001[Music] Welcome everyone. Um, welcome to the um, April uh, April August 20th 25 um, school committee meeting. The first or second meeting of the um, 25 uh, the 2025 school year. Sorry, I'll get through there. Um let's start with the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> So welcome. Um the first thing that we have um is to approve the August 20th agenda. Does anybody have any changes or additions to that? >> Nope. Good. All right. Well, welcome. Um first, we'll start off with uh welcome Superintendent Failen. We'll start off with the superintendent report. >> Perfect. Um uh the superintendent's report tonight has a lot of data and it's going
002to be our operational kind of look at how we're starting school with some of the work over the summer and getting ready for the school year. Um and then we'll have a more academic presentation when we meet after Labor Day with the start of school related to our work with the leadership team and our first day with new teachers etc. So, uh, given that this was a data heavy, um, report, I decided to do it on PowerPoint so the data could be saved and posted on the website for our families at home. Um, the, uh, school year is opening on next Wednesday. Our first slide, the overview of the week that we have uh been uh experiencing this week and next week. We had first uh year teachers, our new teachers of the district on
003Monday the 18th, Tuesday the 19th, and today the 20th. We're very very fortunate to have 17 new educators come to the Milton public schools. Uh they had three full days uh with the mentoring program and our mentoring team of unit A and unit B staff John Rods and Meredith Kemp and Laura Mcder. I want to thank all the presenters that we had that day. We had Bill Fish present. Katie Blake presented. Uh Lori Dunn even stepped in for HR and presented. So it was very much a full team of folks welcoming our new uh new members and with a nice lunch on Monday afternoon. Uh on August 19th we had our full leadership retreat. We'll go into this in detail when we present at our next meeting in early September, but we really did a
004nice job of getting our leadership team together, finding out what their needs are and fitting those needs and looking at some data into how we want to approach our work in the classroom uh that we're going to focus on this year. So uh a lot more of uh discussion will be happening about classroom instruction, how we're working with our paraprofessionals and our educators in the classroom, how we can support them in the classroom and came up with some really great um five very sound uh priorities and themes for the coming year that we'll be putting in front of our educators on Monday when they return to school uh on the 25th. Uh in the next slide, um I want to thank everybody that worked so hard this summer. We had a great Milton summer of
005enrichment program, our ESY program at the uh high school and at the uh Cunningham Kycott. Uh very very high participation for the calculus projects here at Milton High School, our Beyond the Bell program, Camp Cunningham and Camp Tucker. First year that we've had our after school program run a camp after Tucker and the community responded with high numbers. because it was a great program. We're very thankful to branch out and uh the work that they're doing in the community schools is fantastic and they had a great summer. Keep in mind that group only takes one week off a year. They work all the way through uh this week. They take this one week off at at um community schools and they're right back at it next week. So, we thank the uh the community schools
006uh for all their hard work not only during the school year over the summer and uh we wish them a good week this week uh so they can be ready for the first day of school. Uh all Milton Public School faculty and staff will report to their school buildings uh on Monday, August 25th. That's a little change from the past where they would come up to the high school and would have a first day gathering of all the staff and the superintendent would speak and would have some guest speakers um in order to welcome the group back. But given this year we only have one professional day for this administrative work that we want to uh support and engage our educators in and the 26th of August Tuesday being a teacher day where they're getting
007ready in the classroom. Um we decided to yield that time back to the school. So, our teachers and par profofessionals and our uh lunch aids and um everybody will be in their buildings getting to work at 8:00 a.m. um Monday morning in their classrooms on Tuesday morning. And all Milton Public School faculty, staff, and students K to 12, I'm sorry, that's 1 through 12. We'll start Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th. And there will be no school on Friday the 29th. So, I apologize for the typo. It is grades 1 through 12 that start on Wednesday and have a second day Thursday. All kindergarten students report on the Tuesday after Labor Day. >> Um some, you know, really big work being done this year over the summer. The Collie Cunningham Library space renovation project
008uh is coming to a close this week. They came in and did a fantastic job. Uh I'd like to thank uh Katie for being involved. Also, uh, Holly Conan and John Redden, Tom McCarthy, Bob Mayhew were all involved. Uh, we have expanded the footprint of the Milton public schools by 5,512 square ft. That includes six offices, three large breakout spaces, uh, a large breakout space, three classrooms, and one teachers room. This is sorely needed space. And I know that the school committee worked hard uh, and the administration prior to me arriving worked hard or to gain more space for the Milton public schools. And over the summer this was completed. Uh the work looks fantastic and uh we can't wait for the teachers and the students to see their new space at the Cunningham. This
009is phase one of the work. Phase two will happen in summer of 26 when they'll be expanding the attic space into the library uh use and we will have a a full working library next year at the Cunningham College. This year our librarian will be going uh class to class and also has his own space where students can come to him in order for their lessons to be uninterrupted during the uh school year this year. So the service delivery will be the same. The other consolidated facilities update from Tom McCarthy is a long list of things that have been happening. If you are a baseball family, you saw the parking lot being uh repaved, so you couldn't park there for a couple of games. Uh the um we had uh the elevator fixed at the
010Tucker. We've had some AC units replaced. We've had some painting in the auditorium here at the high school. Uh repainting the floors in the auditorium. Uh lots of good work by all the uh capital funds that we have and some of the operating funds for the facilities department all put to good use making sure that the uh school buildings are in shape for the students and staff coming back. I want to thank Tom McCarti, Bob Mayhew, and I actually want to take the time to thank our senior custodians who actually do a great job working not not only to clean the buildings, but clean it around summer programming and in some cases cleaning it around summer construction. So, all the buildings are ready to go for staff next week and for students the following week.
011So, uh thank you to the facilities and custodial department. Uh just to give you a quick glimpse of the enrollment comparison for the end of last year and the start of this year. Want to pause and say that this is not the official enrollment for the Milton public schools for the school year. That enrollment is taken by the department of elementary and secondary ed on October 1st of every year. It's called the October one report. We have to put all of our uh enrollment um data in by October 1st and then Desi takes that snapshot. So that's how we're measured for our enrollment for any funding pieces that will come to us through the state. So the enrollment is not a a a done picture right now, but it is a good thing to look
012at. Um as you look on the lefth hand side, you have the 25 26 as of today. Uh that is in our enrollment in prek all the way through grade 13. And keep in mind grade 13 are the students who stay with us through their uh IEP service deliveries from 18 to 22. Um, so our enrollment for this school year at the moment is 4373 compared to at the end of last year it was 4363 a net new amount of students of 10 students a lot of in and out as you can see on the right hand side from the changes. I just want to let the public know and the committee know that that change is uh essentially uh the kindergarten coming in versus the kindergarten that's leaving. So the change between cohorts of
013students which is would be a separate view of this is actually if you look at the kindergarten in the 2425 column uh is 369 last year grade K 369 2425 school year when you follow your eye down to the left and you look at grade 1 for 2526 it's 372. So that cohort grew by three students. That's just another lens into how the how the enrollment is moving through the district. Um so we have a net number of 10. We have move movement in and out of the district at every grade. And um the reason why you see a minus 50 at that kindergarten is because the kindergarten class coming in is that much smaller than the one that just came in last year. So just a good view of the preliminary data related to
014enrollment. And um when we come to the October one date, we'll give the official enrollment out. We'll do another presentation at that time. Uh transportation is an issue that uh we've received calls about. There is concerns related to the uh the added bus from last year that has been reduced for the budget purposes in this school year. So we just wanted to be very clear with the data and show it to the public what it looks like related to last year. uh this school year 2526 as of uh August 13. Uh total students registered um is 1465. Whether you were late or on time, the total is 1465. The total students on the wait list uh for on-time registrations is 84. The total students weight listed who were late is 32. And the total amount
015on the weight list is 116. When we compare that to the previous year where there was an extra bus, we had 1466 riders. We had 26 weight listed who are on time registering and we had 61 who are on the wait list uh who were late in their registration in a total of 87. So we are up with the amount of students on the wait list. It's not a surprise because we're one bus less than we were um last year. And and I think the dialogue that we had at finance committee this morning around, you know, the brief history of how that bus uh came to being reduced, uh my short synopsis is, and folks at the table can please correct me, the school committee added a bus halfway through the year in order to
016address needs in weight lists. And the school committee then supported that for the FY26 budget to keep not only that added bus but an additional bus to increase uh to decrease the weight list even further. But as the budget uh process um worked its way through January, February, March, April, May, uh those two buses were not afforded in the budget. uh they were uh the the way that you all did your budget last year in terms of level service versus >> needs versus >> need-based budget. The need-based budget had two buses in it >> more than we have right now >> and due to the fiscal concerns. Not only was that second bus reduced, but the original bus was reduced. So we're back to two years ago transportation bus level that had weight list then
017and and currently it has weight list now. So, we uh understand the plight and the concern that that represents for the uh 116 families. This is mainly a Pearson High School issue uh because the state law says that we have to give rides to students on buses K to six who live more than 2 miles. But the law also states that we don't have an obligation to do it 7 through 12. Although we make every effort to give everybody of us uh who needs it uh where we can and how we can uh when the fiscal conditions are are better than they are right now. >> Community schools update uh again Martha did a great job um this summer wanted to give some real good data on where we are without the school. Um we
018are starting the school year at full capacity at the Collart Cunningham and Glover 150 students each in near capacity at the Tucker 130 and we have uh spots to fill I think 10 available spots at the Tucker. Uh we are still actively hiring due to staff departures and reduced availability. Current openings include uh group leaders, instructional aids, kindergarten educator and one assistant supervisor. So this is an advertisement. If you are watching this show and you would like to work for the after school program, Martha is an incredible leader. The hours of three to six and if you are uh are watching this or your your older high school or college age child is watching this, anybody and all people are welcome to apply. Uh your help would be um appreciated and it's a great place
019with a great atmosphere. Uh and it could be a school right in your neighborhood that you could walk to. uh enrollment weight list for the current year. A collicott has 150 daily. There's 177 total enrolled waved uh with varied schedules. We have 24 on the wait list. The Cunningham has 150 capacity daily. 177 enrolled, 24 on the wait list. Uh and 12 were offered alternative attendance, meaning not full-time, but maybe separate two or three days a week. Glover has 150 spots available with 170 folks enrolled, 31 on the wait list, and two are offered alternative attendance. Tucker has 130 daily spots, 140 total enrolled, no weight list. Um, lottery trends compared to last year is a significant increase in grades 1 through five applicants. There was a decrease in K applicants at all sites except
020for Tucker, which saw an increase of 53% and all lottery applicants were granted spots. All K lottery applicants grant these spots. The demand and the increase by site we have a 32% increase in demand at Collicot 16% increase at Cunningham 9% increase at Glover and a 21 27% increase at the Tucker. So we will re-evaluate. I think it will be a good time early this fall uh with Martha to evaluate what is the impact of the lottery policy that we put in place I think last year. How has it changed the experience for our families? I had one conversation with a gentleman uh who was really worried because it's a it's a year-to-year um experience for those folks. It used to be in the past that when you got in in K, you were okay
021all the way through. So, that felt like a good consistent experience for those folks who were fortunate enough to get into kindergarten. However, the inconsistent experience for folks previously was those who were new to the district and they didn't have a chance to get into the after school program. So, there was an equity access issue there. So, I'm assuming that the lottery was an opportunity to maybe try to open up that access annually. So, I think it might be helpful for us to look into that, see what any mitigating uh issues that have come up that we might want to discuss later in the fall and then maybe report out on that. Lastly, reestablishment and residency. And I don't know why the slide came out like this, but it's it is what it is tonight.
022Uh reestablishment. Remember now, we have asked every third grade family, every sixth grade family, and every ninth grade family who is rising into those grades to reestablish their residency. Uh Serena Burke has worked hard. I want to thank the high school office staff. And I want to let folks know that we brought back Mighty McKenna, who was probably the most popular person in the Milton public schools for the last 10 years uh back these last two weeks to help get through these folders and communicate with families and make sure that everybody has uh an understanding of what they need to to reregister for school this year. With all that work done and continuing to be done this week and next week, we have eight families who are currently at the high school working on submitting
023documents and we have 15 families who have not who who have not started the process. So, we have a total of 22 potential families who are out there getting ready to bring paperwork in and hopefully they do. Pierce Middle School has four families who are currently working on submitting documents and 18 families who have not started yet. grade three families across the elementary school. Six families are working on completing the process, four who have not started yet. Keep in mind that we have sent out four communications on this issue to every single family who is reestablishing. Uh the most recent communication was on Monday morning. That communication states that if you don't have the material in by Friday, we may not be able to let your child start on time because we just might not
024be able to process the paperwork in that crunch period of just a few days. So, we're asking families for their patience. We ask them to please submit the documents so we can process and have their child start as soon as possible and hopefully on time, but we want to make sure that we're letting folks know that that is not a punitive timeline. It's really about being able to process that last minute rush of folders. So, we will be uh completing folders and getting back to people on a one by one basis so we can get as many folks to start school as possible. the uh registration of new students. We have 12 registering at Milton Milton High School who have pre-registered and not completed any forms. We have four families working on completing registration. Therefore,
025we have a total of 16 potential registrations still out there for Milton High School. At the Pierce, we have 11 families pre-registered but have not completed the forms. two families who are actively working with staff on their registration packets. A total of 13 who are potentially registering um at the middle school for the school year. And at the elementary level, 12 families have pre-registered and have not done anything since that. Four families are in process with us working on their packet. A total of potentially 16 students prepared to enter the schools. Um I want to thank Serena Burke uh for her work on this. uh and Brad Spindle who also works on this. Uh we have been handplacing every single elementary student to make sure that they first have a um um uh a chance
026to go to school in their resident district school. Uh but also if their school classrooms are full, we are moving folks to a school close to their home that has a better class size. So the the the sheet that you will see for elementary schools should have a balanced um set of class sizes across grades and across school. We feel class size is important. We don't want any school having a lopsided class size in either grade one or grade five. So we're balancing uh that for academic purposes for our students. And um that is my superintendent report. We'll post that information and data on the website with the school committee materials uh so folks can review it at their leisure as well. >> I had one question or comment. So I know in addition to
027um the weight list for the transportation I know that there have been questions about the routes. So Katie would that be if there are concerns about roots or questions around that would those emails go to you or who would those go to? like if if something came up but there's also there's a Google doc on the website correct under transportation if there's an issue with the >> so on the district website under the transportation page we have posted the routes and then if any families have any concerns with the bus stop um or any of the bus routes there is a Google form that we're asking them to submit to provide us with the information so that we can look into their request and their in inquiry um and work with the bus company to
028see if we can um make the modification or um provide any of the updates. We're trying to do so um and then um provide the information to others that may be impacted because it could potentially change the route and the timing of the route. So, we're trying to do that um as fast as we possibly can just so everyone has that information before next Wednesday in the start of school. >> So, if there's a change in the route, would that be would families be emailed? So what we do, the process that we currently do is we would update the documents that are posted on the website and then we would um send an email to the families that are on that bus route if there was going to be any specific impact to their stop
029or if there was any specific impact or significant impact to the timing of the route. So if there if we had to switch things around and the students stop went from the end of the route to the beginning of the route, we would send an email to those families to notify them so they know an appropriate time to be out at the bus stop. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> I I I also want to thank um uh Stephanie O'Keeffe. We have now have the ability to actually communicate directly with families by bus. Mhm. >> So if anything happens on a rainy day or a snowy day, we can actually or a bus breaks down, we can communicate with those families directly by bus. So I want to thank uh Stephanie for making that tool
030available. And also thank Katie for the process of when that feedback comes in from our families uh that we're actively moving it over to the bus company and they are making changes based on that feedback. Um and the reason why the bus stops are different this year is because we have one less bus. Mhm. >> So, they're kind of trying to make it work with one less bus, so the stops have changed a little bit. So, Katie, thank you very much. >> Of course. >> Great. Thank you. Anyone else questions or comments? >> Yeah, just really appreciate the presentation walking through all these aspects. Um, hi. Um, couple things that stick out to me. One, enrollment. Um, last year was our second highest enrollment in Milton's history. This is projected to be higher than that.
031So we'll have a new second highest enrollment in Milton's history. >> You're talking about the current first grade. >> I'm talking about Oh, total. >> Oh, total. Gotcha. >> Like the highest ever was 2020 since then. Last year was the second highest. Now if this surpasses it will be the new second highest ever. Unfortunately, that it's good news that people want to come. Um rough news from a space perspective. Uh, I did want to reh highlight kind of the thing you hit on a bit, John, about the transportation steps because I thought like that is helpful just to go over again because I know you tried to cover it. You were not obviously here uh for that and so we did talk about a little bit in finance, but for anybody watching last year, we
032had similar weight list. We've had similar weight lists. We got the one-time funding from the select board who's gracious enough to provide us funding for an additional bus. As we move through the budget process, we identified the desire to try and eliminate the weight list as like a priority for the district and included that in our needs-based budget request and the conversations around the override. That needsbased budget with the select board quickly was um kind of informed that that was not feasible. Uh we went down to level service where we maintained the bus that we added last year. And then when the school department was asked to cut the budget for this year below level service, the $700,000 cut, it was at that point that we removed the additional bus that was added last year.
033And to the point you made, John, why we are at the bus capacity we were for the prior school year FY24. That's kind of the timeline of walking through. I think it again stinks that we are not able to support all the families who want space on on the bus. Um, and I we knew that that was a need and a problem and try to work through that with the budget process, but given the the need to actually cut below services that we provided last year, I think that's where where we landed of we needed to cut things that were not mandated um given that the transportation, as you said, is not mandated for students above grade six. So, that's something I just want to make sure we we were clear on. Um, I'm interested
034to hear. I didn't actually for the lottery for and I'm kind of going through your slides as we did this for the afterchool program my experience wasn't that it was like a kinder lottery the thing we introduced the lottery for was because it used to be a first come first serve like if you got in when the application window opened the thing we're solving for like the application window open at 5 o'clock on a 12 o'clock on a Tuesday if you got in there from 12 o'clock to 12:05 you got a spot you got in there at 12:10, you were weight listed. So, that was that was the thing the lottery was intended to address was not have it be a first come first serve. And um I don't think we've given preference for prior
035enrollments even in the last few years. So, it might have been a few years ago that that that changed. I'm not sure if any of us were around for that. Um but yeah, would always be interested in figuring out as we've done how we could further strengthen that program to similar to the transportation like how do we get people off those weight lists um and provide more services that the community is requesting. >> So I appreciate all that that context and the detailed context about registration and that's just all very helpful and um insightful data. So thank you. >> You're welcome. Do we think is the rate limiting factor on after school enrollment about space >> or is it also about I'm just noting how many people there are still hiring. So, uh, after meeting
036with folks, it's about space. It's also about quality staffing, hiring those staffing, hiring those staff, uh, training those staff, >> um, quality programming, quality ratios, >> and also making sure that we because we um are open to any student who wants to come. Some students may come with other needs that we need to provide support for. Uh all of those factors are why the the growth and the scaling up of it needs to be done thoughtfully. It's not about just let's get another room and see if we can hire some more folks. It is a very well-run program. It's not just babysitting. Uh there's some good work going on with those young people and it needs to be done in a way that's safe and high quality and we want to make sure folks can
037be trained. So um I'll be meeting uh probably at the end of September to think about how we can uh you know set some goals that we might want to approach over the next few years for increasing capacity but it would have to meet the conditions of all those things being done at a high level. Mhm. >> I think we did increase capacity last year >> and then obviously just continuing this year, but the demand increase, those percentages you shared are >> Yeah. >> shocking. >> Cancelled out the canceled out what should have been an helpful increase in capacity is just like a net >> continuing to not meet the demand. Yeah. >> Yeah. I I think Martha does a wonderful job. She interacts with Katie very well and the principles very well and um
038it it will we'll be monitoring our ability to scale up over time and we'll be probably coming out in November with some uh summary statements about where we are and what we want to do moving forward. >> If I can just speak to kind of the financial piece. So, community schools is a self- sustaining program, meaning that the revenue um or the fees that we're charging our families, that is the um revenue that we use to support the program. And as a part of the expansion of the enrollment numbers that we overtook over the last several years, we also made some modifications to the pay scales so that we could really try to recruit and retain um and hire employees to be able to staff the programs. And I think as we look at the
039next three to five years and just talking about the scaling and the additions, we also just have to be mindful of um some of the changes that have happened in the past and just ensuring that we continue to ensure that it is a self- sustaining program. And so, um, when we look at some of the financials over the past year, just, um, in the future, we'll just have to make sure that right now we're expending more money than we're actually bringing in for revenue. And so, if we continue to just try to increase capacity and higher at the rate that we've done, um, it may impact our ability to remain a self-sustaining program. So, I just wanted to mention that from the financial side because I know at one time we had a significant balance
040in that account. Um, and that's just no longer the case. So, just another consideration for the program. >> Anything else? >> Thank you, John. That's great. Appreciate that. Um because it's the new year and I still have summer brain. I completely forgot citizen speak. So do we have anybody online um here speak? Um if so if you could raise your hand there's nobody in the audience here doesn't look like it. No. >> All right we will skip speak. Great. Um the next is the chair's report. So I have two things under this one is um the first is the update on the school committee retreat. We had that school committee retreat on August 6th. Um John joined us as did uh Katie Blake and um assistant superintendent of teaching and learning Carla Kosa joined us
041as well. So it was great to meet her. It was her second day so I think she had about eight hours under her belt. So it was great for her to come and join us. Um, so, uh, the first half of the meeting, John provided a number of the updates of things that he's been doing since he hit the ground running on June 1st. And then the, uh, latter half of the meeting is when we began to look at the, um, school committee goals and begin to brainstorm around some of those. Um, we got some work under that, some work on that. We we definitely made some traction on it. We have more work to do in upcoming meetings. Um, one of the things that we did um, address and that again would we need
042to we need to discuss in upcoming meetings is the prospect of extending um, the superintendent's term for a second year. So, not the interim superintendent's term. Uh, so talking to John about that and talking about that as a school committee. Um, there was a lot of discussion around that. Um, I think many of us feel that, you know, there's been a there's been um a lot of great work so far in a short amount of time. I think we've had a a district that's had a lot of instability over the last five years. So, having a second year um with the same superintendent would be great and provide some stability to the district um especially given the budget challenges that we've had. And also, you know, I think we've all found in addition to um
043John's insight around the budget and his leadership, you know, his his strategic vision has also been really really um appreciated. So, one of the things that we talked about is having the um MASC come and discuss sort of the pros and cons of that of a two-year term, some of the things that we need to look at. They were not available to come now, so we're trying to get them in the next meeting or two. the beginning of the school year um was busy. So I'm working on that piece. So if there are other questions that we have and then similarly I know that um we're exploring some of the other challenges about getting the waiver and the possibility of moving that forward for a second year. So that was a you know that because
044um one of the goals would have been or could be the um the superintendent search. it seemed like a good time to discuss that so that we weren't >> dedicating a lot of time to what we were looking for in a search if um if the go if the intent is to continue with a second year. So I don't know if anybody wanted to weigh in on that piece. We're going we will be discussing it more in the the next couple of meetings. Um but I think that there was a lot of you know healthy discussion around it. I think you know um somebody made a really good point that um in having you in this role and in things moving forward it's almost like we're beginning to see um you give us insight into
045what we should be looking for in the next leader and I think that that's really important. I think that leadership role that you are providing is important and that you're that that's um giving us good context and good feedback as we do the search for the the more the permanent position. So I don't know if anybody else wanted to add anything or discuss anything at this point. Okay, that will be a discussion moving forward. Um again, there were other items that we talked about that we still need to flesh out. Um we have just have a draft of those goals and we'll work on those moving forward. We also discussed some of the um objectives and topics that we want to focus on in the coming year. um French immersion was one that came up
046that we will begin to look at and schedule over the coming year. Um we also talked about um looking back at you know at um addressing the um achievement gap and um some of the information around that and also um looking at some of the um ELA curriculum and the curriculum moving forward. So having presentations around those things, but again, we'll begin to we'll continue to flesh that out as we move forward. Um but I think it was just a great opportunity for all of us to come together, kick off the year, really um look back at what we achieved last year and then begin to set the stage for the coming year. If anybody has anything else you want to add to that? Oh, maybe for this for >> you finish. You might want
047to go back to the vote for this. >> Oh, right. Is that on there? >> Okay. Okay. Um, so that was the update on the retreat. Again, we'll final we'll look forward and finalize those um those uh objectives, our goals moving forward. Um the one thing we have to do, we have a couple of votes to do. The first is we have to um if we can approve the meeting, the minutes for that uh school committee retreat. I don't know if everybody got to review those. >> I'll make a motion um at least for the purpose of discussion. Motion to approve the minutes of the Milton School Committee retreat dated August 6th, 2025. >> Second. All in favor? Great. It's approved. Great. So, under the um superintendent report, there are a number of um motions
048that we need to do to approve the student handbooks for the 2025 26 school year. So in the folder we had the Milton High School student and family handbook, the Pierce Middle School student and family handbook, the elementary student and family handbook, the MPS staff handbook, and the student athlete handbook. Um those are all in the folder as well. I think as opposed to doing them as individual votes, um I believe we could do them all as one vote. >> Um >> can I is John? You might not know this, but obviously these are very long documents, lots of lots of things. Um, uh, do you know what, if anything like substantial has changed in any of these from last year? And I guess another thing I might flag is would there be a way
049on an annual basis to almost have like a a kind of >> summary of changes page at the start of it to say like hey this year we updated this policy within this because for families who have >> read through and there's probably not a whole lot that have read through every single policy but families who are somewhat familiar with it having at least that forcing anybody to like figure out what we've changed on annual basis I think is just too Um, so something that says like, oh, we updated this student access policy. Then families know, okay, let me make sure I understand what that is. >> Um, versus just rereading through the whole thing and hoping they remember what changed. >> So, um, that's a great idea and we can implement that change for
050our, uh, next year's kickoff of the handbooks. Uh the major change in the handbooks was the uh response to the Supreme Court case related to parents being able to opt out of certain curriculum. Um that Supreme Court case did not provide any guidance to school districts across the country. So, the Massachusetts Association of School Superintendent teamed up with the Massachusetts uh Association of School Committees and the Department of Elementary and Secondary Ed and provided some guidance that that was suggested to put into the handbooks. That information was reviewed by our council um as well and uh and we provided that language in the the handbook um this year. So that was the only from my understanding the only major change from last year this year. This is more procedural question. So within if changes are
051made to each individual handbook, does it go through policy committee or is there or there are the changes made um who would make recommend changes to the policy within each individual handbook if they were going to be made? Is that >> I I think there's a difference between policy in the handbook. So any and all policy changes were would be going through the school committee policy subcommittee and then the school committee and I think we did some of that work in our retreat when we changed >> the title N policy and reverted back to the >> the shift. So uh that would go through the school committee in the normal way. Uh the handbooks are uh because it's not a policy it's handbook language like it would be if we change any language around any
052code of discipline or anything uh related to that. Uh so there is no policy aspect of that. U in this case we took guidance from our attorney and the three agencies that we all work with together >> and we put the changes in that they recommended and so every year we would put the handbook in front of you into Mark's point which is a good one. >> You know a cover sheet saying here's some of the changes we made >> uh from the principal of the high school and middle school. There could be disciplinary changes that we would want to uh focus on to make sure parents knew that there was any updated expectations. Um, so when language like that changes, I think we should highlight it and bring it to the attention of the
053school committee and the public as part of this process. >> Great. And that's that's helpful. >> So just annually does the do the lawyers look at it? >> They look at every that um unfortunately for Charlene Roach, this is her main job uh in July and August is making sure that we have the the the recent versions. We give them all to the attorney to review. if they have any uh legal things that they would like to see changed, they would let us know and we'd bring that to the attention and we we'd make those changes. Um most of the changes in the yearbook, I mean in the handbooks year to year are the changes in names and titles of anybody that may uh be coming in and out of the staff related to the
054handbook. And um so that that's the process. >> Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? >> Motion. >> Uh, I'll make a motion to approve the following handbooks for 2025 2026 school year. Milton High School student and family handbook. Pierce Middle School student and family handbook. Elementary student and family handbook, NPS staff handbook, and student athlete handbook. >> I'll second. >> All in favor? >> Okay. >> All right. I'm making sure I'm not forgetting anything. Not a stellar first meeting. I apologize. Great. >> Uh we will now move to the finance subcommittee reports. Uh great. Um we met uh this morning. Uh we also met a couple weeks ago on the 6th. Um one of the big topics we have been discussing is uh one of the things we've mentioned we were going to be doing
055uh when we were talking about the budget stuff last year, which is the quarter 4 closeout. um how FY25 ended and then the school department's work to evaluate that against the FY26 budget through what um Katie has called kind of a recasting uh to make sure that we feel confident about where our budget um how our budget is constructed for the current fiscal year and how that will meet the needs of the district based upon kind of how the the fiscal picture closed out at the end of last year. and to highlight any places where we uh were over and have some concerns or have some updating kind of developments within um costs related to supporting students things like that. So obviously we finished the year with the additional million dollar request that was granted
056by town meeting and warrant committee supported by warrant committee and the select board which was fantastic. That was a slight increase from our original projection 700. So all those things are are factors that I think Katie and John have been looking at. really appreciate John as a a second set of kind of fresh eyes bringing to this to support all the work that Katie's uh really helped to lead us on to to get there. And so I think they finance committee were able to share some pl ways in which they are want to see some realignments within the FY26 budget in order to support and strengthen certain line items within the school department's accounts operating accounts uh to ensure we have a strong and sound um fiscal picture throughout this this year. So really appreciative
057of all that work. Excited that we're having this conversation in August uh and not in January. And um love to turn it over for what you want to share. >> Um thank you Mark. Uh, I first want to just acknowledge and thank uh Katie Blake's ability to close out the FY25 budget uh when the district was looking at a deficit of about $2.5 million in it in her ability to pull the reins in on the expenses um and really take a hard look at where the the expenditures need to be pulled back in freezing those expenditures and freezing the hiring uh in working with this body of school committee members as well as the warrant committee and the select board uh and then with the end of the year a successful uh transfer of funds
058from the select board and the warren community to the school department to be able to make up a $2.5 million deficit in 5 months is quite a feat. So I first of all want to thank everybody at the table for that especially Katie. Um and uh and then to have the town uh take the incredible measure of supporting the schools in the town with a $9.5 million override is an extraordinary feat, especially with the amount of votes that it got um uh in the consensus of the community to want to support the schools in the town. With all that being said, as we walk into FY26, uh we're still in in July needing to go back and use funds in order to pay backwards to FY25 to close out those bills and then identify the
059continued data points of what we budgeted over time and what our actual expenditures were and noticing those data points over three years that there were just gaps in the budget. um between what was budgeted and what the actual expenditures were at the end of every year. So we we know that we asked the town for a big lift in getting an override. So the town did their job uh the community did their job. The other part of this is now our job to make sure that we can fiscally be responsible and steward those dollars in a way uh that our budget is solvent at the end of this year. And that means looking at the expense side of the budget. We have to look at how we spend our money uh how our resources are
060deployed and make sure that we have enough funds in the budget lines uh that we know are going to have actual expenditures that reach a certain amount. in the only way that uh we saw fit to be able to recalibrate and realign money within those lines in order to make sure that our utilities line had enough money uh that our uh unit D uh payroll had enough money because we have a few more folks there that we need to have in place for us to support our students. Uh there are several lines uh that needed shoring up. uh we decided to uh have agency in this work and and actually reallocate the funds and the funds that we were going to reallocate had to come from somewhere. So we started to look at our payroll
061in our staffing level which uh is about 80% of our budget. Uh we looked at our non- salary items as well, materials and supplies that affect the classroom. And uh we had several meetings over the summer with the principles uh central office team eventually the leadership team as well. Uh we met with the Milton Educators Association to make sure that we were walking down this path of trying to save money and potentially impact staff. Um, and it resulted in our unique ability to uh look at the vacancies that we had available every time a vacancy became available and decide do we fill this with a new teacher or new educator um or do we pause and not fill that vacancy to see if we can save money in order to reallocate it to some other
062line in the budget that needs it. A lot of the vacancies that we had, we had to fill. fourth grade teacher at Tucker, fifth grade teacher at Tucker, third grade teacher at Kolycott, um, uh, special educator at Pierce, special educator at Kolycott. You mean everywhere that a a vacancy was available that had students in front of them that we had to fill those positions. Those were uh, not negotiable, but there were other positions that we felt as we reviewed the data and the service delivery that we could pause for a year and use those dollars in other ways to support the budget. So all students have what they need for the school year. Um we are fortunate that we had uh 7.5 vacancies that we did not fill and I'll go through the list for
063the folks uh on the table and at home. And we also had one position that we reduced but that person who was in that role was offered another job within the district that we needed to have filled. So the list that I'm going to give you tonight um there was no employee harmed in terms of losing their job. The one that was reduced is actually uh deciding whether they want to take the job that was made available to them. And that was really important to us from a human being level. Think of it as a staff member who was worried from February, March and April about whether they had a job or not. they may have been on that list of 72 that would have been reduced and then the override came in and they
064felt relieved. Coming back and letting someone know that they were going to lose their job in August would have been a horrible morale uh issue. It would have been just not a good way to start the year. So, we're fortunate that we were able to save um $772,290 $279 that we can reallocate in our budget. Uh and we will continue to review our vacancies as they occur to see if we need to fill them or not throughout the year. Uh because every dollar that we're able to reallocate to a line that supports students in other ways uh in right back into the classroom uh we feel we need to do in order to rightsize our budget and get ready for FY27. Um, with that said, I sent out a uh a memo to all staff
065today uh letting them know that this was taking place that we had a meeting this morning and we got pre preliminary approval through the sub finance committee to move forward with not filling these vacancies. Again, we are not reducing anybody. Everybody has a job. These are vacancies that we would have normally filled uh that we're going to have to rally around and do some extra work amongst the other staff members in the Milton public schools to make the work happen. So, um, I'd like to share a memo that I sent to the school committee, uh, and the finance subcommittee and just talk a little bit about the positions that we're reducing. Um, there are, uh, 8.5 positions that we'll be talking about. I'll read a little bit about each one of them and these this
066information will be posted on the website as well. >> Be helpful to pull it out, >> please. That would be great. >> Sorry. I just shot this one. Great. >> So for the folks at home, the the narrative above that will be posted, but essentially it's the conversation that we've been having. We've had two difficult fiscal years in FY24 and 25 that have resulted in uh being unable to finish the year with enough money uh to pay our expenses. And so this year we're taking extraordinary steps to make sure that does not happen during FY26. So these are the vacancies that we're not filling. Um it has the FTE, it has the unit that that employee belongs to, it has the savings, the rough savings. Some of these are exact numbers and some of them
067are placeholders. And then it has an impact uh next to that. So uh the first position is one that was vacated the director of educational technology. Uh that was a unit B administrator. Uh the salary related to that position was roughly $140,000. Uh this is the position that supported educational technology for teaching in the classroom. uh this position was essential during COVID because we were all remote or uh or hybrid in the skills and the technology and the applications that were uh needed for teachers to execute teaching and learning during that time was essential. Um now that we are in a postcoid environment, we want to re-evaluate that position. Um this position along with everything else on this list will be re-eval re-evaluated during the FY27 discussion and potentially put back in place next year.
068But this gives us a chance to pause, save some money and re-evaluate whether we need that uh position in the same way it was existing prior or maybe shape it different for the future. So it gives us an opportunity. Um we do know that teachers will be looking to have questions answered by uh this role that was in place by AJ Malansen who did a fantastic job. uh and we are working on some workarounds and looking to get some support from folks in order to make sure that teachers still get what they need at a certain level but maybe not at the high level that they got in previous years. Um the equity coach resigned from Milton public schools to go to another school district. Uh this individual and colleague was with the district for
069I think four or five years. did a wonderful job working with teachers in the classroom uh around areas of inclusion in bias training and supporting students of color and all students in our DEI B uh community uh and educating teachers on how best to approach the work and move it forward in the classroom. Uh when they left, we had a great exit interview actually with the director of technology in with the equity coach. What do we need to continue to do? How would not filling this position impact your staff? We had a good hour conversation with Dr. uh FA Shavers, myself, and the individual. Um, we do believe that we're going to restructure our DEI work this year uh to focus more on hiring, retaining, and recruiting staff of color. We've already made efforts in
070there to recruit uh and engage with a new recruitment and retention um nonprofit group based right out of Boston called the Teachers Lounge. and we'll be looking to do some uh equity and bias training for our staff in Milton public schools who do the hiring. We really need to check our bias at the door. We really need to be thoughtful about how we approach hiring if we want to increase the diversity in our schools. And I think we actually have to have everybody go through some training to highlight uh what are some of the subtleties and some of the really clear and tentful things that we need to do in order to have a pool of people who want to come to Milton who are diverse so that we can interview folks and use questions
071and get feedback in a way that is uh you know appropriate for all of our staff uh in especially our diverse candidates and that will lead to higher numbers of folks that will be in our schools. We also want to do a good job with the staff we have and retain them. The best recruiter for a a new teacher of color is an existing teacher of color. So, we have to look on retaining that's how the teachers lounge that we are now engaging with. Uh that's their big cell is that they provide space for teachers to be able to go and talk and discuss how they're doing in their district. And and so we feel like we're trying to attack this from a couple of different ways. Uh the other the other main goal of
072Dr. Shavers in the equity department is to focus on some policies that we really wanted to get into. What are some policies that we feel need to be revisited in order to make sure that we thought uh through the policies through the lens of our community of people of color and our DEIB community. So those will be the two highlights for the year. Um, and we feel like we can pause the coach and then when we get a better idea of what that goal will be for the following year, we can decide whether we bring that position back or something else like that to support our community. Uh, the Milton High School team chair, we currently have two team chairs at the high school, two team chairs at the middle school, and this person resigned
073to go to another district. We are now going to reorganize those three remaining team chairs at the middle school and high school to work across the grades 6 through 12. We're going to have one of those folks work directly with that grade 8 to nine transition, which we think all transitions need to be handled very uniquely by our team chairs. preschool to kindergarten is a unique transition year for our students in IEPs and making sure those IEPs reflect uh what the what the shift in teaching and learning looks like from prek to K from grades five to grade six that's a different learning environment elementary school to middle and obviously middle to high school. So this is not only uh um an opportunity to look at how we organize this work differently uh but it
074might yield some good results in how we make those transitions work that can inform how we organize our team chairs in the rest of the district over the next few years. Um the nurse that we have we have a float nurse in the district. We have nine nurses in the Milton public schools. One nurse per building which equals six. two float nurses that work throughout the district every day that are not assigned to a school and a nurse director. Um, again like the e educational technology, our nursing department did incredible work during co uh we could have not have gotten by without that uh team of uh highly skilled uh medical professionals in the district. Now that we are moving towards a more postco environment, u we feel like we can do with one less
075float nurse. Uh that individual um will be offered a job with a uh student who needs a full-time nurse in the district. So we do have a place for them to go. Uh so that individual will be made whole if they decide to stay in Milton public schools, but the second float nurse will be reduced to just one float nurse, which is a savings of roughly $89,000. We have a building sub at the preschool that didn't seem to work out last year. We're not filling that position for next year. There's only a few staff there that can access the the daily subs and the building subs at the county and Kolicott. Um there was a special education position at the Glover that was uh no longer needed and we were thinking about moving that position
076up to the um the high school. Uh the position became vacant when someone left and resigned. uh we thought we would try to uh create a sister program of a subsparate program at the high school. Um the the number of students that are going to populate that program were not really warranting a full FTE. uh and we felt like if we combined programs at the high school and gave them support through a adjustment counselor because some of these students needed a therapeutic support that that was a better learning environment for them to be able to access high school. And so we're going to uh provide that service delivery as opposed to adding another class. So, those students will be uh in a program uh at Milton High uh in a classroom that will be supported
077by two teachers, one PAR professional and an adjustment counselor. So, we feel like there's plenty of support for those folks to be able to uh be at Milton High and have their IEPs met um during the school year. Again, that special education position was at the Glover and it was vacated and they did not need that at the Glover. Um the custodian and overtime budget will be reduced by $30,000. We believe that we can make that reduction because we have been understaffed for several months and the overtime was needed in order to clean the buildings. Those two positions have been posted and we really felt it was important to have our custodial department be at full staff um instead of not filling one of those vacancies because it's an important role. Um, and if we
078are full staffed, we think that our overtime budget will be uh able to take uh somewhat of a financial reduction because we're fully staffed and we no longer need as much overtime. So, I want to thank Katie for doing that analysis between do we not fill one of the vacancies and take that dollar amount and have that be the savings or do we want to have a full staff, make sure our schools are clean, and then do the analysis of overtime. So, uh, we're very, uh, fortunate to think that we're going to have that $30,000 to add to that total as well. The assistant director of student services is a position that would was based at um, central office to work with Danielle Wetmore, the director of student services. That position was vacated during the
079school year early in the fall and has since been vacant. uh we posted the job, we had a search for the role uh and in the end we decided not to fill it. And this this pauses uh a little bit for us to really take stock in, you know, was that a good decision or not. Uh our special ed and student service department is one of the most important departments in the district. They handle our most uh vulnerable populations of students and our students who need the most care. Um, but when we looked at the workload that that Danielle Wetmore as a director had over the last two years, she was not only the director of student services, she was also took on the registration role for the district. She took on the residency role
080for the district, she took on EL for the district, she took on nursing for the district in guidance. So part of the rationale of being able to go without this position and maybe fill it at the following year was to redistribute some of those other tasks that she's responsible for and realign those to other folks in the district. So we are taking the residency role from her. Uh we are taking the enrollment and registration role from her. We are giving her support for the e uh at the elementary and the secondary level. uh and we're working on how we may be able to reorganize the nursing uh department and maybe have that come under someone else. Our sole goal is to give her everything that she needs to be successful this year because it's such
081a vital role to the district. So, we've made some accommodations on on the other side of that. So, we appreciate Danielle's willingness to have that role not filled u and it was a significant savings to the district. Um we uh getting down to the speech pathologist, we had originally had a 1.0 speech pathologist resign. Uh in looking at the case load across the elementary schools, uh we feel that we only need to post and hire a.5 as opposed to a full-time position. That savings would be about $49,675. We do have enough staff on hand in order to meet the needs of our students who have speech in their service delivery. And keep in mind that folks like speech pathologist, OT, physical therapists, etc. are really able to go across the district and meet the needs
082across schools. They're not just school-based. They're need based. So, uh, if we need to redistribute folks in the district already for speech or any other service delivery, we will do that. And if we need to add to that 0.5 at any time during the year because the uh service delivery numbers go up, we would come back to the school committee and ask for permission to to make that make an increase in that that person's FTE. Ironically, the person was not interested in the full-time job and is very happy to have the 0.5 job. So, we got a high level highquality individual because it was a halftime job. So, right now that feels like a good win for the district and a savings as well. Uh lastly, there was a French building sub uh that also
083didn't finish the school year, left in the middle of the year. Uh uh with that uh position being vacated, the building subs in in the schools and also the daily sub pool would continue to be the support mechanism uh when a teacher in the French program is out, just like a teacher in the English program. The downside of that is that the building sub in French is a really great bullpen to hire someone who might not be certified but speaks French and wants to get into the world of education and can be working in the schools and we can get get to know them and they can get to know the quality of the program and help them get certified so we always have another person getting ready to be uh available. Um it is
084hard to recruit and retain uh our French immersion staff. It's a very unique program. Uh so we would absolutely rethink that position for the FY27 budget because it provides layers of good things to the district other than just being a substitute teacher. Um, so those 8.5 positions uh have totaled roughly $772,279 that in meeting with Katie over the course of the summer and trying to get comfortable with what amount of money would we need in order to redistribute across the budget lines and have deficits. This is a very good start. Uh this is also the shift in culture that we don't always have to ask for more that we can actually look within our budget in order to redistribute and rethink how we want to prioritize what we need for students uh in how we
085want to deploy the resources towards what is best for students each year. So I think this is a good exercise that we want to um be thoughtful about as we get ready for FY27. These dollars do not go back to the town. These dollars stay in the school budget and these positions will stay in the school budget just unfilled and they'll all be in discussion when we do the FY27 uh budget um uh work and quite frankly that budget work for FY27 will provide a lot more time for community and stakeholder engagement and feedback. uh this was an unusual and unprecedented step in order to make the budget uh reduced in a way that made would assure us to be successful. Normally these kind of reductions and not filling positions would be a larger conversation
086with the school committee, a larger conversation with our staff and with the school community. So we promise that conversation will happen for FY27 and I would not be surprised if some of the positions on this list will be back on our faculty and staff for the FY27 year. So, I want to thank Katie. Uh, I want to let you know that um, a lot of assistant superintendents for finance uh, are really good at the finance part of the work, but Katie's ability to sit in all these meetings and also be an educator and speak to the front of the house and the back of the house when it comes to the budget and understand the need and the value of the positions that we were filling and not filling. And being a strategic member of
087that group was very helpful because then when we're trying to do the the budget in a way that's we know that we have someone in charge of the budget that not only knows the numbers but also understands the value of each of the positions that we're talking about. So the ability to have someone of Katie skill set not only as a uh business person but as a as an educational lens into the work and the leadership team has been very helpful. So thank you Katie for that work. >> Great. Thank you. Um, anything not to put you on the spot. Okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh, again, really appreciate it, John. And for other members who aren't there at the finance committee meeting this morning, again, this is a lot a lot of what we talked
088about. Appreciate John walking through. I I want to just name really appreciate the detail with which John, you can speak to these matters and like getting in the weeds. I've always really appreciated about Katie and as you've said, she like helps bring us along and educates us about these things. But, uh, really appreciate you leading on this. both with like the impact to kids and the impact to staff and thinking about that as we ensure financial stability as you've talked about. I did just want to like highlight one thing you mentioned at the start which is like we were doing this to shore up line items. I can see some people saying like isn't that what the override was for? I just want to highlight that that is what the override was for. KD obviously
089used within the budget planning process. All of us were, you know, that was started in February to kind of plan that based upon that identified line items and things like that of what we needed. And so what we said at that point and again Katie's led us through this is we're going to need to come back to that after we see exactly how the year ends out >> to to ensure that our assumptions in in February were the right one. see where we were off and fix that so that we start the year on a really strong basis. So again stating again glad we're having this conversation now um and able to strengthen these accounts to feel good about going into the rest of this year. Um just on a side note too personal and
090I appreciate the statement around the teachers lounge the partnership great organization I know we work with him at our school Devin Morris is the founder I know him he's exceptional guy and has become really a leader in this area and the sur Boston surrounding area so really excited that we're partnering with them >> great for that uh recruitment and hiring retention work. Oh, >> any other points about that discussion that any of the other finance committee members want to? >> Um I well there are two things I'd like to say. One is um I appreciate the um explanation around um a couple of things. one is with respect to the the DEI B work and the fact that um that there's that it's not we're not saying that this um work is being that we're
091not doing the work that the focus talking about where the focus is with respect to the hiring and and that it's um that that's still very much um a priority >> and looking really at what um the strategies will be and the focus would be in the coming years. So I think that that's important to know that that is still very much a focus. I think the other thing that um I found very helpful, excuse me, and refreshing is, you know, when we've gone through this and you've shared, you have that great big spreadsheet um where they're de, you know, especially when you look at positions like um a speech pathologist or you look at even like the team chair or some of those roles recognizing that um having a sense of what their case
092load is and recogni and matching those services to the IEP. I mean, I think it's a level of work that needs to be done that isn't always necessarily done. So, seeing all of the work that you did, I feel, you know, it makes me feel a lot more confident that we aren't removing people or services from students who need them. Um, and that's that's uh that's definitely reassuring. And also the philosophy around the team chairs, I think that makes a lot of sense with those transition periods. I think that sometimes those are areas where kids get lost when it's that handoff from 8th to 9th or fifth to sixth or K to um preK to K. So I like the fact or I appreciate I should say the fact that um there was a strategic
093lens to it as well recognizing um what positions weren't being refilled this year. >> So thank you for that. >> You're welcome. >> And the only I'd add a couple of minor things. Um, I first just really appreciate the the transparency in this effort from both of you, both on the process that you went through with your leadership team and that what you're doing with the school committee today and with the public, there are no secrets in what's happening here, which is which is really really great. The second thought I have is just um you know the the budget reallocation that you're proposing here represents about 1% of the total school budget which 1% is not that much but when almost your entire budget is fixed costs that can't be realigned um this is actually
094an enormous amount of money to free up and put toward um budget lines that are at risk. So um I think it's a lot of really smart moves here. Um these moves are not without risk and we've been transparent about what that risk could look like, but I think in order to get the the budget, this year's budget in the right place, it's worth the risk. >> Um so thank you both. >> You're welcome. and to share from a process perspective. Uh what we are doing right now is again looking at the staffing as John said the positions we're not going to refill and the school department is looking for kind of the school committee to vote to support this direction. We are going to need to come back after the quarter one uh where
095Katie and John will identify where the money is going to be reallocated in terms of the specific line items. We're not voting on that today. So that that reallocation will need to be voted on by school committee. But what I think the they brought to us at finance committee and we voted unanimously to supported at finance committee. It's just ensuring that the school committee is kind of aligned on this as a direction specifically around these positions being unfilled. And again mostly I think John's urgency was ensuring we're doing that before the start of the year because then that obviously affects staff more and that affects uh kids more. Um and so that's those are the kind of two steps we'll be taking. But any questions any members have further on this? >> If not, oh
096please. I was just going to say I appreciated the opportunity to listen in and participate in the discussion this morning and I don't want to um say more than needed. it's already been said, but I think this approach is um it is what we need right now. And I just am thankful for the thoughtfulness um because there are so many implications for each one of these decisions and um I think it, you know, I I'm really looking forward to the FY27 budget process where we will be able to continue considering these implications. Um, but I appreciate your naming so clearly, you know, what your process was, your thought process, and see looking for all those sort of win-wins um ways to save the money that we need to save in the short term while um
097mitigating a harmful impact or at least opening up an opportunity to sort of think outside the box in a way that could overall um you know even enhance the you know what that department or or even position might be able to contribute >> starting in you know in a future year. So um I think the messaging around we're pausing these um is is important for the community to understand that that is what's happening rather than the reductions rather than um the things you explained. But um just having, you know, been here over these past few years of really challenging times, I think I can't um overstate how important it feels to be doing this at this point in the year. And it's been a lot of work over the summer um while some of us
098were able to actually take a little bit of a you know, a a breath. But thank you for all of that work. >> And can I just add one thing? Um, want to thank the Milton Public Schools faculty and staff who I reached out to and gave the letter today to the entire staff and I I I identified every single position to be very very clear. Um, and as we said that there there will be folks sharing some work to share. So I don't want to minimize the fact that uh there might be things that we're all lifting up and trying to do and share. across that. So, I I appreciate uh the um the staff, you know, listening to that tonight and reading the memo. And then for further uh communication and clarity, I
099will be sending a letter to all families and staff tomorrow uh summarizing tonight's meeting and the hopeful approval after the vote uh that we'll be making these um uh these transitions and realignments um and not filling these positions. So, uh, again, as we said in our finance committee, uh, we want to be proactive with what we're doing. We want to be very clear and transparent with what we're doing and why. And, um, and so that communication in the website for the finance, uh, uh, committee will be is up and running by this week. Uh, thanks to Stephanie O'Keeffe. And all these documents will be proactively posted there for folks to review as well. >> Sorry. Can I add one other thing? And I think it was an important thing that we talked about which is
100this is being done for I think for a couple of reasons. One is that you talked about the the areas where they their budget line items where there may where they might be underfunded. But I think recognizing that we don't have any reserve funds within circuit breaker that we have zero um buffer should um students come in who require more services or are referred for special education or require an out of district placement that that those can you know a couple of students um that or and and this isn't to put it on the special education more that special education is the most um uh the one area where there is the most, as we talked about earlier, the most eb and flow. And so to be able to know that we have um resources
101in place to support those students that don't um and without trying to figure out where to take it from in other parts of the budget, I think is really important just because we used those reserves in the past. So, I think that that's a that is a huge piece that that we need to um that I'm grateful that we're that we're looking at and that that that could have a real budget impact if we weren't looking ahead like this. So, Any other questions or comments? Uh, I will make a motion uh a motion to support the direction of the school department's plan for FY26 budget realignment as presented tonight in this memo. >> Second. >> Great. Uh, all in favor? >> Unanimous. Thank you very much. Again, thank you Katie. Thank you, John, for your
102work on that. Uh, next item for finance is the um the joint uh budget committee. Um, and so was it been called the tri board budget coordination committee. I believe it's called the budget coordination committee is the the final name. Uh, but essentially it's what we've talked about through the kind of override process uh and mentioned it's a established by the select board. They've established it. They've appointed their two members. It's actually the two members of their finance committee are on it. They've also appointed a member of the public. Uh we have two members that we can appoint and a member uh at large member from the public. Uh so those are votes that that we need to take and appoint to that committee as we do other committees. Um the it is online for
103uh residents to to look at for us to look at on the town website that has information on like what the committee is and the members. Um so uh the planning board also has a member warrant committees also have member and they have all um at this point I believe voted. So we as a school committee need to vote to appoint. Um we can discuss who there's no requirement that it be financed. I think that's been kind of my thoughts given it's a finance committee related um uh board, but I think that's something we we should talk through of like who who we think are the right people to appoint as school committee members. >> And what is the process for identifying the designate? they they've um opened up um a place where you can
104apply to it for or for that position I should say. Um and I reached out to Nick Milano. He is on vacation this week, but to see if they've gotten uh applications for the um resident designate. So once we have that, then I think we would go through a similar >> and maybe with the climate action. >> Yes, >> that's like a similar process. So, we could look at those together. >> Yeah, it's a a good flag though for anybody who's watching or listening to this. Uh those the ability to apply for these >> uh committees is on the town website. Um so, please go and apply for again the two we get to appoint is climate action and this one uh we have some designates we can appoint. So, if you are interested um
105please apply. I I'll jump in. I you know I think you similar to what you said um it seems like it would be uh good you know similar to the other boards having members from the finance committee um be members of this uh budget coordination committee. Um, so, um, I don't know if anybody has other thoughts around that. I think just because you're in all of the meetings and you're, you know, reviewing all the budget documents, etc., it's not, nobody else really has to get up to speed if they're not able to participate or attend the finance uh, subcommittee meetings. Um, so to that end, I would um I would be nominating Mark and Nathan, assuming that people agreed that they were um finance subcommittee members. >> Yeah, I think I think Mark and Nathan
106would be great candidate for this. Here you go. >> These will be public meetings so anybody can attend who would like to and obviously anything discussed to that would be brought back to finance committee which is cross-osted and would be brought back here. >> Reminder that this committee has no >> voting authority policy passing authority. It's merely to share information ask questions >> and then bring that back to the voting authority which would be in our case the school committee as a whole. And I don't know if this changed, but I know in the last document that I read, they were talking about this would be for a one-year term and then they would as a committee determine whether or not it made sense to continue forward in 2027. Um, so it's sort of a
107almost like a pilot program, if you will. So, this would be for, you know, would be for a one-year term, and it would become like a committee that reports back, I think you just said this, but it reports back at these meetings like um it it would not be under the finance subcommittee report necessarily, but it's it's one of our townwide committees that we serve on. So once after your monthly meeting at the next school committee meeting there it would be on our agenda to hear a report. Just >> confirming my understanding of that. >> That makes sense. Y >> okay. I agree. It makes sense for finance committee members to be on it because you're by definition you're informed in the up to speed on I presume will be discussed. >> There's no concern.
108I will accept the nomination if you accept. >> Yes. Uh so at least for the purpose of discussion I'll make the awkward motion of I'll make a motion to appoint uh Mark Luring and Nathan Hutter to the Milton budget coordination committee for fiscal year 2026. >> Second. >> Great. Any further discussion? Okay. All in favor? Great. That is checked off. Uh next thing is the approval of vendor warrants. There's a lot. Uh, so, um, we have to close out some vendor warrants from fiscal year 25 that were reviewed and signed over the summer. I believe I've sent all of those fiscal year warrant 26. I believe I sent three and four. I reviewed and signed six and seven today. I have not forwarded those documents. So, I'll do that um maybe at some point at
109the end of this meeting. So, apologize for that. But, uh, all these have been uh reviewed and signed off at this point. So, I will go ahead and at least make the motion for discussion. And if anybody has questions, we can do it there. Um, all at once. Uh, motion is made to approve vendor warrant 48 in the amount of $891,715.35 payable on 61225. Vendor warrant 50 in the amount of $884,55.38 payable on 62625. Vendor Warrant 51 in the amount of $578,1849 payable on 62725. Vendor warrant 52 in the amount of $186,00020 payable on 63025 for fiscal year 26 uh approving vendor warrant 3 in the amount of $83,466.7 payable on 71025. Vendor warrant four in the amount of $23,8362 payable on 73125. Vendor warrant 6 in the amount of 542,23944 payable on $81425. And
110vendor warrant 7 in the amount of $576,583.12 payable on 82125. Is there a second? >> Second. Any discussion? All in favor? That's the vendor warrants. Um I believe that's everything for finance. >> Excellent. Yeah. School. So the school building school building committee report. >> Uh all right. >> We should break these up. So do something in between for you. >> I'm sorry I talked. >> No. uh school building committee. Uh we met a couple weeks ago have um and again apologize with our I'm not sure if we talked about this in open school committee meeting at this point but school building committee uh primary thing we were able to kind of talk about it last meeting is one we are through module one of the school uh MSBA process. We've completed all those steps submitted
111them to the MSBA. We're SBA is reviewing. We're waiting on their kind of sign off and formal moving us into step two. Uh we were supposed to have 180 days to complete that. We did it in much much less time than that. Um because it started in May and we've completed it by early July 31st. Um so I think that's like around 90 days. So it's great. Uh really appreciative of every member of that committee kind of pushed that along and all the work John and Katie did to kind of get some documents together with Tom and the principles, things like that. So thank you. Um other thing that uh was discussed at school committee uh school building committee and I forwarded it to y'all is the warrant article that um school building committee reviewed
112uh related to changing the reverter clause in the land swap. So, just for the background, the land swap uh legislation around the the land identified for the uh school building project uh back in so 2023, I believe, um uh Springtown meeting in 2023. Uh that was passed. It had a 5-year reverter clause. At that point, the saying if the school building project um construction did not begin within 5 years, the land would revert back um so that it was not just kept in perpetuity. um um and was put back into conservation if it wasn't to be used. Uh we were moving on a good timeline for that uh through kind of the school building committee process until we hit the acceptance into MSBA. It's obviously great news because that means some funding for the town.
113The downside was it meant the process slowed uh was delayed kind of significantly. We've had to slow down um and obviously are just module one. So the concern is based upon kind of the best timelines as as Sean has laid out for the committee is that going through the MSBA process within their timeline that it's going to run us right up against that five-year reverter clause. Um and I think the uh the idea is then to say that you know the intent of the reverter clause is to ensure that the project doesn't die and it just the land sits kind of unused. And so given that we are in the MSBA and that's now dragging out a little bit longer is to extend that reverter clause not remove it but just extend it and the
114plan the plan presented was just to extend it another five years given that was the original amount. Um and so that was a vendor warrant article that was proposed. School building committee uh reviewed that voted unanimously to uh approve it to move it forward with the warrant committee. Um Sean uh and myself will be in front of warrant committee on Monday discussing that warrant article as a part of the fall town meeting in October. Um so that is something that we should discuss from a school committee perspective is not a warrant but given it's related to the school building project. Typically we have discussed any warrant articles related to that and um voted to either lend our support or not. That's typically something that town media likes to hear from the school committee, our stance
115on a school building committee warn article. So, we don't have a vote on that tonight. We'll have a vote on that at a future meeting. Uh, but wanted to at least begin the discussion, see if there are any questions, uh, comments, concerns. If we really need to, I could probably ask Sean uh, to come here. But, um, otherwise, I can also kind of gather information. and Nathan and I can gather some stuff and try and answer it and bring it back to you all. But if the committee would really like to, I'm sure Sean wouldn't mind. He's always available. >> Anything I miss from that? >> No. Very thorough. >> Too thorough. Any questions folks have on that one article? >> Okay. And I've sent the language uh to everybody, so you haven't had time
116to read through it. >> You can. If anything comes up, let us know. But that is that's the only change. It's essentially the language is a little bit long because it's I think most the same language from the original Warren article but just that timeline uh has been adjusted. Okay. Uh that's those are the primary things from the school building committee. There's some other things we're working on related to enrollment projections and things that we expect um uh that MSBA is going to need as we continue to move through their process. Um the module two is where we start actually being able to rebuild the construction team essentially um with the architect and the OPM things like that. So that is really after that module is when we'll have kind of the team back that
117we had before we got into NSVA start reooking at the designs of the project and that that kicks off in more earnestness. That is it for the school building committee unless there are any questions >> is the feasibility there's a feasibility study piece of that is that going on when it what module is that >> so it' be module three once we get the design team then when we get to module three we start looking at the the designs again and so we'll look at obviously based upon the proposals we put towards MSBA that was accepted by MSBA we'll look at the upper middle school design as we have we'll need to look at an elementary school uh additional elementary school design as the committee did before I joined, but we'll need to do that
118again through MSBA um and potentially some other things that that we can look at as well. So, MSBA will kind of walk us through and say exactly here are the different things you'll need to study and produce a report on and then uh ultimately share that to say this is why we are wanting to move forward with this type of project based upon kind of the the studies we've done. Great. >> Thank you. When are we going to hear back from LSDA about this first phase? >> It's a good question. I'm not sure. Um, again, we've completed it like well in advance of the allowable timeline. We're still trying to move other work forward that we know they are going to be needing to not uh totally pause. But I I think we expect to
119hear in the next month or so, but it's it's yeah, I'm not I'm not 100% sure. So, I can also follow up with Sean. I know he's like reaching out to them, connecting with them. to connect with Nick and um maybe with John. I'm not sure. Um and so try and figure out if we've heard anything and have a better timeline for our next meeting. >> Good question. >> I think it happens through the board meetings, right? So the approval will happen >> at the next board meeting. >> There you go. >> Which I don't know when that is, but that's when that's the milestone. their boarding their the their board meetings >> the MSBA board meeting they'll >> review the they'll review our our our >> our work our submission for phase one and
120and then vote on it I assume next meeting is scheduled for August 27th so >> next week >> away we'll see if they discuss and >> not going to discuss it until the 188 80 days that line right >> they shouldn't they shouldn't need to wait the 180 days. >> Thank you. >> Anything else? >> That's it for >> Yes. >> Great. Um so the next thing is uh agenda items for the next meeting. Um, I would like to follow up with the NASC around the um the discussion around the extending the the the uh looking at a second term for the for your role, the superintendent role. So, okay, reaching out to them. I we're trading emails um and looking back and just to see have them come in and address any questions. >>
121Um we can have further discussion around that. Is there anything else that people have? coming out of this meeting that we want to include. Obviously, we'll have an agenda meeting, but if there's something coming out of this that we want follow up on or >> we'll have a finance committee meeting. Um, >> right. >> Before that, we will not have a school building committee meeting. Um, but we should have a further discussion on the warrant on the court. See if the committee can potentially hold a vote in case the committee's ready to vote. Okay. We might possibly have, depending on what Nick says, there might be a vote. There could conceivably be a vote on the citiz on the uh community designate. >> Do we need to speak with them live here or just review?
122>> I have to look at that. Okay. >> For the designate, >> yeah, >> we didn't for at least I guess we probably could, but for climate action when we appointed that person, we just reviewed >> and then discussed the different um resumes that were submitted and >> we'd appoint. I think there was a process maybe you can share >> you can share there might be a process of like independent review and sharing >> top candidates to >> Amanda >> we'll have >> no we don't need till the 15th so we'll be looking at our goals um >> talk about reaffirming the members at the start of the because the members from the community that are on facilities. >> Mh. >> So because I know we didn't haven't done that >> process. So I don't
123really know if that's done here at a meeting to reaffirm the members of facilities um or if those does that just happen at the facilities advisory >> I think meeting >> should like anybody else any other committee >> yeah would be here. >> Okay. All right. >> Um, any other subcommittee? Will you be um No, you wouldn't have had any the plan you guys the >> Oh my gosh. Procedure the >> policy. Thank you. That's the word I'm thinking. >> That's on the 15th. >> That's on the Okay. >> Yeah. Well, I was just So, at our next meeting, we'll be looking at our goals that we drafted. >> Yes. >> If Yeah. >> Okay. So, that's it. Great. All right. I think that is everything. Do we I have a motion to adjurnn? >>
124Make a motion to adjurnn. >> Second. >> All in favor? >> Great. Thank you everyone. [Music]