School Committee: March 11, 2026

001Good evening everyone and welcome to the um open public budget hearing of the school committee. I call this meeting to order at uh 6:34. If anybody is interested in speaking, if you could add your name to the list, but um this is an opportunity for members of the community to share their questions or comments about the FY27 budget. We'll adhere to the same process that we do for um public comment during school committee meetings, which is we will ask people to hold their comments to three minutes or less. Um unlike uh school committee meetings, we will have the opportunity at the end if it's appropriate for either the superintendent or members of the school committee to answer questions or comment um based on any of the um comments that uh people have raised. Also, this

002is an opportunity for us to get feedback on the budget before we vote on it. And that vote will be happening on um May 16th. So, we will not be voting tonight. Tonight's just an opportunity for the community to share their feedback. I mean March 16th. Thank you. March 16th. So, if um anybody would like to speak, if you've written your name down, if you'd like to come up, I will also notice that note that um Rob reached out ahead of time and asked if he could have a couple of extra minutes because he's speaking on behalf of the CPAC. So, just wanted to preface that lower. Um so, piece of paper because I'm a Gen Xer. So, phone in front of me. Um, good evening. Um, uh, my name is Rob Milts. I'm the

003Milton CPAC co-chair. Um, I serve along with Joe McCarthy and I'm here to share, um, CPAC's feedback regarding, uh, the FY27 proposed budget. Um, professionally, I've been involved in public budgeting for about over nearly 25 years, and I know budgets are a reflection of uh, priorities and values. Um, but they're more than numbers. They're also moral documents. Um, in his presentation, the interim superintendent identified a number of areas that were off limits to cuts, including elementary school classrooms, art, music, key, world language, etc. Um, as an early form of the FY27 budget, also included cuts to two BCP positions. CPAC members reached out to you all and we were pleased that these two positions were not will not be eliminated as part of the FY27 budget. That was good news. So, thank you. While not

004all position not while not all positions or classroom facing um special education uh positions are all crit critical for grading support and the delivery of services. Those adjustments that we saw in the prop earlier versions of the proposed budget um appeared to us to be disproportionate and unequal. We do not see proportionate reductions in other non-legally specialized separate programs such as batch immersion. We need stability yeartoear in staffing um in special education. We want to avoid uh as much staffing with whiplash uh because it is frankly counterproductive um on an annual basis. We have seen um that sped positions are viewed as budgetary pressure bel and sped positions have been a go-to when budgets are tight. One year a team chair position is not backfilled. The next year when when it when backloads, excuse me,

005case loads increase, it is back. One year an assistant director of student services is not backfilled. The next year it is back when the need for the position has been un better understood. This practice is not new to the FY27 budgeting process. We've seen it for a number of years. We believe that such reductions to special education services or year-to-year variability will increase the risk of even further cost to the district. A reduction in special and special education staff will lead to further out of district placements for students. Today and in the near term, some students will be needlessly sent away to expensive private and collaborative schools many miles from their families and their home schools because Milton does not have the staff to do the work. In doing so, we will fail those children.

006Staffing reductions will be counterproductive. The goal of reducing cost. We as representatives of Milton special the special education community will not support the increased risk for children lacking individual gains. And as a result, the district will take on more cost over time. Short-term short-sighted cost cutting does nothing to prolong these financial pressures. We must do better and we ask that you partner with us now and in the future. So, thank you and I appreciate your time. >> Thank you. >> It was just Rob. Let's see if anyone's online. >> Anybody else in the room while we see if anybody online is interested? Anybody else? call promote them to the screen. Do they have their hand raised? Person looking to speak. You have been promoted. You declined. You have been given permission to speak. Please speak.

007Hi. Can you hear me? >> Yes. Thank you. >> Oh, hi. Thank you. Hi, Suzanne Bridges. Um 71 Center Lane. I'm a parent of a 12th grade and 11th grade student here at Milton High School. Um I am speaking tonight to express my strong opposition to the proposed elimination of the nursing department head. While I understand that the district faces difficult financial decisions, removing the leadership position that oversees student health services is shortsighted and poses significant risk to student safety, mental health, legal compliance, and educational outcomes. The school nursing department is the essential backbone of the health safety in our schools. Here are just a few points I wanted to add. Um, as if I had all night, I could speak all night about how important I believe this position is. Um, there are significant

008safety and legal considerations associated with eliminating this position in assigning lead nurse responsibilities to a nurse who is already accountable for an entire building. This change may increase risk exposure and impact compliance, oversight, and quality of care. The current director is available to answer questions on a medically fragile students in real time. When you are dealing with health and safety, many questions and concerns cannot wait for an email to be returned or a part-time person to be in the office. The current director has the knowledge base to know who is the appropriate candidate to hire and then can pro provide specific training and support to that candidate to ensure the student safety. The district is responsible for providing this for any student with a complex medical condition. Who will do this and provide as needed

009daily support when the onetoone nurse has a concern? Who is available to come to Collicot? For example, if the onetoone nurse needs support, the current director does last minute coverages and arranges nurse coverage for the onetoone students often after hours and on weekends. Who will be arranging these coverages in ensuring that the nurse covering has been trained and can step in to help this student? Who will be available to cover the one-to-one nurse in an emergency and step in if the lead nurse will be assigned to a building? Who will be able to cover if anything last minute should arise? If we remove this leadership, we leave our staff school nurses unsupported and increase the li the liability, excuse me, of the district. The department head is essential to ensure that nurses are not overwhelmed

010and that they can focus on direct patient care while having the support required to manage the health needs of our student body. I urge the committee to reconsider this proposal and recognize that investing in nursing leadership is essential for a safe, inclusive, and effective school environment. Thank you for taking the time tonight and thank you for your commitment to the well-being of our students. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Anyone else online um speaking interested in speaking? >> I do. I think your hand is still raised. If anybody else Thank you. Is anybody else interested? If so, would you raise your hand? Thank you. >> We can just leave that. Just ask folks if they audience. >> Joan McCarthy, can I ask you to go check the door? Mark's Mark's there. He's Mark's

011Mark's logged out. >> Thank you. A break between supposed to open at 6:30. Yeah, I think that we can just making sure that nobody else in the audience wants to speak now. I think we can begin whatever discussion. um or response. >> Yeah, we don't have to respond. I think it's just opportunity. >> Yeah, that people want. And um the hearing can adjourn early. The full meeting just cannot start until order until 7 p.m. which is when it's posted for. So another two for people online in case they >> of course. Yeah. >> Yeah. I mean um so while we're waiting to see if anybody else wants to speak um since our last meeting I have responded to several emails uh met with our leadership team met with our PTO presidents met with our CDM

012and Mark um partnership groups and um met with a couple of nurses to hear their feedback and um got emails from folks as well. And you know, we are uh in a very interesting budget year where we are uh moving along throughout the fall where we thought we had a budget rhythm going where we thought we would be able to roll everybody over and move forward and then in January we were asked to reduce the budget and it feels like a lot of things are out of order. It feels like we're not explaining things as well as we should have to folks. It sounds like and some feedback we got that this landed on people pretty hard. Um, and we hear that feedback. We got that feedback directly from families uh and parents on Monday

013and Tuesday of this week. Um, we had a thorough review of not just the positions that were added, but we were reviewing every single position in the district in order to try to figure out how we can best realign our resources to make sure the classroom is impacted in a positive way the best we can. So, even if there was not going to be a reduction, we were still trying to line up all of our adults, all of our resources towards the classroom. Um, I think it's also important to recognize that our five priorities start with for this year the classroom tier one instruction. We are trying to make sure that every student is in a classroom that has a teacher and other supports that are directly connected to students every single day because every

014single student deserves to be in front of grade level material and if they need supports for that grade level material all those supports are pushed in. Uh so we did value the classroom and I think also at the beginning of the year when we got together with the school committee and the finance committee we put a philosophy of our budgeting together starting with financial sustainability then tier one instruction our culture and climate and using data to from our instruction ensuring that we were touching every single student in the classroom. Um that does not make any of these reductions easy. That does not mean the people in these roles did not do not work hard. Um, and the reason why it would bring up the 75 wasn't to say that I need to look at those

015and some of those have to go at the expense of nothing else. We looked at the whole district. We brought all of your principles in. We brought our special education director in. We brought our director of DEIB and they are they are our leadership team and we did that as recently as yesterday to try to make sure that we're landing in the right way. So, the communication of this I think is a little disjointed and I take responsibility for that. We are responding to a very unique budget year uh starting on January 7. Um wish we had these conversations in September where we could get feedback and move it along in a way that people uh could provide more feedback uh so we could look at it more holistically and that the community could understand

016the budget process more holistically uh because we may have not had a chance to actually communicate all that throughout this shortened process. Um so we are here to talk about um and listen I continue to listen for people's feedback. Uh the the nurse uh position is absolutely one that we continue to get feedback on. It was at our PTO uh president's meeting. We had one parent that was very concerned about it. Um and also the PTO parents quite frankly were very concerned about what happens next year. They really want to talk about next year. They really want to talk about is this going to happen every year? And um from a budgeting strategy, you know, we're trying to address that. We're trying to address the fact that if we are needing to reduce some positions

017this year that we do so thoughtfully, but we also have to take the long game and talk to the town hall and work with our select board members and our warrant committee and our town administrator Nick Milano, who's very helpful, by the way, uh in order to think about how can we make sure that our budget has more uh expense availability than just the 3% that they told us about in January. That's not an acceptable number. So, I think we've been saying the same thing for the remainder since we found out this in January. Let's try to shave down the edge of this reduction for this for next year and let's have a real hard conversation with the town about what are we going to do moving forward so parents don't have to worry every

018year so our educators don't have to worry every year about what the staffing levels would be for our children moving forward. Um, so that that's kind of the big picture uh that we're working on. Um, and as your interim superintendent, I'm not working on a long range plan for you. I'm working on trying to reset the district from a very thoughtful way. So when we hand off this district to a new superintendent, they have some things in place that they can count on to begin to move the district forward for the longer term. Uh we are a short-term group that we're trying to just reset and move forward. So um I can understand that some people might think think these are shortsighted. I respect that feedback and that there has been a back and forth

019over these past few years that I have not been a part of that I uh respectfully will will listen to and understand that's where folks are coming from and uh I'm here for a short time to facilitate the work for the community and so I look to the school committee for feedback. I looked for folks in the community for feedback. We listened to initial feedback. We made alterations to the budget. We'll continue to listen uh from now to Monday and do the same thing. Um, and we'll try to make the best choices we can with the with the dollars we have. And then, uh, we will continue to, uh, work with, sometimes disagree with and argue with, uh, members of the other parts of our community, uh, related to what that budget should look like

020moving forward. We believe that those expense numbers should be higher than 3%. We believe that the district would not be served well with anything less than three or less. Uh, so we're trying to take the long game. We're trying to have those conversations with the town and uh it's being received well. There's good dialogue happening now initially, but between now and June, we have a lot of work to do to set up the FY28 process. So, we have these conversations in August and September and not in January and February. Um so, that that's our goal from our work this year and our goal next year. As it relates to two specific speakers tonight, um we we fully understand and heard very loud that some of those reductions that were connected to special education landed really

021hard and felt uh disproportional. So that feedback is has been heard and we have responded to it and we appreciate people uh advocating on on behalf of our students and also the nurse is still a continuing uh conversation whether or not we want more time in front of students or more time in an administrative level and exactly what does that administrative time need to be in order to effectively support our nurses. Um so that that's that's something that we're judging. Mark did some nice research. We have districts that he researched where I'd say about 65% of the districts had a nurse director and about 35 had a lead nurse. And um the next question after seeing some of that service research is where is that district nurse um located? Are they in a nurse's office?

022Are they working some building for the majority of the day and working out of there and being available to nurses? maybe uh at the beginning of the day, at the end of the day, is there still availability for them to work with students directly on a regular day. So, all those things we're looking at um we do have an extra roughly $110,000 that we haven't committed to yet. Um we we can always look at other things that were on the list to reduce if we wanted to put back the nurse position. Uh we had some other positions that we uh had talked about as a leadership team. Um but there's competing interest for those dollars. We want to make sure that we're fully funded for next year. Um, in some information that we got just

023last week from the from the uh director and the commissioner of department of elementary and secondary ed, uh, our title one money uh has been eliminated for next year and that's about $130,000 that goes directly to the Tucker School, uh, connected to our additional math interventional list and some direct tutoring that we provide students. Um, and that's beyond our control. So just now we say, "Wow, that $110,000 really has some competing interest. Do we want to where do we want to use those dollars?" Um, so I I think that that's a a continued conversation that we would need to have. Um, and if we want to look at something else in the list to add the nurse director back and maybe reduce something else. Uh if we want to take more money out of the

024uh circuit breaker account, that's certainly a discussion, but we are learning that last night at the select board meeting, the $500,000 we thought were going to the schools is going to an account on the town side for the school committee in the school and the select board to oversee and not into our budget. So that's $500,000 that we thought we would have in our reserve account to be more flexible next year that will not be there directly for us to access in our own budget. So, there's moving parts to this process that we're still exploring. Um, we we will vote a bottom line budget on the 16th. The school committee will uh there will be room for making shifts and changes throughout the spring uh because we have bottom line authority to our budget. If

025we if we think that something's needed, then we will have to go out and get it. Just in the last two weeks, we've posted two more paraprofessional roles to support students in district so they may get supported at a higher level so they don't go out of district. and we posted a 1.0 special educator to support somebody in the district that we want to make sure we're serving at a higher level again in order for that student to be serviced in their own school. This is March way back in um March of 25. No one knew that those expenses were going to come up. That's why we need reserves at a at least a moderate to healthy level in order to flexibly be able to address the needs of all of our students and things

026happen during the course of a year. So, um, we're we're trying to be flexible. We're trying to think forward. Uh, we're trying not to be shortsighted. We're trying to actually set the district up for success after next year. Uh, I'm available to be part of two budgets for the district. And my goal is to try to again reset it in a way that makes sense for our staff and our students most importantly. and uh and for someone to come in and be able to see that the budget has a balance sheet that makes sense, that feels comfortable to the to the incoming superintendent and that we have a district ready to go for their longer view of what the work should be in the town of Milton. So, I appreciate folks being here. I appreciate

027the emails that I've received. I appre appreciate the dialogue that I've had with folks in small groups and and in one-toone settings and um and we'll continue to listen and we'll continue to improve. Uh but we do have to vote a budget, but that does not preclude us from actually getting that budget in place and getting it voted next week or a town meeting in May that things might arise that we need to shift the resources towards things that we need to do for children. Um and that includes the flexibility of the nurse position, that includes flexibility of adding things that we know we need to do for children at any point in the year. And on on March 11th, we're doing it right now uh for a budget that was voted last March. So,

028just to kind of give you a sense of the need and the flexibility that we need to have um in order to meet the needs of about 4,200 students. One last opportunity if anybody is online and had a question if you want to raise your hand if you joined or if you joined the later if you would like to come forward and speak. Few more minutes people who've arrived wanted to speak. No pressure. All right. Seeing as nobody else is raising their hand and there's nobody online, I think we can close the budget form. Do we need a motion to close for? Yes. Could I take a motion to close the budget forum? >> So moved. >> Second. All in favor. Budget forum is adjourned. Thank you everyone. We'll open the regular school committee meeting

029in two minutes. Welcome everyone to the March 11th uh meeting of the Milton School Committee. If we could all rise for the pledge of >> allegiance. Before we get started, we would just have everybody take a look at the agenda and see if there were any changes. Anybody's committee did not meet good. Okay, great. Move forward with that agenda. Um, so we like to start every meeting of the Milton School Committee with um with public comment. We in um in accordance with school committee policy, we welcome members of the community to share their perspectives with us during public comment. We have set aside up to 15 minutes for this part of the meeting and individuals may speak for up to three minutes each. While the school committee does not respond directly to public comment, there

030may be opportunities for members to address issues that are raised over the course of the meeting when relevant topics are on our agenda. We strive to engage in respectful discourse during our meetings and ask the public comment keepers keep speakers keep that in mind. Speakers should introduce themselves for the record. Is there anyone here for public comment tonight? Is there anyone online who wishes to speak? >> No hands raised. >> Great. Seeing no hands raised and nobody here, we will move on uh to the superintendent report. So, we have two of our incredible students here from Milton High who are our representatives to the school committee. Um, they're also like rock stars in the community because they are on the girls hockey team that is in the championship on Sunday at the Boston Garden. I

031would like to introduce uh Samantha Talbert and Taylor Scully to come up to the table, please. Uh Samantha is a sophomore serving in her first year as a representative to the school committee. She plays field hockey, hockey, lacrosse at Milton High, and is involved in Morgan's message, Best Buddies Sunrise Club. Outside of school, she runs a nonprofit organization called Smiles Across Milton, uh, which organizes social events for adults with special needs. That's incredible. Thank you for that, Samantha. Taylor is a freshman serving her first year on the student government. She played for the field hockey team this fall and is part of the winning girls hockey team as well going to the Boston Garden on Sunday at 9:00 a.m. uh this Sunday um this weekend and is looking forward to playing softball in the spring.

032In her free time, she enjoys spending time outdoors and helping out around her community. So Samantha and Taylor, thank you. This is your first time at the table, so this is great stuff. Um, we have one of your reps behind you that's a that's a senior, so he's already been here with us before, but uh, please update us on what's going on at Milton High, and we can't wait to hear. >> Um, so the updates we have, um, we have the girls hockey team is going to the garden on Sunday for the finals. Um, this month is our school's music month and we have a lot of concerts happening. There are some this week and next week. Um, and the theater, MHS theater, has made it to semi-finals. Um, along with the robotics team, they're

033like thriving. They're attending the state championships in April after placing first in their qualifier. Um, spring sports triyouts start Monday, so everything is getting back into full swing after winter. Please see Miss Conne to get cleared. And course selections are due at the end of this week on Friday. Most of the school counselors went into the history classes last week and explain the process to the students. That's great. Tell me, how did that go? Tell me about your course selection process. So, the guidance counselors came into your social studies class so they could make sure they hit every student. And what did they talk about? >> They just talked about like um classes next year. Next next year, like what the school offers and like um the intensity of those classes and talked about like

034the recommendation process of how your teachers recommend you for certain classes and how you sign up for those classes. >> Excellent. So, did you guys already pick your classes for next year? Um, I'm not done with mine yet. >> Yeah, I haven't fully decided, but I'll do it soon. >> And is that electronic? So, you would go on to >> It's on Power School. You have to You have to click everything in so you can click your courses. Very good. >> We met with Miss Bell last week to kind of get get the scoop on that. So, we wanted to make sure it was all going well. >> And we have our senior in the back who didn't have to pick any classes because he's going to be somewhere else next year. um group having

035questions for our freshman world. >> Just very impressed. Very impressed. Congratulations on the on hockey. >> Great. >> Exactly. >> Great. Thank you. >> All right. I'll go on with the the rest of my report. Um, as uh Taylor and Samantha said, this is March uh March is music in our schools month. Uh, this is the biggest uh month of the year for our music folks. Uh, the concerts began last night with a grade 5 through 12 string concerts. We also have district-wide chorus concerts on Monday and Tuesday of next week and a band concert on March 24th. Please make sure you check the district calendar. This is really good stuff and our students work very hard. Um, we have the Tucker Art Show on March 12th. Uh I talked to the art teacher today.

036Uh she's very excited about having folks in. So please go by the Tucker Art Show on March 12th from 6:00 to 7:30. Um March 18th is uh our grade one information night that we have every year. That's in person in the high school auditorium. If you are a kindergarten uh family and uh and or younger and you want to find out how first grade works because we do have a choice program in we have French immersion in our project lead the way. Um, and that information will be shared with folks. So, if you're interested in that, please come at 6:30. Uh, future problem solvers, which is one of our grade four and grade five specialized programs. We're happy to say that Dr. Ren, our Cunningham principal, reported that two Cunningham students qualified to compete in

037the Mass State Championships for uh, future problem solving. That will take place on Saturday, March 28th at Clark University. Uh the third team was also very talented and competed well but did not qualify. At the Glover School last night they had their basketball championship. Um and also last Thursday night the Tucker had their basketball championship which is a huge night. Uh people in the crowd were there. Uh it was decided on a lastminute shot uh with two seconds left to win the game. It was pretty impressive. Uh the Glover will pay will play the Tucker next Thursday night um in a final game. Uh these are growing programs that both the Glover and the Tucker uh and we hope to bring it to the Cunning Gam and Collie Garden PJ is as well. Glover also

038is having their um uh bingo night uh through their DEIB group and also uh they have their Glover musical uh we are monsters that happened this weekend will happen over the weekend. Uh Milton High winter season has come to an end. Uh indoor track nationals in New Balance. We have students uh Annelise Agula uh Da Sweeney, Grace Mcdana, Sasha Beasy, Grace McDunnana, Kate Bridges, Ella Turner, Noah Tran, Miles Fergus, Brody Taylor, and Bby Bo are all competing at New Balance. So, congratulations to them. Our dance team, who actually uh performed at the halftime of the boys uh tournament game last week, uh is competing at the state championships at Framingham State uh this Saturday at 2:30. As we mentioned, our girls ice hockey team uh will be playing at the Boston Garden against King Phillip

039at 9:00 am on Sunday and spring sports for all of our high school athletes starts on Monday. So, please take this week uh to sign your children up and make sure that they have all their uh documents in this week so they can participate on Monday, March 16th. And that is my update. Excellent. Thank you. >> Next, we have the early literacy initiative update. So, I'm going to introduce Cat and then I'm gonna ask Ka to as well because Ka works uh directly with uh Cat Young uh formerly Cat D Ro. Um >> used to it. >> This is meeting uh two of two. uh uh Miss Katar Ro was here with us uh in her role as K to8 literacy director uh for the Milton public schools uh to talk about the work that

040her and her team were doing related to the early literacy work. Uh the school committee uh listened very closely to the needs and desires of the parents over the last year and a half about wanting more uh effective approach to literacy especially at our elementary grades. uh money was set aside last year during the month of May and June for this year's budget in order for us to have uh that that work explored and uh and purchased. Uh so we do have money in the budget for this and I think a lot of our families are really excited to know that the school committee and the school administration prior to my arrival have followed through on this very important work. Uh and we can't wait to find out what the committee uh did and Kylie

041work with uh Cat. >> Yeah. So, it's hard to quantify uh the number of hours uh that it takes to really think through carefully uh curriculum decisions. And Cat really put together a road map that involved a lot of feedback um and visitation. She's going to tell you everything in her presentation, but I think it's really important to recognize the diligence um and um the careful thoughtful approach to making sure that what we bring bring our children with literacy is a best fit for our children. um in Milton and uh the team was extremely dedicated and just did did a lot of work to really choose something that was a good fit for our students. Um and I was able to sit in on a um a session that Cat did in our PD day

042and the teachers were literally like they're like they're so excited about this um curriculum and that's just going to trickle down to our students because they're they're thrilled with the choice. um they're excited to dig in and it just says a lot about um CAD and the work of the team to find something that is really going to be powerful for our students. So u so Kad take it away and John so thanks for having me. Um as John and Carla were talking I was kind of looking around at this group and just you've all been part of this journey in various ways. So just thank you for um getting us here because it really has been a really great example of teamwork and and all that that means. So, I'm very happy to be

043here. I'm we're sort of, you know, in the many waves of of change. We're we're sort of at the top of a wave at the moment and we'll hit some other, you know, uh, valleys and peaks, but, um, it feels feels good to be here. So, um, so this is an update and I I've included some reminder slides that I won't spend too much time on, but I wanted to kind of ground it, sort of pick up where we left off in October and then bring you up to date on the work that's been done. So we'll start with the first slide. So, um, sorry. Um, so I just want to start by recognizing this outstanding, uh, team that, as Carla was saying, really has committed has been committed and continues to be committed to

044the really important work of being thoughtful and reflective as well as representative uh, on behalf of their colleagues and their students and just the amount of expertise that has been in the room every step of the way. So, um, thank you so much to all of these individuals for what you've done and what you will continue to do because there's a lot of excitement. Um, while a big chunk of our work is done, we now are picking up another large chunk of it to implement and support. Um, so we're kind of just beginning in some ways, but thank you to all of these people. Um and so just to remind us where we are in this process. Um we are now in the fourth step um which or we where I'm going to start us

045is on looking at the materials. When I when I came before we were just preparing to really dig into the what of this curriculum work. Um and so to remind us all we had six desi approved highquality instructional materials. we went with that list. We then paired it down to four after looking at um so we can go to the next slide. Um and as a reminder, high quality instructional materials are DESIE approved materials that are complete curricular curricular resources um including all the domains of literacy and English language arts. So those were the only um publishers we looked at. Um, we sent a SA staff survey ahead of looking at those materials and we had 93 respondents which is a very high response rate. Um, and that represented all types of grades, um, classroom

046teachers, specialists, special educators, um, some instructional assistants. So, it was a really good cross-section of our staff and we wanted to know really what are your priorities? What do you see as necessary for our next steps? and what will you anticipate the biggest supports that will be needed to make it successful for you? Um, and so in December we used the Pierce uh cafeteria and did sort of like a like a publisher fair without represent without publisher representatives, but we set up each curriculum um and we took I think it was something like a three-hour meeting and we had our checklist um of key elements we were looking for, had time to debrief and then followed up two weeks later with because we needed more time. Um, again, this committee was very thorough um and

047committed to to quality and reliable work. Um, and so from there, we reviewed the results of those materials and narrowed it down to two that we would more in a more in-depth way look and observe um as our finalists. And so we landed on HMH's interreading um and that should be um Hotton Mifflin Wonders. I apologize. error on my part. Um and what we did with these two was we observed. So we went to handover and hanging who um handover implements wonders and hanging uses inter reading. We did a site visit. So we took um the committee the entire committee went and saw both of these materials being used in real time. Um and then the day after that site visit that was structured with you know look fors and conversation and interviews with teachers

048and administrators. Um the next day we lined it up to coincide with professional development half days. So the next day publishers came in and presented to the committee where we could ask questions, hear from them. Um and I apologize to any publishers that are watching or listen to this, but it was very intentional to wait until the end to bring in the sales pitch. Um, if you've ever been a part of where you go and buy a car, um, you know that it's very shiny and and happy and everything's perfect and, um, we really wanted to contextualize it and root it in real life. So, we looked at the stuff, saw it being used, and then we got sort of the the gold the golden presentation. Um, and that really did seem to work well.

049Um following each presentation, uh the rubric that was established in September was used and completed by the committee. Um and then those results um were how we came to our recommendations. And so just before February break, the committee was unanimous in their recommendation for inter reading from H.M.H. Um and again, I'll contextualize this. There is no perfect anything. um and in particular no perfect curricular resource, but this was the one that felt the most um the one that we felt we could implement the most successfully um among our colleagues and for our students and that provided the most um opportunities to differentiate and expose students to grade level material with scaffolds and extensions. Um and so just at a high level um this resource is being recommended based on Milton's ability to focus on the

050essential staff provided focus areas which is reading comprehension and writing. Um it allows us to retain UFly although in just the when we compare it and company does have a crosswalk document to both they are very very very similar slides provided are almost mimic the fly slides. So there are some teachers that would like to to try this uh resource in the fall, which is great. Um but we do have UFly for those that would care to retain it. Um the feedback was that it provides clear assessment expectations for all of the domains. Um, and we're going to work this summer with a team to tie them to report cards so that we're very clear about what we're using across the board to assess students um, ability to master and demonstrate mastery of of their

051grade level standards. And then um another reason was the committee felt that there was real clear ways in which we can work with greater alike colleagues to um calibrate during the implementation that this will require less calibration than other resources. So now comes the important work of preparing to u equip teachers with the information they need and the um resources they need to do this well and and with clear expectations of what supports are available and what is expected as we go through. And so I've been working with um Katie and Carla and John about meeting uh regarding budget and making sure we're staying true to our our plan for that. um and also expediting the pro procurement of uh teacher materials before the end of the year. So we want teachers to leave for

052the summer having already seen um what it looks like the physical um materials. So, as Carla said, um we were able to reach over 80 of our um unit A staff members last week during PD to show some of the background and the next steps, but really the majority of time was for them to use the demo accounts online and look at the physical materials. And there was a real positive energy. Not to be too uh qualitative, but lots of positive uh lots of smiles, lots of when are we going to be able to do this or this is great, you know? Um talking with teachers about with their colleagues about what this could look like. So, um I felt like that sort of soft launch went really well. Um again, I'm not so naive

053to think it's going to be rainbows and sunshine every day going through, but it it really couldn't have gone better. And I just want to publicly also say our staff is amazing um and so flexible and you know they're coming at it really positively. I it was palpable in the room. So thank you to everyone. Um and now the work that I'm working with Carla specifically on is to set implementation goals and timelines around what are the teams that we need in order to have touch points to every grade at every school. How can I then go and meet with that team? Um there's a lot of committee members that want to stay in that capacity to help, you know, be those point people at their schools, which is awesome. And so there'll be more

054to come on that. You know, what are we going to do this summer to make sure that we're offering teachers time to spend with the materials? Um and creating some of those builtin specific documents. Um the pacing, you know, what are going to be our mustos in year one? What are the things that we can overlap with science and social studies? Are there, you know, ways that we can maximize teacher prep time to um help with those types of day-to-day um things? All right. So, there are a couple pictures in the next slides of um the wonderful staff members that came. So, they worked in grade level teams to really look at the resources across schools um and uh yeah, just super engaged and positive. So that was that was a bright spot for sure.

055Um in April and May I'll be visiting all faculty. I'll go to each school to their faculty meeting all four to just once again serve as a touch point. Sent out a video kind of going over how they can access things in the meantime. Um and then I hope to share what our training and opportunities for engagement will be both in the summer and in the fall. Um, I will solicit for a team of interested staff to work together over the summer to again like just more locally look at what are the things we can do, what are the things we need to pay attention to, uh, the feedback loop of how we get, you know, how's it going, what do you need, what's tricky, what's easy. Um, and I think uh I covered those

056two and the budgetary impact is is as was said has already been set aside. I'm working with the company to get a final, you know, all the nuts and bolts of that and we are planning to engage in a five-year contract. Again, not to say we won't reflect and dig into practices and data and all that. Um but I think as I said it's it's not it's highly unlikely we'll go through this type of a a process um before five years. So um it'll be um it's the most cost effective as well to do that. So, I would only I would like to say u and I left this out at the beginning. Uh Cat made the presentation to Kyler and I and Katie. Um and we approve of the selection. We support the work

057of the district-wide group of folks that supported that work. Um uh I'm really thankful that there was, uh two different phases of this. I'm looking back at the review process slide. you came to us with a big why back in the fall uh and talked about the rubric being a real guiding document that you would use. Thank you for demonstrating that you actually stuck to the why and also use the rubric uh in order to inform your your selection. Really want to emphasize again that these are highquality materials that are DESI approved. So, they've already been through a level of um scrutiny uh for high-quality materials. And uh in my work with other superintendents, people are still trying to get into that uh work as we speak right now uh to do what we're doing

058uh we're implementing next year that they're still trying to get into the phase of looking into these materials and getting support from Jessie. Um the materials are incredible. So, thank you for all that work. uh the preparation that we'll do between now the summer and then throughout the fall uh fall in the basically the whole school year in order to provide intermittent professional development that you and Kyler are working on and how we can implement that. And a big thank you to Katie for having the uh insight to make sure that the funds were set aside in FY26. uh we created a a textbook line in our budget that can actually support some of this in FY27 that's still there uh despite some of our budget concerns because this is an important thing uh that

059the community said they wanted the school community to accomplish. Uh it's nice to be able to come in at the end of it. Uh and I know that there's a lot of work that went into this and um and I can't say out loud how thankful I am to all the educators across the district. Every single school was represented. uh district-wide administration was represented, our special education department and IDEIB directors and cabinet members were represented. Uh regular education, special education teachers, every grade level. Um so the the wide work of a wide audience of professionals um and I write I'm writing down in my notes, we need to find a stipen for these folks to help the work next year because they put in all this time. These are invested educators using a lot of

060their own time in order to make the selection process work. uh with Kat. So, uh thank you to all of those. So, the budgeting pieces I think we went over uh with uh with Katie and the fiveyear makes a makes the most sense from a fiscal perspective. Um and I didn't know if we wanted to stop there. Does anybody have any questions? Uh actually, you can finish the implementation as well. I thought >> Yeah, that's fine. No, and I think I I mean I some of these are redundant. My apologies. I just kind of continue talking. Um, but I just think this last one is just another reiteration that it's going to be a continuous feedback loop where we're going to train and give time to collaborate, implement, regroup, kind of get that feedback loop

061again. How's it going? Let's look at the data. Are we, you know, what's working with the tools? What do we need more assistance on? And then, you know, kind of continue that loop. Um, and to John's point, you know, in January of this year, legislation was passed and signed that this is required for K to3. um it makes sense with our structure that we do K to5. I think that it's important. Um but that this is something that as we all know for a few years now uh has been um a priority for the state. And I'm just I'm I'm happy for a few reasons it took this long. Um I think the versions that have come out since this initial ground swell in 2021 um have been more refined and are even better than

062we would have had say when we first started this conversation. So, silver lining it again, but I think that that is something important that we found during this round of things. I just can't say thank you enough for all your support. Um, it feels good to be able to say we're we're doing it. So, >> could be. Thank you. If I could add one more thing, I think that um I haven't been here in Milton public schools, so I haven't seen the processes of selecting um materials, but um I would say that when we think about systems and we think about processes and procedures, th this one is a gold standard, and I'm really proud of the work that you've done, Cat. And um I think that we should continue with this model going forward

063um because I think it's it really is um a very fruitful exercise that was done with fidelity and uh integrity and real care. So >> thank you. I actually feel great about the process too. >> We would have we could have arrived at this conclusion by just like sort of picking but it just feels really good. I feel like we did a lot of good learning and a lot of good conversations. Thanks. >> So thank you questions. >> So from a budgetary perspective, Katie is now going to negotiate with the publisher. >> Yes. >> Threeyear versus a fiveyear. Um the the three-year uh option is over $100,000 a year, but the fiveyear it goes under $100,000 a year. So, uh Katie will buy that new car and stuff a little bit more and uh work

064the company a little bit and uh so thank you also for that work behind the scenes as well. Um, not a question so much, but just I I thank you for the presentation, all the work that has gone into it. Um, and I just want to congratulate you for reaching this point. um and your whole committee and it is it's really exciting and I I do I think this is um a great example of like what we can achieve when we do work together and stay focused. Um and it it requires it's it is like all facets of the system have to kind of um be aligned in order to make a change this meaningful um and it has taken years um to get to this point. So I think now I I want to

065underscore your comment Carla about if we have are able to have developed a gold standard or a model for curriculum review um you know and we've accomplished the essential piece of building uh resources for ongoing curriculum investment into our budget. then we just really have to commit to this as like um part like John you've helped us think about an annual process of um analyzing the budget to make adjustments realignments within to address the pressing needs like this just needs to be a muscle that is sort of like built into the annual cycle and not to your point cat like obviously it won't be for um it would it it will focus on different subject areas and grade levels like as needed at different points, but um it's just refreshing to feel like we've hit

066a point where we could learn from everything that's been accomplished in order to apply that more broadly going forward. Um, and also to just I mean as a school committee member, one of the the um I would say one of the themes of feedback and sort of questions that I hear from from the community um is is sort of this idea of um consistency across schools and we all I mean former teacher I it's a it's a delicate balance between sort of autonomy for the teacher making sure that they're able to personalize it to stay really um right there with their own students pacing and needs while also staying, you know, on pace. So I just um hearing from the community how much like I think we are interested in ensuring that consistency across espe

067the four elementary schools um and recognizing how hard our educators are working all the time. I think anytime you have a new curriculum implementation, it's an opportunity because like everybody is coming onto a new same page. And so I'm really hopeful that it could potentially help, you know, bring back some of the um consistency that may have gotten lost over time, which is natural when you're like many years into a frankly inadequate curriculum and people have to supplement like however they need to do that. So our our educators have really been like adapting in very creative ways and now they have this opportunity to kind of start fresh with a very a new high bar. So, I just I'm so I'm so appreciative of this and you know, honestly, like looking back over years of

068serving on this committee, like in terms of an arc of like a success story, I feel like I'm happy I'm here next year to see the implementation and like watch it come full circle, but it will have been a full it will have been a full two-term circle. >> So, but it's true. Um, I just appreciate all the work that is going into it still. Um, but the rigor of the process is awesome. Like, and I just I'm glad you can present it with such clarity because for our community to understand that this like this is the standard that's being implemented here. you know, it it really matters because like we had work that needed to be done and it's in the process of being done which is fun. >> Thank you. >> Well, and

069thank you all for eye on the prize on this one. There's a lot of reasons you can get distracted and say, "Oh, we have too much going on this year." you know, >> those pressures are being exerted on us like right now by many members of our community that, you know, it is our responsibility to stay focused on like short, medium, and long term where we need our students to be. >> Um, and it's exciting that this comes in time, you know, first grade information night is coming. Like, it's very exciting to for families to know this is impacting them right away. >> I was like, I have to update those slides. I was waiting until we had a >> meeting is on Monday. It's very timely. So >> So K, I do have a

070question. So you mentioned that there are slides that come with the curriculum that the teacher can use. I assume there will be also books that come with the curriculum. Physical books. >> Yes, lots of lots of books. >> And and I also assume that there will be student platform that the kids can go on to learn things on their own or explore different uh areas of interest. Yeah. So, and I think your question is what's the balance maybe between those? And I that was definitely a consideration um that the team discussed from start to finish. Um you know, we want students and we have this conversation from K to 8 is we want students to be able to navigate the plat or have the amount of resources that that digital platforms bring and they get

071updated regularly so they're more sort of um synchronous with what you're doing. Um and we need students to be able to physically hold a book and have that experience as well because as we know from neuroscience that is a whole different learning experience. Um and that was one of the reasons that balance between the two and having the accessibility of um sets of small group reading books as well as whole class. Um, one of the major things and this is getting kind of granular as well, but the anthology for students is a consumable so that they can take notes while they're reading. You know, the whole story is there, but then there might be a graphic organizer to support the response to writing. Um there are materials for students that might need more scaffolds that

072they can be successful in getting grade level material and then others where it will extend them beyond which is more on the the digital but but it is it is a good balance of both um which was exciting to me. >> And how can parents access the progress of the students? >> Yeah, it's a good question. Um to my knowledge there isn't an online platform for you to log in and see sort of like all the assessments and things but what it does do well is there is a family um like a mod module by module communication that can go out to families um and teachers have already started thinking about like what are the ways in which we can use this online assessments. Is there something we could send home that will communicate a

073summary of the standards that are covered so that they know whether you know where their student is in relation to those standards? Um, which I think it will be an important piece of that communication of where students are in relation to grade level expectations. uh that to to tag on to part of that conversation is um we had that conversation about budget and whether we could do the consumable or not because there was a price to the consumable and then there's a an annual price to that >> and I've been getting a lot of feedback that some families are excited that students have some computer screen time but they also want them to hold a book they want them to write on a piece of paper >> and we could have gotten the version where

074we had to make copies for that and the students would have had to have like a stapled packet and our children deserve more than that they deserve the full consumable uh workbook. Uh that's the anthology that that that is theirs to hold, to write in, to look back to um to read, hold, write. Um and uh we decided to actually go to the the higher option and continue to fund that annually. We do that for our math workbooks at the elementary level as well. Uh we see them in the classrooms being used. The students go backwards and see how they figured something out and then they go back and they start to do a problem. I just really think it scaffolds the learning. It helps students, you know, in different modalities of learning. Uh, and

075it's going to be money well spent on behalf of the town. So, and for all the I just got an email the other day, you know, we're on screens too much and and I agree. I think we really need to monitor that. We really need to see students reading books uh writing uh with pens and paper uh and using digital and balancing that a little bit. So, this will come this will include all of that. >> I just want to say this has been a long journey. >> Yes, I know. I know Lizzie touched on um this a bit, but um I think like I really appreciate everyone at this table for supporting wanting to push this and kind of prioritizing it last year despite all the other challenges that we had because we're so

076excited to be here today and hear this. Um, and Katie, thank you for like working that into the budget and making sure that we can kind of look at this every year and see what needs to be updated. And and you know, I I think because this took so long, I hope going forward we can kind of >> like look at things quicker and if things needed to be updated and please, you know, please bring it to our attention so we can continue to support because we don't want anyone to feel like they have to supplement too much where there's inconsistencies between schools. Um so however we can support because if it's an urgency, it's if it's urgency for you, it's an urgency for us. that we want to make sure that you know we're

077aware. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. And to your like to that point and I say this to Katie all the time like we can review curriculum without adopting new curriculum. You can review every year. You know it doesn't need to be this robust but you know we should be doing that and maybe a little more formally and to Carla's point replicating this on a B level um and then every seven years maybe doing something more robust. But that's exactly right. I think if we when we get into a cycle of review um that it will be more natural and those things will come up naturally rather than this big big way. Thank you. >> Um just a couple I totally agree with what most everybody had said. Um so quickly so much for

078sure. >> Um uh I a couple things I really agree really agree with point on the workbook just like more and more research on trying to get kids off screens. Um and uh also I think the cost associated with copying not to mention for teachers and copy jams and all all those things that we know is the worst. Um, so I think the cost difference is likely made up for more than made up for like that decision because teacher based decision appreciate that. Um, I'm really excited we can maintain UFly. I think the stuff I see coming home related to that is some of the highest quality kind of um work I'm seeing kind of from my kids. So really really like that in terms of this research alignment and how that's helping. So love

079that. Love that the focus is so much on writing too. We know from those test scores that that's an big area for growth. So that's um that's awesome. Um uh two two questions I had is um I think you talked about a bit in your slides but just been more on like the avenues for ongoing professional development. Obviously this is like a big nice step and as you mentioned there's a lot all the work really starts now rolling it out teaching implementing ability. Um and so like you know a concern schedule next year is we're losing some half days. those touch points through the years. That that's the trade-off and kind of getting those up. Um so yeah, just what are what do you see as like the the avenues for maintaining those contents? >>

080Great question. Met with Carla today went over the vehicles for board and everything. It's great. Yeah, we have a whole thing. Um you know I think um while the half days do present a challenge in terms of the time um the ways in which and I'll summarize these are my words we didn't really say this but I think what it does provide an opportunity again not to silverline it too much but the opportunity now is present to do more um in the- moment like in school PD where we use teacher teams as a structure to have a touch point to act like to classrooms rather rather than like a half day where you might take everybody out of their building and be in a meeting in a training and you know now it's we're bringing

081it to you. So it'll be more of an instructional leadership team structure where I might meet with those representatives on a monthly basis at each building and then they'll go out to their teams and I'll be able to push in and kind of see what's going on. Um, also part of the professional development that we'll engage with with the publishers, um, they do a virtual coaching sessions where teams can sign up for if they have a common planning at a grade level, they can sign up for a time and have face-toface with um, somebody from the company and that could be something that we leverage. We're in the early stages of planning this, but um by the spring or mid-spring time, I'll have a calendar of the month and then sort of the bucket of

082time what each will look like so the teachers know before they leave. Okay, I'm going to have a half day in or a full day in August with the publisher and then with Cat and then I'll have my September check-in meeting with the kindergarten teachers and then I'll have um you know maybe Cat will come to my ILT meeting. So there's going to be um checkpoints built in um which in a lot of ways feels more responsive to real time what's happening in classrooms. Um and we're going to reflect on it. If we find in October that okay this, you know, we're not hitting the needs of um I don't know what it could be, but we're not hitting the needs of this group of teachers or students, we'll we'll have to to recalibrate. Um,

083so I think I think what is exciting about this is we're going to have a a clear plan um by May or June and that I feel really strong that the central office leadership team um is committed to pivoting if that happens. Um and so I think uh that's where we are now, but it's pretty preliminary, I'd say. >> Yep. We yeah, we kind of did a little mapping today and we may need to use some release time for teachers. um and and have some subs in and we'll we'll think that through and make sure that we um if we need it and also pivot we will cat and I will check in >> you know regularly as we do just how things going what do we need what do the teams need um and

084so we'll give them a kind of a road map but then know what that can be adjusted >> right >> I think the the danger comes when any I mean this is true of any organization or group of people is when there's no clarity around what's next and you're just sort of you know you fill in the blanks and it's often not not great or it's different from your colleague or whatever it is. So, you'll be heading in the same direction. >> Um, only other question I had was the interim assessments uh within the curriculum. >> Yeah. >> Those um this going to take the place of Ire. No. Okay. So, we're doing both of those. >> Yeah. So, Dibbles our screener will remain the same. that is the gold standard for uh K to3.

085Um and so that will be our screener still and then our um summary assessments uh summitive assessments will be for each module and then teachers will have probably more than they could ever need. Um lots of formative or domain specific assessments that are all part of the part of the program as well. Um and so we'll determine with that team between now and summertime probably into the summer. What are we going to identify as consistent districtwide assessments, which off the top of my head it would be unit assessments and um you know probably some sort of summitive assessment based on standards. Um and then what are the ones we'll say are available but not required. So you might do like a vocab assessment every now and then, but that's not going to be one that

086we tell everybody to do. It'll be embedded into their unit. So we're going to make good use of that. >> Yeah. I'm sure you're thinking of this, but just yeah, I think having from our lens just the avenue of seeing how progress is going over the course of the year, right, through those interim assessments and how that is correlated um in whatever ways towards kind of what we performance on course testing um that type of stuff I think is helpful to understand. I think the last thing is less a comment but just more related to kind of the I guess maybe budget, financial resources, things like that. Ken, I know we you had advocated when we were doing the level service budget, we added additional professional development kind of funding to for a lot of

087this, right, to help carry that forward, which is going to be hugely important to supporting that work. I think we talked about a bit with the cuts. We didn't cut all of that, but cutting that back some. That's a piece where with the additional flexibility we have right now with that $100,000 >> just from my perspective just thinking or asking you all to say like is that is that a piece we can put back in is there something else like are we robustly supporting that enough because especially year one of that implementation like >> can't have enough time as you all know you just can't have enough and so >> um but really obviously look to y'all like what what you all think is necessary from that I would recommend we just make sure >>

088uh having seen the whiteboard that Kad and Kala worked on. Uh our goal is for every educator is related to this uh work specifically but in general to leave the year with in this cat's work seeing the material holding material knowing what it looks like purchasing um uh things that they can look at and then knowing what their PD schedule is going to be for the year. And again, if that's not working, we can pivot. If this is like not enough time and we need to add to it, but we'll have the dates in in the vehicles. Like we look at PD in a way, Kylie can speak better to this. When you want something done that's embedded in full, then you have a whole day. So when bringing people in in August and we

089gave the whole day, part of the whole day last week to this, but then some other PD is better to be done in the classroom in the building, which Kat is talking about. So, we'll build that out and uh Ka and um Cat will build that out. So, when teachers leave, they'll know, oh, October 3rd, November 8th, January 12th, I'm going to have a half day. I'm going to have a you know, and we'll provide the support for all that. So, we'll we'll actually have to cost that out now to your point and make sure the money that's in that uh account that Katie uh put aside for us is enough. And if we need to move anything around to support it, we will. And part of this budget will be paid for in FY26

090and some of it will be paid for in FY27 as well. And we know we have the funds for that that are already in there and they can cover that as well. But the PD schedule actually will extrapolate to all PD like the whole PD schedule for every educator. What what types of meetings they'll have and when they'll have them um will be will be scripted out for the year. Uh so I think that's a big comfort. I remember I met Cat for the second time in my life last year in May and she wanted to do some of this work in the summer and I I couldn't facilitate it for her. I just like there's a lot going on uh in June as you remember and uh and she just wanted to know and

091her teachers just wanted to know can we have three sessions over the summer? Can we get this work done? Will it be approved? Will you give us PDP? >> Looking back, I'm really sorry. I did and I was like so I need time and I need some teacher stuff. And I'm embarrassed to say that that it went down to like eight, right? The first thing was the budget and oh my god, there's nothing at circuit breaker and you know, so what are we going to do for vacancies and what does, you know, what does Katie say? And and uh but now we're on our feet. We have a foundation of work. We're planning ahead. We're moving the work in a thoughtful way. And that will continue. Uh and we hope to do that again for

092the summer of 27. This is going to be the summer of 26. And that curriculum cycle, which I think Ka will talk about when she presents, is something that we're going to let the district know, we really need a a curriculum review cycle, as Kat hinted to, and Ka has mentioned and we've talked about, that's going to have to be put in place, not by this team, but by the next team. uh this has to happen every seven years for every subject and they should rotate in a way that one comes up every year for a review and then an implementation and then a you know uh that there's a system that's not complicated but you just have to be dedicated to the work and support the work in a consistent way and uh that's

093where we hope to kind of shore up that process and kind of lift it a little bit for next the following summer of uh 27. We also want to make sure that whatever we're doing is something that will not be then changed when someone else coming in. So, we're assessing, you know, what are the what do the directors need? what are the principles need and what can we do that might not be changed that just building good muscle to to u Lizz's point but there's definitely some things that we need to put in place that can replicate this for math science uh social studies world language uh and other subjects that warrant the same attention the same gold standard approach >> in the best Great. Thank you all enough. It's exciting. As I said, >>

094very exciting. We're here. >> There's going to be a coaster ahead, but it's going to be great. >> Awesome. >> Yeah. >> I have a quick question. Uh how does this like the this implementing this curriculum now like when you get to middle school? Like does that >> do you have to look at what's happening there and make any adjustments? >> Yeah. So, um not in the middle school, well, we joke about you know the middle child syndrome type of thing. We are doing that work this year in our departments. Um you know as you know five years ago now coming up on six we implemented a curriculum um to mixed um enthusiasm and over the last two years we've really talked about um standards more so than the resource. So I think when we

095talk about a primary curricular resource, it's important that we don't just say like a program like we're not robots. Teachers bring lots of skills. Um so we've spent this year in our department meetings looking at what are the units of study we teach. Um using the Amplify resource and just what's good practice. Um, and we're weighing out whether or not we we truly need the platform any longer or if it's something we're going to take offline and supplement with novels, which would be a budgetary wash. There's no implication for cost there. Um, and so this work is continuing there. It's more so of a reflect and tweak than a reflect and upend everything. um which I think works better at the secondary level um in my limited teaching experience there but in in this type

096of role um and so there are implications as we go up and it also is important the other layer to this will be and I'm trying to like slow it down and not force this to happen immediately but that 3 to eight there's a 3 to8 scope to look at as well in particular as it looks at writing and and how we prepare students with the approach to certain genres of writing in the language we use to really try to be more consistent so that as students metriculate through five six seven eight it's it's we're speaking the same language and using the same terms um so it's a good point it's definitely something we're doing okay currently um >> uh but something that's a little more because it's more contained in like one building and

097I'm there and can meet with them every seven days um it requires I don't want to say less work it requires less coordination those adjustments, but it's exciting. Thank you. >> Thanks for asking. >> Awesome. All right. >> Have a great night. Thanks for having us. >> We're talking about the Milton High School. >> So these are So thank you. These are not votes. These are just first washes for us to put in front of you. Um you can have uh either Karen Cahill or the sponsors come to the following meeting meeting to give you more detail. Um the first trip I'd like to mention is the um trip that we will have uh going abroad uh in the school year of 2627. So this is for next April. >> Okay. >> So it's a

098year away. So we'll if we can get this approved by the end of this year then all of our students can prepare fund raise uh and begin to think uh about if they want to go and how they can support that. So this is very similar to what we've provided to you earlier uh in the year that we did not do this trip this year. So we just wanted to get it up and get it going. This is April of 27. Um, and if we need Miss Younger or Zena Hamada or Karen Kaggel to come and represent this, uh, we just want to put it on your radar screen and warm the plate and then we can come back with a more, uh, deeper conversation about the trip. Um, that's out of the country. That's

099why it needs to be voted by this the uh, the school committee. The second trip is uh, a one-day trip out of state. It's a Friday, Friday after school, sleepover night and camp and hike. Um, it's the Milton High uh Milton High Outdoors Club. Um, this is happening this year. It's uh it's obviously uh less complicated than going to Europe, but uh the this club wanted to make sure that they had a chance to go and take an excursion. They'll go to Maine on a Friday night. They'll camp out uh in a campground that's been already chosen and then they'll hike all day Saturday and come home Saturday afternoon, Saturday night. um this has a little bit more urgency uh because they'll be doing it this year and so we'll have them back for a

100follow-up meeting to give you the detail for an official vote like is the one to span in Paris happened before successfully happened before >> I'm I'm not sure whether this is new or Um, I like that there's no school missed for that one. That's very helpful. And um, and also I I think that when we spoke about the trip to Europe before, I think it would be very helpful to have this trip on an every other year cadence. That way, if I'm going in as a family, I'm an eighth grade and I know that this might be available to me two times during the school year, during my four years at Milton High. So, if I can't do it sophomore year, I might be able to do it uh senior year or if it runs

101and I happen to be a freshman or a junior. Uh it would be nice to get this on a schedule cadence of every other year. Uh it's a it's hard for the staff to commit every year and it's hard to get these things up and running every year. So, my recommendation is that if we did these every other year, it would give every family at least two opportunities to do it in their four years at the high school. And that would allow them to prepare financially and think about if they would like to do it or not. And this is open to all students. It's not just open to any one student in any one language program. Um, and it's always been a very successful run program. >> One question maybe for the for when

102we talk again, but uh agreeing with the point you just made about um it does seem to say that priority given to current 10th and 11th grade students rather than freshmen, but it doesn't mention seniors. And given that the trip hasn't run this year, um I'm just thinking about the >> folks that missed it last year. Yeah. Didn't have a chance to. >> Could there be any opportunity for them to receive priority or at least to be considered if they're seniors as is that's not named here. Um, even if that's sort of a one-time like, you know, >> this this might mean juniors who are juniors this year because they're signing >> juniors. Okay. >> They would be the seniors for next year. >> Next year's juniors and seniors. >> Okay. Okay. >> Because they'll

103be putting this out to everybody this year to get ready for next year. So, this would this year's juniors would be next year's seniors. >> Be going that would be the year. >> Thank you. That makes sense. Then then to that point is that I think the wording should be um more precise if we are rolling this out next year. >> We will be rolling this out in the spring to get kids ready so they can start to prepare. So, we'll hope to have this approved by the end of the school year so students can so this the to your point roll it out in a way that's effective and if there's any language shifts that you think are important uh and how that happens we certainly will take that um that feedback as well

104and it might be helpful for Zeno or CLA to come and and give you more detail about what that looks like >> and I was curious I know I was looking at the cost and we this came up in a meeting the other day on our DIB committee about are there like payment plans built in so that families can start paying like perhaps a year in advance? >> I I don't know the answer to it. I know some trips do do that and it really helps to have an installment like us, you know, six months plan for uh I don't know the answer to that, but we'll get you that answer. >> Okay. >> It's $4,600. It's a lot of money, but if you were doing that in $300 chunks to get, you know, payment

105or 12 months or something, which is why you want to let them know now. >> Yeah. That's why we want to do Yeah, >> that's great. >> John, just a comment on the comment on the trip, so I don't want to derail the the discussion about sp. Um, I know this is a much smaller scale. Um, first of all, I think it's great that this is happening. the amount like the I read this the other day or a couple weeks ago that the rates of camping among youth have absolutely plummeted um over the last 10 years. So I think it's great that there's no outdoors club. I didn't know that. I sort of want to be like the staff sponsor and I think it's great >> provide the land in the reservations. >> Yeah. Yeah.

106If they ever want to come camping on any of our properties, happy to have them. Um the uh the one so so I think this is awesome. The one thing that stuck out to me is that would be helpful to get clarified when we vote on this is how who will be trained in they're going to Mount Manadnok which like it's like the safest place to go hiking is there's just people everywhere. But who will actually have first aid training and whether this would be a good chance for the whole outdoors club if they're not to get first aid trained before the trip. Um because what I I I assume the adult will be trained, but if the adult has an injury, >> I want to make sure that there's someone there, someone else there

107who can help the adult. >> That's a great feedback. Thank you. >> Thank you. put this we'll put this back on the agenda for a vote over the next few meetings. >> Um so the next item is chairs report. So we're not going through the presentation but as we all know so Monday we're meeting virtually excuse me to vote to approve the FY27 budget. Tuesday we're meeting. It's a full school committee meeting with or it's o full school committee meeting with the warrant committee to review the FY27 budget. Um and um you know entertain any questions have uh that presentation to them. We've gotten I think by today was the deadline for getting all the questions. So, we're we asked them ahead of time if they would share any questions that they have so that

108we can be prepared for the so the presentation answers that um and we just thought it was important that whatever we're presenting is the approved budget. So, approve it on Monday and present it on Tuesday. So, um people can be there. I have to be there virtually. I won't be in town. Um so Mark will be leaving the discussion presentation um concerning um but um that's just the plan for that night. So I don't know if anybody had any questions about that. Um but we're still working through the the presentation deck. We talked about that a bit during finance subcommittee today making sure we're doing all the sailing points. Um so if people can make that would be great. All right, that is all I had. Uh, finance subcommittee reports. >> Yeah. Um, so today

109walk through some of the slides. Uh, we got some great feedback and so we'll update those slightly. They're in the folder which all of you have access to, but as we kind of try and refine them a bit more, we take in some of that feedback. But email email out a link so you all can look at it. Um, see we can. It is a cool sheet, but we can't collaboratively work on it. But if you'd like to download it and then share uh any thoughts or feedback individually with um Katie, John obviously, but uh me is just kind of one member, then that should be fine. Um but yeah, but again, there are are some changes we already note we um need to make. I'll try and let youall know once we have this

110kind of that first round we're making. So we apologize for the the tight turnarounds. uh we hope to to do better next year um with the budget timeline. Um other things we discussed uh over the last two weeks have been some of the fees. had a fantastic presentation um from Martha Sandival about the um community schools and so there's a fee document within the meeting for tonight uh and that's key in case there's additional context um that we want to give on that but ultimately kind of looking at what the proposed fees need to be for the community schools program in order to address some um just kind of current operating challenges in terms of the expenses versus revenues and so and how we try and rightsize that to make sure it is a self-sustaining

111program but still available to our our staff and I mean to all of our families as important as it is. Um and so that was a good discussion last week. This week we looked at some of the other fees um transportation uh related to clubs uh high school clubs in particular um and related into some building usage fees. Um department made a proposal. We talked that through and voted kind of recommendation. So um we voted both a recommendation for the local community schools um and for the the other fees. Um I think maybe we'll just kind of take them one by one. >> We don't have the other fees listed as a vote for tonight. We can't take I don't see it on the agenda. We only have community schools. So, so the the workaround

112for that uh would be to to to your point Mark the community schools and then on our agenda for the 16th where we're voting the FY27 budget, we can actually vote the fees separately because they are basically embedded into the FY27 budget. >> Yeah. So certainly we can you know so that that we can make sure that that happens in um in in the same way. So I apologize for having not having it on here. >> No problem. Uh yeah, so that's great. Yeah, we voted them today, reviewed them today because they are part of kind of the budget recommendation kind of $75,000 collected was a portion of the budget. So, um that was kind of was pushing that timeline obviously as soon as we can. Um so, yeah, >> question back to the FY27

113budget the Monday. Um so even like this evening there have been some different mentions of that 110,000 for you know the curriculum PD stipens the block backfilling title one nurse director position so those for the Monday night discussion will there be a sort of if there's an updated recommendation will that be shared or what is the um sort of if there or maybe it's to be determined as part of the bottom line budget process like going forward after it's been approved with that flexibility still built in. Is there any how how is that going to happen for Monday? um one way it could happen is you could give Katie and I questions that you want us to answer for you on Monday. >> Um uh specific especially do you know if the question is do

114we feel like we have enough money for supporting the PD next year is in the money that we set aside for that in the budget that may have been um reduced to support some of the reductions. We can review that and come back with a resounding yes or a concern and say we need to pull money aside. Um, right now, uh, if I was to vote tonight, I would, um, you know, given the feedback that we're receiving about this, the the school director, uh, the nurse director, um, I'm not hearing any feedback from the school committee to change that recommendation, uh, we are getting a lot of feedback on that from the community. Uh, but if anybody wants that to be discussed, we can discuss it right now if you want. We and we might

115want to answer some of those questions right now. I think the the community might want to hear from the committee as to what you want. or don't want or want us to think about. Um, and we will gladly I think it's important to have that discussion in front of the public. Do you mean? >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, so in my in my brain moving forward is if there's no changes discussed tonight, then we're going to carry forward the same budget to be voted. >> Okay. And if uh if there's a little worry about uh PD andor text the textbook line that we did have to reduce a little bit, we can review that and make sure that we give you an answer to that on Monday night that we do think there's enough

116money and we might need to uh take some of that out uh to support it from the 110. Um and I and and as far as we just learned about the title one money just last the end of last week. So we're really trying to get more information from Desi. Uh but it does look like it might be a full reduction to zero. I think other districts are getting a certain percentage reduced uh but we happen to be going down to zero. So we that's attached to a person's salary that we do not want to reduce. Um so right now my tendency is to use those dollars of supports. I don't want to make that whole. Um that money can come from the 110. That money can come from um taking more out of circuit

117breaker which I would not recommend because I think we've already hit that line. Um, and it's also something that we might want to bring up with the with the warrant committee when we start talking about where should that $500,000 then whether it should land in the account that the town and that the select board and the school have or should some of that money land um in the schools in order to support things like that. The flexibility of our budget needs to be um robust enough to handle the ups and downs of the school year. And I worry that if we start taking a little bit more out of any of these accounts, your boy Mark, we might not have enough PD money or we might not have the ability to hire that one to

118one aid in March for a young person that needs it for at some point next year or um so the flexibility is very very important to us, but also having funds in all those flexible lines is where we get the flexibility, you know. So um so I I think that that that might come up at warrant committee as well. I but I think we should vote the bottom line of this is the money that we're going to spend. But so if there's specific questions you all want answered, we can bring those answers. But absent any um anything else said tonight, I was going to move on move forward with what we presented. >> So now is the time to >> before we do the fees. Okay, that's that's very clarifying. And I think I mean

119just to build off what you just said because I can't I I think the community you know it's helpful to remind our community members including our colleagues that serve on other committees and boards. Um you know the reason the school committee and the school department has a bottom line budget is because that need for flexibility exists in every district. And so that's why Mass General Law is set up that way. So I think that this isn't unique to Milton and this isn't, you know, this school committee wanting it to be this way. This is the law that we're following in terms of the process. So the flexibility I really underscore and agree with that point. I think um I I am uh very concerned about the lack of title one funds for Tucker. So, I

120I'm relieved to hear you say that you would want to be committed to retaining the support that that has provided um >> dollar for dollar. Like, that would be unacceptable to me if we didn't replace those funds somehow. Now, I I would love to think maybe the state can somehow step in and like address that because it just um you know really shocking but yet not surprising I suppose that we're in this position but you know hopefully something can be done to help on the nurse director position. I would honestly be interested if there are thoughts or questions. I think my main takeaway about it based on the heartfelt feedback we've been receiving which as we all do I genuinely appreciate the people who've been sharing their perspectives about it. I think for me um

121ba having looked at the research and thank you Mark for sharing some of that but there are other you know and even other districts that are successfully managing with a nurse lead districts that are our size andor even bigger um so I think for me it's it's perhaps continued messaging if we stay with that plan to help reassure the community of like the ways that we will ensure that we are not, you know, failing to be keep students safe, that we are, um, not exposing the district to liability like through that decision, you know what I mean? >> Um, I think maybe we haven't been able to do quite enough of that explanation. Um, and so people are understandably, you know, I think fearful of what that change might mean and how if we move

122forward with that change. I'm not saying we need to do this by Monday, but I just think it would be important to really help be more detailed with the rationale behind that. Do you know what I mean? Um because so far I think we we've been hearing a lot of um assumptions that people are making about what the outcome would be of having a nurse lead rather than a nurse director. Um they, you know, from what I'm seeing, they're not like necessarily um data informed. um they're based people's experiences are data. I'm not trying to discount that but um I think that it's a lot of worrying about what might happen if we return to that model. Um and I share a lot of those, you know, concerns. I I have type 1 diabetes. I

123identify a lot with the kids that require like monitoring throughout the day. they need to have that support. Absolutely. I identify with the parents. So, I just think there's, you know, maybe we can follow through with that >> if we end up, you know, deciding that we really aren't in a position to bring that position back. >> Um, and that could be, you know, I I think you've done a nice job of responding to individuals concerns. maybe we can share more openly like publicly in a kind of proactive way to help explain that decision if it's the decision that we come to. But the the title one thing to me is like that's if if we didn't have that news, I think I would be more I would be sitting here more um interested in

124like really exploring putting the nurse director role back in. I think I have a little pause though from that latest development >> personally. Sorry, I just put that all out there. >> What do you all think? >> Go ahead. >> I'm just wondering like in in the in that situation if you have two nurse out sick, what will happen? >> So right now that happens. So the nurse director is um uh responsible to interview and hire substitute nurses which we also do for substitute teachers. >> Uh there is a list of folks that we call whenever there's uh someone out uh in one of the schools. The uh nurse lead would just do the same thing. That list would be in their hands. Those calls being made by that person. um a lot of a

125lot of the functions that I think folks are worried about uh will be fulfilled by the nurse lead who will be the quasi administrator of the the nursing uh department and the nursing team. Um so in that circumstance the nurse would call a substitute nurse that nurse would report what happens if there's not enough that happened on Monday. >> On Monday we got texts Sunday night. Kyler and I were texting back and forth with the nurse director. Uh we had no nurse at the high school. the nurse director had to go to the to one of the elementary schools. Uh the parents of students that had high um intense medical needs were notified that the nurse would be in that day and that the medications would be handed out differently unless they wanted to come

126in and do so, which is our protocol. And that day went uh as you know as smoothly as possible. That's certainly the the worst situation that you're going to be in. That's only happened twice. I think that's the second time that that's happened all year. So in terms of uh calling substitutes, having substitutes trained, working with them, um that would all happen with the nurse leave. The difference is in the in the families who have given us this feedback, it's accurate. How much time will they have to do that if they also have to be part of a building? We actually I asked Katie and through our budgeting we put money aside for substitutes so that nursely on a regular basis can have time away from their building and have a substitute there in order

127to support screenings that might happen or an outbreak of something. This year we had a a health issue in the in one of the locker rooms at the high school for one of the sports teams or uh if there's something that needs to happen is an IEP meeting at one of the elementaryaries and the nurse director might be a good support for that. they can plan to call us up for that day. Um, what we do have to do a better job of whether it's a nurse director or a nurse lead is get more people on that nurse sub list. Uh, we need more people on the teacher sublist and we need more people on the nurse sublist. So, a lot of those functions will be filled by someone who would get a stipen and

128be the building nurse. And my idea for the 110 before the title one was to kind of keep it there in case we needed to hire a float if we if we really felt that we didn't have enough nurses on the sublist and we needed to hire just another position. So right now this would be right now we have a nurse director, six building nurses in one float. We're trying to say out loud that we'd have six nurses in buildings, one of which is the lead, and then an additional float. if we needed to have a second float, I was going to keep this $110,000 aside and and and pull that lever when I thought we experienced to to the need to be in place. Again, more seeing students and having student facing position being

129the larger priority than the administrative fire, but I in all my conversations with folks have been very open. You know, that that's a there's a subjective view of that. I I would prefer if I'm a school nurse, which I heard directly from them, I would prefer to have that heavy on the director's side because I like to be able to call and get that call right back. So, that's their view. That's a very respectful view. Um, I have some folks saying, "I don't want to send my school child to school without a nurse, and I'm nervous there's never enough subs." And if you have two floats that or one float, that might be better. And so, uh, I hear both sides of that. It's there's no perfect answer. There's no right or wrong. This is

130just trying to make a judgment on what the best service delivery is for a department of six folks. >> That feedback I think is also is very important. The feedback around just wanting more studentf facing nurse capacity in the buildings that that was always part of your rationale. Um, so yeah, I think at the end of the day, I know we've gotten a lot of feedback on a lot of positions that were initially on the reduction list. Um, and I know community members feel very strongly about them, but the end of the day, I feel like we all have the best picture of what's going on and where those resources need to be put. They're not just sitting there, they're going somewhere else. So I think having that understanding like going with your best judgment

131on where those funds need to be used is what we look to your expertise for >> because the other stuff is just like I know everyone feels strongly about different positions, you know, but at the end of the day that's >> you can look at that and say okay I I get that's important but we really need to use that somewhere else. So, it's just like we're trying to figure this out and do do those like good news stories like the curriculum and all of those other things that have also been put on hold for years, right? So, trying to make it all work. So, I feel like, you know, I am been very comfortable with your decisions from the very beginning in terms of how you've handled it. So, continue to support you in

132those. >> Yeah, I'm I'm good where we're landing. Um, I understand the arguments back and forth on director of nursing. I think um I I you know I don't think we can have 100% certainty on on what it's going to look like next year. This is a decision with risk. You just outlined a whole bunch of them. And I also trust that you and the team are going to be monitoring the risk and respond to it. Um, I think at the end of the day, we have to trust the the management team, >> um, and all of the principles and school leaders who you bring in who, >> you know, we've spent two months wrestling these questions to the ground. I know you all are doing it in the district every single day. Um, and

133you know, we're talking about this $150,000 that we might have to to to backfill the title one or maybe we have it as flex money. I think it's just uh I just did the calc. It's like onetenth the 1% of our entire budget. It's like nothing. >> It's really sad. >> Um and so I think wherever we can create flexibility for ourselves, we cannot turn that opportunity down if it doesn't >> um you know jeopardize our core mission. This is one of those choices we have to make. >> Uh so thank you for that. Two things. point is um we did meet with the principles and the leadership team and there seemed to be consensus that keeping the lead nurse decision that decision and reducing director was the outcome of that meeting on Tuesday and

134that's been pretty consistent. Um the other part is um the flexibility has to be supported by the financial flexibility within the budget. So, when we look at that, the, you know, we we put four positions back by creating a four-year plan for our circuit breaker and getting there in a little longer term. Um, you know, I still want to go back to this discussion that I think is still open, that this $500,000 from the town that was part of this discussion, uh, that was a partner discussion the whole time. Uh I think we need to revisit because the flexibility comes only when you have the funds to be able to be flexible. >> Y >> um there is there are districts out there right now. Newton public schools is short >> this year. >> Brookline

135public schools is short this year. Uh we were short last year. We were short the year before. Um they they have the same struggles we have at different scales. But, you know, Katie did a wonderful job of placing the dollars in the budget this year where we knew the needs would become um apparent during throughout the year and we had the ability to address them throughout the year. And and you know, we made people work for those things. They have to say that's why every time Cat said budget, she looked at Katie like that. Uh and that's a good thing. Um but the reality is we need to be able to say yes when we have to say yes. And you have to say yes because you need a medical situation resolved or some sort

136of a situation resolved. but uh the flexibility of having reserves and it's interesting Mark you dug into the financial consultants report from the town and um and schools don't have that many reserves. This is this is not that we have like savings accounts for all different stuff but uh the circuit breaker account through the consultant that we met with Katie and I did uh earlier in the summer uh basically says school department should be should rebuild that circuit breaker account. This is a recommendation by a company that the town hired at the end of last year when they were concerned about the um the fiscal stability of the district. And I think that uh Katie's response to the consistency and the the um the way that we're approaching the budget uh in a way that

137make sure every line has what it needs in order to to deal with the anticipated needs of our students and the un unanticipated things that may happen. So we never have to say to someone, no, we can't get that to you. Uh is important and this is one of the vehicles that helps us do that. Um, and it's it's nice to have that outside expertise come into the town at the town's recommendation to say this is something that you should be building up. This is so um I'd like to take this to the war committee uh next Tuesday. I think it just provides a little bit of uh support. Um the you know the bottom line authority of the budget is a very important tool as Lizzie pointed out earlier. Um so um we need

138to have those uh lines full enough to be able to adapt and pivot when we need to without dismantling any parts of our quote traditional budget uh because 81% of it is people. And we've, you know, we were Brook Line for the last two years. We were Newton for the last few years, and we don't want to be there. And uh in 80 districts out of the 365 in the Commonwealth are considering overrise this year. So, we're not alone. This is not a Milton thing. This is a period of time where finances are hard. Onetime money evaporated. Folks wanted to provide more services because kids deserved it and needed it. And now there's a a reconciliation of that across the state. This is not a Milton thing. People are not doing anything wrong. We're trying

139to provide the best services we can with the dollars we have and those dollars happen to be a little less than what they used to be without federal support. Um so when we look at bell weathers like Brooklyn and Newton and their in their challenge, uh I'm really happy that our town stepped up last year, voted the override that everybody else would like to see, and that we're using those dollars very effectively. And it's really important for the town to know that. Um, and the the the PTO presidents were really more concerned, as I said earlier, about what are we doing over the next few years versus what are we doing right now? We kind of get right now, but we really need to focus moving forward. And so that's our work that we they

140deserve an answer to that. >> John, you mentioned the the $500,000 that they talked about at this board meeting. Could you kind of provide some context? >> Sure. uh uh consistent uh Nick Milano who's been a very consistent and good partner to Katie and I and schools uh said that there might be the ability to give give the schools $500,000 of one-time revenue uh to be able to put in reserves because those reserves were low when we started the year by reserves for folks who haven't and maybe at every meeting uh some accounts that have been depleted that normally have um uh balance influences of a certain amount of money. One we all talk about a lot of circuit breaker should be somewhere about 75% of your circuit breaker number which is somewhere around $2.7

141million. Um that's what's supported by that consultant. Uh so Nick thought it would be good for us to have that money to start that work and seat that account for us. And then when the money was short for for next year, he said and if you need to offset anything and do anything with personnel to bring anything off that reduction list, that certainly was agreeable to him. Um the uh he's been consistently advocating for that with us. I think that the uh I don't want to speak for anybody in the select board, but last night I feel like the vote was to put it into the school committee select board revol um special ed account which requires a vote of the school committee and the select board. It can only be accessed uh for one-time

142unexpected uh expenses that you may have in a year. So, it doesn't give you that flexibility to be able to say out loud, geez, we need another aid because a student came to us and needs this or we need something else is this is kind of in the closet up high in the shoe box and we have to go and explain and actually meet the criterion of the law that governs that account. That was part of Governor Baker's municipalities act about seven years ago and it has rules to it that we would have to then comply with in order to have that vote taken. That could take three weeks, that could take two months, that could be a yes, that could be a no. Um, and it would have to be a one-time unexpected cost.

143Those are the questions that you would have to ask Katie and I and Cycle would have to ask Katie and I. Uh, we might not reach that that that measurement. You folks might say no. Um, so the flexibility of having it within the school budget within the circuit breaker account, which is explicitly, by the way, in front of everybody in every quarterly report that we provide. Um and also in our planning for next year in our four-year plan is articulated very clearly in the slides that we've already presented. Um that's an important tool for that flexibility. So, uh, I would I would, uh, I would, um, friendly, uh, in a very appropriate way say that I I would rather see those dollars in our circuit breaker, uh, account versus that because it's more accessible, uh,

144more, uh, usable for the these other special education needs that we may have in the district to take care of students before they go out of district. That's one example. Um, so that there's there's a lot of moving parts to that and and hoping we can educate folks and maybe that might be a different outcome. But >> can I just add to that? So, um, we started talking about the special education stabilization fund last year. Um, and I think a piece of that it was brought up in conversation because I've worked in two districts where we've either established the fund or um I worked in the district where the fund was already established. And so I've actually seen the special education stabilization fund in practice. And so, um, when I think about what their proposal

145or some of the conversations that are happening about the $500,000, um, the special education stabilization fund is really just meant for a significant expense that happens during the during the fiscal year when you've already set your budget. um so that you don't have to impact any areas of operations otherwise. You don't have to freeze hiring. You don't have to tell teachers that they can't have paper anymore and that that it that is what the intent is. But those expenses that that stabilization fund is paying for, those aren't just one-time expenses. So, it's not like we take that money out of the account. We go and we say we have this unbudgeted expense. We're going to take the money out of the account and then the that expense doesn't go away, >> right? >> That expense

146is a reoccurring expense. So, what you then have to do is you have to budget for it elsewhere >> because the stabilization fund is not reoccurring. there's going to be $500,000 that is put into it. We'll have the ability to take the money out at one point during the year and then if the expense matches what's in that account, then the money's gone and we have to find some other way to pay for it. And so just thinking about like the mechanism of it, the intent of it really is just to lessen the blow if something happens during the year or lessen the impact to other areas of operation, but it's not meant to be a long-term fiscal budgeting tool, right, >> for reoccurring expenses. And so I just wanted to mention that because again,

147I've been in districts that have either newly established them and then operationalized it or already had it and operationalized it. And I think that's just a really important like thinking about how we were going to use them. We've kind of been talking about it. There's zero in the account right now. We've been talking about it just kind of hypothetically and there I just have concerns about it because circuit breaker isn't fully funded right now. So I think one of the things that I was Nathan brought up a good point and I think it goes to sort of all of the decisions and recommendations that have been made which is we look to the people who have the expertise and the experience in in doing this. So John, Katie, Carla as we're you know through all

148of these. So when there are positions that we talk about reducing, there's a thought process that goes into it that says we're changing, we're reducing this, but we, you know, when we talk about some of the like the special ed positions that were reduced, we're we're recognizing that this position is being reduced, but we're asking these other people to absorb some of the responsibilities. It's not that the role is going away. there's another mechanism for doing it. And so we look to you guys and we say and those the the leadership teams and all that that that's a collective decision that's been made based on expertise and experience. And I feel like this is a very similar scenario that we are we've gotten a recommendation about the best use of that $500,000 based on the

149way your understanding of the budget, the planning, the flexibility that we need and the reserves. And I just I I'm candidly I'm frustrated because I feel like we're being asked to use your expertise, but then we're it feels a bit like we're dismissing the expertise and we're saying that that we that there's a recommendation to put the money elsewhere and um not recognizing that it's been very thoughtful. All of these decisions have been very thoughtful about changes that are being made or resources being allocated in a particular place to ensure budget stability so that we aren't in a position that we were last year and to your point in addressing the concerns of those parents that then we're beginning to build a plan so that we have that financial stability not just this year but

150in the years to come. And so, um, it just it just feels a little bit like like second guessing the experts and and I just for me I, you know, I candidly am just frustrated about that piece because I feel like there's a very clear and understandable rationale for why we want to put the money why we are asking for that money to go or recommending that money goes into that circuit breaker account. So, sorry, go ahead. >> Okay. So the account that the select board is recommending that we put that money into, how are we if that's where it sits, then how what are we going to do about reserves? Like how would we ever start even building that? >> So it it um >> I guess >> what we we will continue to

151do what we do on our side which is what we've done. We've already seated our own circuit breaker accounts. we've already seated seated meaning put money in the balances of our athletic department and the other accounts and we'll continue to build those year year in and year out incrementally. Um and in the the worry about having that the 500 go into that other account is that and this was talked about at our longer range meeting. We don't know that the town will be able to deposit 500 a year in that account to grow it if we have to withdraw from it. um they might not have the free cash that year and and the select board might change, the school committee would change and and so we could look to that account and all of

152a sudden it could have a very low balance. It might not address the need that we might have that one time need. So the ability to address it within the school budget and have that be explicitly available and also we talked about and um having it a very clear uh guidance that the school committee will never go below a certain number in that account. So, we're going to take four years to build it to where it should be. And to Katie's point, some people have that account when they're already full. When when our circuit breaker is at the correct balance and you want to put $500,000 over there just in case, that's like a belts and suspenders thing, right? That's that's how it's supposed to happen. >> We're still building ourselves from $8,000, >> right?

153>> And trying to get to about 2.7 to 3 million. So, we feel like that money there needs to go here to build that to the right spot. And then when we get that to the right spot if there's extra free cash, which there very rarely is in any town because we need money for facilities, we need money for capital, we need money for our insurance savings account, you know, so there's a lot of places for this money to go, but then it would be valuable to have that account built up a little bit on behalf of the schools. >> We're just not there yet. We're we're three to four years away from that. So, um, and and I just think that, uh, when we do get to that place of being whole and we

154now would not need to ask for more money from the town to incrementally add to it because we'd be at a spot where we and then that money could flow to operations or flow back to the town or we wouldn't have to ask for as much because we're there, you know, our balance sheet is where it's supposed to be. So, uh, it's just, you know, it's um, it's I think it's just good fiscal planning. Um, but >> so do we have an opportunity to like advocate to the select board to like or is that decision already been made? >> Uh, yeah, I'll throw in a little color here. Um, so I didn't we didn't get a heads up uh didn't get a heads up that they were voting on that last night. They made the

155decision. Um they did so without I mean we talked about it a bit at the February and I guess the the last meeting we had with them in February something like that a bit about it all the messaging from Nick as said has been supportive of the idea of putting over the FY26 operating budget in order to help us build back more quickly. Um you know have been disappointed with the messaging of some members of the select board. Um, and it's also happened a little bit at the warrant committee as well. And so the vote took us a bit by surprise. I'm not sure. I mean, I guess technically they could change their vote. >> Um, you know, the warrant committee also could recommend something different. Town meeting could go against the recommendation of the

156select board or change that on the town floor. So there there are avenues. It's probably much less likely without the select board >> supporting that. Um, >> did they give a rationale as to why or why that that was a better decision? I guess >> so. I hesitate. um because I have not watched the full select board meeting. Um >> so I I speculate maybe other people have. I think >> you know it is an account that they have oversight of. >> Okay. >> And so I think that is attractive to them from the select board side. Um I think you know as I try and think of it you know when we talked about this to your point of are we building up reserves when we have looked at the circuit breaker build up

157let's say last year uh we wanted to have a mechanism within the school committee's control to build up those reserves because we saw last year how difficult it was going to select board for additional funding and how uh resistant they were to provide that even in in crisis moments. So we said we we need to create this. We did that through the override thanks to Katie's leadership. And so we are going to we are projecting to end this year in a much better fiscal state with that. As we looked at the increased utilization circuit breaker and as we were getting some pressure from community members rightly so around you know that versus the cuts that was definitely one of the things we we prioritized within the conversation of the finance committee was utilizing it more

158in order to alleviate the cuts. but still needing to to leave funding available that we can continue to build this up because even a million dollars at the end of this year is not >> it's not a reasonable number. So, we need to have that opportunity. We still have that when we were having these discussions. >> We talked about we should assume we're not going to get the $500,000. We should like make a decision we feel comfortable with assuming we're not because it wasn't 100% clear we were. And so I feel glad we like led the conversation with that because that is kind of what has come to pass. Again, I agree with all the points John has made around it. You know, this special ed stabilization fund is still an account that supports our

159schools in a moment of crisis. And so for that like appreciative of >> that consideration, it is just not again as flexible as an account. And I totally agree with Nathan's point and other other people I made it to is just I think flexibility in a place where we started with $8,000 in circuit breaker and where we've been in just financial crisis last two years is paramount. >> Yeah. >> Um and so would really have appreciated them to lean on the expertise as you said of of the people we hired to do this. So again, the one person in this district who has experience with a stabilization fund uh is recommending something. I, you know, I'm a little frustrated that members of those other committees also have not taken opportunities to sit and learn from

160that member um who like could say the one person with the actual expertise. Um so those things are are frustrating. The boards aren't just kind of seeing eye to eye on it. And I think the challenge like John mentioned with the title one funding going away like those unexpected things even though it's a very tiny portion of our overall budget like we need every penny you know at this point. So I think having that flexibility >> to you know kind of build those reserves in case of emergency using it um so that you know we're offering the best possible services to our kids is so important. But I think if it's one time like you said and we can't do that and it has to kind of be rolled into the operating budget where we

161can't sustain that, that's also a bigger issue because then we're back to this next year. >> And I don't I don't question the the the positive intent of the school of the select board. Yes. I think that they're putting a a $500,000 is a lot of money in a spot for the schools to be able to use if they need it. And and I think uh I appreciate that. I appreciate them putting money aside. I appreciate them identifying the need. >> Uh there's just disagreement on the vehicle, right? And so I appreciate that they're >> uh they didn't put that all into capital or something else that surely has a need as well. Uh so I appreciate the good intent and I appreciate the uh the putting the money aside. Uh I I just feel

162you know I I think the vehicle could be a different one in order to provide the schools the maximum flexibility and to do all that in house for all the reasons that we said. So and we we want to work and build relationships. So when we continue to have these conversations about I mean I'm already thinking about FY28. You know I want the count let's get the calendar straight. Let's make sure people are are really clear on why we're thinking what we're thinking, what our big why is and what our strategy is and what that what that, you know, um is differs from other people's philosophy and then just like let's settle on a philosophy and move forward and and like we've always said there should be no discussion about the strategy of having a

163robust circuit breaker account every year. Every district should and that's the guidance that they gave us that the town hired. What should be a debate every year is a smaller discussion of how much of it, you know, are you getting there quicker than you thought? Geez, the year all the dominoes fell your way and a lot of things happen. You have more in that account. Can you hold off on adding to that and can you pull a little bit back? That like I would call that a small a lowercase strategy. So every year we should have this discussion, but it shouldn't be about whether there's value to having a circuit breaker account at a healthy level. It should be about are you there yet? Are you almost there yet? Can we lose a can we

164share the line of that revenue? That should happen openly in front of everybody every year. So just to give the benefit of the doubt to the select board and with the opportunity of going to merate committee next week, I would like to suggest we take an opportunity to get very specific about almost I'm envisioning like side by side circuit breaker specialed reserve account like what the scenario go of a of a a typical need that might come up mid year that can be addressed a certain way through circuit breaker and maybe maybe not a diff, you know, through like I I almost with this same frustration and just trying to breathe in, breathe out about I I just feel like maybe we need to really lean in to walking people through it in a way

165that there's there's no reasonable way they could fail to understand the difference. You know, I almost I I'm just wondering if there's a little bit more we can do on that. And the warrant committee feels like the perfect opportunity because as you're pointing to Mark, at the end of the day, this all gets decided on the floor of town meeting. And you know, there are three bodies that weigh in on it um to in to inform town meeting in their decision. And the warrant committee is one of those bodies. you know, I think if we can make some progress in helping to just boil it down. So, basically, um, and maybe people will still not take the recommendation of the consultant that we all agreed we should pay to provide us with third-party expertise. you

166know, if we're not in a position to accept at face value the recommendation of our town's school finance expert, as we said, which you're you're such an asset, Katie. Like, who doesn't see that? I'm not sure uh what they're paying attention to, but I just feel like boil it down. And if they still don't agree, they don't they still don't agree. Okay, we can explain the rationale on the floor of town meeting but you know the fact of the recommendation from the consultant like that's validating you know um and I think my question is it's nice is it a fair part of boiling it down is it fair to sort of say that the circuit breaker is like a need to have the special ed reserve account is a nice to have and when that

167came Right. That's that's sort of once you're like you were talking about the districts you've been in that have the the special ed reserve account and you were speaking John to the fact that like it would be great to put 500,000 into that special ed reserve account once we've hit our goal on circuit breaker >> but it's premature to fund the special ed reserve account if we've not yet met our goal on circuit breaker. Right. And in your prior districts where you have this experience, was circuit breaker in a healthier space than ours is when they sort of embark upon special ed reserve, >> right? And I think that's so yes um in both districts I believe that circuit breaker was at least at 80% or it was fully funded. So, we had a full

168year in reserve. >> Um, >> and then the we had a financial policy that said that if the school department had any funds that remained in our operating budget at the end of the year that um typically those funds go back to the town and then those funds become certified through free cash and then they're available for kind of whatever. um he had a policy that said if there were funds available at the end of the year that we didn't spend, they'd be certified as free cash and then they would go into the stabilization fund. So it was almost we had a mechanism that it became um repetitive, self- sustaining and something that we kind of had um I don't want to say complete control over but >> predictability and incentivized you know because whatever

169whatever money you were saving you were actually putting into an account that could help the I think um that I like the belt and suspenders because I think that it truly is I think in any financial like example when you think about saving for retirement or or anything any example you're not you know building wealth they talk about like you're not just supposed to have one source of income we're not only depending on the tax levy and the operating budget there are so many different mechanisms that we can use to fund different expenses and I think that circuit breaker um circuit breaker is one of them and the stabilization fund is also another but in very different circumstances and different situations um with different timing. So, um I just wonder even developing a scenario. So,

170not in a detailed way, but being able like you sort of did to speak to what happens if we recognize midyear we need to have a 1 to8 that we didn't rec you know something like that. >> Yeah. One of the things I was um so I appreciate Nick reaching out to us and letting us know this was happening over the last couple days and also still being open to the conversation. So, uh despite the fact that it was voted, it still could be some sort of a conversation. And then um and it would all it's always nice to be able to go into town meeting with the Warren community, the select board and the school on the same page with >> all aspects of the budget. >> That's the goal. >> Um and if

171the worst scenario came that the money stayed in that account, >> uh maybe the next line of discussion is if we don't get it to be able to be put into our budget would be let's be really explicit about what it would look like for the district to be able to access it. >> Yes. >> Like you know what what are the what what are the what's the definition? I What I wrote down is what would it look like? What's the circumstance that the school would was facing? >> Right. Exactly. >> That would warrant u an acceptable uh request for those funds to be accessed during the school year. Uh it would have to read the law again because there was some language legally that we'd have to adhere to. Uh but I think that

172would be a nice exercise for us to kind of talk a little bit about because it might put us at ease that gez if everybody's willing to do it in a very simple way then maybe that would work. uh if it feels like there's going to be too much work involved and maybe you wouldn't be able to meet that criterion and the answer might be no and obviously that money would be better off uh with us uh in order to address those needs >> for it to be less abstract because I feel like some of the people that are having strong views >> don't have a concrete example yeah >> no I I'm not confident that maybe they do have a firm grasp on it but based on the discussions like if we can make

173it concrete It's not abstract. Maybe that would help. So, we use that prior to the use that direction prior to the warrant committee meeting as we're looking at the presentation. um can move forward with that recognizing where everybody stands and every and as far as the other pieces around the budget. Are there any other changes that we're that people are asking for that we want to discuss or do we feel comfortable with going? >> Well, I I I just wanted to comment on this discussion. I just haven't had a chance to weigh in yet. I I think I I feel All right. I think I feel somewhat differently. Um, I I do agree that if the half million in free cash were channeled to our reserve account, that would be that would be that would

174be can't remember which comes first, the belts or the I guess the belts comes first. Straighten the belt first. I I agree with that. I just have a couple of counter arguments that are rattling around in my head. One is that um like Katie, the the scenario you described from your experience sounds like a town and a district that is further along in the maturity model >> than Milton Public Schools and the town of Milton are in terms of managing and talking about how how these decisions and how reserves are are are dealt with. Um, we're like navigating this without a map. I get we don't have a circuit breaker policy. We I bet I bet we don't have a sped stabilization account policy. Um, and I while it would be good to channel money

175to the belt, I'm like I'm I'm I guess I'm I'm I feel like I do feel like the example would bring it out of abstraction, but I still like we're feel like we're still solidly in abstraction because we don't have the the wraparound support that would help us make these decisions better. Um, and so with that in mind, and you know, I I think like with I think like all of us have probably quadrupled our level of understanding around the use of reserve accounts over the past year. It's probably true for people on the select board, people on the committee. Um, and so I I just don't want to let perfect be the enemy of progress. We're funding an account we need. >> That's fair. And would we I Katie, I think what you're saying

176makes a ton of sense. I not sure it's going to work out for us. And I I don't know that having public boards debate each other on the floor of town meeting over a half million dollars is a good idea. I should resolve that and call it quits way before >> I I know you're you're just riffing. I >> Well, I'm not you know I'm I agree with I agree with that. Definitely agree with that. And there's time to continue trying. I just want to make sure that everybody is making these very important decisions with access to all the information that can help us make the right decisions. That's >> totally totally >> that's that that's all. And >> I agree with a lot of what Nathan's saying. I think I'd be more concerned about

177this decision from the SLE board if we hadn't done our work on our end to continue to have long-term ways in which we can continue we can continue to fund the circuit breaker account and so that if the only way we were able to do that is through free cash allocated by the select board. I would have a lot of concerns and and I think be willing to fight this battle uh a bit harder. I think to your point we're talking about ideally I would have liked them to listen to us and to do what we asked them to do and I feel like we know better about what the school department needs than they do in terms of providing a position they we talked about a few times they did not agree they did

178not move forward I don't think it's the end of the world I think as I'm thinking about the things I'd like to push the lightboard on it's really point previously which is like how are we okay changing that 3% target Let's let's move to that. That's the thing that's really going to drive impact to students. And so if y'all want to put this in account that you have more oversight on, that's your perview. I think your point, we need to develop policy around the stabilization fund. We have a lot of work we've been doing and want to finish up around all these other revolving accounts. There's just a lot of other work that I think we can do that hopefully then help us tell the story clearer in future fiscal years that there's free cash

179next year that maybe then we've created a policy and we've been able to kind of refine the story a bit so that they listen to us next year and say okay we'll give this to your circuit breaker. Um yeah, so I'm this point I just don't think it's so I agree with you. I don't think we're it's a piece that needs to battle on. Um, I don't know if anybody else has more thoughts on that, but I be happy to kind of address the rest of the budget. I know we're close to nine o'clock, so appreciate all that. Um, just on the overall budget, I again come back to another point Nathan made, which is like the flexibility. John, you talked about it with that remaining 100,000. And we did not at finance committee talk

180about the title one change, too. So, that information is new tonight and very, very disappointing. um not unfortunately not super surprising but um very disappointing even without that I think my inclination was to leave the $100,000 to you know provide some discretion some flexibility nurse is obviously something I brought up before just like the additional floating nurse to provide capacity for that nurse um and just within the kind of um those larger schools um but especially with the title one's loss I think that's necessary area I'm I'm concerned about. We obviously started this year with a list of positions that we didn't fill in order to provide us flexibility. Some of those positions are now gone next year. They will not be on the table for positions that will provide us flexibility on the circuit

181breaker utilization is increasing. So that flexibility is shrinking. We have a cut budget next year. So we are like already tightening things further. So our our flexibility is shrinking next year. and to do that even putting more pressure on that budget from our lens for positions that y'all are telling us you feel like you can operate without and based upon my my own experiences I've shared before but also from research like 30 communities across the state is not an uncommon model at all as relates to kind of the nurse position um to to have it be a lead nurse versus a director. So, uh I I think I as others have said I'm I'm comfortable with where we are. Um we also I think it's a little bit more in 110 because of some of

182the fee stuff we talked about uh which we'll share on. So if if I I would push more on the um obviously agree with you keeping funding whatever kind of positions we have at Tucker that are being lost due to the title or the funding is being lost through title one and then also what what can we do to just make sure that ELA uh roll out is a success? What what do you need? Like that has to be continue to be a problem. We can't just say we hey we checked that off we're done. We're good. Like it's a lot of work next year to make that successful. So, um, if there's more stuff there, would love to hear. Otherwise, very comfortable with where where we're at. >> I think it impacts a lot

183of students, right? I think that's that's a thing, too, right? Like whatever support because it impacts so many kids in in the elementary schools. So, >> in in the community, it was very very clear that it was a high priority. >> And I think that's and the community responded to that. >> And I think that's part of the flexibility that we talk about building, right? like it shouldn't get to that point, right, where they're demanding that we need it, right? Like we should be able to have the flexibility to continue to look at this stuff and just make those decisions so that we're not at the point where they're like, "Hey, you guys have to update this." Like this has gone on long enough like we shouldn't, >> you know, every So I think that's

184where like my concerns with like, you know, every little bit helps, right? And next year if we're in this position and there are positions on the on the table again we're going to be in a similar situation where you know community members are going to be advocating for positions that are really important to them or directly impact them. But I think you know not having like how do we build that flexibility as quick as possible I think is important I think so that because I I just it's just tough going through this process every year and you know like looking at every position and saying no we really need this or no we we can't you know and so on so forth. I'm I'm glad that we paused and had this conversation. I think it

185was really important to do so the public could understand what people made. So, thank you very much. Appreciate it. >> Thank you, John, for for direct um uh the community school fee increase discussion uh and potential vote. So again, that memo was in the materials PDFs um copy of kind of a presentation, short presentation deck that Martha made to us with the kind of um you can see what the current fees are on that second slide. Uh what the proposed fees are and then Mark did a great job of providing a lot of comparative data. she does that every time. She kind of um shares information on us obviously for the summer program as well of just kind of where does that put us and I think um based upon that information as well as

186the information uh on kind of the second to last page which really shows kind of the statements essentially um where even with this additional revenue we're still going to be shrinking our reserves within that accounts um you know it's going to dropped down uh to around the $100,000 mark um even with that and so that's kind of that flexibility of that that's an estimate uh we need some flexibility we can't have that be zero uh and all likelihood we need to in all likelihood we are expecting that we will need to increase fees again for FY28 following fiscal year so this is kind of a slow but a roll out over a couple years to rightsize those fees to make sure that the program is going to be operate at a a sustainable level. Uh

187because if it continues on this trajectory then the cost of operating this program will have a negative impact on the school department operating budget elsewhere. It's have some offsets elsewhere and that that's not what this program is envisioned to do. So we need to to try and rightsize it. But I appreciate the talked about in the meeting. Appreciate the department trying to work to do that over time and not within one year because um although the fees next year are still very competitive and kind of even on the lower end of those comparison districts, it is a you know not insignificant increase for families. So it's something we we took lightly. Um, so the committee, the finance committee did recommend that the school committee approve these fee increases for next year, but pause there in

188case there's other comments. Is there any concern about the ability to continue providing the tuition assistance as it's included in the recommendation to continue doing that? um given that the fees are going up rather, you know, much more substantially than they have in previous years, will that be able to just sort of be guaranteed or how how is that sort of projected? So I I think Martha stated that in the um the uh the sign up fees that we have that are different from tuition that were increased um is that that's the pool of money from which she draws the support for people who may not have the the means to pay the full tuition. So there's and those and those signup fees are increased. >> Yes. So, previously it's the registration fee. It's under

189the other fees associated um category and um it's currently $25 a family and for next year it would be $25 a child. And that is um a part of the funding mechanism to be able to help um the families that apply for that tuition assistance. >> Okay. Thanks questions folks have about this. There are no questions. Then I will make a motion to approve 27 fee increases u schools as presented. Any final discussion? If not, we'll do a vote. All in favor? Uh, and again, there's materials on the other fee increases which were discussed today. Katie, I I actually didn't open them. Um, we just talked about them. >> Does that memo that memo doesn't reflect the updated proposal we discussed? >> Correct. >> Yeah, that's just it's the memo we choose. So, we talked

190we talked about a couple revisions and so the goal would be maybe we can if possible, Katie, to update that memo just provide a highlight. Um that's kind of where the committee landed on the final the suggestions proposals that we voted on voted to recommend to this committee. Um I will do that on it for finance. >> Yeah, I'll do the vendor warrants. I just want to make sure those up. Okay. Um uh vendor warrants. I want to make a note that I have signed and approved the following vendor warrants. Fender warrant 34 in the amount of $376,1128, 35 in the amount of $48,119.93 and vendor warrant 36 uh which is broken into two warrants because there were two people working on them. We finally hired a wonderful new staff member um coming over from

191the town to help us out in that department and take over for the swirl in the scale um for the 136 the amount of 545,167.38 $58,9789 I believe I've already sent to committee members 3435 two for 36 have not sent I don't I just didn't get the PDF yet So we'll do that today and so we'll send that over once again. >> Um okay so um I'll keep this quick. Um I know we're getting late. Um so yesterday we our facilities advisory committee met. We had the um members from the Tucker playground project come as special guests to our meeting uh which we're really excited about. Um they've done quite a bit of work so far. Um they have basically surveyed teachers, families, neighbors, and had community meetings to get input in terms of um

192feedback on the fa on the space uh that they have outside of um Tucker. um they have received some funds um um from CPC that needs to be voted on. Um they to hire an architect and they've also have been seeking um input from fire and police um to make sure that the you the plans are kind of appropriate in terms of safety. Um Tom McCarthy, our facilities director, has also been very um involved in that. Um I don't I know some of you guys um we we did like the the walk around Tucker with our facilities um committee two couple years ago and you need access to the dumpster that's behind the building. So keeping that space open um and so just like parking um I know uh with the snowstorms like they were

193really good about removing the snow so that they had access to parking um with all of that because it's very tight spaces. So just making sure um those things are all accessible um during construction um they as all projects the the cost that they estimated initially has gone up um um a bit uh so it's around 850 right now so they're looking at ways to raise funds um you know please donate if you can um because I think you know they're looking to raise as much as they can and u lot of design opportunities there to really create a space that's wonderful for the students and also for the community. Um they have um another $100,000 um dollars that this um earmarked from the state and then um I know with they've been working with

194um Senator Driscoll and Representative Wells and so on and so forth and including Ayanna Presley the town has co-authored um a grant that they applied for for $450,000. Um they have started fundraising locally. Um, I think they sent out a postcard a few months ago, uh, and they're hoping to do like events, week-long events to kind of get the community excited about it. So, uh, it was really nice to talk to them. Um, they they came in primarily to see if we had any suggestions in terms of like safety issues. Um, I think, but we're kind of um having Tom kind of help them through that and just be in communication with them in terms of what they need to make sure um that things are done. um appropriately and whatever access in terms of

195safety with fire and police. Um the timeline is to break ground in June of 2027 and I have a construction during July and August. So they're hoping it's a quick runway. Um Tom based on his experience at Cunningham um Collie Cott fourth floor project said the timeline they were able to adhere to that timeline. So they're hoping that this playground project will be the same. So, um uh and then that was the first half of the meeting. Um um and we offered to help however we can if they had uh questions and they're welcome to come to our meetings and obviously I invited them to come to school committee too whenever they had more information to share. Um, so then, um, from Tom, our update was, um, the custodial staff and the consolidated facilities all

196did, um, a really good job to get the schools open as quickly as possible after the snowstorms. Um, and then over February break, um, his staff cleaned the vents and the lights in the MHS auditorium. They're nice and bright now, so so you'll see it at town meeting. It's, um, it's really different. and when he sends before pictures, I will share both of them because they do look really nice. Um, and then phase two of the Cunningham Collic project will begin late June. Uh, they're hoping to get some tile removal work done over April break. Uh, so that they are still on target to getting that work done over the summer. So, um he has been doing walkthroughs with the company um focused on um the building energy needs um looking at um our rooftop

197units and so on and so forth because they are coming to their the end of their lifespan. They've been on maintenance plans so they're still working. But um I think um that's some of the so he's he's trying to create a maintenance list to kind of maintain our facilities and kind of prioritizing I think um just like anything else um they were not able to fund a lot of things at capital. So including that light that they need out on Brooksfield um once again. So um I know um so they're just trying to create a priority list. Hey, we have to do this before it gets where we can't no longer. and it ends up being a bigger cost or something like that. So, um that was basically um that meeting. So, um yeah, then

198I will share any updates for >> Can I add something? Um because at the MF board meeting, we also talk about the Tucker playground and the MF is thinking to like see if they can um support that project in a way. So, um I think more detail will be coming. Um but the MF also talk about um they they're also doing a fundraising of fundraiser for um the teacher of the year celebration um and they're looking for uh nominations from students and families for the teacher of the year. So, um the more that we we can collect donations from different revenues, they'll be more willing to um to support different initiative like playground. >> Yeah. No, that's great. And I I think also um you know they're trying to outreach um do outreach with Tucker

199alumni to help get involved and support that. So um hopefully hopefully they'll reach their fundraising goal by the time you know they can get started on time. So, um that was it for facilities and then I can go into um policy which we also met right before facilities yesterday. Um John uh mentioned that the U district is looking into reviewing our policy ECAF which is their security cameras policy. and um he has started initial discussions with the police chief on whether it makes sense um to give remote access to the Milton Police Department um during emergencies to our internal cameras. They currently have access to the external cameras, but currently they do not have access to internal uh c interior cameras. So if they need to review footage, they have to come into the building

200and and look through um review the footage on site. So, um, you know, I know there are concerns about, uh, police presence and trust and so on and so forth and just, um, so I think the goal here from the way John explained it is to really, um, build foster a healthy partnership with between the district and Milton Police. Um, and so we're just kind of trying to figure out does it make sense to give them access in in case of emergency where they can access the interior footage so they have a better understanding of what is happening in case of emergency within a building before they come in so they're better prepared uh versus after the fact. And then who gives access? Does a police chief have access or does um our IT department

201give you know provide access for a temporary amount of time? So um we talked about things like is there like a lag time between who has access you know does having the police chief having access help them get the information faster or so on and so forth. So, he's going to continue having those discussions and looking at what other districts are doing and just kind of um getting more language around that and it's going to come back to policy. But that policy voted to um or was in favor of looking at that policy in detail. So, uh that should be coming down the next couple months. That was really it. >> And a quick question on that just make sure I understand. It seems like in a situation where there's an intruder or an active

202shooter, you would want the police to have realtime access to cameras. Is that currently Are we saying that's currently not the case? That's correct. >> Not inside, >> right? >> This is something that the Milton police have asked for for a period of time, I think. Um and uh and to Anna's point, the Milton police are incredibly uh helpful partners. They train all of our principles, all of our staff and in lockdowns and stay in places uh along with the fire department um uh at least twice a year uh maybe three times a year in some cases. Uh we have an agreement with them where we have our school resource officers in our schools, not just at the high school, but they go to all the schools and um they have been seeking this permission

203as part of their training. They do a lot of outside training across the state. They actually used to pierce over the summer last year. There's some area training um so they could be in a school building with other other police departments. They have um cross trainining that goes on and uh most of those places have access to the camera. So all it would look like would be that they wouldn't look at it all day. There would be a switch that had to be turned on by somebody whether it's on the school side or the chief and then in their in their headquarters they could actually see and direct the police office to the area with a And it would only be in the case of an a critical incident, a fire or a intruder. >>

204The cameras are in the hallways, not in classrooms. >> They're not in classrooms. They're not in bathrooms. Uh they're in the general areas and they're on all day. They're already on. Uh this would just give them a chance in the example that if there's an active shooter and no one knows where it is, but the cameras are on and then they can see it. So when they're coming, they can direct their um officers to go right to the fieldhouse where it is and and and they can direct other things before they even get on site, which would be really helpful and then to monitor that uh and direct police uh because they could see whatever was happening live. So we think in the in those cases is um better to have as many tools as

205you can for those officers and the staff and the students. Sure. I think you weren't at the last one. We had kind of two backtoback um meetings both related. We're we're sort of at the phase where we need to prepare. We're preparing ourselves to uh acquire an owner's project manager who will take us through through several steps of this project um and represent us in dealing with uh sub you know subs on the project designers construction etc. Um so there's there is a process for making that happen. Uh we have to uh submit a request request for proposals um that is designed by MSBA. So the committee went through that and made made the change made some changes that we were that we were allowed to make. Um we also formed a subcommittee that's going

206to review proposals. Um, so voted on that and as I understand it, Mark, turn if I'm if I'm missing anything here. We need to um uh we need we Okay, actually Mark, explain the process that gets us to to September or whatever it is in front of the board because I can't remember what comes first. >> Yeah, so we have to we voted on the RFQ. Um, very few things we can change to it. It's pretty standard. uh MSBAs to sign off on that uh and tell us it's good to go. Then we publicly post it following all public procurement uh processes. Uh then we get the qualification sheets essentially the offers from OPMs that's reviewed by the subcommittee. The idea is to get that down to a short list of kind of three finalists.

207Those three finalists will come in for in-person interviews uh that submit RFPs or proposals. They'll come in for inerson uh interviews. We'll do reference checks. Committee will select one that they like that that's going to be full school building committee and then we will share that recommendation with the MSBA. MSBA has signed off on that too at a board meeting and that's really something that's kind of driving this process. And I appreciate Milano really was helping drive this um make sure we got it in. That's why we met twice within the last before since last meeting. Um because the sooner we can get the RFQ over to MSB for approval, the sooner we can be on their their kind of uh meeting agenda for an upcoming meeting, which the soonest they had available was July.

208So it was either be July, August or September, um where kind of the meeting. So we're trying to get that July meeting framed by getting us over to the message as possible because it's first come first serve. Um, and we take two people every month. So, so anyway, so we're not 100% sure where that timeline lands for us. Uh, we'll find out here soon. That will drive kind of the rest of the timeline, but those steps we have to follow. The minutes were in the folder. A motion to approve the school committee minutes for February 25th, 2026. Second approve. Um, so the next I'm actually going to do two upcoming meeting upcoming meetings. The next meeting agenda which would be for March 16th would be voting on the fees and then voting on the budget

209and that will be virtual meeting following meeting which will be March 25th we have subcommittee reports by I added MF because we didn't have that on this agenda and I know that >> actually will be uh starting next starting this Saturday. >> Okay. So you're not here for the 25th? >> For the 25th meeting, not >> Oh, 25th. I would be here. >> Yeah. So MF Yeah, the other um we have negotiations update, capital improvement, uh planning committee. Um we have um uh Dr. Fish coming to talk about analyzing and building uh systems to support students transition to high school. And we have a DIP update. Is there anything else? we had a placeholder just by 27 but just in case we need to discuss I don't I don't know what's typical um from school

210committee here but it would I'm interested in getting an update on uh hiring for the poor soul who has to fill Katie shoes uh next year and I don't know when when and how that that happens so just wanted to put that on the radar. If it's not, I'm not saying it has to be March 25th, but just >> it can be March 25th. We we have an update where Ker is leading the internal team to um the search committee has been appointed folks folks have been um assigned. Ker will meet with them on Monday to go through uh the search process, the characteristics, the um the training, the one screen that we have as part of this process. They'll do a a paper And there'll be folks on Thursday. >> Do I have a

211motion to move? >> Second. Thank you. All in favor?