001two years all right uh thank everybody for coming in we're going to call this meeting the BR Bo Regional School District to order uh originally we were uh just scheduled to meet to discuss an executive session issue but um all our athletes apparently do is win so uh there's nobody here to put their hand up for public comment but uh we're going to get into our meeting uh thank you Paul uh after we do the first item which is always the Pledge of Allegiance so please your eyes pledge of to of the United States of America and to the rep it stands one nation God indivisible with liy and justice for all so uh there's nobody here for public comment I know it was short notice but U when did we find out about this
002uh Matt we found out yeah yeah but we just found out about the game was when Matt yesterday late afternoon yeah okay um all right so before we get into our discussion on uh the Super Bowl and changing the schedule I just want to remind everybody our next school committee meeting while I have your attention is December 10th and uh before that there's actually another important meeting uh for the town of Berlin they have a special town meeting on December 9th that's going to be at the BMS gym at 6:30 there's a couple items on there that might impact the schools as well so you uh check that out and I was told by the uh the PTO group link that they will be providing child care just like they did in the spring uh
003session so if you're interested in going to that please do go check that out uh so Al we have our um our issue here or not our issue but our item can you give us your uh yep your request thanks so good evening so first I want to take a moment before we go on talking about the boys um in their football team I want to congratulate our girls soccer team right um they are our Central Mass Champions um they made it to the final four um and lost a tough game to Hull with a score of two two to nothing so we want to congratulate our girl so um well done and well done to the coach as well too um so which leads us to our football team and the great news that
004we found out um so they along with um West Bolston um are in the Super Bowl um we literally just found out yesterday afternoon when Matt and I our athletic director were made aware of the schedule um they are scheduled to play um next Friday um and that is going to be December 6 at 3 o'clock pm at July and I just want to just throw it over to Matt if I could for a second Matt if you could just tell like how do we get to three o'clock and not the six o'clock game and how that all come to to to happen it's I mean I believe it's Lu of the draw haven't said that um generally they reserve the later games for the higher divisions for when it comes to the MIAA and
005the matchups that they have and again for the state championships in football it's they hope they hold it at chette so there is only certain amount of times that we can have and there are eight divisions they want to fit it in you know again two years ago we were in a 3:00 time slot last year we were in a 5:30 time slot this year one again we're in a 3:00 time slot they have also adjusted the days whereas the two years ago and last year they were more on a Saturday and a Friday might even have been on Thursday a little bit too this year for whatever reason Gillette is not available on that Saturday so the games are now on Wednesday Thursday Friday and there are two three o'clock time slots that need
006to be filled and it just so happens you know where in that um for other State final matchups or games they are at night it is um or on a Saturday or on a Monday they work around the school schedule but trying to fit games into Jette there is there ends up being a couple of games that fall around around school we we have actually 16 players and the quarterback actually is off from our high school as well too so we're very excited about them um just as all the information I'm going to provide tonight West Wilson I I spoke with them as well too they are now having a half day on Friday as well too so they can release their staff their students and their play is to be able to go to
007the Gillette in time as well too in a safe manner as well too um I know that this has taken place in the past and actually this will be a treee if the if the kids win on Friday um I know that in the past there was much discussion about how to handle this with regards to school and have famili staff and students attend you know this special event um here's what I'm proposing and I offer that to school committee and and and get your thoughts done December 6th I'm proposing um an early release so will happen is that the elementary students will dismiss at 11:45 a middle school and high school students will dismiss at 10:56 students will have lunch I did speak with the the nutrition manager I did speak with our bus
008company as well too um this missed instructional time and I know it is missed instructional time it wasn't on our calendar will be made up on Wednesday May 7th and I'm choosing this date Wednesday May 7th that's our uh one of our also release time days um and that's far enough out that we can make the changes we need to make um we can reschedule that professional learning so we we're really pushing that out this will now go from being a half day to become a full instructional day um also I I know and I read some of the emails that you have about half days and the concerns people had please know and I haven't shared with Mike and the school company yet but we've been working on our calendar for next year and
009the year after next year's is already done um we'll hopefully presenting it at the next school commity meeting I am happy to say whether people agree with me or not but we as a an admin team have come up and there's not there's no half days next year's schedule um on our calendar um but again that's the final voters for school committee to look at but we we have decided as an admin team that we're we're going in a different direction with our Cal and we'll share that with you as well um so with that being said again there there are many options and people certainly have Chim inting as we see from those emails today um The Proposal that I I give to you tonight was we had a zoom meeting today and met
010with all our principles our assistant principles our directors our nutrition our bus company um all of them are in favor of this proposal um that we will just have a half day on this coming Friday and make up that instructional time in May um other thing I want you to be aware of there's uh time on learning um for middle and high school it's 990 hours of instructional time 900 for elementary um I went back and Revisited that today to make sure that we're going to stay within that we are um certainly something we we want to be paying attention to um Only thing would be concerning if there was a snow day but we make up those snow days in the end so so we are within the the the department of education's requirement
011for us as well too um the last thing I have to say is I have a parent um information ready to go and with that being said if school committee agrees on this tonight and this is just a proposal you'll vote on um I've already met with uh Paul Mara and it's all set and pretty much locked and loaded for an email to go to parents tonight giving them enough time for until next Friday for people that have to do Family Care Child Care and do everything they need to do as well too so we have everything ready to go depending on the the vote of school commit tonight and with that said that is um my proposal to the chair in the school committee we we spent some time right a lot of instructional
012time this this last day trying to work this all out but I want to make sure I had all the information I could give to you guys in making your decision thank you thanks congratulations to the team again the girls as well of course before we have our discussion you guys can say whatever you like I just want to as we're having this discussion we got all the emails from everyone emails text messages people in person talking to you your your focus is on attendance this year so why you making this change why are you doing it just for the football team wouldn't you do it for the band or any other group at the school uh why you so many half days it's not good what am I gonna do about family we talk
013about missing a structural time for the poor performance in the test scor that we see right we got that last meeting great um so we focus so much effort and time on the negatives and trying to fix what's wrong or bring what's low up higher but we have to as a school district probably sell as much as we focus on those lack of a better word you want to call them losses we have to celebrate the successes and the wins too right this is a big Community thing U three in a row is pretty damn good um can't say much more than that so as much as we want to focus on that instructional time this is another day this is going to be like five or six Infinity weeks of half days in a
014row uh well say terribly terribly done year but uh anyway we we do have to recognize that I mean this is an incredible feat and the success that these kids have had will go on to follow them for the rest of their lives their careers whatever it is and as a community um I hope we can support them and celebrate them as well but there's five of us here tonight so what do you have questions comments you want yeah is there a fan bus so so two things so I'm I'm being very cautious on this whole fan uh fan bus right um it very similar to what we we're doing with the after school programs when we have a half day we we have to sort of remove ourselves and keep ourselves separate from that
015so if the booster club or something wants to do that absolutely but if it's a school sponsored bus we have to make sure we're taking all accommodations so if a child had need to go in a certain way to get to the bus or had certain issues that we had to or behaviors or one-on ones and there's just a plethora of different things that that could I'm sort of removing myself from from that and as a district I'm that if the booster club wants to do something like that or people in the community want to do something like that that's different but it would not be at least my recommendation is not to be a school sponsored type of fan bus that's taking I asked that because they not being a for transportation limiting amount
016of students going game I I have a high school age student that's been gone to the game the last two years the first year was on the fan bus it was one bus and it was full but it was still a limited number of students last year there was no fan bus I know my husband has a full car it's going to require a lot of Transportation from parents I just wonder how much what the participation level is we have a number of how many kids actually went the last two years my other question would be to Matt as you talk to all of the coaches that a first week of tryy outs and practices for sports are they planning on having practices Friday we've had this a couple years now so on Friday uh
017The Varsity Sports will two varsity teams will most likely have their practices around the game and we will cancel the other Tri outs practices for Friday so that we don't have to worry about um we've done it we've had we put a protol in place the last couple years so we won't won't affect with the older kids for trials you say cancel you me reschedule when you say cancel you mean rescheduled it Tri outs for basketball so no right first week no we just won't have that day we won't have practices trials for that day justed for another day I we have a whole schedule in place just that day there won't be the sub varsity teams won't practice okay so what triy out can I just ask re to give a little feedback on
018about the fan base because I know you go to all the games if that's okay sure yeah yeah um one thing I've noticed I go to all the games my my daughter's a che leader my husband's on the sidelines as the athletic trainer for the football team um I have been very proud All Season particularly this year with not only the amount of Berlin and Boyston not not only high school kids but community members um but also the way the manner in which they conduct themselves um the last few playoff games you've had to purchase through the app um I've worked the gates all of our students are there with their phone you know their phones or their parents are walking them up um I've been very impressed with that and it it was kind
019of like shocking to me the first couple of games when I'm like these are all our kids these are all our you know what's where and I know a lot of the West boilson families I live in West Boyston you know and and my daughter made a good point she goes well they we there's more West Boyston students that are in the the band so like I'm not seeing them as stands right the West Boon is the band right West Boon is just the cheerleaders that's on a combination team and then you know there's more West Boyston overall players on Bar City this year but um not necessarily on the whole team as a whole it's about half and half um so it's just it's been really nice so um to see and they bring
020a really positive spirit as far as last year's game I would say gosh I knew almost every single person in that in those stands which means since I know a lot of the West Boon families a lot of those students in families are also from Tanto um so you know it's just it's unfortunate that it's at three o'clock um you know I would me have talked to Matt I'm very also close with the athletic director like he is in West WIS and we can um they are hosting a fan bus which they may be trying to organize I'm sure they will you know we we we may be able to work an arrangement um for us as far as you know not having school sponsored but having that as an option for our students and
021I believe that's what happened last year is that correct yes and they had one and they then they actually came by here to get some students if we want if they want to be on it they right now they are checking to see if there is an interest in a family at was W they started that today um and even to add to your what you were saying like in wber on Saturday the the amount of fans there and Tanto fans alone it was it was it was a pack Stadium down there it was pretty good and the two times at Gillette you know a three o00 game two years ago it was amazing how many people were there last year at 5:30 there was there was even more and then I stayed for the
022next game for a division one or a division two matchup and there were more fans there for the game that watched the 530 for us and we traveled so well compared to the bigger game the higher Division and that was at an 8 o00 start so and on they've traveled well and they've got there I mean it's it's unbelievable see just the even at a game at home like you were saying it's just the the fans is we have we do have a huge support from the staff as well on both of the games that you know there was a huge showing from the staff last year before would you say the high school or the elementary I mean there were a few but I mean most of the staff from what I so IES
023from the from the high school staff but having said that there's all ages there to you know when it comes there there was there's little yeah one of the little guys um from Berlin and Boyston actually I recruited him as a a permanent snap Shack um consultant because he ended up working for us and and getting our numbers up there um and I won't name his name but it was very helpful but yeah one of our one of our families third grader any other questions um what is the possib of splitting like to getting ear release for the kids that don't need after school care versus element kids that do sure so we I also I I misspoke as well too or I didn't speak and say I me with the Union as well too
024right so that's the other piece that I'm dealing with right so we were because that was an idea that first thought about as well too so if you have a half day just to the high school then those teachers but then there's a half day the teachers in the elementary school is still working a full day right and so then to make up that it it just there's not Equity there and I have to make sure of that as well too so um with this being the release time for everybody it will be both the elementary and in in the high school in the middle of high school as well too so I have to be cautious of the Union as well um two years ago also the propos time was a later time a
0251M dismissal to less time learning um espe since being pay takes about an hour to get there um yeah was a superintendent proposed time so I just curious if that was also looked at yeah so the way I'm looking at this time CH sorry is is I'm really keeping to trying to keep to what we've always done in the past also now you have a change in time I mean I'm certainly that's a conversation we could have here tonight I just went with the times that all our other half days or release time days are at um I'm also being mindful of people traveling right so Mom and Dad got to pick up kids I mean even Berlin Bolston those dismissals and it's never really right at 11:45 by the time that last car get
026get picked up all the kids that are taking the bus getting home and Mom and Dad are meeting them at home getting them in their car and going to it so I just was trying to take the safety Factory to that as well too yeah I guess for a half day right it's 11:45 elementary schools and that doesn't really allow par work a half day um and you know personally I've used up all my time off I'm using CME time to take care of my son who was at surgery yesterday so I think you know and all what five or six emails that we received were we're working parents we can do this you time on learning the kids need to in school so just wondering if we can be more creative in our Solutions
027um to that yeah and the only thing I went with is being consistent right so all our other half release times days are at that time I just don't want to throw parents off a little bit that's all I thought we had voted I could be wrong I thought we had voted to go with the earlier time because rather than the one release because of the student drivers yeah who go a lot slower and have to navigate a really difficult part on because I remember that being part of my concern having a student driver at the time um so I I don't think we had gone with the one o00 for that La I mean I so first of all I feel like you said a president a couple of years ago when we when
028we allowed the students to be dismissed early but we keep talking about how we want to build culture we want to boost school spirit I can't think of a better time or place to do it we have this opportunity um I I went to the game two years ago I saw a lot of elementary school teachers there um a lot of these teachers had these students and probably want to watch them play um and I think it's wonderful for staff to be there with students and to be in such a celebratory mode and to see each other outside of the school supporting um I completely empathize with the half day situation but since we're trading it out I understand it gives two weeks to try to to to figure that out but there is time
029to do it and we're going to be we're not going to be losing the time we're just moving it around um so those are just my thoughts on the yeah so kind of similar to what lari said about the moving it's we're not taking another day where I know it stinks because December is like three half days said an Infinity of the very inconsistent schedule um but then that brings some consistency to May um where we'll have a after April break there's a really good stretch probably until Memorial Day where the kids are in school that's when mcast are so for me I'm like oh well that sounds like a little you know that's what mcast makeups are um field trips there's a lot of stuff going on then so kind of think it I
030like that that we're we're not not just adding a half day we're trading and you know we I know it's really hard so I do I feel for those parents um I'll be honest I have an elementary age child we have not missed a game we're very good friends with the coach Collin um so we we've gone to all of them my son has had tons of friends there so I do think a lot of kids in elementary school want to go especially little boys that play football or the girls that are interested in football um so I do I think it's important to have that Comm commity Spirit as well and it's just a really really tough situation and um hopefully next year we can think ahead it's always the Friday after Thanksgiving and
031maybe we don't necessarily have to put something on the calendar but we put like a caveat on there so parents know this could be a possibility I don't know because like I said third year in a row but yeah how are you going to predict they're gonna make it to a Super Bowl three years in a row impossible we never thought and I remember last year vividly Carol Carol yeah yeah Carol was ecstatic when we found out the game was at 5:30 but it was totally Lu of the draw she was like yes I don't have to worry about the half day fight um and unfortunately we locked out this school committee we loed out to make this decision but yeah tough decision any uh any final oh sorry yeah I don't even know if
032it's a possibility is there a way to not for this year but to reach out to the Emma you mentioned that last year you stay for the game after the 5:30 game in the higher division and L schol attended than the lower you B together with some lower divisions and put some something out there that maybe you deserve I I could try that I've I've also personally went to him last year and this year they're not really listening to me yet maybe if I Tred to band together with some other everyone same price of admission more people that maybe more the only last thing I'd like to say is I think everyone knows I'm not huge fan of the this calendar this year right I I think I pretty much so may is a huge
033advanced placement exams that's like we we should not be having half days in May right that's where we really need to focus on that curriculum our AP scores I would say are the number one thing that would compete in the entire world for for our kids getting fives and fours and entrances to college and universities we do not want half days on that time so I'm I'm selfishly looking at that may date as well too that we should be in school as well fulltime I know that we made a precedent two years ago but this is also a calendar that we did not have two years ago and this is a calendar that we did vote on to so I think voting an additional half day it's on an additional half day just so what
034Al's proposing is you make this one on December 6 a half day you remove a half day for May so there's no additional half day just want to make sure everybody's clear it's let's say there's 10 and half days it's not now 11 still 10 it's just the timing is being rearranged so that's a pretty clear distinction because I'm sorry if the classroom time yeah uh any final words if there was a plan B that you guys want we need to work on it like because we spent the day meeting with everyone to make sure that we presented something to school Comm so it wasn't just a random conversation it was more pointed right can I have a a motion to amend the school calendar uh to make Friday December 6 2024 an early release
035day and to make May 7th 2025 uh a full school day canceling that early release day Meg Lori all right any final discussion I think that as we vote it is a committee you know the will of the committee right and so anyone that votes for or against should not be vilified by the committee um I think we all are for too spirit and spirit district and so that did not happen two years ago and so I think that is a very important point that we all were trying to support the entire District what me yeah I miss that point too sorry um yes so the vote was published on our Facebook page and who voted for and against the half day um and there was quite big backlash committee members backlash yes yes committee
036members backlash the only one who vote against so I was vilified by voting against it because I because I want the later time and so I voted against the motion I just want to be clear on what you're saying you said committee members vilify committee members I don't remember that happening by publishing who voted what outside of the minutes it created the illusion to anyone that wasn't watching the minutes of them watching it live or reading minutes in total it vilified me for voting against it which my family went we supported we cheered and I used to want to support them but it by Committee Member you abifi the earlier at the later time I don't all right we'll have to talk about that later there was a Committee Member who vilified any other Community
037member V we're going to have to have some words of that Comm public can say what they want to say about whatever we choose to vote but if a Committee Member vilifies someone for I think there's nuances to the all right so are we ready for a vote all right in favor I yes all right I I love I hear 3 to one you V I said I you said I speak switching for May I don't agree with it but okay all right so the motion passes 4 to1 so just through the chair so Jessica when when you do a vote like this and sometimes it goes four to one knowing that the the majority of the your school Comm has voted in favor the the chair has the right to revote it so you
038can have a full vote in support of it knowing that the school commit is in favor right now I appreciate okay just one know that there an option for that okay great thank you thanks everybody we have a notice ready to go out tonight so parents will have that tonight and be ready to go so we'll stop giving that information out great thank you thank you three of you guys all right we're going to go into an executive session very much app very much I have a motion please to enter executive session pursuant to Massachusetts general laws chapter 38 section 21A purpose 3 to discuss strategy with respect to collective bargaining or litigation KS bbrc if an open meeting may have a detrimental effect on the bargaining or litigating position body the chair second second
039all right roll call vote Jess Megan hi and I as well okay we are now in executive session thank you Paul Paul would it be um all right