinsey is hosting a classic rock revival concert on Saturday, May 24th, beginning at 1 p.m. on the Hancock Adams Common. Thanks to Mayor Ko for once again hosting his annual breakfast for graduating seniors and their parents and guardians next week, Tuesday, May 27th at Quinsey High School and Wednesday, May 28th at North Quinsey High School. The final
024citywide music program concert of the year is the Pops Band concert on May 27th at 6 p.m. at Quinsey High School. Point Webster and Clifford Marshall PTO's are hosting the annual family fun run and wellness expo on Saturday, May 31st, starting at 9:00 a.m. at Point Webster. The last parent academy of the school year will be held on Tuesday, June 3rd at 6 PM via Zoom. This meeting is to introduce elementary school parents to the new social emotional curriculum called kernels. Quinsey public schools will hold a special Olympics event for students in grade three and up on Friday, June 6th at 9:00 a.m. at Ceden Field, followed by a picnic lunch thanks to the talents of the Quinsey High School culinary arts students. High school fall athletics information events will be held on June 2nd
025at North Quinsey High School and June 11th at Quinsey High School, both at 5:30 p.m. Parents and students who are interested in playing fall sports should plan to attend to learn about summer activities and try out dates. Graduation ceremonies will be held on Monday, June 9th for Quinsey High School and Tuesday, June 10th for North Quinsey High School, both at Veterans Memorial Stadium at 6 PM. In celebration of Quinsey's 400th anniversary, the 74th annual Flag Day events will be held on Saturday, June 14th, starting at 6 PM with the parade beginning from the corner of Hancock Street and Hannon Parkway and proceeding down Hancock Street to Marry Mount Parkway and ending at Adams Field. The flag raising will follow at 8:00 p.m. at Pageant Field and a spectacular fireworks display will be at 900 p.m.
026With that, that ends the superintendent's report. Okay, thank you. So we Oh, yes. Hold on. Just a quick question. Um, on the Point Webster Clifford Marshall family run, it says June 1st on here. Is it actually May 31st because the superintendent said 31st? I just wanted to clarify. It is. It is May 31st. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. We all set. Next on the agenda, we have old business in which we have the proposed revision to the policy book section 911, the grading systems. Mr. Gutro, thank you. Uh, Madam Chair, on May 7th, we had a policy subcommittee meeting. We talked about two different issues. Uh, first was related to a revision to the policy book, section 9.11, the grading systems. The second was u section 10.6 middle and high school attendance. And uh I
027didn't know if Mrs. Perkins wanted to come up to we had a discussion. There may well be some changes if there are any changes to either based on the discussion and policy committee. Mrs. Perkins can advise me and a vote would be scheduled subsequently at the next meeting. Thank you. Uh so we did make a couple of changes to the uh attendance and tardy policy based on the feedback from the committee at the last meeting. So um we did clarify on uh that that policy um at the beginning we changed some of the language. I think there was a concern around how it read. So we did say a student with a reduction of 15 credits to clarify that. Um that was something that was brought to the attention brought to our attention at the
028last meeting. We also changed it um from it said I can't remember what the language previously said but to clarify unexcused absences to make it all the same language. Um we also changed in section C after the third absence a valid professional note is required to document excused absences and also added um per the committee religious or cultural holidays to be denoted in there as well. Um and then on page two, um on D under tardy procedures, item one, um I think we were Miss Cahill maybe had suggested that we put or someone had suggested that we put scheduled detentions. Um so that that was that was a change as well. And um I we did add under the middle school policy that it was a call or a note of explanation um for the
029attendance and made it match on the bottom there three or more days to the similar to the high school policy. Um and then also we did provide for you a draft of the attendance protocol for medically excused absences. Um, and we worked with the high school nurses and Andrea Huer to develop these procedures and so certainly uh we can make any changes or welcome any feedback. Okay, any questions? Thank you. Um, I just had one uh request sort of on the uh grading systems uh under middle school grading system. I was just wondering if we could have um in that paragraph that follows that heading there um if we could just add students in grades 6 through 8 receive letter grades um just to make it as clear as the attendance policy uh that middle
030school by middle school we're talking about six that's okay um that was my only requested change for grading system I think that looks great um I did have uh some more questions and concerns and just some comments on on the attendance policy. Um, couple questions first. Um, thank you for updating the beginning part of that uh to just have kind of that little preamble there. I'm just I went to the um Desi website in their attendance like statewide attendance policy. Um, they have a blurb there that's really if it felt a little uh it felt a little more supportive or a little more explaining as to why uh the attendance is so important. Um, and I'm just wondering if uh maybe you guys could take a look at that and just it started with the
031sentence, "Students who attend school regularly are more likely to have success in school and careers." Um, I think it's just I think that it seemed like it was just a it explained to parents perhaps why this is necessary, why this is important. Um, and it's a little lengthy. It's maybe about a paragraph, a big paragraph or so, but maybe just taking some swatches out of that might be a good idea. Sure. Um, so that was one thing I kind of researched earlier today. Um, couple questions I had. Um, I'm still a little uncomfortable with students are expected to be in school 100% of the time. That that line still uh bothers me a little bit. Um, because, you know, I think again with COVID, we know that mental health is important. Taking care of your
032health and your and your well-being is important. Um, so not that I I want to um discourage students coming to school, but it's it's it's it's a high it's a high mark, I guess. Um, so I just want to start by um saying that I'm appreciative of the collaboration that you guys had with QEA with the educators. I think that was fantastic to include their input. They're seeing the ramifications of students not being there. So absolutely, I'm really really glad that that collaboration happened. Um, and I think that's a great start, but I feel like this policy leaves out parents. I feel like we didn't take those stakeholders and bring them into this and get their uh input just like we did for the educators on how this could um have have any unintended consequences
033for families. Uh, so at citywide PTO, uh, it was just the only um place that I heard this discussed with parents. Uh, parents were actually kind of surprised that this came up. They didn't understand. They were confused. they um they they just didn't seem to have any idea and they were worried. Um there were just families that their students aren't chronically absent, but they do take a vacation here or there or they do um have students that have different concerns that they have days off. Um, so and just the thought of having to make up a class um it's so it's I don't want to say it's extreme, but it's um significant enough that I feel like parental some kind of focus group or some kind of outreach to families just to say what do
034you think about this policy before we vote on it. I think that it's I think you can read this and kind of see that that parent voice wasn't in there. Uh, so that makes me a little uncomfortable ha voting on something or moving this forward without hearing from parents on how this, you know, I think this is a okay start. Um, I just would love it to kind of keep evolving before we were to vote it in as an official policy on it. Um, couple questions. Uh, on page one under attendance C, it says all absences require a parent guardians approval. Um, is that the case after age 16 as well? Yes, it is still the case. Okay. All right. Um, thank you for answering that one. Um, let's see. And how are maybe it's
035happening already. Um, are teachers noting when kids come into school or into their class late or how much of a percentage of class they're they're coming in late. I know that's a kind of a piece of this moving forward. Yes, they do that. They take class attendance. Yep. Okay. But if it's if they're halfway through class, I know this says if they're more than halfway, if they come into class more than halfway, they're considered absent. So, is there a place for teachers to note that they do take class attendance? So, that they would then be instructed if they're more than halfway through the class, then they're absent. Okay. Um, so they they do they do put that into Aspen, individual class attendance. Okay. Um, and I just I still would like some more information on
036the additional options um for credit recovery. Uh, the options right now as are in the policy for anyone watching at home. Um, there's three options. There's summer school, there's Quinsey um Quinsey Evening High School, and then there's other school approved programs. Uh, and the description on that is students may be given additional options based on administrative approval. Um I still feel like that's too nebulous to sort of have families understand what they're supposed to do if this is the case. And um you know summer school, Quinsey evening, high school, it's it's significant. It's a different it's a big step. So I sort of would love to see those outlined here like some options or just ideas of what that could look like. Um and again I think if we had a parent opportunity for that
037the group of stakeholders to come in there I think that that would help um families sort of understand what this is getting at and how their student can make up those classes. Um so that's those are kind of my comments on it. I um yeah um I guess my last one is uh I'm also a little uncomfortable with the um in in addition to the language below over the course of four quarters a student whose total number of unexcused absences is 16 or greater granted that is a lot may lose access to privileges such as prom, graduation, etc. along with extracurricular programming. I just I feel like prom and graduation you've you've gone to Quinsey public schools your you know entire educational career. I kind of feel like prom and graduation, you've earned that. Um,
038and I don't know if I really love another kind of stick. If we're doing carrots and sticks, I don't know if I love another stick on this. Um, I sort of feel like prom and graduation don't need to be brought into this and maybe can look be looked at separately. I don't love that it's in the policy like that. Um, like I say, I think they've earned that um those rights of passage and if they've had a tough semester, that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be able to walk in graduation or go attend their prom. Um, so those are my thoughts on that. Um, I I would like to be able to hold this and have more input from families before we vote on it. But it's my two cents. Thank you. A comment and
039a couple of questions. I actually really like this and I think that it would be demoralizing for a teacher to see a student who was never in their class go to the prom and graduate with his with his with his colleagues. I think that as a former teacher, I would find that demoralizing that there was no no um ramifications for that behavior. But to the other point, one of the statements in the middle school thing, it says middle school administrators and staff may use many strategies, programs, and incentives. I think a statement like that in the high school thing would solve a whole a whole lot of the parents concerns because I know what you're doing. Yes. You know, you do you're doing a whole lot of that same stuff and there still is discretion
040with the principles, but you are doing that. And so I think if that were in that language were just in there up front that it would really make the parents feel a whole lot better because it it didn't feel like that was so warm and developing as in the high school level as it could have. But the rest of this I think I agree with um Miss Cavalo and the administrators that this is absolutely necessary. Uh we have to have something to hold the kids responsible for and we're giving them opportunities to make up the credit. So thank you. Thank you. Um, I found it very reassuring to hear from Mrs. Kfales um before that our teachers were on board with this and the QEA was behind it and the leadership team was supportive of
041it. Um, that was very reassuring to me to hear after going through it. Um, to make the changes that Mrs. Partios is suggesting seemed kind of drastic in reflection to the fact that they are telling us that they feel it this is what we need. Um, so I am all for agreeing with it and I agree with Mrs. Lebo's change that adding that to the high school would be very well needed. Um, so I disagree with making the changes. I agree with what the teachers are telling us and what the leadership team and the professionals are are saying. This is what we need. So Thank you. Uh, I like the policy the changes in uh that you put in place. um students job is to be in school to get an education and the parents
042jobs is to get them there. So it's a cooperative effort on both parts and the students can't educate the kids if they're not there. So if if um we want to get the job done in a in a timely manner and efficient manner then that's what has to be done. Um, the only thing I have a question on, and I asked this uh back in uh early May at the last meeting. I still don't have an answer about uh you said something about missing half a class. You're considered absent for that class. Yes. I still have an answer the question about at what point are you absent for the day? Yeah, I I believe it's like 11 or 11:30, but it's there's no way here in the policy. I mean, that is a state I
043think that's a state regulation. I'm pretty sure I we can if that's what the committee wants, we can I'd appreciate it because um you know, some kids come in at 11:00 and they think they're in school for a day and they're not. Uh and and it's has to be consistent all the way through. It can't be um one time at one middle school, another time at another middle school. Has to be consistent. We'll make sure we make a consistent mistake, right? Okay, great. Thank you. I appreciate it. Thank you, Erin. Um I would just like to say I think this is great. They're both, you know, the way you The thing is, and I hope parents have confidence in our educators, the teachers, the administration to put together a policy that makes sense for our
044students in the classroom. And if parents have any kinds of, you know, um, issues or things about their own children that are having issues with attendance, then it's they're up to them to come to you to find a way to resolve some of the issues that they might be having. Um, so I think that's important. My only thing would be after we, you know, if we do approve these and once it's time to implement, if we can have some kind of um document we talked about before that just kind of lays out some of these things in simple terms that we can share with parents if they need it, you know, so doesn't necessarily have to read the policy, but we can put some of those things in in place for, you know, principles and
045and the schools themselves and also parents so that they have that. But in terms of the policy and the way it's written, I would hope that um we all have confidence in our team to put together what they think is the best thing for our students. So, thank you and I'd support it. So, and is that it? We can just move it forward. Mr. Gutro. Uh well, it it it sits until the next meeting for a vote. If uh Dr. Perkins has any changes, she can discuss it with us at that meeting. I know that we did in policy committee talk about these are consequential changes for parents and students that we could adopt for the next calendar year school year and that you would do some pretty robust outreach to parents and students before
046and during the school year next year so that they understand upfront that both with the grading and and the absences. So yes. Yep. Thank you. Okay. All right. Oh, Mrs. Lebo, do we have to have another policy committee then to look at the changes before we vote at the school committee meeting? Nope. As long as we'll make those changes suggested tonight, which will be reflected in the next meeting. Thank you. And really the only change is what adding the half a day um time the whatever the you know the 11:00 for Desi, right? And also moving the school to the high school. Okay. Is that it? Okay. All right. Thank you. Okay. Next on the agenda, we have new business. Um, city of Quinsey FY 2026 budget overview. Mayor Ko, which we did. We do
047this. Oh, we did them both. Yeah. Here. I mean, if they have any questions. Yeah. Yeah. Do you have a question on the on Okay. Do you want to say do you want to say it out loud? Okay. I just want to say that for for Mr. Regali and I have been around a long time. We've been looking for this change for years and years. Uh and we're so pleased to see it finally come to and the fact that a student just gets an F is a wonderful thing because you can recover from an F. So, I'm very happy with the policy changes. Awesome. Thank you. Okay, Mayor Ko. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh good evening everybody. I I know we've already been to the city council and the city council moved very efficiently. Um
048but for the public's knowledge, the uh school committee comes together, takes the bottom line, then makes the decision on how to spend that uh based on the recommendation of the superintendent and and his team. Um so this year's budget um city budgets $455.8 million. When you add in the sewer water budgets, it's it's over half a billion dollar operating budget for the city, which is not insignificant, I might add. And we've got great professionals uh in administrators and department heads that do great great work. And I know in the budget book, um it doesn't necessarily reflect all of the additional services that come to the schools. When we do the per pupil expenditure, we include all those other departments and their contributions uh at the end of the day. So the the really the total
049in the budget toward education is is 217 million not the specific uh number that comes into the budget for the schools and I and I I know this committee my colleagues are fully aware of these areas but public buildings for example which we separated a number of years ago which no longer competes with the classroom uh has that department's grow grown tremendously with additional craftsmen uh and workers and budget wise and capital which uh the schools have never been in better shape in my view with their maintenance work orders get dealt with much more timely more efficiently. So the vast majority of the energy of the public buildings goes into the school buildings uh as we uh suggested it would. Department of natural resources are parks division recreation division obviously taking care of the grounds
050the the wreck programs and the afterchools uh programs etc. There's a lot of overlap there and contributions made by those departments. our police department, the traffic supervisors which cross our kids on the busy intersections. They're in the police budget as are the school resource officers and and and I know that in addition to that um the chief and his staff work very closely with the superintendent and his team on various issues that pop up. They train in our buildings. They know our buildings. We know if we have a problem, we get the best in response. Um our libraries, you could buy the libraries after school and they're filled with our kids. Uh so the the library department, so I could go on and on. The point is that um the number in the school budget
051is not the total commitment by the city uh to our kids. On the investment side um since 2005 um we did we've had 19 MSBA projects. In 2008 we've had 18 of those 19. The total projects at 370 million uh 204 million in MSBA contributions. Um that's pretty remarkable. overall reimbursement rate we've had is the 68%. the debt service budget which um includes all our debt and I know there's been open criticism of my administration on on the debt um but when you break it down it's it's very reasonable and makes perfect sense and I think it's important to mention that the pension obligation bond we did a few years ago which fully funds the pension system which affects school employees except for the teachers education side but all the other employees are part of
052the city's retirement system and the system has to be fully funded by 2040. Uh we were looking at some ridiculous numbers going forward to fully fund it cuz it was only at 43%. We did a lot of hard work with a lot of experts at the table and we made the decision to bond it at 2.62% uh which is incredible uh 475 million. So when you look at the debt service, you really need to separate that out uh from the regular as the experts do when they do assess our our bond rating. Uh, another piece of that service is the district improvement financing for Quinsey Center. A lot of the public improvements we've done in Quinsey Center, we use the diff. What does that mean? That means that the payment on the debt service for
053that comes out of the downtown. The new growth in the downtown pays that debt down. Doesn't come out of the uh the general fund, so to speak. So, I think it's important to point those things out. Then of course of the debt service that we have uh 17 million this year in that debt service line is devoted to school projects and uh improvements. I want to thank the city council. Uh they've been very supportive of all those projects. We have uh more things coming in in the capital budget. It's it's my intention to work with this group to forward uh next year the next cycle um request for the new West Quindy school that we've been discussing. So we've we've got an OPM on board. We're doing some of the background work on it. Um,
054which, uh, we all know there's a lot of paperwork and a lot of steps, but, uh, that would be, uh, certainly my intention, and we'll talk more about that as we go. Uh, our chapter 70 budget, which is the direct, uh, money from the state towards education. Then there's unrestricted local aid. Uh, the chapter 7 is up about $ 1.5 million. So, I certainly appreciate the work of our legislators, uh, Speaker Mariano, Representative Chan and Ay, and certainly Senator Keenan, uh, for their advocacy and help at the state level. We truly are in it, uh, all together. So, um, I do want to acknowledge also that at the end of the day, the Richard Dristoph Learning Center, which I know we're all thrilled about, uh, we had a visit recently by Senator Marky, who was
055just blown away by um, by his visit. Uh it was $22.5 million in city monies. We got $8.6 million from the county opera money to the distribution uh from the federal government. We used 6.6 million from our ESSA funding and then we used 5.8 from the city's aotment of the opera funding. Uh so um a $43.5 million building um you know we used federal money extensively to keep that number down. Now the second piece as we know is as the building continues to be filled um over time and my guess is within the next two to three years we'll start seeing a significant savings going forward uh for the uh for our budget which is which is tremendous. So, it's a great facility um beautiful facility actually with all the bells and whistles needed for
056that population and we got some incredible dedicated educators which really make it happen over there. I I think that's worthy, uh to continue to mention uh that that will be a budget savings as we go forward. So, uh good stuff. Um, I certainly just want to take a minute and congratulate the leadership team, congratulate our principles, our teachers, our staff, um, you know, all the staff right across the board. Everybody comes to work in our school system. It's all about the kids, but everyone has different missions um, as part of the general mission of educating our kids and giving every every kid kid a chance to succeed. So, grateful for every I'm grateful to my colleagues here and we have great discussions. We don't always agree, but it's uh it's all worthwhile. That's what it's
057all about. And we continue to move our system forward. Essentially, the budget is level funded. Um you know, this this year is a little challenging because that pension obligation bond that I mentioned is this is the peak year, then it flattens out. Um so it's a little more challenging this year. So, um I think it's adequate though for the services we provide and uh I'm grateful for everybody's work and I know um superintendent your group will present uh plan to us but if anybody has any questions at this point or may I'd be happy to answer them but was not um you mentioned the flag day parade in your report. I just want to encourage people. Um I don't think they have any idea how big this parade is going to be. There's 12 significant
058bands. Uh in addition to our the the band we're so proud of, the Quincy North band, we've got several drum and bugle cores, marine bands, military bands, several floats and and specialty units. So I'm just encouraging people. This is one of those once in a-lifetime 400th celebration to come out and enjoy that night. So with that, thank you. Thank you. Going to say to the mayor's point of the flag day celebration, you should remind people that it is going to be an hour earlier because a lot of people I've talked to hadn't heard that yet. In all the advertisement, it is it is saying six o'clock. So, we hope they're used to routine. So, we got to keep saying that. So, did everybody hear that? The Flag Day parade is one hour earlier. Six o'clock.
059Don't miss it. 6 o'clock. Okay. Is that loud enough? There you go. Thank you. Okay. Next, um we have Oh, Quinsey Public School FY 2026 budget presentation. Superintendent Malvy, Dr. Perkins, and Mr. Melany. Thank you. And so we're here tonight to present to you our um budget recommendations. Before um I begin the presentation uh similar to the mayor, I do want to thank uh some key players. of course the mayor um for giving us a level service budget um and of course the support of the city council most recently and of course the support of this uh this committee with regard to how the budget is rolled out and how it is designed to obviously keep our students the center of the budget and shortly thereafter our staff and of course our buildings. Um, but
060I do want to in particular thank the mayor because if you look around and we see it uh through our interactions with other superintendents on the southshore, a lot of other cities and towns are suffering for various reasons. Um, but fortunately Quinsey under the mayor's leadership and of course the city council, we have a level service budget. We have no cuts planned. We have no overrides planned. uh we are able to operate and continue the excellent service that we provide our students and families moving forward and of course that's a direct result of the leadership within this city not only the mayor the city council but this school committee as well another key aspect of that is the guidance from this committee and of course the mayor and our own leadership team with regard to
061making sure that ESSA funds were spent appropriately and not spent in a way that would cause a structured deficit. You see other cities and towns creating these structural deficits through the spending inappropriate spending of Esser. That was never done here. We kept it very um tight and very careful targeting those um funds to things like the learning center which is an amazing as the mayor said an amazing school for our students uh with autism and their families making it a community school uh finally for the first time in Quinsey for our families and our students. Um and of course I have to thank of course uh Mr. Dr. Perkins of course um for helping develop this budget as well as Mr. Melany and and all the other members of the SLT uh for assisting in
062the budget process. So thank you both and thank you SLT members. So I'll begin with the budget process. Um as part of the budget process of course as you know we identify areas of consideration based on the bottom line budget we receive from from the mayor. Of course SLT and principles are involved in that. Continuous meetings with our principles are had to make sure that all of the needs in each and every school are met. We review organize options to address possible areas of impact of course with our SLT and of course the principles. We prioritize possible areas of increase shift reduction. You'll see in the budget tonight that we do have areas of uh shifting um and um zero reduction. Uh again, thanks to the budget, we determine the impact on the budget area
063lines with the SLT and principles. We present options, of course, tonight to the school committee. We've already um presented our budget and approved and had that approved by the city council last week, which is great. We prioritize options with, of course, the Quinsey School Committee. We rework options as guided by you. And then of course finally hopefully at the June 11th meeting we can get a vote on the budget, approve the budget and then act on your options and make sure that we're giving up the best possible budget for our students and families. Uh with that I will hand the presentation over to Mr. Melany who will go through the budget step by step along with Dr. Perkins. Um thank you. Um the uh budget before you uh is a total of $146,734,627. Uh this
064represents uh $4.198 million increase over the prior year's budget. Uh funding comes from two sources and a reduction from a a third, the reduction of the ESSA grants. uh the mayor's appropriation of 138 uh.384 million uh which is a 4.198 increase or 3.1 uh 3% over the prior year. Our projected circuit breaker funding uh is $ 8.35 million which was an increase of a million dollars over the budget amount last year. Uh and it is the same amount that we received last year. And we have elimination of hundred of excuse me a million dollars of ESA funding that we used in our budget last year to offset uh costs in the 2025 budget. Uh as the mayor alluded to earlier, uh this is a graph of our um funding. Uh the blue section is the
065Quinsey public schools budget and the red section on top of that is the additions uh that the mayor spoke of before health insurance, parks department, public buildings, debt service and what have you. Um so you can see that uh as the mayor said significant portion of the budget uh much greater than our uh $138 million goes to the schools. Uh this is the net school spending as determined by uh the department of uh education uh DZY. This is a slightly no lower number because they do take out some debt service amounts. Uh what they do is they give us a foundation budget uh when we have a net school spending that we have to meet and as you can see the blue line over it that's the actual net school spending after adjustment. So you
066can see that Quinsey does pay uh significantly more than the foundation uh spend than the foundation budget that DZ uh calculates for us. And this is the per pupil spending. Again, this is a little bit different uh than the total amount spent because they do make uh those adjustments for certain items. So as you can see uh our per pupil spending uh for is significantly higher than the foundation budget and it's also higher than that amount because of those additional uh costs for uh the uh public debt for the school buildings and what have you that they don't count in the net school spending. Um the approved budget last year was $142,536,467. We started at that uh for a baseline uh negotiated increases were a step on level increases uh of 1 uh.278 million. Uh
067so for projected budget for level services without counting um some of the deficit items and the uh reduction of the ESSA spending would be 143,814,727. Our offsets are 800 $8.35 million from circuit breaker spending. We're anticipating salary savings from retirements. Uh we're estimating 20 retirements at a savings about $45,000 per retirement. Uh so that's a total offset of $9.25 million. So the appropriation would need um without addressing uh areas would be 134,564 uh 727. The appropriation from the city of Quinsey was the uh 138,834,627 uh leaving us with three uh.82 million uh to address uh budget areas. What this does is it allows us to meet all the contractual obligations for the school year and provides the additional funding to uh address class size, programs, academic support and what have you. So, so this slide
068is just a reminder of the uh guidelines for class sizes. Although uh you'll see in K to3 it's 22 to 26, 4 to 8, 24 to 28, 9 to 12 over 30. We inform the school committee in Quinsey. We are extremely fortunate. We hardly ever come anywhere near um these class size numbers. occasionally, I would say, at the high school level, sometimes at the middle school level, and primarily for um some of our advanced placement classes. And we do typically discuss that with you and try to work on solutions. Um so, our academic classroom, the questions that we ask as we develop the budget, we look at are we able to maintain or increase all of our current existing classroom staff? Do we have a need to reduce or increase increase increase our academic classroom
069teaching staff in any of our um areas or buildings? Were there any changes in academic classroom teacher staff because of things like Mr. Melany mentioned retirements, leave of absences, uh those kinds of things? And have we looked at enrollment projections, which we have for the uh 2026 school year? And uh will there be a need to exceed the current school committee guidelines? And so that being said, um right now we do not need to add any new positions to the to the budget in terms of for our um our classroom teachers and and so we have at the top there uh what you heard from Mr. Molany in October was a reconciliation. Um and in terms of shifting uh staffing, we do have a couple places where we are shifting staff based on enrollment in
070numbers. One area is Beachwood Null. Uh their kindergarten has gone down. So we only need two classes at Beachwood Null Elementary School. So that position, not the person, that position will be moving to Atlantic because we do have a need for an increase in class size at Atlantic. And I think we actually discussed that with you um this past year. And at Clifford Marshall grade 2, we are decreasing because of enrollment. And that position again because of increased enrollment is moving to Southwest Grade 5. So for academic programs, uh these are just a list of academic programs. It includes everything from pre kindergarten to ROC in special education, EEL, all of our um our music, art, physical education, things like that. And so again, our key questions that we look at when we're looking at
071our academic programs is are we able to maintain or or increase all of our academic programs and staffing? Were there any ac there changes in academic program staffing like retirements? um and do we need to consider a reduction in force and thankfully we do not. So again the um the top number there we do have a reconciliation um that was uh brought to the budget finance subcommittee on October 31st which is a decrease of 1.0 FTEES in special education. Um and then during the year we did increase our uh it is speci under special education but it's actually a different area of special education. So we needed uh because of case load sizes we needed to increase one speech and language pathologist and um we also added one BCBA and that is again to just
072address you know needs around the district and also um to decrease agency fees which I know that we have talked about they're significant they're anywhere from double to triple what we would pay if it was our own staff. So for those reasons we made those shifts during the school year. Uh and then academic support. These are the areas that include academic support. It's attendance, guidance, psychologists, EL tutors, special education tutors, extracurricular activities, special education summer programs, things like that. And so again, the questions we ask are, are we able to maintain or increase existing support? Um were there any changes due to requirements due to retirements or things like that? And do we need to consider a reduction in force? And again, thankfully we do not. And so this is where we have our biggest
073changes in terms of our proposals. So we are proposing to increase the long-term substitute um the the amount in the budget to $519,900. And we did increase the substitute pay rate which was extremely helpful. Thank you very very much. So we are now actually able to get substitutes. it's been working. So, we are very thankful for that. But as a result, we do need to increase that line in order to pay that. Um, we did have an increase. This actually has already happened. It's the our IT clerical support. This is actually was Kelly Powers, now is Katie Delaney. She is our web master social media person. We did increase her to a full-time and I think you can all see the wonderful work that she does every day. It's absolutely worth it. Um, we are
074looking to increase I know Mr. Melany has talked with you in budget sub you know subcommittee meetings about the need for an increase in paraprofessional staff. So we are recommending that we increase 15 positions of paraprofessionals which is an uh increase in that line of 550,000. We have a a staff member at central registration that was previously uh the salary was pre previously being funded by SR3 and so we are recommending um increasing that line to 84,872 which which is that person's salary. Um we are also recommending increasing funds for special education summer programs that were previously funded by SR3 um up to 165,000. Uh and then um another area that we feel is significant and definitely in need of um increase is the district-wide extracurricular activities. So these are all of our afterchool activities.
075Uh every year we are over budget in that area. I think we offer amazing things thanks to the mayor and um the support of the school committee and so we really uh want to increase that line so that we're able to better plan for and provide after school activities. So we're we're um increasing that to 182,253. And for nonacademic support, the areas that are in this are things like custodians, coaches, um kodas, which are occupational therapy assistants or speech and language pathology assistants, uh things like that. And so again, we ask the same questions. um I won't repeat them again and uh so here we are recommending um a decrease and that is because we uh reorganized and consolidated uh staff and we so we ended up in the end we added a secretarial position
076to the RDLC because of the staggered start time. So we have the prek and then we had the 8:30 to, you know, 245. Um, and so we so we did add a second secretarial position, but we were able to offset that by consolidating positions at Codington. Um, so in in the end, you see, uh, what we're what we're proposing and I'll turn it over to Mr. Maney. Uh, thank you. Uh, we're looking at uh the, uh, subsidized services, our revolving accounts. uh the food service, school rentals, athletics, and transportation. Uh we um always look to see if we can uh increase funding in these. Do we need them or not? Uh I know this is a touchy area because of of fees and what have you. So we um we're only recommending a change in
077one, but we'll go through all four. Uh food service program. Um, as you know, in uh 2023, Massachusetts passed legislation uh mandating uh all students will attend schools will participate in the free lunch program and get a free meal. Um, their budget is very healthy. They're taking in a lot of money and a lot of good things are being done in the schools. They had a little excess cash uh which has to be spent on food services and working with Paul Hines and Sarah Deour. Uh they're having some major renovations. So they'll be uh uh being withdrawing some of these funds. So uh look at the um staffing. The only thing that's in our budget uh the lunch attendance uh because that was historically something that would not be covered because it was serving both
078students who are getting a free lunch and not getting a free lunch. Um so those have been in our budget uh and we're leaving them at the same. So uh we're going to recommend that we maintain Massachusetts free lunch program for the school rentals. Um uh the rates are established uh by this uh committee. Uh we're going to recommend increasing fees. Uh what this goes for is a custodial and it used to be a portion would be going for overhead uh the electricity uh specifically. Uh for 2024 uh we ran a deficit of uh $70,838. Uh that ate up most of the cash in this account. Uh we expect to have a small surplus this year. Uh but part of that is because we have shifted a lot of the overtime as we've talked about
079the overtime being over budget for the custodial staff. A lot of good things are being done. Part of it's due to the rentals and a lot of work being done in the buildings uh by the public buildings department. So that's uh increasing the cost and the overtime rate for the custodians is has been rising over the years while we've kept the um uh fees the same for the rentals. So, what we're recommending uh is basically the same thing we did last year. Um we're uh in recommending we uh increase the youth rate from $40 to $50. Uh the adult rate for Quinsey adults from $55 to $75 an hour and outside rentals from 75 uh to $100 uh per hour. Uh we anticipate this will increase uh revenues uh by approximately $105,000 for next year
080which will help out with that deficit in the overtime line. Uh transportation uh we no longer charge uh students for uh transportation if uh they're within the mile and a half on an asne basis. Uh we do have uh a fee for outside rentals uh when very little is being done with this. We didn't have the drivers available nor the the rolling stock. Um so we're going to recommend uh that we leave everything the same for now because it's not much uh is going on. If we start to get back into this business in the future, would recommend raising the fees because the hourly rate is uh more than the hourly rate, the regular hourly rate for our drivers is significantly more or less than and significantly less than uh their overtime rate. So, at
081the current time, we're not recommending any changes, uh athletics. Um this year we're running a a fairly goodsized deficit. A lot of that was uh for new equipment, uh new uniforms. We've had uh some teams split up and and additional teams. Uh we're in a very good shape uh going forward. There's not going to be a significant amount of money in this. Uh we'll be able to get through next year with the purchases we've made this year for the fall. Uh and uh next year I think we'd have to be looking at either uh increases in fees or increases in the uh Quincy public schools budget to cover any deficits that might result. Uh so for the current uh time, we're not recommending any uh changes in the fee structure for athletics. So in summary,
082uh we are looking for at some point a a vote on increasing the rental fees if possible if if it's your will. Um and I'm going to turn it back over to Dr. Perkins. And for academic expenses, you see what is included in there. Um it's special education tuitions, it's the professional development, textbooks, course approvals, those kinds of things. Uh and again, we ask questions as we're looking at these lines and um we ask if we need any increased funding or restoration and have we considered expense lines that may be reduced. And in this we are recommending increases. We're recommending an increase in the special education tuitions. I, as you know, Mr. Melany discussed it, I think, at the last budget subcommittee that we are in a deficit in that line. Uh, and although our
083numbers are continuing to go down thanks to the Dr. Rich Chris Fararo Learning Center, the cost of tuitions is is really out of control. Um, and so for that reason, we're recommending these students are already currently placed in out of district tuition uh at out of district locations and so we're requesting that we increase that line. Um, we're also um requesting an increase in consulting and contractual services. This was previously funded by SR3 and this includes specifically uh Quinsey Access Television um what we pay them to do the wonderful things that they do for us um in our in our events and Dove. Um and then uh the increase funding for software. We're also asking for that based on things that were funded by SR3 and that includes things like uh Egenuity and uh the
084Google suite for education um Lexia, Navian, school messenger, Snap, all of those things. And you know those those um those items the the cost the subscription cost is very expensive and it continues to rise. Um, and so these are things that we already have. We're currently using and so we're requesting a $400,000 increase in that area. And are you okay? And then non-academic expenses, not usually my area of expertise, but um where this is the electricity, rentals, gas, things like that. Uh and so we are uh in requesting an increase in um special education transportation. Again, Mr. Molini already discussed this with you at a budget subcommittee that this is an area where we um are running in deficit. So uh we need to increase that line. And then increased funding for uniforms that were
085previously funded by SR3. These are contractual items. So things like custodial uniforms, nurses, and security are what's in that line. And these we're already doing this. This is a contractual obligation. And no. Okay. Um so here's a breakdown of the additional funds uh beyond the level service. Uh and but and again we'd like to point out uh it still is level service because we are providing these already. We did not hire any new people. These are already people on staff. Uh so we have no change in academic classroom teachers, academic programs. those two positions that are already in in uh Quinny public schools and being paid for now. Uh academic support, the 15.3 positions, the aids and the.3 it uh an increase of uh 1,52,25 uh non-academic support uh decrease of 0.1 positions with no
086monies attached to it. academic expenses. We are increasing uh $1,287,000. And again, that's to uh address deficits and to uh uh backfill the ESSA spending. So there's really no new uh monies coming in here. And for the non-academic expenses, an increase of $1,30,875. Uh so this uh summaries, there's uh 17.2 two positions uh in this budget that were not in last year's budget but were being funded through last year's budget. Uh and that is a total of the 300 uh $3,819,900 uh that's over and above the uh contractual raises and we open up uh to any questions you may have. Questions? Hold on. Okay, Mr. Dra. Thank you. Um, excellent presentation. Uh, thank you to the the mayor for providing the funding for the level of service budget. Um, and I overall super sound recommendations.
087I thought they were great. I just had a question about the rental fee. um if I could because it seems that there was a considerable increase in rental fee income between 24 and 25 and I I imagine postco postco correct yeah postco the numbers are are are going up and people are renting out the gyms right we're still significantly behind it was like around 600,000 uh dollars pre it was like pre-COVID yeah ah so it's inching its way back slowly yes okay and and so is it um so it's not it's The demand is increasing but it's not back to where it was. Correct. And the cost associated with custodial services primarily and maybe energy. Uh we have stopped taking out uh using an offset for about $100,000 per year for uh about 5 years
088before CO. Uh once CO hit, we obviously couldn't do that. And um so it's now currently just strictly for uh custodial salaries. Gotcha. And is it is it um the rentals gyms? Gyms. Um it could be auditoriums. It could be classrooms. Um it could be a number of things. Primarily it is gyms. And and do we I mean you're usually pretty good about seeing what other neighboring cities and towns charge for that stuff. Do you know? We're we're uh hired. We had um and one of the things that was interesting Quinzy was one of the few places that was still allowing uh rentals. Well, in this postco world, people weren't. So we got a couple of outside groups u but not that significant but we are lower than other uh areas the current fees for
089hourly rental. Got it. All right. Thank you. Very competitive. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for the uh in-depth um detail on that. Um couple questions. Chromebooks. Um, I suspect we're gonna have a whole bunch of Chromebooks uh that are going to need to be replaced or I know that there's a bunch that are um kind of with COVID, you know, coming, we got that big influx, but I suspect we get a there is nothing in this budget that would uh be for replacing that. Um, I think we'll be trying to talk to um uh Eric Mason and obviously the mayor if there's any money in a future uh u uh CIP that might be put forward, but right now there is uh nothing in our budget to cover Chromebooks. Okay. Do we have a store
090of extra ones right now? We have some. We correct. Yeah. Any any ballpark of I'm not sure how many. We can get you that number. I I'm not sure honestly off the top of my head because Sorry. Some of them, you know, they refurbish, right? And then others they also have like some new ones that they have on reserve for when kids move in or things like that. But I would have to double check. I don't know off the top of my head how many. 300 in reserve maybe. Yeah. So, but we'll get you that number. Okay. Yeah. No, I just uh that that remains um anxietyprovoking for me having the having to replace that those um those when they're coming up as they come with age. Um, athletic fees. Um, so when students pay
091the athletic fee, where does that go? Oh, I'm sorry. I see it right here. I'm sorry. Athletic fees and gate receipts. Okay. So, this the fees that we're collecting from the students, you're saying aren't enough to cover all the expenses that the athletic program is providing. Is that right? Correct. Uh, we have a uh basically level funded the athletic budget uh year-over-year except for some uh percentage raises. Uh we had a significant increase in the coaches line one year uh when um uh the mayor uh made a separate appropriation. So the coaches weren't coming out of uh this line. Um but the the expenses for all the items uh and there's great wear and tear on them and there's um some state regulations on uh uh refurbishing and and maintaining the equipment. Uniforms wear out.
092uh helmets have to be replaced and things of that nature. So, okay. All right. Um yeah, I would I would advocate for not increasing the student athletic fees. I know that's not that's not what you're suggesting here, but it's um you know, we we don't want that to be too too uh impactful to families to, you know, as an obstacle to participating in athletics. And I think a lot of the booster clubs now are pretty intense and they're being we're being asked to sort of um buy other things in addition to just the athletic fees. So that it's kind of a lot. So I would I would love to not have that go up. So but I also am concerned that we're losing money in that area. So um something to watch, I guess. Um
093and hopefully we won't need all that money in the special ed transportation if we get some more bus drivers. So fingers crossed we get some more QPS drivers there. Um we decreased the translation services line item last year. I just want to make sure like reflecting back, was that okay? Did we? Yes. Okay. Yep. We're doing we're doing fine. I think it's an appropriate amount. Okay, that's perfect. I just wanted to circle back and my last question was the reach program. Um, going back a few years, we had uh was part of a team that was working on trying to expand that reach program and I know that kind of the obstacle to doing that was having more in educators in that program uh able to give services to students. And I'm just wondering if
094um I know this is a level funded budget, but um I'm wondering about is that reach program expanding at all or are we just kind of stagnating it because we don't we can't put any more right now into developing that a little further? Uh they they work with grade four and they do also um work with grade three, but it's it's very limited. So yes, I think it's it's remaining what it what it what you know it to be right now. Okay. Yeah, I'd love to see that expand as kind of a priority moving forward if there's any um you know future considerations when you have some extra like that. I would love for that to be one of the priorities that we look at. But thank you. Thanks. Jesus, just a quick clarification on
095one of Mrs. Pio's points, but I want to make sure you're not recommending any changes to athletic fees, right? Correct. Okay. Just making sure. Thank you, Mrs. Leo, thank you. Um, first I want to thank um the mayor and um the city council for getting giving us the money to cover the summer programs that we developed during during our ESSA funding which are phenomenal. Yeah, they really are phenomenal programs and I'm so glad that we have the money in here to maintain these in our budget. Um we're just so lucky the extracurricular stuff and and those things stayed. I think it's amazing. I have a couple of concerns. um one that came before us when the uh athletic subcommittee met and it was that we have we have athletic teams that have JV teams that
096we don't pay the coaches for. We don't pay JV coaches across the board. And so we have parents maybe taking our kids to some field or some hockey rink supervising a JV team because we only have one coach and the coach is with the varsity team. And so or else the parents have to come up with the money to pay another teacher to maybe go with that team. But I don't think we're fulfilling our safety obligations of having a QPS staff member, whether it's a outside co just a coach or a teacher covering those JV teams. So I'm really concerned about that. I think we need to find a way to make sure if there's a JV team playing that they have a coach with them. That's all. Because sometimes I know that happened on
097the golf team. the JV team would be playing at the away team and the varsity team would be playing at home and they only have the varsity coach. Somebody had to go with those kids sit out of the golf course, right? So, it it's an issue and I don't know if you can do something about it, but I think that's a pressing issue right now personally. The other the other thing is I I would like to see a little bit more of if you have the money, the time, the school adjustment counselors. I was so imple pleased with their presentation and I've heard such good things from staff guidance counselors about the work that they're doing. So, I think that's something we should have a couple in both high schools. Maybe we do in every
098middle school, but I just think it's really important. So, if you could keep that in the back of your mind, but I think the coaching thing is a safety issue. Now, all set up. I'm all set up. Yes. Thank you very much for the presentation. This was great. And I do want to thank the council as well for passing our our budget through. Um, some things I'm I would like to see. Um, if we could get a copy of what the rental agreement is that people are signing when they sign it and if there are any additional charges that they're getting charged besides these charges when what the overall charges would be um for requirements for renting our spaces for what they're getting. Uh, we'll get that for you no problem. But I think the
099only really other fee is if sometimes if they're using an auditorium, we'll have one of our techs there and that's a separate fee because we we'll be paying for the custodian and then we'd have a tech for running the the equipment because obviously we don't want uh just anybody handling it. Right. Okay. Right. Okay. and also um a list of charges that we're charging our students for other things that they're doing besides athletic fees like if there's a charge for any clubs or anything like that that they're having. I know at the middle school level there are fees for some of the athletics that they're having that they have or if there's any other fees that we're charging other that's something that I'm I'm concerned I'd like to Yep. to have us have a handle
100on just in case. Um because I would inevitably love to be able to get rid of those fees. I I don't really like them having fees at the middle school level for sports. I think that should I don't think there's many, but we'll double check. Okay. I thought I heard before that we had that. So, I just want to make sure that we aren't that we do whatever. Absolutely. Um and um because inevitably I would like to see a a de sorry a decrease in athletic fees. I think that our athletic fees are too high personally. Um and agreement with Mrs. Lebo, I was really hoping that we were going to see a budget where we could put adjustment counselors in our middle schools. So, that's something that I was that I was hoping for,
101but it doesn't look like that's going to be here, but I was hoping for that. So, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cahill. Um, how much how much are the user fees at the high school level? And I know broken down by sport. Um, the majority it's $100 per sport. Uh football is 300, lacrosse I think is 150 and hockey is 400. Uh and there is a family cap of $700 on each board. Uh the family cap is 700 for the season for all for the year for the year. Right. So if you have a hockey player, it's your best time in your life because your your fees have gone down. Yeah. Those are high ticket items. The the helmets alone are $3 $400. I mean, so it's it's a it's expensive.
102Those sports are expensive. Um, regarding the the JV coaches not being available, we we have in our in our uh budget varsity, junior varsity, and freshman level. Correct. And we pay them accordingly. Only for a few sports. Uh when did that change? Um it's it's been like that for a long time. If you look at the list of the stipens, uh what typically happened a lot of times was to be added in uh depending if there was funds available. Uh there was I think the old practice used to be you'd have a v a head coach and assistant coach and the head coach and usually the JV and the varsity would travel together. So to be available for those and oftentimes if there was a freshman team that was playing the assistant coach would go
103down and do that uh level. Um but uh the stipens in the contract for most sports is just two uh typically two um coaches ahead and assistant. That also depends on numbers too, doesn't it? Correct. I mean, if you have 25 freshmen, you need to have a freshman coach to run a program. Correct. Correct. So, you have to pay that person. So, is it in the budget or not? Um, the the most of most of the freshman coaches are not in the budget. It' be something that' be worked out with the athletic director. Uh, and if you had 25 freshmen, in theory, you'd have $2,500 coming in that you could put towards uh the salary of that coach. in the use of fees. Mhm. Okay. Um JV also sometimes well all the years I coached
104we had varsity and and general junior varsity we never had an assistant coach and I never saw that in the uh stipened uh listings. So has that changed? No, the stipens have been the same for at least since the 20 years I've been here. And looking back at prior contracts, it's the same. I think it may be some of the wording was the uh head coach and the assistant coach. A lot of times they use it as head coach and a JV coach, a varsity coach and a JV coach, right? I think it's just nomenclature. Okay. But it's in in in the budget, it's it's not listed as an assistant coach. It's it's it's in the stipens it is. It is. Yes. For some teams. I I yield to some teams. It should be consistent.
105It's not um uniforms. How long do you um get for a uniform? How many years? Because uh we were told back back when three years. Is that still holding true or not? I think it's uh more like four now. Uh it would be um varsity at at one of the high schools. varsity at uh uh varsity home at one high school, for example. Varsity home from the other high school. What happens with those varsity uniforms? They go down to the JV level, right? Uh the next year would be uh uh one school would get the away uniforms and uh the other school would get it the following year. So, kind of like a four-year cycle, right? Because we have two high schools, correct? All right. Um, no, I'm just I'm just um I'm I'm I'm
106wondering about our coaches salaries. Uh we traditionally have increased them by a percentage of the raise that we get for the teachers and that has not allowed us to keep up with the surrounding communities. And I'm wondering if that's going to be addressed in this uh cycle. That we could address an executive session. Mhm. Okay. That that would be my recommendation. Thank you. That's that's all for now. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of comments. tight. I see the uh the increase in the in the rentals. I'm always concerned about the youth category because those are our kids. These are all volunteer groups and that uh keeping our kids busy. So, I want to be careful we don't overdo that cause any issues. Uh back to the athletic fees. Um let
107me ask you just a couple of questions. If somebody joins a band, do they pay the fee? No fee to join the band? No. In any other after school activities, there's no fee. Not to my knowledge. Okay. Um I know I brought this up last year on the equity issue about charging for athletic fees. Now this is not the year that I can address it in the budget, but I think it's something we should work towards and that is reducing that to near zero so that every kid has an opportunity. Now you know I know there are we take care of kids and if somebody comes forward they can't afford it they still get to play which go back to the question of you know the same people are carrying the cost the burden um
108I certainly don't want to have any impediment for anybody playing doesn't appear we do that but I think it's also important to remind uh everybody out there the greatest program against addiction is prevention and some of the greatest things for prevention is band after school programs whether it's arts, sports, athletics. So I think we need to do a uh even better job uh in enticing and encourage these kids to do that. You can't measure who didn't go down that road of addiction, right? But it's just as equally important, if not more important to focus on the prevention side and all of these things that we do after school are tremendous to that. So, it's not only getting our kids the best in education, but it's also getting them ready for life and giving them opportunities
109outside of the classroom. So, um hopefully in a future year we can deal deal with that. But thank you. I have a question. So, when we do rentals and the athletic fees and all that, where do you put that money like in each each of those uh have its own revolving account? Okay. So, it's a separate uh fund. uh the monies that go in uh specifically for uh for example for the the athletics goes in the athletic revolving account and the only thing it can be spent on is athletics. Uh the same thing with the rentals it can only use for uh paying the salaries of the custodians and for overhead costs that if if you had you said a couple years ago prior to COVID there was like a $600,000 rental um income, right?
110Would that would that be a surplus? Um well, what happened with the surplus? We used it to pay uh electricity with it. So, it took help. He it took $100,000 out of the QPS budget that could be spent on something else. So, it did help it as far as that goes. So, you can transfer to do something else if there's as long as it's it's an expense that's allowed for that for that uh fund. Okay. like food service can only obviously can only be spent for food service and that's but the rental rental income can be used has to be used for the custodians the IT guy whoever is going to be there all the lights and all that but if you had a surplus you have 100 grand let's say at the end of
111the year can you transfer that into something else? Uh, no. What you what you do is you'd say, "Okay, let's uh if you were sitting on $100,000 surplus, you felt confset in the current year's budget, reduce electricity by h 100,000 because it'll be paid for out of this fund." And then you'd shift that $100,000 uh to some other area. Yeah, that's what I mean. So, you would shift You can't make a direct transfer. It has to be expend. Okay. Um Okay, that's good for me. Thank you. All set. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Um, next we have the consent agenda which uh requires a roll call vote. Um, motion to approve. Second. Any questions? Okay. Roll call, please. Yes. Mr. Kill. Yes. Mr. Petro. Yes. Mrs. Mrs. Leo. Mrs. Yes. Okay. Communications. Um,
112upcoming school committee meeting 6:30 p.m. Regular meeting on June 11th, 2025 at the Cottington Building. Subcommittee meeting 6 p.m. May 28th, 2025. FY2026 budget and finance teaching and learning. June 4th, 2025 FY2026 QPS budget hearing facilities security and transportation. reports of subcommittee quarterly budget and finance. Mayor Ko to report on the April April 9th 2025 meeting. Uh essentially discussion was over the surplus on the salary side and the deficit on the special ed transportation side and one will offset the other. It's uh it's what happens every year with different categories. So um the the report is online. Okay. And um policy Mr. Gutro May 7th 2025 meeting. Yes. May 7th, we we uh sure that's Yep. May 7th, 2025, we had a meeting. We covered the two issues that we talked about earlier tonight with
113the grading system as well as the uh middle school uh high school middle school attendance policy. I think we covered it with great ground. Miss Cavalo spoke earlier about the teachers support and Mrs. Perkins talked about the amendments. It's going to sit on the table uh tonight and uh we'll discuss any potential changes that we gave her tonight and we'll vote it out into it soon. Okay. Thank you. So, at this point, we are going to go into executive session. We need a motion. We'll make a motion we go to executive session for the purpose of contract negotiations with the caveat we will not be returning to the regular session. Second by Mrs. Hubley. Roll call vote, please. Mr. Begley. Yes. Mrs. Cahill. Yes. Mr. Gatro. Yes. Mrs. Hubley. Yes. Mrs. Lebo. Yes. Thanks. All
114right. Thank you. Good night.