Shawsheen Tech School Committee Meeting 9/23/2025

001public comment. So, we do have one person who signed in this it's Patrick. >> You want me to go over there? Good evening. >> Okay. My name is Sheila Fitzpatrick. I live here um in the district. I live in Burlington. and I'm here to um request that this committee discuss the open meeting law violation which you have as an executive session um item on your agenda. I'm requesting that you discuss it in public. Um to clarify, on August 1st, I attended this committee's retreat. On the 12th of August, I emailed the chair and I asked for a copy of the meeting notes. My email said exactly. Hi, Mrs. M. I'm writing to request a copy of the meeting minutes for the 81 school committee meeting. Below is information pertaining to open meeting law requirements. Please

002forward the minutes of the um to this email address. I included the open meeting law information that says minutes of an open session, if they exist and whether approved or in draft form, shall be made available upon request by any person within 10 business days within 10 calendar days and I cited the letter. I never received a response. On August 29th, I resent the email and then I filed an open meeting last night. On September 3rd, I received a draft copy of the meeting notes um with the recording. Secretary was Nicole Nicole Sto. I don't I apologize if I said your name incorrectly. Also on 93, I received an email response from the chair. She said, "Sheila, I would like to apologize for not responding to your emails. I spent July and August from a

003small town in Maine. My husband and there's no internet and phone service and email. I did talk with the superintendent on Mondays of each week and I was able to keep up with most things going on at the school. I had also asked about some other information. She said she would find out about that information and she believed that the minutes would be sent to me. So your agenda item for this executive session does not require confidentiality at all. It is a simple open meeting law complaint due to the failure of this committee to follow the law. So, I'm requesting that you discuss this in an open meeting and not go into an executive session for it. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We have been advised, I believe, by our attorney. We've been advised

004by our attorney to have it in executive session. >> Okay. Kevin Bloom. >> Hello, >> Mr. Bloom. What What's the super secret signal for you me to switch slides? You You tell me what you >> I'll give you a look. >> Okay. Thank you. >> I also have hard copy as well. So, um thank you for having me here tonight. Um just wanted to talk about uh the summer programming that we just uh finished up. Uh it was another uh record setting year. Um a lot of great things. So um like to be able to share that with you. Uh it was also our 10th anniversary. So uh I don't know what you get for 10th anniversary but um we started in 2016 this iteration of summer programming. There were previous other activities, sports clinics

005and things like that. Um but we sort of tried to put together a comprehensive program uh in 2016. So um if you look at the second page just a variety of photos from some of the activities that we had here. Um volleyball, drawing, crochet, uh cheering, uh visual arts, and baseball. Just a sampling of some of them. Um some of the highlights. Uh for the second straight year, we set a record with registrations. We had 650 registrations. We primarily target middle school students. Uh but we offer for a variety of ages. Uh we offer 25 different programs. Uh you'll see them listed in a few slides. Uh 32 staff members including many Shasheen Tech alums. I think that speaks I know that you met a lot of new teachers that are Shashene Tech alums earlier

006this evening. Uh many of these alums come back and work. Some of them are on staff, some of them are in the community. Uh we also had more than 100 students volunteer and participate as workers, counselors, and volunteers. And we had six different sports teams run clinics and they raised nearly $18,000 for their programs. So, uh just tremendous there. Uh a wide variety of offerings. Uh you see the lists here. um new offerings this past year. Softball clinic. Coach Hines uh put together a softball clinic. Uh we also had introduc introduction to cosmetology. That sold out in hours. We offered two different sessions morning and afternoon and that was sold out I think by 10:00 a.m. of the day registration opened. Um you see that we focused a lot of vocational specific offerings as well

007as some other uh offerings of interest to the community. But again, 25 for a variety of ages. Next slides. None of this happens without the teachers and the coaches. They're simply the best. Uh you walk around here in the summer and you see these students engage. Um, if you remember the weather in late June, early July, literally 100° and uh, Coach McCarthy told me it was the hottest week he's ever had of baseball clinic. And it was also his best attendance he's ever had. That says something in this day and age when these students are out there coming out there. Um, Coach Brierly uh, put together a misting tent out there. Uh, it's just just amazing. And you know, I I say these to the coaches. You see them out here working with 16, 17,

00818 year old students during the season and then they're out here with seven, eight, nine year olds and just how they can adapt and interact. And then you see our students, our current students out there, and that's really the secret sauce, these students that are out there interacting with these young people. Um, but it's just amazing. The these these people are simply the best. Um, also a shout out to uh the aquatics department and uh Jay Tillsley uh and his well-trained lifeguards. Uh especially in the summer, it's nice when they can go and spend an hour in the pool, cool off and relax. Um I know aquatics also had a very busy summer with lessons. Uh and again, shout out to the alumni who come back and work on summer. Uh talked about the coaches.

009There were 459 attendees specifically for the sports clinics out of 650 and again more than 100 current students. They just show up. They hear that their shop is hosting and they just show up. They want to be a part of it. Whether it was DBC, cosmetology, um, internet, business, it's just amazing. And also the maintenance department. I know that Tony has talked about how busy we were in the summer and all the different projects and we were able to all coexist, work around each other and um I just appreciate that flexibility, right? Um I know enrollment I broke it down both by town and actually by state. We draw from two states, 26 different towns and I think that speaks to our reputation. Uh I happen to reside in pee and one of our college

010app students I quickly noticed was from pee and I said you know how'd you find out about us? Uh the young girl's aunt lives in Burlington saw it online reached out to her niece met her first day here and um she she was here all six days for the college app course. Um you look at Littleton and Chelmsford. Um, this is the Briarley and McCarthy connection. Uh, the McCarthy's have six children. They drew 13 different people from Littleton. Uh, the Briarley's Joel worked the baseball and the softball clinic and his wife Jessica taught the college app class and just word of mouth in the community. So, uh, we also have a lot of children of staff members and their relatives that that go. Uh Shannon Becker, a longtime member of the English department. Uh her

011daughter came for the college app class all the way from Norwood. So it just speaks to the reputation of what we have here, the affordability of our offerings. We want to make sure that we offer great programming that's affordable to the members of our community. So uh if you break down, you see the enrollment how it's grown every year. uh take out COVID, but you see that tremendous uh growth. Uh we open our registration at 6:00 a.m. and Tony knows, he gets emails from me and updates, you know, 8 a.m. Hey Tony, we have 200 and something applications already. Uh we sell out many of our programs within by 8:00 am and the majority of our programs are sold out. Uh it's it's great to see and again we rely on word of mouth social

012media for our advertising. Um so just uh just tremendous response there. The goals of summer programming are very simple. Four things. We want to provide quality programming for students in our district anywhere from grades 1 to 11 focusing on grades 5 to 8 especially. Um we introduce middle school students to Shasheen for marketing and recruitment. uh we maintain a neutral to positive revenue structure and we also provide fundraising opportunities for our sports teams. Okay, next slide I think speaks to the impact on recruiting. Uh I got these numbers from Andy Pigeon and his administrative assistant Kristen Uston were able to get me these numbers. We had 527 total completed applications for our current freshman class. 72% of those applicants attended either summer programming or project explore. And a shout out to John Morrison and the

013Project Explorer program. Again, he draws huge numbers as well. And it's just a shout out. I think it just goes to prove if you get students to our campus, they will want to go here. And if you look at the numbers of our 353 current freshmen, 59% either attended summer programming or project explore. I have a sophomore student. He walked in first day. I know you two years ago I was here for summer programming. So you see those connections that are made. Uh the next slide um again more statistics. 96.2% describe uh their programming as excellent or very good. 99 something percent would recommend the the program to a friend. I send out a survey to at the conclusion of all of our offerings and we get tremendous response and again I love the comments

014if you've looked through uh my daughter has done this for two years and really enjoys learning about Shasheen's offerings and thinking about her future. Okay, we have parents that are looking saying I want my student to sort of be exposed to vocational ed. I hear a lot about it. I'd like them to try and see it in the summer. Um, my son has been coming to this camp since he was old enough to. He was excited to find out he has one more year. He loves it so much. He asked if we could cancel our vacation in order to attend a second week. >> Uh, just again, these are the words of the of the parents. And again, first time doing camp at the Tech. My son had a blast, wants to come back next

015summer, right? You you see some of the others. They speak about our coaches, our teachers, and our students, our facility, and what they offer. And again, we're already starting to plan for 2026. Ariel Zern, as part of her work with her new teachers, talks to them about these offerings, you know, so maybe we can get someone who'd be interested in offering something else or something new. But, um, just couldn't be prouder. And I just appreciate all the support from the district. And again, I can't speak enough about our coaches and teachers in the summer and um it's it's just tremendous >> questions. Thank you. >> Consent agenda. [Music] and KM Education Law Approval of minutes June 17th, June 26th, August 1st, and August 28th. >> Make a motion. Madam Chair, we approve the consent agenda.

016>> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I oppose. Unanimous vote >> on the superintendent. All right. Um, I would like to start in in in front of everybody. There should be the current year-to-date spending piece. Um, I will acknowledge there are some categories here that um, appear to be deficit spending. We are still going through um, a lot of the salary line items and making sure that stuff is being pulled from the correct place. Um, uh, our our two consultants have been working on that the past week or so. Um again when this is updated I will share the updated version with you. Um we are um I think on solid footing for for most of these accounts. So when you see uh when you see these accounts they're overdrawn. Um all of those

017are salary line items. Um and again it's just digging through and seeing where those particular items were charged to in that budget and making sure that we make adjustments. Um, again, those of you that are on the budget subcommittee or remember the um kind of timeline that we talked about in the spring, we uh we plan to have information for the October school committee meeting. The budget subcommittee should meet in earlier in October to bring recommendations forward. The plan is to zero out all of those salary line items. Some of them are overfunded, some of them are underfunded, and we want to have a handle on what exactly is left so that we know moving forward into the school year um where we stand or if we have to, you know, if we have to

018find some additional funding or if we're going to have some funding to um help with some of the other costs that we're going to incur during the school year. So, that is coming up. Um it is um it is a work in progress at this point in time. Um I think we are making headway on it. Um but it is it is something that will take u take a little bit longer to get cleared up. Um we just encumbered the first payroll not last Friday but the Friday before. So we had to wait for that. We had to wait for all the teachers and the payers and everybody to be back in the building. Um what we typically do in that first payroll is we'll encumber their salary for the school year so that we

019know we have the money set aside to pay everybody through the end of June. Um, so again, we had to wait for that to happen first and now we're working through that process of identifying um what got pulled from where and where things were budgeted and just kind of cleaning up and crosswalking for lack of a better term to make sure that all that stuff is aligned properly. So, more information to come. Um, it will come to budget subcommittee for their October meeting and then um hopefully we have a recommendation for the full committee to consider um on October 28th. So, I know I know short I do apologize. My intent was to get this out with the packet. Um, I actually didn't get it until after the packet had gone out. So, my apologies

020for people not having it ahead of time to look at. And I will I will go into my update and then if people have qu if people want to look at that while I'm going through the update, if we have other questions, I'll be glad to try to answer them. All right. uh enrollment I'm happy to improve happy to report that our enrollment has improved by about 30 students uh we started the year with 1294 we ended last year with 1265 um if you look at those numbers you can still you can see we still have a small senior class we still have a small junior class so again we've talked about this trend the past few years um those are those are a couple of bubbles if you will that are in there that

021we have to work our way out of there um we have been bringing in between 350 and 360 each year um to try to build up and and make sure that we get our enrollment numbers up over the long term. Um we did backfill as many grade 10 spaces as possible. We went back to last year's weight list um and and uh contacted any parents that had students that were on the wait list to see if they were interested any of the programs we had openings in when we exhausted that list. We also opened admissions back up for the class of 20 28 I think they are. Um and we had a couple more kids that that showed interest and and were were brought in. I said I think to all total we brought in

022either five or six sophomores to kind of back some of those holes. Um you can see I mean if you look at these numbers Bedford had has 21 nth graders enrolled with us. I think that's that might be the largest number we've ever had from Bedford. Uh so there's definitely a trend up there from that community. Um Burlington's freshman clman numbers are up to 54 um which is the first time in a long time they've done that high. So we are seeing some shifting um you know where where it was historically heavy with Bill Ricka and Wilmington and Tukesbury. Um that seems to be kind of evening out a little bit more. Um but overall our enrollment is up and I think that's a positive sign for us as we move forward. Um, and that

023trend hopefully continues. Co-op update. So, um, this is these are the students that started the end of last year as juniors on co-op or potentially went out over the summer or have started uh early in September with the school year. So, uh, 17,133 total hours worked to date. Um, 117 students, which amounts to 39% of the senior classes participating in co-op. As all of you know, that number tends to tends to grow as we get into the school year and kids get back in and get settled and more kids become eligible. You know, as as their as grades shift and and attendance shifts, they uh they start to go out to work. Supporting 104 local employers that that kind of seems steady for us. You know, we're usually somewhere between 105 and 115 local employers

024that we support through co-op. Um it's not always the same people, but it seems like it kind of balances out and that seems to be our sweet spot. and then $275,972 of gross earnings uh to date. Um this report was pulled I think on the 15th. So it is I mean it's always going to be a week or two behind when when we report them here to the school committee. Um breakdown of of our co-op students are out. We have two students from Bedford, 45 Bill Rooka students, seven from Burlington, 26 from Tukbury, 37 from Wilmington, and like I said, it's 117 out of our 301 seniors are participating. So that works out to be just about 39% of the senior class. Um, and hopefully we see that number continue to continue to climb through

025the school year. Um, most of us were down at the new staff meet and greet before the meeting. Um, but I did include slides. There's some people on here that were unable to attend tonight, but again, I just wanted everybody to know. Um, we did we did talk about um, we've had some turnover the past couple years. Looking in the next couple the next two or three years, I think that trend is going to continue. We have a lot of people that kind of came in at the same time. We have a lot of people that are going to retire at the same time. So, um, I don't think that these numbers are going to drop significantly uh, in the next couple years. But uh Ken Keell, who is a Shasheen alum, is our new

026automotive technology teacher. Anthony Orbanic uh who is a Shasheen alum is our new carpentry teacher. Nicole Williams uh is teaching science. Nicole joined us from from Bay Path in Charlton. Um Andrea Fiori is our new cosmetology instructor. Uh Harold Sanchez will be teaching electronics and engineering for us. Um, Alexandra Salunus is our new English language development ELD instructor. Uh, Richard Frank is joining us in the health assisting department. Jillian Shannon is also in the health assisting department. Jillian came to us from Greater Lawrence. Uh, John Pedro is uh, one of two new HVANC instructors. Josephino uh, joined us from H uh, from Greater Lawrence as well. and Keith Murphy uh who was um a longtime um edtech employee actually was was our school committee representative and recorded meetings for the past well since I've been

027here um has decided actually did decide to take a position uh teaching in our ISSN shop so Keith has kind of moved in a different direction and um we have a very able stand in and Mr. go tonight with us. So, uh, new staff, new roles, continue. Megan Crowley is a new math math teacher. She came to us from all high. Nicole Fowler, excuse me, also teaches math. Uh, Nicole came to us from Ke Tech. Lisa Morrison joined us from Bedford Public Schools as a science teacher. Um, we have a new SRO this year. Um, Officer Croak became Sergeant Croak and moved on to some some different pastures and different opportunities. So, Greg Mlizzy uh has joined us as the new SRO. Um Joe Navaro uh has been hired to be a pair professional in

028501, which is the counseling office and the dean's office. Um Joe was here prior to last year on a grant. Um and again, that was a that was a position that um we had some turnover in our pair of professionals, so we kind of utilize the position in a different way. Uh Mike Leak, uh same thing. Mike was hired as a pair professional in construction programs. Um he will work through you know he'll work in all of the the programs down there carpentry electrical plumbing masonry and HBAC as needed to support the staff down there. uh Haley Path um who was our uh main office um staff person I don't like the term greeter but um so Hale Haley had decided to take a job as a par professional um that is the lifeguard poolool

029parah um position that had been gone uh I believe since co um that we have budgeted to make sure that that came back this year so Haley is is settling into that um that role and Casey Magna um is our new health assisting pair of professional Um, and then new staff, new roles for clerical. Um, most of you know or have met Nicole Strowy, who's my new assistant, the new assistant in my office, um, who's here with us tonight. Uh, Britney Ferguson moved over um, to be uh, the assistant in the principal's office. Um, Kristen Euden uh, stepped into Britney's old role supporting our admissions director. Uh, Jill Patton Peterson we hired um, to work in guidance. that is the role that that Kristen had had u had left had vacated. Um Elizabeth Kinchin is

030the new main office uh representative. Um she's the person the face that you see when you first come in the building and sign in. Marie Kelly has been hired as the uh administrative assistant for the business office. And then uh Jennifer Olette joined us um towards the end of last year and I don't I don't think I ever kind of like formally introduced or announced her but she is um Bob Lawler's assistant in the facilities department. um and has done a great job down the air uh streamlining and making that department more efficient. So that um while we weren't able to hire or we weren't able to find another maintenance tech um she is really freeing up a lot of time for the for the the guys that work down there um by helping out

031and organizing and structuring and scheduling things for them. So um we've realized some pretty solid efficiencies out of adding her down there as well. Um, new staff, new roles, directors and chairs. Uh, Mike Hurley is our director of vocational technical programs. Uh, he did step in for Dave Norawitz when Dave retired at the end of last school year. Uh, Jeff McGrath is our inaugural director of curriculum instruction and assessment. Um, those of you that know Jeff, he's been introducing himself as the director of the CIA. So, he's having a little fun with the role. Um, I will say Jeff has been absolutely dynamite in that role. Um Jess and I had worked towards having this role um over the past couple of years. Um and we're again able to kind of restructure some of the

032administrative piece and bring this on. He has done um more than I've expected and I know Jess is very happy with um the way that he stepped into the role and the things that he's already been able to do. So we look forward to nothing but great things coming out of that. Uh Joel Brierly stepped up. Um Jeff was our math department chair. Joel Bryley has stepped into that role. Uh Kelly Corrian, who's one of our ISSN instructors, is the uh manufacturing cluster department chair. Um again, that's a new role for Kelly this year. And then Allison Roulette is the transportation and product development department chair. So both Kelly and Allison have taken on some uh some new responsibilities this year. Um calf and daycare, I don't want to forget. Um, I I honestly believe

033that these are probably two of our hardest working departments in this building when you look at what they do day in and day out with serving, you know, 1300 lunches and and taking care of, you know, 30 or so um offspring of our staff members. Um, and sometimes we don't always I don't always recognize them, but uh Morin Griffin Stone has stepped into the role of site coordinator. That's something that they had negotiated in their in their last contract. So, she's doing more uh paperwork and and organization down there in the calf. Um Patty Perry uh stepped up and took the position as lead cook. Darcy McCaulay is our assistant cook. And again, those all three of those are new roles within the calf this school year. Uh Lyno has joined us. She came on

034board. Brandy Daly and Banna Potty have all joined the crew down there. Um, and I know they're all working hard to uh to deliver, you know, quality lunches to our students uh day in and day out. And then, um, Jenna Nelson, who is also a Shasheen grad, um, joined our daycare staff down there, uh, to start the school year as well. So, um, we've got a lot of people and as the principal had said in the in the meet and greet earlier, uh, we started interviewing probably the 1 of March and it went right through, uh, through July pretty much before before we had everybody in place. So, uh, MSBA update. Um, again, I will continue to update this timeline as we meet just to keep people informed about where we're where we're going uh,

035and what we've already done. Um, our initial uh, compliance certification has been signed and submitted to them. Uh, it went in on August 22nd. Um, the school building committee form is due the 30th. That's on our agenda for later tonight to vote and finalize that and that will get submitted. Um, and that'll that'll be another item off our checklist. Um, the chapter 74 vocational technical education viability document and the educational profile questionnaire are currently being drafted by Principal Cook. um vocational director Hurley and academic director Johnston. Um they've gone to I've seen a draft. Um I actually met with Jess yesterday. We went through some stuff and kind of clarified some things. Um my intent is to bring that to um the curriculum subcommittee uh in early October um to have them review uh provide

036feedback, update, whatever you want to say. Um and that will need to um that will need to be voted on at the October meeting. Uh both of those documents are due October 30th, so it's going to be a quick turnaround on those, but um I think we have everything in place. Um the drafts I saw were probably 95 or 98% complete. It was just a few small adjustments that we're going to make to them. So I think we're in good shape there. Um the enrollment questionnaire I actually finished, I believe, this morning and submitted. So we are uh we're moving forward with that. The routine and capital maintenance plan, Bob Lawler and I had an initial conversation this morning. we're going to we're going to go through um and see uh exactly what they're looking

037for in that report. That's not due till January. So, we have a we have a little bit of grace there. And then um the feasibility study vote according to MSBA's timeline uh we have to have done and in place by April 28th, 2026. Um I will say I did get some positive news uh from MSBA on Friday afternoon. and I had a conversation with our representative and she said that um we can apply for a 30-day extension which would push us till May 28th of 2026 which would allow us to do this funding bolt as a warrant article item at all of the annual town meetings versus trying to go through the process and request special town meetings and all of those things. So, um I don't have the official response from them yet, but

038we did submit the request. we had to do a little research and provide them with all of the meeting dates. Um you know and again a little a little u blurb about why we were asking for the extension. So um I will keep everybody updated. I'm I'm super hopeful that that gets if that gets pushed that does make this um I think a much easier lift um for all of us to try to I think it's easier to put this on as a warrant article and ask ask for funding that way versus trying to have it as a standalone article that we bring out to the communities. uh update on district treasurer. Uh the posting closed September 15th, which week ago, week and a half ago. I'm don't have the exact date in my head.

039Uh we did have two candidates. Um in talking to my counterparts at other vocational schools, they were blown away that we actually had two people that applied for the role because a lot of them have been struggling to find somebody to fill the role. Um I know the information was sent to the audit and budget subcommittee or at least the chairs. I don't know if it was both committees or not. Um so at this point I I think um you know whether those two committees come together formally or um however you guys want to do it, make a decision about uh do you want to bring both candidates in? Do we want to do a formal interview process? Um so I I guess I'm going to I'm going to pass the ball back to the

040two chairs to >> Are they retired people? >> Uh no actually neither one of them is. Uh both of them are actually CPAs. >> So but it is parttime. >> It is. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's like one day a week um kind of a rule. So yeah, um I don't I don't want I don't want to disclose backgrounds because people will be able to put two and two together and figure out who the candidates are, but we do have two applicants and you know again hopefully that that process move forward quickly and we get somebody on board to fill that role. Um, I think that's also going to help us with reconciliation piece and all of those things that we need to do to make sure that we're we're uh double checking, cross-checking all the

041things to make sure that everything is is entered correctly and in the right spots. Questions? I have a question. Um, the 52826 date, that's the date everything has to be voted on. It has to have already passed through us. >> Yeah, it's it which is currently April 28th, but hopefully they'll give us hopefully they'll give us the extension. Yes. >> And that feasibility study or that piece is that just to get budget for the study? >> Yes. >> And do we know what that >> $1.5 million? >> Okay. >> From 510. >> Yep. So, we're going to go to our communities asking for >> No, because it'll be So, when we divide up capital, >> Yeah. >> we typically do C everybody pays 10% and then it's based on a per student ratio. >> Okay.

042>> My recommendation for this is I would just do a strict straightforward per student ratio. >> Um, so it's going to vary from I mean, Bill Rick is going to have the biggest burden on that. But then if we look at the percentage of enrolled students >> and break it out, >> um I think it'll have, you know, it'll to me it'll be more of a fair way to do it then. But again, that's for the committee to decide. If they want if we want to follow the the strict capital process, we can do that too. That's going to I mean that'll that'll bump up Bedford's contribution a little bit, but it'll also even out some of the other ones. >> Okay. >> We'll have to talk about that one. >> We are we are

043hoping But we don't know because as our current budget goes further, if we can take a little bit of the money to take some of the assessments off of the different cities and towns, but we won't know that till, you know, well into the school year. >> And we're going to we're going to try our best to get ENDS certified as soon as we possibly can as well. Now, again, I don't know what that balance will come back at. I I don't have any sense of that, but that may be another thing where we can, you know, if we if we can knock a third of that off. I mean, I think that's that's a different conversation than going out asking for 100% of that funding. >> And also, they might get some money back

044from the MSPA. >> Yeah, that won't that won't come back for a couple years. >> No, I know. But they don't might get some reimbursement. >> You did mention you have already spoken to all the town managers, right? >> Yep. I had all the town managers in last week. We had a meeting. Yep. And and that was part of the that was before I had heard about the potential for the extension. So the conversation was around, you know, what what does this process look like and if we have to call a special town meeting, what is what is that impact going to be? Um so we we had a a little bit hard to >> Did you meet with them all together or good? >> Yeah. Yeah. Four four in person and we had one

045join us um via Zoom. Yeah. >> How are they similar to >> um okay I mean I I would I wouldn't say that they you know they weren't super exuberant about having to find money to fund the feasibility study but I mean all of them in relatively recent history for the most part have done projects or have ongoing projects so that you know they kind of understand that this is the process. Um, we also had um Ron and Taran and I had Bora finance committee here last Thursday night um to do a tour and and to see the facility. Um, and I mean, you know, I I get it. I think all of you get it. You know, their thing is, you know, like, oh, you know, we're we're building a new DPW in town,

046we're building a new senior center, we're building a police station, uh, we're building a middle school, we're building a and we have all these conflicting interests. So I mean I think as we move through this you know making people aware of you know what is the cost impacts what does that shake out to by community you know and just being honest and upfront about you know this is this is what this is going to look like um and again you know we we talked about this with the finance committee last week you know I'm not not trying to to threaten anybody or ning anybody but we're going to end up spending some money here one way or another um you know everybody has been part of the conversations you if we have to replace the

04745 rooftop units and sprinkler this building and fix the you know the handicap ramps and do all I mean >> you're you're talking tens of millions of dollars that would have to either be bonded um or go out for an override vote or you know be part of a capital budget spread out over a period of time. So I mean um you know I think that needs to be part of the conversation and to me the best way to do that is to do this feasibility study. We're going to have professionals come in here who do this for a living, who will assess this place from, you know, the the lowest pipe that's buried in the ground to the peak of the roof over the gym. And they'll tell us everything in between, uh, that

048needs to be replaced, updated, um, brought up to code, whatever it is. And then we'll have, you know, from everybody I've talked to, you usually get somewhere between 10 and 15 options. This is what a renovation would look like to your current space. This is what a renovation addition looks like. this is, you know, here's some proposals for new facilities. Um, and I know it's a lot of money to spend to get that information, but I I I think it's, you know, it's worth having that to know exactly where we want to go and how we want to. >> I mean, look at you look at our town. I mean, it's like our high school's gotten turned down like 12 times. So, you basically can go through this process and you pay that feasibility, which

049is people have to be educated. Yeah. >> And to your point, you can school can cover some of it. you basically can try to get some of the money back but it's like you know you could be on the hook for the full boat. So at least in this project versus like our high school or other you know projects within town you are getting that benefit to get so is painful but I mean at the end of the day and to your point there is probably some there is a lot of structure in that process that does help. I mean does it's painful but you know probably at the end of the day gives you a better school. >> Okay. Anything else? Still still going? >> Nope, I'm good. Thank you. >> Just on that

050district treasure, what's the timeline that we That's not a question, but you work on committee. What are we looking to you said as soon as possible? >> Yeah, I I I didn't really have a timeline. I thought that was kind of um I think that's from I would kick that back to the group to see. >> I mean, I personally I think the sooner the better, but I also don't want to rush people lives and other things, so I I get that, too. Yeah, I agree. The sooner the better on the members of talk about that, too. >> Yeah, I I totally agree, Charlie. I know. Do we want to bring both candidates in? >> That's up to you guys. >> I don't know. >> The resume shared with the whole >> I know they

051were sent to the chairs. I don't know if it was sent to the whole We could I can have Nicole can easily send it the whole committee. >> Me and Patty and Did you get it? >> Me and Patt. >> It might have just gone to the chair. That's >> I think that was me. I think I said send it to the chairs and see how they how they >> I'm okay with Sally and I are okay with the cool. >> Yeah. Thank you. Um we'll we'll figure that out. I know you want to get this going sooner than later. >> Yeah. You said it's one day a week in or once a month. >> Yeah, I mean it's I think it depends. I mean as you know as we're getting you know you get

052into a certain season and reports have to be done. My guess is they'll probably spend more time. >> Yeah. Like one month could be once a week twice a month. I mean one once a month is probably right. >> Even in a average Yeah. You're right. Like budget could be once a week. >> Yeah. And I mean I Yeah. And I won't I won't comment on the candidates. There's one that I know that that has done some similar work in the past. So, actually both of them might have. I didn't look that closely at the resumes. >> So, this person will be responsible for like the payroll warrants and things like that. >> Yep. They will review and sign off. they will do um we're actually supposed to have someone in that role verifying like

053doing the cash reconciliation, doing the uh it's not a checkbook but checkbook reconciliations, you know, making sure that the bank statements match, what's in Munice versus what was deposited, what was spent. So essentially that person's job is to go through and and check all of those things and make sure that they all line up. Um, again, not that it hasn't been done, but it's been done by people that are all employees of the the school that that same department. So, people are checking co-workers work and, you know, verifying that this person did this or did that. Um, and again, that was one of the first recommendations that came out from the consultants was you really need to have a third party that does this. And that that the district treasur role was exactly what they

054pointed us to. But probably the other thing is too a lot of stuff business manager and staff's doing that's going to be probably some of that's going to be a >> Yeah, it'll be a shift. Yeah. >> Yeah. Stuff that's probably oversight's going to shift there. So that'll be >> I mean I've been reviewing and signing warrants at this point in time which I mean >> not ideal but that's that if somebody stepped into that role that would that's a much better model for that. And my understanding is that it's a a role that's mandated for tech schools, right? A district treasurer. >> Not just tech. I mean it's it's for regional schools. Yeah. Regional. Yeah. Yeah. It is it is something that is um strongly recommended. >> Yeah. >> Public schools would have treasurer

055from the town. >> You have the town account treasur. Yeah. Yeah. So re again regional schools being different where we're our own separate kind of entity, our own little municipality. That's that's where that role comes in. Has this is this like a new law or something? Like why did we not have one before? >> I have no idea. >> It's not I don't believe it's a law. >> I think it's more recommend recommendation. >> But this is this so the guidance that we looked at at the last meeting is division of local standards which is part of department of revenue and there you know that was the job description that I shared. It's like this is what your district treasurer should be doing. This is this is a role that should be in place for

056regional schools. Anybody else? >> Okay. Subcommittee report policy. >> So the policy subcommittee met. We had Andy Pigeon join us as director of admissions. We discussed our our primary focus and almost our only focus was that we need to uh drastically adjust our admissions policy um to shift it to a lottery program. Tony correct me if I say anything badly. Um there are a lot of restrictions guidelines that we have to follow. So there's a lot of we we have very few choices in this. Um one thing that we can discuss and just so you guys all know um Tony and Andy are working on a proposal that they will bring back to this policy subcommittee that then we will bring to the committee. Um, and basically a couple decisions had to be made about

057whether or not we wanted to have a what they call a weighted lottery. So, it could be a completely blind lottery um where everybody gets one one drop in the hat and and that's it and there's nothing that gives you more or less. Um, you can offer additional spots in the lottery um for good attendance for minimal discipline. The third one interest >> and interest um discipline and attendance are very generous requirements um that I believe it's 27 days out of school and you haven't been convicted of a felony. Um so more generous than we typically are but those are called those those are our options and so our inclination was to follow those and that's the guidance we gave to Tony and Andy and then interest we discussed for a while and um interest

058is hard to quant to we have to define it we have to figure out how are they going to show interest how are we going to verif verify interest sort of what what does that process look like? At first glance it was to be blunt a little more trouble than it's worth. It did not seem that it would give us a whole lot of benefit um compared to what we would have to do to verify their interest. >> So for the moment we're putting that aside. Um the policy subcommittee will look at it again when we look at the proposed um policy. Um we do have to vote on that at the next meeting because we do have to present it >> November 1st. So it we don't have forever to decide this and obviously

059we want to put a policy in place so that we can start the admissions process. Um we did discuss a little bit that um part of this new procedure policy from Desessie does include that the schools are now encouraged or required >> required to bring the kids here to Shashi. So last year we did presentations at three towns and the other two towns brought kids here. One of the towns has two middle school programs. So, they brought both of them. This year coming, everybody's coming here. So, that's a good thing. It means everybody gets to see our building. It does present some fair amount of logistics that I'm sure Tony and Andy are already working on. Um, and have you met with the superintendent yet? >> No, that's coming up. Uh, next week or the

060week after, I forget when this. So the superintendent of our five sending towns will be given the information if they don't already have it. >> There's actually there's a piece that they're required to do annually now as well. >> Yeah, I read that >> where um they have to have a middle school access plan similar similar to our admissions policy which again they're supposed to file with the state. It's supposed to contain certain pieces. So, as as part of the discussion, um Andy and I have also been trying to work on um some resources to share with them because again, we're not we're not quite sure how much um time and energy they put into this. Um so, we figured if we had something to say like, hey, here's a place to start, you know,

061here's something we we help pull together. So, um we will share that with them when we meet. >> So, we do not have a formal policy to share with you at this time, but we are working. >> Thanks. Am I missing anything? No, I I think uh just to emphasize something that uh Taran mentioned, in theory, the interest component would be something that we really would want to delve into, but I think that under the state regs, the way they sort of mandate that you uh credit interest is so loose, including just attending an open house, >> watching a video, >> walking by Sheen T on a Saturday afternoon pretty much. mandated assembly that they already have to go to, >> right? It really would not be it would not be giving us what we've

062gotten from the interviews and from the essays and things of that. And that's why I think even when the regulations were being discussed at Desi that was thought, oh well interest will still be an issue, it almost really isn't because um there isn't there isn't much to it and um no. So I think that's why we went with the two out of the three. So ultimate ping pong balls. >> All right. Yes. >> I uh I went to a regional eight meetings Saturday and one of the topics they talked about was admission policy. I'm not on but that was the question I have was more so that the school district the other districts they all know they got to put like a policy. They're required to build it and I think that's brushed on just

063to make >> it's been there's been reminders coming out of the commissioner's office because >> weekly. Yes. because they were saying some of the school districts, they don't even know that they still have to do it. So, I don't know if they're not reading their stuff, but as long as ours know, if you're gonna pass it on to >> Yes. No, they will they will be here uh for an inerson meeting. I I don't think it's next week. I think it's the following Wednesday. And that is uh that is one of the topics on our agenda. >> And and will you have everybody all together again? >> I believe they're all planning to attend. Yes. >> Oh, that's great. >> Yeah, that's wonderful. All right. New business, superintendent, director, goals, timeline. >> So, um, coming

064out of I think it was our retreat meeting on August 1st, we had talked about. Um, so again, uh, this is absolutely nothing that's in stone or firmed up, but I just just I took the initiative and went ahead and kind of put something together for people to review and reflect on. Um the first page of this we had talked about um you know again coming out of the fir my first three years as a new superintendent. Um there is there is the option to go to a two-year cycle. Um so what I did here is you know like again September 25 goals developed and approved for the 2526 school year. Um the focus indicators again for both years potentially this year and next school year. December of this year, I would give an update

065on goals like I typically do anyways. Uh February of this year, I would do a final submission of goals for the 2526 school year. Um and again, if if if people want, I can do an update on the progress of towards those focus indicators. Um but we wouldn't necessarily do the formal um collection of evidence and comments and all those other things. Um again, March committee to review and comment on the goals. process would start over again next fall, September 26. Uh goals developed and approved for the next school year, update on goals as well. And then February would be final submission of goals for 26 27. But then also the final submission for the evaluation um which would then trigger that March meeting, the review of goals and then the final evaluation report similar

066what we've done where the form is sent out, people are asked to comment on it. Um and then it'll it'll be Miss Stouty at this point in time. We'll collect all those responses um and report them out in that table at at the um at the March school committee meeting. Um and then on the next page, I just went ahead again these are just some suggestions. Um looking at focus indicators. Um I think most of you remember, but just as a reminder, we need at least one from each category. Um I went through I just selected one from each category. if there's stuff that people want to add to this. Um, if we want if people want to take this and come back, um, we can always look at this at a at another future

067meeting. I'm not sure help divest to the chair on on what decision she wants to make, but um, so as far as instruction goes, um, the first one, one one B 1B is instruction. Again, this is um I think this aligns with the new role that we've created in the on the administrative team, supporting Jeff and his work, making sure that he's set up for success in in building um something that's that's um sustainable. Um we have a good foundation to move forward and to help improve that stuff um for years to come. Uh fiscal systems. Um, again going through I mean we're going through some some growing pains here with the budget and some other things but again keeping that focus on that making sure that as we develop a budget for FY27 um

068we have an eye on what our priorities are and making sure that um we're addressing any concerns or needs that we find um again within our within within the reasonable u assumption of the resources we have available. um engagement. Again, I think I picked this one because as we as we work our way through the MSBA uh feasibility study funding phase, start to talk to families, um we still have um on our radar to implement a new schedule next year. So again, engaging with families and students and having conversations about uh which we've already started to do, you know, what what electives are people looking for? How are things going to be structured? Um you know, what are what are our needs as far as a district in a in a in a school and

069a new building? Um and then I think the last one kind of ties into that as well, which you know, trying to get everybody on the same page like this is what the future of Shasheen is going to look like and here are the options that we have to get where we want to go. Um but again these were these were my ramblings. So um I'm more than open to suggestions, comments, changes, whatever whatever needs to happen. >> Does anybody have any comments right now? I mean in the next you know at any of the meetings you can decide to bring this back you know as a future agenda item. Yeah. I think we picked more than four, didn't we? >> I think we've done six the past couple of years. Yep. >> We did

070have >> I gota see that. Did we uh find that document? >> We can resend it. >> Yeah. Thank you, >> Sarah. All I was going to say is I think that during the retreat we requested that if you when you have set your goals that then when you have reports you could sort of have it under like the you would have it under you'd have instruction and they list some of the things that that have happened. It just makes it easier two years down the line. Yeah. >> Right. To to then go back and and be able to assess. >> So on a monthly fees have something that >> Yeah. If you're if it's possible because then it ties right into the goals directly. >> I think you're already quite Does that make sense?

071>> I think you're already quasi doing that. >> Yeah. No, I know. >> No, no. I I'm just saying he had like I think you were doing like a like a semianual or >> Yeah. I mean I can I can just as easily do it on the radio committee update. Well, what he did, >> I mean, remember this is what Sarah's talking about. You he gave a list of everything he's done and we had to figure out where it went. >> I mean, that's right. Right. It's just so much easier if you actually figured out where it goes. Right. >> I think I gave you a document with a line to the indicator. I don't I don't think you had to find it on your own. >> I'm gonna have to look that. >> So,

072if you could send that out. >> Yeah, we will. form and we'll go over this. Um, but I think as a committee we agreed upon which ones >> Yep. >> you'd like to see, but I do like the twoear cycle. It makes sense. >> You'll see update on your progress. >> And I apologize. I I thought I did have some goals developed, but um I must have forgot to put them in here. So, I will send those to everybody as well because I I went and did develop some goals for them. Isn't that >> I'm sorry. It didn't It didn't print in my packet. >> It's Sorry, my fault. >> Okay. >> Wrong file. >> Um do you I mean do people want to look I mean we could easily Well, I shouldn't say easily.

073We could go through goals and if people wanted to say yes, we're on board with this and then revisit the evaluation categories or do we want to wait and do the whole thing at a future meeting? Does anybody want to discuss the goals right now or would you rather take them home, look at his suggested indicators and at the next meeting or let's bring it on the next meeting. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> All right. >> Let's say the next meeting we're going to just determine if these are what we want to focus on. >> Yes. And if there's something else, we're looking for >> improve the goals and then go through the indicators and see if there's and like like Mr. Fusco had said in the past couple years, I think we went with

074six. >> So if there's stuff that people want to add, >> we can you don't have to have I mean you we can do the whole document. You you don't have to. Yes. >> When this first came out. >> Oh, I know. The whole thing. This is like how many That's like four times. >> You want to do like 33? I mean, yeah. We had to make up answers to >> so the thing is yeah >> might be helpful to have like a seal check in >> well that's in there probably >> there's a December report which is what we've been doing the past few years >> I thought I remember like you had provided like which is probably a good thing >> okay subcommittee dates >> so again another piece that had come out

075of our retreat um people had asked to kind of take a look at the calendar and propose some dates so that um we didn't have a bunch of stuff backing up our or roadblocking at certain points during the school year. >> Um again, this is just some this is a draft. Um I just looked at the calendar. I did try to keep all of them on Tuesday nights um just for continuity so people could plan. Um I get as we get into budget season or we get into something else, we may have to move, you know, it may have to go to Monday night or Wednesday night. Again, just as kind of a a rough plan or a place to start, um you can see there are some, you know, there are some that like

076um October 7th, they have both policy and curriculum. >> We'd have to, you know, again, we'd have to schedule different times based on people's availability. Uh December 9th, they hit audit and organizational development. Um so, you know, I I am trying to double up some of them just, you know, to cut down on the number of number of numbers the number of nights that we're here for meetings. Um >> I started with the U budget timeline from last last spring that everybody voted on. So all of those dates are already built into here. Um and again, you know, some of these some of these committees obviously meet I think policy meets three times. I think curriculum meets two or three times. Uh some of the other like safety and security I think meets once or

077twice. Um organizational development I think meets once or twice. So, um, again, we can add more meetings if we need them if something comes up where there's something specific. But, um, I would put this forward as a proposal for our plan for the upcoming school year. >> The only the only on the budget for February the 3, I'd have I have to be somewhere at 7 o'clock, so it could be earlier or we can move it to a different day. Other than that, your list doesn't conflict with me on any of the other things on my different >> and if we make a motion to approve this and then we have to change it. Is that okay? Because like we haven't really talked about those changings that day, so I I have one other one,

078too. So, >> we can squeeze them. So I I like the idea of putting the dates out. >> I know. And okay, rather than like when and now going, can you make that date? Oh, I got that. I got this. I got that. And then people like going crazy. So here's a date. If it has to be changed, it has to be changed. >> So it's good to have a >> work off a basis a base. And obviously we need budget a couple more budget committ. [Music] >> Sure. Sure. >> Okay. So I'm going to make a motion to approve the 2025 2026 >> subcommittee dates as proposed. >> I'll second. All >> those in favor? Any >> opposed? unanimous. >> All right, on to MSBA building committee. Um, again, I don't think there's any

079surprises here. Uh, this was discussed when we met virtually August 28. Maybe for some reason that date sticks in my mind. Um I have had since that meeting I have had a chance to talk to Christopher Dylan uh who has since been appointed as the um full-time town manager in Bill Ricka. He is is very excited to be part of this and said that if it wasn't himself it would be somebody else from his office uh that would participate in this. Uh Mr. Fiori wasn't at the last meeting but I had talked to him before he had stepped forward to be the chair of our building committee. So um thank you. Thank you in person Mr. Fiori. on a lot of it. I don't >> we can always change the roster if we need to.

080>> Um I just have one question on the members. Like the other ones look fine, but like you have like a members of a community. Not to pick on Bela, but I will. Why? How come Bel's got two and Wilmington doesn't have one from the community? >> Wilmington does have one >> because Greg Bendle is listed as as 100 Cook Street because that's where he works. >> Okay. That's right. >> Yeah. No, he's really >> Wellington. >> And again, when I when I had the U town managers in last week, this all of this was discussed with them as well. So, they they are aware of the people that were recommended. Um there was a conversation back and forth. I know um Mr. Slaggel from from um from Wilmington had had some conversations, but he

081had texted me today and said that they are fine with Mr. Bendle being um their representative at this time. So >> who is he? >> Who's who? >> Felgo's the town manager and we'll make that. Sorry. >> Um so at this point in time, I mean if if if the committee wants to vote to approve this as presented, Nicole and I uh will work tomorrow to get this get this submitted. Um >> want the chair to be from Wilmington? >> I believe I can sign this. I make a motion that we approve the membership of the school building committee as listed in the packet. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> Any opposed? Unanimous. >> Tony, when would you expect a first meeting of the entire group here? Um, I would say probably not

082until after the start of 2026. Um, as we get some more information about this, I believe they won't expect us to move forward with this until funding has been um, finalized. >> But I also don't think it it may be a good idea for us to have a meeting just to get people more of a get to know you kind of thing. Um, so people know who's on the committee and who's going to be part of the conversations. Um, but we will we'll look at that. Who's going to >> will they be notified that they were voted in tonight? >> Okay. Tony, I was going to ask you since we're discussing it, if somebody could make a distribution list of everybody's email, we have a group and then we can go from all there's missing

083as >> you're probably looking like after the feasibility study, right? like after that gets funded or >> um I got to look more into what their expectations are. >> I think we may want to start meeting before then from the standpoint of I mean one of the first things that group is charged with is hiring an project manager and starting to look at who you're going to contract with to do the feasibility study. Um and I know MSBA has um approved vendors for a lack of a better term. So that group may want to actually start going through that and looking and asking some questions about what are some similar projects, what you know, what have other vocational schools done, has everybody used the same OPM, has everybody used the same um architectural firm. So

084um we may want to start before that deadline. Um but I there's I got to do some more research on >> but it'll be the feasibility study for or sorry the the town meeting would be for the ones like 26 basically >> in the spring, >> right? town >> the town meetings are in the spring. >> Yes. >> May spring of 2026. Yeah. >> So for some towns it could be the first or the second. >> I'm sorry. Yes. >> Um not to highlight Kent's observation, but Kent was wondering, you know, sort of why is Bill Raa over represented under the members? Is MSBA going to care that the majority of these people are listed as 100 Cook Street? And >> okay, >> I didn't know if they would look at that and be like,

085"Wait a minute, why so many people from school?" I mean, they're all school employees. >> I assume like some of us if they need should we have our personal address or something? >> I didn't know if it mattered. >> Anyone else? >> They kick it back, we'll cross the bridge, we get to it. >> Which one? >> Website content. [Music] >> I don't have anything for this. >> Okay. >> Sorry. Did every anybody have anything else about the I know we had talked something about the website. You didn't like something what you wanted more. >> No, it's not. It's not bad. It's just like I think like you look at like like minutes for example. It's you go to their school committee. It lists everything out like I said just everybody website update to like

086that's something we could take a look at and kind of see how they tailor it towards because it's pretty good. Like you go in there it's all listed out. All as part of that some of that's votes like so you don't have to get into this. It's like, okay, the budget gets voted, audit committee gets forth. Boom, that's your vote. And then as part of that, you can just say yes, as part of that vote, then you don't have to take a guess getting emails from me to bug you to >> other crap that's already being posted. And then this information that's, you know, if it's like public meeting or, you know, I know Patty loves to get minute requests, but there's probably somebody else that could be better, you know, to so it's just

087more like information, making sure documents are posted. So it's just it's to help to avoid confusion and make sure people are having so it's not you're not wasting time you're not having it. So I think it's just a so I think I think Minutemen's got a pretty good setup. I think that's something we should look to maybe not completely mirror but like just you maybe use as a template. >> We did a little research into that one. Have you tried to click through theirs? >> Yeah, I went through it. the the the forward facing part of it I I think is nice and it's a nice graphical representation, but like when you're trying to dig for meeting minutes, it's like five or six clicks, >> you have to go >> I'm not saying yeah, I'm

088saying like you like more like the template like yeah, behind the scenes like once you have the have the documents correctly, but I'm saying it'd be good to kind of have >> I can also ask so we we just migrated to a new vendor for this. Um I mean I can I can go ask some questions about what like options we have for the setup of that. I know um we're when we're designing the homepage um I mean one of my priorities was I wanted shops front and center so when you go to it you know they're they're like the first thing that you see. So um I can I can ask I don't know if we can make different sections formatted in different ways but um I I can find out some more information

089about that. >> Who maintains our website right now? So, um, it's it's done under the edtech department, but Greg Bendle does, uh, the lion share of the updating and the posting and all the stuff that's on. >> I do agree with Kent. Like, clearly we've gotten a lot of questions about our transparency. So, be as transparent as we we can. Um, on the other side of not the school committee, I know that's what we're looking at as the but as the parent side of the of the website, it's a little rough for us to navigate. I'm not going to lie. I've heard it a lot. Um, even lunch. It's not simple to find lunch and lunch is not even updated. So, that's true. >> It's been rough. Like, people have said that to me a

090lot like this isn't the easiest to navigate. I've done the same. Um, yeah, it's been a little and and lunch. I mean, that's what they all go on for, right? And and that hasn't that's not easy to find and it's not updated. So, just >> Well, thank you for the feedback because I was not. >> Yeah. And my issues those were all updated, right? >> Yeah, I hope so. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Yes. I will say that I, you know, no longer being a parent at school, I'm pretty limited in what I look for on the website. Um, and for the most part, you know, like when I want to find our agenda or I want to find our packet, I actually find it easier to find than some other places that I've looked. I

091think I was looking at Bill Rick and, you know, trying to hunt down the packet was a little bit of a challenge trying to hunt down. I mean, I still cannot find a link to go to their Zoom meeting for SH for Bill Rick and Blackboard. I can find it like listed in a PDF that I can't click on. Still can't like find a clickable link. So, you know, there there are things we're doing, right? I will say that. >> So, Patty, >> yes. >> So, so um at our last meeting, I didn't understand that it was just the school committee that you wanted us to look at that page. So, I had sent you Tony a whole list of various things that were that needed to be updated. And I remember lunch was was

092one of them. So this time I actually went into the the minute man tech. That's the only one I looked at the school committee page. And there were two things that um they have that we don't have. And one was the bios of school committee members. So that when you have a name then you sort of have some kind of background information whether that's something you know we want to do or not. And the other one is that um we definitely have budget information on there but they included their audits. So that would be also something to consider. And those were the only two things that jumped out at me because I think that we have the same information. >> It's just sort of set up in a different kind of way. Um and yeah,

093theirs is kind of glitzy with all those little button things, you know. Yeah. And you go to that. But I I found ours, you know, once I said, "Oh, it's the same information." It's sort of you just go down a list. Yeah. Some it's like the not to say we aren't being transparent but some people >> whatever not going to comment on that but basically it makes your job easier if it's a financial you have approval and automatically you know get posted to the it's just >> then people can't say well you audit like website >> and the minutes have been posted on that that one page that I really like also up until like May or something I don't know they're probably up to date now I haven't looked but it's a really nice

094page page the way we have it set up because you can just go right across um and the packets on there and thank you. Yeah, it's great. >> And based on the current climate, not to make Nicole's job more difficult, but if it is a video, then it's already out there. You post it and then you can say, well, you know, it's there. Then people can't don't like it, you say, well, there's public record. >> Thanks. I did my homework. the guest two the guest dining room is still cleaning that up. Yeah, >> I know. I know there's some some pieces of that that this still working through and the guest dining room I think only opened last week. So, my >> talking about that just >> so I like the new I like the

095format, but things are still traveling over. >> Yeah. >> Um they're trying to get the menus up online and stuff like that. >> And I think we have a similar thing with the cafeteria as well. You know, coming back and getting that program up and running has been um there's been some technical difficulties. >> I know. I mean, do you feel do people feel >> as a committee? Do we feel it's user friendly? I think it's better. >> I know. I mean, guess overall, you wanted the shops up front. Click on there you go. I mean, it is what it is. >> I mean, I go on there to find the things I need when >> Yeah. School, budgets. I know what I'm saying, Sarah, to get your point. Yeah. Budgets, audits, things that people

096might want to look at. So again, if that I mean again, if that is what the committee I mean, we can Nicole and I can work on getting that updated. Um, and I can try to find out if if there's a way to format that section a little bit differently, but I mean if if if we're looking for budget and audit documents, I mean, we have at least the last three years. I know that >> I can I can map out based on a couple other schools and send it out to people and see what the I mean, I'm not saying Minutemen's perfect. I'm just saying it's a and I understand what you're saying. You kind of >> you start poking around and but it's maybe come up with a list and share with you

097and everybody else can take a look and then we can say that's crap. Throw it out. This is good because that'll kind of maybe point out like a couple of points why that would be helpful. People can well maybe not through email because that's email you me and we can figure out what's the best course and again the stuff that we have is actually pretty good. It's like your point thing is I know you love people emailing you public records requests and all that crap that if they don't they'll probably email you. >> I can I can set something up for next meeting to do that. >> Yeah, fine. Do that for us. >> I'll leave Patty off. >> I'll send it out and see what everybody says. >> Send it to Patty. this. Let's

098look at it. >> Gosh, it seems like we're have we're having a sound problem. Is it? >> I should text. >> We got a an anonymous update. >> Oh, it's back. crash. >> Must have been a glitch. Thank you. >> I might cut out again and then come back. I just needed to unmut it. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I'm not looking at my >> capital budget update. >> Uh so in the packet um I did have Mary Rubio pull uh I believe it was Mr. Fusco had asked for this. >> I just wanted to see um thank you Tori to uh see where we're at >> on the capital budget. uh projects. >> So, if we go through this, so uh academics um $80,000 for classroom furniture, science lab updates, other things like

099that. Um if you look at this report, we spent a little over $16,000 to date. Um I know there are plans in the works to spend the rest of this. Um again, it's just something that um we're kind of backing our way into to start the school year, and I'm sure there'll be more updates on that as we go. um athletics, the uh $280,000. The $ 250 is to finish the um uh fieldhouse facilities out by the football field. Um that was the money that we had voted to um reallocate. It was originally earmarked for the u the pool pack um which we pushed till next fiscal year and decided to do this this year. The $30,000 is the uh replacement of um the scoreboard and the gymnasium and I believe the shot clock and

100some other stuff. Um I know that they've been getting quotes on that. I don't think a PO has been issued yet, but I know they've been making progress on the replacement scoreboard. Um I'm going to >> Has anybody seen the tennis courts? >> Yeah, they >> got to take a look at the tennis court and they look so good. >> Yeah. >> I was a little nervous about that color. I'm like, does purple and green go together? I'm like, >> I like it. >> But it looks good. Does look nice. >> Okay. >> Um, automotive has already purchased. Um, that was that was for a a tool a tool box um from the underassment area. That's already been purchased. Um, we had budgeted $12,200. It actually came in a little bit less than that. So,

101that is is taken care of. Um the fixed cost, which is the bond payment for uh the sports field, the athletic fields, um the interest is actually a little bit higher than what we had budgeted for. And again, I'm not quite sure why, but um you'll see that that's running a deficit of $4,500. Um and that was because the interest payment was higher than what we had anticipated. Um the safety budget, again, we've been spending we've been spending stuff out of that. We've done a lot with signage, um, fire extinguishers, fire blankets, other things like that. As we've been going through the shop areas, we've been trying to make sure that everything is up to date. Um, and that we have everything in those areas as required. Cafeteria, it's not reflected on this, but there

102is a PO pending for a uh reachin cooler um for the calf area. Again, with the free lunch program, uh we've obviously seen a significant increase in the number of meals that are are processed and um um purchased and or given to students. So, they had a need for another cooler. Um that should show up on this probably by the next meeting that we have. Uh carpentry has money in here both for some staging equipment and some replacement of of some of their um scaffolding and other things plus uh money to install uh two slabs um which will go up on the hill up behind where the tennis courts are. That will be we'll actually be able to have a mock house dedicated to the 10th grade class which we're looking at doing a one-story

103lower structure for kids to get used to working off ladders and other things. And then we'll also be able to continue to do the twotory junior project. Um, and they will be up there. They'll be side by side. So, we'll be able to to work through that in the future. Um, cosmetology. Um, again, that money was budgeted for an intercom system for them similar to the one if you come in through culinary. Uh, when you push the buzzer outside, it it there's a camera within culinary. They can see who it is. They can have a conversation. They can let people in. Um, culinary uh, excuse me, cosmetology asks for the same thing. Um, you will notice that there's a negative incumbrance there. I was told that that was because um, some POS got processed. Um,

104that should have been FY25, but they came in over the summer. So, they are working to clean that up. Um, and that available budget balance is a true reflection of what's there for them to spend and that the 20 the $25,000 should come off this um, once all of that stuff is reconciled with the last fiscal year. uh culinary. Um this was the grease trap replacements and all of the plumbing work that was done in there. Um that is done now. Um we did um pretty much blow through all of the uh all of the money in that account. Um between labor to have we had two of our staff members work over the summer down there and then all of the materials and everything to make those installations. But, um, if you'd ever been

105in that kitchen in the past, um, grease traps don't smell great. Um, and the way that that was set up and the age of them and the, uh, the covers on them really weren't sealing correctly anymore. Um, so there was times that that program had a really foul over to it. Um, they are ecstatic. Um, they don't have to fill the sinks full of water anymore. there's all kinds of things that that you know it's it's actually doing what it's supposed to. Um so they are they are very happy with the outcome of that project down there. Um computer services again this is the IT department. We did a bunch of upgrades with access points. We added some access points. We did some work with security cameras. We upgraded the uh badge system for people

106to get in and out of the building. Um so if you if you look at this report it is deficit spent at this point in time but we are expecting an rate reimbursement. So - is money that they charge um technology and internet companies and then they give back to schools and libraries and other and other public facilities but we have to pay for the project up front and then submit the information to get the reimbursement. So um we are actually expecting to get back more than we spent. Um so that that negative number should balance out and should be reflected as we move forward. Uh graphics again this was some upgrades and some stuff in the shop um which we have not started yet. Uh realistically this may be something that we wait towards

107the end of the school year just because we have students and staff and they're working now and it's it's hard to necessarily work around them. Um LPN this is um both the health and medical assisting requests. So, the health department's purchasing some more beds to replace. We kind of have an ongoing cycle. I think every five years, um, we've replaced all of them and then we start over again down there. Those beds are used by our day students and our LPN program. Uh, so they they do get a lot of usage. Um, and then the other piece for this this year, um, out of the LPN revolving account, we're also purchasing, uh, I believe it's a pregnancy simulator for the medical assisting program, which is a pretty significant investment. Um I think it was about

108$22,000 that um was spent on that which is something that they don't currently have in that program uh building fund. Again, this is this is under the the guise of our uh direct facilities. These are um I believe some um univvent and heat replacement some other things around the building for the HBAC systems. Um we haven't started to spend that down yet. the nurse's office. There is money in here uh to um look at redesigning that nurses suite down there. Um and and basically trying to take a a fresh look at the space we have and trying to reconfigure that so that it's more uh more of a like urgent care minute clinic kind of layout. Um so that you know again we can get kids in and out quickly. Um there spaces for kids

109that need you know need to sit or lay down for a period of time. Um but structuring it in a way that we don't have a big catchment area right when you come in the door. Um we can kind of screen kids a little bit more efficiently and make sure we're we're sending them in the direction that they need to go. Uh fizzed. Um this was the um uh replacement of the two showers in the um fitness center. Um this actually came in significantly under budget based on what we thought it was going to cost to do this. So, um, we will probably have some equipment money there that again the budget subcommittee can make some recommendations about what they want to do with and where they want to move it moving forward. Uh, and

110then last but not least, plumbing uh has uh in the capital budget a scissor lift. Um, I did see the uh three quotes came through my office for that the other day and I believe the PO is if it hasn't been issued, it will be issued in the next couple of days. Uh, and I think they spent all but about 900 bucks um of what they had allocated. >> Yes. So, um, just to make sure the calf is bought the oven, the bl oven. >> No, not yet. She bought she started with the the reachin cooler. Um, >> in talking to Pauline, she said that some of that stuff on there was outdated for some reason. Um, but we we did buy the reachin and then she she has a Yeah, she wanted that. She

111said that was her priority and then we'll look at the other stuff uh as we get into >> uh I don't I don't actually so that that was not spent >> not yet but I know I know she's in the process >> cooler but we don't we'll find out what that cost I get and then if I understand the pool pack was put on hold for the >> we pushed that to FY27 that'll be on next year's capital >> okay okay sounds SRO and mental, social, and emotional health support personnel data for update. >> Yeah. So, um this is something that that came uh came to my office in the spring uh or actually shouldn't be this, I should say spring, the end of last school year. Um we are required to report to the

112Department of Education uh cost for the number and cost for SRO's um proposed budget for mental, social, and emotional health support personnel. And then also we're supposed to report schoolbased arrests. So all of that stuff was submitted earlier this year. Um the one piece that I missed in this it's also supposed to be reported to the school committee as well. So this is my reporting out of what we sent to them. Um so if we go through this the uh cost for the SRO uh in this year's budget $96,19. Um that may change. Again we have a we have a different staff member in that role. I'm not sure if that'll go up or down based on um what his background in um pay scale is. Uh requirement two, again, this is a list of

113all of the people that that we count as mental, social, or emotional health support within the building. Includes nurs's office, guidance counselors, adjustment counselors, social workers. Um and again, you can see that the bottom total there based just on salaries. We spend about $1.7 million a year um on providing those supports to our students and making sure again some of these things are um are accommodations. They're are stipulated on on IEPs or in 504 plans. Uh some of these are just you know some of our guidance counselors um meet with kids about college applications and next steps and um other things. So, it's it's a it's a wide variety of different people that we have, but this represents um all the people in the building. And then the last one here, um we had zero

114school-based arrests, citations, or school referrals made in the previous school year. So, um that is not how we utilize our SRO and and philosophically, I don't think that's ever what we want to do here. So, >> is that zeroypical? >> Yes. entitlement. >> Yeah. So, as we had started last year, um I am bringing grants forward for the committee. The committee needs to vote to accept the grants and um allow us to to move forward with um uh coming up with a with a spending plan for them. So, these are the ones that have been released to date. Um, so we have the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the IDEIDA Act, um, $440,387 is what we've been allocated. The Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st century act or the Perkins 5. Uh, $162,95.

115Um, title one, um, basic grants to ELA to EAS. Sorry, I don't know why I tripped over that one. Um, and again, that that number keeps going up for us. That is money to support our um English as a second language population. So, we're looking at $116,575 for this upcoming school year. Um, 2A, uh, supporting effective instruction. Um, we typically use some of that money for our mentor program to help support that program and and to pay the the not the the new teachers, but the people that are mentoring them um, out of that. So, it's $23,933. And then title four, student support and academic enrichment um is $10,000 uh for a grand total of $752,990. >> Is that um more or less than >> it's it's in line with what Yeah, we I think

116Perkins is up a little bit. The other ones I think are pretty much pretty much where they were before. Do we vote to approve them and then discuss what we're doing with it or do you have plans for all of it already? >> We have they very strictly regulate what you can spend it on. Um so our grants our grants manager will go through that and she'll come she'll come back and say here's the things that we can do with this. Um and then again the leadership team usually looks at that and says okay you know these are these are the priorities that we want to target. um the idea one we typically use to offset salaries uh in support services or paras depending upon what it looks like from year to year. So that's

117typically what that one it's allocated for. Perkins we use for equipment. Um I believe our our target this year for Perkins if you look at the capital budget is new computers for graphics um engineering and I'm missing one. There's a third one but we have ISSM excuse me. Um, so we're looking at spending a good chunk of that money in buying updated technology for those three programs. >> Make a motion that we accept >> five grants for a total of 2752,98. Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. Any opposed? Unanimous. >> I will say I just like this format, Nicole. I don't know if you like >> it's really helpful seeing everything this way and in and in one document. >> Oh yeah, I did kind of like that. I appreciate that. >> Okay.

118Um second session the first agenda. >> Oh, I did. >> Oh, future agenda. I did >> future agenda. I just want to make a a note for the record that this treasurer thing, it's actually a law. It's under chapter 71, section 16A. >> That's why I thought >> Yeah. So, I just want to make sure everyone's aware of that. >> Thank you. >> Do we want to invite anybody in down the road? Yeah. You want >> Tell me. So, so, so I'm actually curious what Jeff McGrath's job will be or is. I mean, as I it's a new job. I totally understand, but um and maybe you all discussed it last year in terms of a new role, but I would just at some point really love to hear what he's doing. >> Do you

119want me to respond to that now? You want to consider future? >> Is it too early to have him come in next time? >> No, we can. I can absolutely ask him to join us. >> You don't want to intimidate him. I miss him as a teacher. He was a fantastic teacher. >> He was easily my daughter's favorite teacher. >> Favorite and we I think we were set up to have him again this year and now so we're job created told us because we made some changes in the administrative >> structure >> and I believe you told me all 40 people applied or something like that. Yeah, it was I think it was 30. So, yeah, we had a lot. I mean, I I think Jeff is a great candidate and if we can promote

120with him, why not? >> So, the other thing I had in my mind, Tony, is the um we've outsourced the PR you said. >> Yeah. >> So, how's that? >> That is going well. Um I have I have a meet I have a standing meeting with them every two weeks. Um and again, I don't think it's a secret here. Greg Bendle is um very involved in in updating the website content and does a lot of stuff around school social media. So Greg has actually been brought into those meetings. So Greg is now part of that and working with the team. >> Um we have a social media strategist is her title. Don't ask me what that means, but um she works directly with us. Um she's actually the one that they gave me the co-op

121graphic and has done some other stuff. Um they're pushing out today. There was I don't know how many of you were on LinkedIn. there was an alumni profile like a push out on LinkedIn. I saw that. >> Um I think it was 2007 grad, 2009 grad, something like that. So they've picked up all of that stuff. Um they are also um really kind of the driving force behind the new newsletter. Um they they've they've helped us come up with a plan for this is our theme for October, this is our theme for November, this is our theme for December. Um and they've also been working very closely with us on um getting the message out about the feasibility study vote, the importance for that. So they are really I've been very impressed with the things

122that they've done to date. Um and everything that we've asked them to step up and do they've they've taken care of. So I I think it's going well. >> How are they finding the alumni that they're spotlighting? >> So the alumni association actually kind of has their own network to do some of that stuff. Um I was I was I was informed today that some of the pictures that have been provided were a little less than um school appropriate. So I think I think they're navigating their way through um who submits what and what gets posted. So um interesting. >> Yeah. Hope hopefully we don't have any issues with that moving forward. >> I do like the Facebook um exposure is is awesome. >> Yeah. >> And the and the Twitter and our messages >>

123and Instagram. Instagram, >> those of you that have looked at that newsletter, um she als she uh and the woman's name is Megan. Um Megan pulls um those like what is the most responses that get on each feed. So if you look at the bottom of that newsletter, there's like the five most popular posts for the last month. Um you know, like one one of them was the new staff. There was one on there about kids coming back in the building. It was sports tryyouts. So, she'll go in and she'll pull like 12,000 people looked at this post. You know, so many of them clicked through it, so many of them liked it. Um, which is also helpful for us because then it helps us as we go forward. It's like, okay, these are the

124messages that are getting to, you know, the people that we want and we should do more of this and maybe less of that. >> So, you're doing this monthly? >> Yep. >> And Jess Cook is still doing it weekly. >> Yeah. Jess is Jess has um and she's been sending out weekly. I mean, it's just it's just been busy for the start of the school year, but Jess's plan is to um unless it's something that's really timesensitive. Um she she's going to start kind of putting her content into that newsletter, too. Um Guidance had one that they were doing kind of independently. So, we're we're trying to pull together um Guidance's newsletter, Jess's updates, and then kind of this more school or district vibe. Um, and again, it's I think we've done two so far,

125so it's it's definitely in its infancy, but um I'm optimistic that this will this will really um take off and help get us some additional exposure. >> Was this in the budget? >> This was so we had originally looked at um there was some supply money that the >> previous director of communications had put in. So, it doesn't cover the whole thing, but it should cover a majority of it. And again, that's one of the things that we'll talk about in budget to see where we have to try to cover that. >> Yes. >> So, this isn't for the next meeting, but for the one after, it's something that sort of always ruminated in back of my head, but we haven't really formalized it. I'd love it if the six of us that are going

126to the conference while at the conference touch base with each other and make a plan to have like a bit of a formal presentation to the rest of the committee. you know that maybe each of us just says, you know, I'm talking a minute. I'm talking not talking an hour. You know, this is one thing I learned or this is one tidbit of information that I wanted to make sure is shared out because I know I think about it afterwards. I'm like, I I took in so much information I don't even know what to talk about. So it's like if we sort of agree ahead of time then we can sort of have that in our head so we know okay you know as I'm as I'm at the conference I'm thinking about what do

127I want to share. >> Yeah >> do that at the meeting. >> Yes. >> All right the power. >> So do we send your updates for you to put together the PowerPoint >> if you want. I do a PowerPoint on my new computer use it but you know I'll do my best. as said one question about you know don't need to touch on it but I will it used to be a business manager update what's the plan going forward I mean not to highlight it but it will be on the website that dinged on you know do for like budgets to actual like what that actual because you know probably shouldn't be you're involved but yeah it's like a >> so I will I will put that back to this group so as part of

128that contract um we can have them here for school committee meetings Um, this first one I wasn't really sure. That's I mean, again, I brought I brought the year-to- date update. Um, I mean, if if that's what people want. Um, we can plan on having them attend future meetings. If people would I mean, people would prefer that I bring the information. If if you know, again, if you want to give me some direction or some some guidance on what you want at each meeting, I can always bring that and provide that as part of mine. It's doesn't matter to me where you are. So, what is everybody thinking? >> Uh, personally, I don't see a need to have somebody else here quite yet. >> That's how I got the bank. >> I agree, man. I

129want the information, but where the whole situation is, you know, >> that's fine, Tori. What you're doing is fine >> in flux. >> All right. So, we have also the website content we're all supposed to review. I will get an answer about whether we can u >> okay format that section a little bit different and then also um we have >> admissions policy >> yeah and then also the uh goals and >> oh yes the goals >> and there's no update on the internal audit or the student activity fund >> I mean nobody's going to ask it so I'll ask it everybody knows I'm awkward >> those are those are ongoing Um so the um we are currently in the process of doing the FY25 end of year report which is essentially closing the books

130and getting everything uh accounted for documented whatever term you want to use. So that's currently going on. Um the FY25 audit won't start until that's done. So that's kind of a gatekeeper for that. Um I've been in conversation about um also starting END as well. So END will actually be done by somebody different at TMS. It won't be the person that's assigned to be here. So it actually won't take away from his time or this to his or her time in the building with us. Um so we're working on that. The student activities fund um has been we've sent them stuff. They've requested more stuff. So I I actually had talked to Mary Rubio um yes yesterday. Yes, today's Tuesday. I talked to Mary Rubio yesterday about that. Um, and she said that she had

131she had responded to the last request they had. Um, they are currently going through all of that stuff and I'm I'm sure we're going to get more requests like, hey, send us this or we need, you know, we need documentation of this or we want backup to that file. >> I have a question. Who's doing that? Is >> it's Ciz is doing that as well. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Because when they used to do audits, they'd come in and sit there and just hand it to them. Yep. >> So CBiz doesn't come in. >> It does not appear that way. Um, so CBiz had told us when that this was something that really fit into the timeline. They were going to do it over the summer, blah blah blah. That again hasn't seemed to happen.

132Um, in talking to some people um at other schools, everybody has had similar experiences with CBIS with it. Typically three to six months behind on everything that they promise. Um, but the only problem is they've pretty much absorbed everybody else that was doing that type of work. bought everybody. >> So there's there's not a lot of other choices out there. So I'm not I mean I think this is our last year with them. I think the the contract we had. So we may want to reook at that. But um I don't think we're alone I guess is maybe what I'm trying to say based on what I've heard from some other schools. >> Yeah. >> So basically you're waiting on the student activity fund is different but like you're waiting on before this year's audit

133can start digital. >> The end of year report has to be completed first. That's like the first >> that's supposed to be done by >> I think it's October 30th. Yeah. >> They haven't provided any timeline as far as the internal audit like when that's going to start. Like they haven't provided any >> Well, that that's part of So, as they're going through and doing the end of year report, okay, >> they're also looking at all the account structures, how payroll is set up, how things are budgeted. So, it's they're they're kind of in parallel. It's not like they're doing one and then stopping and doing the other one. >> So, I I know it's in progress. you know, I have I I have conversations with every every week about where they are and what

134they're working on and what's next. Um, but yeah, it's it takes time. >> Yeah, because I mean I just for the financials of the school, we're kind of >> I'd love to know >> two masters here in in the uh so I think that's the other part of is what's the next steps as far as like what we do. I know we're all talking about here that's >> this this TMS is a coming cheap. So like every month that we continue to go, you're paying both sides of the fence. >> We need to find a long-term solution. >> Did you want to say anything? >> That's given me like a go to >> Okay, now I can do that. >> Well, the first bullet we are not doing because we do not have an update.

135Good. >> All right. I need a a motion to adjurnn. >> I make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All those in favor? >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Unanimous vote. When is your meeting on the 7th?