School Committee (March 11th, 2026)

001Good evening, everybody. It is March 11th, 2026. This is our school committee meeting. We start each meeting by reading our district vision statement. The Ashland Public Schools strives to be a model district that creates a culture of inclusivity for our diverse students and staff who feel safe and supported, are empowered with the academic and social-emotional skills to pursue their chosen path, and embrace their roles as positive contributors to local and global communities. This meeting is being recorded by WACA Cable TV. Our call to order this evening includes opening procedures, agenda review and adoption. We'll have some time for public participation. Uh and first on the agenda, a launch update, Cassia Ashman lead teacher. We will have Pittaway pre-K update, Amanda Curley preschool director, Ashland Middle School engineering students, Caring Kade, a composting prob program proposal

002from the Pittaway School, warrant approvals, superintendent's report including mid-cycle update superintendent goals, and FY27 budget update. Uh the assistant superintendent's report, and then the consent agenda, which has approval of gifts and donation, and minutes from February 25th, 2026. We will have reports of school committee members, and then we will adjourn. So, uh are you all okay with the order of business this evening? And I see that Marcy's here, Paul's here, Mark's here, I'm here, and uh we're waiting for Gina. Um I will ask next if there are any members of the public that would like to give comment this evening. I see some people in line and online, and I don't know if any of you are here to make a comment to the school committee or if you're just here to watch the meeting,

003but if you're here to make a comment, please raise your hand now. This is the comment period and the only one. Seeing none. Um we will move on to our reports and presentations, the lunch update. Hello everybody. Thank you all so much for being here. You want to come on up to the microphone so we can see you on TV. Hey Mike, you want to Pull that mic down. Pull that mic down. This is part my mom will check in the parking lot. Yes. She she's Sophie. It's now his turn. Thank you. We are the lunch program. Thank you for having us. This is a presentation for the lunch program. I hope you like I hope you like the presentation. Thank you. Made our cheese. My name is Jose Serrado Carrillo and I hope to

004go to a vocational day program. Thank you. Um This is on, right? We hear you. My name is Alex Belozubov and I hope to join a I hope to start a community I hope to start a computer programming training program. Thank you. Sophia Markov, I hope to have a job. For I have want to work at a hospital or a lab. Thank you, Sophia. Hi, my name is Noah George. My goal is to get a paying job. I want to work with a work with a DJ. Hopefully. >> Thanks, Noah. Cool. Thank you. Hi, my name is Marcus Arroyo. I want a job working in the kitchen. I hope to earn a kit certificate to do that. Thank you, Marcus. Well, uh well, program, uh We are transition program for young adults ages 18 to

00522. We focus on preparing for adult life after high after high school. This includes job skills, independent living skills, and being active members in the in our community. Thank you. And you want me to help make and deliver orders for the dairy lunch cafe. And you want those off campus each day. Each week we work out at the YMCA. We meet with other transition transition groups at Hopkinton Arts Center for adult classes and we have different social activities every Friday. Thank you. We work at different locations in our community and around the middle school. My favorite internship is Usher Nutrition. We are working on being more independent. Someday I would like to make some drinks for customers from the one and only Kelly from Ashland Nutrition. Mhm. We learn how We learn how to make

006coffee orders. We practice cooking and doing the dishes. Thank you. Uh this year we have the daily launch calf. We can serve staff at the Ashland Middle at at Ashland Middle School drinks and treats. We did a calf uh we did a coffee and kindness fundraiser for for teachers in all the schools in Ashland. Thank you. We also put on the movie event for classes from David Mendez, Ashland Middle School, and the high school. We watched the Super Mario Bros. movie. We sold tickets and had popcorn. Sounds fun. I am proud to learn to work on the office. Nice, Sophia. This program helped me learn more about banking. Well, that's awesome, Alex. I have learned to make coffee drinks by myself. Excellent, Marcos. I am proud that I have learned how to cook butter chicken

007Indian independently. That's great, Noah. Sounds delicious. Thank you. I am proud that I can make breakfast by myself. That's awesome. That also sounds delicious. Um this is the only part I really helped with on this. They have done amazing with, you know, coming up with the ideas of what we were going to talk about tonight, doing the script, um picking the photos. So, this is the only little part I'm going to do. Um I'm Cassie Ashman. I'm the special educator for lunch, and I thought we would just talk on a couple of um long-term goals uh that, you know, our program's hoping for. Um we're hoping someday that one we might have a business that would be open to the public that we could use um models like Westborough's Sugar Shack that they have. Um

008Shrewsbury has Maple and Main. They have these lovely storefronts that um, are access for their programs to do vocational practice. And then there's learning in the back and if you haven't been to either of those, definitely go. Um, so we hope for that sometime, you know, in the future. That would be a great goal of ours. Um, we're hoping to possibly next year start um, working with local colleges like FSU or MassBay for some post-secondary um, learning opportunities for those individuals who are hoping for a college experience with the Macy or MAPC programs that they have. Um, so that's something that we're hoping to maybe start next year and in the future that would be great. Um, and we're also very grateful for our lunch mobile that we have. Um, and as our program continues

009to get bigger, we're hoping that we can also at some point have a larger mode of transportation so that we can um, kind of individualize everybody's uh, work opportunities, learning experience and community events. Um, so those are some three long-term goals that we're hoping for with our program. Thank you so much. Does anybody have any questions? Yeah. Um, you guys, that was an excellent presentation. Thank you so much. We learned a lot. Up, do you have some more to share? Thank you. Sorry. Thank you for your time and support. >> Oh, our pleasure. Thank you all. That was an excellent presentation and we learned a lot about the lunch program and also a lot about what you all are doing as individuals. Um, and it's it's great news all around. So thank you. Yeah. >>

010Okay, next up and anyone who would like to leave it's it's okay to take off now or at any point. We will not be offended. You need to get on with your night. And next up will be the Pittaway pre-K update. When you're ready. You mean this is the one? I know. Okay. I will see how it goes. I've shared the whole document with everybody though just in case. Good. Thank you. Hi, I'm Amanda Curley. This is my first time actually formally presenting to you on behalf of Pittaway. Um so tonight um I'm going to give a brief presentation about our um second family event that we had this year, um the Pittaway Winter Winter Olympics, which took place right before the start of February break. Um unfortunately our little learners can't be here. This

011is right around the time they're eating dinner and going to bed, so um I did my best to try and bring their voices into the presentation the best I could. Um I had a ton of video clips. Um as soon as you pull out a little mini microphone everyone wants a turn to speak on there. Um but some of them whisper and some of them scream at it, so um you'll get a laugh out of some of these that you'll see. Um so you can go through. Yep. Um so just just a little preview. Um so families were invited to come into this, so we had a little photo op thing. And those rings that you see in the picture, um each class decorated a ring and they're tactile, so they used different items in

012the classroom that represented the colors. Um, and it was a way to bring a um, project together that represented all of the classrooms at Pitt Away together. And then our event included um, movement activities, crafts, and sensory. Um, and for this event we um, utilized the calf space as well as our gym space. Yep. So, hopefully it plays. I'll play it. You might have to listen to Matt home. So, on each of the slides they're going We can only hear it probably on Jim's computer, right? >> Yeah. And I'm sure it's really cute. >> It's cute. So, it's shared it's yeah. Yeah. The bobs the bob slide she called it. Yeah. And there's no sound for those. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Looks fine. >> just hit the yep, go to the next one. Yep. We

013did figure skating. Did everybody hear that? Oh. Skating. Yeah. So. They should play automatically. Oops, sorry. Yeah. >> You have all of them? Yeah. You'll see in the next one, yeah. It looked like bowling to him. Yeah. Yeah, no, no. Yeah, some of these don't have videos on them, yeah. Yeah. >> All right. All right. Yeah, you can get this on the one more video when they get to my favorite part. The one on the end with the little girl with the hat is my favorite picture. Playing with my friends was her favorite activity. Yeah. So, that was just a way to bring their voices in to kind of share what their favorite activity was. Um and I'll share this presentation to any of you that get my newsletters, you'll be able to see the

014videos as well and to hear. Um so, this was just um our family attendance rate, so you can see it's pretty comparable. In the morning, we held the session for our AM classes um and in the afternoon, we held it for our PM classes as well as our full-day classes um and we had a pretty comparable attendance rate for our families. Um that was just the percentage to make sure that every child had at least one family member. Um some of them had multiple family members that came, multiple generations that came, siblings, aunts and uncles. Um so, it was a true um family event um organized chaos. Uh you know, Jim was able to stop by in the morning um when it was a little less crowded than the afternoon. Um Yep. And then, I

015also did a feedback survey um to families. So, this is just a highlight of um some of the feedback that we got from families. Um so, um families reported strong engagement and they felt that they had meaningful connections with their children through the different activities um that we offered. Um they viewed the event as being well organized and welcoming um and highly engaging for their students. Um and some of the highlights they had were the activity stations, the creative theme, movement based fun, um, and just the strong, um, staff support. Um, and then some feedback they had for us of how we could maybe refine future events, um, was to, um, really look at some of our areas like the calf that had a craft areas if there's way to, um, spread those out, maybe

016utilize our library area, and then kind of adjust some timing and flow with that just because especially in the after noon when there was more classes, um, just trying to handle all of their logistics cuz we also had to like get people out so the buses could get in. So, different things, um, and then I also did, um, a survey the next slide, um, for the staff as well to get some feedback from the staff. So, this was a staff, um, planned event. So, they planned all the activities and that was the teaching staff. It was our special education, um, support staff, our, um, physical therapist, our OT, our speech and language, they all planned as well. Um, so all the staff really viewed it as a successful event. Um, they kind of watched the

017observations with us the parents and the students because it was a family event. They were able to kind of stand back and kind of take in how, um, students were interacting with their families. Um, they loved the variety of activities that we had. Um, they felt that our activities supported our diverse learners, but they also wanted us to still continue to advance and you can see in future, um, think of our students who maybe have some limited mobility, could we add in some more, um, adaptation to our events to support them as well so that we're always looking to improve and grow in our practice. Um, so that's just a brief overview. Um, you know, I invite the committee here. Our next event is our Pittway Open House which will be April 15th, um, starting

018at 4:30. It's a drop-in. Um, our theme this year is going to be out of this world. So, the students starting next week will start to work on that theme and they will do different activities in the classroom that they'll showcase and then they'll have some live activities that they can participate in their families with. But we'd love it for you guys to drop by and see what's happening at Pitt away in person. Um, does anyone have any questions for me? Well, that was a great event. Yeah, it's so nice to have you here filling us in and sounds like it's a good year so far. Good year, yes. Yeah, taking it all in. But I have a wonderful wonderful support staff. Um, I have >> You had really high attendance, too, so that's great.

019Especially events during the day are harder for families often to get to. So, it's really nice to see. You guys did a great job connecting with them all and pulling them in. Looks like it was fun. It was very fun, yes. Yeah, they uh the staff were trying out the bobsled as well. That was quite the event. Yeah, so. All right, thank you so much. >> Amanda. Have a great rest of the year. Okay, Ashland Middle School. We have our engineering students here. Welcome, welcome. I see some stuff on my table. >> Yes. All right, I'm going to just do a quick intro. Um, this is the first one, yes, thank you. Um, as you know, we spent a lot of time talking about the schedule change and addition of classes. And so, for the

020seventh grade, um the core class that was added for them was engineering. Um, and the two teachers that are teaching that class um were formerly a math and a science teacher on the half team, uh Miss D'Ignazio and Miss Gentile, and I cannot thank them enough for one, just their willingness to dive in to a whole new curriculum and and build it as they're flying the plane this year. Uh the goal of the class is to really be project-based and applicable knowledge, applying the what this the knowledge the kids are learning to their um to their class. So, we have two groups, one from each team, um who are going to present on a courtyard uh project that they did. So, first up, from Miss D'Ignazio's class, I and Isabella. Hello, ladies. How many want

021to switch? This is our AMS Courtyard project. Table of contents. So, I'm going to be talking about some topics that we're going to talk about. One, about the project. Two, our goals for the project. Three, requirements. Four, design ideas. Five, scale drawing. Six, location of the design. Seven, 3D model. Eight, conclusion. About the project. We are redesigning the AMS Courtyard to have a more welcoming place for all students in the school. First, we had to take measurements of the existing courtyard. Then, draw scale drawing of the courtyard. Then, research and create the new design. And lastly, we had to create a 3D model. Our goals for this project. We wanted our courtyard to be a welcoming space, educational, and fun for everyone. What we mean by fun for everyone is that some people can't take

022have the ability to step down. And when you need to get into the courtyard, you need to take a step. Some people don't have the ability to do that. Three major requirements. Reconfigure the flower garden. Seating options for a minimum of a 20 people. And provide a covered space. New garden space. Recreated three different garden areas. Two out of three spaces are flower gardens. Each 20 ft by 4 ft. We have one garden area with vegetables, fruits, and walking paths so that students can interact with the space. The vegetable fruit garden is 20 ft by 8 ft. As you can see, there is a scale drawing of our flower garden. And at the bottom, we have a scale drawing our with scale drawing of our vegetable and fruit garden and also a inspiration photo. Both

023garden spaces are all for educational and stress relief purposes. Students can have a hands-on experience growing vegetables and fruits in a peaceful interaction with nature. Koi pond. We want to add a koi pond for a focal point. This allowed the space to be more inviting and can also be used as a calming space for students that need it. For safety, the ponds are about 2 ft deep and this is very important because we don't want a super deep pond because it is obviously dangerous and also hard to maintain and by having a shallow pond, it is safe and it's easy to maintain. Seating options. We have four picnic tables and two benches for the students to sit at. Three tables are 10 ft by by 4.5 ft, which can seat up to 10 to 12

024people each. One table is 8 ft by 3.5 ft, which can seat up to 8 to 10 people. This means that we have enough seating for 38 people. We wanted to have an area for students to do their work, eat lunch and socialize with friends. Covered space. We picked a canopy to create a covered space for convenience and because it protects well against different types of weather. We put We put the seating underneath the canopy to protect students from heat or rain. The canopy is 36 ft long, 24 ft wide and 15 ft tall. At the bottom, this is a inspiration pictures of our canopy. The shade canopy is made with PVC coated polyester. This is a This is material is 100% waterproof and 97% UV protection. This is a great material for any weather

025conditions such as rain and the powerful sunlight. Additional design element sports court. Sports court. We wanted to have a space for students to be active. We decided to pick a sports court that can include basketball, volleyball, pickleball, and more activities to stay active and to have fun. It can be used during recess, PE, or after school. The sports court would have would be 46 ft long, 31 ft wide, and the fence would be about 13 ft high. We would have a net or fence around the court for safety. There will be adjustable and removable nets for different sports that need them. That is the scale drawing of the current AMS courtyard. And this is the scale drawing with our design, and we will be talking about more we will be having more specific designs on

026the next slide. Stand out design elements. As you can see, there's a ramp on both sides, and there's two flower gardens with cover space and tables, and there's also a vegetable garden and a pond. Those are the benches, and the cement sidewalk that leads all the way across, another ramp, and a sports court, and turf grass. We chose to use turf grass because if people fall, they won't get severely injured, and for wheelchairs, it can be more accessible, and it's easier to maintain. No, I don't think So, this is our 3D model. There is a actual 3D model right there. There's a canopy. There's the canopy. These are the details we made. Awesome. Conclusion. Our design is fun and educational for everyone. We met all three requirements, seating for at least 20 people, a covered

027space, and a new garden area. We also added sports fields for people who want to be active and a relaxing koi pond. Now, the AMS courtyard can be accessible for everyone and a spot that people want to spend time in. Wow, amazing. Thank you. Thank you for listening. Very impressive, girls. Are you available for hire at McDonald's? All right, and Becca >> done. Thank you. Becca and Ariel are going to present their their version of their design as well, just so we can get representation from each team. These two groups were selected by their teachers as the top projects from each team. So, um Come on up, girls. >> Well done. Come on up. Okay. And yeah, make sure you talk into the mic so you can hear yourself when you go to watch it

028later. Our design for the courtyard has a path running down the center and two gardens. One garden has a path running through it so people can enjoy the view and another is centered around plants that pollinators would use. Um there's also a um tree with it's like near like the circle and then there's like a bench around the tree. And We also have three canopies that cover two picnic tables each so the picnic tables stay dry and away from weather. We have two bench swings with a tree in between them to provide a relaxing area and vegetable boxes where students can grow their own vegetables. Courtyard seating, 20 plus people. Round outdoor picnic table. This is a picnic table that can fit six people and it has a diameter of 35 in. We chose this

029picnic table cuz it will provide a good space for students to learn and talk while they're in the courtyard. Farmhouse two-person bench. This bench is made of durable hardwood and designed for outdoor use. It fits two people. We chose to buy this bench because it is a great place for students to hang out, talk, or rest. It will provide students with with a comfortable place to enjoy. Three-person wooden bench swing. This bench swing is durable and weather resistance. It has an adjustable height. We chose to get it because it has two side tables for students to keep their belongings and students can relax and read on it. Round tree bench. This bench wraps around the tree, feels comfortable feels comfy, gives you a nice spot to enjoy the surroundings, and offers a space for at

030least four people. Courtyard landscaping, garden and circulation path. The garden. In our garden, we chose to have multiple different species of flower to add color and life to the courtyard. There's a bench where students can sit and enjoy the different flowers. We added flowers that are native to Massachusetts like white yarrow. We also have a small pollinator garden with different varieties of milkweed to attract butterflies, bee balm to attract hummingbirds, and other flowers that will attract native Massachusetts bumblebees that are endangered. The vegetable box. It's a good idea because it helps organize the vegetables and make them easier to reach. It also creates a very pretty view. The pebbles. These pebbles help with drainage and they make a clear path and way to traverse the courtyard. They also prevent the path from getting muddy. Courtyard

031shading and accessibility. Canopy. This canopy is a good addition because it keeps you dry from rain or snow. It also gives you shade so you can sit under it comfortably. Collapsible ramp. This is a durable metal ramp that can be folded in half when not in use. It has a textured surface so people on wheelchairs won't slide down it. It'll allow people with wheelchairs to access the courtyard, and it can be used in other parts of the school, too. There's been a problem with birds crashing into the windows in the courtyard, and to solve that, we got window alert UV stickers. The stickers are coated in a UV coating that looks really bright to birds, so they'll avoid crashing into the windows. Smart. Yeah. Okay. The total cost is $3,304.06. Amazing. Wow. All of you

032did such a wonderful job, and yeah, and so thorough and impressive, and we love your models. And you could hear them throughout talking about um the durability of some of the products and how many seats and the size and the dimensions of everything. Um all of that was were were requirements of the project. Um and with with regard to the materials, they had in the beginning of the year learned about different materials and what works well and in holds heat and what, you know, um reflects sunlight and what um so they really did every step of this and and it just really they did an amazing amazing job, including being including being out in the courtyard measuring it when it was very very cold luckily before the snow but they were really out there taking

033the measurements and they did this from start to finish so really proud of all of our seventh grade engineering students. >> Yeah amazing yeah thank you for sharing that with us this is like the best part of our night when you seriously you should see what we have to do later it's Like what does it in a good mood and we're so impressed and we're so happy and and and proud that you're getting that education and that you're coming in and sharing what you're learning with us so I I do get a lot of questions from students of like are we going to make I mean I I think you've got some really good ideas for sure so thank you so much >> is it's really great to see this the project base element of

034the engineering class I just love it I was saying to Marcy this in the earlier presentation we had earlier this year from the business class this is such incredibly productive learning and I love it it's you guys did such an incredible job so well done I want to see these come to life these look great I have a backyard if you need practice This is this is all based off of the one courtyard that right when you walk in kind of goes from the Awesome well thank you have a great night we appreciate Have a good night thank you Okay next up Caring Cade the composting program proposal for the Paid-Away School hello Let me get the right one for you here Yeah Yeah, no I had it. It was just Okay. 10 presentations tonight.

035I see green. It's not up there though. >> Not up there yet. Delay. Okay. Um hello. I'm Kieran Cade. I'm a senior at Ashland High School. >> Welcome. Um and this presentation is sort of just an overview of the plan that I've been creating over the last um for a composting program. I'm really interested in environmental science and I hope to do it in the future and it's something that I'm passionate about. Um so, I really wanted to make that come to life because I've seen how sustainability can work in the real world and I really want this to sort of be a springboard to hopefully make it so that um people realize that we can be more sustainable and so that we can create more program programs in the future. Um this is Resham.

036She's kind of like my successor, I guess. Welcome. Hi, I'm Resham. I'm also a high schooler. I'm a junior this year. Um and yeah, hopefully if it works out at Pittaway, we can expand the project um and I can help out with that. And I'm also part of the Environmental Action Club that's going to be part of the maintenance program for this. Excellent. Thank you. >> Um so, the location um is going to be at the Pittaway School. Um we're hoping to have it in sort of like the driveway area where the dumpsters are. It'll be in a tumbler that spun um after the compost is deposited into it. So, that's where it'll be. Um so, the Environmental Action Club from the high school is going to be the one depositing the compost from the

037bin into the tumbler. Um so, Eric Tracey, I'm sorry if I'm pronouncing that wrong. Um the Pittaway Nutrition Services Manager is going to be the one who's accumulating the compost as he handles sort of all the vegetables and fruits for the kids um since he's the one who's mainly cooking in the kitchen. Um, so the compost when it's ready it's going to be turned over to the DPW and will be taken to the compost site. So, um, compost is going to accumulate throughout the week as the children eat their breakfasts and lunches and stuff. Um, and it's going to be deposited on one day or two days a week depending on how much waste there is into the compost tumbler. And the Environmental Action Club will have a sign-up sheet and whoever deposits the compost

038will be eligible for 30 minutes of community service. So, as I stated, the main hope of this project is to reduce waste, but it's also meant to be a trial to see maybe if some kind of program could be possible to implement in the other schools in Ashland. And I think is that the last slide? It looks like Okay, yeah. Um, so are there any questions? Well, first, awesome. That's That's what I mean, such great stuff tonight. Thank you. Um, is it going to do you want to start right away or Um, I really do hope to start as soon as possible. Um, once we get all the materials that we have the high school actually already has some composting tumblers in its courtyard that we could just transfer over and use. So, And like

039about how many people are going to be helping you out? Like do you have enough people to participate? Oh, yes. Yes, the Environmental Action Club 20 20 20 20 members in the Environmental Action Club. Um, and they're all really excited about it. Um, so and we do have some kind of like contingency plans so that if nobody signs up or if someone's not available, then um, Samantha Riley, who's the the sustainability committee um, at town hall, um, I'm sure you know. Um, has offered to take some of the responsibility on herself. I'm willing to come and help out if need be. Um, so yeah, there's sort of like a chain of command I guess there. Awesome. Questions? Is there I'm sorry. I was just going to say you mentioned that the Ap- public schools already

040has the tumbler, which is great. Is there any other equipment you need, and if so, do you guys have a budget for it? What does that look like? Um the only other equipment we really need is basically just a bin that Eric can put the compost in as he's sort of preparing like compostable organic matter. Um and I could buy that myself, honestly. So Well, that was not the reason I was asking. I just didn't know if you were looking for funds >> Oh no, I got it all >> if the club was going to fundraise and what that looked like. I I don't think we really need any fundraising. >> we might have some. We have like some big crates in the Some big crates? Great. So you've already got it taken care of.

041Perfect. That sounds great. It's a wonderful idea. My my question was you talked about composting working with food services. >> Mhm. I assume there's some compostable material elsewhere in the school. Um people throw napkins away or whatever they they do in the classrooms. Um is there any possibility of at least maybe down the road looking at at being able to capture more of that as well as just working with food services? >> Yeah, I would love to do that in the future. Um and I actually in a few of my meetings with um other officials like um Miss Curly over there. Um we kind of talked about that. Um and the thing is is a lot of the um materials are either plastic coated or have plastic in them a certain percentage, and anything with

042plastic in it isn't compostable, so that's one of the issues. We'd have to switch over to new products um for a lot of things, and also um that would require probably some amount of teaching the kids on the teachers' part, which um I spoke to her about that, and we just came to the conclusion that the kids really aren't old enough for that yet. So >> probably learn faster than adults. Thank you. So uh question, how long do you expect the material to be in the tumblers? I mean Um real in warmer weather, it really only takes um maybe 2 to 3 weeks for it to compost down um into what is basically soil. Um in the colder weather, it would probably take around 3 and 1/2 weeks, around there. Um depending on how much

043compost is in the tumbler. So, um there are there more than one tumbler we could use. Um so, we'll just honestly have to see how much waste is produced in the in a sort of time period for us to get to know really how many tumblers we'll need, um how often we'll need to deposit it at the compost site, things like that. And uh couple other questions around the location you're choosing relative to neighbors, particularly you know, we have more neighbors obviously at Pittaway than we do at a lot of the other schools, but uh typically these do give off a little bit of a Yeah. little aroma. So, have has you given any thought to that location relative to that and what your response would be if if there was any uh any kind

044of questions about that? Um so, I actually have the same kind of compost tumbler at my house right in my backyard when you walk out of the back door. Um and there's I have not experienced any issue with odor in the past. Um but if there were to be an issue with odor, I don't believe that there would cuz it's kind of separated from other houses given that it's behind a fence, I mean it's kind of secluded, and the students and teachers don't really go over there. Um but if there were to be one, um I suppose we could think about maybe a location change, um or maybe sealing it off with another fence, but that would be a budget issue maybe. And and and you said you already have one of that similar. Have

045you had any uh animal issues at all? No, so the tumblers we use actually have like a sliding door that can close. Um and I've never had any issues with animals getting into my compost tumbler, and we I have a rampant rabbit infestation. So, they would get in there if they could. But, we can see, obviously. I mean, again, I do want this to sort of be just like a trial run for the first couple weeks, and then if there are any issues or anything that we need to fix, um I'd love to sort of take it in and rework it and bring it back. So, it's high enough off the ground that little animals aren't a problem. >> I wasn't worried about little animals. I was more worried about big animals that get knocked

046over and, you know, having that interest. Uh but Well, it is sealed, so hopefully Any other questions? Yeah, just a quick question. What do you guys plan to do with the uh fertilized soil that you end up uh developing? >> Well, whatever the DPW wants to do with it, honestly. Once we hand it over to the DPW for the compost site, they can it's theirs. So, whatever they do with it, that's pretty much their own um jurisdiction. >> responsible for all the the town property, so you know. Yeah. Yeah. Hopefully lots of potential. Any other questions? Yeah, I think it sounds great. Um thank you for your care and attention to the environment. >> Thank you. And for um being so articulate in describing what you're doing. We appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you, guys.

047Thanks, Amanda. All right, on to warrant approvals after that. Best night ever, ladies. I'm leaving now. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Exactly. That's why we're here. I'm waiting for something to It's a good reminder of why we do what we do, and why it's important to keep it going. All right, between February 26th, 2026 and March 11th, 2026, I Paul Kendall, authorized by my signature, payables in the amount of 208,774 dollars and 6 cents. This includes general fund expenses of 165,029 dollars and 17 cents and revolving expenses of $43,744.89. Finally, I authorize payroll in the amount of $1,565,825.02. Thanks, Paul. Okay, next up is Jim with the two updates, your goals as well as the budget. Yeah, so thank you. I just want want to give a brief update on on the goals. I did share everything

048in the Is it popping up still? Let's see. There. Boom. It's on on this one. Can Can we get the share screen back on the the big one here? The front. Thank you. So, as you know, we we our goals or my goals and the district goals have been um really a couple year process. Some of them are taking 3 years, some of them were 1 or 2 years. I just want to give an update on where I stand and and I'll be frank. A lot of a lot of this year has been sort of budget focused. And while I think the goals that we've set here, these five goals with regard to the district um uh taking over the fields, one, district policies, getting time with Lauren and Paul, making sure that we're sitting

049down and going through. That was a 3-year plan. While I've made some you know, some progress, it's slight this year. I'm just being honest with you. Um the first one with regard to the fields and us the public schools taking over the fields that belong to the Ashland public schools, I feel like like I'm in really good shape with this and that by mid-April, I'll have a presentation for you with regard to how we can make that sustainable for the Ashland public schools. Um I'm still waiting on some information coming out of town hall with regard to the enterprise fund and how much we actually have in the inventory of of uh um equipment that will be transferred to us in order to take care of our property. Um and you know Chris, Mike, John

050Murray, Pete Conroy are all meeting on Monday to have a really in-depth conversation about what it looks like in terms of just management of field rentals. How it how it will work. Um so so I feel like we're on target for that for sure. Um the um collaboration for the multi-tiered system. Mike's been working hard. Monthly meetings with our staff. I feel like we're in we're in good shape for that as well. If you need him to speak more to that, he can. Um the educator evaluation. We've had these conversations. We've had two stoneys on Mondays. Those happen to be educator evaluation Mondays. So so we're a little behind there. But it's still good conversations. Actually we met today with the entire um AEA board and and and all the bargaining units and things seems

051to be going well. But from an evaluator's standpoint, we do need to get some things squared away there as we enter into this is the final year of the current contract. Believe it or not Mark, right? We're ready to go again. But but we will get you know working on that. And the communication piece you know that's clearly on me. There's certainly more work to be done. I think the communication over the next two months are going to be certainly focused on the next topic of conversation and that's not to slight the good things are happening within the district. I need to to not only encourage the principals and the directors to continue to publish the really good things as I'm focusing more on on the budget and and the override. So I I certainly

052think well the target of you know two per month or will happen. It's just not happening right now. So that's really where I am. Just being frank with you. Most of my focus has been clearly on um on the budget since really Well and we've asked you to do that. I mean right? We >> these are important. Yeah these are important too but the amount of work that's gone into the budget process the iterations and stuff like that obviously take precedent and uh you know the enormity of the work that you all have done is can't be overstated so It's much more than in any normal budget year so it's It is but >> I mean we have to mention these things. It is the time of year for the mid-cycle review and and it's

053also it we do need to know you know where we stand so we know where to return our attention to. But but but for the time being just just for reference I mean hundreds of hours of budget meetings multiple iterations of the budget lots of effort being made to try to present a a responsible budget lots of time trying to work with other boards in town lots of time with you work trying to work with the town manager it's it's a much bigger task than you know probably most people really understand just because all most of it's done behind the scenes. So And notwithstanding that it actually sounds like you're making more progress than you're acknowledging. So you know >> True but again I I'm pretty good about evaluating myself and where we are and

054I think there's work to be done. So. >> Yeah. That's I'm just acknowledging that. But by the time we get to June and evaluation, you'll see really good progress on on all of those events. So. >> Yeah. But and this has nothing to do with I mean I I fully expect us to be where we are just in light of what we're going through and we're about to talk about it, but these few present presentations tonight though are such a reminder of it's all tied into what we're about to talk about. Like what we do here. Enough people don't know, but we don't know about it until they come in and share it with us. And we have probably have five people watching. I I hope there's more than that, but you know what I'm

055saying? Right. And and but Yeah. it it's such a good reminder of why we're fighting for to keep all these things going and to make sure that we have what we need and that the students can still have access to the things that enable them to come in and and part of that is communicating that out when when we have time. When the time is right. And and and I think to that point so what we what we saw in my mind tonight was the results of the opportunities we've given our students. >> Yeah. The launch program is what in its third or fourth year, right? That was not a set of opportunities that where we could have provided opportunity to those students Right. >> five years ago, four years ago. >> Right. Engineering program

056is a bit and is a function of sort of reimagining the curriculum at the middle school level and the investments we've made there and and um to just as examples and I think we're seeing what our kids can do when presented with those opportunities and those challenges and um that that is the best part of this. Exactly. It's why we do what we do. And even the preschool, I mean it starts there. >> Sure it does. Um Manning does a fantastic job. Yeah. So, um okay. All right. Now for the good news. Okay. So, tonight I'm going to give hopefully, you know, a relatively comprehensive overview of where we are standing right now currently with the budget. Uh as you know, we've had a number of iterations and you know, I want to start just

057by saying thanks to to Chris and Mike. Um There's not a morning that they don't come in my office the first thing and we sit and we talk about this. It's it's literally an hour every single morning 5 days a week uh that we're starting the day. Sometimes weekends. So, lots of times weekends, but Holidays. >> But we're we're having these conversations and trying to make sure that what we're presenting and the conversations that we are having are reflective of not only what we hear here, but what we are hearing in our admin team meetings. And and that's really critically important, right? So, it's not there's a budget process that may begin in November and we may say at that time we can do X, but as we continually evaluate what's happening within the district,

058we have to shift, right? And and I think our organization, it's really difficult to shift on the fly. It just is. We have fixed income or fixed revenue sources. Uh we have expenses that aren't fixed that we just don't know what may happen from day to day. We have federal funding that we just don't know if it's going to be there. Uh we have unknowns such as out-of-district special education costs or out-of-district costs that may be incurred because of of movements. These are all things that are happening and and it's very fluid. So, what I want to share tonight is uh a little bit of what I shared last night. Um I will put all of this on the website for the community uh as well as publish my budget book tomorrow as well, right?

059So, so there's a number of layers here and I want you to stop me uh if you have questions, specific questions with regard to this presentation. Because it is a little different. I I changed quite a bit from last night just based on feedback I heard last night, too. So, I wanted to make sure I included a lot of this stuff. But, I But, I want to really emphasize this budget that I'm presenting is not about adding to our budget. It's about trying to fix a you know, a a deficit, a structural deficit that's going to exist forever based on funding formulas at the state level as well as at the town level, right? So, we can't just go out and create revenue. And the challenge becomes how do you then look at your population,

060which is our community and our students, to ensure that they have the best chance for success? That costs, right? It costs money, it costs other resources, and we have to do our best to ensure our students are getting what they need. So, Abhishek has every opportunity he can get to go to whether it's school, work, the military, whatever it might be, that he's prepared to do that. That our launch students that you saw tonight are prepared to enter into that program. And that we're providing them the opportunity to be ready to be independent as they were talking about tonight, right? That is our goal. That's our charge. And I can't speak more passionately enough about what I get excited about. It's preparing that. Where I get a little down is when I can't do that

061for everybody. When I can't provide what we need. So, what I heard last time, what I presented last time, and what I heard from you and the feedback from you is where I'm going to go with the story tonight. Okay? Um We've we've shared this. We have five schools, 360 employees, 2,800 students. Our per pupil cost is about $18,000 all in. Um thank you to Mr. Kendall. He's done a lot of work pulling some data. So, normally I would have to go into the DESI website and pull it myself. Paul's done that, so I just got to remember to copy it. So, thanks for saving me a little bit of time. I think it's critically important our community does understand that the $44 million $44.4 million that's that's appropriated at town meeting isn't the true

062cost of what it takes to run the Ashland Public Schools. We have another $4.4 million that we use, whether they're grants, um whether they're school choice funds, whether they're building revolving, transportation. Our true cost to run the Ashland Public Schools is closer to the $50 million range. Uh this these are FY26 numbers. Um so, uh and you can see 79% of our budget are is salaries, right? Those are it's astronomical, but that's pretty consistent across education domain anyway. Um So, what's changed, right? So, this is What changed since February 25th? When I came in here and said, "I think we can probably look at a 2.55% increase and be comfortable with it." So, taking into account conversations with each of you independently and getting your feedback, but then also having conversations with our administrative team

063and our leadership group, we felt as though we do need to make and and have to make some adjustments to what we initially were looking at. And what I'm trying to share with you tonight is the um the process we've undertaken. And I see two mistakes on the slide already. Um the original plan is 20.6 FTE cuts and the revised plan uh is um reinstated is actually um 7.4 positions. Uh so it's 13.2 is still the number of positions that are going to be reduced no matter what. Mike and I were looking at this. I I just missed it before. I The next slide we fixed it and um so this is all based on your feedback. The challenge is and I want to be very um up front here. The challenge is when we

064look at making adjustments, there are only a few funding sources that we can rely on to to reinstate some positions that may have been in the 2.55 reductions. And I'll get to that in a moment. So 2.55% This is what I presented in February. The 20.6 positions that would be reduced. Okay? Not the 21.6 that was on the last slide. Um I adjusted the others. I missed that one. Um but those are the initial positions. So if the board said, "Jim and the select board finance committee said, "Jim, there's no more funding." And you don't have the luxury of utilizing stabilization funds from the town and or school choice, we would then need to eliminate 20.6 positions to get to the 255 number. Does that make sense? Okay? Cuz I I want to be clear

065that's cuz that's the starting point for me for February 25th. Obviously, it shifted. And and last night it shifted without having and I apologize I didn't get the opportunity to to talk to you first publicly before I shared some of the information last night. It's not how I operate. Hopefully, you know that. Um so this is where we were. Many of these positions are initially retirements or non-filled positions. The reduction ones are what are added to the 13.2 for the most part. Oop. So, feedback from you all. Independently, said, "Hey, Jim, how do we continue to move the district forward? What does it look like by not having that literacy coach, for instance? How do we fund that position? Because we believe it's a critical position to ensure that not only are we going to

066be challenged from the Department of Ed to change our K-5 literacy programming, but to have the continued work of um our data teams, uh the coaching that our literacy specialists do, um and to have that instead of having one person try to work through through six grade levels, have one in each building, which we've been fortunate to have. And and I and I thank you for that. I thank you for for reaching out to me and saying, "That's a critical position as we move into it." Mike and I have had this conversation. My goal was to try to get to a number initially. And but a position like this is critically important to our success long-term. Right? So, you know, I want to make sure that that that position right there is something that you

067understand why it was put back in. But, it was feedback from you, feedback from the administrative team. Can I just Can I just pause you for >> Yeah, yeah. a minute because I think you've um Yeah, maybe you can talk about later, but glossed over something I think it's just more important for the community to hear, too, which is you've already kind of talked about there's a set of positions that are already being cut, right? That that is below this. I think you said using number 13.2. >> Yeah. I think it's really important that folks understand that even whether there's an actual cut or reduction in a position because of retirement, yeah. That may mean, okay, it wasn't necessarily painful to a person because the person was going to retire anyway. But, there is still

068a reduction of 13 plus positions going on within this budget before you get to sort of adding anything or putting things back yet. >> And that has an impact on students. >> So, so we will It's about four or five slides down. And I And I will And I'll refer to that because because that Those are the still the numbers that will exist whether an override passes and/or 3.25% number is is what's voted on eventually. And I And I also want to caution folks uh who are listening, uh we still are required by Mass General Law to have a public budget hearing. This is just another update, if you will. This is not our public budget hearing. I'm not asking you to vote on anything. Uh this is just an update based on your feedback,

069feedback from last night, uh as well as uh feedback from the administrative team. Okay? Is that Just so we're on the same page here. Um And when we look at and you talked about, you know, opportunity a minute ago and social studies HS world language um HS. Well, while that was a point four we still believe we've had this conversation. We don't want to become a a a one language school, if you will, right? We want to continue to to push and and work towards having French and Spanish. Um, this would have required a little bit of of combining of positions. Um, you know, again, I think partly we want to continue to push to see if we can grow the numbers. Uh, social studies it would have been a cut in elective opportunities. Right?

070We've talked a lot about on this board providing those elective opportunities. Um, the AMS adjustment counselor. Um, this was a conversation that that I've had with Aaron uh recently and and it's not about when we're looking at that 13.2 number one of the positions that that we're um eliminating and reducing is the director of social emotional learning, right? And as you know, we value and our our value statement and our strategic plan talks directly about social emotional learning. So, it would be a fair question to ask me you know, what if if we're taking that off the table, Jim how then are we meeting the strategic objectives that we've set forth in the in the plan? Fair question. If we had eliminated this position after further conversation that would really become challenging for us, especially

071at the middle school. Whereas the the adjustment counselor at the middle school will be responsible for teaching SEL lessons. We'll be working with the social emotional needs of our students. Um, we'll be having opportunities to work with families. So, I think that's one reason why I felt comfortable adding this one back in from that 2.55 because I know the role that Aaron intends that person to be involved in. And it's a lot of forward-facing time with kids. And that's important. The the conversation that we'll be having with our counseling staff is they're going to be required to be picking up a number of of pieces of the puzzle that Jen Taylor currently manages, right? Especially the K5 the 504 plans, the 504 meetings. Counselors used to do those things. It was taken off their plate

072a little bit, right? Not in every building, but but some. Our counseling staff, and we met today with the AEA, and they have counselors on that board, and they're like, "Yeah, we know that we're going to have to do that." We know that SEL is important to us as a community and as a district that we are going to have to pick up certain things. Um whether it's it's you know, the the 504s, whether it's you know looking at, you know, Mike potentially having to do some of the grant funding that that Jen would do. Um the you know the Metro West Adolescent Health Survey, we used Jen would run that at the high school and the middle school level. Well, that has to be done now either by it used to be done through

073the administrators. So, some of it will just fall back on. I just want to touch base there. So, I just got to hold on this until you kind of got to the 13.2 thing that's in there, but just since you're talking about SEL now, I just you know, I've I've raised it in our prior conversations, and and I want to be sure that the rest of the committee members including you have sort of the benefit of um some of the stuff you shared with me cuz I had a a one-on-one conversation with Jim about this position and my concern. Um certainly it's for our commitment to the work, right? I mean, as a committee, as a administrative team, we really prioritized um the social-emotional learning and and the creation of this position 7 years ago

074or so. Really reflected that. And I said, one of the concerns I had um is that without that director-level position, we lose sort of that that person who's responsible for making sure that that continues to be prioritized within this district. Um and so I expressed that concern to Jim. And and I told him that I would sort of tee up this question because I really think it's important um that he share sort of his response cuz it was one that made me feel a lot better about this decision. So I just, you know, Jim, if you would be willing to um you know, for the benefit of the committee as well as the community, to just talk a little bit about elaborating on what you were saying in terms of how you're going to address

075it at the middle school, but just how you see that role and where we are now. So, you know, I want to give credit where credit's due, right? Jen has done a phenomenal job of of creating a program and processes. And I And again, I think when we talk about in in, you know, Mike's dissertation, dealing social-emotional learning and and and, you know, the the one thing that we've done and and emphasized is that SEL is embedded across the entire district in everything we do, right? It should be embedded in our everyday lesson planning. It should be embedded in how we uh have conversations with parents, with kids, 504 plans, IEPs, counseling staff, etc. Jen has done a good job with that in setting us up for success. The challenge without Jen would be to

076ensure that the staff at each building continues along and is held accountable for doing the things that are in place. That's on us as leaders. That's on us as building principals. It's on on Mike uh uh when you're dealing with district SEL teams. When you're doing PBIS work. You can Amanda, you know, you can hear Amanda and you hear Warren. Those staffs now have it, for lack of a better term, on lockdown, right? They know what they're doing. They've got the tools to have success making sure our SEL objectives are met. I think where we'll have to be challenged, us, is making sure that that we figure out a way to appropriately collaborate with outside agencies, right? I think Jen has done a good job with that. Where we're going to have to figure that

077out as a leadership team. Who's going to be responsible for reaching out to hospitals? Is that the counseling staff now? I would tell you some counselors are hesitant to do that. It's not, you know, in their bailiwick, but that it will be required without this position. I think we will continue to have SEL classroom lessons all the way through. It's embedded now. It's expected now. Um and and I think because Jen has put us in a good position to move forward, our team will be able to to absorb a lot of that work. Not going to say 100% because it I don't think there's any one of us that could could do what she does in certain things. Jim, since this is going to be an obvious transition and pick up of work for you

078and your team and the principals, it may be, you know, as we move into setting goals for next year, a good opportunity to set that as a key goal because as we saw in the list you just went through, you have a lot going on. >> Yeah. And in a time of transition, like, you know, managing expectations and accountability is important. I would just keep a lens on if there's a slip or, you know, or you need more support. Not that there would be a slip, but No, I think that thank you for saying that. I think that's absolutely I I think holding us accountable for that to ensure that the SEL component of the objectives are being met. 100% Yeah. Um, so let me finish off this list here and and cuz we'll get

079into the 13-2, but uh, kindergarten in talking to Mr. Reagan even this morning or this afternoon, you know, we're on pace to get 205 students. And that, you know, when we start having these initial conversations, we weren't there, right? And 205 is 20.5, 21 kids per kindergarten. And this was not a retirement position. This was one that we thought we could reduce. Uh, it doesn't make sense based on projected numbers right now. Um, and and Pete felt comfortable with those projections. Um, the Mendez teacher was an added position. If you remember, it wasn't a retirement position. It was a it was an added reduction. Um, again, while pulling it back in, um, helps us keep class sizes relatively lower than where they would be, right? Um, we're still losing uh, and reducing Mendez by I

080think Kate's on here, three or four, we'll get to it, but three three educators, um, already. Um, so one of them is a classroom teacher, they're special ed and one is a specials teacher. Um, so by removing two, you go from 30 educators down to 28. And so there's some volatility if we have a little bit of enrollment uh, bumps. Um, we just want to be careful with that. And and the last one here is uh, and I had this conversation with the union today, the bright uh, clinical coordinator. When we talk about, again, doing what's right by kids, I think Tina, made a point to me about it doesn't matter if it's one kid or 30 kids in a program. >> can just say what that is cuz I think most people are not

081going to know what it Yeah, so Brighton is it's it's I forget the acronym. Kelly, you want? Um but the opportunity for kids who were or maybe hospitalized, uh who have um need clinical support uh in in having not only academics, but mental health concerns, uh physical concerns working with families, with doctors, with outside clinicians, etc. So, but to Tina's point to me and and we just started the program a year ago and we have anywhere from you know, six to eight kids who may be participating uh within the Brighton um umbrella, if you will. And the challenge becomes and what I was hearing was it doesn't matter if it's one or two or three kids, if it's eight kids. Doesn't have to be 20. How are we best supporting all of our kids? This

082makes sense to me, right? Um we just started this program. Kelly has seen growth uh in the program and the work with our with our families. But it's easy to put on a list when you're only dealing with a few kids, right? That's an easy to say from a budgetary standpoint, you're not servicing you know, 30 kids in a classroom. You're right. But when you step back and I and I have to sometimes I have to step back out of my own self and get out of the way and say, "Okay, what about those eight kids who are now in danger of being dropped out or dropping out and not getting the opportunity, right?" Um I think too, Jim, it's it's another another important um thing to think about with losing Jan Tanner as well.

083So, this is this is one of the correct ways that we are truly supporting students when it comes to SEL, specifically around mental health, many many times, right? And you know, just to give you that acronym you were looking for, it does stand for Bridge for Resilient Youth in Transition. And that's exactly what the program is, right? It serves as our opportunity to help students transition back. And it really it just it serves a a tremendous purpose, specifically in the area of of mental health. Great. Thanks, Mike. And Jim, your original assessment in terms of that first pass, like looking at like let's say if we were looking at electives that only have four five kids, right? It It makes sense to look at the number of kids any specific position um services, but I

084think to the point you just made in terms of the intensive needs that that this specific position really addresses uh and kind of and and they're critical for many kids, right? When when they're when they're they have this need and um and so I think it's looking at that impact. It does outweigh um the number of kids, so >> And a lot of these things that we're talking about from a budget perspective, anyway, they prevent other problems that are going to cost us more money. You know, that you're you're giving attention to uh from literacy all the way through mental health and everything in between. Um there's a cost, like a real cost to to not having the right attention on those things at the right time. And it it impacts the numbers. Yeah, I

085will just share by coincidence I saw a psych counselor earlier today and um Jen Shields, one of our adjustment counselors at our our adjustment counselor at high school, um is almost always there. She was there today. And and just as sort of a conversational point, she made the point that we have more kids who are in need of help. She mentioned Bright Program in particular, but that are having more challenging mental health issues this year than we've seen in the last few. Um which just emphasizes the importance of these kind of programs. Okay. Yep. You've been stuck on this slide for about 20 minutes. All right. If I No, Now there's no one listening to me. So again, this is just another slide basically showing those positions in a different format of the 7.4 positions,

086right? That they were originally part of the reduction in the 2.55%. So and we're going to we'll get to the the next piece. We've talked about the operational override component 6.18% it helps with the structural stabilization, right? It is helps stabilize the the deficit that we're in on a yearly basis. The 300 there's $300,000 that we've budgeted as part of this for athletics that we know runs that structural deficit every year as well. In the other scenarios, we have to pull that $300,000 out of the operations and you know, that's that's an important piece that we'll get to. But it moves 1.1 million dollars or thereabouts of school choice funds that we spend on salaries and operations into the operation budget, which is where it belongs, which then provides a little bit of flexibility for

087one-time use funds. Deferred maintenance could be one of them. It could be the purchase of we're talking about $900,000 for a K-35 literacy program with professional development materials, ancillary materials, etc, right? So how do you afford that? Well, you have to be able to have some flexibility with with your one-time funds like school choice. Operational override ends the reliance on school choice to operate our business, our school. So now we go from the 2.55 to the 3.25 and what does that look like? It's a 1.44 million dollar increase over the prior year's number. And you know, we have been asked at one point in time to look at a level funded budget that 44 million 8 486 864 somewhere in there I think. Um I keep looking at that number, but um and that's that

088would be you know, um I don't know if it's Prentice right, inconceivable. Like we'd never ever think about that, right? Is that Prentice right? Um but we'd never be able to do that, right? Without really wiping out all of our our uh revolving accounts. So, this still comes with risk, just so we're clear, right? A 3.25% still comes with risk. One, we still have to utilize significant amounts of of funding out of school choice and transportation revolving, athletic revolving, et cetera. Athletic fees, that $300 gap is still going to be infused into our budget. It's just going to exist. Now, folks have asked me, "Hey, can we cut some sports? Can we raise fees?" And I I would tell you this, we currently have the highest fees in the TVL already with no cap. So,

089we are taxing our parents more than surrounding communities for our students to play athletics. That to me is unacceptable. Um I know it exists and once you start fees, you never take them back, right? It's rare that you can you you take the fees back. Um we bring in about $300,000 a year in in user fees already. That's what we bring in. Um we look at potential reduction in opportunities. This board has never been about reducing opportunities for our kids. Um some opportunities are better than others in terms of being able to be financially viable for sure. Um middle school sports, people ask about that all the time. Middle school sports pretty much run um level funded across the board. Cuz aren't that many kids who play. They don't have a lot of expenses with

090it. The challenge becomes in the future, there is no Tri-Valley League middle school program anymore. One other school has middle school sports. Hopkinton. And if we want to play Hopkinton 33 times, we can do that. Except except we've there I'll use softball as an example. I think it's a fair one. Hopkinton only runs an eighth grade softball program for middle school. We don't have enough students to field the JV team at the high school. So, if we've got to pull up eighth grade students to play at the JV level at the high school level, now we potentially have sixth graders that may have to play softball against the eighth graders of Hopkinton. There So, there there are challenges structural issues within just athletics not even a financial standpoint. Mr. Connolly will be coming and having

091these conversations with you. I think we need to be prepared to say, "Okay, if there are sports programs in this community for certain grade levels, then probably that's where we should be focused as opposed to running them at a middle school level. But, that's a different conversation. Um Again, fiscal cliff, school choice. Yeah, yeah, of course. Do you have just a a ballpark figure on the overall cost of athletics whether wherever you're drawing from whether it's operating or revolving? What do we spend on athletics middle school high school combined? Um if you I would say it's my spreadsheet is not up to date yet. I would say it's probably Well, we run a $300,000 deficit, probably about 600, 800,000. Last semester, um yeah. Oh, jeez. So, it's been on this slide for a while. Again,

092uh we've talked about the override. Um it funds you know, the $300,000 deficit. Uh I don't want to spend a lot of time on the override cuz I I think it's important we talk a little bit about the the adjustment. I think that's what we're where we need to spend time on. Um So, no override, right? It It's the 3.25% increase. Um it maintains the current services in the short term, uh but we're deferring any structural issues. We're not able to fix the structural deficit that exists and that we're able to hopefully uh clean up with with the override. >> much less than we'd have been getting for the last several years to maintain our level services. >> Yeah. We're saying and I'll be clear, we're not really a level This is not a level

093service >> Right. um budget. It's It's certainly a restructured financial realignment budget. Like Like what we're presenting is really a realignment of of where we are. Um it still is going to require us $450,000 of school choice to to fund operations. Um fees, I as I said already, the highest. Um we're still going to have eight teachers funded through school choice. Um of 709,000. Uh athletic fees will run that deficit. The one thing this is dependent on Well, there's two things, right? Can and is the town willing to support finding $1.4 million of additional revenue, whether it's through stabilization funds or some other revenue source um to allow us to get to 3.25%, right? That was the conversation last night. Is if we are to get here those other positions need to be you know,

094absorbed within our operations. Those 7. 4 positions. Um if not does this board look at it and say those 7.4 positions are critically important to the success of the actual public schools? So, Jim go back and put those into your revolving account for another year. And And as you know what that does is it decimates the revolving account in one year. It'll be gone. Yeah, and and in the previous slide you said you said, "Hey, and this has risk." >> Right. It doesn't have risk. It adds Adds to it. Sure. Sure. It So, just to be clear on what that means is we we've always had the risk. We've we've had the this different things that have happened over the years that have allowed us to kick the can, kick the can. This This is

095a scenario doesn't uh doesn't just have risk. It It brings risk. It brings risk. Unknown risk that is there's no avoiding it. There's no There's no savior at the end. There's nothing that's going to happen that to change the trajectory of it. It's it's pushing us we're really close to a very large cliff. Correct. Right. So, Mark to your point, you know, the the 13 um 0.2 positions that are that will be reduced no matter what in any budget scenario we have. These 13.2 positions will be reduced and eliminated from the actual public schools budget. What I'm saying to this community is listen, we looked at our entire budget and said we can make some adjustments. And what we're truly asking you for that 2.75 is an operational override is critically important to fixing the

096structural deficit moving forward. That's what I'm trying to do here. I'm not trying to I'm not asking this community to give us $2.75 million more over my budget to add things. There's no adding. It's all eliminating even with a $2.75 million override. Okay? I can't emphasize that enough. And I'll just say my party line and you have 10% of on grant funding which we know could be at risk since we had a $100,000 position just taken away from that grant funding this week. So, it's an unknown environment. Um and you know, that's a real reason to preserve one-time funding. Agreed. It's and Go ahead, Paul. And my concern with this slide is really talk talk about impact is that sped coordinator Yeah. can have a huge impact both to our students, to our families that

097that that sped coordinator is going to support Yeah. and to our budget should we not be able to support it. Uh the the the students and families so Yeah. Yeah. But So, just let me piggyback on Paul's comment. So, I'm glad you used the word impact because we've had that conversation I think in a lot of detail at different points in the conversation, but I think it's one that we just was have to come back to because we talk about a budget, we're talking about cuts in positions, right? But it's the impact of those cuts that I think is the most important part, right? I mean, nobody really wants to be in a position of telling somebody that they're losing a job. Um obviously, we will do some of this with attrition and retirements and

098all that or positions that weren't funded, but that impact, you know, that that cut in opportunities which I'm not saying the opportunities that are presented from our students today are the ones we're talking about, but people have to understand that the opportunities that are available to their students, right? Today for a bunch of us with seniors sitting here at the table, or to their students, their kids. That's a real thing. You know, and and if people only think about If that's what's at stake here. And and so when we talk about cutting of teacher, right? If you think about well, it's just one person out of 361, what's the big deal? You're really missing the the the part that underlies this whole thing, which is we're trying to manage a budget in a way that

099preserves opportunities for our kids. And appropriately staffs them so that even though yeah, you're going to have a fifth grade teacher, maybe there's one less one. The impact of kids in that classroom is significant. What happens with with more kids in a class is, you know, less opportunity and less education. I just never I'm glad you used the word because it always triggers me when when I we we focus so much on number of positions without talking about that. And and just when I look at it, I don't see all impacts as the same, right? So For sure. Uh an impact that you know, I have a sophomore. The impact that he doesn't get a particular opportunity and the impact that that sped coordinator can have on a family night and day, right? So And

100those are the decisions that we've asked you to kind of balance with the state graders to find the places where the impact is the least and to recognize the ones where the impact is most significant positive. And and that's my concern with this one in particular is Like I I get the director and and before even we would give an I had a conversation, I led with we've always said SEL is not a bolt-on. It's not a class just a class you teach. You You You It's It's woven into everything you do and we've we've done that. And so now that has some more, you know, it's organic into a lot of different people in their positions, but uh you know, so I struggled more with this one than some of the other ones that

101we that we put back, so. So do I. Um this will be a challenge. It was 3 years ago we added this position back into the budget. Right? Before that, we we had one less sped coordinator. Uh and so they worked cross buildings. Um it works better with one in each building. It just does. It's better for families and better for kids. We know that. But again, it's that balancing act of how do we um can we do the work? Brett would tell you, "Yeah, we can do the work." It It's going to require us to to rethink about what we're doing again. Uh I don't disagree with you, Paul. If If you ask me to put a rank order, this is the number one position to me that I'd add back in of all

102these positions on this list. Um as you can see on the left side, they're unfilled or retirement positions. And I And I think that's important. Uh Mendez is losing three, uh specials teacher, a special education teacher, and a general classroom teacher. That's why I felt I needed to add back that other one in that we had on the 255. Uh well, normally we would fill retirements. Of course we would. >> 100% of the time most of the time. >> would be part of the budgeting process for us because typically, uh and we track this, typically, obviously, when someone retires, they're generally at the highest end of the scale. Right. >> And we can hire someone at a lower end, so there's a cost savings um from a salary standpoint. That's not existing this year. That

103The The work that we're doing has already taken that into account when we're looking at our our uh reductions for them. Just a quick note in terms of the sped coordinator. I agree with both of you. I think it it it does worry me a little bit taking this out and kind of and thinking and kind of sharing my feedback with you, Jim. I think one of the reasons that I I I didn't necessarily advocate for this position is cuz I was of course thinking that of course that direct impact to the students, but um also thinking through how like you said a couple years ago we added this position. So, we had functioned for a very long time. Yes, it's much better with one in every building, no question, but I also thought about

104the fact that um it it hid away um we now have just it it's not a shared position anymore, and so it's it's I think the ability to um and I don't know why I'm blanking on her name. >> Oh, Sarah. Thank you. Oh my gosh, I feel so sorry, Sarah. Um the ability of Sarah to focus just on special education, I think opens her capacity a little bit. Not saying she should be taking on other students in other schools, but it um that that was something that that played into my my mind, too, in terms of of the impact. But, I do agree with you both that this is >> But, I think the greater point is is like these some of these are painful, and they're going to have an impact, and um

105it's just us being realistic at working with the amount of money that's available to us. We only have a certain uh a few options for our sources of income. There's state funding, there's town funding. We've been given our marching orders, and we're trying to be as responsible as we can within within that um system. But, it's doesn't mean that it's not it's obviously not what is ideal, or we wouldn't have had those positions in the first place. You know, and I think that's an important point to be made though that we um are we we preemptively did this so that we could get to a budget that that works, and that we could still get decent funding from somewhere, and provide an education for our students, and meet the needs of all the div- diverse

106needs that we have in the district. But, it's not it's not going to be what we had. It's a setback. I mean, I'd just like to make a quick note on the other slide. Um I was wondering these 13 uh or so cuts, it's of course they have to uh occur, but is there a scenario in which we could renew certain positions um that are being retired or uh vacated and cut additional ones uh by weighing them? Of course, it's not ideal to bring somebody on and then fire somebody else, but some of these positions of like the thing I'd point to directly is the HS science department, right? And uh Ms. Sherman, who's retiring this year, uh she's a great teacher. I had her sophomore year. Uh it's a bummer I can't have her

107uh future years, but she is servicing, I think, around 60 to 80 kids yearly uh taking chemistry. And of course, that is a foundational class uh for high school curriculum. Uh do you think it would be uh a certain scenario in which we could renew that position Sorry. Renew that position or find somebody else to fill it um while dropping a different position just based on the impacts they have? Sure. So, those are those are conversations that we have with Ms. Saint-Clair all the time, right? And she has those conversations, whether it's at site council and or with the department heads in the building. And looking at other classroom enrollment numbers within the science department, uh that's one position they feel like they can absorb uh some of the classes uh so class sizes are

108not too big. And they they still have to teach chemistry. It's just who's going to teach it it with the staffing that we have. So, to answer your question, are there possibilities for uh bringing positions back? The answer's Yeah, if we find more revenue somewhere, right? That One of our next steps and we had we had this conversation Tuesday with the admin team is to take this list and rank order them, to be honest with you, to say okay, if there's a windfall somehow some way Or maybe an unexpected retirement later down the road. >> Whatever right, whatever it might be. How could which ones are the most important that we fill in, right? Because what you're saying at the check is really important, but but I also have the Mendez folks saying, "Well, this

109is really important at Mendez, right?" So it's it's sort of it's that balancing act of which position. So could you argue the social studies versus the the the science? Maybe, but we also have less social teachers at the high school and those are opportunities for electives that we might exist. Um, you know, some might discuss, "Hey, you just added some electives with with other teachers." Like so business class for example. Well, those are packed, right? Those are those are classes that are absolutely kids are looking for and and I've been an advocate and so is this board about adding potential electives for our kids because not everyone's going into the science sciences. We have to have opportunity. Um You make an excellent point. >> a great point. >> loss and it wasn't done though without

110probably hundreds of hours of all the administrators getting into the room and every principal can probably tell that same story. So that then now you're talking about five or 10 positions that fall into that same category. And anytime we lose and especially one like that because right, Ms. Sherman was so impactful. I mean my kids had her. I mean your kids probably did too and not being able to replace that because of decisions and how they factor into the bigger picture. That's kind of my point from earlier. It's a it's a huge loss. Like we should not be having to have this conversation. You know, and we're doing the best we can to try to fix at least some of these things with an override and things do shift and sometimes there are opportunities later

111our special education things are one day can we could be even more set back than we thought we might be and then the next day there might be some funds that are released and all of a sudden maybe we could fill that position. But that's a day-to-day thing that Those are the things that are out of our control. >> thing whatever we put here and even if we make the decision we go we follow through with it, it doesn't mean that next year our needs change. None of this is binding from a long-term perspective, right? So if things change next year, we have to make a different decision and bring back the sped coordinator or or the science teacher or any of these positions, uh this is just what the current plan is and and

112it will be evaluated. I mean every single time that there is a retirement, not only are they looking it's it's a it's a reflection point on and they're having the conversation of do Yes, we we will many of them but not all the time we we can hire at a at a lower cost, but not all the time. And and and so the we're always looking at that and we're and we're evaluating it at that time. Do we need this or do we need something else, right? So I I think just to put a finer point on it, when we when we're talking about a science position, right? And that that is being created in part by I mean we the reason we don't have to let somebody go is cuz somebody's retiring. Doesn't necessarily

113mean that the classes that the that teacher was leaving taught are not going to be taught, right? It means there's those to be taught by somebody else. Um what it means is that within the science department there's person there and as we've talked about a number of times, one of the ways we're we're trying to adjust is recognizing where um we have some under-subscribed classes, right? And so maybe we've had two sections of something that we really need to merge into one. Um but you know, we're we're talking about sort of department-wide adjustment. We're not talking about not teaching chemistry, right? And and so there's always the shifting of the assignment of classes and what gets offered by the available staffing that that happens every year. Regardless of the budget. >> Right. Yeah. But, you

114raise an excellent point. 100%. So, again, this is just more narrative in terms of the impacts, right, of of the reductions. Um The The first one Middle School Spanish? It's It's not Middle School It's just the sixth and seventh grade, right? Right. It's in the Middle School. >> that underneath. Yeah. Small print. Right. When you say Middle School Spanish elimination, it means it's not going to Sixth and seventh. And that right? Eighth grade is Middle School unless I'm mistaken. Understood. I No, I I I I got it. So, so that's where that's where It's at the Middle School. It's at Ashland Middle School sixth and seventh grade Spanish. It looks like I I understand what Okay. I can I can adjust the language. >> the heading to I can I can adjust the language. It

115It Sixth, seventh. Sixth and seventh Spanish grade. I know. Sorry. Right. It's grade six and seven. So, yeah. Or else I I understood. I get your point. But, It's just that It's articulated That's going to be alarming to somebody when they read Unless they read the finer print underneath it, right. So, All right. In other words, read the small print. Let's move on. I did, but it doesn't say anything about it here. All right. We're moving on. We will have eighth grade Spanish only, and it'll be Spanish one for all kids. Uh so, they're prepared to go to Spanish two at the high school. They're using the curricula of Spanish one at the high school now. Um this was a position that we had talked about even a year ago that would eventually be phased

116out based on Not every kid in sixth and seventh grade is getting Spanish now. Right. Um There were different challenges that contributed to that decision. Um But, again, it's it it Again, it's just more of a um a narrative of those positions and just a brief uh if someone was asking Yeah. what it what it impacts. I I think, you know, this is the This is where the rubber meets the road in terms of the different um impacts the the models have on our revolving accounts, right? Uh Um that at the end of uh FY27 on a 2.25% we'd have about $4.7 million available to us with 430 of it being uh for school choice. Remember right now, you know, you're talking $1.1 million in addition to another 400 400,000 if if we had to

117support those other positions from the 325, right? Um and then, you know, the override is where you can see that we maintain a level of of balances that can help us in the long range in the long run. 1.8 million in school choice to help with those deferred maintenance issues, to help with when you have an alarm system break and it cost you $150,000 to fix, uh that we don't have the the capacity to go to the town and ask for capital at that point in time, that we have to get that done because, you know, the fire department says you can't open your your building unless it's you've got uh you know, safety concerns being met. Bless you. Bless you. So, some folks might say, "Hey, well, why aren't you spending more down on

118the on the school bus revolving?" And then I explained this last night is we're in a contract year coming up. And we don't know what it's going to look like. I don't I'm a firm believer that whatever you bring in for revenue is what you should be spending for as an expense. Now, you have to go above and beyond that at times to make your your budget balance, but that's really good practice, you know, even in your home life. You know, don't spend 5,000 if you're only making 3,000, right? So, um so that's really what it looks like at the end of FY27. It where it's scary, folks, is FY28. And I don't show the um override here. I just show what it looks like in a 2.25 and a 3.25. Without the town stepping

119up to provide additional revenues for a 3.25% um it would be really challenging for us. Even with that, you can see at the end of FY 28, we would have a $38,000 deficit in school choice. We still have to pick up salaries and operations in school choice. However, in a 2.25%, if you said to me, and again, this is these are models, right? Um if you said, "Jim, those positions, those 7.4 positions, are positions we want to keep in the actual public schools, but they can't be in the operations because we're only getting a 2. you know, 2.5% increase in our overall uh appropriated amount, that means we'd have to spend significantly more money out of the school choice to make it work because you'd have to pull those other salaries of those 7.4 positions

120into school choice. Um And the money won't be there to do that. It would It would not be. Right. I know we've had this conversation a number of times and and what I always worry about numbers is somebody's going to look and say, "You still got, you know, $3 million in in one-time funds. Yeah. Why doesn't that fix the problem?" Right. And so, because I never know who is watching this for the first time, I just ask you to to we talk about those other sources and the restrictions on those and and sort of why we can't Yeah. So, revolving funds are um are certainly part of the normal operations of a school district, right? So, when we charge fees by law, whatever we charge the fee for, that's what you can utilize to pay

121down an expense. So, transportation fee, we pay a bus fee, $280 per kid, uh that has to go towards transportation costs only. It can't go to fund a salary. By law, And and circuit breaker Yeah, I'll get to that. Yeah. So, I can't take the fees that we get for uh transportation and pay a teacher salary with it. It's against the law. Circuit breaker is a reimbursement for out-of-district special education costs. It can only be used to offset out-of-district special education costs. The challenge with circuit breaker is that the funding formula is again, uh out of whack. Um Being polite. >> I I use I I I try to keep it really simple. Um let's assume a a student is outplaced. Uh and it's a um a $100,000 student. By law, the the first calculation

122is, okay, uh four times the cost per pupil is is owned by the district first. I mean, it's 10,000. It's not 10,000, but I'm just using it as a number. So, there's $40,000 that that student that the district is immediately responsible for. So, then there's a $60,000 gap that exists. And that is what is eligible for reimbursement under the circuit breaker. However, the circuit breaker funding at the state level can vary. It can be by law, it's supposed to be at 75%. And it's been as low as, you know, 25% and it's been more traditionally been at the 75% the last few years because the funding has been there. So, let's just use 70% cuz I can't do the math real fast tonight. Um so, out of the $60,000 that's remaining, 70% of that would

123be reimbursed, so $42,000. So, then there's still a delta of 18,000. Right? So, that 18,000 gets added back to that first 40, so it's $58,000. So, 58% of that $100,000 cost is owned by the district. And we talked about an average per pupil cost for us is what, 18,000? So, so that's that's how it works. So, but again, it can only be used to offset any of those costs. So, next year's $5 million of anticipated claimed um out-of-district costs. And you have to meet a threshold first, otherwise you own the whole thing. Not all of our kids meet the threshold, just so you know. So, we own all of that cost if if a student may go to the Accept Collaborative. It may be under Bless you. It may be under the reimbursable um requirement

124to claim, so you own it all, right? Um so, it can only be used for that. Athletics the same thing. Athletic fees can only be used for things that are related to athletics. Now, it can be So, transportation's an interesting one, right? We can use transportation for athletics because it's transportation. If if just but only for bussing. But not for salaries. Chris. Just one thing to keep in mind too when you're talking about the circuit breaker for the ending balance, the reason the balance isn't zero is because so we can have budget continuity. We know what we're going to be able to budget for this year. So, we always do have We're a year behind. We're a year behind. >> system and not a Correct. Correct. It's not like there's that money just sitting there.

125Right. It's a good practice. There are some districts who anticipate what they're getting and that's what they use as their budget. This is the best approach. It's actually the recommended approach. So, that's what So, Mark, to answer your question, that's Right. So, that 3.3.1 million under 2.25 is not real. It's 2.1 is gone. So, you've got a million left in the other three remaining accounts, school bus, building, and athletics can only be used for that. 140,000 in athletics, we already told you we run a deficit of 300,000. >> Right. That's not even enough to cover the program. >> But, one of the things that you know, you've asked for feedback on presentation before and then it's just kind of dawning on me now, so >> I'm not asking anymore. I can appreciate that. But, it

126it may just be as we talk about this going forward, it'd be worth sort of segregating out the school choice because that's really the only amount of money there that there's any flexibility with. And we can talk about that. Yeah, fair enough. But, you know, as people go to town meeting presentation, formal budget hearing, people are going to say, "Well, you got $3 million sitting right there, right?" Yeah. It it really isn't that. It's under those slides, it's 250,000 or Right. Even a heading like revolving accounts that we can't access for operational I have it in the budget book. I describe it, but yeah, it's a good point. And just to piggyback on what you mentioned about transportation revolving and why you have some extra there. Uh looking back at the data that Chris provided

127me, you know, between FY 17 and 18 was a contract year and uh our expenses for uh after fees and everything like that went up uh over $600,000. So, that's why you're doing it, right? You don't know what that is uh and and that's that's why that's there. If if we were to be irresponsible and spend that down now and you get a bump in a in a contract year, we we would just putting ourselves in a in a in a deep hole. Probably cutting transportation services. Possibly. We we we shouldn't Yeah, yeah. Right. Again, that's a whole another kettle of fish. We've had that conversation, right? Yeah. So So I think part of it too is right and I know there are hiccups and I know there are pains with combining middle school and

128high school routes. Now when we when we did that a number of years ago, there were there was concern, you know, with high school kids being able to school kids those concerns are, you know, are very small really in the end, right? But it saved us significant um amounts of money because we don't need as many buses either, right? So we're able to they figured out the routes how to drop off one side of the town and pick up before they go to the other side of town. You know, Donald Walsh has been great. Chris's team, Tamara, you know, working through the the the bussing. It's very complex. And that contract year I believe we we added three we needed to add three buses at at that particular contract year. Yeah, so We're not even

129talking about things. Let's let's move on. But but but this is stuff we're not even talking about capital investments 14 and a half million dollars of of things we need. Um and that you know, that's important. We need a roof replacement at the high school. We need turf field replacements at middle and high school. The literacy program. I I highlight the literacy program that 900,000 partly because again, if we pass an override, we have some flexibility with our school choice funds to afford this over a three-year window. We have that flexibility. We wouldn't otherwise. Um we've seen the enrollment trends. Uh you know, Paul has done a good job with the per pupil spending. I Again, I I I always want to make sure that the community understands they're getting a pretty good value for

130their money here in this community. It's a catch-22 to be honest with you for us. Um we are ranked 362nd out of 396 school districts in terms of the lowest amount of per pupil spending. Which is shocking. Well, we've spent that way for a long time. >> been that way the entire time I've been here, so it's not surprising. But We we did drop this We're last now. Again, so the latest data at the state is FY24. >> Yeah. Between FY23 and 24, we dropped more. Because Holliston passed an override. So, it finally hit their their rolls. Yeah. There were a couple of overrides in other surrounding communities. So, so it it it it did shift even with the, you know, surrounding communities like Tisbury and etc. Yeah. Whatever the I was I've always been

131surprised at the number of communities in this area of the state like Holliston and Hopkinton, which you know, Hopkinton in particular is I consider to be more affluent community than Ashland or Holliston. And for whatever reason the per pupil number, right, is sort of in the ball the similar ballpark that it used to be. I haven't looked at it in a couple of years. I don't know if that's still It's close. But they're also bigger district with sort of probably better economies of scale that allows them to do that. Um, I don't know what what the geographical explanation is. Yeah, because it's just actually one of the more affluent areas of the state, generally speaking. So, I also think it's always important to have the conversation that that we've built programming internally over the years.

132Um, one, the value statement of keeping kids in because we believe in that. Two, it's saving close to $11 million since we've had these programs, uh, you know, started within our community. Um, you know, currently So, really $11 million a year? No, it's Overall? Overall. Cumulative? It's a great question. Um, if all those kids went out, yes, it'd be $11 million for the year. But, you know, It's taken into account It'd be very difficult. So, that's that's a binary situation. Like that we didn't add any of the programs. >> it, right? Right. So, it would be It would be about that. It could be that. So you don't want to be an alarmist, but it'd be somewhere in between. So so if it's $85,000 a kid out of district cost, multiply it by the 127,

133you know, you're going to get close to $10 million, right? So. Um Again, worried about grant funding. We talked about that. You know, you know, Marci agreed 10% of our of our budget is is grant funds, right? Um So we really have to fast forward right now. We have the override and we have the 3.25% um And and they both, you know, that still on the right side 3.25 comes with risk because we're still reliant upon heavily on our school choice funding. We don't have a mechanism for athletics. We don't have a mechanism for deferred maintenance. Uh and we don't have the ability to um be ready to to maneuver if we have a one-time expense. Um The other side again, I just talked about we're trying to fix what's broken. I'm not saying it's

134going to be perfect. I don't want the community to think that it's going to be perfect. But we're still cutting one plus million dollars out of our current operations to then make this work and pull stuff back into the operations. Next steps, uh we have to have a budget hearing. Um and we're the community is notified and and have a public hearing. You'll have to support uh and vote on two budgets. One is the op- operational override 6.18% and the other, unless you tell me to change it, is the 3.25%, which is what I I want to share with the community tomorrow. Um And and if it's a different number, you've got to say, "Hey Jim, we still want these positions or we don't." And utilize the the choice funds or not. And I think

135as we prepare for the overall budget hearing, the public hearing, that's what you need to be thinking about. I can't speak for any of them, but that's where we are as of today. When do you anticipate the budget hearing? Uh the first um meeting in April. I mean, I think you've taken all the input on the positions already. Um we gave input last night in our tri-board meeting about, you know, feeling strongly not all of us were there, but I of the of those of us that were there, I think we were really advocating for that 3.25 budget and the town generously agreed to help support us towards that end. So, I don't see much changing unless somebody's heard something tonight. I want to I wanted to ask Paul about the special education coordinator position.

136That's the one that's come up in this conversation and and you've obviously done a sort of deeper thought process on that particular position. Uh and and sort of looking to see whether you're interested in pushing that position back into this discussion. Uh no, I mean, so Jim and I had this conversation. My my what I really struggle with is if if we're if we're in a position where we we don't pass an override. So, this is asking for 2.75. I I wasn't even sure um how I felt about going up from the 2.55. And and the reason for that is A, the the the work that went into it and and my you know, no matter how much I try to inform myself, my ignorance in going into it and saying, "Hey, do something different."

137when I don't have the same level of expertise or or visibility into things. But, also to be cognizant that if we put ourselves in that position if we're in that position, we can't just go back next year and ask for 4 or 5 million dollars if if we couldn't pass this this year. How the heck are we going to do it next year, particularly if the sentiment was, "Well, we were able to do this stuff with our one-time funds, so nobody's felt pain." And if that's what people need to be able to pass an override, we haven't done that. And so even increasing it from 2.55 to to to 3.25, my challenge there is if if we had to go and do a stepped pain, uh both it has more of an opportunity for us

138to recover and potentially get an override in the future, but also just the impact. If you were to take a district and you said, "Okay, it's painful next year, but it's you're you're taking a smaller chunk of the pain, the the people in the in the in the processes can adapt to that. And then if it's a chunked thing, it extends that out, whereas if we pull too much back in, we get a fiscal cliff, and now even if you end up in the same spot, you're you're going from one spot to that spot, one year jump, and I think the the impact on our staff, the impact on the students would be incredibly it'd be more than than that than a more gradual, you know, a more gradual approach, even if it's a year

139or two different, right? So So that's a long-winded answer way of saying I struggle with it, and I even struggle with the 3.25, right? Um because we're I I feel I feel our fear a bigger drop is more impactful in one year than pain over a couple years, if that if that makes sense. So >> Yeah. I mean, I think what you're you're saying is like you're on balance, you want to preserve the ability to to absorb things over time. Yeah, and I appreciate that. Now, I just I felt like um that was not when the conversations that I had with Jim were really around the director of SEL position and and you've heard sort of where that went. Um I felt like I wasn't aware of your particular concern about the sped coordinator position

140in as much detail and I and I wanted to I wanted to be felt strongly about that. >> and I and I and I totally get it. We operated with that, um but you the same logic can be said for an elective position. Sure, the electives that we lose for any one of the other positions, right? So, um so yeah, I mean I I think the number is where the number is. I think that's what we go for if we if you know, I think as as we go if heaven forbid we're in that situation and we need to adjust, we can adjust, but uh but I think that's I mean comfortable is the wrong word, but um that's >> Accepting of it. Yeah. It would It would move the percentage to 3.47. Anyway, if

141you're curious. Yeah, and I and I just don't feel comfortable pulling that hard. Yep. Right. Yeah, and I appreciate that and and I was one of the people that wasn't able to be at the tri-board, so I know um the the discussion that you all had on behalf of the school department yesterday to get it from the 2.55 to the 3.25. I don't want to go back and blow that up, but this was just something that came up in this conversation um that I wanted to to test your comfort level with the see whether we need to talk about it more or not. I appreciate it. Um I do have another question, Mr. Adams. Um so, this does say that uh given an override is passed, it will like end up being a more sustainable

142financial future, um but just being totally honest with ourselves, um the past couple years of budget increases have been 6%, uh 4%, and 6%, right? So, uh that was all like good and well with during the COVID years when inflation was around 7% like core inflation but now that it's starting to dip and all those things are starting to get back going again this really isn't something that's too sustainable over long period of time and if we do continue boosting the budget 6% every year it's it's not something that the community is going to technically the community will like continue seeing diminishing returns on the service that they're getting so do you have a plan for necessarily making sure that this is a one-time override and stopping further increase >> Sure sure I mean I

143would never ever sit in front of you and say it's a it's a long I would never sit in front of any group and say it's never going to happen again right because the the flaws in the system right the flaws at the state level of 2.5% capacity to to increase taxes on the levy that being said the way we're designing this is in 5 years we may have have to have another conversation because we are we are going to be negotiating contracts with with educators right so let's assume uh that they get X% well that X% is typically more than a 2 and 1/2% increase of of the property taxes is about 1.7 million dollars that in revenue raised the overall increase in teacher salaries or educator salaries and paraprofessionals and custodian center is

144well more than a million dollars so they're never going to be parallel right they're never going to match up so what I would say is what we're trying to design is a system that allows for that fluctuation to exist so if we have now the ability to utilize some of that school choice money not 1.1 million dollars of it but maybe a couple hundred thousand dollars of it to offset some of your operation expense, great. Then I think that's doing its job with the override. I would say if we go back and look at our percent increases, there were reasons for that, right? Um and reasons that we couldn't even predict. Um so we have policies within the community that says, "Okay, if at the end of the year, when we do our budget, there's

145X amount of dollars available, and we we maybe have a 4% increase in the budget. We start at 3.75%. That's our policy. That's where we should be starting. But if more revenue comes in from the state level, in the fall, we traditionally then reallocate the extra revenue. 70% of the schools, 30% to the general government. So our budget may have been approved at town meeting at 4%, and it ends up being 6%. So because of just the way the revenue streams work at at the state level. Uh or um even at the town level when they finally uh look at all the revenue and get it audited and approved. So I I think it's a it's a fair question. I I don't There's no way any community can sit here and say they're going to

146pass one override and it's going to fix the entire scenario. What I'm saying is with the override, I've committed to already reducing our budget by 13.2 positions that will help stabilize the the budget over the next 5 years. We're starting from a different point. It's a really fair question. We're starting from a different point. The other thing too is like an an article went around today. I don't know if any of you guys got a chance to read it. Somebody forwarded about um overrides that are happening in other communities in in the state. Um and many of them asked for a lot more money than we're asking for. We're probably on the lower side, if not the lowest. And so factored into those conversations when we were deciding what to ask the community for. Like

147you have to take the big picture on like what this community could afford. Yeah, could we have gone for like a bigger override that might have provided us with help us meet more of our goals and and meet our um strategic plan and move us forward. I mean this is Jim has pointed out many times this is a stabilization override for us. It is not a moving forward situation. And we have been static almost the entire time I've been We have been able to do some great things, but a lot of them have been for the purpose of saving money in other areas. Like all of the special ed programs that we um brought in were amazing, but they that they required an initial investment, but they also paid off. But there have been a

148lot of other things that we haven't been able to grow any of our, you know, teach more languages in school, offer more electives, um have more art classes, um all kinds of things that we can't even talk about. There's a very long list of things that um we don't And that's last night when we had a tri board meeting I was talking about how, you know, some of the language and some of the town departments discussion were about like advancing things and moving things forward. At we those words do not enter our conversations. Certainly not this year. Um and if they have for the entire 15 years that I've been here it's been a little bit here, a little bit there. And that's been it. So what I'm saying is though when we decided on

149the amount of the override, yeah, could we have gone for something more that might have reassured you and anyone else asking that question that we're set for a while. You have to think about like what can the community support. You know, what is fair to ask of them given other things that are coming down the road or what We just had a school building and a public safety building and we got to be mindful for all the things that are on people's plates. So it's all those things that factor into it. But it's fair. That's not going to >> So so this is it's never been positioned as permanent thing that you never need to come back with, right? There there are other opportunities. So, I can show you some data on our new growth

150numbers. So, in town when your the taxes can go up 2.5% plus new growth is the base of what it can go up. And the new growth is any improvement to real property, right? So, somebody adds addition onto their house, a plot of land that's empty has a property building that comes on on board, that increase in value can then be added to the real property values of that time and the revenues portion of that revenue that you get from that new growth is can be added to that that levy. So, it can be increased by that, right? It's been down since 2019. It's been on the decrease since since substantially. We have some projects that are probably coming on. We can advocate at the state level for differences in the chapter 70 funding and

151things like that. Uh So, those things are are things that can help. Um it's not just about cuz I don't even know that the right place to fix this is the prop 2.5 because um maybe it's more of the state funding, right? And and and some of the challenges, you know, advocating there for having a bit more depth in these things before you start going out for universal pre-K. The the the There's a lot of There's Those are all great things. Free community college, all these things that but it the impact is we're feeling these locally, right? Of of it's putting more of that burden onto our local communities than kind of spreading it out the state level. Even though those other things we mentioned are fantastic things. Um it's you know, so that's where

152I think we can advocate for um you know, really just highlighting the impacts of of spreading too thin that the state dollars and and trying to refocus on on the core things that we need to do. So, it's not just on the back of our our local taxpayers. But I especially appreciate your questions and your input because those are the kinds of things that, you know, I don't know if are you 18 yet? I mean, those are the kinds of things that voters are asking or should be asking or need to know and those are the concerns of we all live here in town. We're also voters like we we all need to understand what all of this means and it's it's complicated on so many levels. Um and we need to we need to

153really understand what people's concerns are. So, thank you for bringing like at least those to the table. Do we have Do you have more, Jim? >> I do not. Anybody else? >> me? Yes. Had enough of all of us, then. Anybody else have anything on that before I ask Mike if he has any comments tonight? Mike. I will be as brief like usual. Um Course placement is happening right now at the high school and the middle school for our eighth graders who are moving on to the high school next year. Um in terms of some assessment updates, we are preparing for our math placement assessments. Uh specifically, our fifth graders will be taking their math placement to under to determine whether or not they'll be going into the accelerated math program. Um it's and that's

154just one piece of the puzzle. It's a it's a lot of data that goes into that, but I know that it's something that's going to be on the on the minds of of many of our parents as they look towards the the middle school. Uh just in and just to assure folks too that um it's again one piece of a puzzle and there is opportunity even if the child does not go into uh grade six accelerated math as a sixth grader, there's opportunity as their child moves on to make that happen after uh in terms of going into seventh grade or even going eighth grade, there's a there's a placement test that happens every year for that. Uh Ed evaluation, Mr. Adams touched on it. We are behind in terms of that Ed evaluation work.

155We were behind going into the year, we're even further behind now just because of two meetings that were scheduled that both landed on snow days. We have scheduled additional meetings to try to catch up. I do think we're going to be able to catch up, but we are we are still at the same place we were last time when I gave you an update. So unfortunately, we're not making the progress we want yet um there. Um just a quick professional learning update, try to give that as much as possible. I always talk about that year two three program that happened this past week. We had 22 folks from Mendon-Upton and Milford with us visiting our our classrooms across the district. On Monday, we had about 28 of them last week. We have got a number

156of our educators visiting Milford uh tomorrow. Um one of the most exciting things about that program in particular is is we have a great relationship with them in terms of our our EL folks going to see the amazing work that happens in the EL program in Milford and Christy Arnold actually is planning on joining them tomorrow so she can go and and see what's happening in Milford as well. And they have a wonderful preschool program too. Um so the opportunity for our our preschool teachers, especially the ones in the specific programming models for are able to go see what's happening in Milford. Uh other quick things, talked about MTSS processes and procedures are well underway. That's been our major goal this year is is sort of honing in on the process and the procedures that

157we have. That's our goal for our next meeting is to really leave our MTSS meeting with the district-wide folks to say, this is what the process looks like for every building, for every uh school meeting that that takes place. So, they all look the same and we're all uniform. And also, I touched upon the fact that we're utilizing our Open Architect platform and we've made some really good progress in that. I I looked at them the other day and there are a ton of folks throughout the district who are using that to be able to track some specific initiatives that are happening so we can really look at data and see how students are improving based on some specific goals that have been set. Um Safety Committee uh met recently and uh our focus right

158now um is is less on crisis intervention techniques because we've done a lot of that work and now we're looking at what happens after the aftermath of a potential crisis incident and we are looking at our reunification procedures. Um we are utilizing uh some great some great tools that are there from our Raptor Support Team that we have uh as well as the Safe Schools. And uh we are going to be working in conjunction the police department and fire department as you always do to determine an on-site um local community venue for any potential reunification that would have to take place. Um Flag Day, I'm sure I'm probably stealing some of Abichek's stuff, but Flag Day at the high school on March 13th at 10:30, always a wonderful event uh where we celebrate the many

159different cultures that are represented in Ashland High School. If you have an opportunity to attend, I encourage you to do so. It's at 10:30 uh on the 13th. A a great event where it's for our our whole entire high school community. And Literacy Night, one of the things that I'm most proud of at the Warren School. It's something that we started quite a few years ago. Um not so sure that parking lot can maintain it, but it's a it's a wonderful event and that is happening on uh March 18th. So, give a plug to Warren. I had the pleasure over the course of the last week to read a story to every uh every student at the Warren school. I went into each classroom and they asked me to read if I could build a

160school. Uh and I read that to all of the kids and they are now going to present me with their ideas on what their fantasy school would look like. So, they have uh templates that were created for them where they're going to be drawing their plans or writing And you know, I I thought of that today. But again, it's just another one of those wonderful ways to get students thinking beyond the typical way we think. And I I look forward to seeing their fantastic ideas. Um when they when they see me on the 18th. Sorry. I just want to make sure he was okay. His office is right next to mine. He knows how bad it is at times. You're all right there, buddy? Okay. Sorry, Mike. Continue. >> I'm done. Oh, you're done? >>

161I'm done. >> Okay. Yes. Unless there's questions. They usually are from Paul, but we'll see. Not tonight. He He just made a very brief comment, so I figured I would throw one back. Yeah. Um I can't handle the darts. All right. Are we ready? Well, we have a consent agenda. Does anyone have a motion to approve the consent agenda? Moved. Second. All in favor? Aye. Okay. Are we ready for reports? Abhishek. Yes. So, at the high school, uh we are getting into uh the end of spirit week almost. Uh we've had uh the CARES team uh the CARES club. They put on a spirit week celebrating uh Ashland's culture and diversity. Um so, yesterday or sorry, Monday, we had Korean food uh in the cafeteria. So, they they like to put on a show, they

162put on some music and it's really good environment and it's Korea blanking on yesterday. I can't believe I just did that. India today, something tomorrow. Please don't. There's Turkey. Yes. Was Turkey one of them? Russia is one of them. Yeah, it's They got some cool places this year. As Mr. Cairo said, it's culminating in Flag Day and after that student council will also be putting on a spirit week. They were supposed to be happening the same week but they kind of shifted it around to mitigate that but student council is will be having their spirit week. Other than that, students will be choosing their courses for next year. So, those already gave went out to freshmen, sophomores and juniors. So, they'll be choosing their electives and the parent approval process will be coming out shortly

163for that as well. Other than that, that's pretty much it for me at the high school and thank you. >> That's tough. Thank you. I do not have anything. I attended the Ashpack meeting last week and the main topic of discussion was the budget. So, kind of shared some preliminary information myself and Britney, you know, kind of from a big picture overview in terms of knowing where the conversation started around the the cuts that were going to happen regardless and so there was some conversation at the meeting about the the loss of a sped coordinator and so, you know, Britney, the parents had questions in terms of what will it look like and you know, how will coverage be maintained and you know, what will it be? Will it decrease, you know, kind of response

164time, how will it impact the process and you know, Britney kind of shared, you know, her her thoughts and the fact that she and her team have talked a lot about it and they're looking at different ways to to make sure that everybody will have coverage and you know, she's she's somebody who probably takes too much on her plate sometimes but she's you know, if if need be, she will take on some some cases as well, which may be the case. So I think you know, she has an an eye on making sure that the service level doesn't change to parents and I think she and her she gave I feel like the the members of the of Ashpack walked away feeling confident with her. Um you know, acknowledgement of the challenges, but willingness to

165to kind of step up and and deal with them. So but I encourage them to share any concerns that they had as they continue to meet. Um if I hear any I'll certainly pass them on. Thank you. Paul. Yeah, I mean I I don't think I have too much. I just kind of I just wanted to thank Chris. He he spends a lot of time not with Jim, but I ask I you know, I ask a lot of questions. We should we thank him for tolerating you? But but he's been very responsive and you know, helping me put together Yeah. And so I'll just throw it out there if if you're meeting with a group and and there is some you know, questions on just things I'm I'm happy to you know, supply you with

166the information once once I'm ready to I've been cautious about people to ask me for that until I hit go. I don't want I don't want a slide to go out and then it change and then somebody said to hold hold on what happened. >> Right. We need we need integrity with it. So so once I do that I'll happily share it. You can just use it or I'm happy to talk through stuff with you. Yeah, thank you for doing that and thank you Chris. Yeah, I know it's been a lot on all of you. Mike, Jim, thank you all. So I went to high school site council meeting today and it's been really almost the whole session talking about results of a it was titled as a school participation survey. Um the idea is

167to look at how engaged our students are they feeling connected, um feeling included. Um so I'll just share some overview things with you. Um and and for context, I think um who said it there are roughly 880 students in the high school, the response rate was or the number of responses somewhere around 230. So, 25% I don't know if that's good or bad compared to other surveys. I'm sure I can already give me a look like, "Yeah." It's pretty good. Okay. Uh Yeah. Yeah. And so, >> Wow, you got that many? Yeah. Yeah. So, one of the one of the questions was around how many how often have you participated in an event or have you in the last 3 months? And and 65% of kids, give or take in the percentages, had indicated that

168they had participated in at least one or more events associated with the school the prior 3 months. There were there was some discussion about um barriers. Like, why why were students um not able to One of them was transportation. So, presumably and then we didn't get into the depths of this, but presumably that was the ability to get to an event. Another There was a specific question about whether language was an access barrier. Um and so, that was flagged to some degree. Um All of these things kind of led to the need to dive more into sort of what the specifics are. Um I would say that was flagged as I think the second most common kind of potential barrier there behind the transportation. Um and then there were some specific questions about um whether

169the students felt like they had an element of belonging or whether they felt included. Um those two questions were on a sort of scale of one to five. And so, on the sort of negative side, the number of that responded with one or two, like 8.8% had said they didn't necessarily feel like they belonged. Um and in terms of included, it was um seemed very similar terminology to me. It's like 8.4% but the others really skewed very much towards the fours and the fives. The threes were sort of say much more than one and two but most of the kids were saying four and five which I think is a positive. One of the things I think that's worth taking with a grain of salt on this and and we did have some conversation about

170it is how many of those those sort of not belonging numbers might be kids who are new to the school. Um that might be freshmen still finding their way um as opposed to seniors, right? If somebody's been here for four years and they still feel that way, um that might indicate something. >> know what they didn't parse it out by grade. Yeah. What I had asked Kelly whether she had the ability to and she felt like she did. Um the other thing was that there was so the percentages on the there were a whole series of questions. The number of responses that were ones and twos was I don't know if the numbers were exactly the same but the percentages were very similar. I said I asked her whether she could see whether that's a

171consistent trend like there were same kids are saying ones and twos um for all the questions. I don't know what that would mean but it'd be an interesting thing. She thought she could see that in in in terms of further analysis. Um but I would say you know if you're looking at raw percentages, I think the data is actually pretty good. We probably all are wired towards but what about the other ones and and sort of you know let's figure that out. So that that is a part of the work that site council wants to sort of do and and try to understand that better. Um one of the other questions I just wanted to highlight was you know something we talk about a lot is trusted adults. How many kids feel like they have

172a relationship with at least one trusted adult? Um and 70% were in that four or five category in that. There were 12.9% that were one or two. Um and obviously the rest were in the middle. So I think generally speaking you can look at and say the vast majority of kids can say yes to that and that's great. Um questions sort of you know why why are some students not feeling that that level um of connection and and not feeling they have a trusted adult and we're going to look to see they're going to look to see whether they can gather better insight into that. But I thought that was all interesting data and that's what we predominantly talked about for um it's a you know it's an hour and a half meeting probably 75

173minutes. Embedded in that there was sort of an impromptu conversation of sort of X block and what opportunities are there to use X block in a a different way a more constructive way ways that support this cuz it was it was in the context of this dialogue. So All right, I thought it was an interesting conversation um and I think you know going forward hopefully they'll be able to pull more data out of that and find some useful trends that can then be sources of of action steps. That's what I've got. Thanks Mark. Uh Warrenside Council was postponed this month so I don't have anything. That's it. Move to adjourn. Second. All in favor? I. I. Good night everybody. Buenas noches amigos.