School Committee Meeting 10-14-2025 5:00pm

001They have built All right. So, we'll call this meeting regional school committee to order. Everybody please stand for the pledge of allegiance. [Music] I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Uh before we go ahead, just want to uh highlight you might notice some differences about this week's meeting, some changes that we made. So we've been working with uh MASC Trace Novik, our representative there on ways to streamline and improve meetings. So that's why you see everything from what goes on an agenda documents to who's sitting at the table. So you see all the administration is actually sitting over there uh ready to be called on if needed, but otherwise just

002the committee at the table. That was one recommendation we got to improve things. So that's why it might look a little different tonight. Um, nothing else going on there. But, uh, if anyone's here to make a public comment, remember public comment we can take only on things that are on the agenda. So, if anyone is willing to make a public comment, please come up to the table, sign in, and make your comment, please. >> No, >> just I think you have a question first. Um, >> yeah, come up and uh, sign in and [Music] I'm just going to put >> Hi, my name is Peter Dar. I'm a teacher and coach here at the Hunt. I just have a question um regarding public comment whether we I should make a comment now or wait for

003the second public comment is regarding a business item regarding changes to the handbook specifically uh regarding middle school athletes and high school sports. um something that was just brought to our attention this morning. I was just wondering if we should comment now or wait before the business item second public comment. >> So the reason for the second public comment is for those people who can't get here at 5:00. If they still want to make a comment on a business item and they can get here before that starts, that's what that's for. So if you want to make it now or wait, it's up to you. >> Okay. Um sure. I'll make a comment. I'm just here today to express my concern um regarding the proposed language to change the handbook. um regarding middle school athletes

004um participating in high school sports. Um this was an issue that came up back in August. Uh there was a meeting on August 25th with administration and some coaches at that time. We were told that there would be a working group as something we would really like to do here. Um to further discuss any changes that might happen. Uh we were notified today of a proposal to the school committee for a vote. Um and I think that caught a lot of us offg guard and we were not notified of those things were invited to be part of that discussion because I think there's some strong opinions on that and just wanted to express my concerns regarding that. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. You want me to leave this on or >> uh maybe

005turn it off when someone else comes up. Right. Joe. >> Yeah. Anyone else? Yeah, >> just want to turn the mic back on. >> Okay. Uh Dan Ashman, also a uh teacher and coach here at Taha for the past 12 years. Um very disappointed to be here at this meeting tonight. uh was very surprised to learn earlier today that there is potentially going to be a vote tonight regarding sports participation for middle school student athletes. Um at a meeting on August 25th, several other coaches and I were told that a committee would be formed and discussions would take place before moving forward with any changes to the current policy. Uh that did not happen. Um uh we as coaches want to make it clear uh that none of us have been contacted for any input

006regarding the proposed changes to this handbook language. Um this is a vote that would impact not just middle school student athletes and teams but also the junior varsity teams, varsity teams and the programs as a whole. uh the prop the proposed change to language and change in policy would be a detriment to the current and future Tahanto athletic program as a whole. Uh we the coaches ask that the school committee not take any action regarding the proposed changes to the current portion of the athletic handbook and leave it as it is currently written. Uh should there be a necessary change, we ask that coaches be involved in the process as members of committee, allowed to provide feedback and input throughout the process, and we would ask that those changes do not take effect until at

007the earliest the 2026 2027 school year. Thank you. >> Anybody else? Okay. Um, my name is Whitney Moore. I'm a parent. I'm a student. Uh, she's a sixth grader here. Um, I was finally able to view the edits less than 5 hours before the meeting after I was the one who emailed the school committee superintendent and principal. I'm not sure if the edits would have ever been posted if I had not sent that email. And I would strongly request that the school committee and administration take pause before imple implementing something like this until a committee is formed and coaches get to weigh in before we have a lawsuit on our hands because we didn't provide equal opportunities for all students as this being is being proposed during the school year or we could potentially our

008athletics programs which could potentially result in more students leaving to Hanto altogether. Thank you. Anybody else? >> All right. Thank you everybody. Um, next is our consent agenda. Can I please have a motion to approve the consent agenda? >> So, second >> Beth. Any questions or comments on that? >> All right. All in favor? >> All right. Anyone against it? >> All right. That motion passes. Thank you. Uh next up we have uh Aaron, director of finance for an update. Aaron is giving his update first because he is uh going over to Boilston to uh >> why don't you just come right? >> Yeah, come on over here. >> He's going over to the >> case. So before I can. So, um I know in the there was some received mis miscommunication the last time

009had a select board meeting and whether we're invited or not. Um this time we did receive an invitation um to attend their select board meeting tonight. Um unfortunately it's the exact same time um that we're having our school convenience. So Aaron is going to give his budget update um and head over to Bolston to represent administration as they discussed in the MSBA roofing project. So he's going to lally go from here over um to um circle meeting. So Aaron, thank you. >> Sure. >> All righty. So you have a couple items. Why don't we start with um school committee memo budget? Um I won't share the details. You also have a um closing report for fiscal 25. I won't go into the details of that. You're welcome to email me with questions or reach out

010to me with questions about specific line items. Um but this um you know pretty much this memo pretty much covers where we fell on the year. Um we finished the year spending a total of $24,65,9281. Um and I can promise that one cent was spent well. Um and uh one of the things that we have to do um for our auditor is identify which sources our funds were coming from for this year. So one of the things we did in December we've been sort of working backwards and and trying to play some catchup is in December the school committee approved a full budget. At that time, I was in incredibly confident, I've been watching the budget all along, that our um revenue sources would meet our budgetary needs, and they did. Um so, uh what

011I'd like to do for our auditor right now is to sort of back into um what our intended revenue sources would have been. You may recall in our uh prior budget meetings when we approved the fiscal 26 budget and when we will approve the 27 budget, all of these sources are identified in the budget. Um so the budget you approved and the budget you will approve for fiscal 27. Uh unfortunately because of the way things work, we've just had to back into it this year. So, at this point, I'm just requesting that the school committee approve these specific line items as part of the revenue budget. These are our funding sources. And again, Megan, thank you for clarifying that the budget and finance meeting. I kind of talk and get a little wonky. Um, and

012uh clarifying it as these are our funding sources as opposed to our spending. Those are two separate kind of items is really important. Um, I'm happy to answer their questions on other items. Um all of our reporting uh will be in on time. Um our end of year report is in process. Our excess and deficiency is in process and we're hoping to have that certified uh in a timely manner. >> Any questions? >> Questions or comments right here? >> So fewer question. >> So fewer funds will be taken out of the school choice. >> Yes. Yes. So we we will that those funds will remain available for future use. And that's that's really the goal. I sort of have a I guess a waterfall approach to funding. We always want to spend the money that's

013going to go away or that we're going to lose right away. So grants, even our assessments, we want to make sure we spend through those first. And then things that fall into our savings accounts as it were, such as school choice, um I'd rather put money there. >> So essentially none of the school choice is getting spent. >> Correct. So we'll have that available for future years to help the budget. Yep. >> Anybody else? >> All right. So Aaron, I think you you have a recommendation down here that you read as a motion. Since you're gonna leave, why don't we get this one out of the way? This is a business item, I believe. >> Yep. >> Close up. >> Yeah, close up. >> I just lost the document. Sorry. >> So, the recommendation at

014the bottom is just that the school committee votes. I guess I'd be looking for a motion and vote to approve the budget in the total amount as outlined in this memo. So, I have a motion, please, to authorize the FY25 operating budget by funding source provided above and net total amount of $24,793,688 consistent with the school committee vote of December 10th, 2024. >> Best second. >> Jess, any further questions, comments, discussion? >> Okay. All in favor? >> Um, it's a budget vote. Why don't we do a roll call vote here? How about that? Megan >> I. >> Lori, >> I >> Jeff >> I. >> Lisa >> Hi. >> All right. Well, thank you very much. That motion passes. >> All righty. Fantastic. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> That's the only vote

015you have. >> That's the only um only vote I need. Um uh the next memo you have is for capital priorities. Um this is a memo outlining we will need to go to the town of Berlin. um by October 31st with our capital needs. So, I need to complete their sort of worksheets. Uh they don't typically mandate that we prioritize them, but I'm coming to the school committee ahead of time sharing uh this is I've met with all of the principles. I've met with Dan Ayella. How how important are these? How crucial are these? uh and we've ranked uh the various items in order um of priority for each school. So at Berlin Memorial, you'll see we've got uh 304,242 um starting with the gym door, uh the phone system, student staff technology, uh repairing

016some rooftop units, and repairing craps in the walls. Uh there are two caveats below. Um the roof replacement is being considered at the October special town meeting. Uh we will probably would probably put that in uh as item three and renumber everything accordingly if we had to. Uh we might, you know, three or four we might play around with it. Um the other item that's been on the capital plan is mini splits. Um Dan Ayella to his credit is uh uh working on a green communities grant that would um largely fund this. So he's working directly with the town of Berlin to get this done. Uh that would cover the cost. If you know I think we're comfortable putting this off one year given some of the other priorities and if if it doesn't happen

017if somehow we don't get the grant we just bring it around next year back into the capital planning process. and and Dan have been working really hard on this grant working together since this work. >> Oh, sorry. And Berlin, sorry about that. Kristen has been working really hard with um to really um work on this grant. There's a lot of a lot of work to be done in getting the money for this this green grant. So, I appreciate the work that Dan and Kristen have been doing >> right in the time. >> Yep. Um scrolling down to oil. Oh, I'm sorry. question the phone system >> that it's not on any of the other schools >> upgrade just >> their phone system is much older. >> We would very much like to unify the phone

018systems across the district. >> Um the the biggest block in the way of doing that is going to be Berlin's phone system which is I believe still an analog system. Uh they have connection issues consistently. They have challenges. So if we could move them to a true voiceover IP system, uh we could get a lot of efficiencies. Plus in the long run, we could start planning out that move to um a consolidated phone system >> that there. >> Okay, we'll move on to Boilston. Uh Boilston is starting with student t staff building technology. You can see some Chromebooks, laptops, cameras. This is typically what we need every year. We'd love to roll this into a student and staff and building technology. We'd love to roll into operations. We understand why it's in capital because it

019hasn't traditionally been part of the operating budget and it would be challenging to do so, but we're going to continually look at that depending on where the budget sits. Uh playground rubber surface. Um this is a safety and accessibility uh issue. So, um over the uh mulch that we currently have, uh there are a lot of challenges with um students or or children or or adults even in general who have mobility challenges, things like that, getting over that surface. A rubber challenge would uh remedy that significantly. Uh it's longerlasting. It wouldn't involve annual remulching. Uh, and uh, it's a pretty they're they're getting pretty good and they're pretty clean, nice surface. Um, repaving the back parking/play area. If you notice, the front was repaved this past year. Uh, we would like to do that and

020if there's some feasibility, I know there was some talk of of adding spaces when they did the the front. Um, we'd still like to look at adding spaces if that fits within any budget we set up. Um, the next is bathroom updates. There are two bathrooms that um are in really rough condition. I think the folks who walk the building saw that firsthand um and understand that um those really need some work. The the sinks and the the lavatories are are into pretty solid disrepair. Um early elementary play area, we're looking at this to create a little bit of fencing just to block off. There's a small play area. the preschools use. Um we'd like to block some of that off from a car accident and maybe kids running down that road. Um we have

021a lot of young kids who might do that. We have not had any significant incidents with that. We just like to prevent it before it happens. Um so that gets us to the total of 486. I'll pause for any questions there if anyone has any. >> I do. >> Yes. I thought for the um rubber surface we said that it or we had talked about I don't know it was the day that Jess Mr. He was there. Rob, you were there. Um, I thought we said that the bathrooms were probably more critical than that, but maybe there's something I missed. And the other question I had, does Berlin have rubber on? So, they are still mulch. >> Yeah. >> So, the Boilston Education Collaborative has apparently been raising money for new playground equipment as well.

022We have pretty pretty sizable amount right now. So, that's something we're working on. I think we should work in conjunction on that. But I just I wasn't sure of the um >> would would the committee object to or Rob would you object while you're here to me swapping four and two? >> I think the bathroom's pretty solid. I just we got a lot of traction. A lot of people were talking about that playground surface. >> So we just felt like given kind of the politics and the hubhub, we'd we'd like to try to push it up a little bit. But >> Oh, yeah. Um, we're we're I think I'd be amendable to if as we present it to the towns swapping two and four. >> That's when Berlin needs theirs by the end of this

023month. When does Boilston meet? >> Berlin needs there or or Berlin needs this from you by the end of this month. >> Yes. Boilson's a little further out. Yeah. >> So, can we just can we just wait and talk to Danny Yaylor about this as well too? >> Yeah, we'll have that conversation before we make that change from 2 to 4. Yes. Make sure everyone make sure you reach out to Rob and Megan here. But I think facilities should give some input on that. I think they're all priorities whether we never went two, three, and four with audit. Let's just make sure. >> We'll have another meeting before Boilson has their >> Yeah, exactly. >> Boil's like in the center, right? >> Yeah. They they roll theirs into the total budget process. So there isn't

024they don't have Berlin has specific forms we fill out. Boil, we just kind of share this is what we need to do. It's a little different. Um and it's fine. every, you know, every town's got a little bit different nuance. So, Tanto Tanto um has not had much capital for a few years. Uh the first item, uh student staff technology has not been updated um in in three years. So, this is going into year three without significant updates. Our one saving grace has been that um Google has extended uh the their their uh lifespan for Chrome um by a year or two. So we've managed to kick the can down the road, but our devices are getting really long in the tooth uh based on the way that we budget. You know, this is the

025real challenge is also our budgeting and regional agreement. in another region. If Boilston had 10 extra Chromebooks, I could fire them up for Berlin. I could fire them up for the Hanto, but because of the way our system is, we can't really do that. So, we need to budget for what we need. That's that's a real challenge. So, we've been limping along with what we have. Uh we will be hardressed to be a onetoone school if if this continues. Um auditorium lights and projector. Uh the auditorium is lo used very heavily by the community. We have te dance recital. We have town meetings. We have all sorts of events in there. Um those lights, we're just talking the regular uh lights that that provide lighting. Um as well as the projector. It has a very

026large um sort of commercial grade projector uh that needs to be replaced. We think we can do that for about 28,000. um the telecommunications closet, the AC unit there is giving away. Um if that were to completely give away, uh we would have the potential of sort of burning out our our telecom equipment. Um if that were to happen for an extended period, um there are some lighting panels that need to be updated. Um if you've been the gym, you'll also know that the gym lighting controls don't work properly. Uh we need to have those fixed. So that's there. Uh, middle. I apologize. There's a typo in middle and um, now that I'm looking at it, I feel silly. But um, we're going to continue asking to improve our middle school furniture. Um, as I

027think we shared, the furniture that the middle school had uh, is largely elementary school sized and does not suit many eighth graders in particular who are bigger than me in many cases. And I've sat in those chairs and I feel pretty silly in them. Um, we did get some furniture this past year. We got some donation from Fitchburg. Um, that was helpful, but we'd like to just continue that. Uh, we need to do an evaluation of the condition of the track. I think since I got here, people have been kind of questioning where that is in its lifespan and what needs to be done. We don't know. Quite honestly, I'm not a track expert. Um, we'd like to get someone in who can do an assessment of that track and just say, you know, where

028are we in the process? How many years does it have in life? Does it need to be replaced now or or can we wait a couple years? Uh the paging and intercom system is aging. Uh we think of I think in a lot of cases we think of this building as the new building. Uh it's 13 years old. There are things that are getting long in the tooth and that's particularly technology items. That includes things like the paging intercom system and some of the other items on this list. Uh finally um additional parking. I know this is uh been a topic of a lot of conversation. Um you know for our purposes it doesn't you know fit in the top seven on this list. So we've got it at eighth. Um as I share below

029um you know we're happy to present requests to the towns um at the committee's direction. So if if there's something you see here in particular, Tahanto has sort of the most capital needs and that parking is a pretty heavy lift. So um that is going to need to go to both towns. So Berlin's going to need to see that. Uh we do have the potential for a $100,000 grant. Uh we have some degree of confirmation that that grant is in, but we don't have, you know, any communication from I think it's from the Department of Transportation. It was on earmark bill. Uh, I'm familiar with dealing with Desi earmarks. I've not dealt with Department of Transportation earmarks. I'm sure we'll be notified at some point that we're eligible for funds and what the process looks

030like. So, I'm pretty confident we'll have that money, but I I don't want to include it until we know it's in the bank. >> Yeah. Just so just for clarity on that, I think things that money has not reached any of us yet in terms of the the communities and the towns. Um, there is an opportunity. I know that um they did they did some work um from the town of Burling. Um, and I think we can push that money out if need be. I think it was 2020 8 maybe. I'm not sure the exact date. Maybe right around there that the money can still be available to us, but we have not received I know we've asked multiple times people asked us like where is that $100,000 being kept, but we have not received

031that into our budget into our community yet. >> Any any comments? Does the school committee would the school committee like us to act differently on Tahanto? Again, I know the parking's been kind of up and down. We've got um some design work already that was volunteered, which is fantastic. Um you know, just based on you know, our student needs and our school needs, we feel like the other items come ahead. >> Jess, you look like you want to say something. There's a lot of needs at Kahondo and they not been addressed for a while. >> Yeah, they've been kicked down the road so much that the auditorium doesn't seem like a priority, but it needs to get done. >> I've witnessed the gym lights an issue. >> A lot of sad middle school kids at

032the dance when they couldn't figure out how to get the lights off. >> This is actually less than it was originally in the budget in previous budgets. It was like closer to $100,000. So, I don't know what you guys did to trim that down or if you found a way to fix it instead of buying new or something like that, but I think it's very reasonable. Um, obviously the parking is a big question mark, but other than that, it's >> we would hope to >> Yeah, we've done a lot of pencil sharpening. I I mean, I believe there was a number in there for the track that was in the hundreds of thousands at one point. Um some of the the um middle school furniture was very high originally. Uh the donation from Fitchburg went

033a long way. Um plus the ability for Lisa to buy about $30,000 last year this past year has collectively at least put a big enough dent in that. um some of the auditorium uh items as Joe's kind of sharpened his pencil and really kind of worked with um some people that number has come down significantly as well >> and these are also numbers that we have right now right so the longer we wait right things are changing and and in in our district and our community and our country right so these prices are up there's some flexibility that we need to be paying attention to as well too >> so I know we have a number there but I want us to be clear that that number could be fluctuating right depending on what um

034things are going to be changing in price. >> Absolutely. >> Well, thank you for finding the Fitchburg donations and I think you and Dan went with a truck and picked it up. So, it >> was a fun day. We pulled a U-Haul truck and ran up to Fitchburg and loaded chairs and desks. It's not my usual day's work, but uh I like the change up. >> It's good. >> Creative. Thank you. >> Yeah. Any questions on that? The only thing I'd throw out there, Aaron, regarding the auditorium is if we're >> suggesting that we're doing that for frequent community use, >> that kind of goes hand in hand with the parking situation. Whenever there's community event, >> there's not enough parking and that creates safety issues on the highway. >> So, just keep that in

035mind. >> So, we can just kill both of them. It'll fix everything. >> Sure. >> Okay. >> Take both of them up. >> Oh, so one other thing. So, if we're doing paving at Bees, um it might be worth it, like in conversations down the road, um to ask about if there's a deal if we're doing both at once, >> um and take that into consideration as to whether or not this goes into the budget this year. >> Yep. Uh the work Boilston did um this past year, I know, was on sort of a preid contract that Boilston did. Uh I would honestly reach out to if we if this becomes realistic I would reach out to Boilston and say if you're going to rebid paving work this next year can we talk about this

036is that >> but just for clarity though we can't use black top that tough >> no no it would be a different sort but but a lot of caving companies will do different services right we'd add that surface type to their bid >> there was a whole as people that sat in that meeting >> it' be a different process Yeah, completely specialized. There might be only like a couple um companies in the state that might do it. >> Yeah, I don't know anything about and this size and type is quite honestly out of my wheelhouse. It might be out of Dan's wheelhouse. I'd love to be able to sort of share resources as well because we would have to be paying someone to help us with that. If the town's already either doing it themselves

037and they've got a format, they've got a template, it's just boom, boom, boom, done rather than us kind of recreating the wheel. Yeah. >> So again, we haven't really broached that yet, but you know, if April's watching, sorry, April, we'll talk to you later. >> Yes. And and we're working with the the reservoir people, right? And all that >> tell me again, thank you to every step we're doing with any any changes we're making in the parking lot as Lisa Critical has been involved with those conversations, too. >> Okay. >> Thank you, Aaron. Excellent. Last item is the uh budget calendar, timeline, whatever we're calling it. Yep. This is for information only. I'd be happy to take feedback. I'm not asking you to make a decision or vote on this right now. Um but this

038follows uh a a timeline that that I think um Megan sent to me that had been used in the past. That timeline had really specific dates on it. Um I have removed some of those dates. So this is just an ongoing every single year we can reuse this. Um and it's in order by month and within each month each item is in chronological order. Uh at present we're pretty well um uh we are pretty well uh two too right now. So we've shared budget sheets with administrators. Um they're looking at them now. Um we're having some back and forth. We've prioritized capital needs as you saw. Um at some point uh principles and administrators will return those budget sheets. We'll submit our capital requests to Berlin and uh you know our END will be submitted

039by October 31st. Um you know we may we may stretch a week or two beyond that but we will be well within um budget. That's you know it's just that that fiscal 24 thing continuing to carry over. Um, but now that now that we're we've got everything pretty well dialed in for fiscal 25, we shouldn't have a problem getting that in. Um, I won't go into everything else, but I'm happy to um get feedback from uh school committee members at any point on uh where things fall and where they think things should fall. And if there's anything I've missed, let me know. Um, and we'll go from there. That's it. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Any last question for Aaron? H >> I said any last question for Aaron. >> Thank

040you so much. >> Yep. Have a great day. And I'm going to get off to Boil. >> Yep. >> Not a problem. >> Maybe I'll see you over. >> Great. So um first of all I want to uh thank the school committee for the work they did with Tracy right and reorganiz reorganization and um moving forward in learning right we as educators are constantly learning and school committee went some great training and that's why I see a reorganization u like Mike said earlier um I also want to just point out um Nathan Wheeler some people might be you know wondering in the past multiple times from our school committee who's the gentleman that's uh sitting over there Nathan sorry to call out Nathan is one of our teachers math teachers in our at our high

041school but also Nathan is we're happy to say is going through the PALS program, right? So, he's learning to become um an administrator, right? And so, we're always looking to create a bench. So, he does some of that work as attending school meetings as well too. So, we welcome Nathan joining us and we're always looking to create a a bench for our administration as well too. So, I know people have asked me who's that gentleman sitting over there. So, I wanted to make sure I introduced him and um Nathan, thank you and welcome to our school committees as well. >> Thank you. Um, so just a little uh brief update. So I'm going to ask at this time if Julie Lee um could our athletic director could join us at the table um for a

042minute. Um and I'm going to remove the arrow sign for you or you can sit right there. Perfect. Even better. Wherever you feel comfortable. Um so Julie, I know you you let me know earlier that she was going to be running a little bit late um because she was at a game. So I appreciate you doing that. Your number of our priorities being with our kids and attending games. Um you did miss the opportunity. There was some public comment u made earlier um that I'm sorry you weren't able to uh hear um but we'll talk a little bit more about that when we get into the student handbook and the athletic piece of that as well too. Um but I'm ask at this time if Julie Lee um could um give us a quick update

043on our field project right now and I know um some great things are happening with that and her and Diana Ya have been overseeing that. So I want to just and with you know obviously working with Lisa Sera but if you could give us an update of what's taking place with the field. Yeah. Okay. So, this is good because I just spoke with Nate today. So, Nate Miller is the contractor that did the field. He was boots on the ground out there um working with Mike High Tower and he sent me this is perfect timing. He sent me a really great update. Um so, the field is in good shape. He was up there today to adjust the irrigation and the rain um cooler with the rain and the cooler temps. He pulled on some

044of the sod to check for rooting and it's already starting to grab onto the soil, which is great. We wanted that transplanted grass to start sending roots down and getting happy in its new home, which it is. Hopefully, we're done with the 80°ree temps like we had early last week when we dry out from the rain these past few days. Um, don't keep an eye keep the irrigation off until Thursday or Friday to let those roots die down and really start searching for water. We can do that now that the temps are cooler. Went in the 80s was a little bit harder. They just had to keep hydrating. Last week they um slice seated the areas that did not get sawed and they also added some of the loan to the low areas around the

045team benches and the corner marks. All in all, they're really satisfied with the condition of the fields, which is great. They will also continue to monitor the grow areas. They are planning on ariating and top dressing later in November when they have more root strength and there is another round of fertilizer going out before the end of October. If anyone's been on the fields, you may have seen this little robotic mower that's out there that is set up to mow the surface every day. This method of mowing allows for a greater quality of cut and also doesn't put heavy equipment on the new sod while it's starting to get established in home. Everything seems to be going well from Nathan's perspective. Um, and anything that we need just to give him a call. That's it.

046>> Questions for Julie at all about that? When are you going to play? It will be plannable for spring. The track can go on it. Um it it's you know it's preference by the school. You could plan at the end of October. Is it ideal? No. Um could you get lacrosse out there in the spring? Yes. Not ideal. But will we play more for our soccer kids next fall? >> You know, I I can't thank Julie enough for coordinating the teams and utilizing other fields um during practices and games. That is a feat amongst itself. Um, so I appreciate you doing that as our athletic director. Um, I also appreciate the games at Hillside, right? I get to um, look out the window and go down and see some of those games as opposed to

047this last week's football game where we're absolutely freezing out there. Um, but uh, really is a a coordination effort that you've done. So I I thank you for for doing that. So it's been great work and the field is looking like it's in really good shape and I know that was a quite a conversation we had as school committee um, but we really are moving forward in a great direction. So I thank everybody for that. Um there are some people that did some great donations uh to us and when this is all done and over um I'm going to talk to school about how how do you want to you know recognize those donations that people have made and what's the best way to do it in terms of signage or whatever but we'll talk

048to you about that later on when when the project is completely done as well too. >> Great. >> Thanks Julie. I appreciate we'll be seeing you Charlotte again as well too. >> So next I'm going to ask Renee if she could join us as well too. Um, so we had our first strategic planning committee meeting this past Wednesday, October 8th. Um, really was a great group of people that were assembled to do some great work for our school district. We are in need, as I think you've heard me say from the very first school meeting I had here, we we need a strategic plan. Um, Rene is going to join us, give us a little update about what took place um, um, this past week and what's taking place even as we speak today. Um,

049and what's happening as well too, Renee? >> Sure. So, um, as Al said, um, last week we held our first, um, full committee meeting, um, on October 8th, and it was facilitated by Pam Gold, who came to speak to you last spring. Um, it was really great. Um, everybody's really collaborative. Lisa was was there. We had um, members of the community. Um, we had teachers, we administrators. Um, we also have a a good selection of parents at different levels. And um we have a couple of students who are on the committee but had a game. So they'll be in the November meeting. So that'll be nice. Um but it was really we actually you know got a got a kind of a like you know hey how'd you get this good group together right? So

050they were really supportive of and it was just it was just by the willingness of the community. So we were really um grateful for that. So that that beginning work is really just starting to take a look at um what our mission statement is at this time. Do we want to alter any of that mission statement? It doesn't look like it has been um looked at for many many years. Um you know and then taking a look at um they call them kind of like the big rocks like what are our big rocks um that we want to identify um to move our district forward. And it's not this just this committee moving it forward. It's the focus groups and it's the survey. So, um this week starts um a series of focus groups. Um

051we had one this afternoon that I thought went really well um with our administration team um which was great. We have um one that will be going on in about you know a little less than an hour with some of the elected officials from Fincom and the select boards from both towns coming in to give their um you know really it's identifying what our strengths you know what our individual strengths that we think in our focus group right and it's okay to disagree that's the beautiful part of this right um what our our challenges are and what our opportunities are um and we will continue on with additional um focus groups next week um with staff um from all of the schools. Um we'll have an opportunity for the middle high school students um as

052well as the parents. So those invitations went out today. Um we were kind of told to hold have it be a little more than a week, but the the more um kind of flooding of information too fast. Um we were kind of asked to put um our invitations no more than like a week and a half out. So, those went out to parents today and to staff today. I know school committee will have an opportunity as well to do um actually something just got shared to me this afternoon that will be in like an electronic focus group that you can then choose to do as you know together in one of your meeting forums or however you want to choose to do that. Um so, I think it's really going well. They're very excited about

053working with us and it's really um I feel really fortunate that you supported this project because we're having an outside you know resource coming in to support us. So it's not just what you know Renee and Al and Lisa and you know are saying it it's this outside community is coming in and they're guiding us and it's going to be what the community's direction is for um for the district. So, um really excited about the process and um just looking through some of the districts, I know that they had shared some of the plans when they came in, but um Noba um on their website has a great strategic plan that this um teaching and learning alliance headl um that would be a great one that the community kind of wants to get an idea,

054you know, anybody that's that's viewing what a strategic plan looks like and one that you know represents a community that's really close to us, that might be a nice one to take a look at just to kind of get that that that view. So, >> if anyone has any questions, >> I can't thank Rene enough for leading this work with us. It's been an incredible work. Um, and Lisa as well too. We're going to be sending out a survey that we're working on. Um, right now um that we'll be sending out to the entire communities, right? Everyone in both the towns of Burlin and Boston. Um, here's an opportunity to get feedback from all of our community, not just um students, but families, but our community members as well, too. Um, this will help give

055help give us a true pulse on our school district and community instead of the one-offs we hear about here or the one-offs we hear about there. We're really going to get uh feedback from from absolutely everyone in our community about this taking place. So, we'll be working on that survey like I said with the help of Lisa and Renee. Um, and we'll be getting that out to to families as well, too. >> Yep. So, we encourage if you can come in person to focus groups, but we're not supposed to announce the surveys, right? But because we want the inerson feedback is always best. But just know that yes, if you can't make the focus groups that those surveys will be coming out um to to all stakeholders. So >> it's really good work we're doing.

056Really is. >> When is the survey going out? I love I love that you guys are doing >> we're working on so we we we're going to be sitting as a group and looking at deciding which questions we're asking. They gave us a a lot of questions. I think at the last look at it was like 149 and we're going to sort of narrow that down so we can get a a pulse of people but not have people be so overwhelmed they don't want to answer the survey as well too but to Rene's point come to those focus groups so you can really give some honest feedback as well too >> the data meeting to look at all of the data the inerson day of the survey meeting is the December meeting so the surveys

057will will need to go up prior to that thank you so just for a timeline yeah just wondering if it was this year or next year >> oh yeah no we want the whole strategic plan to be ready by the end of the spring. So, >> okay, >> questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Um, next I want to give you a little bit of safety update. So, I know that it's been a lot of conversations um this last couple of weeks regarding safety and I know um there's a tenative schedule meeting for um budget safety and facilities coming up um soon. We're we're finalizing some dates. Um, but I want people to know that, please know that this past year, um, with the coordination of Rich Cameron, our safety lays on, the amount of

058improvements in our safety protocols has been incredible. Um, and I know people are asking like like why are we sharing those out? So, we don't share all of these protocols out with our community. Um, because with these protocols we share out there, unfortunately, there are some weaknesses that we have to recognize and work on and get better at. If we share out these weaknesses, sometimes, I'm sorry to say, there are some people in this world that are looking for those weaknesses. So, we certainly um don't share all of our safety um plans are in place, but please know we're constantly looking at that. Um we at central office just had a full training that we went through um two weeks ago um with Rich Cameron, so we know all of our roles and responsibilities. So,

059the work that we've done this year um has been um absolutely incredible and constantly looking at that are our things that we look at is how do we make sure our schools are safe and how do we provide them a good education. So, I I know that, like I said, there's been a lot of conversation, but please know that this is something we're we're constantly looking at. Um, with that being said, I'm going to ask the the chair and the school committee um for November's um 10th school committee meeting um for us to go into an executive session so that we can talk about our security and give updates where Rich will be there as well as um some of our chiefs of police to talk about some of our safety things that we have

060in place right now. And again, that will all be an executive session where we share that out as well, too. I really wanted to make sure people understood that constantly looking at that um looking at the way we can keep our kids safe every single day when they're coming to school as well as our adults as well too. So I wanted to make sure people aware of that. So I'll be asking for that to be an agenda item in the November meeting as well. Um lastly I want to just let you know on about MCCAST update last Thursday October 9th all MCCAST data was sent home. Um in November we will be asking school committee we're doing a full presentation to school committee on the data results of those MCCAST scores. Um I know that

061many of you heard from um from I've heard many school committee members. Okay. So now what what do you want next? What are you looking for to make those improvements? Um we did some nice growth in math. Um we still got a lot of work to do in ELA. Um, so what we're working on as an admin team and what we're presenting to you is, okay, here's our data, but these are our next steps to help show the growth, whether it be curriculum, whether it be technology, we'll be ready to present that for you in November. >> Um, sorry, could I just ask a question that relates to that? >> Um, I know at the elementary level, I don't know about Tahanto, but I know at the elementary level there was a reading coach role

062that we I think I don't I don't remember if it was in the budget or not. I know that the role has been vacant. >> Sure. Uh just something to think about for maybe um this coming budget if it is in the budget. I'm not sure how we did it. I think maybe it might be in one school's budget but not the other. >> Um just something to think about given that what you just said about the >> looking at our ELA suppose it's absolutely something we need looking at that whole coaching model as well too for and I know Joey was Joey is here right for our math coach um but certainly uh up up an ELA coach as well too. Absolutely. Not a question to have Joey. >> Yep. >> On a side

063note, um the state department of education has still not organized the data for families yet. So I know that we've given you the hard data. If you're looking on the state website, we as superintendents are still waiting to get that information there. They they have a glitch there. Um and so it's still not available for you to go online and really look at your student data compared to how we did as a district, how well your student did to other districts that are like ours. So that's still work that Renee and and John as well as principles are looking at. As soon as we get that information from the education that that website is up and going, we'll make sure that we'll keep you guys updated as well too. And that is my report um

064from this from the superintendent. >> All right. Thanks. >> Questions? >> I think there's a lot of time that children are at home too. So I think time spent on reading and and masks over the summer is also something to reflect on too. So, some >> time spent kids reading versus on devices is something to ponder. I know when we went on a road trip with no internet out west, my son's reading dramatically improved for the next year. So, it's also something to think about at home, too. >> I agree. And I'd also say that, you know, what I'm looking also UDL, right? Universal design for learning, right? As long as we have them even maybe even reading on on on the Chromebooks as well too. any way they can get a chance to them

065to to read. Um I just saw this whole thing done today. The amount of younger students that are on your TV that are having the words as across as um what's the caption >> close caption, right? So that they're reading that as well too and how that's helping as well too. So they're not just listening, but they're actually actively reading that as well too. Just there's a lot of pieces on both sides of that. So I I appreciate that. But yeah, absolutely agree. Never always have a kid a student picking up a local meeting as well too. Thank you. >> Anybody else? >> All right, next up our student leazison Matt Dow. >> Yeah, wherever you want. >> Um, so my name is Matt D. I was here last year for the school committee meetings.

066Um, some of you may remember me. Um, I'm sort of here just to give the committee a little update on what's going on student life at the Hanto. Um, upcoming events, fun things we're planning. Um, and I also like to bring back what happens at the meetings to students um, at the Hanto so everyone kind of knows what's going on with our school. Um, so in terms of our student events recently, we've got some exciting stuff coming up. Um, probably the most exciting thing for me, and I might be a little biased, is um, our nature of being in AP Literature's Cape Cod trip. Um, so this is the last year this trip is going to be happening, unfortunately. Um, but we'll be spending this coming weekend, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday in Cape Cod. Um,

067as probably uh, I know Mr. Jord is here. So maybe he can uh say something a little bit more than I can because I haven't been there yet. But from what I hear, it's one of the best experiences we have. Um and I'm very much looking forward to that. Um as long as a lot of other students. Um other things we got coming up, I know middle school has their spirit week. I believe that's next week. Um it's always a lot of fun walking around the school seeing everybody dressed up and ready to go. Uh especially on the Friday for the pep rally. Um, and then we also have our high schools student council is planning our haunted hallway and bonfire. So that's scheduled for Thursday, October 30th, um, day before Halloween. Um, hop for

068some good weather for the bonfire outside in the soccer field. Um, the fire department is always has a blast with that. I always have a blast with that. I love sitting up by the bonfire. Um, and our haunted hallway, you know, we take the math wing in our school and turn it into like a little haunted house kind of thing. Um, which is always a blast and everyone has a lot of fun with that. So, those are sort of our big events coming up. Um, in the past, um, few weeks ago now, we had our homecoming dance and high school spirit week, which was a great success. Um, we've had our sports teams. Um, all of our sports teams have been doing pretty good. Um we are hoping for another you know show up uh

069with our football team coming up in um I want to say it's December is only when the uh the big game is. Um so we're hoping to do that again. But other than that I don't have too much else to say. Um I'm excited to be back. I'll be here this school year. Um unfortunately I'm a senior so this will be my last year here but uh I'm very excited. Yeah. For a good school year. Um, I'm glad to be back here. >> Matthew, how's the college hunting going? >> Um, I've got about two weeks to finish submitting all my applications, so it's very it's really good, but it's very hectic. >> Um, >> do you know what your number one right now is yet? Have you thought about it? >> Um, I'm really liking

070Boston College um and Assumption. Those are my top two choices right now. >> But yeah, there's a lot of uh a lot of work going on there behind the scenes. >> Good luck with that. Yeah, good luck with that. >> Having this role on your resume as you're applying to to BC uh is certainly is is a great thing to have on that. So, thanks for doing this work. >> Thank you. >> Great job. You're >> welcome. >> Thanks. >> Uh Jess, you have an update for your subcommittee student success and technology. >> Yeah, so our meeting went long last uh meeting, so we kind of skipped it. So, um, those the minutes from our September 5th meeting are in the drives. Um, and so, first I just wanted to thank Joe and admin for

071working on a safe solution for the middle school parent emailing situation. Um, I think a lot of parents were very thankful to be able to email their kids now um to coordinate logistics after school. So, um, also again a thanks to Joe about, um, and Al for getting Bark on the district computers to put some safety um, barriers for the kids on their computers and and what they can access. Um, certainly in the middle of the summer, I heard that YouTube wasn't or no, yeah, YouTube wasn't accessible on the computer. So, um, for my daughter also, uh, securely was put in place, um, as a tool for teachers. Um, but I think training is still ongoing for them. Um, and that will allow teachers to be able to see their students computers and lock them

072into one program um, or whatever they would like. Again, a tool um, to use if they want. Um, and then eventually parents would be given some control of what the computers at home when they're on home Wi-Fi as well. So, um, so thank you for that. Um, also at that meeting we talked about um the study act which is the safe technology use and distractionf free education youth act um or Massachusetts legislation S2581 was passed in the senate and still in the house um discussions uh in January the Massachusetts attorney attorney general also put forth a cell phone and social media and schools toolkit um and actually presented to the superintendent at their meeting winter meeting um and so that's That's a really great document that I encourage everyone to read. Um, and so it

073lays out a pathway for schools to explore cell phone policies, which at this point it it's likely going to come down from the state. Um, and then also the second part of their three-part plan is a recommendation for community or parent nights to discuss um different different community norms as they put it within the toolkit. Um last year, April of 24, um Bees fifth grade parents approached uh the principal and they organized a cyber security event with the Boilson police. Um or actually no, that was sorry, February of 25. Um and so and then Al, I think, arranged um a cyber bullying with the attorney general, which unfortunately was not well attended, but hopefully that link could be sent out again. >> Yes. Um but to pursue that um you know there's many things to

074discuss but I did get a hold of the Brockton High School principal about that their process going cell phone free um and granted their high school is different than ours. Um but they talked about the process of parent nights and short introductory videos and talking points. Um that it helped put the focus back on education. It increased interpersonal skills and conversation skills which increased peer-to-peer and also student toteer. They also saw a 50% drop in skipping classes um because they were not texting to meet up in the bathroom and then also increased performances um in including AP passing scores by 12%. Also MCCAST participation increased in math. Um, so just something that I think since we may or may not be getting a policy from the state, I think it would be a great opportunity

075for us to have a community night at some point either led by us or the PTO or Beck or link um discussing these community norms put forth in the toolkit um especially since mental health is is the crux of the conversation. Um, and Also, AI was discussed to that meeting too, very briefly. Um, and so it led to the discovery of obviously something that you already was aware of, but Desi's Office of Educational Tech um which has a multi-year AI roadmap. Um, so in August of 2024, they created a task force in the summer, this summer, um, they created an AI literacy guided uh, guidelines and policies. Uh and so they plan to work create work uh workshops, trainings and tool recommendations for districts coming up for the 2627 year. So that was good information.

076T >> Thanks, I can just add one thing like if um so I'm thinking about your technology and the cell phones and that conversation. Um we're sending a survey out to all of our families, right? So maybe Lisa, one of the questions that we could make sure is there something along those lines because I think we really need to get input from our families, right? What do mom and dads think? what do they think about whether allowing those students to have cell phones not? I think here's an opportunity for us to to maybe uh have a question resembling that on a on a a group. >> Yeah. And again, like an open conversation, you know, there's everyone with different opinions and >> um you know, there's anxious generation that's gotten a lot of publicity as

077the book. Um you know, certain norms that he puts forth, no smartphone until age 14, the wait until 8th is a huge movement. No social media until age 16, which the US attorney general kind of put forth those guidelines. Um and then phone free schools to allow the kids to actually talk to each other at lunch and interact. Um, and of course 504s and IEPs are an exception to that particular uh rule. Uh, and then there's also the increased free play and increased independence which is there's a let grow movement that was mentioned as well within the toolkit. Um, and so all of that I think again ties into mental health. Um, and so that in turn turns into what a student can do at school. So that would be great if we could turn

078it into some questions. >> Yeah, I agree. I think that's a great idea to get the ball rolling and then I think we need to kind of revisit it whether it be through policy or I don't know if MASC has like a boilerplate policy or um if it would be something that would be through the school the different schools part of their handbooks. I have no idea. But I I really would I agree. I think we need to get the ball rolling on that. We've been talking about it for a long time and I appreciate your comments and everything you said and I think a survey is a great I agree great way to start and then >> the only thing I I I cautious on I I am reminiscing of of COVID right here

079because they're coming down with a policy um hopefully by the end of this year that they're going to say statewide this is what we want to do. Um I think it's gone through the Senate or maybe the House or one of the two um but it's it's there waiting. Um the governor is fully supporting this and wanting to make sure this is in play. Um I just don't want to be one of those districts that gets ahead of it like pre-COVID did and then we all had to readjust after we figure it out. So you know I know I appreciate the work that you've done as well too. I think adding a question to the survey would be good to get parent input and then let's just see what the governor's coming up with and

080saying as across the entire state because they're going to then put it out. Here it is across the entire state where we're we're a policy. >> Yeah. I mean >> MC specifically doesn't have a model on cell phones particularly >> because the way they're waiting to see what's going to happen >> and I mean that's why I think the discussion is good to start the discussion like you know pro phone or against phones or whatever um because you know as a parent that has a seventh grader and a third grader I will do things differently with my third grader that I did with my seventh grader um you know cat was sort of out of the bag at that point so you know it would be nice again to put out what's there um for

081parents to use as tools if they would like. Um and also it's it's that community norms of you know I gave into pressure to get my daughter phone in fifth grade in the spring because all her friends are on the phones and she was being left out socially and of course that's not what we want our children but then that's not always the case. there are whole there are a lot of parents that are trying to hold out um so it's just some you know education again and discussion and discussion >> thanks Jess >> it's a worthy topic >> um question >> no I just said it's a worthy topic >> uh budget and facilities Megan >> um so Aaron did a great job of discussing about I'd say 75% of what we talked about

082and then um one thing and we have Mr. Floreno here. Oh, there it is. Sorry. So, one of the things we talked about um was and we did it through the budget subcommittee because it could affect the budget is uh the need for a new math curriculum at the elementary level. Um, so Joey uh worked with Renee and a team of teachers and they have been working for I'd say uh six months on this project where they um reviewed all different curriculums and then they had a rating system and then they finally decided on a new math curriculum called I Ready. So high level it's it would be a three-year contract. I think it's like about $15,000 more expensive over the three years. So, it's not hugely more expensive than the one we currently use.

083The one we currently use is called Sabas. Um, and Joey has been so kind to bring all of these materials for us. what we talked about in the meeting is for each of us to take a piece home to look at so that the school committee because we we obviously we're voting on the budget but we're all supposed to be voting on new curriculum. Um so I think this is a great starting point on this where we can take it home and one of the things we talked about is having time. So we'll have a month until our next meeting. Um so Joey did you want to say anything? I don't want to >> just so you know what you you've got. I left one of these. Grade one is the way they present it.

084Um I left it that way, but whoever takes that one, I didn't take it home with the others. We have kindergarten, uh first grade, third grade, fourth grade, fifth grade. So whichever grade you feel comfortable with, it's all essentially the same material. I mean, it's the same format layout. So whichever one you want to take and look at or exchange, if you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to me and I can answer any of those. Can I just clarify a couple things? Megan did a nice job summarizing that. Joey as well too. So it's a program, right? I want to be clear. John Campbell was also instrumental in helping all that as well too. So I want to make sure this this is not a curriculum. It's a program, right? So

085it's a math program we're looking at. That's a tool for our teachers to use in the curriculum, right, for our at our elementary level. Um so one of the things that we heard is that the the tool that we're using now, the math program we're using now, um it was coming to an end. We we we re revisited. Good. Good for them. Getting ahead of that, looking at that um um and seeing what exactly are we looking for in this next program that we're putting in place. Um so they they've done some good work on that. Um it's roughly total um close to about $100,000 for the next three years. Um we're also hearing that there might be an influx in money over these next couple months as well too. So we want to try

086to lock in as soon as we can as well too. Um we really want you guys to take a look at this. Again, school committee doesn't have the right to say what book we're putting in the library. Small things here and there, but we're doing a curricul uh sorry, a program. We're doing it across the elementary school. Um, and it's costing that much money. We want to make sure that it's put in front of the subcommittee meeting fits perfectly in the budget subcommittee meeting and seeing that yes, we can afford this money. U making sure that it's in the budget and making sure this is a priority when we're starting the budget process. Well, too, this one last thing, we under underutilize our subcommittee meetings. This is exactly where it should be, right? instead of

087Joey and John and did a great job almost an hour worth of presenting to us. Um, right. We certainly that's what subcommittes are for, right? Getting the information, getting the questions answered and bringing it back to Joey. And one of the things that came out was I think the school committee would like to see this program, right? And they had a chance to have their hands on and take a look at it before they make a vote. We're giving you time. So, it's not like one month and say, "Hey, we need you to vote on this. We want you to take a look at this." So, we under utilize our subcommittee meetings. I think this is a great spot to introduce it and I thank you guys for putting it in there on that agenda.

088>> Yeah. No, it was great. And the other thing is I think you know we're trying to um I don't want to say condense these big meetings, but we want to be okay. We're trying to condense them. We want to be as productive as possible, right? We don't want to be spinning our wheels. So instead of asking a million questions sitting at this table where nobody has answers, I think this will give everyone the opportunity. And Al, is there a certain person that you want us to um email our questions to? >> So respectfully say Joey, right? He's our math he's our math coach, right? Yeah. And John as well. >> Okay. Sure. Absolutely. All right. >> And coffee, John. >> Okay. Perfect. >> So, and they did the three years because that will align

089with the high school program that's expiring and allow them to when they in three years from now to >> have the elementary and the high school have >> a more cohesive. So, yeah, we could do a three-year term with this company. So, that as Beth said, the one we voted on, I don't know, do you guys remember? We voted on a high school middle school one uh last year. >> I don't think we had we didn't have we weren't did not have the opportunity to look at it. We It was up. It was purchased prior to >> Correct. >> It didn't follow policy procedure. It was purchased. >> This is refreshing. >> Yes. So, we have that one. I think we voted on that a year ago. Maybe it was two years ago. >> This

090will feed into that one. >> This one it's they set they they talked about how it's compatible and but if we do go a three-year with this one and then the one we already voted on was a fiveyear. Renee was mentioning the point that they will end at the same time. So then we can decide as a district is it more cost effective to go with one because the one at Tanto is different than this I Ready. >> That's right. So then at that time you know whoever is in place can decide >> and and Joey and John and Renee work with Francine math department head at the high school middle school. Um, so that there'd be some right we don't have the claroscopic sequence design, right? So what's it look like when you're transitioning

091from fifth grade to sixth grade? We don't have that in place. We don't have it sometimes even at our elementary like what exactly does it look like when a student's leaving third grade going to fourth grade? Like how is that all laid out? So that's the work we've been working on this year. Um, we're also looking to see what that looks like when a student's coming from either Burlin or Boston and they're coming into the high school. Like what does that look like? So we're trying to really get that all lined up. So as difficult it is sometimes for teachers, it's even harder for our students that learn one math program at the elementary school and a whole different math program at the high school. So now we're trying to get that all aligned. That's

092the work we're working on this year. >> So So Al, maybe you or John can answer you mentioned earlier you got the MCCAST results. You said we did really well in the math side to the point where I think uh the district was recognized for math in some way >> and there seems to be a lot of focus on changing the way we're doing math despite seemingly good results. What about on the other side of the ELA side? >> Yes, great question. So, we have one more one more year on our ELA program that we have right now. Um so, we we want to get this math program done with and we're also cautious, right? We didn't align it as well as it should be. This is a tough tough lift for our teachers. is

093they're going to be learning a new math program, right? And that's why we want you guys voting on it sooner than later so we can get some professional learning in for our teachers and get them a chance to look at this new math program across the district. And then we'll be getting ready to do a new ELA program. That's a lot. It just didn't line itself up really well. It is a lot. It's a lot on our teachers, but the ELA program is coming to an end next year. >> But why does it seem like such a focus on changing what you're doing in math when it seems like the results are good? Yeah, >> but you're changing. >> Yep. >> So, what's the why? >> There's some pieces in this new math program that

094we we like that look a little bit more different on technology. Um, but I'll I'll defer to Joey. You want to jump in on this? >> Yeah. I think part of it is because the program that we're using, we've been with SUS for 10 years now, is sort of coming to an end. Um, and one of the things we looked at, we looked at the new SAS program. >> I don't you you say coming to an end like the company's coming to an end or our contract contract. So that program still will exist going >> that program. Well, they have an updated version of it. They updated the uh the website. The physical materials are pretty much the same because that was one of the companies we uh looked at and made into final four.

095For us, the big thing was if we were going to change and leave some because that wasn't our primary goal. It was we have to have a new contract. So we approached every program. If it was the same or less, why change? we didn't want to. We only looked at programs we thought were going to give us more than what we have. Um, and part of that was again we had K through five represented. Once we narrowed it down to this program, we actually took it to the middle high school um, and met with their teachers and they also they they appreciated that it was more in line with what they they were doing. Um, so I think for us the big thing was we think we can get more than what we're getting. Um,

096another thing to consider was that a lot of these programs, no matter what program we choose, a lot of what's going to make the difference is the follow through. What happens with the implementation, what happens with the administrative follow through, making sure these things are used with efficacy. So, I think we've got great teachers. No matter what program we give them, they're going to do good stuff with it. I think we're just trying to give them a better tool to work with than what we've been using for the last 10 years. So that was sort of the reason we we had to make a decision and we looked at all the options instead of just sort of staying with what we had and this we felt was stronger than what we currently have. >> Nice

097to say. >> Um I have one other question and it doesn't need to be answered. Uh someone had asked me and I'm not in the teaching world. So this person was a teacher and they asked if we pilot these curriculums in our school. So I don't Okay. I mean that's just something >> charging them. There was a time when you would pilot a program and it was free. >> Uhuh. >> Not in charge. >> They're charging us for the professional learning they're going to give our teachers to to implement this. So, we're negotiating that with them as we speak with Renee, John, um Joey. Um they they in the past was free, right? They wanted we're we're the customers here and and they're giving us pretty steep um costs, but we're giving the professional learning

098to our teachers. So, we're we're working with them on that trying to lower that cost as well, too. So, we'll I'll grab those on our way out. But thank you. Great. Thank you. You know where to find >> Megan? Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. >> Uh so next, Lori on the superintendent search subcommittee. Not to be confused please, with the search screening committee, which is completely separate. So, um, our first meeting is tomorrow, October 15th, at 6 PM. Um, it's a public meeting. It's a training. Tracy Novik will be running it, and it's just for the the people that are on the superintendent search committee. People can come and watch, but it's not the full committee is not required to be there. Um, then basically the weekend of the 25th and the 26th,

099we'll be given resumeums to review. And on Monday, October 27th will be our next meeting at 6 p.m. Um, and that will be our chair election. And then November 3rd through the 7th and those will all be happening at Tanto. And then the 3rd through the 7th we'll be meeting at central office and doing interviews and following that will be school visits, people coming here. So we're on track. Um Tracy has it all under control. She's doing a great job guiding us. Um >> and Toronto's meeting is at 6 o'clock, right? >> It's at six o'clock. It's here in this room. >> I apologize. I I sent out that agenda um and it didn't have the time on there. So we uh was brought to our attention. Um so we made that correction this morning.

100um at first thing in the morning and have that out there as our a new agenda with the six o'clock start time. So, I want to make sure publicly we get that out there as well. Thanks, Lori. >> No problem. >> And uh we don't have any policies up tonight to discuss. So, there's no update there. >> Okay. Uh 6:14. That brings us to our second public comment. Anyone like to make a new public comment on any of the business items on the agenda? No. >> One. Okay. Come on. I guess it's just a switch. Is this is it working? Okay. Sorry. I was hoping I get asked some clarification questions before I ask my question if that's all right. >> Clarification about >> um so my my two comments were going to be about

101MCCAST as a graduation requirement. >> Uh yeah. Okay. >> The pathways and technical opportunities. So I just wanted to know if you guys are going to discuss MCCAST as a graduation requirement tonight. >> Uh it's on for first read so we're not going to necessarily deliberate on it but there might be some questions from the committee if they have any. So, I guess I was just wondering if you guys were going to decide whether you want to keep it or not. >> Discuss whe it's not a vote. It's not a vote tonight. So, no, >> it's not a vote, but will the discussion be about whether you want to keep it or not? >> There may not be much of a discussion. It's on there for first read. So, it means that it's the first

102time we're seeing it. So, we'll take it away and we offer a vote at the next meeting. >> Okay. And then, um Okay. I guess that clears it up for me. Um, I just wanted to make some comments about um, I know you guys decided last year to keep it because people had taken the test and it made sense for last year. Um, but just, you know, knowing that the voters sort of voted to end the MCCAST as a graduation requirement. I feel like that sends a strong message um that, you know, not all of us agree that passing this standardized test is, you know, a full measure of their students achievement. Um, a lot of us believe strongly that like a more holistic, equitable, and comprehensive measure of student readiness and achievement is really

103the goal. Um, so I I hope you take that into consideration when you guys are discussing it. Um, I feel like a lot of the Midwest schools have already decided not to have this as a graduation requirement. So, you know, that would be consistent with what other schools in our area are doing. Um, I feel like it's very one-dimensional to have this test be the full measure of, you know, whether or not a student actually gets to graduate or not. Um, you know, that's very indicative of how the voters voted. Um, so I think that was my comments at the MCCAST. So hopefully you'll take that into consideration. Um, as far as the pathways and the technical opportunities, I think I've been pretty vocal to date about this. Um, I think I'm I'm I'm also

104on the strategic planning committee as well and I hope that we can sort of come to um we can create some goals that will help students feel like they have a place at Donto. I think a lot of what I've been hearing is that, you know, there are lots of kids that want to be here, but they don't necessarily feel like there's a path for them. Um, and I think it's important that this group does some good work as far as opening up those opportunities for them. Um, the pathways and the technical opportunities specifically for the Boilston kids. Um, I know I've seen the policy that Lisa put out specifically for the communication about the opportunities, but I don't think it addresses the inequity uh that the Boilston students currently have versus what Berlin has.

105Um, we need to do a lot more work around how how we get those Boston kids that opportunity because it's very unfair, unbalanced at the moment. Um, and I don't think a lot of parents understand that that won't be available for their kids. Um, it's a big deal. So, I think I just wanted to um make sure that this is on top of everyone's radar. You guys are discussing it. We're talking to the towns about, you know, can Boilston contribute? will even accept those kinds of terms? Like what are the other opportunities that we work on in the meantime before we get this negotiated? Um I personally don't feel like we've made enough progress for those Wilston students. So I'm here I'm being noisy for them. So thank you. >> Thank you. Uh anybody else?

106[Music] >> Was that it? Yeah. >> Someone else wants to Do I need the microphone? >> Sure. >> Hi, my name's Amanda Bear. Um, my daughter Maline Bear is in sixth grade. Um, and this fall, you may remember she was um she tried out for JB soccer and so I'm just she made the team and she's been allowed to play. So, I'm just here to comment on the proposed policy. I just have two quick points. So the first is the proposed policy I think is a major revision to how things have been at Tahondo for decades. I mean even when I was here I played varsity soccer as an eighth grader and there was no issue. And I think um the fact that the proposed policy was not distributed to the public until around 12:00

107p.m. today is a little problematic because a lot of parents and I know the coaches have not had a chance to review the policy or weigh in on it. Um, second, I would just want to point out that the policy does not have any provision about what will happen with the current middle schoolers. I know for soccer, I know for other sports as well, there's a lot of middle schoolers who are already on JV and varsity and who are, you know, active members and contributing to the team. And I would hate to see their ability to stay on their team jeopardized in any way by this new policy. So, I would hope the school committee would include some provision that kids who are currently on the teams would be grandfathered in. That is all. >>

108Thanks. Just signing for us. Thank you. Perfect. >> Anybody else? >> Thank you. Last chance anybody? Okay. So, moving on to business items. discuss. Please have a motion to approve the Mark Pitri Foundation donate donation to Unified Sports. >> So move. >> Lori, >> second. >> Megan, >> questions or comments on this one? >> Okay. Thank you very much. Could we have a uh All in favor, please? >> I. >> Anyone against this? >> All right. So, that motion passes. >> Great condition. >> Yes. Thank you. Yeah. >> Very much so. >> Yes. We'll send out thank you notes and all that. Just know that we'll work on that as well. Have a motion, please, for the BMS music supplies donation. I believe this is from the link group. >> Beth second. >> Lisa, questions

109about this. >> So, this is the the Gmail document. I wasn't sure what that was attached to. >> Some screenshots from for invoices. I think there's some music stands and some other music related donations. >> A lot. >> Yeah. Was that >> a lot of donate? a lot of equipment. >> This is a really good I think they said they even got a a bigger discount than they thought they were going to get, so they're able to get more. Uh, okay. Any other questions? All in favor of this one? >> I. >> Anyone against? Okay, that passes as well. The next one is, can I have a motion, please, uh, to allow for nature's classroom? >> So moved. >> Uh, Jess, >> Lori, it was okay. Oh, sorry. I'm sorry. >> My voice first. Sorry

110about that. And uh >> just so you got it, Jen. Did you get it? >> Yeah. >> For the um minutes. >> Yep. >> Okay. Uh this is uh for us to participate in nature's classroom. >> Yes. >> Okay. Any questions on this one? >> My only question is um are will the MCCAST be done? >> Mr. Kevin, you want to you want to join us on? >> Sorry, John. >> We're still friends, right? >> We're still friends. Mitch's faster science and technology. >> It's actually what we've done by three years. >> So, it's going to be the week they get like the Monday they get back. Are they rolling in Outcast or >> Tuesday? Um >> because it's Memorial Day weekend, >> right? >> You say that's what they've done the last three years.

111>> They've been doing it the same way. >> They have been. Yeah. I mean, we're talking scores. Did great. >> What's that? >> I know. He did great. >> It was presented to us that at least in Boilston Elementary, because I am a fifth grade parent, that it would be in June. So, I don't know. Um, that's my only reservation, but you guys know best. >> Yeah. So, I defer to to John and and Rob. >> We can just >> You guys know best. We it was tough when uh last year when we tentatively picked dates um I had left that morning to pick up my son at school um and thought June would be great but then looking at calendar which also includes you know um end of the year trips and the celebrations

112all of those things so many activities in that like first two weeks or two. Um, >> so we talked them into pushing it back to to man. That's probably where it'll stay now. >> Is there any way they can do the MCAST before that? >> It's a crunch. It's um So I'm happy. So ELA is way early. That's not a problem. >> Yeah, math we can do right before um >> and they're fine. It's still that same routine. The only one a little different is science and technology. And even that could be probably moved back off of the holiday a day or two. >> The challenge is you want to leave a couple days for makeup. >> Yeah. >> But let's also be clear, we we're we're signed with nature's classroom, right? We these kids

113are walked in like the we're >> availability. It's not like a hotel. >> Yeah. >> It's not a hotel. They don't like every other school is trying to work around as well too. Um so just I want to be clear about that. So we're locked in for next year this year. >> From the gallery, a quick question just to clarify. Are we voting on clothing or are we voting on fundraising? >> A whole different conversation. We're voting on fundraising. Not about the game. Not about the >> No, we did the didn't we do that in the We >> weren't going in the direction of of whether we're going at this time or not. That wasn't what this was conversation. No, >> the motion wasn't for the date. The motion was for the whole production. It

114wasn't for the date. That was just Megan's question. >> That's right. So that's not what this >> motion was not for the date, but there's two separate things here. We usually approve overnight field trips as a school committee. I think we do approve nature's classroom every year. The second thing is we have to approve if schools want to fund raise then that's a second vote. Is that what this vote is or is this for to approve the field trip? Because I don't think we voted on either. >> Oh no. >> But you correct me if I'm wrong. >> I mean last year we voted in the >> We voted in last year. >> Usually in the in the spring though. So it was late wait two years ago it was too late and so like

115we started fundraising in January which is way too late and so that's why then I think last year they hit the ground running in the fall and asking for fundraising per >> you voted in August last year to start fundraising and I think on the trip I think they might have done the same thing in the same meeting I don't know >> I mean it doesn't specify so I don't know why >> doesn't matter so we could technically do two we could >> now what's the point of having this on this particular docu document today. >> This was on for the fundraising. This is what we were talking about principles. This is we we never talked about the dates. We were confirmed. We locked the dates. That was a question Mega had. >> Sure. >>

116It wasn't it was a question of concern she had. >> Yep. >> So, this is for fun. >> This is approved fundraising that's going to be taking place to raise money for nature's. >> Let's just let's just fix this here. Can I have a amendment to this motion, please, to approve this as approval for fundraising for nature's classroom? >> So, moved. Yes. Amended. >> Was that just >> so amended? Yes. Definitely. >> And Lisa seconded. Okay. All right. Now, any questions on this? >> So, but do we still need to vote to actually go on the field trip? >> It's an overnight field trip. >> Yeah. I I got to go back when when the time comes. We usually would. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> All right. This is just for fundraising. We have plenty of

117time to vote on >> because then it's like the bus costs and all that. >> Okay. >> All right. Uh, so this is for fundraising. >> All in favor of the amendment. >> I >> Anyone against it? >> Okay, original motion. Any final questions? This is now for fundraising. All in favor of it? >> Anyone against it? >> Okay, that motion pass. >> Sorry about that, J. Can we go back and look at those minutes for um last year a little bit and see if we did vote on approving Nature's Classroom? Um, >> no, it was fundraising. >> We voted on, but I think we voted on >> You think both? >> You're right. in the spring maybe we vote on maybe we didn't I don't know >> so can I just I'm sorry >>

118the overnight field trips >> we the overnight field trips are signed off by the superintendent and signed off by the chair of the school committee >> well the school committee votes on >> but you all voted on that correct as well too so we'll make sure on the next agenda that we add that if that's we can't find that we'll add that on till we have a vote to go on nature's >> I thought that's what this was >> voting to accept something >> we have to have a final vote on the final funds of fundraising I remember I remember I was here for that. >> Yeah. That's like the week before the field trip. >> That's right. The final >> whatever the meeting is before >> what they're going to donate back to the

119school then they'll say can because >> usually a random group of people will just go out and do fundraising. Do you know what I mean? >> So PTO's don't usually it's so complicated. >> It's just to allow fundraising on behalf of the school. >> Correct. >> And then the school will donate the money back to whoever fundraises it donates it back to the school. So on the next agenda for we will put voting on nature's classroom. But please appreciate those those dates are locked in right now for nature's classroom. I don't think there's any flexibility there. But we'll bring it in front of you guys to vote. I know John has led this for many years and I thank him for doing that as well too. But we'll definitely bring that up at the next

120>> Yeah. >> But they said they can move the MCAST back maybe a day or two so that we're not rolling off Memorial Day weekend after a week at Nature's Classroom rolling into an MCAST. >> Okay. That's not >> I mean I would just think that would be tough for a kid to be almost on a week of vacation and then come back and take >> Sean. So all right at this point you'll see on the agenda we do have a specific item that needs to be hit at a specific time that is 6:30 which is right now. Uh this is because our attorney is available at 6:30 and is not available at any other time. So, we do have on the agenda that we may return to open session after the executive session to

121finish the open meeting. And we do have several items that we'll need to finish when we come back. So, we're going to now switch to our executive session. So, could I have a motion, please, to enter executive session and then return to open session. Executive session pursuant to Mass General Law Chapter 3A section 21A purpose 7 to comply with or act on the And that's my alarm for it. uh to act under the authority of any general or special law, including the Massachusetts Public Records Law, Mass General Law, Chapter 66, Section 10, the Massachusetts Open Meeting Law, Mass General Law, Chapter 3A, Section 22F and G relating to continuing review of executive session minutes for meetings that occurred between January 1st, 2024 and September 2nd, 2025. >> So moved. >> Oh, second. I heard Beth

122move and Lori second it. Uh Megan >> I Lori >> Hi. >> Beth. >> Hi. >> Jess. >> Hi. >> Lisa. >> Hi. >> All right. We're going to enter executive session and uh we will return. If anyone wants to wait and hang out, we will let you know when we return to open session.