Greenfield School Committee - June 10, 2026

001[music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. [music] Hey, honey. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> All right, welcome everyone. It is June 10th, 2026, 6:31 p.m. and we are calling the regular meeting of the Greenfield Public Schools School Committee to order. Um, first up, can we get a roll call of the members, please? Sorry. Member Denive >> here. >> Mayor Disorder The mayor stepped out in the hall for a few minutes, but she is here. >> Member Dyman >> here. >> Member Goodwin >> here. >> Chair Ston >> here. >> Member Webb, I am here. Vice Chair Childs >> here. >> We are all present. >> Great. We are all present and have a quorum. Okay. Merry Christmas. Um, okay. Um, I would like to make a quick uh just minor

002adjustment to the agenda and have our student reports go first prior to the public comment if that is amendable to folks. If you are here for public comment and would like to sign up, please see our recording secretary in the corner. If you are online and anticipate that you would like to do public comment, um, if you could please put your name in the chat so we can start a running list, that would be great. Thank you. And in the meantime, we'll have our students come up. Hello. So for the June student report, student council on Wednesday, May 20th, student council had their annual banquet where they celebrated 15 seniors and numerous accomp accomplishments of all members. Students will be helping at with the summer eats kickoff on Wednesday, June 24th at the Greenfield swimming

003pool. Class officer elections for from current grades 9 to 11 will take place on June that's already happened. Uh and current eighth and seventh grade will have their elections in the fall. Key Club, they elected their new officers for the 2026 to 2027 school year. Athletics Greenwave baseball are won the Western Mass Championship. Girls tennis won their prelim round over David Prrowy and will be traveling to Manchester Essex for a round of 32 match. track had successful athletes in Western Mass and states. >> Library club had their final meeting of the year on Wednesday, June 3rd with an end of year picnic and lawn games. Library club alumni were invited to attend as well um from the library for summer reading. Once students return all of their books they have borrowed from the ghs library,

004they may choose up to five books to take home over summer break as long as the students plan to return to GHS the next year. Spectrum will be marching in the Franklin County Pride Parade on June 13th. Family and friends are welcome, so if you'd like to walk with them, please contact Miss Oiri. Uh the trivia team, the club welcomed new members. Interested students are encouraged to contact Miss Boti or Mr. Leaper. Uh if they would like to join >> students of color club are voting for their new officers this month, which did that already happen? I believe >> I think so. Yeah, >> I think so. Um, I believe that already happened, but they now are planning for their end of year picnic at a local park. Uh, French Club hosted a well-attended coffee

005house show in May and celebrated its graduating seniors. They look forward to the next year's usual activities as well as a student trip to Montreal and Quebec City in next February. Uh, contact Madame for any information about the trip. Juliet Poti is the artist of the week/month. Congrats to her as a lead actor playing Mary Lennox in GHS's spring play The Secret Garden. She has written poetry for years and recently read several at April's poetry slam in the ghs library. And that is it. So, does anyone have any questions? >> A member Goodwin. >> I just want to say congratulations to the class of 2026. Graduation was special. I was very tearary. I remember you when you were five. And now I'm looking at somebody I knew when they were five. And she's the class

006of 2027. So I'm feeling very old. So congratulations to being seniors. >> Thank you both very much. Really appreciate it. >> All right. And it's at this time that we will open it up for public comment. Members of the public will have three minutes to speak as timed by our secretary. Um, yeah. Do you have a list? We'll we'll start here in person. And again, if you are online and wish to give public comment, please put your name in the chat so we can get you on the list. Um, but we'll start here in the room. First up, we have Bill Gordon >> and then Samantha Slater. >> Two minutes or three? >> Three minutes. >> Greetings. Uh, my name is William Gordon. I live on Country Country Club Road. I'm a taxpayer and a

007voter in the city of Greenfield. Last month, I spoke about poor recordkeeping related to a landscaping contract between the school department and a local business. While I am now convinced that the town's procurement department was involved in that process, I remain frustrated that neither the city nor the school department has been able to provide me complete records for that contract. In response, I reviewed a second procurement, this time involving a $51,000 annual preventive maintenance program for the HVAC system. This s this request was documented under foyer request number 26322. The contract itself is concerning. This is the entire contract. It starts with not with section one but with section three. And section three is crossed out. It says proposed pricing and acceptance. This document includes only the fee and payment terms. The only description of

008the work provided is is only the words quote preventative maintenance with no further definition of what that maintenance actually includes. As with my previous request, I asked for all procurement records. No quotes or bids were provided. Instead, I was directed to the combi system, specifically TDR-1. However, TD TDDR-1 user guide clearly states, and I quote, "Buyers must solicit bids when using this contract." It further specifies that for purchases $10,000 and above, buyers are required to solicit a minimum of three quotes from eligible vendors and obtain a minimum of three responses. No quotes were invol were were included as requested in my freedom of information act. Once again I am here before you with a serious concerns about procurement practices and recordkeeping. I want to be clear. I am not accusing anyone of malfeasants. However, there

009seems to be a pattern of possible procurement or recordkeeping violations. I respectfully request that the school committee order an independent audit of the records for procurements and conduct a bonafideed investigation into purchasing practices, including recommendations for improved policies and procedures. I think we owe the new superintendent a clean slate and a clear policies to which to operate under. Additionally, I am deeply concerned about the recent reports from the teachers union regarding an unauthorized entry at the Federal Street School last week and reported broken door lock that was not addressed. Our students are Greenfield's greatest assets and the most vulnerable. I asked the school committee to order an independent investigation of this incident, including but not limited to possible disciplinary actions for anyone that may have known about that those broken door locks and failed to

010act. This investigation should also include a comprehensive review and audit of the school safety and security practices. Once again, thank you for your time and service to our community. >> Thank you. Next, we have Samantha Slater and then Doug Selwin. Hi, my name is Samantha Slater. I am the Title One reading teacher at Federal Street School. I live here in Greenfield. I'm here to speak about the incident Friday at Federal Street School. Before I begin, I'd like to say that I know many things have happened since the incident. I know of two emails to families, an optional staff meeting Monday afternoon, and a 20-minute debrief at the beginning of today's staff meeting. On Friday, at approximately 11:55 a.m., an unauthorized young male entered our school building through the middle doors and was able to gain

011access all the way to the second and third floors of the southside building. For reference, I was testing students in the second floor classroom directly across from the staff room. When the shelter in place was called, I did a quick sweep of the hallway to check for any students that needed a space. In doing so, I observed police officers at the top of the staircase, to which I immediately closed and locked my door. This is when I knew the scenario was more serious than a shelter in place call. I have asked now twice the question, was the shelter in place called before the person entered the building. Still, no one seems to be able to give me a concrete answer. The timeline does not line up. While we now understand that this individual was not

012believed to pose a threat to himself or others, that was not known in the moment. Staff and students were faced with an unknown person inside that building and the fear and uncertainty experienced during that time were very real. This being said, there is still there was and still is a lack of transparency and communication that followed. Families and staff were left very with very limited information in an email, no phone call or text, Friday afternoon. The passage of more than 72 hours over the weekend allowed for speculation, conflicting stories, and misinformation to spread throughout the community. A clear and timely account of what happened could have prevented much of that confusion. In my opinion, we staff should have been pulled into a mandatory meeting at 3:00 Friday. We should have been we should have had

013as much information as possible going into the weekend. And in addition, we sat blind as to what and how much to tell our students on Monday morning. School safety procedures exist because we cannot know how someone's intentions are at the moment. Responses must be made on potential risk and not what we have learned afterwards. Furthermore, it should be noted loud and clear that teachers went home Friday evening so distraught by this lack of communication and planning from administration. No one checked in on us Friday. I repeat, nobody. Our students, our staff, and our families deserve not only strong security measures, but transparency, accountability, and timely communication when incidents like this occur. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Doug Selwin. And then Karina Kaf. Good evening, Doug Selwin Greenfield. Um, the Governor's Council is releasing the

014results of their study on what should come after the MCCAST. Uh, as the MCCAST is no longer a graduation requirement, the MCCAST is still given as we know. Two things to know about this. First, the council was essentially a sham to pretend that the governor was really interested in studying the problem. the council did not in fact follow any of what they heard in their meetings or the research that they did. And secondly, the governor's council, meaning the governor is ignoring, in fact rejecting the will of the voters when we said no to high stakes graduation requirements connected to the MCCAST. She is now introducing another one-sizefits-all high stakes graduation test under a new name. They're now calling it end of course tests, which sounds just like finals. We all took finals, but that's not

015actually what it is. These are standardized tests. They're prepared by the state. They're scored by the state, and everyone takes the same tests. It's a one-sizefits-all standardized test, which ignores learning differences, ignores those with special needs, those whose first language is not English, those who simply don't test well. It narrows the curriculum and at this point is it an unfunded mandate as if we need more unfunded mandates. What I encourage you to do is pay close attention to what's released by the governor's council. Um and again I think it's next week that it's coming. There's more that's also bad news in it, but that's the highlight of it. And then please be involved in the conversation. Connect with other districts. Connect with our legislators. connect with um DESIE, connect with the governor's office and let

016them know that since we the voters said no to high stakes testing, that means no. Thank you. >> Thank you, >> Karina Ktoff and then Virginia Haskell. >> Hello, school committee board. My name is Karina Cost and I am a sophomore at Greenfield High School. I'm here in front of you all to bring up the topic of artificial intelligence. In my history class, we were discussing problems that are affecting our school or nation. And after some research, we were able to agree that AI is a threat to both. AI is being used unethically and it takes away students critical thinking skills. Using any form of AI for cheating replaces trial and error with perfection, which prevents an individual's growth. But when is the use of AI considering a learning tool? When can us students use

017it to use it so it doesn't consider as cheating? Where do we draw that line? To further see how informed students and staff were about AI and their opinions on it, my class created a Google form that was sent out last Friday. Around 68% of students said that GHS should offer a class on technology and media literacy. This sounds like a great way to inform students on how to properly use AI. However, adding a class can be costly. My proposal to both limit and teach kids about AI is to include a media literacy as a lesson in a class's curriculum. This could be either a two or three weeks worth of classes talking about things such as pros and cons of AI, the effects it has, and how the information it provides can be false

018or misleading. In an article from a popular newsletter called Education Week, I read that nine out of 10 educators believe that students should be taught how to use AI before graduating high school. Similarly, 82% of staff at the high school think that students need more knowledge about media literacy. For these reasons, I believe students at GHS will benefit greatly from technology media literacy course. Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you very much. Last up in the room, I have Virginia Haskell. Virginia Haskell, resident of Greenfield, mother of two students. I'm here to talk about what happened after the incident on Friday. There is no standardized incident reporting across the district and I have been bringing this issue up for several years now. Mayor D Rocher, you're responsible for all the buildings in the

019district. If there was a failure of the door lock that was brought up multiple times by staff and it was never handled or escalated to you, that's a failure of communication. Okay. There are several issues of accountability that I've brought up with the principal that haven't made it to the superintendent's office. Hey, if there's no standardized incident reporting between the teachers, whether we need supplies, we need building maintenance. We have an incident report that needs to be communicated parents, you guys need to institute a communication system between all staff members that's trackable across the district so that you guys have accountability on all fronts. When incident reporting is not timely or factual, it violates parental rights. I had a right to decide for my daughters whether they needed to sit in school upset or whether

020they could come home and decompress. Additionally, as employers, you've failed your employees by not giving them the option to leave a stressful situation by saying, "Hey, we understand your bodies are pumped full of adrenaline, but also you need to maintain your game face and be responsible for these hundreds of children." Okay? It should have been optional on both the parents part and the educator's part. We should have been given the choice whether to remove our children, whether to take them home and let them regulate. I met with Superintendent Joyel Monday morning and I got a verbal commitment from him that he is going to institute better incident reporting across the district, but he also noted that he's leaving in 3 weeks. So, I'm not sure if he plans to address that before then or if

021that falls on the new superintendent's lap, but I do plan on following up on that. And one thing that came up that really upset me was, "Oh, we can't spend this much time talking about safety because you guys want your test scores." And I want to remind you all very seriously that dead children do not test well. You have a room with 250 potential hostages in it. You have hundreds of weapons of opportunity. You have to do better. If I am forced to trust you all with my children for this many hours a day, you have to do better. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. I am not seeing anyone's name in the chat online. Is there anybody else in the room who would wish to speak? Who has not yet? Okay, I'm

022going to give it another three to five seconds for someone to type their name just in case or come off mute. Seeing and hearing none, I think that we can close public comment for today. But thank you all so much um for coming in sharing. Next we've got uh reports from the administration. Um did anyone have questions for the administration? Okay. Um, seeing none. I was just wondering, uh, >> great. >> I guess [clears throat] it's not more of a question, more of a comment that, um, I think everyone seemed to interpret Steam Knight a little bit differently. I just wanted to check in with Stephen on that. Yeah, Sim, I do think there are different interpretations and I think we gave the schools the leniency to kind of make it work for their constituents

023in terms of similar to what we did for literacy night in the past. It's always been book bingo for books. Some schools chose not to do bingo for books this years, but do a different literacy theme. So, uh, we want to give some choice and freedom to the schools to make the decisions that work best for their community because despite us all being in Greenfield, there's different contexts for different schools. >> Thank you. >> Um, I was just hoping, superintendent, that if you have any more to share or any updates for folks about the situation at FSS that you'd be willing to share those. Yeah. Yes. Uh, thank you. Um, pretty obvious that most people know there was a situation at Federal Street School last week where a door lock mechanism failed and a um,

024young adult, young man was able to get into the building while being pursued, I say pursued, followed would be the better word, by police officers um, and a case worker as well. Um, that happened. They were able to get into the the middle door, a middle door, a singular door at um Federal Street. They have the two towers then the the middle area. In that sense, um that incident obviously, you know, happened. Police called the school, had everybody go to a shelter in place on that and then they ended up following the young man. Um the young man was considered and told to us told to the principal at that time and all those that they did not believe the person was a danger to themselves or others when they were um following them and

025pursuing them. In that scenario, the they did they were able to have the person exit the building under their the person's own, you know, will of walking out and not being dragged out and they were dealing with somebody who, you know, they needed to deal with in a in a nice way and not uh was not handcuffed at all or taken out that sense. Um and then the obviously a shelter in place was then lifted. An email was sent out by the principal to families that afternoon before school ended letting them know of that shelter in place, which is pretty standard for what we do in all cases of shelters in place and lockdowns. Um, the majority in the majority really of shelter in places that happen are probably more for medical in that sense

026when somebody would have could be a student, could be a faculty member, somebody might need to be removed, somebody might have been sick potentially at times you have an ambulance. I'm just I'm just kind of setting a scenario for you there where they're just not having people move around. And the shelter in place is when we ask our teachers to shut their doors, lock their doors, drop their shades, and they can still teach and they don't have to be quiet in their room. There's still work going on. And occasionally, they might be able to leave depending on the section of the building they're in or escort somebody to the bathroom if they need to under an escort or and keep them away from the scenario that's happening. In that sense in a lockdown which you

027we know that our parents know our students practice many times a year um similar doors locked shades down but then people huddle into a corner and are kept quiet and then don't release from a lockdown on that. So, we had the shelter in place on Monday. Um, had a lot of conversations as you can only imagine, Monday afternoon, all weekend long. Um, on Monday morning, I was at drop off the entire drop off. Um, saw all the students come in. Uh, the door was fixed midday Monday, was not fixed Monday morning. So, we had somebody stationed there the entire time until people were able to fix the door. Um we did we were able to meet with a group of parents um principal Halpin and I Monday morning at 9:00 for a while. Um took

028a lot I took a lot of notes and they had great suggestions and and there's all things that we all need to work on. There's no doubt about that. Um for that um we did have a voluntary staff meeting after school. Uh the principal, myself and Mr. Sullivan attended and told teachers what we could at that time and what we knew to try to inform them. And then the principal sent an email to the parents that evening. Another update. Um, today we did have a meeting, a debrief meeting, and we had the Greenfield Police Department there. We had the sheriff's department there and the Massachusetts State Police, the safety liaison for Western Mass. And these are the this is the group. Um, I know that principal Goodwin is probably familiar with Mr. Carmichael who was

029associated with that group a lot of times. He was not here today. He is retired now. But Bob and I want to say Hoey or Hawi, I don't want to say it wrong, but I apologize. Bob, Bob was there. Orlando from the Mass State Police, he's the school safety liaison who is involved in all these. And officer Llewell and Matt Llewellyn from Greenfield Police was there this morning. We met for a long time, talked about everything, right? All the things that had happened. Um how could things how did things go? What can we do to improve? Because there's always room, we know that, for improvement. Um, I will say and I know that some people will disagree, right? Um, that after talking about it all in the actual incident itself and the time the person

030was in the building and how things were were done at that time, things were handled well in terms of what the police did. The police did a great job of dealing with the individual. The staff did a great job. Yes, I'm I would guess that it would be traumatizing to some and unnerving, right, to others depending on what part of the building you were in or where you saw it or what you heard. from that. There's no doubt. But despite that, they did do a nice job of dealing with the students and everybody and making things go well on that time. Um, we were able to um take a bunch of notes, work on some things, find some some things that need to be looked at, some of our policies and procedures, written policies. We

031definitely have practice policies that are I would hope they were understood and told to our faculty and staff at orientation or not orientation convocation this year. Sorry. the first day that the teachers were back, this group generally of individuals here talked and spoke to our teachers about the practices each year and they talk about that. And then they the individuals who were with us today from law enforcement also come in a few times a year to all of our schools to do the lockdown practices and work on that. So we met with them today. We were able to um get some notes and work on some things and still gather we still need to gather some more information. And then this afternoon we were able to meet with the faculty at Federal Street School at

032their faculty meeting. Um officer Llewellyn from Greenfield Police came and Bob from the Franklin County Sheriff's Department came. The state policeman was not able to make it in the afternoon. Uh they spoke about some of the procedures and how things happened that day and did take some questions or I shouldn't say some all the questions that people had that at the at the moment anyway. um answered them to the best of their ability and we will be sending out an update to our parents within the next day, parents of the Federal Street School and staff as well as to what's going on. Um some of the things that we have been hearing and and we know you've been hearing it. We've seen emails going around and we know that you read it and you talk

033to your neighbors etc. Um talk about a shelter in place versus a lockdown and why why is that happening? Um, a shelter in place is for somebody who's not a danger to themselves or others in that sense. And the police called a shelter in place and we respect that. And they had the situation, I will say, in control. They were always next to or really close to the individual and there were multiple officers in the area. A lockdown is which is anybody can call any of our staff members know they can call a lockdown and put the building into a lockdown. Um but the police and the reason the police would call a lockdown. I'm telling you as more educational would be if they thought that the intruder was hostile, they had a hostile intruder

034or it was a weapons related violent incident in that scenario and that was not the case to call that. So, um, we do get obviously people questioning why things were called and weren't called. Um, we're giving you an answer, right? Sometimes people won't always agree with the answer on what happened in that sense, but we do believe that the law enforcement did a nice job. We're gathering information about the incident and, you know, we've heard rumblings and I've heard them know myself. Oh, people knew the door was compromised. Okay. Okay. Well, we still haven't gotten to the point yet today of anybody telling me who who knew in that sense. Um, I can tell you, and I didn't know the door was compromised, right? I can tell you, and I've talked to the principal, the

035principal didn't know that door was compromised. And I can tell you, I talked to their daytime custodian who's been there for three years. He did not know the door was compromised. What I think some people may, and I say may, be interpreting as an issue with the door was, I believe in the wintertime, that the door had trouble closing from I don't know what you would say, the the pull, the R, the arm that that pulls, the hydraulics in it, I may be using the wrong terminology. The fluid needed to be adjusted so it pulls faster and then latches. The incident the other day was a latch, not a pull incident, but a latch um incident the other day. Um we have looked through and we're doing we have a freedom of information request. Obviously,

036we're looking for information. Um on a quick search, I can tell you for the last two years, there's not one report in our computerized system of reporting incidents. And it's a I don't what's the title of it? >> The work order system. any t any employee in the district can enter requests for maintenance things that are broken etc into that system. I went back the last two years there's not one thing in there for that. So we're not here to cast stones or or defend ourselves because I don't think I did anything wrong that day with the latch, right? I can't control when something breaks and and nobody can if we knew we needed to fix things, right? And since then, as you can only imagine, we've gotten some reports of some doors that might

037have, you know, not not be closing as tight. Um, some intercoms that might not be working when we call the shelter in place. Um, and I really don't sit here defensive because I think people did a nice job, but we can't help people and fix things unless we know in that sense. Um, and if people did know, obviously we've heard from people. We need to find out what's going on and how things were reported or handled and not. Um but we're trying to learn from this and heal. And we do think though that overall the incident itself the time frame of you know whatever the time was those 5 to 10 minutes in that sense went really well in that sense. I'm not saying people weren't scared in that sense but it was handled appropriately

038at the time being and we still have more to look at. As I mentioned, you know, we've met with law enforcement. We're still gathering some information. We're looking at our written policies. There's some old uh how would I say flip chart type of um little man little manuals what to do safety procedures. You know what I'm talking about that were initially done in 1314 and we've found that over the years people have just I say just but put like a white sticker mailing label over it and written a new year on it in that sense. And any of you who have been involved in lockdown training through the course of lockdowns, right, since unfortunately Coline, etc. in all those years, lockdowns change. They change nationwide in terms of what they people think are the best

039practices. And they also change communitywide. Um, at time years ago, right, it was hide in a corner, go be quiet, hide in a corner. Then it changed to a little Alice training where, okay, maybe you go run. Something happens, hit the door and run as far away as you can. Then it came to okay, hide in a corner, but hide behind the door with a baseball bat and when the bad guy comes in, hit him, >> right? You know, so there's there's lots of different um scenarios. So, we need obviously we need to update our written some of those written things that we're seeing in that sense. So, uh we're still looking at it. We'll obviously keep you updated. Um and I do have a commitment to our parents here of students because they do

040trust us with their kids, right? I always kind of I say to you all the time, they don't keep the good ones at home. They send us the best they have, right? And they want them to come home and we want those kids to get home every night as well, too. So, we do take our job serious of protecting their students in that sense and we'll continue to do that. >> Other questions? All right. Member Goodwin and member Den. [sighs] >> Mhm. So I along with I'm sure many teachers have been at Defcon 10. I found out about what happened from a parent. So that poster where communication is an F as a school committee member. I feel I should have heard when you heard as a parent. Um and yes, you were failed because

041you should have been spoken to the day it happened. I'm sorry that happened to you. Um, I've been a teacher with a a gun in my classroom and nobody spoke to me. That's why I became a principal. I vowed nobody would ever feel like that in a school I was in. So, I'm sorry that happened to you. I have cried for you. Um, and I'm very proud of your union for stepping up and Sam, you did good. So, um, communication has been bad in Greenfield for over 20 years. This is not about Roland. This is about This is about Greenfield. We like to pretend everything is wonderful. We try to say like, "Oh, everybody can read, but our kids come up at the sixth percentile. Oh, our schools are safe, but the doors aren't fixed."

042There are emails that go back two years. I saw them today where the doors were there was something wrong with the doors and it was put in writing two years ago. So, our facilities managers failed us. So people knew about the doors. And I encourage teachers, you yell bloody murder. If something's not working, if you don't you're not heard, you start calling school committee members because it's not about the money. Safety is always first. Um I was asked why Newton has a double door like the high school. It's because their principal was who I am. So I took care of it. So what I'm saying is sometimes in the world of being an administrator, there's a million in one decisions. There's a million in one things. But when somebody says you're not feeling safe, it

043needs to change. And I'm sorry that you had a bad weekend and I hope you're better. Um, and I wish walking in here I had known all the things I just heard. Be that communication. The fact that I'm not getting a copy of the communication that you're getting from a principal. I had no idea what happened, a parent reached out to me. The only time I saw the emails from the principal was when parents were emailing me and they attached what they were reading and they were calling it out. Honesty is like a mirror. This is an honest man. He says it and I truly see it. People in our district have tried to hide the truth. Greenfield is a small town. We like to call ourselves a big old city. We are a small

044town. We all know. We know from the minute of pickup and drop off what is going on and to hide it is a mistake. So our new superintendent transparency means letting people know when there's a problem. Life is full of problems. Today I must have solved at least eight and now I'm on an war with ants in my yard. But what I'm saying is it's okay to just tell people what's going on. Um, so again, you need somebody to stand at a door with a baseball bat, I'm in. Um, you don't feel safe in your classroom, you call me, I'll sit there and I'll take care of it. So what I'm saying is the communication is key because everybody me teachers parents would have felt better with open and honest communication and you got that

045finally I think when it reached Roland and that's why I really value him and I I I'm going to miss you and you may not miss me but that's okay. Um, and I reached out because I knew who could help us and he called those people. We used to meet once a month with police officer James Carmichael who retired and then came out of retirement and works for the sheriff's department, but he's doing lockdowns still. So, he actually our lockdown process is the same one used in the whole county. So it's consistent from school to school. And so if people are going to start to mess with it, what happens is a child leaves Greenfield, goes to school in Pioneer, they're used to one process. It's not fair to a child who's been trained to

046do one thing. So what I'm saying is it was a countywide, you know, people, he has a great presentation. Um, many of you sat through it and he used to come to faculty meetings. Um and he makes you feel like you can ask him anything and you feel better and safe um throughout the process. So there was money in capital for fixing doors for three years. Three years ago there was money for fixing doors and capital planning. And the mayor, she paid she paid this woman. She pays for everything. She fixed your elevator. She fixed the heating. I mean it's not this isn't about money. This is about lack poor communication. If there's something wrong with a door, start screaming. If there's something wrong with an intercom, let people know. If your phone doesn't work,

047you just got to talk. Um, it's not There's a phrase in Greenfield that it's not my job. Heard it. Custodians, everybody. Not my job. Safety is everybody's job. Every person in a building who sees something that's unsafe needs to learn to speak out. So, I just beg you to communicate with each other and I thank everybody who who did and I think that for me um I'm sorry for what happened. It broke my heart. Um, we need to do better in Greenfield about being honest, transparent, and talking to each other. That's not It's like what we try to teach children to do. If there's something going wrong, I I you have to tell me. So, thank you. Thank you so much. And I'm very sad that this is like your last school committee meeting. Thank

048you for all you've done for us and for listening to Greenfield. And for a new superintendent, I think I wanted to speak too because what's important is that honesty factor. Um, and that's really an important thing. I think our schools need to earn the trust of parents. Um, there's been years of lack of trust. Um, and that's a big deal. And so you were the beginning of a new era which is trust. So thank you for that. Thank you, member Goodwin, member Denife. Um, I just want to thank the union for their emails and for coming and speaking with us. It's very impactful and we always enjoy hearing from you and it gives us a better perspective of what's going on. So, thank you for that and I'm sorry for the experience that you had.

049Um, in the past we always received an email as a committee when anything was happening. If an ambulance got called, if the police had to show up, anything. We didn't need details like that's not our business. But we were told, hey, an ambulance had to come to Newton today or, you know, somebody had to be escorted out from the high school. whatever it was just so that we knew that the admin was doing their job and um that the communication was flowing. We have not received that this year and I don't fault you for that role and it makes me think about this conversation with that we just had about how Carol is going to be coming on and I did speak to MASC about Carol coming on and they had a suggestion about they

050flat out said how what are your plans for onboarding your new superintendent and I went oh great question we have not done that process as a committee so I would hope that We could set up a meeting in July or August after Carol's had a little bit of time, a few weeks, she'll be very busy where we can meet her as a school committee and let her know the things that we hope for, such as emails when these things occur. Like we want our superintendent to know it, but we haven't said that we want that. It just happened in the past. So that's part of our communication level that we have to get better at. and also letting her know, you know, that we want to have meetings about goals so that we can set

051our goals, not just for the committee relations, but also for the committee superintendent, goals for the district are overarching. Um, and so I guess I would just say um I'm going to make a motion at the end of the meeting that we do this um and I'll write that up and send it to you, but I think I don't want to like assume, but I'm going to assume that we all want to do this. like we probably all want to talk to the superintendent and make sure that we're all very very welcoming and that we communicate ourselves to her. And so maybe we should all take a take some time and think about what we would like from our new superintendent so that we can say those words and say like if something happens we

052want to know in this way and then that communication will be open and we can say hey our constituents have told us they're not hearing what they want to hear because I hear that from some of you and I communicate that but you know not all wires are connected. So that's kind of what I'm hoping from the for from the future. But also I hope that and I don't know how you could do this because you are leaving us sir. So I would love to have a report in the future of what all the findings were about this so that we know where the breakdowns were and so that those things can be adjusted and fixed uh because mistakes do happen. But, you know, this is one that's attached to a lot of emotion, trauma,

053feelings, and like no one should have to have the feelings that they had. So, I hope to receive that soon, I'm guessing, from Carol. >> Oh, okay. All right. Well, that >> hope. Yeah. So, if it comes in an email or something, I I understand as as you are sunsetting out of this particular district. >> No, we would hope to do that. What I'm trying to do is not leave her trying not to leave her with lots of things to do and um and in terms of uh obviously you know sending out you know when an ambulance comes etc. Yes, I think then you should and not blaming anybody, right? But tell somebody what you would like and expect because I could flood you. I could flood you with emails, right? And I don't mean

054that in a bad way, but I can send you everything that I'm doing all day long in that sense, >> right? I didn't know that we didn't communicate with each other. How how how often? Yeah. How often? Right. But if you from the new superintendent, if you want to hear like or you want to be tagged to each um what we might say like all call email, you know what I mean? goes out. Um, that's pretty simple to do with computers nowadays to add you to those things and if you want to know about every activity. So, >> like our emails could be just added to >> So, we'll pass that on. Yes. Thank you. >> I I really appreciate that because that's something that I've been actually asking for for years, but like you

055guys don't understand that not every superintendent wants to do what you ask. like even though they're your employee as a school committee, you ask them to do something and they won't. Like that's just how it is and that's what I've experienced. So having a superintendent who looks me in the eye and says, "Oh, you need a calendar or you need a some kind of communication thing, I'll just do it." Like I can't tell you how healing that is. Like that means I can do work for you. That otherwise I'm just like banging my head against the wall. So thank you for not making me bang my head against the wall. And so maybe in the future we can, you know, have have more smooth communication with with our next superintendent. >> I've got member child

056and then member web and then I would love to move us forward in our agenda. >> I have two quick things. Uh first, I think once we have the full report of what happened, it would make sense to take a look at the relevant policies and send that with the report to the policy subcommittee to go over it. And then my other question more immediately, are there going to be additional supports offered to the kids and faculty that were impacted? >> Yes, I know that the principal has met with um you're going to have to correct me here like the people who are doing restorative >> circles. Is that correct? my my terminology. I don't want to misspeak of my my terminology, but restorative >> happened in every classroom classroom >> in the in classrooms

057that were either affected or that it was needed. They'll be working on that to meet the needs of our students. >> And what about for the staff? >> Um, I know that, you know, as I mentioned, I I was over there Monday afternoon, met with the staff. I was over there today, met with the staff. I'm not saying I'm a healing person in that sense for them and for what they went through. Um but the principal will be talking with them. She I know she has talked with some individuals already to gather uh what happened and to gather more information for this report and see how we can help them. >> When will the parents be updated? >> We haven't been briefed yet. Yeah, as I mentioned, um, and I know generally during public speakout,

058we don't go back and forth, and I'm not ready to do that as well, too. But I did mention that the principal will be sending out an email within a day to the parents as well. I think I said that earlier. >> Great. Member, >> I'm going to be honest. I was aware that there was a fault with the door. My son has opened that door. When we did our capital planning walkth through, I walked up to the door and I yanked on it. Um, someone said, "Hey, I got to get my key card." I said, "Why? This door just opens if you yank on it the right way." And of course, in that moment, it did not happen. And part of me wishes it had because I don't feel we'd be having this conversation,

059but I did during the capital walkthrough say that there was fault in the door. Now, that was our last building. after six buildings. Uh we were a dwindling group of two maybe three um people. But I I'm not going to sit here and say I didn't speak up cuz that is definitely not who I am as a person. Um as for shelter in place first lockdown, I got an email today from AEL. Again, this is nothing to do, but instead we're referring to it now as a shelter wall learning. So, I don't know if that's shelter while learning is different than a shelter in place. I'm pretty sure they're both the same thing. Um, we're just trying to make I I don't know. Um, I'm very confused what a shelter in learning is because I

060know what a shelter in place is and I know what a lockdown is. And I somehow magically end up in the building every single time one of these occurs. One day I got to do two lockdowns. >> Maybe we should stop you. That's it. Sorry. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Um >> All right. Um clearly there is more that we will be returning to about this topic. Um I don't think that we have any additional useful information for folks at this time. Um, but we will be looking forward to that report, looking forward to getting that to policy to see if there are ways that our written district-wide policies can be strengthened to make sure that incidents like this can be hopefully avoided in the future. Um, but in the meantime, I would like to

061move us to the consent agenda. >> Oh, yeah. You still have other reports. >> Great. >> Um, just a few quick quick things. Um uh you do have the enrollment summary and uh we were I say down from one month to the next one just one I say just but one student down I did have a question last month from a member I can't exactly remember who about what happens to our students some of those students who did leave us the last month. So without giving names and exact locations, I can tell you that we did have a couple of students move um actually three down south um not all together but to different states down south. Uh we did have a student another group of students move to another country and we had a

062student transfer to Springfield. When I say the word transfer for you, yes, they're moving, right? But um in terms of in the state collection system, the records just have us have them going from you know one school to the next in that sense. So we had a uh moves out of state out of country and transferred to another public school in Massachusetts just to keep you posted as to what's happening. >> Thank you for that one. Um and I would like to just take a minute to highlight some of the nice things that happened this school year in some of our schools. Um, I talked to with our principles and asked them to, you know, kind of quickly give me a couple quick things I can say to let you know the good things that

063are happening in school because, um, there are good things still going on in [clears throat] our schools right at AAL. Um, and these just focus on two quick hits at each school. I'm just going to run by you. Uh, this year they've just recently selected a new curriculum through the Prism grant focusing on highquality instructional materials and literacy that will be implemented in the fall. And they had a successful roll out of new curricula, new social emotional curriculum, uh, kimois, which focus on communication, respect, and kindness, kindness. Over at AEL at four four corners, they began the year with 40 47 sorry, percent of our students reading on or above grade level and ended the year with 62% of our students reading on or above grade level. So nice increase there. In this year, over

06470% of their English language learner students improved by at least one language profic proficiency level as compared to last year. At Federal Street School, they successfully implemented the restorative practices learning pilot and also had their math map scores results indicate that students performed at the 65th percentile for achievement while reaching the 84th percentile for growth, reflecting strong academic progress at Federal Street School. This year at Newton, our students improve their reading performances significantly at all grades by using the LOF UFly intervention in small groups. And the entire school had been focusing on implementing the Newton way in creating a culture based on being kind, being respectful, and being safe. Students learned to be more accountable for their school choices, do small acts of kindness for each other, appreciate other students strengths and challenges, and show

065gratitude. Their fourth grade junior coaches program began successfully and they used their leadership skills to help supervise and play with the younger students at recess. It was amazing to watch this program take place. At Greenfield Middle School, our fifth grade students with disabilities this year demonstrated double digit double-digit gains on MAP assessments in both reading and math, reflecting the impact of strong inclusive practices, high quality instruction, and their focus on literacy at the middle school. Also this year, seven multilingual learners successfully exited the MLL services after demonstrating proficiency in English, reflecting their hard work and the effectiveness of the instructional support provided and on their focus in literacy and at the high school. And these are obviously just a few of the many things that happened, but you already know that they had the Gary

066Rome surprise squad come and recognize one of their graduating or graduated right as of a few weeks ago seniors Nate Woodard for having an impact on the community through his many efforts to elevate the needs of the community. And they're also very proud of the way their community at Greenfield High School acts and their how they're well-rounded. The student body there is very well-rounded both in raising the bar in academics as well as growing in their involvement in many sports and clubs offered. And one of the ways that they highlighted this year was during a whole school assembly to support and cheer on the student athletes in a unified basketball game. And those are games that integrate students with needs and students who do not have needs to play games against other sports. And that's

067through the MIAA. It's also done as well too. They equally cheered for the success of our students as well as those of our opponents showing their camaraderie for all of our players. So, just wanted to leave on a try to leave on a good note here, right, in the sense of some nice news because there is nice news. There's things we can always improve on, but there's a lot of good things happening here in Greenfield as well. So, that's just the end of my update. >> Thank you very much. >> Um, okay. At this time, I think I'm free to move on to the consent agenda, I believe. Um, are there any items in the consent agenda that members would wish to consider separately? Okay. I've got member Deniv and then member >> might be

068the same as you be. >> Item B, the empowered digital use policy. >> Yes. >> Okay. Would you like to consider it? Are we considering it separately or we are you wanting to punt it to a next? I would like to punt it because we had a uh memo from uh Steven Sullivan about the advisory committee for AI and um we also didn't get to discuss it at our policy meeting. Okay. >> So I think we need more time with it. I also haven't had a chance to have like any kind of conversation with the council about it. >> They are extremely busy and sort of advised me that they would not really be able to work on all of these projects until July. So thank you. >> Was that the same for you member

069child? Same one. Okay. Any other items? >> Okay. So then >> is that postponed or postponed? What's the language on that? >> Tabled. >> No, no, no. >> Not tabled. Postponed. >> We are Yeah. If you table it and you end the meeting, everything on the table gets cleared away. But if you postpone it to a specific date, then it comes back. technical Robert's rules. Um, so we will be postponing it. Um, how long do you August to September? >> August would be ideal, but mayhap we will be more prepared in July, but I doubt it. Let's hope and pray for July. >> If our council can't even get to it till July, then I would recommend after that. >> Great. >> August. It's fine. >> All right. So we were we were postponing that

070item. So consent agenda items A and C. Uh I move that we approve as as >> second. Any public or any discussion? Not public comment. Sorry. Discussion about the consent agenda approving items A and C and postponing item B. Seeing none. Um all in favor? I >> I any opposition any abstensions? I think it passes uh unanimously. Thank you. I just make a note and Okay, [gasps] now we are here at the school committee reports. Um chair's report. First, I just wanted to do a a self-report about an open meeting law complaint that we filed against ourselves um because one of our members was replying to a community member or a student and accidentally CCd us all, which is against the rules, but that did happen. And so, we are telling you now, we are

071sorry that we included all of us on a reply. Um and we'll be following up with some additional filing of reports to the state about that. Um, but the state is also aware and they have said, "Thank you for letting us know." Um, okay. I'm glad that you were talking about July because I have some ideas for what we can do with our July meeting. Um, we have accomplished a lot in this first six months and I would actually like to take July to review what have we done in January through June. What would we like to do August through December? setting some achievable goals and talking about our process as a committee to date. What do we like? What do we not like? What do we wish we would do differently? Kind of some

072of this retrospective and I my idea for doing this in July one is it is a it is a midyear check-in like we the terms and like the academic year and when we're all set in our positions happens at a weird time. So like the academic year is halfway done, but I just started as the chair in January, right? And so I think that it a six-month check-in for us as a committee about how all of this is going feels good. And that kind of takes a little pressure from or what I'm trying to do is take a little pressure off of Carol for her first meeting um in July so that she can actually hear us talk about what we've done, what we want to do, and so that she can started being thinking,

073okay, here's how we're converging. Um, I don't expect that she will come in ready with a here's my goals for the next six months in July, but if she can hear from us what we're hoping to do, yeah, she shouldn't. Um, but if she can hear from us what we're hoping to do and how we're feeling about how our thing, you know, how our communication, how our pro process is going, um, I think that puts her in a better position to understand like, okay, >> where are we going from here? So that that's my idea for a July meeting. Um I would love just some feedback about that idea. Uh and that would kind of be the bulk like unless there is a contract negotiation update or something else. That would really be the bulk

074of our time. Um because I'd like I'd like to to not have 4-hour meetings in July and August if we can help it. Um, then the last thing that I have in my chair's report, I think that I talked with most people about individually about this, getting the getting the like would you be willing um to support school literacy as a school committee by going and reading to kids over the summer and promoting library attendance by partnering with the library and their summer reads program. Uh, and so, uh, I've set up times at 10:30 a.m. every Saturday in July and August. Uh, >> both, sorry. >> Yes. Both months, July and August, where one of us will go, we will volunteer and for an hour we're going to read to kids. That's what we're going

075to do. We're going to engage with whatever parents or caregivers come to those things with their kids. Uh, and we're going to make ourselves generally available. Um, for folks, this is completely voluntary. I am not telling you to do this. I am asking if you would like to do this. Um, these are, you know, see me and pick a week and sign up for a week. There's eight weeks that are covered or seven weeks actually, I think, that are covered because we're not doing July 4th, which is a Saturday. Uh, seven weeks. So, there's one for everybody. If you don't want to do one, that's okay. I've already said and committed that I will take on whatever doesn't get covered by other folks. No, no shame, no shame. Um and I do know that our

076incoming superintendent has also agreed to take on one of these weeks as well for if you know um for folks. So, um that being said, I would be at this time looking for a little bit of feedback specifically about the July meeting. Um, and if you have a particular weekend, a Saturday at 10:30 in July or August that you know you're like, "Yeah, I would love to go read, please tell me." Um, okay. Member Den, >> June and July is typically our self-evaluation survey and results meetings. >> So, we need to do that. Mhm. >> Uh we also need to we're not doing superintendent evaluation >> because obs. Um so the other thing that we have is um the MASC has a summer institute. I don't know if anyone's interested in attending that. And then

077we also have to review our year-long agenda >> and reset our year-long agenda. So those are the things that like we have to do which is actually quite a bit and the self-evaluation is always difficult and long and drama. So those are the things that are on on our plate. But I'd also like to um to your point, have sort of a a little bit more of a chitchat session with Carol and get to know Carol and get to know her goals and have her get to know our goals and set our goals. We still have not had a goal setting meeting. We only had the one disastrous one of the past. So, I'd love to do that. Um, and I like the idea that MASC told me about um, onboarding your superintendent because she

078really doesn't know us and we really don't know her. And so we could set those expectations >> and I think that's really important. So those are the things that are like on the docket and the things that I hope. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> And I thank you for telling us about the reading thing because I didn't hear about your idea. >> Okay. >> And I would be willing to do that. Thank you. Other feedback, member Goodwin, >> I'm all for reading to children. I mean, >> great. >> So, I think just it would be quicker just to even just assign us a day and make a calendar and then if we can't do that day, we reach out to you because that's far enough ahead I can wiggle things. I mean, it's a

079great idea. >> Okay. I guess I'm just wondering how we're communicating days that we would like to do. >> You can tell me after the meeting. You can send me an email. I think you can text me if you'd like. >> Um, okay. Any other feedback about Yes. We also need to receive a report on the strategic plan milestones that have been reached >> which is something that we is on our yearlong agenda for the end of the academic school year. So we should be getting those next month but I'm guessing that maybe not you know so if that's something we could kick down the road once Carol has a chance that would be great so that we don't miss that as we're going into our final year on the strategic plan. >> Great. Thank

080you. Any other feedback about July? What you'd like to see? I will also just note for folks that I will not personally be present in August at our meeting. Um I'm having a surgery the day prior and so we'll be totally unavailable. >> I will also be unavailable just so you know for quorum purposes. >> Okay. So that leaves five. That should be as long as no one else >> no one else can be gone gone in August. Um >> July's question is fine. >> Great. I'd love to see it. Okay. >> Every day is a gift. >> Anything else on the chair before I turn it over to budget and finance? >> Yes, Mayor Disorger. So, >> I would say this at the at the meeting, but I just wanted to say ahead of

081time this thing on the AI. >> Um, so we got all kinds of I thought it was wonderful. We got all kinds of input from students on this and I'm so glad that we're not taking it up um, you know, taking it up night and I don't actually know who's on the policy committee. >> It's us. It's us three. >> The three. So, thank you for serving on that. I was just going to say that I would feel like I couldn't vote on this because like many of the students and teachers said, I don't know enough about that myself. >> And so, uh, you know, and there you know, you referenced some things to, you know, you did reference some things on it to read. Um but it to make a a policy with a

082whole lot of parameters on it. Um I would just say for me I don't know enough about that and I would be asking for a little educational something if there is something that we're doing. I heard that loud and clear from many of the students and I think maybe one teacher that wrote I'm not sure. >> Yep. Go ahead. Just I I know maybe just a quick one on the AI. Um, assistant superintendent Sullivan and our director of IT Ian Edwards went over and met with that class with Mr. Martin. That's what I thought Mr. Martin's class and spoke with the students. They were doing a project which is a lot of the emails that you saw. So they did meet with them and then you saw obviously Steven's work. So there's obviously a lot

083going on with that. >> Awesome. Yes. and we will we will look forward to touching base on that in a couple of months um once it's gone through more of our more of our channels and I think we're all looking forward to a little bit more education about what is this. So, thank you for that. Um all right, if there's nothing else related to the items in the chair's report, I would like to turn it over to the budget and finance subcommittee chair. >> Okay, you've got my report in front of you. We had two meetings this month. We had our budget update, which we'll probably hear more about under old business, but just to cut to the chase, through revolving funds and vacancy savings, we can do level fund uh level service, sorry, level

084service, same services offered next year without needing to ask the town for more money. So, good job admin, good job business office. Um, and then for warrants, there were a handful of items we had questions about and those have been flagged with the answer on the report. Happy to answer more about that. Um, for our next meeting, uh, we're looking to hear from the director of transportation to get an update on the bids and options for lease versus purchase just so that we'll be more informed, especially how we plan on paying for it long term and what kind of savings each way offer. We're also looking to uh learn more about bids. We want to know how the process works, how is it documented, where do you go to find this? And the other topic

085for our next meeting is the budget calendar, the creation of that nice document that uh Kate Martini started. Um what kind of dates are going in because we did have some changes with the charter that does impact our formula as well as making sure that more people know how it is put together. so the knowledge isn't siloed and we will be able to continue producing that document and then aside from that we'll have our warrants meeting next month as well. >> Thank you. Any questions for budget and finance? I just want to add on to um what member child said that um I want to thank member Den because when I looked at the strategic plan it did show in there that we were do a report for transportation and a laidout plan for their

086vehicle procedures. So we were able to um hopefully get that to the committee. >> Great. Anything else? Or we can move on to the policy program and school committee handbook. Moving on. Okay. All right. We met on Monday, June 8th via Zoom and we had to postpone most of the agenda as we did not have a member of admin present and had questions about materials. And I understand that they were very busy with um the issues at Federal Street. And so like understood um so we muddled along as best we could but we had to postpone multiple things. So uh we postponed until July the discussion of a possible academic integrity policy. I spoke with our council um at length about that and he advised that this particular policy is written by the administration and

087should live in the student handbook and does not actually go into the policy manual of the school committee. And he also wrote a uh academic integrity policy for several districts, one of whom is orange. And so he has sent that to me so that we can look at it, but it's not really in our purview. But perhaps as we look through it, there are items that are overarching district policy nuggets that we can move into our policy manual. So that's something to discuss in July. Um we also postponed until July the discussion of vaping policies because we wanted to discuss with the admin how best to modernize these policies. Like step one is vaping is not in any of the like the word isn't even in any of the policies. So like we could you

088know do better with that. Um I also have an update an important update from council on policy JIB which is student representative policy. So we originally thought that we could just choose a school committee liaison to go to the student advisory committee and meet with them once every other month and then bring back the info. But we can't do that. The way that the law is written, the way that the statute is is that the full committee must meet with the student advisory committee every other month. We cannot send one delegate. And so I was like, well, this is a really heavy lift. How do committees fulfill this law? Um, and he said that usually they have that meeting on the same day as the regular full committee meeting and they try to fold it

089in um earlier before everything else happens. Um, so we need to have in July probably or August a discussion. See how July is getting so full for you now. We um don't be asking because it's just going to [laughter] get filled. So uh we need to have a discussion about how we're going to do this lift to satisfy the law and um we probably need to Jeffrey maybe have you heard from the student advisory committee? Do you have any updates? >> I have [clears throat and cough] I have not heard back from the teacher. I can't remember the name of the person I contacted. [clears throat] Okay. >> I have not heard anything. So, as far as I know, they still do not have a student advisory committee. >> Oh, okay. >> Is that true?

090I Does anyone know? >> Let's look into that. >> No, it's different. >> It's different. >> It's specific. >> Yeah. >> And now we're going into summer. So mayhap, we set ourselves in order and then be prepared at the beginning of the academic year to present to them our fabulous plan to uh satisfy the law. Um [clears throat] we also had a little discussion about the AI advisory group that um Mr. Sullivan sent us the info on. Uh we recommend that the full committee endorses the AI advisory group and we have several questions for you. The questions are would it be appropriate to have a member of the policy subcom on the advisory group since this is not a subcommittee or is this strictly operational? and would the group be presenting to the full committee

091or the subcommittee and what is the timeline of the advisory group and I can send you all those questions Stephen I did not mean to like put you on the spot um so those are the questions I'll send you >> so he doesn't have to answer right now >> he does not have to answer right now I will it's in the report like it's in the report I'll cut copy paste them separately like >> don't worry about it um and then we are still waiting on the resolution template PDF from admin we I have not seen that. So that's got to come on in. Um, also not on old business is another handbook item of discussing uh uh executive duties for the subcommittee. So we got to get on that. See, July is just like

092blooming now [snorts] full speed. Um, and then the next meeting for policy is July the 2nd at 7:30 p.m. and that will be entirely virtual. And that's it. >> Questions or comments for policy and program? >> No, no question or comment. Just an FYI, and I'm sure you're smart enough and you know this, but there is no work on July 3rd. It's the holiday weekend. So, July 2nd at 7:30. [snorts] U I I won't be here. I'm not sure if that's the best of time, but it might be it probably fits in your schedules, but you have a new superintendent as well. >> It was literally a squeeze like you could not believe to find a date that we could all do. But we will be back on the final Monday of every month through

093the end of the year. It was just we got messed up for Memorial Day and then we couldn't reset. So, we're doing this and it's weird, but please come and make your public comment and we will try to get through it the best we can and we'll probably do our searches in that meeting where we um uh analyze using our new MASC search tool that we haven't really played with yet. We're going to get in there and we're going to search and see how we compare to other districts with these big heavy hitters that we're looking at of the AI policy, the vaping policy, and there's something else. Um, and we'll look uh academic integrity and we'll look and see what other districts are doing and formulate a plan to bring to you all. Thank

094you. And noted. Um, okay. Best of my knowledge, we do not have a a report as of yet from community engagement. Is that accurate? That's okay. It's like it's fine. Um tell you >> I think yeah I think it has to be included in our in our what's its but um we'll look forward to that next time. >> Says there's an opening >> you have an opening if you want at the time of the posting there are no topics. >> Okay. Well yeah >> you can ask for an update you ask >> you want to give us an update about what you talked about. >> Yes. We were joyously successful at Zoom. Um, we have learned about technology in Greenfield. If one meeting is happening on the same night as another, you can be locked

095out of Zoom. So, we have discovered that from Ian, that password. Ian helped me figure out our Zoom problem. So, I tried to open Zoom while the policy committee was still using your code. So it blocks me from being zoned. So we met and we um discussed the wording of the goals which is actually um we totally agreed with it. We were very proud. Um member Dykeman is a great editor and we agreed with those goals. you had charged us with talking about social media um which we discussed. Um we felt that um we wanted to come back to you to hopefully charge us with um making a decision but we wanted to invite member web to join us because she's done a lot of work um as a PTO parent um on social media.

096Um but we are looking at that something needs to change with that. >> It gets tricky when we have four committee members on a sub. We can't really do that. >> Sure. >> Um I also have another PTO member that could take my place just to >> Yeah, >> that would that would be allowable. Yeah, we just can't have force. Um I think I there's a strong possibility I could find I could ask we could ask one from each >> of the >> schools. Great. >> Um and as far as like can I get a clarification from you member Goodwin when you say you're asking us to empower you to make a decision what's the decision you're looking to be empowered for? And then also even before that the all decisions have to come back

097to the full group but we can empower you to generate some recommendations. >> What we're looking for is empowerment to bring back to you a decision based on the fact that we believe there should be a change in the way our social media um and we have talked about that as a a school committee. I mean whether it's an intern from somewhere um there's enough right now we're paying enough that you know is it a half-time position that the district Ian could oversee. I mean there are diff there's a different models but wanting to hear from the PTO's who I know I follow all their web pages and they're doing an amazing job. So I think it's just feeling like if we go forth with it bring you or do you want us to bring

098you options or do you want us to bring you what we think would be the best situation? >> I think we would love to hear about the options you discussed and if you have a particular recommendation we would love to know that particular one and why it was the one you are recommending. I also just want to be like, let's get some clarity here in terms of how social media happens from a staffing perspective. That's budget and finance. In terms of the content of social media, what we use it for, the kinds of engagement, that's what community engagement can touch on. Does that does that okay? I just want to like we have to keep everything where it belongs. um the best we can but okay were there any other questions comments for community engagement?

099Thank you for taking on this work and thank you for inviting PTO's. >> All right. >> Do we know when the next meeting is yet? We're waiting to see what policy meets. >> Well, they're Yeah, they're meeting July 2nd. >> We're meeting July 2nd, but then we are meeting every fourth Monday until beyond 8:00 p.m. probably. So, just so you know, >> just need to be a different Monday. That's all. >> Okay, great. Um, seeing no additional questions or comments for community engagement, I will report out for the long-term facilities use advisory committee. Um we met uh on the 1st to check in about outreach. We have officially opened um applications for folks to be part of this long-term facilities use advisory committee. We are seeking parents, community members, students, staff. We like we want

100people to be part of this. Um there are I believe 10 open spots and we hope to get at least 10 but ideally more people who are interested in serving. You can find more information about the what this role actually is, what your time commitment would look like, how long it would last, etc. on the uh school website where we now have a web page up that is called long-term facilities use advisory committee, I believe. Um, and so yeah, all of our information is there. We are soliciting applicants until June 22nd. Please get if you are interested June 22nd is when we would like to know that by um get your interest form back and then on the 29th the three steering committee members for the advisory committee will be meeting to review all of

101those applicants um and uh and you know choose who we would like to forward to the full committee for appointment. Um other members what am I missing? >> Anything? We're good. Um, I just wanted to, I guess, add to >> Chair Ston that um, I know that the flyer did go home to parents via email. >> Great. >> I know that you guys aren't receiving things, but I am, so it did go home. >> It's the benefit of having, you know, someone with like an in. Um, okay. Any other questions, comments from other members about that? And please, members of the public, submit your interest. We we want to have you part of figuring out and and choosing the direction for our facilities and our our school buildings in the into the long-term future. >>

102I think we also put on there alumni as well. >> Oh, we did. Yes. Students and alumni. Thank you. But seeing no more, I think we can move on to new business. So, we have a motion from member Dipman to create an ad hoc committee to assess literacy in the district. Did folks have a chance to read that motion? >> Yes. Shall I read the entire motion? Uh, it's it's long. >> No. If you could give a a game summary. >> Yes. Um, this motion is to create an ad hoc committee to assess literacy in the district. Um this the proposal is to create a committee that would involve two members of school committee, two qualified members of the local education community, two literacy experts and the assistant superintendent of teaching and learning. Um and

103uh wi with the caveat that uh that composition could change um depending on how uh [clears throat] the committee proceeds in its work. Uh the purpose is to uh provide a holistic evaluation of literacy teaching methods and results in the district so that all stakeholders can make informed decisions about how to improve reading education at all levels. Um the rationale for this proposal um is that literacy is a grand challenge. It is uh the ch I consider it the defining challenge of educators working right now. Uh it is a nationwide crisis as we have discussed and uh we recognize that our schools are making substantial progress in literacy and we commend the work of our administrators, principles and educators on that front. However, uh considering the scale of the issue, uh we believe that it

104would be good to have more members involved um including community members and educators uh in order to optimize our approach um in order to find areas uh where there are insufficient resources for example and uh to bring those areas to light. Uh I am aware that there is a risk when proposing this kind of uh project that um the school committee could be overstepping its bounds in terms of purview. Um however uh the school committee's job is to set policy and in order to set policy we need accurate information. Um, it [clears throat] is also school committee's job and I quote MASC to adopt a professional development plan for all principles, teachers, and other professional staff employed by the district. End quote. I believe that in order to have the appropriate information in order to

105um adopt such a professional development plan, it would be great to work on the problem in a concerted manner and work together on it. Um our vision uh and uh member Goodwin and I have worked together on this. Our vision is uh to have an ad hoc advisory committee basically that is not making decisions but making recommendations um that would assess the results of independent literacy audits um to and would identify areas for improvement in selection and application of curricula. uh would identify areas of insufficient resources and make recommendations about the allocation of such resources and uh to also be certain that the district is completely prepared uh to with the necessary information to apply for grants in the future. Um the idea is that this uh ad hoc committee will present its findings in

106um one year uh in in May 2027. Um so uh all working together uh sharing information um educating each other and in through this work educating all of us on school committee because we have a mantra in education that literacy is everyone's job just as safety is everyone's job literacy is everyone's job so um I think it would be great if um all of us knew a little bit more about um best practices in literacy and we could share information through this venue. So we have a motion from member D. All right, we have a motion and a second. Discussion, >> member Goodwin. >> So the word purview came up and so I did some research. Um there's a lot of school committees who have um I was a little surprised. So, one of the

107subcommittees, teaching and learning, there are some school committees in this area that have subcommittees for each discipline, which shocked me. So, I've been kind of looking at what other people around us are doing. So I think it's the the idea is that it all sort of goes together, you know, the budget, the the academics. Um, so I think of reme I remember standing in front of city council when we were all voting on the library and I said to them I was the last person to speak and I said to them it's really nice to build a library but what about making sure the kids can read so they can go to the library? So um, and I got a nice round of applause. So I think it's our responsibility to make sure that they

108can read and enjoy our library. So I think an ad hoc committee gives us some time to to work together. >> All right. member Deniv, I applaud your passion in wanting to do this. Like I I feel it. I understand it. Of course, you'd get a round of applause. Everyone wants the children to read. Yes, we feel this. We want this. It is not our job as a school committee to do this. This is beyond the pale of what we're supposed to do. First of all, did you guys talk to MSC about this? Like, did you call Glenn or any of your field directors? I did. I spoke with them about this. Um, so yeah, they were immediately like, "No, no, no, no, no, no." Um, now you've got conflicting data sets. you're talking about

109the upcoming strategic plan data which we already voted on and [clears throat] um which will be coming to us in time. Um you've also got this literacy audit which is spending taxpayer money to get data through an audit. That's data set number two. You also have the data the admin gathers and sends to Desi. That's data set number three. And then any data that you gather from the subcom it's like conflicting data streams. What are you going to do with it? What are you going to do with these findings? Anything that you find has to just go to the policy subcommittee. Anything that you discover has to go to the policy subcommittee because that's what we do. We do overarching policy work for the district. We do not go into the classroom. We do not

110interfere with day-to-day things. We do not micromanage. We do not discuss methods of teaching, styles of teaching, what kind of curricula is best. That is not us. So if you want to do a lit literacy work, there's actually like real pathways to do this that is within our job. The constituents have voted for us to do this overarching governance work. If we really wanted to do literacy work, we would maybe create an ad hoc uh legislative priority subcommittee and we would be supporting Sal Dominico on his literacy bill which is all about Desi reorganizing uh literacy requirements. That's something we could put our weight behind like that's what we're supposed to do. We do not get in the classroom. So that's like the first thing. The second thing is you can't have a quorum of

111one. You can't have two two subcom two committee members on a subcommittee. You can't quorum of one. That's a total open meeting law violation. Also, like are we I guess this is a question for Stephen Sullivan. Like are we purchasing literacy curriculum soon? Is that something like on our radar? >> We're in the process of looking at literacy curriculum for prek. Um but other literacy curriculum is in its fourth year, end of its fourth year. >> Okay. So like curriculum is a lot of money and some school committees have curriculum subcommittees where they meet every so often to discuss this because this is a major capital uh expenditure. Some of which you know like there's even like capital expenditures we can like talk to this the city about. Like those are the kinds of things

112that we would plan, right? [sighs] [clears throat] Like yeah, there are subcom there are liter literacy oriented subcommittees. One is in reading, no p pun intended. Um but they are like advisory committees that have been created because the superintendent has said, "Hey, we're struggling and we don't have what we need. We don't have the data we need. We don't have the strategic plan in place. let's step back and take a look. Will you recommend that I do this? Will you direct me that I do this? And then the school committee says, "Yeah, we need this help. We direct you to do this." But the school committee doesn't do it because it's not our job. And I just I cannot one I will never vote for for spending taxpayer money on a literacy audit like this

113when we do not have any evidence that we require one or need one. So like there's no that's not okay. And number two, I will never insult the teachers by assuming or suggesting or even breathing a notion that they don't know what they're doing teaching literacy to our students. I respect them. They have the qualifications. They work with them every day. We need to trust them. We need to hold fast to them. They're doing their best job. And it is not for us to put our noses in any of that. And uh I think that we need to wait for Carol to come on board and to look at what's in place. And maybe a few years down the line she might say, "Hey, I'm seeing something different. Let's work on this." And then like

114that would make sense. But this is just this is just not not the direction to go and this is not we will become dysfunctional as a school committee if we continue to focus on pet projects and things like that other than governance. That's what we do. We're not an educational forum. We are a legislative body and we need to frankly act like it and do it is what I think. >> Thank you, member Den. Any additional comments, questions from other members about this proposal? >> Yes, Mayor. >> Um, I have one for Stephen or Roland. Do they have I I thought that was a nice idea when you brought it up. Is that not something that happens in other schools uh like other school districts that you've been in? Does the does this the school

115committee doesn't intersect in any way? How does that work or or how would do you think it that's a good idea or not? I'm just curious. Yeah, I I think that I might even cop out of this answer here really to start getting in the middle of of this because um and I don't I don't believe and I truly don't believe you're setting me up, right? But it's almost that's a setup where how can I answer to the seven members right who are my bosses and and tell you uh yeah yes yes or no in that sense if I truly believe something or was in the weeds and knew to some extent is as much as member Deniv does and in terms of the MASC policies and etc and your roles right my my role

116is not a school committee member right I I have seen obviously worked with school committee members but I work for you in that sense right so what you vote um we try to do for you. I I so I know it's a non-answer. I know that in that sense, but I think that by answering I don't want to set Stephen up for the future or myself up to be adversarial to anybody in that sense either. >> Well, I can take my question back. I was just like this is another thing that I didn't know about whether you know whether that was standard. Thank you. Any others? >> I I mean I just >> I just worry if it is an overstep, you know. Um if there's no one else, okay, you want to respond to

117some of the things, can I speak? So you can also respond to me. Um I similarly am feeling just a little like one we're seven people and we're already pretty stretched with the subcommittees we have. And so like that's a question we can put on for the back burner is do we even organize ourselves in this fashion? Um but that's for another time. My other concerns about this proposal were you know you made mention of two two community members with the right credentials there unless it's an advisory committee there is no actual mechanism to invite non-school staff community members >> to participate in a subcommittee like this. So we would need to draft it differently if we wanted to actually do that. Um, but I also, you know, we are gonna have, we already did

118vote for the audit, so we're gonna have a literacy audit. Um, we have ongoing data and support with the state. Um, I know that we have instructional leadership teams that meet. I am curious what we think we can be additive to. to those discussions because I know myself I am not a literacy instructor. I'm just not. Um what can we be additive to that conversation so that it doesn't become another meeting that that people have to attend. Um and how could we focus this even more on where do do our monies need to go? Like where's the budget and where's the policy? Because that's those are the things. and like yeah, are there additional legislative pieces that we could be supporting? Is there advocacy we could be doing at the state around around this in

119particular? But um yeah, as as as produced, I can't support this particular proposal. >> Um and then I've got you on on stack. >> Okay. Um thank you all for your feedback. Uh this is my uh first motion and uh I expected uh a great deal of uh criticism. So um [clears throat] on policy uh as it's been noted uh we need to come up with a new strategic plan in a year. Correct. Um one of the main ideas for this proposal was to be prepared for coming up with a new strategic plan um specifically with regard to literacy. Um on the questions of purview as I pointed out um it is our job to adopt a professional development plan. It uh [clears throat] is also our job as school committee members to provide and

120encourage resources for school committee professional development programs that will enable school leaders to have the knowledge and skills required to provide effective policy leadership. This could be tangentially related to that as well. Um if there are members on this committee who like the idea of doing something about literacy um directly uh but feel that this is not the right forum for it. I would love to work together to come up with ideas because I am not satisfied with uh the numbers that I am seeing um in and I can only rely on publicly avail the the numbers that I can see from MCCAST scores which I know are not perfect but in 2024 only 8% of our eighth graders were meeting or exceeding expectations in literacy. In 2025, that came up to 22%. I know

121that there are major cohort effects with when you're looking at one grade at a time. But I would invite everyone to look at the school and district report cards on this issue and I would invite everyone to please share my concern about this issue. I have I'm an educator myself and I have absolutely no intention of undermining or criticizing the educators in this district. I believe that they are doing wonderful work and the progress that we're seeing is it's it is significant improvement. But that is significant improvement over a pretty bleak place that we were in a few years ago. And every district around the state and the country is struggling with this issue. So I am inviting us all to pull together and keep thinking about this issue and the way that we can

122um support our uh our educational team the best way possible. >> Thank you. Yes, member Deniv. So I think member Dyman to your point the way to work together as a group with this like the pathway is through identifying it as a legislative priority and talking to D Dom Dominico about it. We talked to him um a few years ago at the state house about this and I think that he would definitely welcome a zoom meeting with the Franklin County seal committee to discuss these priorities. And then also um the way that you would find pathway in this I think is um by really writing in the very eloquent way that you do the goals around literacy to present to Carol when she comes because we can impress upon her that this is a goal

123that we want for the district. Um, and then when she does draft a new strategic plan, which I think is actually in two two years, we're in year four of five. So, we got like this finish this year, next year, debrief postmortem, and then she'll be really on the ball and then she can be like, "Oh, I'm looking at this data and I think that, you know, X, Y, and Z." But like we've impressed upon um Superintendent Joy like how important music is to us and like budgetary priorities that we've had and like that's the superintendent's job is part of it is to find a way for those priorities to fit in the budget as he builds his budget as she will build her budget. So like that's a real pathway forward to do that

124and also to like look in the policy manual and see where is policy failing that because that's like that's where it comes from is policy but we can't mess with policy I which is instructional learning like that one we just it tells us straight out that anything anything that determines educational needs provides information for planning indicates instructional strengths and weaknesses is checks on the suitability of programs in terms of community requirements, shows the relationship between achievement and the district stated goals, provides data. That is all the purview of the superintendent. And we are like out other than just overarching viewpoints. That's just that's just what our job is. And like look, when I came on, oh man, I had no idea. Like I just had no idea. I really didn't fully understand this. It took

125many years to like get this like baked into my head and it took a lot of trial and error and frustration to really understand that school committee is not what I thought school committee was going to be. And but if you become like a policy nerd and you get into it, you f I've like talked to you about this. I've talked to you about this Melody is like you find the pathway to get the work done the way that it's laid out for you and it's not the path you think. never is because it's not direct because we're not teachers in the district. So like I'm like count on me for support if you got ideas like let's follow all those pathways and do it. We just can't really do it this way. All right.

126[clears throat] Any last thoughts, comments, questions? I I just want to reiterate some stuff. I'm in the strategic plan right now and a lot of the stuff does say 2028 for stuff and it should just shows like reviews we should have. Um, >> so I'm just trying to read through because I think some of it is kind of relevant to what we're talking about as well and following up to see those reviews because we have had a high turnover and administration. So, I think that's something maybe we should be looking for in our August meeting is by June of 2025, the district will complete program evaluations and implement continuous improvement plans for early childhood education, special education, and English learner programs. I mean, I wasn't here in June of 2025. Um, I don't know if

127that happened. I know we do get updates, but just looking over some of these things like we're going to have 50% participation from families, uh, like 50% increase from families over time. >> So, I think the strategic plan is a really great resource for us to >> ask questions and hopefully get some answers. >> Great. Thank you. Um, so we've got options. We can vote. You can withdraw. We can postpone. >> Uh, I'll withdraw. >> Okay. Uh, >> we need a second from the second. >> Then I think that it is done for right now. Um, thank you member Diamond for bringing that up and generating the discussion. Uh we are moving on. Item A has been withdrawn. So we are now on item B. A motion from member Den to have the Greenfield School

128Committee direct the administration to create and publish an ongoing academic achievement tracker on the school website. Um did you have any additional motivation for this? Yeah, this is something that's been sort of like we've kicked around in conversation for a couple of years about how it would be a nice to have. And as people are discussing like wanting data and wanting to see uh what's going on, it's hard for families to follow the reports that are given at the school committee. Like guarantee hardly anyone's doing that. And like maybe some people think to look at Desi or they're looking at like the the like What is it? The the like you >> school report card. >> Not the school report card, but the one where your parent when as a parent you Google the school

129and it shows like the grade whatever it is. That's is that the same as the school report card or >> grade schools? >> Yeah. Great schools. Is that it? >> Yeah, we're two stars. Yeah. >> Yeah. Anyways, >> it would be nice. I think as a parent I would have really loved this is to be able to see a little little thing on the website that says like you know that maybe updates every six months. I don't know. I'm not the admin. Whatever you guys think. Maybe something that says like according to our latest data and the strategic plan review like math is up by this or ELA is up by this. Whatever they think but I'm just thinking in terms of engaging with uh family members. So maybe this belongs in community engagement. And

130if y'all think so, I can I'm happy to withdraw it. But I think that this is something that we should strive to have front-facing for our community. >> Thank you. Um, so we have a motion and I'm actually going to second it because there was a bit of exchange that you and I had had that didn't make it into the motion as written. Um, >> Oh, that's right. Thank you. Thank you. I forgot about that. You had a great amendment and I just right over my head. >> That's okay. The amendment that I wanted to bring um was that to move that simultaneously that the committee us plan a discussion around this dashboard knowing so we could get a little bit more concrete about what data we actually want to prioritize. >> Um how it

131would be built into our schedule and structure for review. um you know how like if we're wanting it to refresh a certain number of times like we can leave that up to you all but I imagine that you would want some guidance from us around like what are you looking for here? Um and then to also have as part of the motion move that community engagement plans at least three ways for us to get community feedback or needs about what this dashboard could entail. So that would make the motion sort of threepronged. One to have it. Two to discuss what the it is. And three get some information from our community which this is I I hear this wanting to be in service of the community of our parents of of anyone who might be

132prospective parents for our schools um etc. Not just for us. Um, and so we would want to know is this actually solving a problem that the community has or >> if it is, you know, like how? >> Um, so that would be that that is an amendment that I'm bringing that I believe that you accepted. >> I accepted it via email, but I will accept it in public. >> Great. >> Thank you. Great amendment. >> Thank you. Um, and so now we've got a motion. We've got a second discussion on the motion as amended. Member Goodwin, >> when I read this, I was like, "Well, this sounds pretty cool." But I guess I'd love to see examples of other people who are doing this because I was in my head I was questioning, you know,

133data can be reflective and people can use it to um judge schools, compare schools. you know, um there's a it's got to be very carefully done to protect, you know, teachers, students, and >> reputations of buildings. Um and I guess I've been to a lot of websites and I haven't seen one. So I guess if we can find some so we can see examples of that kind of use on a website. So the I love the concept of a dashboard because it really is current. So it's just what would it look like I guess is and maybe a tech people would help us with that. member web. >> Something I have really learned as a parent and having kids in the public education schools is what makes a good school to one parent is not

134what makes it always a good school to another parent. >> Um, and I I'm just going to leave it there. What what I value as a parent and the education my children get doesn't show up necessarily in numbers or in testing. And it shows up in beautiful artwork I have hanging on the walls. It shows up in maybe just my child's reading that increased by like 70% and is finally at grade level in seventh grade. But again, what I value um what what everyone at this table values in a good school or achievement is not the same. member Denife, >> sorry, last thing I'll say. I I put achievement dashboard because like that's what I was thinking, achievement. Like it doesn't have to be just numbers. Like if there's a class that did an amazing

135art project, like they could all be photographed and and put up there. Like I just don't see enough good things being spoken about. I don't see enough good things in the recorder. I don't see enough good things here. I don't hear enough good things on the street about the schools and I know that good things are happening. Like why wasn't it on the web page that we had eight seniors go to Ivy League schools? Like why? Like to me that just blows my mind. So just like in my mind I was thinking like yeah it's great to have like data like if we all want data like let's have current data but also like achievement like what have what have we achieved? Like what has changed? Like let's crow about it a little bit. Let's

136feel really good about our accomplishments. Like I was really only thinking about this as a positive thing. Like literally a biscuit for all the hard work we're all doing. Like why not do that? Because it's not enough. And the website is just like you can't find out anything about the heart and soul of any of these schools from our website. It is just bleak. And when I talked to your superintendent, Patricia Castella, at Pioneer Valley Regional, she did this whole thing about how she adds kids artwork to every single thing in the school committee packet and like all of the slides about budget and everything has like a school artwork. And I was like, "This must increase your workload like insane." And she said, "No, she just like the teachers just send it." She's like,

137"When you got something good, just send it. When somebody does something good, just send it." you know, like we don't have we don't have any of that that I see. There's got it's got to be happening because I hear I hear about it, but I'm not seeing it. So, I'm just trying to think we could really do a lot. And this is all probably community engagement perview and not anything to do with the full committee necessarily. Like that might be something for y'all to develop, but I think it would go a long way towards mitigating feelings that people have about the state of things. Mayor. Um, so [clears throat] I I don't think that we know what tools we would use to track this. It doesn't this I hear there's some really good parts of

138this. Good idea, especially if it was making people feel better to see what we were doing. But I don't know what we would track. Feels like this just needs a little bit more discussion and work. And I'm seeing that sometimes with sometimes the motions that come forward like maybe they need to go to a subcommittee first so that we're we're talking about it and kind of have it ready for show showtime so that um so that we aren't so that it doesn't take as long to get through. This would be a good one I think to put through to whatever committee we thought it was going to because I wouldn't know. He um Stephen talks about dibbles or dribbles or something. This is what you are always measuring. Um, and like, okay, so what are

139we going to measure? You know, I'm I'm about to learn. I was think was better dribbling than dibbles, actually. But there you go. >> Question. >> Go ahead. >> So, who builds our website? >> I believe that that is our director of technology. Do they maintain or do they contract out? >> I don't have all the ins and outs on it. I know that um it and my administrative assistant help update the site, but there was it was originally overseen through CES, but I believe that person who worked at the collaborative may have gone independent. Okay. But just just so I'm for the comfort of my own brain, we do have you're saying that people can update it so we can get in there. We have all of the administrative access that we need. >>

140Okay, great. >> Yep. >> Okay, great. >> Like agenda minutes from meetings are being uploaded and but >> yeah, it's maybe not as extensive as people might be looking for. Okay. Member Webb, did I see your hand as well again? Did I see you? No. >> Okay. Mine can be a permanent. Um, I know that our parent engagement is that teachers. Is it this the position? We have like a parent teacher engagement at Newton and I know they created a website for Newton to specifically put up our positive things that are happening there. I can't speak for any other school if that's what their parent but they wanted to have like all the newsletters for each classroom in one location for parents is like I think our goal I'll see if I can I mean

141okay um and then I I did can I take a moment to just respond real quick there I I hear Mary your concern about like what are what does this actually mean um which is the same concern that I had when I read the initial one which is I I amended it to include specific like we will discuss this more like if we say yes to this then that triggers actually us defining what the yet what the it is before any action is actually taken before any of our administrators time is actually taken up. So I just want to be um clear about that that that we can if we vote tonight there is not a dashboard tomorrow. Um there is a commitment to discussing what we even would want in in future months. >>

142All right. Um then you had your handy >> just was able to find it's the host site is through the GoDaddy platform. >> Okay. >> Fascinating. Yeah. I think a dashboard is a good goal, but it sounds like we kind of need to start with the website and what we want it to look like. We want it to give off positive energy when people visit it. I mean, some of them have little banners that run across that say so and so, you know, won a a prize for something. I mean, I think it's it's better than it was years ago. It was um our website has gotten better over the years, but I think it still has a way to go. So, >> thank you member Childs and then member Den. >> I think the

143website is a related but also somewhat separate issue. I'm viewing this as are we going to vote to make this a communication priority and that's something that I will be voting in favor of unless someone brings up a massive plot twist. And then I do think the next step sending it to community engagement to figure out what kinds of things we are our community are wanting for this positive communication priority. It it makes sense to me. >> Okay. And member Den, >> just the last thing I'll say is that the way that you get something onto somebody's subcommittee is by bringing a motion and then the full committee can slot it like into the sorting hat and it goes where it's supposed to go. And so like maybe we don't need to have big grand

144discussions about this sort of thing. We could just sort it. Like if we think, [clears throat] yeah, okay, like maybe this sounds cool or you know, we're kind of sort of for it. let's send it to so and so's group and then they can like regurgitate it and figure it out and bring back something. But um like we don't have to have these big grandiose discussions on this. Like that's why the subcommittees exist because they do the work the into the weeds work about these specific things. So I I kind of was thinking that this was a community engagement thing and I'm glad that you like caught that and brought that up and like that might be a way to cut down on the time mayor so that we're not doing all this. Send it

145to the community engagement subcommittee. >> That's what I say. >> Great. That's part of the motion. So, if we vote yes, then that is what will happen. >> Okay. I'm seeing no additional comments. I would love to move us to a vote. Um, all in favor? >> I. Uh, any opposition? And any abstensions? One. one abstension. Thank you. Um, okay, it passes. Um, that's now congratulations community engagement. You're going to be planning at least three ways to to get feedback from folks. Um, okay. We are now on to new business item C. Motion from policy program and handbook to add an academic honesty policy to the district policy manual. Is this true and real? This I do not think that this is true and real at this time because we have postponed it I believe.

146Did we? Did we? Yes. >> And is that the same for item E which I asked for clarification but didn't receive if they were the same >> or related. >> I think that they're the same and that we now have to like revisit and redisuss in policy. So it's going back to the sorting hat and not being discussed here. >> Back to the sorting hat. We are we are removing for now and we'll look for them to come back up. >> I hear you >> items C and E. >> Same. >> Great. Moving along. Item D, discussion and vote on how to proceed and choose a vendor to provide a literacy audit for the district. Did administrators put this one on? This is not coming from a specific person. So, >> this is a result

147of the audit, the reading audit that was asked for last month and um yeah, the chair and I spoke right and we talked we were hearing about bids and everything like that. So, we have or you have right in front of you three bids. One from Keys to Literacy, which is a company. The other is from CES, Collaborative for Educational Services in Northampton. The second one and the third one is from Teaching Lab, which is a group that currently works with our teachers right now. So, I guess the gist is right, it's in front of you because you asked for an audit and when we had to dig for it, we've talked about audits, right? And spending money, etc. So you have three options. >> Great. Thank you so much. Um >> yeah, in in

148the folder it's called >> Yep. >> So we are being asked to essentially help choose one of these vendors um to move this audit process forward. Yes, member Goodwin. >> I would like to push this on so that I have time to do research on all the companies before a vote. So, could we push this to I don't know, July, August, because clearly there's not going to be time for this to happen now. So, um there's no rush, but if we push it to the summer, um Okay. Um the complication that I could see with that is often quotes like these are timebounded. And so if we if we wait to accept, they could change the rate. And so that changes the need that makes us need to go and get new quotes from them,

149new new bids essentially. Um, so that's one factor to consider. Um, but I am curious, did folks read these? >> Okay, remember Den, I read them. Um, and not to be snarky, but when this thing was originally brought forward, it was like we have to have this by June. >> So, here we are and we realized that we cannot do it so fast. And also, um, I'd love to It's It's a lot of money. It's like the cost of a teacher, you guys. Like, let's spend the money the cost of a teacher to do this. I just cannot even. Um, I have like zero support for this. Uh, but what I'd really like love is to get a full statement of like the cost of each of these and like the a comparison, you know,

150like when you buy a vacuum and it's like this feature has this and this feature has that and this feature like I need a cost comparison table if we could get that cuz like if I'm going to vote on this, it's going to be literally the cheapest one. I cannot believe how expensive these things are. Um, so if we if we kick it down the road, could we also have a cost comparison and analysis attached to it at the end? >> You Yeah, there is a cost in every one of these. >> Yeah, it's like it's >> Yep. >> I can tell you off the top of my head, the first one's 15,000, the second one's 15,000, and the third one is either >> 16 when you add it to >> up 16 when you

151add a tip. Did you say >> when you when you add it up? >> Oh, sorry. Uh, >> no. We don't tip. We don't do that here. >> First one was either 15 or 16. I think it was $49.95, right? So, they're 155. And the other one was either five for a certain thing or 11. Um, and >> I thought that was per building. >> No, no, >> no. It was for the three elementary >> and it's only elementary. >> Mhm. >> Not a It does show middle school on one of them. >> Yeah, that's what I thought I saw. There's options. >> Uh, >> yeah, one of them has an option. >> Might have been an option on the first one. It was an option, but the >> first one has an option. >>

152The three elementary ones we were talking about, I'm pretty sure, I could be wrong, that it was 15, 15, and either five or 11, not five plus 11. >> Oh, okay. >> There two options there. If you want a quick one by July 1st, they it was five, the last one. If you want a little deeper dive, my words, right, it would be 11. And then they said theirs would be by October one. on that. >> Yep. >> Okay. Does that >> we just gather we gathered these for you. You know, >> Dman, >> uh I would also like time to re review these in detail. Um it's been a very busy week and we've had a lot to cover. Um and uh this it is a big decision and uh we we all did

153I mean those of us who voted for this um we knew approximately what it would cost but um I personally didn't know everything that it would involved and what we would be getting for that money. So I would like more time to look at it and I would uh support a motion to postpone this for July. >> Okay. Um, >> I just want to say that on one of them it says that we would have a full report delivered by July 1st, 2026. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Which like our kids aren't even in >> school. That's not happening. And there's a motion on the table to postpone this to a future meeting. >> So, is there a second for postponement? Member Childs is seconding for postponement. Um, all in favor or sorry, any discussion

154on that? Seeing none, all in favor? Any opposition? No, it is postponed. Thank you. Um, we're supposed to have a break now, but can we get through the rest of new business first? >> Great. Thank you. Um, we have item F, request to change Discovery School at Four Corners to Four Corners Elementary School. My understanding is that this proposal is coming to us from the school itself. Um, and so this is a change as requested by the community of people who would be most affected by the change. >> Second. >> Great. I I moved it. We have a second discussion. >> Discussion. Yes. Member Goodwin. the one time that I've been part of this changing the name of a school, it turned into um a problem because there were people in the community who had

155great ownership of the name. Um so I guess my thought is to avoid, you know, I don't have a problem with it, but I think it needs to the community. Maybe this needs to go to community engagement because there needs to be a way to make sure there's nobody out there who are alums of the discovery school at four corners who are going to be upset that we changed the name. That's my concern. You know that he talked to PTO's school council. He had those groups, but there's a whole group of people who drive by the elementary schools in Greenfield and go that's my school. I mean 80 year olds. I mean, just pe make sure that everybody has some input into it. I don't there's got to be a way because um changing the

156name of a school is a little more um there's a lot of people have feelings about it. >> Okay, I've got member childs. Member Deniv, did you have your hand up? also >> okay I I don't have that concern because discovery school had a specific meaning at the time that it was applied and as the letter from the school leadership says it's no longer an official state approved discovery school and has not been for many years. So, in the interest of accuracy and also I don't know that I've ever heard it called the discovery school except in something very formal. The parents I know whose kids go there, they all say four corners and then they get Yeah, I I think clarity is important and accuracy and I think this is not renaming as in

157changing bringing something new. We are just reverting to the original school name which is more accurate to what it is. member did >> what Ann said. [laughter] >> Okay, great. >> That was good. >> Remember what >> I'm just gonna basically what Ann said, it gets sometimes very confusing. Um like acronyms DCFC. A lot of people call it just four corners and I a lot of the old-timers just call it four corners. I know people who have been there who call it four corners. I I did speak to a few parents who go there. I know member Dykeman has children there and they said this is something they really want. >> Okay, >> great. Any additional comments? >> Seeing none, let's move to a vote. All in favor? >> I. Any opposition? >> Abstain. One

158abstension from member Goodwin. Uh the motion passes. Congratulations to Four Corners Elementary School on your brand new old name. Um okay. Item G, motion from member childs to have the Greenfield School Committee request an audit by legal council of the bids process for the HVAC, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning contract with MCOR services, New England Mechanical Services Incorporated. >> So, you have probably heard that there is discussion about the way the bids work in the community, uh, city side, school side, confusion. Uh, this motion seeks to answer all of the questions for the community from a third-party outside source. Um, to make things transparent and not just make things transparent, but also see if legal counsel can identify any places that we're falling short so we can correct and also just ways we can improve

159the way that we do things. The MCOR contract seemed like the most logical one to look at. It's one that has been asked about. It is a one where it's current. Yeah. So that is why I'm proposing this motion to get some answers, get some transparency and uh get information for the community and hopefully improve the way we do things. >> Second. >> So anticipatory. Appreciate that. Any additional discussion? >> Yes. Member Deniv. >> What is the cost? I don't know. I guess it would be what um our legal council bills. >> That's a lot. Does it fall under our uh retainer with them or is this an additional fee? >> My guess is my is in all [clears throat] likelihood this would be an additional fee. So, I wouldn't be willing to support it

160until we knew what the cost was. But also, like I thought for a long time it would be great to have the bid process laid out transparently so people could just understand the bid process. Like that's that's something you could just do. You just write it out, put it on the website. Like it doesn't require an audit. Um, I haven't heard grumbling about this from the whole community, just like one person. And it was pretty clear in budget and finance why the grass is cut the way it's cut. Like you need people who have special um licenses for fertilizer, who have specific uh machinery. Like not anybody can cut regulation grass for sports fields. Like it costs money to do this very specific type of landscaping. It's not just like weed whacking around the house.

161Like it's specific for your sports fields and we're known for our sports. So like that's why it costs what it costs. So when these questions were asked of the administration and the answers came back, like it seems very clear-cut to me why it is the way it is cuz I have questioned the cost of the landscaping in the past on warrants. Like I've been aware of this for a long time, but it makes perfect sense to me. The bid process may seem confusing to people, but I don't think that it requires an audit. And I cannot imagine how much that's going to cost. Like if we could do anything without an audit and save taxpayer money when we are literally at level service funding and that's it, then that's what I think we should do.

162So I can't support it without a dollar amount. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Additional thoughts, comments, questions? Member Childs, did I see your hand? Is there a way for administration to find out what kind of ballpark price we would be looking at for such an audit? >> We would have to ask the attorney. We could do that. >> I also wonder if we could set a price, you know, like if we're only looking at one thing, you know, only devoting so many hours to it, we might not get the answer, but we would likely have something. And just to clarify, we do not our field not all of our athletic fields are maintained the same way. >> Yes. And to clarify, this motion is about HVAC systems, not landscaping. >> HVAC systems. Um, so I

163I hear a desire to know money, like what's this actually going to cost? And I'm hearing that we can't know that necessarily. I'm hearing an idea. >> Well, we can ask, but like >> how many hours would it take? >> And it's very possible that he might not know how many hours it would take, but um yeah, and there, you know, so we have a motion, we have a second, we have all this discussion about it. I would move to a vote if we wanted to. Um, or we can ask for this figure and bring this up again once we have the dollar amount. So that >> is there is there a comment in the works? >> Yeah. Yes. I'm just guessing. I thought I don't think this you know depending on what you pay

164your attorney um you're going to ask the attorney to look at it. I'm just making a guess here. I I I do not think that that's going to be extraordinarily expensive. I would think it could be done in a matter of hours, like four or five hours. So, if you want to know what the end of that is, um, you [clears throat] know, if you've paid $250 or $300 an hour, multiply it out. They're looking at one thing. You want it done by the legal council to look at the bid process of HVAC. I think it's pretty specific. So, I just want to add that to it. I can't imagine that it would be more than that. I'm not actually paying that bill, but I'd be willing to vote in favor of it. Um, because

165I don't think it's going to be something like a reading audit. I can't imagine that one attorney looking at that one thing is going to be that much. So, I'd vote yes. And I'm pretty careful about spending pennies. >> Okay. Yes. Member Deniv, >> but at the same meeting you guys were discussing that I understand it's HVAC. You were discussing HVAC on the roofs of like how often you have to change the filters like what kind of like license you have to change the filters and you're also talking about the landscaping. You're also talking about the bids. So is it that is it that you're specifically questioning the like HVAC? >> Yes. only because then you were coming back to like you guys talked about multiple services that you wanted. So is it the bid

166process? My question is is the bid process that's the question the bid process for everything. So we need like an overarching umbrella bid process understanding or are you just talking about HVAC or just talking about landscaping or because there was a whole lot of topics on your meeting that you guys were all questioning the bids about which I understand. So the answer is we're looking at the bids process limiting it to this one contract so that we can save money uh to find out the way we're doing things if we are complying with the law if there are ways we can do it better. But it is the process using this as the example to look at. >> So looking at the statute and like posting the statute in some way or like making sure

167that everyone is aware of the law is not enough. like you want to see if we've done it incorrectly in the past. Like are you suggesting that it's been fraudulent? >> I'm not suggesting that. I'm suggesting that people have questions and would feel more comfortable with the transparency of a third-party authority, especially one with legal credentials, looking over it and giving it the stamp of approval or making recommendations if there are any areas where we are not in best practice or best compliance with the law. >> I've I I want to say I remember being correct. I mean, if you watch I want to think that bid just got renewed. It didn't actually go out and get like rebided. And that's what's happened with several of the bids. And for some reason, I want I

168think the HVAC is the reason that one was selected was because it was one of the most current ones that needed to go back out for bid >> amount >> and it was like a higher amount >> 15,000 >> because we've talked about this bid process a lot. Like in the first two years that I was here, we talked about the bid process a lot and none of us really fully understood when we had to go out to bid and what the requirements are. So like I'm fully into being as transparent as possible with what the statute is. I just don't necess I mean I don't want to support spending money to like satisfy just one person, you know, when I have not received multiple constituent complaints about this. Like I I have not heard

169from anybody about this other than just public comment occasionally from one person. So like we can definitely find the statute and that's probably what the lawyer is going to do. But I would love to see what the amount is. >> Okay. Member Goodwin. And then I really would like us to move this conversation along. So this this idea came from from our business manager to go this way um in the process. So we thought it was a good idea because he knows to go forward with it. >> If you'd like me to chime in, I will. So the the process normally from the chapter 30B and if you the inspector general has a hotline where if you have some questions regarding bidding when communities or school districts, municipal agencies have questions, their directions first and

170foremost is consult your legal counsel. And so this here and I would I want to say I don't want to say take is issue no tone to it with the word audit. I would say this would be more of a legal compliance review regarding the quote solicitation. And it is important to state that it is a quote solicitation because the laws changed back in 2022 to increase the threshold for school districts from zero or I should say 10,000 to $100,000. They only need three to solicit three quotes. You don't need to get, you need to solicit three quotes. So, this was not a bid. This was a quote solicitation because of the fact that it was under the $100,000 threshold. Regardless of that, the the process has been and that's what they do like for

171bid protests. If you get notification that that a bid is going to be protested by a vendor that submits a bid, the first step isn't to go to the attorney the inspector general or the attorney general. They if you're with the inspector general they're going to say consult your legal counsel. We had a bid protest and just in another client of ours for regarding transportation and that's how the process I initially went being MCPO I immediately called the IG's office. They said no you have to consult your legal counsel. Hence the process of suggesting that we consult legal counsel regarding the the legality of how this MCORE contract was ultimately procured not an audit per se. Because if we were to go and ask the law firm, can you do an audit? They're going to

172say, we're not auditors, we're attorneys. So, we I would suggest that we ask for the legal uh review of the process for the solicitation of the MCORE contract, HBAC contract. >> Well, that was illuminating and totally answered all my questions. Thank you, Andy. So, yeah, not an audit is not the right word for it. like if you just want to call a lawyer and make sure that it's fine, like that's fine. Like that's fine. >> And and I'll say they'll do just having they will do their due diligence and ask for documentation. And as the mayor is saying, we're talking one solicitation. So they'll ask for the documentation, they'll ask her how it how it was done, recordkeeping, what have you. And so, um, yeah, I mean, so overall, as far as like internal document

173record retention, you know, are there's always room for improvement? Sure. Is the attorney going to tell us that the way we're keeping track of our documents is faulty or flawed? You know, yes or no? Who knows? They've got their opinion. We've got ours, but you know, somewhere in the middle, we'll come to an agreement to make sure that as we've seen regard, and I know we're talking HVAC, but as we've seen specifically regarding the snows contract regarding, you know, well, the city did the bid, but it was, you know, so when you had the like two different sides working towards the same end and getting the contract that was ultimately agreed to, but who housed the contract? Yeah, we need to improve that. So there's no doubt that we're talking about improving that process as

174well for all the things we do. And as I mentioned before, we do have all our bid procurement contracts are on a shared drive uh digitized and scanned. So >> that makes so much sense, Annie. Thank you. Because when you say third party audit, I'm like that's money. That's outside businesses coming in and making money to do that. Like we have experience with that. So, but saying I we just need the lawyer to go through it is like a whole [laughter] different sentence. So, yes, I would support that. Remember to um I'd like to amend the motion to replace audit with legal compliance review if that's the correct terminology. >> Great. Second. Were you the original seconder of the motion? >> Were you good with the change in terminology? >> Absolutely. Great. All right, let's

175move to a vote. All in favor of the motion as amended to say legal compliance review. >> I >> Any oppositions? Any abstensions? >> Did I Mayor I'm not sure I heard your or saw your >> Oh, no. I said I >> Okay, you're an I. Great. I think that that passed unanimously. Congratulations. We now have a legal compliance review and I would say can we please take a three minute break to 905 and then we're going to come back and do some of this old business. [music] Hey, [music] [music] hey, hey. >> [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. Heat. Heat. >> [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] [music] >> Hey, hey, hey. >> [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey. >>

176[music] [music] >> Hey, [music] hey, hey. Thank you everyone. We are now recaned. It's 9:10 and we are on to old business. Um I do also want to just note for this item A, this is another sort of misprint. We actually decided to strike voting from tonight. This is another discussion round part two um to get to get additional questions about the electric charging stuff. This is not a vote. So, I just want to be real clear. Um, I would like to like if we can really keep this to if you have something new, a new question um than from last time that would be great. Um, otherwise, I'd really like to like keep this this particular item type. Okay. So, given that we got some information back from our first round of questions, did

177that generate any additional questions from folks? I think that there might, you know, mayor, you and I had had a phone discussion. You had a question that came up about um how this actually fits in with city electric infrastructure, like how's this actually tap into our grid? Um what are what are its needs, etc.? Is that a question that you still have or has that been answered? >> She might be texting someone. Yeah. Yeah, sorry. I had Oh, I'm reading something from Carol Collins that I received and so did Roland, but I don't know if everybody on this >> You sent it to every Well, there you go. That's wonderful. Um, uh, and I talked with her about it a little bit and she seemed to think they were excellent. And then my other question

178was again on procurement. um if we had to have I'm just reading this while I'm sitting here. She had nothing but good things to say. But do we have to um talk to anybody else? I'm just reading this. I kind of forget. >> Andy has a Andy has a response. Perhaps >> it's not a question. It's a comment. This would need V. They are listed on the VH2 whatever the contract the state contract is listed there but if you read the details it does require us to solicit at least three uh proposals from vendors that are listed there. So >> again they didn't do anything wrong by coming to present to us but in the end we would need to solicit other vendors for charging stations for the school. Okay. >> Question. >> Yes. >>

179To me, I've I read everything and I listened to a nice presentation, but to me, this belongs city side, not school side. I mean, they've already got experience putting these in around town. I mean, when I read that email, Carol Collins has been doing it, so why would we get involved? I'm kind of like tag you're it mayor. [laughter] >> I believe believe right that you would be involved because it's your property. >> It's the city property. >> So the issue being that it is yes the city is responsible for the buildings and the and the grounds. However, we're talking about having, you know, whether or not the ability to use them during school hours where it is your supervision of the grounds per se and the buildings during the school hours. And then you

180know it opens up to other things regarding liability wise as to property for off hours and things of that nature as far as ensuring you know nothing saying anyone's going to sit there and charge a car and vandalize the schools but you know it's just some of those things that could potentially uh come into play where again I would suggest you know we would end up discussing with the city's insurance regarding that but it is that kind of fine line between what is city and school responsibility. um you know we are responsible for the operational side of the the schools per se and they're responsible for capital does the uh installation and managing of charging stations fall as capital uh when you look at the cost I would say it doesn't >> you know so

181that's where it would kind of fall underneath our purview now that being said because we are a green community and we have Miss Collins you know she would definitely have to have some input regarding you know the use and they also had the expertise in doing so but I would agree with what Roland is saying that you know we're talking about something that I in my view falls on the operational side of the ledger which is school responsibility >> yes >> um and I was delighted that Carol was pulled into this for me I think of anything that I plug in or turn on I go to Carol right away and I I think where we are a green community going towards climate leader designation um it was great that we brought her in. I

182would especially ask that as we're going forward with vehicles um you know that we that we speak with Carol as well but I I think the way this went was perfect and um she thought it was this looked stellar. So um she does have a whole lot of experience. I think she's done 21 of these charges, which all those things look easier to do than they actually are. So, but I'm happy that we're considering this. >> Just a a quick jump if I may. Sorry, member. >> We are obviously in the process with our some of our subcommittees in transportation of looking into a vehicle replacement policy. We have already brought Carol in and uh Andy is working with her already >> and thank you so much. Okay, great. Any additional questions about vehicle charging?

183>> I was just hoping, mayor, for those following along at home, could you tell everyone who Carol Collins is? >> Sure. That Carol Collins is our director of energy and sustainability. [snorts] >> Thank you. >> And she watches all the how much energy we use from anything. She's actually calculated out vehicles up until like if you're talking about when she figures it out what it's going to cost for the next 10 years. Funny. It's great. Um, did any other members have additional questions for this vendor or about the process for for soliciting additional bids? No. None. Great. Great discussion. I think that we'll look forward to revisiting this topic in the future. Um, please go forth with the next step in the process. All right. Old business item B, discussion and vote on the FY2027

184school committee budget. Yes. >> Thank you. Um, what you have in front of you is um the budget. Well, I say in front of you, but right your electronic version. the the budget and the kind of brief right quick rundown kind of trying to really simplify it. Um you could see obviously what our budget was proposed obviously level services above last year's the mayor's budget which we appreciate there and the city um then giving us an additional $450,000. We had a difference there. You talked about and you did make a motion to withdraw $500,000 out of the preschool. We'll touch base on that in one second. You can see what we're proposing here is $250,000 out of the preschool revolving uh 125 out of transportation revolving 250 out of special education tuition revolving and then

185vacancy savings related in school choice 448269 that would cover everything and give a even right balanced budget I guess you would say and we wouldn't be asking for any more from the city council in that sense and we did present last I if it's last month all these months are going together, right? If it's been a few weeks ago or something to the city council. Um, and I I thought um and I heard nice feedback from them that it did go well and um obviously we were trying to work with the city and you know that we do obviously have some funds that we can use and it's a tight budget year and we hear about the rainy day accounts and that it's raining and it's pouring, right? I mean, we we get we get

186all the adjectives and all the descriptors for that in there. So, I think I did want to address and Andy and I did talk briefly today just our reasoning for not doing 500 out of preschool and 250. I think it was just not to leave that too low. >> Yes. >> It would have completely wiped out the preschool revolving account, you know, leaving them with, you know, little say a contingency for that program. So it's not saying that we couldn't, you know, support them other ways and stuff, but just for the fact of, you know, if you're to compare the healthy, which which revolving count was more healthy, the sped tuition one was more healthy. So, you know, and it's still going towards preschool, which is special education anyway. So, it's, you know, the net

187impact is zero and it still keeps preschool revolving account should anything come up for the preschool program, some funds available for them. So, we need to vote to do this. >> We will need to vote. >> Um, probably to vote just to maybe kick it to this. Well, the city council, I think, will address it next. I don't want to speak for them. They I know they have a meeting next Wednesday and I'm not sure if that's the one where they appropriate all their budget. Would that be correct, Mayor? Thank you. Next. So, it would be next Wednesday. See? Yes. I would guess we may you I would propose that you vote just to >> accept this and move this forward. >> Right. >> Yes. That's that's the plan and to sort of authorize this

188particular arrangement of takings from our revolving account. >> Yes. >> I move that we accept this proposal. >> Second. >> Great. We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? Member Deniv, >> Andy, can you tell us if exactly what we have now going into FY28? >> Uh, unfortunately, I can't. There are some revenues have yet to be posted and we still have the month of June and there are some receipts that come in in July that are for June and also um there are final adjustments to circuit breaker that the state does in the last week and stuff. So I will say if you go back to the PowerPoint presentation uh where we did the 2-year um what I call the combined balance sheet and income statement uh the changes to that are very

189negligible. You know it it is you know we are as I've said uh and I said it at the ways and means meeting um we are okay for 27 and probably 28 but the issue is are we going to be okay for even 29? You know, I my phrase always is we shouldn't be balancing the budget andor creating these funds available to us on the back of vacancy savings and that's how we've been doing it you know pre for last four plus years you know and then add to that when we had the Easter funding and that created more you know stuff. So anyways, um long answer is and I know it's late, um I'm comfortable if you look at that PowerPoint and you know you'll get a revise. I will definitely do that for

190us come July, >> you know, forward is once the books have closed. So >> okay, that's what I was assuming. I just want to make sure that we're moving towards that so that we have that number at the end of the year because we seem to really need that. >> All right, any additional discussion? Seeing none, let's move to a vote. All in favor? I >> I. Any opposed? Any abstensions? I think it passed unanimously. All right. Thank you all for that. Uh, and now we will have a vote to enter executive session pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 3A subsection 21A3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position of the public body and the chair so

191declares I do. The committee will not return to open session. So motion >> second. >> Thank you. Uh, all in favor? >> I >> do we have to do a roll call? Yeah. >> Oh, great. All right. Roll call vote. >> Member Denive. >> Yes. >> Mayor Disorder. [clears throat] >> Yes. >> Member Dyman. >> Yes. >> Member Goodwin. >> Yes. >> Chair Ston. >> Yep. >> Member Webb Amy. Yes. And Vice Chair Child. >> Yes. >> Great. Thank you. Um and the public session is adjourned at 9:23. Thank you. Hey, [music] hey, hey. >> [music]