School Committee Meeting: September 18, 2025

001[Music] Right. Good evening and welcome to the September 18th, 2025 meeting of the Milford School Committee. This meeting is being broadcast and recorded by Milford TV and any copies can be obtained at the request of this board or through central office. We have invitation to speak first tonight, but there is no one here. So, we'll move on to announcements, correspondence, and distribution. Anybody have any announcements or anything? I see none. Bring us to the chairperson update. So, I have um just a couple things for everybody. Uh we met with finance committee last week. We talked about um the HR audit stuff that went through. Um one update we got from the finance director at the town was that he was incredibly happy with the way the transition into the new year this year went compared

002to last year. So, everything was very smooth. There's been a lot of communication with with W's office and with central office in general. Think it's been going really well there. Um and then there was the discussion as well about the MSBA high school project where for the most part Chairman Bruce from the um school building committee explained the whole process, the timeline. Um I think that Fincom left feeling way more informed about the project and how the process in general was going to look and it was made incredibly clear to them that we don't have numbers and won't for another year. So, I think everybody's going to settle into some patience and hopefully um we'll get that information sooner than later. Speaking of that, um I'm actually going to kind of look at Chris and

003Michael. I know that the OPM process was selection process was underway and getting close to finalized. Is that at a point to be spoken on yet or no? >> No. the MS. So we um uh the OPM subcommittee picked um the vendor and then now it goes off to the MSBA for approval. Once they approve it, then then it can be. So they're almost there. >> Yeah. >> Another step in the right direction. >> Exactly. >> Um lastly, there are two more meetings with the finance committee coming up Monday. I believe it's Monday the 22nd at 6 p.m. That's a meeting with the capital subcommittee. Um Al requested our presence specifically because of the two articles that we will get to um shortly. It was obviously something that they were not expecting, but due to

004the timing of our assessments, we didn't really have much of a choice. We're going to discuss that as has as it applies to the capital plan and then on October 2nd, the full finance committee will start their process of reviewing all of the articles and u that was the one that we were invited to for that as well. So, I'll be going to both of those and if anybody else cares to join in the fun, let me know. Uh I know the one on Monday the 22nd has been dual posted. So, if you're if you're interested and you want to come, it's uh it's open for all of us. With that, we'll move on to the community use program um board appointments. There are two seats that are open um this year. I did speak

005with Mr. Burns um about how things are going. He said that the group in general worked very well together over this past year. The recommendation that I have in front of you is that we will reappoint Tim Holtz Snder to a three-year term if everyone agrees. And then there will be an open seat for now because uh Judy Dagnes who spent a lot of time in the last year and and honestly I'm sure quite a bit of time over the decades in general for community use is working on moving. I believe they're going down the Cape. um she has sent in her letter letting everybody know that she will not be re-upping the term as they will not be here anymore. So uh we can start with a motion to reappoint Tim Holtz Snider to

006a new three-year term if that so exists. >> I'll make that motion. >> Motion by Megan, second by Brandon. Is there any discussion on this? And all in favor? >> Unanimous. Thank you. >> I I have a question. I believe this is was as before. Does community use advertise? >> So, uh, >> they make it known that they they have a board. >> Do they make it known that they have a board? I don't know the answer to that. But speaking of making it known, um, in the past we have announced through our social media, we're going to do the same thing again that there is going to be an opening on the community use board. This is obviously a school committee appointment. And this position will be a three-year term. The deadline for submission

007will be September 30th of 2025. And that information can be emailed to me at mzakilia milfford mass uh milford ma.com. Um and this is obviously going out through all of the district's means of communication, social media and whatnot. So hopefully we will get some interest in that again and we'll run through the same process one more time. Brings us to the athletic update. Uh Pete, if you're ready, please come on up. Apologize for my attire now. My I don't have sneakers or shoes. I have a blown up ankle and I'm trying just humbling around here. So, >> no worries. >> I didn't want to >> Thanks for coming. >> Sure. How's everybody doing? >> Good stuff. Um so, um it had come to my attention we wanted to talk a little bit about um the

008huddle network, right? Equipment and uniforms. if I if you want I can just give you a quick update or >> Yeah, that would be great. >> So, um I guess I'll go in order of what I have. So, I I'll start with the huddle. >> Um there's been an evolution probably over the last decade. Um I'd say 10 years ago there was three or four national companies that you could sort of recruit or work with or just purchase. Um you know, being transparent, Huddle was was very very sharp. They bought all of them. So now it's Huddle Coast to Coast California all the way up to Vermont and Maine. So you really you don't have much choice if you want to exchange films with other schools, right? So for example, in the Hakamok league, we

009are it's in our bylaws at football, boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls soccer, boys and girls basketball. We have to exchange film. You have to use Huddle. It's the only way to do it on a platform that everybody has and everybody can transfer it back and forth. Um I got a little ahead of myself. So Huddle again, but all of the companies, so basically if you're in Massachusetts right now, you're using Huddle. If you're in New England, you're using Huddle. I can't 100% speak for way out in the West Coast, but I know Huddle has bought the three or four biggest ones in the country. So, um, at this point, like 99.2% 2% of the schools in in the MIA use basically the small small like Bethany Christian up the road I don't believe

010they have huddle but if you're if you're a goodiz school if you're a good you know athletic department then this is the program that you're using because your league is forcing you to go back and forth like those six or seven teams that I talked about um some of the benefits that we would talk about it's very easy to capture games practices and scrimmages I can remember you know 15 20 years ago coaching and then 12 years ago landing here you would have to film the scrimmage footage of the game or the practice, go home and splice it up yourself if you were going to show it to the team. Now, basically, all you do is you can just turn it on. It's in the gym in our high school gym. It's on the turf.

011And all you have to do is hit a couple buttons, tell them what you want, and they splice it up. It's AI, I believe. Or if you wanted to say, you know, Chris Wilson number two, Megan Hollberger number three. If you wanted to grab all their data, it just comes in. You can see their clips, and you can also see what their percentages are depending on um on what sport it is. So, it's it's super helpful. Um, for us, it's progressive coaching, scouting, and recruiting, right? Like, we are, and I'm very proud of this. I know you are, too. We're batting three or four times above the national average of the kids that we put into the NCA with 100, 102, 105 that we graduate every year for seniors. We should have maybe three to

012five that are going into the NCA. We're always, we're always at that 19, 20, 21, 22 mark. Doesn't have a lot to do with me. That's a lot of you folks. It's the lineage. It's people in Milford. It's just uh we just try to perpetuate that. We encourage that. Um with the with the scouting and recruiting, it's super easy. Most colleges, if they're recruiting you, they want a two or three minute video. We can do that. What we try to do is capture as much as film as we can throughout the season and then when a particular school checks in, we we just pull it and then we try to get the you know, obviously want to get your best plays, your best moves, everything you're doing out there. Um we'll we'll cut that up

013to about two and a half three minutes and then we'll send that to the college coaches that you're asking us to do that for. Um if you take a look at the chronological evolution right at Milford right again I made the reference I was coaching in the early 90s and you had to do all this yourself um with how this worked with us. So we we did I think we had huddle before I got here a couple of I think football and boys basketball was using it. Huddle was new. This film exchange was new. The technology was new. So it grew small companies. Huddle became bigger. Bought everybody out. So what we decided to do at that point, we started to look at the packages. We wanted to save money. Um so we got the

014teams together that wanted to use it in the gym and we picked up like maybe the the bronze package to begin with, right? Um that came with a free camera. So we were able to have that installed in the gym. That cost nothing. That was great because we did that in-house. Milford took care of that. uh the technology department and um and really the custodial crew. So they that was fantastic. Right. Phase two, to be perfectly honest, we didn't jump on that right away. They were these um sort of they looked like UFOs. They had these 20 foot extenders. You had them out at the turf. You would you could take them to any field you wanted, but you needed a power source. So we kept using our own cameras and we you could upload

015the huddle at that time. When phase three came in, then we became interested because it was secure. You could lock it in somewhere. It looked perfect. We had it um Tim Curtain was very helpful. Um doing the specs, taking a peek at could we could we mount this at the at the turf with the press box. Worked perfectly right below um the fence that we have on the top there. So, we did go ahead and um there was a promotional. We got the camera for free. We just had to pay for the installation. Um, and what happened there was, again, Tim Cernin was very, very creative, figured out how to swap them some things out, do some things with our own department. Um, and what we ended up doing was any turf teams that wanted

016to utilize it, they ended up paying about $200 a piece through the boosters department, which I got to be honest, it probably should have been close to $5,000 total. I think Tim got it down to about 99.957 if I'm my memory serves correctly. Um, so we probably have the best deal going to be honest with you in the area or just about anywhere. So, um, financial evolution, who's paying for it? So, the boosters covered the cost up till about 5 years ago. The cost in the beginning was 1,500, then jumped to 27 35. When it got to about 5,000, the booster presidents, the grid iron presidents checked in. They were getting a little concerned that this was getting a little too large. This is mostly the boosters. It wasn't at the turf yet. Um when

017it got to 8,000, that's when um Wen's predecessor, our CFO, uh Kathy, got involved and they agreed to split the 8,000. So it was four and four. And then when it jumped to 10, um Kathy and the boosters talked and and Kathy worked out a situation where she could or we could absorb uh the entire bill. So that's where we're at now. We're at the gold level and we're at the situation where any team that wants to use it in the gym or on the turf, we have enough accounts where we can do that. And we just activated um we just brought girls soccer online full this season. We have the technology to do that with them and whatnot. So, we feel pretty good about that. >> That's my huddle story. >> Why don't I

018pause you on that then? Any thoughts, follow-up questions um on this? >> Yeah. I'm sorry to be direct. Um um how do I want to say this? I I guess um uh why is this so important? You're you're leading with Huddle as like the athletic director of the So I'm just confused. Why is this important to to the committee? Are you asking for something? >> I was asked to present on it. I was asked to present on Huddle. >> Okay. Yeah. >> If I can. That was a a future agenda item request. And then the specific questions and concerns were around the huddle stuff and and the budgetary impact. >> Okay. I I think this was a camera that was donated that we made some comments I think last year, the year before that school

019committee should have accepted it, which is perfectly fine. So, okay. Yeah. So, so is this that camera that was donated? It was installed and then we had some questions on like who paid for the, you know, the installation and Yes. who pays for the subscription fees? >> Yes, this is probably what you folks were talking about then. Yes. Yeah. >> Does anybody remember that? >> Yes. Okay. Okay. I'm just making >> I think you just addressed, right? >> Yeah. Yeah. I'm sure it's all the same thing. >> Yeah. I was okay. Now I'm putting all >> No, I apologize if it seemed like I was um supporting or you know pleading for it. This was I just wanted to sort of encapsulate an executive summary of what it is, how we use it, and how

020did it get funded? >> Do all the teams get to use it? >> Anybody who wants to use it, we have enough uh accounts that we they can use it. Yes. >> Yeah. >> Can I ask the same question differently, Pete? Is there anyone who could be using it who's not? >> Um all of our turf teams are using it. Y >> boys and girls, I'm just thinking. Um, the only team that doesn't use it being transparent and it's because they they just like to do things their own way as wrestling. >> Okay. >> Right. So, honestly, Coach Pinto, Jose Pinto comes in, he runs his own, they they >> they like to, you know, to splice it up themselves and whatnot. If we are recruiting, we can turn it on. We've had a lot

021of wrestlers go into the NCA the last couple years, especially throughout, you know, Milford's lineage, but the last couple years, it's been a lot. So that's >> from an equity standpoint, I'd like to know that every team that >> could be using it has the opportunity to use it. Great. >> Yeah, wrestling is sparing, but um when it comes down to the recruiting, that's something that we jump in. >> Is there any special skill set to use it or is it just >> Good question. So basically, it's just it's uh me creating an account for the team, encouraging you to upload the app, and then we get together. I I I contact the company. We get a username. We get the code. Uh and then we get the to be perfectly honest, we try to

022have a um on each coaching staff. What we've tried to do because huddle is so important right now, especially with like scouting teams and whatnot, we try to make sure that one coach on every team staff can sort of be like their technology contact person and be able to run that. So that's that's a that's where it's gone. >> Great. Yeah. These are the questions we think had last year is make making sure it was equitable, everybody can use it, etc. >> No, these are good questions and we've worked hard to do that. >> Thanks. >> Yeah. I appreciate the overview. Actually, I was the one who wanted to ask a little bit more about it just because I can see this cost going up just because I just know where y >> you know

023these services are going. So, um I I guess >> you know from our perspective how we're planning for your budget making sure that that's going to be built into it in the future. And if obviously if they have a a package where you can you know buy several years up front like >> Yes. Yes. Lower that cost. >> We're waiting for that. Yes, that's a really good point. Like that's not out there right now that we're capable of with the with the amount of teams that we need and whatnot, but we're watching. It's a good It's a really good point. >> Yeah. And then I guess if the Hawk is requiring this, is there like a league discount? Because I mean, Huddle's definitely benefiting from >> Here's the That's a great question, too. We looked

024into that. Yeah. >> And Huddle said no. Those show in town before there was a couple like Tit Titan Sports and whatnot, but they they bought Titan Sports. So yeah, um we might have had a chance, but we we definitely have tried to stay out and be progressive with this, but for sure >> they know what they're doing. >> Yeah, those uh those web server costs are just going higher and higher. So I expect that bill to go higher. >> I think it'll be probably a 10 to 15% increase every year. >> Do you store any of the information offline? Do you download anything or is it if Huddle were to go away? I'm guessing it's cloud-based. >> Yes. Yeah, we have access to all of our stuff. That's a good question, too. And if

025we wanted to, we could pull up anything that we've downloaded in the past. Like, to be honest with you, um I've been talking about Coach Dale. We've been >> looking at a couple of teams that we're going to play later in the season. What are their tendencies? >> They've got a couple returning running backs. Are they still running the same scheme? So, he's looking at last year, the year before. I'm giving this away. I hope nobody from Random or Northfor complaint is watching, but um they might be doing the same thing, but um yes, good question. We have access to everything that we have looked at in the past up until tonight when we upload probably boys and girls soccer. >> Okay, go ahead. Good. Uh back to the subscription. So, yeah, it's a yearly

026subscription just under $10,000. You said >> it's a little over. I think it's right around 11. Okay, sorry. 11,000. Um >> and it sounds like Yeah. So, there is there is no to Brendan's point, there's no like Eric, I want to buy five in the next five years. >> Not yet. Nothing yet. >> Yeah, we've been watching for that and the league has asked a couple of times like is that coming there? There are bigger packages. Yeah. But you have to pay more. You know, you take a team, you look at a school like Brockton that we have like 33 varsity sports, >> they probably have like 42 or 43. So, they might buy a certain package and they might have the opportunity to buy extended. Um, that was something that that Kathy and even

027Wen has mentioned to me like, "Hey, can we keep an eye on this?" And we're trying to do that. in that that $11,000 subscription. It's is it a certain amount of licenses, unlimited licenses, or just enough that >> Good question. So, it's it's um so I think it's 35 35 >> and we use we can use up we have 31 that we we could deploy teams. Yeah, these are good questions. >> All right. And then to Megan's point, the from the equity, the only field I know then that Farsy plays on would be Woodland for field hockey. >> Yes. >> Any there's I'm assuming there's no coverage up there. They if they um if they choose to videotape their games, they can do that and then we can upload that to them. >> Do we

028have >> We don't have a camera. So then >> for that another an additional camera and a portable system >> for Woodland to cover field hockey. Do you know >> kind of ballpark what that cost would be? >> So camera w the other challenge to be to be again to be transparent is there's no um definitive power source up there. those light uh like at the high school at the base there's you can plug in at Woodland um they that they didn't do that uh so we would probably have to run a line from the high school I'm sorry from the the middle school or >> one of the things um a couple people checked in about >> are the we have power packs that we can use grabbed one of those for our scoreboard

029so that's possible >> any idea what the cost of that >> you're probably looking ballpark like 5,5500 total >> and that's for the tripod with the camera >> that yes the Like I said, just from an equity that's that I know, >> you got baseball and stuff. >> Yeah. And the grass fields too, like Yeah. >> Yeah. Well, I'm saying I'm just thinking right now at least from the varsity sports standpoint that that baseball I believe has some type of tracking software >> that they bought. >> Yes, it's it's ago. And I believe that softball can also use that. >> Yes. You get a discount because we use both. >> And um I'm fairly certain that Legion has jumped in. So it's even cut down anymore. >> It's not as much of a video if

030I recall. So I don't want too far down that road. But yeah, but anyways, as with as you're considering from the budget, right, that Woodland would be that only other spot where >> I can look into that. >> At $5,000, is that something that we need to consider? I don't know. Bring that up. >> We should definitely talk about it in budget time. So >> you could make sure to put a note of that for budget sports tap into it. >> Yes. Good question. Yes. Yeah, we have just partnered with um Milford Youth Football asked to start using it last year. Uh we found out that they could use our license. So now they do have an account and they use that as well >> at their um and we could do that with soccer

031if they if they choose to go in that direction to do soccer. Anybody who gets on the turf, we could probably have sort of um like an under uh what's under account >> and and make that available for them. Um, easy question. So, um, since we're recording students, is there any, um, uh, privacy or permissions needed from the parents to >> Yeah, we that's a good question, too. Um, so we have embedded that in family ID. So, when a student um, registers, the parents or guardians either check yes, it's no problem, or nope, I don't want my kid filmed. And um to be perfect it's like 99.999% everybody's okay because they loves social media and whatnot but we do keep an eye on that and every once in a while we'll get a team that

032comes in >> where you know they'll say hey number seven on this particular team you can videotape for the game you cannot allow that to go into social media if you take any pictures or whatnot. So we we have to be cognizant of that. Yes. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right one more. Go ahead. >> Is there any other questions for Pete? I just want to mention something quickly. I had a conversation with Pete recently um and I'll mention it just because budget subcommittee um two of the sports football basketball are the only two sports where they charge an entry fee to the students. I brought it up to Pete like hey why are we charging entry fee to the students? They're going there to support. So try in a way of help to

033promote more of our students going. Do we look at a way of or do we look at eliminating the entry fees, but we'd have to again from the budget side >> backfill his uh sports budget to be able to offset those costs. So >> not have fees for activities. >> That's fees sport not to go watch it. Like if you football game, you pay to get in. >> Oh, so >> which is super helpful by the way removing the fees has been wonderful. Yeah. >> So again, something for budget subcommittee to take into consideration just bringing the idea up now with Pete here um and go from there. >> You can get a budget like idea of that what what that cost would look like. >> Sure. Sure. Yeah, I can do that. And and

034just I love mentioning this because it's it's one of the things I'm most proud of is when other other teams in the league have now moved in our direction of trying to remove the user fees. They've saw they've seen how well it's working here and what it's done for our kids and and our families and whatnot. So there's multiple if not at least three or four that have either implemented that or they're moving in that direction and >> we are leading the charge there. So I I want to pat everybody on the back from wherever that came from and however we started to get that going. So thank >> So yeah Mike it's not the it's the admission fee into the sporting event. >> I'm curious. I do have one more. Sorry. >> Yeah. No,

035that's okay. >> Pete, um so you had said like it's called huddle. So I'm guessing the very beginning of it is football. >> Uh you said it was basketball and and soccer as well. Did did from phase two did anyone like how did you decide which teams got that? Did they have to request it or >> and which teams were they like who who was the next >> So like what was our phase? We didn't grab the phase two camera to be honest with you. We watched other teams come in with it. >> We get knocked over in the wind. It would break. It would be unreliable. So we're like >> we had our own cameras to be the the booster club had bought like five cameras that we could use. And at that point

036in time you could upload to Hunter. they were still evolving in what they could do from a technology technological perspective. I >> I guess what I'm looking for is like a historical context which which teams got the got it first. >> So um boys and girls basketball were first. Okay. In the gym >> um and then that let me just take a look at the code. So then that moved to uh our volleyball teams because it was already in the gym. We had boys, we had boys in the spring, girls in the um in the fall, and then teams started, phase two really spawned phase three because football teams were coming in with these elaborate scaffolding for the camera, right? And then it just evolved into why are we not just >> securing these, right?

037>> So, football started to use it, then boys lacrosse started to use it, girls, and we said we just need to get a camera now at this point and move from there. So, >> Gotcha. Thank you. Sure. >> All right. The other part of the discussion was just around um uniforms and equipment stuff like that. I know during budget time we did not obviously everything that you were you were looking for. So we're just curious in terms of how how that's going with the equipment and such. >> Um no thank you for checking in. So the equipment we feel like we've effectively reestablished where we want to be up to be again to be transparent from last year. We didn't really go without we just cut down a little bit. We if we typically order

038so many soccer balls we went with all right we're only going with this many. They're expensive. Same thing. Volleyballs, footballs, anything that was equipment based and whatnot. The combustibles you have to buy every year and they just get beat up and you have to throw them up. The stuff that we felt we could get to the end of the season with, we did and that worked. This year, um, I've been working, you know, with and Dr. Piggly, we we feel like we're back where we need to be. So, let's say it's the last week of the season. I don't have to run to polios to get a couple of soccer balls or whatnot. You're not running over somewhere. We feel like we have it. we need and we have a couple I always put a

039couple aside for every sport just in case we get you know when we get into the playoffs or we're running out of stuff. So this year we feel really good about that. Um as far as the uniforms um you know last year everybody had to pitch in, right? So one of the things that we we we felt we could give up and made sense to be reasonable um within the district was we gave up our uniforms. Okay. Um when I arrived 12 years ago, we we I couldn't get my hands on a a really effective um uniform rotation. So, we built one. Um and what we did is we came to the conclusion um working with central office and whatnot that every varsity team would buy a new uniforms every four years and then we

040would drop those down. Um at some point we uh we determined that we were getting a really good deal from Under Armour. We felt like that was great for the kids. It was really good product and it was a good recruiting tool to be honest with you. Like kids like wearing underarm and they love saying oh we have this you know and all that fun stuff. So um what we did last year is I just I communicated with all the teams who were expecting to get new uniforms and I said we're hoping to get back to that next year. Let's see where the budget goes. And and I was again being honest. We we really made things work last year. You folks were very supportive. Central office was very supportive. So, we felt like that

041was a fair situation for us to just wait one year. We were in a good situation. None of our uniforms are in desperate need. Um, so what we're doing right now is we're working off 2425 and we'll just be a year behind unless we get a different sort of direction. And we feel like that's okay. Like we feel like that's a good place to be. >> We've got 10 years of rotating now and everybody's received new uniforms a couple times over. So, we feel like we're in a good place. I just want to be honest like I didn't want to come in and hey we need new uniforms. We're in a pretty good place so we feel like we can we can absorb what happened last year and press forward and still look professional in

042in what we're doing. >> Excellent. >> U last question. Um I well for me at least um I know the past couple years there's been some um I guess concerns of making sure that the the the teams u or the boosters or whoever it is when when they're raising money for whatever it is that they're not requiring students to raise >> money because at that point it's an almost like an activity fee. I just want to make sure and reiterate that you know we we really don't want that. Um, and I know the past few years there's been some some questions. So, just, you know, please make sure that Yes. Yeah. If Booers or whoever is to do the fundraising that they're not requiring the students to do. >> Yes. No, I've checked in on

043that. Um, Principal Lotland checks in on that. Like he actually sends a direct email. We check in with coach. I have a conversation with each coach a couple times over. At the beginning of the season, we have a mid-season check-in. We, you know, we do fund raise. Um but we make sure um from a top- down perspective that that each student doesn't feel pressure and I think we have to watch the companies that we work with right some companies will come in you have to we're like no no no and then you know then we have to stop them in their presentation and whatnot so we we do try to watch that closely I agree with you as a as a a guy who had had two kids going through it's like how much can

044you fund raise I definitely understand >> thank you anything else >> just quickly Matt Pete you spoke to sort of the elimination of fees and how good that was with program. Could you just speak to numbers generally in terms of kind of how you're seeing participation overall the past couple years? >> Yeah, sure. Um, and I know there were some questions about that and Dr. Conig and I said we're going to try to pull something. This is something we're working on >> to that point. I Yeah, I had asked Pete if that if he was going to be presenting anything like that tonight. Sure. He came back said they just it wasn't it was more lines of >> budgetary stuff. Email update is great. >> To your point, I'd like to Yeah. to your point,

045I'd like to see that also, right? Because with the elimination of fees, where what have our trends done, you know, both from from a overall and from a sport to sports um >> middle school too, right, Pete? We're out the track. Like, it's amazing the engagement. It's awesome at Stacy. So, >> my head is still spinning today. Like, we had it kids uh not just for Milford, but you know, we had >> 50 something of our own kids for middle school. Thank you for saying that. like it's it has definitely helped >> certain sports of of where we you know demographically might be able to say that it was difficult to get user fees and maybe kids were averting from that. I can generally say that you know in this country right now we're there's

046challenge kids are not participating the way they used to. There's reasons for that. Um and I'll try to capture all that for you and what our numbers look like. Um there's a lot of things that we've been working on the last couple years and we've been really creative Dr. particularly and I we're going to start to move in different directions and really K to 12 is where we want to be right now. We've been 6 to 12 for a long time. Um when he was principal, we did a lot of work at Woodland when he was there. Um but I think we agree that that's we want to go K to 12 now and we really want to expose kids to sports in different manners that don't cost a lot of money or zero financial

047impact to their families. And we're going to combine with Chris Burns and see see moving forward. look forward to hearing about. >> Um because it's it's challenging like it's >> but that's countrywide. It's like even >> pick a school and their numbers are down a little bit. >> Thanks. Thanks. >> Thanks for coming. That was a great update. >> Thank you. I appreciate everybody. Good to >> see you all. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thanks. >> I can't help but I refuse to use grudges. >> Better question. You want a race? >> Yeah. >> I think you know what? Maybe maybe 50 years. I don't know. >> No. >> Thanks everybody. Thank you. >> All right, we'll go to the EV charging stations. If you guys recall, some months ago, we started a discussion

048with potentially bringing in charging stations at each location, potentially at the school, I should say, and that was pushed down to the facilities group. I'll ask Chris to give a super high level, I guess, overview of where that landed, but the uh the agenda does have more detailed information in it. Hopefully everybody got my email from earlier. Apologize for the uh late uh submission of it, but uh yeah, the facility subcommittee reviewed the EV charging station proposal at a meeting a few months ago. I'm going to read fast on this because everybody has it in front of them. Uh there were two options proposed from the EV charging stations, a full ownership and a leasing um rental agreement of the equipment. Um, if we did full ownership, um, if and this came from town council,

049if the school department accepts the stations fully with outright ownership, then any liability due to negligent maintenance of any of them would be on the schools and by extension the town's responsibility. Also, the schools would be responsible for any damage to them as well. Although grants may be available to offset the installation costs, the usefulness of the life of a station is approximately 5 years. Replacement cost is $2,000 per charger. Um, and also if the school department were to own and operate, the town would be responsible for the following: cost of electricity, maintenance, insurance, transaction costs, and making sure the charging stations are in working order and not blocked. If we went through the rental side of it again from town council. Conversely, if the schools were to lease to or rent the stations with

050the ownership vested in a third party, then absent any language to the contrary in the leasing lease documents, which is a big question, the third party would be responsible for liability and damage. If this were the case, then the schools would be looking looking for identification language in the agreement. Uh so yeah, again in East Coast Renewable from the uh own and operating side, they would uh cover all the costs, write checks to repay the town. Um you know, the profit sharing is at 50%. Um you know, they would have to create an LLC, which I wasn't quite sure on how that all works. Has the town added to the LLC? That's more of a town council question. So again, those are some of the issues within it. Um and I guess you know so

051overall the you know the the subcommittee discussed the pros and cons of the proposal. Some areas of concern were the already significantly limited parking at Memorial Brookside and Stacy. Reallocating parking for electric vehicles uh only would worsen the limited parking availability. Although we did not conduct a full survey of staff, we discussed most EV owners charge their vehicles at home at a lower rate than the EV charging stations would provide. Milford High School will be under some sort of some form of construction within the next few years, making that school a non-viable site. Although Woodland typically has open parking spaces, the distance the utility infrastructure has to run from the power source to the parking spaces would include an implemented cost to Milford public schools. So the facility sub commmittee unanimously voted to extend an

052unfavorable recommendation to this committee and felt a full committee vote should be taken uh on this type of proposal. Any questions? >> No. All right. >> I want to say that >> we are Yeah. So yeah, basically at this point like I said I felt like we it's a full committee decision. So whether or not we want to proceed with this this gentleman's proposal or just say we're done with it, >> we don't necessarily have to vote on it. We can just say we heard the proposal and we choose not to >> Yeah. >> go forward. >> I like that one. >> That work for you. >> That works. Yeah, >> it works for me too. >> Can I just add the comment? I'd love to see it contemplated as we're moving forward with the

053MHS project. So to be some component of that, I think it's a great idea generally. I think space we have many constraints. So that we might only ask in conjunction. I will say in our discussion we talked about this in terms of what it looked like if we put it in now >> and then did the construction and the timing of renewing it again and one of those thoughts was why would we not just wait and potentially build it right into the building project if that is something that comes up makes sense. >> Yeah. And to that point, a lot of times for planning board, when a company comes and they're going to do like a significant uh change to their parking lot, we tell them like, hey, at least run the underground infrastructure so

054that way if comes a time to put in those charging units, it's there without having to >> create a new trench. So that will definitely happen with the new high school project. >> Yeah. >> All right. So move on from that. That brings us to the town meeting warrant articles discussion. So, um, where do we want to start on that or how we >> want to talk through it? >> Yeah, please. Why don't we start with a Stacy one? That's kind of a big one. >> So, >> the Let me give you some history on this. I'm not sure if everyone's aware, but um the um facility subcommittee asked um asked us to do I think it was just the subcommittee, I'm not sure if it was a full committee, asked us to do a

055um HVAC assessment at Stacy Middle School. Um the HVAC assessment came back with um some pretty significant upgrades um and fixes that needed to be done. Um, basically we're talking about a 30-year-old heating system that has seen some, I would say, minimal upgrades. I think that the the hot water tanks or the I think it was the hot water tanks were redone a couple years ago. Um, but basically all the all the components on the roof are 30 years old. All the heater systems in the classrooms are all 30 years old. The controls are all 30 years old. So all the major components that are um controlling heating and cooling in that school um basically need to be redone. Um end of life is 25 to 30 years. So we're living it on borrowed time.

056Um we asked them to go back. So we had talked about this um and originally what they had said to us if all things are working correctly the first thing if you're going to do this phased in the first thing you should do is just look at the heater systems in the classroom right um but to do that it takes a significant amount of time because you have to order you have to put them out to bid then you somebody wins the bid then they have to build all the units out, then they have to come in, uninstall what's here, put the other ones in. So, um, and then that installation process is two months on its own. So, that if we went in that direction, that would be a summer project anyways. Um, so

057we asked them to come back out and check out anything that just check the whole system and see what's currently not working. Um, so they're coming back with recommendations tomorrow for a phased in process. I asked them to give us something that would be maybe phased in over five years. Um, but again, keep in mind we're living on really borrowed time. So, at any point any of these systems could could break down and there's no really in order to fix them. They don't make the parts to fix them. So, you'd have to replace the whole unit anyways. And if you have to replace the unit, um, it's not something that you could say, "Hey, I need this unit tomorrow." It's something that would have to be ordered and then built and then brought in. Um

058it's looking like there is at least one or two roof units that are inoperable at this point. Um that probably would would be the first things that we would work on. Um I know that over the last year or so we've heard about uh fluctuating heat at Stacy or inconsistent heat. Sometimes it's hot in this room, sometimes it's cool in this room. Hopefully, this is going to solve these issues. Obviously, when we do the whole thing, we would expect that all these issues are cleaned up, but um hopefully some of these issues will be cleaned up with whatever priorities they give us for um moving forward. Um and then we have to just talk it through with the town and and give them a number. Not prepared to give you a number right now. I

059know they they put some numbers on it. Um, but they were rough numbers. >> Who's they? >> Uh, the company that that did the assessment for us. >> So, that's where we are. >> I think the only thing I would add obviously is we all know the outlook of this building and the hope to get eighth grade here when something is done. And the whole point of all of that is to also relieve the pressure on Stacy, which will give us an opportunity to keep that building and really facelift it without having to rebuild it. This is an investment. Um, it's a big one, but it's one that has to be done. And I think we've all had this discussion at one point or another. Just because we're focused on this one doesn't mean we

060can't or we can't lose focus on these other buildings. And this is one of the major problems we did as a facility subcommittee towards some of those rooms last winter when the temperatures were wild swings. And it's unfortunate. Um, it can be uncomfortable. And if if we can support anything to make that better by next winter, I think obviously we should be doing that. So I I guess one I'm sorry. Go ahead. >> One thing I wanted to add is um >> in order to do it right also you'd have to uh change the controls and the heaters at the same time. You can't do one and then the other. They have to be done at the same time. Otherwise the just the components aren't going to function correctly. So if you put in new

061heaters but have old controls, the old controls aren't going to control the new heaters. >> Exactly. Yeah. And I think everybody remembers a couple years ago we put in a new boiler at a cost of I think like $1.2 million. So that's our that's the the source of the hot water and then each classroom has those as we said like an individual unit and that grabs that hot water out of this brand new boiler. It's going up to these 30-year-old units almost like a what you'd see in a hotel room. So the means of which those 32 year old 30-y old units are trying to grab the hot water they're just in they're inefficient. They're not working properly. So that's why so when you think about we've already invested $1.2 million or $650,000 of our

062money at in kind of the the the basement where the hot water's being created. We just now need to start looking at at it from each classroom and and upgrading those units. As well as as Craig said, there are some rooftop units that have a little bit different functionality and and those being up on a roof. As you can imagine, New England summers and winters, they they get beat up and they uh they wear out. So, um, yeah. So, again, the report's great to be able to look back on it. It it really is is in a sense comprehensive and gave us a a good picture of where and why. So, now it's just a matter of kind of setting forth a plan to be fiscally responsible and also making sure that we um give

063the staff and students, you know, the best possible learning environment. >> So, in terms of the article, I'll just kind of bring it back to that. The intent tonight is to get the approval to keep this article in the hands of telemating to move forward with it. The value that will end up on here will be whatever is recommended to be the most important thing to fix as soon as possible. And then speaking of Fincom, if we want to do something over the summer, next month is the time to get the okay for it. So the article would be just for those priorities and then meeting with capital committee. We're also going to try to lay this plan out way more um I think intentionally so that these things can be planned and they know

064what's coming as we go. >> That was going to be my only comment is that to your point Craig right it's 30 years old it's already passed it useful life. It was never on our plan and so I view that as a miss on our side. Taking the high school aside we already are going to address that in totality. I definitely want to make sure that we're putting forth the effort to identify the next thing that's going to fall off just so that there are no surprises because I don't think it reflects well. You don't know when it's going to break, but to have some indication even if it's a few years out just so it's there. >> One thing I want to add. Yep. >> Um >> since we did this assessment, we are

065also asking the company to give us a quote to assess the heating system at Memorial and the heating system at Brookside. >> And I know that was Carter Parlo's initial getting to learn the buildings and all that. just think investing in that now would be very worthwhile. So I just want to say thank you for taking that on in addition. >> We don't have any paperwork for any of that stuff. >> Understood. Nope. Understood. >> And so >> also thinking about when's the right time to get an assessment on Woodland because Woodland is 10 years old, believe it or not. And >> some of those units are are have end of life of 10 or 15 years. So we might have to we'd have to do Woodland, too. >> Yep. I would say too that

066it seemed like it was um more beneficial even though Carlos came in um and our facilities team in general does a really good job, but they're a smaller team and I think it's hard for them to be at five different buildings running around then also stop and see back. So it seemed like we learned >> bringing somebody in who doesn't know what this is and hasn't seen it who's just going to go through and just tear the place apart um was eye opening was way more beneficial than I think we thought it would be. So, u running that through all the buildings I think is going to give us a lot more information to have a more strategic plan than what we've been using. So, totally agree with that. Anything else on this article? >>

067I move to accept the warrant as presented. >> Motion by Michael, second by Chris. All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you for that one. We'll move on to the technology article that will also be uh sent along. >> Let me hope. So we got all right. So um I I guess if we think of this in almost phases, right? So the the phone system that we have is um end of life and again we're working on borrow time. So the current system and Matt stop me if I'm wrong anywhere but the current system we have is no longer supported. Um, and so if anything fails, we have zero support to get it back up and running. So I guess what that means is if our phones go down, they go down and I don't know when

068they'd get we'd get them back. >> That's right. That pretty much sums it's it's a it's a it's a a hit from both sides. It's the phone system, which is a Cisco product, is end of life. You can upgrade it, but to upgrade it, you need to upgrade the hardware. to upgrade the hardware we have to pay for a license because back when this was initially installed the license for VMware was part of it was included in Cisco was free now it's not we just talked about huddle subscriptions going up >> VM was doing the same thing um so you have to pay for that to upgrade the hardware to upgrade the software so that your phones will stay up and working um and that's pretty much that piece and this was planned >> this

069is in there yeah >> it's been known I remember talking about this last few years. So, >> you're not going to see the number of 160 because it 160 is has like three or four things combined. >> But there the three or four things combined are in the um capital plan. >> Um but then the next phase of that is I think 750 for actual handsets. >> Yeah. So that discussion um in full disclosure I had with Tim as well. I can see your face. Yeah, there's one there was one back here. There's a transition that everybody's going through. Um I see it a lot in my day job where you have to find a way to take the step from the localized phone system and dealing with the support to getting to the cloud

070which is more desirable and cost-effective because of these services. But in the process, the hardware doesn't comply. So you have to replace most people get stuck in a place where they're replacing 50 to 80% of their hardware in one swing. So the plan I would hope over time will be to if the goal is three years from now be in the cloud take two to cycle through your hardware and get yourself in a position where it's not as painful in one shot. >> It can be done in one shot but it's as you can tell not pleasant by any means. So >> the only thing I layer on to the warrant ask Matt is that the budget committee budget subcommittee did sit with Tim and he actually took off some of his requests. So every

071effort was made to make this as small as possible. So, I just wanted to give him kudos for taking the time to meet with us and go through that. So, >> he did. I will I will admit when he first told me, I laughed and and he said, "I know." So, he's obviously very much in line with what we're trying to accomplish. And it's great that we have these guys think in this way. Are we concerned about any increase in cost between now and with the time this article hopefully gets passed in terms of like any new tariffs or like is the 160 going to be sufficient for what we're looking or do we need to say 170 in return? >> I don't know if we can I don't know if we can speak on

072that. I can tell you just from my professional standpoint I have not seen any roadblocks in the last like six months. >> I guess the one thing we didn't say is the 160 is our cost of the project. >> Yeah. the -ate is picking up the rest. I'm not exactly sure what the rest is, but it's 160 is the the better part of >> larger project larger project. >> That's the part we want. >> As you'll see in section D in the first half too, there are wireless there's wireless equipment that is also end of life. That stuff is constantly cycling out of existence. So, I think that's something that gets replaced almost yearly. >> Obviously, this is a necessary piece. One, phones ringing is kind of helpful. Um, and two wireless. We rely so

073much on the technology. Now, we don't really have a a choice anymore other than to keep your network infrastructure running at high speed so that everything can operate. So, any other questions on that? None. >> I'll make a motion to move the article for >> motion by Megan, second by Derek. All in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. All right, policy time. We have a few to hopefully talk about. >> 14 quickly. >> 13. >> Four minutes. >> Okay, we'll do it in four minutes. All right. So, um, hi everybody. Um, policy subcommittee's been busy. Big shout out to Melissa. U, she put most of this together. So, thank you for all the hard work. Um, and thanks for Craig for putting up with all of this. Um, so what we're going to do is, uh, roll

074through this first. So, so, uh, the first what I'd like to do is, uh, at the bottom, we're going to retire the following policies. There's three of them. EBCC, EBCFA, EBC D-E. Um, I'd like to do that in one block. Um, these were recommendations from the administrator. One of the following uh, the last one, school closings, is actually being updated in the, uh, list above. So, any objections to retiring those three policies? >> Is there a motion to retire those in one swing? I'll motion to retire the three policies listed. >> Motion by Brendan, second by Derek. All in favor? Good. All right. So, I'm going to go one by one. And and what we're going to do is we're going to um I'll say the policy that we're uh talking about, see if there's

075anybody any discussion, and then we're going to go through through discussion first and then we're going to go back and actually vote them all in one by one. Sound good? >> Sure. >> Um that's the we're supposed to do accord policy policy policy. All right. So, file EB safety program. um subcommittees were recommending to replace the existing policy with the MSAC model policy. So for those who don't know um the MSAC has you know model policies that all districts can use and so when the subcommittee is saying we're just replacing with the model policy literally it's just taking model policy with very minor tweaks. >> Just want to ask the questions. >> Yeah ask questions. >> Great could you just explain it talks about within the safety policy that we actually provide instruction on traffic

076bicycle and pedestrian safety. Where and like in what when would that be provided? be in the health programs. >> Thank you. >> Thanks, Michael. >> I think that we need to based on recent events. >> It just came I I when I was reading this, it felt very relevant and so I was just wondering if there was some enhancement we could offer. Okay. >> I think we should do something at our elementary schools. >> The e scooter and bike thing is also very terrifying. So >> yeah. So Chris is al has already requested of the superintendent and policy subcommittee to address this. So >> I think this is a foundation to start >> back and forth here. Thanks. >> And we're working on that with the police, too. >> Okay. Thank you. >> All right.

077Uh file EBA, pest management. >> U the subcommittee is recommending to add text from the MSAC model policy to the existing policy that we have. It's really exciting. Yeah. Um and you'll see it's highlighted. Again, did a fantastic job. Um any questions or comments on that policy? No. Great. All right. File EB CD, emergency closings. Um, we're just uh um replacing the one we just retired with the MSC model policy. >> I'll just have one question on that one. In the prior version, we speak to how we will communicate it to families. Would that be important to have in the policy so that they know how to they'll expect to hear or do we intentionally be quiet about that because it could change depending on the platform? >> Yeah. So, um I think that's actually

078that's a good question I guess for just to keep in mind for all of our policies. Um, I'm finding that this the the policy subcommittee wants to keep our policies as general as possible so that we can have procedures that we are um more specific on. So, you're going to see um where we would do where we would um post this stuff on our website. >> Great. Okay. >> Okay. So, I mean the only other thing I guess is does it say it in here that we would post it on the website? >> No. The last version was very the last version I think went too far because it said by what time you would tell people. I don't think that's helpful. But the method I think potentially is valuable. So as long as we're

079addressing it, that's fine. Thank you. >> Yeah. To Craig's point, the the the message that we've been sending to the administration is that you know there's the what, which is this, and then they they they deal with the how. >> Um so awesome. Thanks. Um let's see here. Uh file EC A debt lost or vandalized books, materials, equipment. Um the subcommittee is recommending to adopt the policy with minor revisions. Any questions on this? Okay, great. Uh file EA, student transportation services. The subcommittee is recommending to replace the existing policy with the model policy. Any questions on this one again? Okay. Uh, next one. File EAE, school bus safety program. Subcommittee is recommended to replace the existing policy with the model policy. >> Michael, my only question on that one was there didn't appear to be

080any language in there regarding drivers that we as a district hire. It was all through the contractor. And I just wasn't sure if that wasn't contemplated and if that was something we wanted to add. >> That's actually good. It was not discussed. >> Okay. I I'm comfortable adopting the model with maybe consideration that we think about that. Um there's also a policy that I didn't see here around drug and alcohol testing for school of Boston commercial vehicles which I feel like would now be applicable given we have some on the payroll. So I didn't know if we wanted >> let's let's so the EAE. So >> yes, >> we want to add or you're suggesting >> it didn't read to me like it would also apply to drivers that the district is hiring. >> Okay.

081>> Unless you feel differently. It's kind It's quiet on either. So, I'm not sure why why it wouldn't >> Well, it's a four. >> EA, right? >> Yeah, I read EA as well. >> EA school safety program. It's just >> No, sorry. I was reading. >> Sorry. >> I'm reading the >> There's a lot of E. >> Oh, sorry. Maybe I Maybe I just did EA EA. >> I'm sorry. I got excited with the E. E kind of so many E. So let's do E AE. School bus safety program. >> Thank you. >> Um there there there's four bullet points. >> Sorry. Okay. Yeah. No, I retract my comment on that. >> That's fine. Okay. >> That's why I was like >> Yep. Sorry. >> Okay. Um yeah, so we're just we're recommending to replace

082existing with MSAC model. So any questions on EAE? >> No. Okay, great. >> So EA. >> Yes. >> Um bus driver exam and training. Thank you. >> Persons employed by the bus to drive. >> So, I'd like to go. >> It just talked about those employed by the bus contractor. So, I didn't know if we'd want to extend that to persons employed by Milford, the town of Milford or Milford public schools. >> Those contractors to drive. Oh, yeah. You're right. >> Or we can >> Are those contractor contracted employees? I'm just trying to save us. >> Person employed by the bus contractor. I mean, it's very clear she's right. >> Yeah. >> I just wanted to flag it. Why don't we um >> So you can do it too. Yeah, you could either put an

083and or you could get rid of that. >> Is that something that you guys could just easily update and we can bring back and take care of next week? >> We we can do it now too. >> I mean if it still be that simple >> by the bus >> by the contractor >> and or Milford public schools. Could you just say persons employed to drive school transportation vehicles and just be silent on >> I don't know that you want to be silent on the um I think you want to be specific about the bus contract. Okay, >> I agree. >> Uh >> or you say employed or or >> or you say um approve or disapprove persons employed to drive school transportation vehicles including the bus contractor. Something like that. including any bus contractor

084because it's not the bus contractor. We have numerous um transportation contracts. >> Why don't we take it back then? >> Yeah, since it's multi. Yeah, >> sorry. >> Oh, that's fine. That's good. That's fine. Good catch. >> We'll keep that one. >> I'm not sure why the model policy >> We'll keep that one out of the out of the vote for now and just to give time to uh >> we'll pass on that one to document that quick. >> Michael, just to go with that, there's an E e A not even kidding. Bus driver examination and training. I didn't know if that's something we'd also want to consider adding. >> Let's let's get through this. Isn't that the one we're talking about right now? >> Oh, sorry. >> Yeah. >> I'm sorry. Sorry. Oh my

085gosh. Sorry. >> It's not easy to follow along with these. My list was condensed. Yeah. >> Came up with it. >> It was E. Okay. >> Structure. >> If it's in addition, why don't we get through the list? Perfect. That works. >> Why don't we get Yeah. Yeah. Um All right. We're going to move on to EAC, student conduct on school buses. Um, the committee is recommending to replace the file EA-2 with the MSAC model policy. >> Excellent. >> Any questions on there? >> Is there any concern with buses versus vans? Like just make it more generic just like any student transportation >> during transportation to >> is it van or bus? I was gonna say my only interpretation on that would be that the vans are the vans have to follow the same rules

086as buses on the road when it comes to public safety. So I would imagine this would apply to >> any of the buses >> school vehicles >> that would be the only change I would make. >> My concern about that is that would then apply to facilities equipment too. There's no students on those. So in terms of student transportation >> has the word bus on top of it that counts. >> I think just giving my opinion on that. We keep it as is, but I think it's a good question, Brendan. >> Let's leave it as is and we can >> we can always modify it later. >> Dig into that a little bit more. >> Yeah. I mean, is a van a bus or is any transportation with students considered a bus? >> Well, we

087can define it that way. >> For the purpose of this policy, a bus. >> Exactly. >> Let's just leave it as is and >> okay, >> we can write we will creep be a good >> bus. Okay. Good questions. Um, so EFBA school food and nutrition meal modifications. The subcommittees were recommended we adopt an updated version of this policy. The MASC model policy to replace the meal modifications policy that MPS has coded as ACF-23. Carlo is on board with this. >> Any questions on this one? >> No. Okay. All right. Let's move through. So, EFC universal free school meals. The sub subcommittee is recommending the adoption as new policy following guidance of MSAC and Carl Tuttle Food Service Director. Any questions on this one? >> Anybody? >> No. >> You just press quick just a

088quick comment. Yeah. On it. I know and this is not going to be a change to the policy I don't think but or maybe in future. So one two three fourth paragraph down on that uh students seeking additional meals or alakide items will be charged accordingly for those additional meals. My only question on that is and I know that is our standard policy and it's kind of a policy cross a lot of Massachusett school that every student gets the one meal but everybody has in a sense I'd say different eating habits or or or quantity of food. So my only thought to that is do we need to look at it just from any standpoint of you know if it's if it they're serving pizza and and a and they ser everybody gets one slice

089but a kid asks for two and and so in our policy it's everybody gets one you know and if they follow the the rules to the letter then everybody gets one slice of pizza right so just something that we may need to consider and and how we could you assist in that without get it being abused. And I don't have the answers yet, but just from reading the policy and I think that's something definitely we need we can talk to Cara further on and and and go from there. But again, not looking to change it now, but just wanted to bring it to our attention globally. >> It's a it's a reimbursement, right? So you get >> you get the one meal and we get reimbured for that and then anything over that it's going

090to be the responsibility of the student. Otherwise, they're on the home floor, >> right? >> Completely. >> They're counting the meals, so it has to be the same meals. >> It's reimburseable based, >> but I I want to point out some the students can work it out. They can trade, >> right? >> Talking about Sure. >> So, again, yeah, when you want to listen to my son. So, as you hear, there's a lot of lot of governance to this. >> That's funny. >> How could we assist students that may just want that extra slice of pizza because they're just that much hunger, bigger appetite, you know, that's all. So, again, >> more food for thought. >> All right, that's No more discussion on that. Thanks. >> That was all right. Excellent joke. Are there any

091other um comments or questions about any of the policies that have been discussed? >> No. >> Okay. So, I I'm going to take these into three chunks. >> I was going to No, we'll go through each one. You >> want to go through each one individually? >> Yep. I'll just ask for a motion >> far away. That's fine. >> I'll keep track. >> Yep. Um All right. Uh file EB safety program. Do I have a motion to accept as presented? >> So moved. >> Second. Second. All in favor? >> You're the one who said you want to go through it. >> All right, I'll do it. All right. Um, unanimous passes. So, you got it, Melissa. >> Yeah. >> File EBAB, Pest Management. Do I have a motion to approve as presented? >> I'll motion.

092>> Motion by Brendan. Second by Meg. All in favor? Unanimous. File ECD, Emergency Closings. Do I have a motion to accept as presented? >> Derek. Motion by Derek, second by Meg. All in favor? Unanimous. >> Uh, ECAD debt lost or valid book, vandalized books, materials, equipment. Do I have a motion to accept as presented? >> Motion by Chris, >> second by Megan. >> All in favor? Unanimous. File EA, Student Transportation Service. Do I have a motion to accept as presented? Motion by Brendan, >> second by Chris. All in favor? Unanimous. E AE school bus states program. Do I have a motion to accept it as presented? >> Motion by Derek. >> Second by >> I'll take that. >> All in favor? >> Motion's unanimous. >> File EA bus >> bus driver exam and trading. I'm

093passing that one, right? >> Nope. Next one. >> This one. >> I thought the next one was passing. Oh, no. You're right. Sorry. Thanks, Brandon. Um, file E AEC, student conduct and school buses. Do you have a motion to accept it as presented? Motion by Meg, second by Derek. All in favor? Unanimous. File EFBA, school food and nutrition meal modifications. Do I have a motion to accept it as presented? >> Motion by Chris. >> Second by Brendon. >> All in favor. Unanimous. File EFC universal free school meals. Do I have a motion to accept it as presented? >> Motion by Meg. >> Second by Chris. All in favor? It's unanimous. >> May I ask about two other policies? >> Yeah. >> Um, we have current policy EAA which I think is important. It addresses walkers

094and riders and who will get a ride. We're just want to see are we maintaining that policy. >> There's some questions on it. >> Great. No worries. But it's still for discussion. Super helpful. Thank you. >> Many discussion on >> just wanted to ask. That's wonderful. And then E Ab drug and alcohol testing for school bus and commercial vehicle drivers. I would just question whether or not that would be more relevant to the district where we're employing more people. So >> is this a new one? >> Uh it's not one that we currently have, but it's an MASC model. E AE B. if you could just confirm whether or not we should have it. >> Sorry. Thanks. Okay. Okay. That's all. >> I I guess I to be clear about all these E policies. None

095of them are pressing. Um but we just >> took the section all all together and try to bang through them to at least review them all. >> I'm only sensitive to the driver once, Craig. We seem to have a growing population of people that are under our purview that we have the right protocols in place. That's all. >> Thanks. Yep. >> I will say thank you to the facil facility, sorry, policy subcommittee. That's a lot of work in just a couple swings. Thank you for that. I'm sure there's going to be quite a few more of these to come. So, >> in charge did all the work. So, um I think >> someone take credit to everybody know I know our policy policy on um we're supposed to talk through them first and then we

096vote through them. Hence why I did that process. So, >> excellent. >> All right, with that we can stop saying policy and we'll move on to new superintendent induction program overview. >> Good evening. >> Hello. >> Thanks for sitting through all that. >> No problem. I've been there. >> I'm expecting a report after our meeting. So, thank you very much for allowing me to come tonight and introduce myself and talk a little bit about the new superintendent induction program. We call it Nissip. And NISUP really encourages us to make sure that we come before the school committee to make sure that you understand what the program does and how we do it and what to expect from outcomes from uh Superintendent Conigley. So, the new superintendent induction program is a statewide program and every new

097superintendent has the opportunity to participate and that requires your agreement to allow your superintendent to participate. So, first and foremost, thank you for uh supporting Craig in in this work. Uh this is the 16th year of the program and it's really a unique program to Massachusetts. Not very many states have an induction program for superintendent. I was in the third >> cohort and so now we are in the 16th cohort which is kind of amazing that um you know it's still going strong and the program is adapting for the needs of superintendent as as time goes on and and the needs in our schools and in all of our communities. So um how that program works is that retired superintendent um apply to become coaches. I am a coach and I'm also a content facilitator.

098So I am one of the two facilitators of the program for firstear superintendent and then I also coach um five superintendent three in their first year and two in their second year. So the program is set up. First I'll tell you a little bit about the funding and I'll tell you about how the program operates. Um but I also want to give you a little bit of information about me as well. So the program is funded from three sources. The department of education, the association of school superintendent and the bar foundation. And so these three sources each of them fund different parts of the program. One is training for the coaches. One is one-on-one coaching from the coach to the superintendent. And the third are the content days where there's actual curriculum and training that

099takes place. In between those training days there there's usually one training day each month through the school year. And in between those sessions as well as through the summer months, coaches meet with their superintendent. In the first year, we can meet with the superintendent up to six hours a month. And what that looks like is sometimes one-on-one meetings. So, Craig and I will come together and talk about what's going on or we will follow up on the content from the training days and what we're asking our superintendent to to do and I'll be providing support to Craig along the way. In the second year, then that time goes down to four hours a month. And in the third year they don't have an individual coach but they are part of a consultancy group where once

100a month their consultancy group comes together and they do what we call problems of practice. So each superintendent can bring a problem of practice. They go through a protocol and their colleagues along with coach facilitators help them work through those problems. So that's the basic structure of it. Um, in terms of how do coaches get matched up with superintendent, some of it is, uh, what types of districts you've worked in, um, what your expertise might be, sizes of districts, and some of it is how close are you in proximity to be able to to get to to those different districts. A little bit about me. Um, so I was a superintendent for 11 years in Lincoln, Massachusetts. Lincoln, Massachusetts is an interesting district. So you have a small town of Lincoln. It's a prek to

1018 district and then the kids go to the regional high school of Lincoln Sudbury, but we also operate the schools at Hanscom Air Force Base. And so we in addition to the schools in Lincoln, we had a contract with the Department of Defense. They've had it for over 60 years. And we also had a prek to 8 district on uh the Hanscom Air Force Base. So, it's an interesting district to come from. Um a wide diverse population of students and families. Um and was a participant in the METCO program where students from Boston come out to Lincoln. And so, an interesting place to be. My background, I actually grew up in in inner city Los Angeles. Um, and I moved to Massachusetts in my 30s to get my doctorate at Boston University. Um, in California,

102I grew up in pretty poor areas and the schools were really the place that supported me as a child and when in order to get through college, I worked as a paraprofessional in the district where I grew up. uh there was a late August need for a science teacher right when I had uh finished my degree in biology and suddenly I became a a middle school science teacher um and from there went on to be an assistant superintendent uh a science coordinator and then a a superintendent. So in Massachusetts, I came to to BEu, got my doctorate, taught for a couple years at Endeott College in Beverly, and then needed to get back into school district. So I worked in the Welssley public schools for 12 years, and then uh two different positions, a K5

103science coordinator and then uh six years as the assistant superintendent for teaching and learning, and then went to Lincoln for 11 years. So I have a a sometime I like to say that because sometimes if I just say I've worked in Welssley and I've worked in Lincoln, you're like what does how this is this a match? >> But I have a lot of varied experiences beyond that. And so that's why I share all of that. So um in terms of the program in the first year, what we are focused on with with superintendent is asking them to go through a very comprehensive entry plan process. And even though Craig has been in the district for many, many years, he is now in a new role. And so when our superintendents have been in the district

104for a long time, we feel sometimes it's as important and even more important to take a step back and really dig in and learn about the district from a different angle, from a different perspective. What I've talked to Craig about is you have assumptions about what the needs are based on all of your experience. And so your entry process is a part of that will be to go through um a process of talking to people, looking at data, reviewing all of your documents, your pol policies and so forth and checking your assumptions. >> We ask our superintendents, you know, I'm going to say sometimes school committees are like, "Okay, let's go. We got things to do." and and you want to push them to go quickly, but we ask our superintendents to go slow to

105go fast. And so in their first year in the job, we really want them to spend a good amount of time meeting with people, interviewing folks, using survey, using observation, going into classrooms, and so forth to make sure that they have a good strong understanding of the strengths of the district, the needs of the district, and what the challenges are. By around February, we'll be asking the superintendent to take what they've learned in their entry process and create a report of entry findings which they will present to you. And from that report of entry findings, then in the spring and through the summer, they develop what we call a strategy for district improvement. And I just want to uh make sure that I say this so that it's clear. A strategy for district improvement is

106not a strategic plan. Okay, we see these as two different things. The work in NISUP, we are really focused on what we call the instructional core outcomes for students and what happens for students in classrooms and in the schools. um the content that is used and the instructional practices that take place and then the systems that are put in place in the district. What Craig creates as a strategy for district improvement will not look like a strategic plan. Those tend to be a lot more work and and more focused on the operational sides of things. He may have some goals that come out of his entry finding that are operational and that's okay. But we just want to be clear that um if the expectation from you is, you know, we want a fiveyear strategic

107plan, we really ask our superintendents to focus on what do we need for the instructional core to move students forward in the district. And that will set you up for the next year. And those goals that you have and the priorities that you have may stay in place for many many years, but what you do for your action steps for it might change a little bit along the way. Okay. Um what I was going oh one other thing I wanted to say so we meet one and on one but I will also come and be present during his meetings with his leadership team. When there are walkthroughs in classrooms, learning walks, I will attend some of those with them. And my whole intent is about support to support Craig so that he can support all

108of the employees in the district and then that supports students along the way. And so, um, you may see me back at another school committee meeting. I'll be around in the schools, but the intent again is completely support and it is not evaluated. And so, um, making sure that all of the administrators, faculty know that when we are in these spaces and and watching and and learning, it is for that intent to learn about the district and not to evaluate anybody. So, open it up to any questions you might have. I think you started by saying you, you know, retired. Clearly, you just have a new job, right? Talk about how much you're doing. Um, I'm just curious in terms of the action planning. >> Yeah. >> When you talk about those types of goals,

109those seem to me to be things that would take a long time to implement. What should we expect in terms of like what that will look like? >> You know, it really depends on what those findings are. Um but usually you know there's I'll just say there in general there are a lot of districts right now who have a huge focus on literacy right and so you probably would expect that there's going to be a goal I think there already is >> on literacy and then there are often um right now you're seeing a big emphasis on belonging student belonging and how do we ensure that all students have a sense of belonging in their schools and have the supports that they need in order to be successful in the schools. So, it really is

110going to depend on what Craig learns um and you know what bubbles up as those priorities. >> Okay. Excellent. >> Yeah. And in terms of my retirement, so I've been retired for for two full years, but yeah, the moment I retired, I started in Niss. So, uh yeah, it's been a little tricky. >> Good for you. Maybe one more just question and maybe the answer is no. As you think about all the superintendents that you've worked with, do there tend to be themes in terms of challenges in the first couple years or is it really dependent on the needs of the district and the challenges of the district? >> I think there are certain things that there tend to be themes and right now again the literacy and the sense of belonging. >> Um, and

111how do we serve all students in terms of equity? Um, I think those are probably the main themes, but then you certainly have uniqueness in in different districts and it just depends on where you are and it it depends on, you know, have you been in the district before or not and do you have things that you have to clean up or not? And so it's going to vary a lot. >> Yeah. >> Thank you. Uh, and so we'll just, you know, when we work with all of our superintendents on those content days, we have them bring some of the data that they've collected along the way so that they can start to talk about it with their colleagues and think about what are the themes and what's rising to the top and what additional

112information do we need to find to triangulate that to make sure that we're really honing in on the true priorities of the district. >> Excellent. Well, thank you for your support, Craig, and for being here tonight, supporting us. My pleasure. Thank you. >> Thanks, Matt. >> Anyone else? >> Thank you very much for being here today. I appreciate it. Uh, obviously >> Craig's under uh uh good hands is in good hands. Appreciate that. And I appreciate Yeah. I know part of his his goals for this committee are are of course work, you know, >> going out and checking with stakeholders and surveying and all that. And I know that's part of what you want too. So see how those two are going to fall hand in hand. Although obviously like yours is in a sense

113a little different. So again, yeah, those themes of the stakeholders, the survey, the data, getting the themes and meeting with department heads. Yeah. Like >> to hear you say that and to know that that message, you know, comes back to Craig as as the importance of kind of the ground floor of and directionality of of where his job will go is is great to hear. So no real great questions for you because I appreciate that input. So, um, I just wanted to make mention to that >> and I want to make sure to be clear, you know, that's not to say that, you know, you've got an MSBA project, right? You've got, and I had the same when I first started as as a superintendent, there were we were at there, they were at the

114end of an MSBA project when I started in July and going to the final vote >> and Lincoln has more architects per capita than any other town in Massachusetts. And in the 11th hour, they didn't like the design >> and it failed. >> And I spent the next 10 years >> getting those projects done. >> We got them done though. But but so just a a word of caution on that. >> But but but not with MSBA money. They didn't get back in. So >> Oh, wow. >> Oh my gosh. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So >> yeah. want that. All good. Thank you. Good. Anyone else? >> Thank you very much for that. That was great. >> Thank you. >> All right. Report of the superintendent of schools. >> Thank you, sir. I just um

115I want to thank Becky. Becky's been um critical in the first few uh few weeks here. Um just be we meet uh basically three out of four weeks a month. um for a couple hours a month and I just just to be able to talk through what's going on in the moment, but what's going on, what's been going on, then what we're what I'm I'm about to do in the next week has been um it's just been great to have somebody to talk it through with um somebody that's been there before. Um, but then I think the other component of the of the program is um meeting with the other new superintendent um with the experienced superintendent in the room um and just listening to what uh she's right. Everyone's talking about all the same

116sort of um priorities in their district. So um that's it's just been great been a great experience so far. Um and thank you Becky for that. Uh so what you have in front of you all is um it's my entry plan. Um it's broken into basically four phases. I know that uh Becky kind of went through each of the phases. Um I'll go in a little bit more detail, but um but basically phase one, we're in phase one right now. And part of part phase one is all about collecting the data. And I highlight here all the different ways that I'm going to collect data. I I meet on a regular basis uh and regular basis being at least bi-weekly with all the folks that I'm evaluating. Um so that's all the principles, it's directors,

117um central office folks. Um, and we talk about we talk about all the u what are our strengths, what are our areas of of need, uh, what are we missing right now. So, those are the conversations that we're always having. I have I think six notebooks at this point. Um, not full, but it depends on who I'm meeting with the notebook that I pick up. Um, so I'm trying to stay organized with this data collection, but um, I also have some digital files, too. So, when I meet with the folks that I'm evaluating, I have digital, um, notes that I I take when I I meet with them. Um, but things that I'm planning to do, um, I plan on interviewing all of you. So, spoiler alert, at some point we're going to sit down

118for an hour. Um, and we're going to talk about what you believe the strengths of our district are. Uh, what you think we need to work on and and where you think there are are blind spots or areas that we're just completely missing the mark. Um, so we'll schedule those soon. Uh, I also hope to get a representative sample of all the different roles in our district. Um, I think one of the teachers are I think yes, I want to get a a hold of teachers and and talk to teachers, but I also think that and I don't even know if I put it on here to be honest with you, but I've been thinking about this a lot. Our system principles have a lot to say. Um, and they're an under utilized, undervalued. I'm

119not sure what the the right word to say is, but um they they have a lot of experiences um that I think need to be uh talked through. So th that's a that's also a group that I'm hoping to talk to every one of them um as I would talk to you all um because I really do value what they what they bring to the table. Um I do want to talk with a lot of different parents and guardians um in all you know in all different kinds of venues. So in the schools maybe in churches maybe um at the senior center maybe uh like different locations in the in the community. Um I've already started talking to students uh this past week. I've spoken with it uh three students I believe um and just

120talking them through what their goals and um what they're trying to accomplish when they get through through school. So that's that's a not to say that u interviewing all of you won't be the fun and invigorating experience, but talking with the kids is awesome. Um and just listening to what they have to say. Um probably only second to talking to all you folks. Um, I've already met with some of our community members uh at town hall. Uh, I I will continue to meet with with others. Um, this past week, for I didn't interview him, but um, police chief and I had uh, probably three or four different conversations this week, but um, we talk on a pretty regular basis. uh but other community leaders and elected officials I think are are going to be important

121and see where they where they think the school's uh strengths are and and where we need to do some work. Um let's see I I give you a list of questions here. I talked through what some of those questions were. Um I also want to hold office hours uh beyond just like a an interview more of like an unstructured time. Think of it like a coffee time where um I'll say it again that the the senior center I spent some time down at the senior center when we were um building Woodland. Um I love those conversations too and just uh reminiscing with people but then also explaining to people like why we would need a new Milford High School for example. Um it's important because not every everyone in the community gets to go through

122Milford High School and um hasn't seen it maybe in several years. So just to kind of talk through why why we might need a new Milford High School would be important. Um uh let's see the phase two um of the data collection will be just reviewing different artifacts. Um these are different reports that we've had done in our district. Uh I'm at the bottom of page two. Um they also fed into our district strategic plan in 2024. Um but just reviewing those documents. There's a lot of of good information, recommendations, um strengths, areas of growth, all within those documents and trying to um capture those and bring those up uh again I think will be important. Um then we're just reviewing student data, enrollment data, achievement data, attendance data. Um attendance data. By the way,

123just an aside, our half a day yesterday, um while it was double what it has been, so we we're missing around 400 students. Um on any given day, we're we're somewhere between 200 and 300. Um, but in half a days in the past we were over a thousand. So remember we tried we we said we we're going to try this half a day on a Wednesday and see what we got for results. So pretty good results. Um, better than the past. So we cut it in probably half of where we were in the past. So that was good. But of course I don't know that every family in our district actually knew it was a half a day. Some of them were kind of surprised when we sent the kids home early, but maybe that's

124okay. >> Maybe one room is a meeting. >> Maybe, oh, she's home. >> That calendar. >> Yeah. I don't know that we should just spring it on people, >> but our attendance is better than it has been. Anyway, so an aside, but that's the kind of data we'll be looking at, right? Is like what what days of the week are are our we have um a lot of absences. >> The past half days have historically been our worst days uh for attendance. Um so looking at at data like that. Um and then doing some surveys, focus groups, interviews, reviewing all of that. Um all right. So then phase three will be you somewhere in the spring. I put April, might be May, uh March. Um but then I'll begin sharing the results of the work

125uh not only with you folks but um with the community as well because I think if if I'm going to hold forums and talk to people about the the community center then they deserve to hear a followup of what I found um through my I'm going to call it the world tour of Milford. Um so I think that'll be important is just not only sharing it here but trying to figure out different ways to share it. um throughout the town. And then um uh like Becky said, doing some action planning and not developing a a full strategic plan or a full new strategic plan, but developing strategies for district improvement focused on um curriculum instruction assessment. Um that'll be, you know, spring into summer. And I could see us as a a leadership team kind

126of talking through that and talking through the priorities. Um and then kicking off the new school year with um the opening day with all the staff saying, "All right, I did this world tour of Milford last year. Here's what I found and here's what we're going to do to um attack what we found." Um this year we kicked it off with our our three priorities with seems like all the districts around are doing the same district priorities but um that's what I hope to do with this and then um it'll hopefully be a foundation for a new district strategic plan um not for next year but the year after. Um, so that's my entry plan is I guess an a 30,000 foot view, maybe 20,000 foot >> comments or questions on everything except for the

127half day comments. >> I just know Matt obviously Craig so much sort of work and thought has already gone into this. So thank you for that. I really look forward to seeing what this sort of generates. My only question is whether we've given consideration to leveraging existing forums, town meetings, PTO meetings to address people where they already are as part of your meeting with people. It's just something to consider. >> Yeah. Um >> I don't even need an answer. It's just some it's hard to get people to show up for something else. So I just wanted to offer it. >> It's a good point. So leveraging those and getting on an agenda. >> That's all. >> Yep. or being available a half an hour before town meeting and posting it and saying you'll be there

128to talk to people or just just one example but just >> good idea >> PTO meetings whatever. >> All right, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Nothing else there. So, we'll go to the report of the interim assistant superintendent for teaching and learning. >> All right. Hi everyone. Um I'm going to give you a really big picture view of kind of where we are professional development wise. Um I'm going to break it into kind of two different parts. One is we have contractual hours. We have the two contractual hours. Um majority of the schools those are on Tuesdays. At Brookside we moved it to Wednesday this year. Um and kind of talk a little bit about what we do at those hours and then also talk about the five half days that we have because

129we had one yesterday um and we did some professional development um in there. So for the most part those two contractual hours um during the months are happening at the principal level. And so the principles are really the ones that are coordinating the content of those sessions. Um they're doing it in collaboration with the district-wide directors and the CTLs. Um this year in general, it it the theme seems to be literacy at the K8 level. Um K5 is really again dedicating most of those hours to our rollout of expedentiary learning. Um grade 68 is really focusing on year two of amplify curriculum. So we're seeing that as the major theme across the board at our K8 level. Um I would say about half of the meetings um that aren't focused on the expedentiary learning or

130amplifier or their teachers that are not involved in those um new curriculum rollouts at the literacy level um is really focused on department time. Um the majority of that is facilitated by our CTLs. Um and they're really mostly focused on horizontal and vertical alignment at their building level. And so thinking about a specific grade level like are all the teachers that are teaching you know social studies at that grade level aligned to what they're teaching and why they're teaching it. And then also if we pick on Stacy like is 68 vertically aligned in terms of what is happening in that particular department. Um that work is really facilitated by the curriculum team leaders or the CTLs um with some oversight from the district-wide directors and the building based administration. The other half of the meetings

131um so one month one time a month is is those department times one time a month is more full faculty meetings. Um and at those full faculty meetings there's different trainings, there's different discussions. um it's typically led by somebody from the administrative team. Um we've done things like co-eing professional development. We've gone over the evaluation in those types of settings. Um so they're more kind of information getting or trainings that the entire faculty need to be receiving on those um contractual hours. U if we think more about the five half days, we have a lot more time in front of teachers, right? And so an hour once you get started and then you have to end on time, you're really talking, you know, not a full hour of content. When we're talking half days, we're

132talking being able to work with staff for three three and a half hour chunks. So we're able to get a lot more um intentional professional development done in those half hours. Um so if we just look at yesterday and what happens across our district yesterday, um Shining Star actually has the privilege of having a full day professional development when we're in a half day. Um so they did a lot. They um focused on each of the goals of their um SIP and so they spent a chunk of time kind of diving into each of those goals. They did receive their Alice CH training from our SRO's. They also worked with our SEAL dire director around education stability training. Um so they got a bunch of different topics in that full day professional development. Um all

133of our K5 expedentiary learning teachers were provided with three hours of grade level time and we brought Brookside and Memorial together. So, our kindergarten teachers were all in the same room together, which was a really powerful piece. Um, and what they were doing is they were unpacking the unit um that they were working on and some upcoming lessons. Um, we brought in an expedentiary learning facilitator to run that because Carol couldn't be in five grade levels at a time. Um, and the feedback that I heard um was that it was one of the better PDs and they are so thrilled that they were able to to really dive in and get this um protocol in place. um the teachers at the K5 level that were not involved in expedentiary learning um were really unpacking their

134different grade level content. So we know that the fourth and fifth grade teachers at math worked on the unit and the assessment that they're working on currently. The humanities teachers at fifth grade worked together. The science teachers at fifth grade worked together and so they did some more department work. Um again led by the curriculum team leaders. Um Stacy Middle School also had three hours of department time again led by the CTLs. Um things on agendas were anything where from open sed and the pacing of open sed um lesson internalization for math alignment with amplify for ELA some progress monitoring in the e department and the world language department talked about some end goals um that they had for the school year at Milford High School. They also had department time. Um, a lot of

135those agendas looked like they were focusing on um, we are having some vertical discussions happening this year between Stacy and the high school and the different departments. So, some of the departments were starting to have conversations around what needed to be covered in those um, vertical discussions with their Stacy colleagues. Um, they were talking about course alignments. They were talking about the three key district priorities and how they were going to be using, you know, how they were going to be doing literacy, collective efficacy, and Milford Pride as a department group. Um, and then they were really also just talking about like what are their priorities and what do they want to accomplish as a group, as a department this school year. Um, across our district, our special education teachers, TAs and BAS were engaging

136in some crisis prevention and intervention reertification training. And so we were able to use that chunk of time to get them that because we needed that chunk of time to get them the reertification. Um, we also had Dr. Sharaki Holly here. um he worked with 50 of our educators around culturally and linguistically responsive teaching and learning. Um and he really kind of kicked off the work that we're going to be doing with that second cadre um across our district this year. really thinking about how are they building their mindset and their skill set to to to do some of the validating, affirming, building, and bridging work with the different cultures that we have in our classrooms and and how are they going to engage in some binder studies where they're going to learn different activities.

137And then they'll have a chance to go and try those activities in their classrooms with feedback and debrief. Um, and that cycle will happen um through the beginning of January is kind of our end date of that cadre work. And yesterday was the kickoff. So you can see that there's like a bunch of different um topics happening. Um we really depends on our district-wide directors to collaborate with our CTLs and our CTLs to be facilitating this work. Um when it is done at the department level, um our building administrators are kind of going through the building and popping into different departments um or leading sessions depending on what is happening in their building at that time. I know at the K5 level each administer sat with a different grade level and then they were able

138to all kind of like be like, okay, this is what second grade did, this is what first grade did, this is what kindergarten did to kind of keep each other in the loop instead of having to kind of pop around um as we go. So that's really the focus this year um in terms of professional development. >> Questions? >> Quick comment. Thank you very much. you know, I'm the one that asked to put this on and it just shows kind of how much is going on on on one of those just a a half PD day. And I think a lot of just community members like, well, why do our children get a half day? Well, I think you just, you know, you took everything and kind of made it a threeminute presentation, but what

139happened over a three and a half hour period? And it just showed like each school, each department, depending on grade level, depending on subject matter, everybody has a different focus. And I think that's the message that I gotten which is good and what I hope the message that was delivered out to to anybody listening or even when someone asks us what's going on, you know, again, why we have five professional development days and then again the two hours per month also. So, no, thank you very much. No specific questions. I appreciate that knowledge and again that way I can answer questions better to anybody out there that ask me why. >> All right. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> We'll move on to the report of the school business administrator. >> Okay. So, um we're

140going to look at the FY26 budget update. It's um um summary of the snapshot of uh September 15's budget and um it's uh we're in quarter one so everything looks okay and I I think whatever you see in negative um is not really a concern. It's just the t due to turnovers um and um how we budgeted. For example, um I budgeted the substitute um whether it's long-term or short-term, we I budgeted in one line, but uh we reported in different lines. So if you combine those together, it's still not a concern. Um and Brendan asked that uh in previous meeting about the heating of buildings. Um it's because we we we had a budget uh reduction due to a offset from the food service account. So if we put back the 120 then it

141won't be negative anymore. Okay. >> And same thing as tuition we see a negative now but we do have an offset which you can see in the bottom. Um all the offsets are listed there. Um so overall the balance is now 11 million in quarter one. >> Thank you. >> Any questions on that one? Okay. >> Okay. >> Next document is um a proposed um budget guidelines for for 27. Um it's an upgrade from last year's um I already I also attached last year's as a reference. So it's just um um I listed the budget deliverable deliverables um separate from the guidelines and I kind of spell out um what requests that need to be reported um under each category uh what's level of services what's strategic plan and what's other critical needs. Yes, >>

142the question. Thank you for bringing this forward from last year. I know last year >> we did it kind of rushed, but we wanted to create the the habit. So, this is awesome. >> Um, my question is, >> and sorry I couldn't come to the last budget subcommittee. >> Um, >> this is great. This is what I personally expect. >> So, when you and Craig go to the district and say, "Hey, you know, level service is pretty explanatory, right?" um you say new initiatives is there going to be a number that you say all right you know do a level of service but don't go over 4% >> increase so are you going to give guidance on on that and will that be in this document >> um we have a different document for the

143admins and there's guidelines 3% guidelines in there >> so so so um it's what >> 3% for new initiatives or level service >> for in total >> total >> new initiatives we didn't have any >> any guidelines on new initiatives >> right they come to the table with anything that they they want and then we kind of talk it through and then we bring it all to you right on new initiatives >> it's suggested uh but it's we yeah we look at new initiatives separately >> yeah so this idea basically came honestly from when like a year a year year and a half ago the document that um an example you gave me actually showed a town had a a number I'm like oh that's a really good idea even though we don't have our

144final number for the state >> it still gives some barriers or guidelines to the district to say hey you know what do level service and do you know new initiatives but don't go over 5% or six whatever the number is so when we do get the final numbers from the state we're not making big swings we're making smaller shifts to to if we get more or less. Does it make sense? >> It does make sense. Yes. I think the guideline I gave to the principles and then we talked to them too. >> Um is if you ask for new in initiatives, you need to trade in something, right? Um but it depends on what their really needs are. Um so and we don't we don't have a when do we have a town guideline? Not

145until the to the end of the budget. So I cannot really give them. Yeah. So I guess we can give we can give them an idea though say shoot right. >> My only concern is this right. Um and doing this a number of years. >> Um if we want to change directions it's fine. But but the message that we've always given to the principles is tell us what you need. Right? And so if you tell them tell us what you need up to 3%. That's not exactly telling us like the full scope of of what they believe they need um to run their school. >> Okay. >> So I'm I guess I'm okay. >> I'm less concerned about the principles. I'm more concerned about the district if that makes sense. Right. >> Um >> well

146the principles are really the the ones that come with the new initiatives, >> you know. I'm trying to think of like district initiatives. >> I mean like the the whole package, right? Yeah. And it's just an idea. I just, you know, this is great. I like to have a number like as a target. So like again, when you go to the the whole district and say, "Hey, we're creating a budget and you know, here's our goals all here." You know, if I'm a principal and I say, you know, I want all these new things. And it comes to like a 12% increase. And you're like, "Okay, great." and they come back, you know, like h how does that how do you reconcile that before it comes to us? >> Well, >> it was a lot

147of meetings before >> we meet a lot and say, well, we think this is a priority. We think this is a priority. We agree this is a priority, but it's not going to fit into any kind of a budget that we're going to be able to present. So it sounds like you focus on like the operational tactical piece, whittle it down and then you you bring in the finan financial piece after kind of figure out the needs say all right well you know 4% increase is what the town's going to give us take our needs and then dig in further is that kind of >> I think the first stage when we meet with the principles and admins uh we just want to have all the ideas in one place right it's same concept with

148the capital plan we want to see those things whether we approve it this year or not, we it's on our table to discuss. >> So, and the second stage when when the um when all of us meet at the central office, we kind of like root down to what's the district priorities are. Um so, we can give them a guideline, but I don't think it's something that will force them or >> Yeah. No, I'm just kind of I think trying to understand the process. I don't disagree like you'd want them to hide anything that you need. >> Correct. And if you give a number, they may hide something that they need. You realize, oh, you know what? They really need that, but I didn't know about it because we give a 3%, you know, goal,

149right? >> And I guess through the process, that's where you see where a principal might put something as a priority number three or four on their list, but we end up moving it to like a priority one because we're looking at it from the the global perspective of the the district. >> All right. Thank you. I just wanted a better understanding. >> Yeah, thank you. >> Good question. >> Yeah. Um and then the budget guidelines basically just similar to last year's and uh we got some feedback from the budget subcommittee and uh we added that we we will re-examine the contract and operations which we are all doing it every day. um especially when the contracts are up to uh renewal, we're going to look at the potential savings. And then last year's priorities um

150on new initiatives are um focusing on literacy and um high quality uh instructional materials. And this year we're going to just focus on the three um district priorities. Are we voting on this tonight or is this just a draft right now? >> Um, we we >> can I was going to ask if the budget subcommittee had any input on whether or not they felt this was ready to go or is this still something you guys are working through, right? >> Yeah. No, we we discussed it and we were supportive of it. Matt, I think it addressed all the items that we've talked about. >> Okay. Well, with that said, then I would say we could vote to take this as the final guidelines that they will uh I guess solidify if we're ready to do

151that. If there's a motion for it. >> Move to accept the 20 27 budget guidance document as presented. >> Motion by Michael, second by Megan. Any more discussion on this. >> All right. All in favor. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um and the personnel update uh hiring slowing down but uh we are hiring a lot of stipen positions at this point. >> Can I just ask one question? One. What is the prism council >> at Brookside? >> Prison prison council. Real quick, >> that is a um we got the prism 2 and prism 3 grant to bring in expedentiary learning and part of the requirement of that grant is to have a literacy committee. >> I just didn't see the tie to go. Thank you. >> Grant perfect. >> All right. Thank you very

152much. Move on to the consent agenda. We have just a few things on here. So I will fly through this quickly. Tonight, the consent agenda is going to include the approval of 15 warrants in the amount of 1,560,8981, the approval of minutes from the September 4th, 2025 regular meeting, and professional development in the amount of $7,79148. Motion to approve. Motion by Brendan, second by Michael. All in favor? >> Oh, sorry. Don't you do a little discussion in between or No, >> we're not supposed to. Okay. Is there something that you need? >> My only >> Sorry. My only concern is in your update from the minutes. It says OPM interviews were held yesterday and a selection has been made. >> I wasn't sure that that was true last time and I did just wasn't sure

153if it mattered from the building process standpoint. And if it doesn't, I'm fine. I just didn't want to say that we a selection was made two weeks in advance before it was made. That was my only >> I don't know. >> Sorry. >> Um it was made it wasn't >> Okay, perfect. >> No, no notification was >> No, it was made by the open committee. Perfect. It's not approved yet. Thank you. >> On September 4th. That was true, Michael. Perfect. Thank you. Sorry. I just wanted to make sure the date. >> That was the same day, wasn't it? >> It was pre It was perfect. That's all. I was just sensitive to Thank you for catching that. >> Yep. >> All right. Thank you. We voted on that already, so we'll uh carry on with

154it. >> Subcommittee updates. >> Policy. You saw what happened today. >> Excellent update. Thank you. >> Did we vote on that? >> We did. Yeah, >> we did. Okay. >> Sorry. budget also met. Matt, um we went through a few things. We talked about upcoming contract negotiations because there's actually a few including the transportation and the teachers contract. So those would be heavy lifts. We wanted to go through those particularly when took us through the RFP for transportation as well. Uh we talked through the audit and the results as well as all the action items and went through those in detail. So that was also very helpful when to get that update. We talked through the budget guidance document as you just saw overall FY27 planning and then hit on each of the warrant articles.

155So all items we've hit upon here as well. Excellent. >> You can see quickly facilities as you know met when we discussed the HBAC assessment of Stacy and the uh roof at uh here at Mil High School. >> Fantastic. >> Future agenda items. >> Yes. So the athletic participation is discussed there. Um also um kind of in line with that is the fundraising policy. like kind of made a little mention there about fundraising and it just uh again think that this keeps it's on the list. Yeah. Keeps coming in and then going away and coming and going away. So >> it's coming point of clarification >> on >> can do you want it as a um agenda item or just for us we can follow up in an email. >> The athletic part sorry the

156athletic piece. >> Yeah. Email would be great. >> Yeah that should be fine as far as the participation. Yeah. If I have questions, then >> yeah, >> we can uh address it then. So, I'm fine with with that. >> I think with that is just more breaking it down from >> men's and women's sports and >> Yep. I'm going to >> winter, spring, summer, fall. >> What I was thinking with Pete, Is this okay to talk about right now? >> Yeah. >> What I was thinking with Pete is like um >> as the first as each season um kicks off, a breakdown of how many kids came out. I don't know if he has all this information at this point for the last uh group, but how many kids came out for the sport? How

157many made it? How many teams you have? >> Yeah. >> Um and we'll go with the fall teams, then we'll go with the winter when the winter rolls around and then >> good. Yeah. And I think to Megan's point, talked about Stacy and just seeing what are we getting for either additional or reduced participation. >> It's a lot. It's like 80 kids in girls volleyball, for example. >> It's great. >> Which is great. I think that's th those are the numbers we're looking for. >> Whatever Danny puts together having some sort of trend to see >> correct >> is important. Yeah. >> Cool. Thank you. Any other future agenda items? >> Yeah, I wasn't done. >> I only have a little more space. >> Most of this I've already brought up to anyways, but I'll

158bring it up. So, the EV pipe policy, again, I brought that up on the side just again and I um was brought up also in facility subcommittee because you I'm not sure if you noticed there's some new signage. So, we rated that. So, there was the some new signage going that is is up for no EV bikes on the bike paths on school grounds and then >> that's it. Yeah. >> Is that a newest for subcommittee as well? So an EV bike is >> you guys have to Craig's working bike scooter >> model all the breaking news board and where >> where that goes because I know some school districts are actually outlawing alto together see where it got goes >> well >> you done >> yes >> thank you >> appreciate all of those

159>> all right So, looks like there's nothing else. So, we can proceed with ending this open session tonight. We do not have executive session. So, I just need a motion to adjourn. >> So, moved. >> Motion by Michael, second by Megan. And all in favor? Unanimous. Thank you. >> Is that mine? >> What's mine saying?