School Committee Meeting 9/9/25

001Okay. The audio Russian. All set. All set, sir. All right. So, we're recording now. So, call this meeting of Brown Wilson Regional School Committee to order. This meeting is being recorded. Your image of voice may be broadcast uh but due to technical issues the meeting may not always stream live. We will make every attempt to do so and record the meeting for future posting. The items listed on the agenda may be discussed out of order as the chair decides due to potential scheduling and timing requirements. Could everyone please stand for the pledge of allegiance? Ice to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Does anyone here have a >> Oh, Mike, sorry. Um, >> I

002know we don't read emails from people, but we got an email today about an SRO. >> So, yeah. So, I saw that. So, we're going to add that on future agenda items. >> I was thinking about doing that. I just wanted to make sure because I told her she texted and asked if I would just >> That's a fine segue to uh normally at this point we would talk about communications uh that got left off the agenda. You want to >> Yeah. So, a couple things um through I'm going to take us a little out of water. I want to be careful of that. So, um Jen Fortune as many of you met is um the new administrative assistant. So, we've been crazy with those first few um days of school. Um things going really

003well and I'll talk to you more about that in our report. Um but when I was putting the agenda together, I omitted two things. Um one was communications. So, we'll make sure that's always a future agenda item. Um I own that and also about Matthew Dow. I forgot and talked about that as well too. Um leaving um our agenda. So, those are two things we'll make sure um I discuss later on. So, I apologize for that and make sure those are future agenda items permanently on our agenda. >> All right. As far as communications go, anything that would have been included in that this meeting, we'll make sure it gets in there for the next meeting as well. Uh, could I have a a motion, please, to accept the consent agenda? >> So, move. >>

004Megan. >> Second. >> Any questions about that? Comments. >> All right. All those in favor there? >> I. >> All right. Anyone against that? All right. That motion passes. We have a bit of a time crunch today because we have a a hard stop at 6:30. But Al, I think you want to bring something up right away first. So, if I could um go a little out of order again with permission from the the chair and the school committee, I'd like to acknowledge Julie Lee, our athletic director, Indiana, our facilities director. If you can join us up here for a second, just give us a little rund down. Want to grab another chair? Yeah. Thank you. Um, so the last time we met, we at school, I think we spent an hour and a half

005at least, um, on public comment talking about the field. Um, and we have a huge update and I want to make sure I get Julie back up in those fields today because there's a lot going on practices and she's been doing some unbelievable coordinating, but I feel like it's important that people know what's taking place since our last school meeting. So, I'm going to ask Julie and Dan. >> Okay. Thank you. Okay. Um, so >> I don't even need a mic. I'm so laughing. Um, so the field project is starting. Um, we have um we've met with the contractor today uh who's contracting with um us the boosters in the town of Boil with CPA funds to get this done. Um there are a ton of logistical things which I have it all here. I

006know you guys are under a time constraint. So, I'm not going to go through the page and half of documents, but what we should let the public know too is the fields will be closed after Friday night's game. So, there's a game here at 4:00. Um, when that concludes, Dan and I are going to work to have signs up and we are going to close the fields, including the track. So, what our plan is is we're going to be in touch with the town of Boilston so they can hopefully post it on their web page. We're going to put it on our web page. we're going to post it on social media so everybody knows it's not just the field that's closing, it's the track. And the contractor was um very intent on that. And

007the reason for that is because they're going to have big trucks coming in and out of here and they don't want anybody over there on that field. Um I also spoke with Principal Squa today. Um, and we're also going to close that side of the school for all of next week for the gym teachers. Um, and anybody using that space again because they're going to be doing a whole lot of taking things off property, taking them off site and then bringing in material too and they don't want to have some kid running over to the portable toilet that's over there. We're going to move that too and then somebody backs up. So, we're just going to close that for the whole first week. So, this will commence on November 15th. That whole first week they'll

008be doing material in, material out. >> Julie November or September? >> May around September. I'm sorry. >> Yeah, >> September 15th. Yes. So, we're starting September 15th. We're going to go for that first week of material in, material out. They're going to put an organic spray down. They're going to strip the field. They're going to take all the irrigation heads, raise them up. They're going to cap them. There should be no damage to any of the irrigation heads. the contractor's working with Dan to confirm that all those heads are working and all the um zones are working. So after the fact, we don't come and say, "Hey, zone 4 is not working." Um when it was never working. Um so that's going to be confirmed all ahead of time. And then we will have the

009SAD come in on the end of September the 30th or the 1st. Big trucks for sod big. So we're hoping that they can come and be where the um buses are. They will not disrupt the school transportation at all for drop off or pickup. He'll send the first two loads first thing in the morning, 5:00 a.m., get some loads done, empty those trucks, and then come back in the middle of the day to get that done. So, there should be really no disruption to school stuff with the exception of that one week and that one day of saw delivery for that that won't be able to be used. >> Julie, you can get buried delete, right? So, it's not just have to fail. I think you want to share with everybody because I think the

010way we left, >> right? So, right. So this we are going to do the length of the field. There are some areas to the right and the left that don't need to be done that the contractor is convinced or hopeful that that can be done with chemistry and fertilizer. So we're preserving the right side which can be done. It's a 40 ft over but the length of the field all in the middle which is the bad part. They're going to completely rip out and then they're going to saw that. They're going to fill it. They're going to gr las laser grade it. They're going to do all the things. So, there'll be a ton of activity over there. We um just really need to get the message out. He stress this that people cannot be

011over there. Definitely next week. Mostly a lot for the general public, too, because this is town. So, we're going to really work with the town to blast this information out and we'll put signs up. >> I think that's it. >> Julie, you mentioned sod last time when we talked about this. It was about seed and it was like 18 months that couldn't be used. We heard that sod changes later. What's that? >> Yeah, that's correct. Um, >> it is a different contractor doing the work and this contractor is laying sod. Um, when you lay saw the you can play on it a lot sooner than you can if it's seed, which is good. I know I know it's hard spoke about that. These kids losing three playing seasons. So, we will not have that. This

012will be playable. We were thinking, oh my goodness, we're going to have to relocate a whole track season now, too. Um, that's not the case. still be able to be on that field for the spring for check. >> Cool. Awesome. >> If I can just add a little to that as well too, but um Jessica Rubeno, Danny Yaya, um Lisa Aquera, Julie Lee, myself, Aaron, we had a great meeting after our last school meeting. Um just goes to show we have a small group of people together. We we going to get some amazing work done. Um we're using the original contract data that when they first truly approached them um that came and present that's going to do the entire um length of that field. So that's that's a really um good thing. We're really

013excited about this. So, I appreciate the work you've been doing as well, too. Um, at another time, um, we'll talk about, um, Fuller and Ren Whitney and Crest and the Bolson CPA once the project's done of recognizing them, right? There's some some really nice recognition when the field's done. But a credit to Julie has been our athletic director has really been organizing the buses. I saw the kids getting dropped off today outside and getting everything to play. But, we're really going to have a field when this is all done that we're really going to be proud of as well, too. So, it was great work that has taken place over the last month and I thought it was important for you as a school committee obviously to know but also our community to know it's

014taking place as well too. Jess, >> um, by getting the saw delivered on the 30th and starting the project when it is, was that specifically done to allow the growing season to be enough time for it to be in kind of solidly rooted before winter comes? >> Yeah, exactly. They wanted to they wanted to aggressively start this as quickly as they could, but there's a whole prep period that has to take place before that. So, they're definitely eager to get started. So, they're excited that that the school's willing to work with them for this kind of prep time. >> Well, I know people are questioning why now? Why not after soccer or fall sports? >> Oh, you mean next season? >> This November like why not wait till all >> Yes. It has to be

015down and then it has to it has to tap. I've learned so much. It has to be tapped. It has to attach. Yes. Correct. >> And the only other thing I want you should be aware of, there's two signers in all the projects that are taking place and that's Jessica Rubeno um for um the community of Wilston and CPA and myself as a superintendent school. So we're the two signers and we've been going through um Jen Fortune and making sure that we're all docuigning all the progress and the work that's going on as well. >> Any final questions to Julie? I just want to acknowledge that Julie has had to move a lot of bodies to a lot of different places and I very much appreciate >> in a very short >> everything that you've

016been doing and as a parent of a middle school soccer player >> to know that you are the one that is making sure everyone's getting where they're supposed to be. It's a good feeling. You're organized. You're on top of it. >> Thank you. >> I appreciate it. >> And just as a reminder, it's it's a stipen position, right? So it's not even a full-time position. for the work that she's been doing. So, thank you for that. >> Yeah. Thank you. I also want to just say one thing. I'll stop talking. Mr. Camino also, he drives for this district. Um, if he was not here doing this, we would not probably have had a middle school soccer team. I don't even know if JB teams at all because this is this is so much cute aligning

017with driving this bus. So just a credit to him too that he's done >> circling around >> India as well too. Thanks >> Al before you continue your report. Uh I guess the chair's report was on there not much to go just uh school opened um well the staff came in beforehand. Uh I had a good chance to meet I think Megan Chess I think you were there one of those days. Um I was there uh with Tracy Novc to help introduce her to the staff and she took them through event. I don't know what the event was the activity because she asked us to leave the room so they people could speak freely about school committee or administration there but got some good feedback I understand for the superintendent search. So that was good

018to uh introduce her there. Uh that's all I had for that. Al if you want to continue. >> Sure. I'm going to go right into the superintendent report. Um, a couple things also I want to I'll talk about that in a minute. Thanking everybody for coming those days. Um, but if we first can put up the superintendent search update if we could Joe. So, I just wanted to be aware of this timeline that is on our website. We are blasting this information anywhere and everywhere. Um, I want to highlight a couple of different things that are on there. First, September 10th, um, which is tomorrow at Tahanto Regional Middle High School is a public input session. um it's really being geared towards the the communities in both Portland and Boston, right? So, she's doing focus

019groups with individual schools um and with individual administrators and all every group that she could possibly. But tomorrow is for Tanko Regional Middle High School for public input. So, we're spreading that word. I've talked to Kristen. I've talked to April. We're getting that word out as much as we can. So, we really want um other members of our community to be able to come in and have a conversation. Um, also the last one that just came today um was that September 18th Berlin Memorial. We didn't have that on the calendar because we just finalized that today with link and that will take place on September 18th as well. So, we really want to make sure um that we're really advertising that as much as we can as well too. Um lastly, I just want to

020say one piece about that. Um just for a little bit of clarification, um what we're doing right now, myself and Beth and and working with um Tracy, um our job is really putting all this information out, right? Making sure that we're going um to different locations. We're we're going to the town halls and tacking up these notices. We're coordinating um making sure that everyone's involved. We're we're working with our PTO's and our and all all those groupings as well too. Um, that's really the role that myself and that Jen are doing with this superintendent search. I know there's a little bit of a question or conversation what our roles are. We're just here to help out and that's one of the things that the school has asked me to do. Nothing more than that. All

021those meetings that happen. Um, I and I walk out, Jen walks out, administrations walk out. Same thing tomorrow night. So, uh, Tracy is not just standing there by herself. I'll do the introductions and then I'll walk out and she'll have that community event as well too. So just want to put that publicly out there for clarity of the role that I am doing in terms of um the the superintendent search as well too. >> Just a clarification. So I know the open house or the curriculum day at the MS is tomorrow and I know some parents were concerned about that. So can parents go to the September 18th meeting and with link to also give feedback as they're also parents. >> So I'm sorry asking a question one more time. Tomorrow night, 910 is BMS's

022curriculum night. Yes, >> BES is on Thursday, but Berlin parents were concerned that we're not going to be able to attend the session at Donto. And so for those parents, Bees or BMS if they missed the 93, can parents attend that 918 meeting? >> Absolutely. Absolutely. So when we say we we're we're focusing on those individual schools. Tonto is at theirs as well too. The community ones but it's for our our senior citizens for other people that might not have kids in school but very similar what she's doing with the individual schools she's going to be doing um at for our community as well too. >> It's not a link exclusively. >> That's right. >> I just want to make sure they sponsored by link. >> Could could times be put on this particular document

023is this is this is on our website. Sure. Absolutely. We can get great Jen if we can make sure of that. Yep. Perfect. >> Great. So, just appreciate running the search even though Tracy's running it all that the logistics because we know the players right and coordinating all that is is a lot of work. So, I just want to make sure there's clarity of what our roles are and what we're doing in Jersey. Okay. Um, next thing I'm going to just defer my time a little bit if I could to Mr. Campbell. I know that um he has a comment that he'd like to make and um if we could just pause for a second on that. >> Thank you, Superintendent. Um Marv Levy, the Hall of Fame coach of the soontobe world champion Buffalo

024Bills, once said that uh once you start to think about retiring, you ought to. Um and that is my plan. I have uh spoken with a superintendent and I gave him notice that at the end of this school year, I'll be retiring from Berlin Boil Regional and the school system and education and getting up before six. Um these are all my plans. Um but I wanted to share with all of you um how important how much my time here has meant to me. Um it has been a real blessing. We are for all of our struggles and for all of our disagreements. We are an outstanding school system and it's been just such an honor for me to be a part of that. And even though I make many teachers crazy, um I will miss

025that daily contact. Then of course the kids you can't >> you know you can't replace that but you know again was kind enough to let me announce that to all of you. I think I think many people already know and Jack will retire. Jack will graduate from college. I'll retire. I'm gonna buy an island somewhere. So John 12 years as a principal. This is my 13th. >> 13th year going 13. 13 here. 20 overall. >> Yeah. Congratulations. And the letter you see behind is the letter you submitted to me. Um, I wanted to be respectful to John and have him tell that that story and um, I put that letter late into the drive um, just to be um, respectful of that process as well too. John, thank you. There'll be many more um, days

026that we'll be able to celebrate John's career in Berlin Wilston. Um, but I wanted to make sure that you knew was taking place. Um, and then I'll be shortly and I know this is always the thing, right? When someone gives their retirement, the next question is so who's the next person that's going to take that job, right? That's just a thing that we do in this world. and I'll be talking shortly to the community and um the town of Berlin and Berlin Memorial and the school about next steps as we move forward. So, thank you John and congratulations. >> Um so, I'd like to just go if I I'd be remiss if I didn't talk to you about the most important thing that's happened in the past last nine nine days. Um has been very

027busy and we've been inundated by many things. Um a lot of adult things as well too. Um but we really want to say um congratulations to a great successful staff in the 2526 school year. Um we had a great first two days u with our teachers. Um I know that a lot of school committee members were able to come. Beth Mancini was also able to join us on one of those days and Jess and Megan and Mike. Um so thank you for being able to come. I know that during the day it's it's difficult. Um but the first two days with on our teachers was outstanding. Um we actually had the author Katie Novak um from the book UDL which as our focus this year is UDL with the focus on form of assessment. She

028was one of our guest speakers um to kick off our professional learning. She was outstanding. Anyone I mean anyone that was there as educators and looking at our educators all shaking their head. I mean what a great way to start off our school year. Um so we're really excited about that. Continue that work. We have a complete professional learning plan throughout the entire year what we're focusing on. Um, and we're working very hard um, thanks to help of Renee as well as John and we're all in that for the remaining school year. So, thank you to that. Um, with regards to opening first days of school with our students, they started on Thursday, August 28th. We welcome 1,17 students um, into the Berlin and Wilson Regional School District. Um, I want to thank all of

029our teachers and staff for a great opening. The buildings look good. Um, our teachers classrooms were great. um we all have a chance to visit each schools and we'll be visiting more and more and seeing um what's happening. Um so we're very excited. I thank our teachers and staff and our parents and students for that as well as the school community. Um I know there's been some concerns regarding the buses, right? So there's been things going back and forth. Um trust me, it's been a lot smoother than previous years, right? So we're in a we're in a good spot. Um, as you wanted a reminder to our community, um, we recruited the bus routes at dismissal from all three of our schools, similar to what we did last year in Berlin. Uh, midway through the

030year, we made a a bold move that I think was a great move for for the students at Berlin. We re rrooted the buses. It's a tough word to say. Um, we did that also this year, as I announced in public uh session for Tahanto and for for Wolson as well, too. Um, so I know there's some concerns and some parents have sent emails and you know Aaron and the team have been really working out those logistics and doing a phenomenal job with that. I know that some people are saying well my student you know is getting home a lot later and we live this close to school. Please understand it's equity for all our students, right? It's not equity because of this student or this family or because they live nearby. I appreciate that.

031But our job as scoopy and administration is making sure there's equity for all of our students. And that really truly is what has taken place. We'll take a little logistics. Bear with us. We're working it all out. But for the most part, it it is what's the right thing to do for our school district and for all of our students and for all of our families. And for the few emails you're getting from families, please know the emails that I'm getting saying, "Thank you. Now my my student is not riding the bus for two and a half hours or two hours." It's equity across our entire district. And that's something I think we all want to believe in um for our school district as well too. Um, if I could go on as well too.

032Um, the next thing I want to talk a little bit about is the student handbook. Um, we're going to be presenting that and I'll ask that to be in the future agenda items is the student handbook for the month of October. Um, we'll be introducing some changes. Lisa and I have been talking with the administration um about that. We'll present that to you at our next um October school meeting. Um, also a thing that we'll be talking to you about that, I'm sure many of you have heard about, um, is our sixth grade students being allowed to participate in JB and Varsity Sports. So, it'll be a conversation that we'll be bringing to the school committee um, getting their input on that so we can make those necessary changes. We need to do this in

033October because before you know, we'll be talking about, I hate to say it, winter sports. So, we need to make sure we have that in place this year. Um, the way the the the handbook reads, um, there's some there's some wiggle room there. So, we want to make sure we get some clarity on that so we can put that out there so that everyone's agree on what's taking place with that. Um, the next thing that we'll do on our October um school committee meeting is we'll be talking about graduation requirements, right? That's one of the things that we talked a little bit about last year um with coming on with the MCCAST as well too. There's some changes um we have to be ready by December >> 30th we have to have a plan in

034place. So, we'll be bringing it to you in the month of October um and getting some feedback from you guys on that so we can move forward and get that prepared. So, we're not doing like we did last year right at that last minute um and making those decisions. So, we'll be able to present that to you as well too. So, we'll be asking the school community if we can put that on on future agenda items as well too for October. Um I know we're really crush um for time here. I know there are a couple of things that I'm going to talk about, but I think that will happen um later on in the agenda, which is also the DCRI report and the communication plan. So, I'll defer to when we go to that

035part of the agenda. Um and I I'll give you some feedback on that as well, too. And that is my Oh, Pierce, thank you, Lisa. I apologize. And Matthew D uh is going to be our our new student liaison. He is a senior this year. Um we're thrilled to have one on there and he'll be giving his report in the month of October as well to him. give us the update of what's taking place in M school district as well. >> Sounds good. Be back. >> Welcome back, Andy. Thank you. >> Good. Thank you. All right. Uh uh moving on to administrative updates. Uh we already talked about John. Anything you want to say? >> Well, I I could talk for hours. >> Uh so, next up is Mr. J back, director of pupil personnel

036services. >> Sure. Um and I know we are pressed for time this evening, so I promised to be brief. I provided a um report and update on the updates from the people personnel services over um largely over the summer and coming into the beginning of the school year. Um starting off with some introductions for new people personnel services staff um including speech and language pathologists, special ed teachers, and um we are in the process of onboarding a new BCBA for the district. Um and um we this summer collectively we ran a um very successful extended school year program at Tahanto our second year in a row um with for a total of 45 eligible students. The program went very well. That did include also introducing a new van company to families and students and staff.

037So in the community you may be seeing um white small transportation vans with the labeling cats for kids. That is a new van transportation service that is contracted through our collaborative Aset Valley Collaborative. Um so we've all worked together to iron out any little bumps in that process. Um perhaps one of our biggest accomplishments over the summer was u making that transition for the Bridges classroom from one elementary school to another. And um with a great deal of gratitude to all of the families, the students involved in that, the staff and the administration including facilities and technology. It really was an all hands on deck type of process to make that happen. That transition has been very smooth and successful. And we hosted an exclusive um but small very small and exclusive open house um

038late August so that um we could show off of those rooms um which were in just perfect condition for the start of the school year and introduce the staff that were new to those families. Um, we've done some further alignment of our staff to support our preschool programs so that we have better continuity between our two preschool classrooms, one here at Tata and one over in Berlin. So we've been able to further align so that both of those programs are being serviced by, for example, the same speech and language pathologist, the same ECBA, the same occupational therapists, and that both um preschool coordinators are able to work together and have more continuity between both classroom programs. That's something that we want to continue to work on. Um let's see in terms of budget process both

039um the 240 and the 262 grants were submitted. The circuit breaker filing was completed over the summer. Those are all important budget activities that happen over the summer. We are in close contact with families over the summer. There's um you know I know families sort of presume that everybody's away for the summer break and that's not always the case. There's still a lot of family contact and communication and collaboration to make sure that programs are in place and arrangements are made for students to ensure that they have a successful transition back to school. And finally, a big impact for us in this coming school year will be that there's some changes to the special education timelines as required by DESIE. Um, we used to be working with a set of timelines that was for 10

040days. This year we will be working with a timeline that is five days. That is a significant change in practice. And of course this isn't Burlington Boilston. This is just all of Massachusetts. This is a requirement everywhere. Um so we've done um a lot of work over the summer. I've been working with the special education coordinators and the administrative assistant to the PPS office to see what types of adjustments we can make to our procedures so that we can remain in compliance. and also still be um very thoughtful in our IEP meetings with families and not sort of changing the process and the amount of time and attention that they get. So that that's a big shift for us. Last year it was the new IEP form. This year it's a a big change and

041shift in our timelines. So something that we're working on. Chanel, you mentioned 10 days. Is that like request of services to preservation or what? Like what? Sorry. In what specifically? >> Sure. Um, so historically up until they made it actually Desi reinterpreted the timelines in June of pretty much it was the last week of school. It was this big announcements. Um, I think special education directors everywhere were a little taken back for it by it. The 10 days used to apply that if we had a special education meeting that resulted in an IEP that we would then have 10 school days to put that IEP into the parents hands. We now have five. And then there are other nuances if you will. There are other circumstances that might actually shorten that. But it just as

042a general rule very broad brushed um five days and that is a very quick turnaround for the amount of staff that work on that document and to make sure that we've captured everything from a team meeting and making sure that it's in that ID and that we're providing that same quality of documentation while remaining compliant. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So the only thing Jenna was supposed to give her a call last month, so it's clear at least a little the timelines off, but that is her report because the state of schools one last thing, our CPAC meeting is >> Oh, that's right. Thank you for mentioning that. So CPAC is hosting they have an annual meet and greet and it will be in person this coming Monday here in this room at 6:30.

043Everybody is welcome. CPAC loves to be able to meet school staff, um, administration, school committee, um, other parents as well. CPAC does a really great job of supporting families, um, you know, throughout the district. >> All right, thanks. Uh, next up, director of curriculum and grants, grades 6 to 12, Miss Renee. >> Thank you. Um, just quickly want to talk about um, strategic plan and just give an update where we're at. Um, I've talked about it a lot, so I'm not going to kind of give you the overview. Um, but we're in that process and I I need now to submit the final names u of committee members because meetings will start next month. Full committee um meetings start in October as well as the focus group meetings start in October. To date, we actually

044have about 17 committed individuals, which is great. Um, we have elected officials from both towns on board. We have parents from both towns, a couple high school students. Um, so we have teachers. So, I'm really pleased with the with the response and and that's in tribute definitely for the principles on board and sending out the information. Um, and and just letting us um kind of preview things at the school committee meetings just to I think that is really helpful um like the month ahead of time, you know. So, so thank you for letting us do that. Um, so right now really I'm in need of of at least one school committee member's name. um it's important that we add that as well um that voice right to to our our meetings. Um and then from

045that point at the end of this week all those names go ahead to our consultants at um teaching and learning alliance. Um you had met Pam and Zeph u I think it was last spring right they came in and then they'll you know they've created kind of you know a master folder um a Google folder that we'll start all and inputting our data and things like that and they'll give us you know um next steps right so that we're all prepared for for the meetings um the meetings are on Wednesdays um they chose kind of that that intermediate time of that 3:30 to 6 but they'll probably be just about an you know could go you know an hour and a half to two hours. They're trying not to fill that whole time, but people's

046calendar just needs to be free for those those dates that were sent out. So, I leave that to however you won't want to deal with that, right? So, I don't, you know, I don't know policy-wise if they ask me a vote or or, you know, just someone sends me a submission. Um, I will leave that up to the chair to decide how that that needs to work. Um, but >> thanks. >> Yeah. >> So, we already voted to Okay. >> We already voted to have the committee the the strategic plan. >> Yep. Just thinking about what everyone's involved in. I know Lisa doesn't have a lot of projects at the moment. >> Would Lisa be a good fit for the creating? >> Yeah, I mean I think Yeah, absolutely. Anybody would be a great fit,

047great voice. Um, you know, just depending right the time. I know you guys all are there's so much going on this year. I we can really appreciate that. Um, and I just and again I I just want the community to know but also the school committee to know as I'm working on the ESSA grant to try to get in tonight by midnight. This is essential. We don't have a working document and so this is this work has to happen. So it's like our district improvement plan and we're done. We're finished out in 2025 by January. So, you know, it seems like oh gosh, why are we doing so many things at one time? It it's just the work that really has to happen and move us forward. in and if I can just this is

048huge work right this is important work I mean coming up with especially because we don't have one right um to revisit it right it will be easier right okay three years are up we got to look at it and start making show some changes but this will help budgetwise this will help curriculum wise this will help every single you know I can't say it enough once you have that strategic plan done we that's our focus for the next five years right and if someone says this is a really good idea is it part of our strategic plan if not we're going to put it to the that this will keep us focused instead of just being and I and I say that with all love of this community. We're just sort of all over the

049place right now. We really need to be aligned and people are asking that for us. Department of Education's asking that from us. Where's your strategic plan? You need to have it. So, we'd love you to be on that, you know, and then please know every month. >> Every month Renee will come here and give you an update of this or Renee and Lisa will give you an update. Scoop will be absolutely involved with every piece of this. But this is huge work and it's important work. disagree with them to be on the >> Well, I'm curious. I know other committees we try to have a Berlin boil seat balance. So, I didn't know if we wanted to do that. >> I think right now that with the size 17 people already and I think you've

050got two or three more that are coming. I think one leazison from the school committee. Um R that's what they asked was >> Yeah, they want they want us to have under under 20. So, right now we're at 17. Um this brings us to 18. Um, you know, >> there were some other I think some other people you mentioned. >> We have some elected officials from Berlin. Um, Fincom, we have select board that they they've put on. Um, we have also >> I'm sorry, >> Boilson officials. There's two. I don't have the names yet, but they're slated here. I think their meeting was either last night or tonight. She's emailing me their names. >> Okay. I got to tell you, Aaron and I did it with 40 uh how many people? 45 or so. It's

051work. Like it you got to sit down and do the work. So that's the only thing I'm telling you like we got to get to work in this. >> The nice thing is they'll be and again I just want to alert and remind right that those focus groups and one for the elected officials is part of your school committee meeting next month. So October is like chalk full. We'll have to kind of figure that piece out, right? Um but that that'll be a specific time for elected officials at the next school committee meeting. I believe it's slated for October. The only other thing I'll say when PM meets with everybody because we've done this, they're going to give you the time and say this is the time, right? Because trying to coordinate 17, 18, 19,

05220 people on calendar, if you if you're on it, you you got to commit to that time and you can't say I'm going to miss this one, this one, this one because the work has just got to keep getting done. >> And I was curious like the portrait of a graduate was a lot of different people inputting into a lot that aligns with the strategic plan. So I I'm just hoping that that document is taken. >> It'll be part of the data. So that all gets in pretty much anything that the district has had for the last, you know, five to seven years kind of gets pushed into this data folder. And um and that and again those focus group committees, you know, th those pieces too. If there's if there's, you know, anecdotal data

053too, right, that we don't have that's tangible, that's the time to to report that out, which will be really helpful and that's why they have those sessions. Did you have the do you have the final document of that the graduate of portrait? >> I know a parent from >> I have I have a and I I am pleased publicly not being disrespectful but you need a strategic plan first but that's the umbrella. Then the portrait of a graduate is one of the um uh the pillars underneath it but we sort of you this district sort of went here but I was doing this first. So, we've got to get the strategic plan from the data from the portrait of a graduate which a lot of districts aren't doing anymore, right? Because it's the strategic plan

054they're working on. We will absolutely use that data from all the people that gather that. I do I think you sent me or someone sent me a copy of the program. >> Yeah. Yeah. There was like 30 different people involved that over several different weeks. >> Absolutely. And and that's not like final memorialized anywhere. So, that we're even looking at it as a document and keep referring to it. And I would say to you know to Mike and the school committee that that from all that should be an agenda item on your school committee is the strategic plan. How how is that how are we looking at that? How are we working on that once it's done in in full? just you know and one last just note is that coming into this role you

055know I we heard from Al how important this was but coming into my new role pretty much every every meeting I have about a grant or a job like so where what's your strategic plan where is it and I was like well we're working on it like it's really like the question right now um district improvement plans are helpful but they're kind of even you know it that's kind of like an under layer right so this this piece is is really essential work. Um, and again, I think it'll help then all the other work that has to be done. >> So, will we get our finished product from this work will be a strategic plan and a district improvement plan or is it one and the same? Because I know we had a district improvement

056plan. I understand that it was a threeyear, five-year plan. I understand that it ended. We never made one last year. So, this is our attempt to make So, is this going to be both or what what's the finish? >> No, it's it's it's separate. I mean, but it's it has the improvements that are rooted in the data. Um, and you know, without calling it the improvements, it's kind of what what what based on the data of the district needs to happen next. What's the next step? >> Um, so for example, for the big federal grant that I'm working on right now, it is download your strategic plan or if you don't have one, your district improvement. I had to write a document kind of summizing where we're at, right? And inputting all of the great

057work we've been doing, right? The PD stuff, the where we are on strategic, all of the work because we are doing work, but just saying here's why we don't have, you know, either. >> Currently, we do do not have either. >> That's correct. >> And can I just clarify one other piece to that? So, a district improvement plan, a district improvement plan is exactly what it says. It's a district improvement plan. A strategic plan is getting our our our people in our community, the parents that don't have students in our schools because they've graduated, our our seniors, right? They're all giving because they're they're they're paying their taxes and they're paying they're giving money to to the schools like we want their input as well too. So that's really where the strategic plan is. It's

058the community involvement. So everybody knows at town meetings, no one's surprised that we're looking for this amount of money in our budget because we're focusing on getting new technology or whatever that happens to be we decide. But all the communities involved as opposed to the district is just our district writing that. >> Sorry. I hope that >> yeah know and I think that's important to note too. So you know in addition to those focus group meetings, right, there's going to be they're and they're generating it, right? So that's what's wonderful that you've proved this group working. They're going to shoot out surveys to all of these stakeholders as well, right, for them to, you know, be be a voice in even if they're not able to attend those focus group meetings. So, I'll be held

059good. >> Cool. >> All right. Thank you, Renee. >> Yep. >> Uh, next up, director of finance operations, Mr. Andable. >> Sure thing. Uh, so the item you'll see on the agenda and in your packets is uh the capital plan. Uh so this summer we uh did capital walks with county officials as well as school committee members along with principles along with Dan Aella uh taking feedback and looking at the conditions walking on roofs looking at boilers digging into things. Um so this is more or less the updated results. This is an update to what's going to become our 10-year running capital plan. It's a work in progress. Um we're building it out. Um, but I want to highlight some key items for fiscal 27. I'll start with uh Burland Memorial. Uh, you will see

060the cost of mini splits in fiscal 27 has gone up significantly. Uh, that is because there are no longer rebates for um, a lot of these items. With that said, Danella is working with the town of Berlin to um to write a grant. Uh it's so the the potential is there that that we may have all or most of this paid for uh through the grant. Um one of the key items within the grant um and and I think to think about as we're talking about these mini splits is that it's not just AC. Um it's also heat. Um so if a boiler were to go down or something like that, you now have access to keep the school running um in the winter, for example. So if if if a boiler went down, that's

061one of the benefits that that bees has. Um if something were to happen in the winter, a boiler were to go down, uh they would have access to heat. So important consideration. Uh we'll have updates uh as to where that grant is. I uh sat in a very preliminary meeting uh just talking about uh what this looks like. Uh you will see the roof is still on here. Um we're working on updating quotes. solar panels are still um on there. My recommendation would remain probably doing if if the town is intent on doing solar panels, probably doing it the year after you put the roof on. Um there's always the potential when you put new roof down, you're going to have issues and if you have issues, you're then going to have to pull up

062all the panels to then deal with the issues, uh the warranty issues. So, I'd probably recommend get a year on the roof first, but you know, I'm not going to argue with what the town wants to do. if they have, you know, what looks like about $700,000 to pop into the roof, I'm not sure we'd argue if they want to put solar panels on right away. Um, going down the list, um, you'll see the phone system uh is um a an analog phone system. So, all of our other systems are voice over IP digital systems. Um, we would like to consolidate our systems and some of the money we're talking about here in the Tanto is to work on consolidating that. Joe is in the process of getting us a sort of an overall quote

063to sort of establish a a district-wide system. We're also talking to um Verizon about what's effectively a cellularbased system for the entire district. Um, so there's a couple things on the that that are on the plate. So this isn't a done deal. We're playing around with things. You'll see at all schools techn all of the technology remains um the devices and things like that. Uh going on to Boilston, we definitely have the uh continuation of the parking lot into the back for 150,000. Uh Dan's going to get some better numbers on that, but that's a a ballpark from the past. Um you'll see there's two bathrooms uh that we really need to update. Those bathrooms are in pretty rough shape overall. We'd really like to get the sinks, the toilets, the whole sort of shebang

064done. Um the you'll see the tractor for exterior maintenance. That's a want, not a need. Um we have talked a little bit about getting uh a a robotic mower for the district possibly, and we're still looking into that. That's not off the table, and that might be a good option for that. Um wood uh replacing uh the wood chips with rubber. That would be creating a rubber mat, not rubber wood chips, an actual rubber mat that would be absorbent. Again, big price tag on that. I'm not kind of a want as opposed to a need. Um, it would eliminate the need to continually replace the wood chips. Um, but I don't think, you know, that the cost necessarily quickly justifies the paper isn't that quick on that. So, you know, we'd have to do some

065thinking. same device replacement um as all of the other school as as BMS. Um you're going to see a lot of items on Tahanto. Um Tahanto hasn't had capital in a couple years. Um so a lot of these are items you'll see a lot of the items on the lefth hand side from 26 that weren't done and are now being pushed into 27. Um some of the big ones are the auditorium light, projector, sound system, um and theatrical lighting. Um, those are the big ones. We've sharpened pencils a couple times on those. Um, you know, we're going to try to prioritize those and I'll work with Lisa and Joe um and whoever else we need to kind of figure out what's what will get us over the hump at least. Uh, you will see uh

066refurbish the track. I think we really need to talk to Julie about bringing someone in to take a look at what's what what's leftwise on that track and where this fits into the whole scheme. um middle school furniture. Lisa and I still have to talk about what it's going to cost to finish that off. I don't think it's going to take a full 176,000. Um but we'll we'll look at how to um maybe even manage that over a couple years if needs be. Um adding parking. This is something that came up this year. Uh we had uh an engineer volunteer their time to put something together for us, a schematic as well as a cost estimate. it was uh maybe not quite $650,000, but I'm I'm putting it there as just a placeholder. Uh there's

067the potential for $100,000 grant. Um you know, this this would inevitably end up competing with everything else on this list. So, there's a lot of conversation that needs to be had internally as well as probably with our towns, right? Having both our towns on board to do this is going to be essential. um phone system. Again, similar to um bees, if we're going to have an overarching phone system um that uh provides consistency between the schools, we really need to get BMS up. And then we probably need to upgrade the Hantos system. Um bees may need some upgrades as well. Again, Joe's looking at sort of an umbrella um approach. um device replacement that continues to be um we we've sharpened the pencil. I sharpened it with Joe. Um so that 80,000 is a pretty

068definitive need. Um we're going to have to have some serious conversations about whether we can continue a one-toone program um without that. So we haven't had new devices in this building uh for two years. Um the good note is um uh Google has on Chromebooks has extended the lifespan a little bit. So the licensing on Chromebooks is now a little bit longer um which buys us a little time but we still have um you know we we've foregone it for two years. So a lot of the Chromebooks in this building are showing their age. Um and that pretty much covers it. I'm trying to, you'll see down at the bottom, add information about the individual schools. So, you'll see a built date uh for BMS. Um I'm trying to get roof dates, boiler dates. So,

069that you know, informationally that tells us how old is the roof, how old is is the building itself, and things like that. Any questions? >> You said it's not going to cost the original estimated to finish off the middle school furniture. Why is that? Well, well, so a couple things, Lisa. Lisa was able to buy some today. We also had a pretty significant donation from um Fitchburg schools. So, Dan Ayella and I um uh I spoke with uh the business manager at Fitchburg schools who um was clos in the process of closing a school building and they had some surplus furniture. Danella and I rented a U-Haul uh and went up there and lugged furniture for a day into the U-Haul truck, brought it down. Um got it out here. So, so those are two

070things that helped out. Um you know, I think that the initial number was also kind of a ballpark. We'd rather be high than low, right? So, um there's there's certainly always the opportunity to sharpen some pencils there. Um the goal is to, you know, replace what we can within a timeline. there may be other things that become higher on the priority list. Um, you know, renting out this facility is important to us and making it useful to the communities. If we don't do something with the auditorium pretty soon, we're going to be in a in a hard place. So, I would, you know, I think Lisa and I can have those conversations about where things sit on the priority list. >> And the lights in the gym, too. >> Yeah. >> Yep. >> Right. >>

071Um, the BMS roof. I was listening to the Did you listen to the subboard meeting last night? They were talking about putting it on the fall town meeting. >> Oh, okay. >> And that they were looking for updated >> Scott Hawkins was saying that he >> he wanted to take that section out so that there would be less >> animosity about what the schools are asking for in >> the spring. So, he was look he said that someone was going to be reaching out about getting updated pricing that they were looking they were really >> they seemed interested in moving. >> This is the first I've heard. So if if you could have talk to anyone, have them reach out to me and Dan and we will um do everything we can. Dan can reach

072out to the original roofing company or >> see what we can do. I mean, >> you know, there may be some roofers that want to get a roof in before uh it snows. I've done I've done roofs in like late November. So if if they have a town meeting and can put the money together today, I don't know what it's about. I haven't been able to respond to her email yet. So I did get an email from her. So, it could very well be that. Okay. So, sorry about that. So, it could be that or whatever else. I'm not sure. >> Um, Erin, did you say that you're talking about having like almost like a rubber mat >> for the playground? So, interestingly enough, I drove past West Boilston today and you know, it's 20

073miles an hour, so you can't help but notice what's going on. And I did notice that student in a wheelchair was able to be on the playground because of that. So, I'm really glad to see that that is on there. Yes. >> Because it makes it accessible for all. >> Yeah. as we do playground equipment. Now, we are really looking at accessibility. So, Rob has um some some funding from the town this year um for capital to buy playground equipment and a priority for him is going to be accessible structures. Anything we're going to do is going to be accessible UDL, right? That's exactly what it is, right? So, they're just building a playground for certain kids. You're building all kids enjoying, right? The new playground, they're building Great Rap Valley. Phenomenal how they're doing

074that. um in the accessibility for all students to be able to enjoy that, right? So, even those things that are just maybe designed for students have disabilities, all students can enjoy that as well, too. So, it's great. >> Y >> Aaron, there was something you wanted to put on next month's agenda >> that you talked to me about maybe that you want to make sure for October. >> Um is that budget stuff? >> Yeah. So, we'll I'll provide a sort of closeout budget summary. >> Um that will include sort of a line item budget. recall in December we approved that sort of one budget item not sure where things are and knowing that we could meet that number but exactly how um I'll provide that that's not necessary it wasn't necessary to sort of plate

075Desi in that moment um but we'll want to plate our auditor in the moment when they come in so before we do that we'll want to make sure that sort of all of those line item approvals are in place um and I had initially thought maybe we'd on this one. Um and and we kind of with the timing and things like that and the ability to maybe close make sure a few more things are closed out before we we do that would be helpful. So um I think October would be a great time to do that. >> All right, thank you Aaron. Um last up we have director of technology. So, um I'll be rather brief here, um with the the statement that I gave to the school committee that's in the documents. Um when

076I provided that as of date, we were we had 113 help desk tickets from the start of the school year from faculty and staff. Uh we had 97 of them um already acknowledged and closed. Um, obviously they they come in every day, so we continue to turn over that and we check our numbers and and make sure that we're responding to each ticket in a timely manner. Um, we do have an update on the security camera installations at both uh, Boilston and Berlin. Uh, I've been working with Dan and we've been working with the installation company. They are coming out, I believe it is September 26th, that Friday. Um they're sending out a rather large crew to both schools uh to get all of the installation uh completed in that single day. Uh to date,

077all of the wiring has been completed. So there should be little to no disruption in the schools themselves. Um externally there may be a ladder thrown against the building uh while they're they're mounting the brackets to install the cameras, but all of the inschool work took place over the summer. So there should be little to no disruption in the school buildings themselves. Um and then our new content filtering securely has been rolled out. It is in its final stages of being completely rolled out. There's a few more extensions that we're installing um before complete autonomy within the system and it is introduced to families as and teachers as far as the classroom portion for the monitoring and the home portion that parents have the ability to access and use at home. So once everything is

078completely installed and rolled out and we we've checked it and worked through it on the back end. Um after that's done and all the checks are done, we will start providing the teachers in the public with how they will be able to access that information themselves. Um so that is coming. Uh so one two items that I left off my report. One is the um Berlin Insurance Group has um or is in the process of wanting to donate some gently used large screen monitors um to the district. There is a letter from them, a letter of intention in the drive um amongst our documents with their intention of donating the to the school district. Um both Mark Adams and Deb Montano are alum of the district and they just wanted to give back to the

079district. So, um you'll see it later on on the agenda. We're looking I'm looking for approval from the school committee to accept this donation from you and they're donating roughly 30 to 40 uh monitors that are bigger than 19 in. Um so they they range there's some 22 inch monitors maybe a 25 or so but um I I've seen them they're in good condition um and they would definitely help us and reduce some of the costs that could be incurred by the district. I I'm grateful for them to reach out and and want to donate these. So, I'm looking for the school committee's approval on that and and we haven't accepted those yet because I was waiting for that to happen for you guys to accept that before all of a sudden they appear in

080our schools and and let you guys not knowing about that as well too. And then lastly, I know that Jess will touch upon this in our subcommittee group update, but um I met with the administration, both uh Superintendent Gan and myself. We met with the administration of Torah and we had a leng lengthy discussion with them and I thank them for reaching to reaching out to their teachers and just getting everyone involved on the update that a lot of families have been reaching out to the to us about and I do apologize if you hadn't heard back from the district. We were just trying to make sure that um we had everything aligned and everyone was in agreement, everyone was on the same page. Um but we have found a way to open up emails

081for parents at the middle school level. Um so grades six, seven, and eight. Uh we are opening up the emails for parents that's associated to the student in P school as their guardian. Um that that information will be rendered into our Google admin console to open that up. Um this is only affecting grades six, seven, and eight. uh after the conversation with the administration at Tahanto, we felt it's important for after school activities and sports and all these extracurriculars that may change at the last moment um for for students to be able to get in touch with their parents or parents to be able to get in touch with their students. So, it's important there. But the big thing is is that we want to make sure that our families know that this is not

082an open platform to have conversations with our students throughout the day. We still want to make sure that our parents know that the the the first line of communication with the students is through the main office, through the nurse's office, through the guidance office before this. This is for those um uh popup events that where communication has to happen a little quicker. We know that not all students have cell phones and we want to make sure that we're supporting all of our students across the board. So, I know that uh Jess will uh provide a little bit more of an update with that on our subcommittee, but um I just wanted to make sure that I was able to address the school committee and let them know where we were at with our thought process

083and our decision making and what we're doing moving forward as a district as it pertains to middle school emails and and parent communication. So, that is my report from the technology department. So, does anybody have any questions? >> Joe, the time not till next week though. Uh the goal the goal is the week of the 15th, >> right? >> The week of the 15th. At some point in time, you'll hear from um from the middle high school and and let parents know that it's open. Um but the goal is the week of the 15th. Um depending upon how it goes and after doing some checks, I don't know if it'll be the beginning of the week or the end of the week, but it's my goal is the week of September 15th. And I don't

084want to speak on behalf of administration, but like what Joe stressed is that the number one priority first is you go to the office, you go through the nurse, you go through the guidance. We're teaching lifelong learners, right? We need to be able to teach them those skills to come down to the office and engage in the conversation and say, "This is what I need. Can I get help if I need help? Could I call my house?" Right? All of those things though those that's our job as educators, not just having them on the phone in texting or emailing stuff, but also those interpersonal skills. So please, that's our first line is making sure those conversations happen through the offices >> And the school nurse. Did I not say that? Yes. And the school nurse

085as well. >> Any last questions for Joe? >> Thank you. Thank you. >> All right. Thanks everybody. So it's just about 6 o'clock. We have a hard stop at 6:30 for the attorney to be here. So we're going to just hold on subcommittee updates, get through the business items, and whatever time we have left between then and 6:30, we get to the subcommittee updates. All right. So, the first business item, uh, could I please have a motion to approve the communication plan point of contact? >> Before that, second public comment. Okay, we put this on. I think Jess, I think this was your idea some time ago. >> Um, for people who may not be able to get here at 5:00 for public comment, but may still want to say something on the uh the

086business items. So, is there anyone here who would like to make a public comment on any of the business items? >> On the business items. So that would be Raina specifically. >> Oh yeah, she is right. >> Yeah. So that's different than the public. But yeah, I think right >> not yet. She just needs to know what she needs. >> Yeah. Yeah. That's why I stalked myself on that one. So So no public comment. All right. So the first business item we're going to take care of is uh the Boil Elementary School BEC request to serve alcohol at pumpkin fest. And that is now Hello. Good evening. Um, thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to speak to you. Um, I'm Raina. I'm representing the BBC. Um, we are hosting our second annual

087pumpkin fest at the school. It is a familyfriendly event filled with games and activities. Um, hopefully we'll get a little pumpkin patch this year with donations maybe. Um, but there's contests, raffles, all kinds of stuff. Um, it's going to be Saturday, October 4th from 3 to 6 PM. Um, this year we are seeking your approval for both the use of the BB BBS grounds as well as the one-day liquor license. Um, with, as we have with previous events, we have a local bar that will donate alcohol to us. The confirmed donor is an approved vendor as per the Alcoholic Revages Control Commission. Um, we plan to in turn sell it for $10 per beverage with a maximum of three beverages per person. Um, IDs are going to be checked. We will have wristbands on anybody

088that is of age. Um, the alcohol service will be strictly controlled. Safety is our priority, of course. Um, it's going to be limited to a designated area. It will be monitored by all staff there as well as hopefully the police detail that we have requested. Um, let's see what else is here for you guys next. Uh, no outside alcohol will be permitted to the fest and we will not allow alcohol inside the school. Um, we will have a tip certified server. We are on the agenda for the town selectman meeting on September 22nd. We have event insurance and as I previously mentioned, we pressed a police decal already. Um, events like pumpkinfest. These are our critical fundraisers for our school. Um, you know, this is one of our main main fundraisers and as we just

089talked about the the universal design playground equipment and how essential it is and how wonderful it is to include all children. That's what we're fundraising for this year. You know, we really need the playground equipment at at Boilston. As a previous educator, I mean, it's just not we can do so much better. I know we can, and I know that this event will help us do that. Um, you know, the liquor license, it's not the focus of the event. It's just a little optional optional amenity that adults can have. It is very controlled. Um but there is you know research that does indicate that if we include alcohol the sales generally see a noticeable increase. Sometimes you get more attendees. Sometimes you get more vendor support. You know there's just some perks there. Um and

090that will you know it will see a noticeable increase in our attendance and what we make for the fundraiser. So, it's all coming back to the playground equipment and to the kids at the school. So, we are seeking your permission for that. >> Thank you. Uh, does anybody have any questions? >> How are you doing? I know last year had like three little things on a bracelet for controlling that. >> Yeah, exactly. Similar things that we've done in the past that are effective and proven. >> Can people sell theirs to other people? >> No. I think once it's on, you're trapped probably. It's one of those that you have to cut off with scissors. >> I know. Yeah. I'm like, I don't think you can be sneaky, but we're such a small community, so we

091kind of see each other now. >> Yeah. >> Anybody else? >> All right. Can I please have a motion then to uh Well, before I do that, should we You mentioned you were going to be getting insurance and getting the liquor license. >> Yes. >> So, I just want to put that into the motion if anybody doesn't mind. Uh, so I have a motion, please, to approve the Boilson Elementary School BEC request to serve alcohol at Pumpkinfest subject to the BEC group satisfactory providing proof of event insurance and the all the proper liquor licenses and tips trained servers in the police detail. Right. In the police detail, >> the select board will prove that. Yeah. on the 22nd. >> That's may I have that motion? >> So moved. >> Yes. >> Thanks for that. >>

092It's recording. >> AI will do it. >> All right. Any final comments? >> I just have a question. When you have to get all of that stuff, does the al do you really make money off the alcohol when you have to get the event insurance and the >> uh We do because we have to get event insurance anyway for some of the activities going on. You know, we have to get, you know, there's a certain amount of people attending the event. So that falls under bylaws under our towns. We you know apply for other permits and things like that. So um I believe in the past I just received some data that you know it can make us up from anywhere like 500 to 1500 like at an event. It's kind of ranges but since

093it's donated and it's all just profit so >> it's a wonderful event. >> I know. Yeah. It's just great to have as you know a connection for us just for extra money. >> Any final questions? All in favor? >> I. Anyone against? >> No, but I I have to abstain. So, what do I say for that? >> Anyone abstain? >> So, abstain your vote. Your presence. >> Present. That's right. >> You didn't vote. I asked what I >> I did not. >> I didn't say anything. Present is my vote, Jen. >> So, I believe that is four in favor and one abstaining. So, that motion passes. >> All right. Thank you very much. >> Thank you guys so much for your time. >> Thank you for all that you do for our community and our

094kids. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, could I now please have a a motion to approve the communication plan point of contact? >> So, >> second. >> Megan. >> Al, this is yours. Yes. So, last month, um, I introduced to you to school the point of contact for our communication plan. Um, here as well. Yeah. Um, this is something that our admin team worked on during the summer and finalized during our summer retreat. Uh, we have been posting this everywhere in our district and have found success with it. Again, we've only been school nine days, right? And have already found success with using this and using this as a reference. Um, the hope of this is to help direct families if they have any questions or concerns to whom they call and the contact information

095that goes along with it. Um this will also be helpful tool for all of us to reference um with regards to school committee and providing them um direct information. I hope you're appreciating the district communication that you're getting from my office on a weekly basis as well too. So I know that was a question and comment they had about that communication flowing back and forth. So we have this communication going out this way um for all of our parents to reference. Um I also know that you they brought up an issue about me getting that communication to you guys as well too. So that Friday communications coming out to you guys. We'll we'll get better and get more involved. I appreciate our our principles and and Janet and our admin helping out with that as

096well too. Um it will get more detailed as we go along as well too, but we really need to have um a point of contact. We really need this as a reference point. Um and you know in the past I just asked for a vote on this so that this way we're in agreement across the entire district that this is what we believe in. Um, and I think this is something that if you look at other school districts, um, and also in our strategic plan, they're going to be asking where where's your communication plan, right? And so, we've already done the work here to move it forward. So, I ask at this point that you, um, move forward and um, vote this in favor. Any questions for on that? >> I'm curious. I know like

097for the bus issues, there was a popup and I think someone mentioned there will be a popup for one of the other surveys, but I wonder if this would be a useful popup, too. like >> who are you trying to, you know, contact? >> Sure. So sometimes, you know, if you had so many pop-ups happening, you're not paying attention to any of that stuff, right? So we're just being mindful of that. So Jim and I have the plan that we'll wait till the end of this week for um the the buses. Um next week we're going to be putting all the things for the superintendent search and then this would be our next one. But we just have so many things we just don't want to that you start ignoring them, right? So we just

098want to be mindful of. Yes, that is ultimately >> like some type of like very like in your face on the first page. >> Yeah, these are also been in office come. They're literally on the table that's there. So, people have them. Um I've dropped them off in the town of Bolston, town of Berlin as well too. So, people have those as reference. April and Kristen have them. So, I've shared these with everybody. So, this is this is just for all of us, right? You have a question, you have a concern, you have a comment, this is the protocol we follow through and it will just help with that communication flowing back and forth. the the other part it's helpful for me as well too to get that communication from you guys and giving it

099to you. Um you know it we're fortunate there's six of us but there's some school companies that made up of 25 like that communication flowing back and forth. It's important um that it goes through this proper channels. Again that's why I'm working on that Friday communications to you guys as well too to make sure you have all that communication that's taking place. Any final questions? Yeah, Lisa, >> I was just wondering if we should include in there questions about the superintendent or about school committee activities, who those questions should be directed to, >> maybe the school committee chair. >> School committee. Uh, you mean communication coming in or going out? coming in like questions about us, our process or anything like that or about the superintendent >> because we've had you know comments like that

100and since that's part of our purview >> so the school committee is on there I believe as >> only for budget and policy >> anything that rolls up >> all of our emails >> yeah all of our emails are on there anything that rolls up to the superintendent on there I think is asterisk >> that he reports to the school committee but yeah we can do something >> it was just a thought >> Yep. I'm I'm open this is a living document right so this will always because it has to change all the time right so people place this position I can certainly look at with our admin team and work with the chair of scoopy and present next month even another version of this or added piece of >> that was going to be

101my question so like anytime something changes do we have to revote on this >> you you shouldn't have to right you shouldn't have to vote on a specific even when we I'm getting some information regarding Lisa's handbook right so the handbook like we have to change Rene's name to Joe's name. I shouldn't have to bring up the vote for you guys. >> That's what I mean. Like voting on something with names. I'm like, >> I don't correct me if I'm wrong now, but I think we voted >> earlier last year. I don't Was it for a specific document or did we vote a process that Lambert comes to replace name? >> They have the authority to just do that. >> I thought we just took names out of everything and so we weren't going to

102use names. This is like a a huge necessity. Like I think it's great that you have everyone's name and email address right in one spot. And >> if you need to replace a name in something, you shouldn't have to wait until the next meeting and >> Yeah, I agree. I I just don't want to have to like look at this every month and vote on it um with the length of our meetings, you know. But >> I mean, if you're changing the name of someone, that's just because the position has that person has changed position. I don't think we need to vote on that. >> The vote the vote for this is because we don't actually have right now. >> So the vote is more on the process. So I mean we could amend the

103motion to say future changes in position who holds the position do not need to be voted. >> Can you make that amendment? >> I can. >> And just want to listen this is up. So I've asked you guys previously right I asked you before we have specific names for title N and I like can get the name put position. >> Now the importance of this is you need to have specific people. You need to know who you're going to call the emails and and all of those telephone numbers as well too. But you'll be on top of or Jen, sorry. I know you're probably gonna be on top of like if someone, you know, as like you said, if >> things change, numbers change, emails change, it needs to be updated so that people aren't

104going into a black hole. >> That's right. That's why I want it to be a living document. >> Okay. So, fine. >> Can I speak to this? Sure. >> So, this document is a live document, right? So, off of our website, if you click on directory, you can see the link right there. It brings you to the live document. So, >> oh, >> as things become fluid and people change or anything like that, we make one change and get across the website becomes updated. >> Oh, okay. >> So, it's not we're not opening up a PDF here that has to be changed in five places. Um, like we had a conversation about the calendar >> calendar. That's what I'm worried about. >> Yep. Nope. So, what I'm trying to do on our website is I'm

105trying to make everything live. >> Okay. So as we make changes, it changes across the website instantly and we don't have to worry about where what pages did we put it on or or how was that site built versus the other site. Um we're we're trying to make it systematically so if we make a change it it reflects across the website without having to update the website. So the motion right now on the table is to approve the point of contact. >> The points of contact aren't specific people. They're teacher coach whoever, right? That's the vote on the table. Um the people who fill those roles by default of life happening like the academics you go to your teacher that's going to be a different person every year for every person. >> So we know

106who those specific people are. >> Um >> okay >> athletics first contact is the coach. If your kid is on middle school soccer you're not going to contact varsity basketball coach that. So we we shouldn't need to change that all the time. So I think changing names as to who the actual people are is fine. The vote is for the point of contact or points of contact which are those sort of positions. >> So we might not even need an amendment. I don't think we Okay. I would agree with that because you just said point of contact. You didn't make that amendment yet, did you? >> No. We're just voting on the chain of >> We're just voting on the chain of command which I'm fine with. Yeah. >> Any comments? >> All in favor?

107I >> anyone guess it >> and when Li passes I'll work on those two other things as well too. Yeah, update those. Um, next is a motion, pleaseou for BMS polling location. So, >> Lori, >> second Beth. So, this is the theou between the district and the town to use BMS as the polling location which they came and talked to us last month about. >> Anyone have a chance to read it? Any questions about it? >> Anything for Al? >> Is that going to affect our calendar then if we have to close down EMS >> in the future? It's not >> like could be a PD day. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Seems very reasonable to me. >> All right. >> And is just the gym going to be affected really? Like in terms of scheduling

108for class? >> Just the gym is going to be affected as far as scheduling goes. They'll make every attempt to schedule the school year around those dates that are known. Some won't be known. Um those days will be like professional development days where the idea is that teachers may be in the building or they may be here at TAT. Depends on what it's going to be. Uh so it shouldn't really be an impact. Uh and then yes the building will be locked off so that nobody can go through the doors there and get to the building handicapped accessible right the doors are wide enough that all of that will be safe for and it's it's our way of working with the town of Berlin right they own the building anyways right but to be good

109community people as well >> uh all in favor of that one I >> anyone against it. All right, that motion passes. Next, please grab a motion to approve policy CH district professional addresses. >> So, second, >> Lisa, >> sorry, Megan. >> Uh, any questions on this one? >> This just reflects the text in the BBEA contract signed in June of 2025. >> Great. All right. All in favor with that? I >> Anyone against it? Okay, that motion passes. Thank you. May I have a motion, please, for policy BL, school committee, former members and graduating family members. >> So, Lauren, any questions on this one? It was on first for you last month. >> I know Al brought this up, but it just feels weird to vote on it. I don't know. It's like a self-s

110serving policy. I don't >> I have to tell you, I've gotten I can't tell the number of calls from superintendents and school members say that's a really good thing. We're going to put that forward on our our district as well, too. the district that I was in previous and we did that. Uh I I don't feel weird. I feel it's a really nice thing during graduation when you get to stand up for all of you guys um your children and be able to hand them their diploma as well too is a it's the least we can do for you guys as school members. You're not getting paid and the volunteer work and the hours that you put in. I think it's just a really nice thing and um again I I present that to you

111because I think it's just a nice thing. >> Questions? concerns. All in favor? >> I. >> Anyone against? >> No abstain. >> Just abstains. Okay. Uh that motion passes. Uh next is uh may I please have a motion to uh correct? Yeah. To uh designate uh Beth Mansini as the alternate signatory for school warrants. >> So move. >> Megan. >> Second. >> Lori. This one is uh a request. Al, do you want Aaron? You want to? >> Yeah. So, we're just looking Megan right now is our our sign Megan Grill. Um, you know, we should have a backup, right? So, that's our world that we live in, right? We should have a second person for every single thing we do. Cross training as well, too. So, if Megan and yet she'll be our first call

112always there going through and we've talked about this, but if Megan can't make it or you know, like last year her daughter and we we still have to pay our bills every single time. So, if she can't make it, then we need to have some backup for someone. So every job in this district, we should have a a backup plan. >> Yeah. I think our policy I thought said two and I thought before we used to have well when I first started we all had to sign the warrants at every meeting. They would bring the warrants and we'd have to look through them while the meeting was going on and then all sign them. So this was a huge thing. So I mean >> you know just voting this we can decide maybe like the

113docu sign goes to both of us because you can have two and that way you have a second set of eyes on it. So I actually love this. >> We probably should have done it a long time ago. We absolutely should have >> DGA signatures. >> It actually says the school committee shall vote. Not that you could vote, but you shall vote legally. That's a >> we got to have this, right? We got to be a little busy. We're just trying to make sure we do that. >> We vote on the consent agenda. We all vote on it, but like it's just how do you have time to for everyone? You're not going to have time to look. So that's how I look at it. >> Yes. And that way if there's like questions on

114invoices like both sets of eyes like I might you know I asked about an electricity bill and I can go look at that invoice and be like oh yeah that's what this is and if questions come up in the meeting like hey guys I looked at that. >> So I think it's a great idea >> in in signing off in payroll let me just sneak in this little thing. Um we had our first payroll of the year right successful patt for her compared to last year at this time when I was coming to you as a school pretty saying okay here we are paying Mike but first payroll went up so Patty did a great job on that. So we thank you for that. So I sort of snap that doesn't need that same >>

115It fits. It fits. >> Uh any final comments on that? >> Are you okay? >> Did you want to do you sign so you do it at home? >> Yeah. >> All right. Cool. Uh thanks Beth. >> All in favor? >> Anyone against? >> That motion passes. Yes. I'm sorry to I talked >> I'll talk to you after. Could I have a motion please to accept to approve by board? >> So well let's motion Lori and Megan and Aaron's >> okay. So the vote should be to authorize the director of finance and operations the authority to execute the agreement to join the byar board purchasing cooperative. So you have uh in your uh your packet you have um a copy of the actual agreement. I think some key items to remember. It's a non-exclusive agreement.

116It doesn't prevent us from joining other agreements. There's absolutely no cost to us and we can sever this this agreement on 30 days notice. So there's really no um disincentive to to to to not join. Um every now and then then we find a product like this uh the turf tank and the the this is the field lining um robot um where the vendor is a member of a purchasing cooperative. It helps us with the procurement process. It also helps with pricing. So this is a national purchasing cooperative out of Texas. Um I've reviewed it. It meets um sort of the procurement requirements that we would fall under. So it gives us that liberty um to do. We are a member of MHC which is a more local cooperative. Um but every cooperative has a

117limit to the number of contracts they can have the number of products. This is a state of Texas. They're huge and they have um I can't see all of their contracts because I'm not a member yet, but uh you know technology devices. So, if we're purchasing Chromebooks and things like that, it might be something worth looking at to compare pricing. It would give us pricing to compare across um different products, cleaning supplies, paper, you name it. All right. Before we get any further, uh >> do we need >> correct? Correct my mistake there. >> Could I please have a >> No, we have to make an amended yet. >> Yeah. I please have an amendment to the motion >> to replace >> to bring up the language to replace the motion that the school committee

118authorized the director of finance and operations the authority to execute the agreement to join the byboard purchasing cooperative. >> So moved >> Megan >> second. >> Yes. All right. Sorry about that. Uh any questions on the amendment? All those in favor of the amendment? >> I. >> Anyone against? That is now the current motion on the table. Any questions for Aaron about this live? >> So, entering into this, are we approving that machine? Like, it's like >> uh So, we'll we'll speak with we'll I'll work with Julie to um work on uh making a purchase or or a lease of of the field planner. >> Yeah. >> So, the only thing I want to Sorry, were you done? Okay. I mean, I feel like there needs to be more discussion about it, but I >>

119So, I guess this is my question. And so, We give you guys a budget, right? The school committee says you have a maintenance budget of let's I'm just making up a number right now. I don't know if it'll have $10,000. You can do whatever you want with it. >> I'm assuming that you're going to stay within the budget we've already given you and you're not asking for more money. >> Yes, we're >> you're going to figure out all right, this is going to save time on something else. So maybe it'll even save money. That's how I'm looking at this. Um without trying to like micromanage you or anything like that, that's how I've read this. But I at first it wasn't that clear. So I thought I would bring that up just to make sure

120>> the goal would be to do it within budget >> and potentially uh this could actually be a savings for the district over time because it would require less um manhour so that the custodians or whoever is doing that is inside doing something. >> So in season right now we have a custodian that pretty much spends every day all day outside in some way. >> Yes. So, as we're looking at a field lining robot and a mower, that's going to bring that person inside to do more work here. So, it it'll be a set it and forget it systems as we're talking about the cleanliness of the buildings, having custodians presence, things like that. Um, that is an important provision in that. >> But let's be clear though, it's not we're not just doing this

121to to purchase this one thing right here, right? So, it's technology it's all about. So I think there's still conversation going on about that field liner and all that. Those are still conversations. >> This happens to be the door opener into this this purchasing agreement >> that the whether we purchase this or not, it would now we know this exists and there's an incentive to become a member. There's no cost, no reason not to if we can do it. >> Um I've entered other purchasing agreements before national and otherwise and not had to have school committee approval. like they, you know, that's part of their process. So, I'm just following that process. >> And and just for clarity, I know Megan you like we don't do whatever we want with the money, right? There's a

122whole process we go through with it, right? We have warrant we we do warrants. We do all purchase order acquisition. So, it's all you you'll be updated on all >> I think we'd love to see like the not like cost savings or our savings and what >> Sure. Okay. >> What you know just why this idea. >> All right. All >> right. Anyone guess it? All right, that motion passes. The next one is the DEC. We already did that. Uh, I'm going to skip the next one. The school committee handbook. I heard from Lisa there's maybe not some things not ready for that. >> We have to discuss before we can approve it. >> In the interest of time, let's table that one was the request. >> Uh, may I have a motion to accept

123the Berlin Insurance Group monitor donation? >> Lori, Lisa. All right. Any questions for Joe on that one? I think they're two 2001 alum both of them. It's great. >> Thank you to both of them. That's very kind. >> We will have gems though. Thank you guys. We'll we'll generate those to those two those two people as well too for that from the school committee. Uh all those in favor? >> I. >> Anyone against? All right, that motion passes. The last one is the DCR mass request. May I have a motion to Oh, before I make this motion. So, this is We put this on here. Megan, you sent this to us. Matt talked about it last time. This >> We voted last time, >> right? This about the parking lot. They want me to sign

124it as a >> That's an application for DCR. That's just going to give us authorization to get >> It's not committing to us to making a parking lot for a half million dollar, right? It's just let's keep the process rolling. Let's keep talking about it. from the DCR. So if down the road we want to get a parking lot, we can. So like in two years from I don't know how long this thing lasts. That's another thing. We have no idea if you sign off on it now. Is it going to last for a year? Is it going to last for two years? I have no idea. But this is can again nothing something that costs us nothing to get this application in so that we can hopefully get an approval from the DCR to

125even be able to put a parking lot in. >> Okay. So that's my understanding of all this is >> mine too. So that's why it's here. Just to double check cross the te's delta eyes. May I have a motion to authorize the chair to sign the DCR Massachusetts request for watershed determination applicability parking lot signature. >> So moved. >> Second. >> I heard Megan and Beth. >> That's our I heard Megan and Beth. Any more questions or concern about that? So, it's not a permanent project. It's just continuing with the application to get GCR to rubber stamp. It could be okay if you decided to do this. >> Chelsea did the application for us. She donated her time and services. And the last step is to have the school district sign off so she can

126just send it to the DCR and the DCR will either yay or nay. Yes, you guys are able to put a parking lot in or no, you're not able. You're not like you don't have to. It's just need that because of the watershed appropriate. >> Yep. >> Thank you, Megan. I know you did a lot of work on that. So, thank you. Uh, all right. All those in favor? >> I. >> Anyone against? >> Okay, that motion passes. That takes care of all of our business items. We spoke about a few future agenda items. We've got a minute to get with Sean, so we got need some motions to get into executive sessions here. Uh, so I'm going to do three separate motions for this. May I please have a motion to enter executive session

127and we may return to open session if needed. uh executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21A purpose 3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining BBRSD custodial staff teams local 170 if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining position of the public body and the chair so declares >> so move second >> Lisa uh all those uh in favor roll call Lisa >> I >> Beth >> I >> Jess >> I >> Megan I >> All right. So, we're going to enter an executive session for that topic. Before we do that, may I have a motion, please, to enter executive session uh the for the Berlin Regional School Committee to convene an executive session on the purpose one to discuss an open meeting law complaint filed

128by Lindseay McKinnon Tierney against the Berlin Wson Regional School Committee. >> I have a point of parliamentary inquiry. So, we have the agenda item of upcoming meetings and future agenda items. So I know and obviously we did we didn't do subcommittee updates. I mean are we just going to defer it to the October 12th meeting when we want >> we're probably going to return to open session. >> Oh okay. >> That was on the first one. >> Yeah. >> So moved. >> Megan second. >> Jess. Okay. Um all those in favor Lisa >> I. >> Lori. >> Beth. Jess. >> I. >> Megan. Okay. May I have a a motion, please enter executive session pursuant to Mass General Laws chapter 38 section 21A purpose 7 to comply with or act under the authority of the

129public records law to review the executive session minutes for possible release and to then return to open session to authorize the release of any approved minutes. >> So moved. >> Megan >> second. >> Lori. All in favor? Lisa. >> Hi. >> Lori. >> Hi. >> Beth. >> Hi. >> Jess. >> Hi. >> Megan. >> I. >> Okay. We are now going into executive session and we move currently open session. >> Thanks everybody. Thank you everybody. >> Thanks guys. >> We have one minute. Yeah. And we're going to