School Committee 4-4-2023

001foreign [Music] oh okay organized all right everybody how's everybody doing we've gone meeting Regional School Community supporter please uh can we stand for the Pledge of Allegiance United States of America uh all right I'm gonna get some guests here I believe first we want to start with our public comments that everybody here to make public comment I'm not part of the agenda yes name and address please [Music] and I'm here tonight to ask you the members of the school committee to take another look at the budget you're proposing I'm asking you to add a school resource officer to it our children's safety is a priority and I've been speaking to parents in town and they feel the same way we recently heard from our own superintendent regarding the need for us arrows it should be

002a priority as well in the town and school budgets we keep seeing tragedies happen in our nation schools it's sickening and scary and it's hard to be a parent possible childhood and sorry I don't cry either she's sending them off to school and hoping that they've that you guys have done everything you can to make the school safe is daunting wondering who's going to protect your child if something should happen we live in a different world when we were in grade school and we can't wait for gun reform our mental health overhaul we can't wait for someone else to hopefully protect our children we can't wait until next year or later to figure out the school budget because let's face it it's never going to be good resource officers need to be in the building

003and it should be a priority on the budget I do know when people really want something that can make it happen and it should be prioritized we need to be ahead of it we need to be proactive instead of reactive don't think that nothing can happen in our small little town it's our duty to protect them protect them there are children these are your children they're in your District now is the time to have a school resource officers not tomorrow how would you feel knowing you could have done something but you didn't thanks Katrina um I haven't almost any early in the schools myself I definitely hear what you're saying I think we'll have this question about that maybe throw the blood and talk today all right so we have communications just one thing I

004want to note uh I spoke with someone in Berlin who was very interested if anyone out there is interested in putting something like this together similar to what Wilson has with the BDF fund sort of a separate fundraising group and uh from what I understand they raise money teachers can apply for Grants from like different projects and things like that if anyone's interested in Berlin working on something like that I spoke with someone yesterday who's pretty Keen to help with that type of situation so that's the communication I had the only other thing I want to add in is a part of this budget talk is it's not in the current budget right now but it was the extra math feature for financial literacy course on how to ask you agree psych about that this

005month is uh financial literacy awareness month so if anyone has any interest in that um come back to us and let us know what you think we can do um the consent agenda as is can I have a motion to approve the consent agenda please Laurie Julie all in favor aye and against okay motion passes onto our reports we have Scott Fuller and Matt Mako here from the following group to talk with us sure thanks um a few months ago very shortly uh even before Carrollton I guess was superintendently Carolina had a conversation about um I guess you could say it's a little was a little bit about budgets right it was about the need to kind of engage our businesses and our community in other ways to help fund the schools and we [Music]

006you know there's we talked Loosely about you know what was the best way to do that um I have a hard time starting slow so we kind of we kind of Dove right in we had actually some immediate success with Northbridge Partners um being able to fund that uh building assessment at EDS so that was great and then shortly after that the Fuller Foundation who uh Scott Fuller's here that will speak on every half but uh graciously took a meeting with us um to kind of go over what the school's needs it was with Carol and Megan and Nancy myself and Matt Rice is also here played a big plays a big part in that and we sat down and had a great conversation for a few hours about the technology needs in the school

007and how you know the foundation might be able to help how we were going to get to the end goal which is you know a three or four year plan and also kind of how we got to where we work right why was the technology civil about the infrastructure so evolved and you know how are we going to prevent that from happening again um so you know after Scott speaks I think I have a couple more things to say about some other opportunities that we're working on but um I'd like to kind of Scott to be able to say uh say his peace and you know what he thought of the presentation and kind of where they're at yeah so we uh in attendance to this my mother my father you know and we listened

008to understood what was going on one of the things that helps with Fuller Foundation is a charter to give to the Worcester Community but because I don't want the belong details because of symbol for a circle flag grew up in Boylston it's always been in the cottage of that little support was there so it does it does allow us the ability to talk about so after the meeting first of all we were definitely in favor of the three of us over there because one of the major components of what Foundation is interested in is youth uses education so we brought back to the board explained what we had been through and we've approved that we're willing to support it and then what does that mean depending on the size of the asking whatever it is

009initially he's thought that the jump off point might be somewhere around 225 230 maybe 250 000 range that we would fund a third of it as jump start and the board has already approved that we are willing to do it because we have to get a request and deal with all that but um we're interested in supporting and I think the only condition is that we know that it's going to happen that it gets spent on that directly and that there's a plan for the future so that once we started it's going to be picked up in the part of the future so there's a couple ways that we discuss doing that whether the town is in a portion of the community the business is around taking abortion and if we do the third of

010what we can add to it so that's that's the basics of yeah yes I think I think kind of you know to Scott's point and um I guess kind of putting on you know by selecting that there's I think seeing um you know some some fight from schools to go out and find some alternative funding and work listening I'm not saying go do it on your own that's why we're that's why we're here right it is to help out but I think seeing that fight and kind of that passion and go and do that is going to help one we've already seen that it can be successful right we've already brought in some money um quite a bit actually um and I think when your board of selectman Berlin was one of your Finance commission

011Marlon boys I can't see that they're going to be much more willing to step up to the plate and maybe take some chances there when when they're seeing that kind of extra effort out there in that fight to go out and find out alternative funding um now you know to that point um I already mentioned Northbridge um we're in the process of we've engaged Central Mass Regional planning and we're just about to submit a Grant application that at least I'm cautiously optimistic on for about three hundred thousand dollars I will get fiber run between the three schools um which obviously is well needed I'll I'll adjust to that but one of the things for me I mean other than just the infrastructure and the one-to-one program that we're talking about is obviously every school needs

012one of the things for me that that's there that isn't necessarily mentioned is it's going to allow us to potentially address that cell service issue within Donald Rick with with repeaters one way or another that's a whole other it's going to be another project but it's something there that we can that we have the backbone to do right now I don't know if repeaters would necessarily work as well as they shouldn't um but uh so you know the the plan here is just a one-year plan it kind of has branches off that can that can be beneficial across the whole District so so where does this leave us right now so I guess kind of what and stuff you should usually I mean but I think kind of what what we're we're looking for is

013some sort of commitment from the school committee so here's the thing right as Scott mentioned is what what their contribution would be would be kind of a jump start right in year one and we know that there's infrastructure there's switches and Runners that need to be done we know that there's laptops and Chromebooks that need to be bought so I think what they're looking they're willing to do is help us kind of get a jump start there but we don't want to have a jump start and then that's it right so we need to know that year two is going to it's going to happen here I think it's a four-year plan total right here three is going to happen and year four is going to happen and then it it's in that budget and

014it's a cycle where those laptops and devices are getting replaced every I think it's three years was the plan um but people aren't going to be willing to commit funds if they don't know that it's going to be an ongoing program I think that's kind of what kind of what we're looking for is the doubling that one is a commitment to to that one-on-one program and two that there's a willingness to kind of go out there and you know fight in scrap for whatever we have to do to make that happen yeah sure a couple pieces to that first I wanted to thank you for coming in tonight's got it um and I've told you Mom I read her book who wrote a book so [Music] um just hopefully it looks at his packet there's

015the PowerPoint that we presented that day what we've talked about is having is creating a committee of the philanthropic committee that's devoted to reaching out to community members who may be willing to donate to us who we haven't talked before I've mentioned this to you I've mentioned this in the past here and I've already gotten folks who've approached me that would like to serve on this committee as an absolutely willing to have been interested in leading the committee to do this kind of work I also would approach my parent in the community who can donate her time for Grand writing um for us so if we do see grants like that will help us um I think that that person would be willing to do that work for us that she should be on tonight

016I asked David to join the meeting so that she's hearing the conversation and she can start thinking about tapping into certain resources for us so I think if we're able to make that commitment the town is able to make the commitment and capital plan toward devices I think collectively we'll be able to do this for the next couple of years um the other piece I was going to mention to you that Matt mentioned that Central Mass provisional planning committee one of one of the um services that they offer is to sit with towns and districts to create a long-range plan for doing this work so that we're not just ever even thinking okay what we need this year what do we need we strategize with them what we need each year planning out and then

017deciding what we're going to approaching here so we have that plan in place I think with technology in particular we haven't done that well so we will we're just sort of bringing us into space that we're in here now so I do I told that group that I wanted to work with them so that's something else we could do that forth and I think it would speak to what Scott you're asking us to do yeah you know my kids are now her generation toddler students so with this uh four members of nurses before that involved through these students um we talk about technology and bring it up to the next floodlight really we're very excited that that is something that you might be able to support and help and so I'm willing to you know

018offer my time to help on that committee as well and my sister as well so I think if it can be done and there's a real strategy of places I can't think of any things that would be more important to it you know your everyday experience especially in 2023 with technology is an incredible part of our lives that's right I have a question sorry I'm losing my voice a little bit so I think that's awesome that many is it sounds like coming together my only question I guess to Scott would be what happens if we get this committee and we cannot raise foreign you know through all these efforts um uh then what um does that mean is the donation contingent upon that or it's we have to sort of strategize how it's going to

019be we're going to see what the town is going to do uh I think would be very successful in an outreach program so I'd be surprised if we weren't able to come up for this um okay but yeah I think and I know nothing about it I'm just asking because it's so supports not that we haven't done anything yet all we have is a verbal community we're interested in so as things progress if the plan is ready to go and it's going to go forward right there ready to go if this looks like it's just not going to happen and it's not sustainable then let me probably say all right well I think also I mean if you look at we have an informed the commitment right right we talked about it briefly a few

020times yes but um and then you know we're already working on um it's a grant but it's still a significant amount of money um for the infrastructure for schools of you know somewhere between two and three hundred thousand dollars depending on how much we do and that's not a insignificant project and it's running almost 10 miles of fiber between the two towns um so I think you know we've already you know it's not fundraising for example we've already had some some success there before we've even really got started so um to Scott's Point once we really dig in I think I don't think it'll be as difficult as [Music] all right yeah I think that's great and then so there will there be a deadline on when funds would have to be raised or um

021and would the committee have to be we have to form a committee would it be like its own entity is like a not a non-profit so that the donations could filter through the committee or so I'm I'm not 100 sure my deadline ends up being your deadline gotcha all right so whenever whatever it is determined needs to be done um you said I won't get it done figure out where we're at um how much did that did that even then have more requests this year I guess I know there's IG supports like 134 or 30 PBS and so I don't bear with me for a second because I know like for a little more of 120 000 plus and then those infrastructure is not much like how much we could say that we already have

022part of that I'm almost there foreign especially this situation here the one question I had was from the school standpoint I understand the rules of your organization follows is committed to loyalty yeah when it comes to tejanto we've also got our own students there so how is that from playing with this or is how does Carol McDonald had our role in the situation there yeah my understanding this is a district okay all right would you buy the hug you like thank you so what I can tell you is for like BMS it's one well let's do foil spin it's in there as lumped it's Chromebooks new phones for district offices Minnesota equipment that needs to be upgraded and we have the backup in the office but I don't have it with us I'm just curious

023if that could say well we you know this year there is that amount of money or anything if I remember right now obviously I don't want anybody to this but I think the number was about 225 yes I think um I mean does anybody else have any questions with me I mean I think it's something that we're interested in for sure absolutely I think if we need to perform media to work on a further counter here I was directing the meeting with them I would very much like to do that I think you asked it with a question about the they'd have to create um 501c3 so that the donations could filter through there and then how that would work to get them back to the school or the town I don't know probably the

024organization will probably determine how they want to handle that right yeah um because we've donated two times before and I can't recall exactly how we've done that if it was through PTO I think that we talked about yeah I would have to go through a pef or at least I think that's what your parents had said that I would have to go through PTO or bef yeah it has to go through a 501c3 it can't just go right to the school right okay so I think it would be benefit to creating creating that subcommittee as well right so as far as I can't do it under the school it has to be its own separate committee like bef is it's only separate yeah right yeah right that'll work so so this is the start of

025the conversation officially here in public I think the commitment is here from the committee if if you guys are more comfortable looking to perform a vote on committing to forming this or committee or whatever we need to do I think we're on board for it uh unless anybody else is got anything should we do something like that is that something that would or should we just say we have a bunch of subcommittee already assign this project to you guys and yeah work with Carol and Nancy and Scott and Matt to go forward and figure out at least to figure out what you need and come back to the full commitment whatever vote is needed yes yes I was going to offer to me on committee and I might be able to or I'd have to

026you know with all the talk about finances just because we're able to get money for technology it doesn't mean it doesn't have a significant impact on the rest of it right maybe that frees up money not I guess not when it's a capital expenditure but in general they can free our money from for other areas right so it you know you have to kind of look at it from from a big picture there and say okay well look now we have these donations so yeah it's going to be it can be pretty technical I think so something yeah I'm looking forward to it that'll be huge because we do I think we do have we definitely have a good chunk in there for the technology so we ended up getting donations for them that we

027could realize what we wouldn't be able to do before Matt and Scott and uh very limited as big as I can thank you from this on full Foundation of that for doing what you can to help us out earlier I mentioned the someone I spoke with brown yesterday and uh they're you know certainly interested in doing something that helps with the organism organizing committees groups foundations whatever whatever it's going to take I think something that's new we've talked about this a little bit about this particular committee being new and doing things in a new way I mean there's still a traditional way to do things but you know this is one of the things that I haven't seen in the past three years since I've been here it's always even talked about anything like this

028so thank you very much for coming in we really do appreciate it like I just want our mattress as well thank you yeah I was just going to say yeah which I think would all agree that we'd like to have our school year technologically advanced as any other out there so that our kids are coming out and heading out into the world having had every opportunity um against the competition up there which is on the other schools team so um find a way to do that it's supported the project [Music] that's awesome yeah thank you you're very excited so important all right thank you very much um next on the agenda is uh chairs report I really don't have anything that hasn't already been said uh that won't get set during budget meetings we can

029skip that Caroline isn't able to be here tonight she emailed me earlier she didn't have too much she was working on trying to get some more members in the senior class but to come in and speak to some of the things we've talked about but just didn't work out for tonight so maybe next time we'll have that so she's not here subcommitting updates uh what it is if you guys met um no we've not since Saturday March 19th recently uh Student Success and Technology we did meet just before the uh the budget hearing that we had uh we have the language that we added to the resolution that's been sent off uh to the state reps so that's their policy do we have an updates for you yes so um during policy we discussed the

030cell phone and smart watches the student Tech discussion um and we had a policy i i j and DC in there versus the handbook um and what we were looking for was input from the principles as to whether they felt cell phones were disruptive smart watches anything like that if they felt that um your thoughts on them and how they are in the classroom and if they're an issue or socially academically there [Music] um in the high school there's only supposed to be something between classes and at lunch so it shouldn't be distracted not to say that people don't probably but um so I think the way we have to set up is you know not a problem but I'm sure there are some kids that you know I mean like you know that I've

031been looking yeah he notices or whatever is it a distracting probably you know like what um but I think that's why we have those rules in place well I think a parent has brought up a question about the watches that you know sometimes um but you haven't heard anything from teachers or anything no I [Music] normally those teachers are very Vigilant and observant in the classroom and manage it or they send it down to the office and I have to happen in a while but I know what I watches they can hide them a little bit more but I haven't seen I think that was a specific comment too with the elementary school is yes smart watches but also like maybe step is that an issue I'm not uh you know a lot of kids

032especially fourth and fifth graders have the smart watches but again it goes to distraction yeah so they're using their watch for watch things we don't have a problem um you do occasionally you're a kid who's got a cell phone of the building you know the children like to tell me because the rule is that if I see yourself it's going to stay in my office for a while I threatened the June box where it stays in the Box till June but so far in the June boxes can I ask a question could could I see it very differently in schools anymore um and I hear that from them could could the teacher somehow be told to see what they think about it anonymously so that they feel you know the things to be truly about

033it and then we can look at that um because I know when I went to parent teacher conferences yeah a lot of them have those like pocket holders they can be a distraction but if you take the steps I'm not sure so um so I haven't heard complaints from them but I'm happy to ask I think yeah I don't know I'd be happy to know the teachers I'd love to hear the elementary level too you know like I know I know when my daughter just got a gizmo watch but it has school settings but it can only do emergency calls out so you know I actually asked a friend today like hey what's your she said and she said that it's to be School mode throughout the day so it was very specific you know

034I think a parent brought Carol and I attended a student council meeting and a parent said that there was an issue I don't know if it was at Boylston or Berlin where a child took out a smart watch and was recording or filming another student um I don't know which Elementary School it was in but I thought they said a seven-year-old I thought because they said I think they said second grade because I was like that's my son's age um so I don't know where that happened maybe it was me yes other thing I want to say about the cell phones too is I've sobbed one day at lunch and we did a tour and I saw I didn't love how they were all in new phones at lunch it made me a little sad

035but like I would say all of them and maybe it was just the days I was here and it's definitely for sure right and they're just like kind of alone in their phone and it just made me sad [Music] yeah because they were running around and yeah but it was the older kids it was like um just some of them but I guess otherwise I don't know if they'd be sitting alone or just kind of sitting there by themselves or if they would be trying to socialize I don't know but it was just very different from what I experienced when I was in high school oh yeah yeah um [Laughter] she has mentioned in the past um as part of their she did it wasn't a technology issue she was framing it as but it

036was uh when the class was gone or when they've got some free time after a quiz or something instead of socializing everybody she has mentioned it as a problem for me um but um I think this is I think it is a problem everywhere I don't think it would be just exclusive here um I think we have to just figure out a way to to manage a problem I think that's probably step one um no I'm just saying like I don't still think it's enough to say we don't have a problem should we have talked during our policy meeting about maybe a field trip to one of those schools that does the political blogger yeah policy [Music] adjustment is needed Bring It Back to the Future meeting to have a full discussion um all right

037cool uh superintendent evaluation just an update we do not need to do one this year I don't know but you have no idea that is um I did talk to Dorothy from masc and she did say that we don't have to do so I'm going to try to use the time to see what we can do with the model that we have to make it easier Carol and I have spoken about how she could write her goals similar to like to superintendent over and she was free so that it would make it easier for us when we go to evaluate instead of having to research um so I think it's going to work out really well that we have the time to work on this and you'd have the time oh my God so uh

038next up is Carol it's all yours I was trying to think how I wanted to alter this is my report tonight [Music] you know we're going to talk a little about the budget of the few minutes but I just I wanted to reiterate by being concerned about about this budget if it does not go well we have lots of consensus going on and not so much in different places all over the place um it has always been my fear my concern that this budget doesn't pass in some form and we will run the risk of having teachers that's where this will come from up to 11 to 15 teachers and that's how this will play out if we don't close those gaps I've said to the school committee of what that will look like as

039far as working teachers starting from the bottom up starting from staff that was hired with the latest staff because we're Regional that could come from one of the any other schools depending on where that is seniority Falls for them because we technically we don't need to notify teachers of who would be cut until June according to that documentation doesn't leave some schools send out things close to everybody to the school districts I'm not willing to go that direction right now but I do also don't want to cause any probes not to have that sense that that is so what we're talking about that we're starting to have that kind of conversation and Nancy and I have been looking at so it's real it's out there looking I'm deeply concerned I've been trying to protect the

040staff from this experience I just don't know whether this is going to go up through right now so I just want to bring that out on the table it's very real for a lot of people so um so that's where I wanted to start from yeah so to clarify you mentioned if God's happening is based on a seniority there's been confusion in the last month um fire sports are common that John set off in the last meeting but uh some folks out there think that uh okay if one town passed the budget at one level the other Town passed the budget at another level and whatever that happens to be it requires cuts and teachers and one top person and another um some folks are concerned if let's say from Berlin if the teachers added

041in Boston why does Berlin have to pay for that part of it how did they swap schools if one pound funds all the teachers they want to have but those are the teachers that end up having a cup because of seniority do they lose their teachers or do teachers come from somewhere else how does that work really cool well it is because right now we don't know what we do we know we have an idea of the worst teacher here as far as they're hiring but if one town doesn't vote the other does whatever the combination is if we don't have to have that budget it could come from either any of those three schools most likely they would come because of the licensure around teachers and other positions psychologists school counselors who have very

042specific licensure those are Physicians would have more opportunity to stay input um so the high school the Middle High School level because of their relationship with the most likely seen because the stuff you can replace them at this point a lot of the cuts will come across at the elementary level and that could be and that could happen yes what you're saying that it could be one school over another losing teacher because of the ramifications of the budget cannot be passing both accounts so for example let's say just hypothetically oils and decides the fund all the teachers that are currently there but Berlin doesn't you calculating 10 teachers positions need to be cut seniority wise let's say eight of those teachers maybe fall into the Boylston Elementary School even though they've been completely funded by

043the town those eight teachers are gone two of those teachers comes from Berlin but Berlin didn't fund it so all the Cuts really need to hit Maryland so that's 20 or the eight teachers need to be replaced by their own teachers is that what you're saying it could have yes it could happen that way yep so yes to the first part and then depending on how that unfolds of the neural and as far as their numbers and classes we have to look at that too we may at a point have to shoot some teachers overcome first grade so if we have to cut 15 teachers at what point we legally allowed to close the school because we don't have teachers I can't answer that right now so many teachers yeah 12 well General Educators yeah

044a couple of specializes on 15 of them I'm not sure that's quite how it works right well that's what I want to clear up yeah there is confusion about how that works we're a Regional Schools so there would be a decision on where things would be cut right my Firestorm was if Berlin so for example we have a real small k-class coming in Berlin decided we could make it with just one k teacher that extra person because they have a ton of seniority would probably still have a job in one of the two schools while in Boylston because they have a lot of new teachers over the past year or two they would be the people who would get bombed because it's just a it's literally a list and you said something else the periphery

045there is part of that effort so it's not only just teachers it would be probably interviewing programs it could be great funded positions and there's so much shifting that will take place one of the things so within that mix is also the fact that that set up for those teachers or whoever the support staff and whoever would be leaving we could potentially lose them for a position so we Face a significant hiring impact if we have to bring people back depending on where the bunch goes around the world it doesn't pass later on [Music] so what you're saying is like any company that anybody might work for if employees see the certainty in the near future they might start looking before they even know what their situation is just so they could have stuff sorry

046and I did experience that um or being kind um but potentially the best [Music] can I just make a note that anything I just said is purely hypothetical just for discussion and clarification purpose I have no idea what's going to happen I do not know the 15 teachers are going to go that were going to close the school so no we go on Facebook and see that I said that it's very complicated but we need to have the discussion to clear it up we are happy [Music] and Carol one other thing is there any type of emergency funding that we could apply for the state if we got into I just don't know how we would cut five teachers at what point in time you can't have 40 kids in the class I think you

047just need it so like if there's some type of emergency there's nothing from the city you know and I just don't even know how the school would function at that point and if you've been reading in newspapers there are we were just I was just on a Mars that's the messages yeah there were colleagues on that multiple colleagues who are facing the exactly that right now so this is very much out there okay you know how we have a level service budget and then we added a few things you know like the assistant principle and um three assistance in Brooklyn Elementary right and uh if we went back to just the level budget without them would we still have to fight the teachers oh if we went back to a level you know that's a

048complicated there's a complex I mean I'd recommend it I mean oh let me go through my stuff and we're going to go over figures and all that fun stuff and he'll see where we stand and I think that will help answer any other questions visits yeah I can mentioned that um so we we had a chance in the last month to uh vote to boils and Garden Club on the 19 Carter we were there twice [Music] I think that went a good ways and I was getting influencing but at least informing citizens that were there they were very interested in their District Improvement plan we took the budget packet and we were asking some good questions I would just mention one of my favorite and most challenging parts of that visit was the fact that

049there were three students there from tomorrow for seniors and had some very um a few questions to ask me about about what I was willing to do for the future and and made suggestions about what they got into things so I take that to court and that will be a discussion Palatine and Justice issues so this one there's one other thing I wanted to focus a couple of things I just want to make you aware of my report is a little performance pieces in here I wanted to mention we we have an opportunity for at least two students if not three to go to a sound event in Boston on may we have a gentleman um who has a resident he's a pilot in the past not during the school studies kind of tenure but

050um but he has taken two students to fly from Pittsburgh airport to to the Expo with math again he'd write it for all his passports again who would be willing to do that because it's a unique situation I wanted to bring before the school creation to hear about our students flying really some place one day although I have to say that in the hand the setting up the president for that already he's very airport down to New York to take them on field trips um so it's happening again something different we've never had before right so I wanted to bring this forward I sent you information about that about him about that that trip and he just wanted to ask us really really blessings of the school committee so I wouldn't make sure that these

051glory to the story he knows that fingerprinted and parents would give us give permission so if you thought there's anything else you need to find out if you should be watching today so it'd be basically a field trip they would follow the Builder for adults yes yeah but it would be a field trip yes yeah no it's not an overnight at all it's a couple of hours um is a field trip a few students that the to Hunter awarded the military who was chosen or who would be interested in however they would say that I don't understand [Music] how that was done Peter said to me that at the time he took those particular students a bus photo students also showed up so they worked on opportunity to produce more students with that idea I

052Wonder Oh you mean they went to the exposition by bus and three kids would fly what type of plane is it is it I mean is it gonna be like a chopper like thank you like is it like a jack like what kind of I'm just a little nervous while we're having planes and putting our kids okay I'm trying not to be negative too are you I think it's awesome it is awesome I'm just wondering is it a big thing McDonald's maximum of three students should make that decision I'm not I'm not too comfortable with having a computer as a resident he's a young resident you know him um I'm not so sure to bring other folks in at this point maybe that's my personal caution what I also noted in your report you said

053that we're going to follow all necessary Corey silly thing for different procedures and everything so even though he's a parent he would be oh yes okay that's great that's very cool what an experience for us so we have the invitation [Music] too eventually like yeah yeah for adults it probably should be he's a licensed pilot correct so if we were to go on something right now I don't know yeah I think if there's the correct protocols have fallen or field trips of Transportation yeah parents sign off there's no issue with the insurance companies or with the attorneys who should keep her head to you definitely need to approve it yeah and you need more info right now but we're not meeting it says on Tuesday nights we're not meeting again until after that our next

054meeting is [Music] yes if it had based it's not going to be too tight though head out is the plate because the plane is the plane that is the question um if the masc policy site we're up I'd look up policy right now it's not an overnight right yeah yeah I know yeah you're right um the only question is taking kids up in a private airplane with a resident button diesel Rising pilot so maybe you could approve it and then you could look into it it yeah motion to approve it pending all necessary insurance and liability issues are sorted out yes got a motion to approve this field trip ending all necessary liability insurance issues are taken care of before it happens yes I think it's uh Ambassador I think it's an incredible opportunity if

055everybody involved is on board everything the school let like there's this previous uh there's something on the drive above history but it was nothing for the current situation so yeah yeah I feel it falls under a field trip it's not overnight transportation's not model not usual right but okay so and one more question it's like it's bad weather they're going to cancel the flight right you know he's not going to Flying bad weather well he's an island yeah [Music] representative and like the only other thing I've mentioned to you just to take a look at the um writing calendar consideration items probably not recommending either way but I want to keep an eye on the pattern of this um the number of Staff out on Good Friday the number we took a full day versus

056membership a half day of Good Friday off um in the past couple of years and then the one particular day that was Good Friday that fell the day before vacation it was a significant number out and that was a full day so I'm curious how many teachers are taking any religious holidays over these days on Good Friday this year do you have that projector at this point I just want to be mindful of the numbers and the patterns here um to keep an eye on because some schools observe all the Jewish holidays as well um and then they're in school until the end of June so I mean it's right now it's a preference yeah some districts half day that day so I mean it's something I can [Music] I just I wanted to bring

057you to your attention when I said no I didn't even know like I was in a favor but I know that's not what she was saying um please we typically would schedule and have a cast on that day because we don't you know it depends on how many students and teachers would be out that day wouldn't it wouldn't be in our best interest in the schedule on Tuesdays even the days that we have to say and I don't know if John and Sally wanted to try and then the date before the vacation for a cheap birthday family started leaving on Tuesday it's gotten to the point where not really getting the weekend before and Thanksgiving oh yeah people go away when they feel like it when they go yeah that's when they can afford again

058so all right all right um okay I just want to do a couple updates before I touch the budget I just wanted to mention blessing um our bus company had an unexpected passing of one of their bus drivers in Berlin and I just really wanted to express my sincere condolences I know it's been really tough over at nrt um so I just wanted to mention that and in terms of transportation for Berlin especially we've returned to where we were earlier in the year learning difficult situation and we're sure a bus driver again I spoke with Jackie over at nrt she's actively looking for a driver they feel like they have someone who is a very vital candidate if all goes as planned they plan to have this driver in place when we return for people

059vacation I say this date with caution because we know how easily things can change in transportation so until we have a driver Berlin one will be doubled with Berlin 3 for Toronto and Berlin one will be doubled with Berlin two at the elementary school they're going to start trying to run the tejanto Run 15 minutes early ahead of schedule and hopefully the BMS run can start closer to the correct start time but most likely it's going to run a little late so I'll keep you updated as things progress but that's where we stand right now one other thing I wanted to announce is that after April vacation we will have the capability to have text alerts as an option for notifying families in regards to bus delays or other issues that may arise so parents

060will be receiving a text on or around April 12th in regards to opting in or opting out of this option created the facility assessment for Boylston I'm happy to report that Habib and Associates we received three quotes Habib Associates came in at the lowest they're going to be starting on Friday April 17th stop it yeah that's great yeah so at the next school committee in Maine I'll be forwarding a request for the acceptance of a donation that we received from Northbridge cre for 35 000 to cover the cost of the assessment originally this donation was going to be given to the town just this weekend we were notified that it's got given to us so I'll forward that at the next meeting for your approval do you know how much lower they came in the

061other two you don't have to dig I can send it to you okay I can send it to you yeah quickly I wanted to go over the fiscal year 23 budget I feel like we've been so consumed with the 24 budget we really haven't touched base so I just wanted to give you guys a quick update um in all three of our schools there's two line items that we are over the first line item is legal so in BMS we're currently over by Thirteen hundred dollars in Bes we're currently over by 2 750 in Toronto we're currently over by 2500. I do anticipate these expenses to increase because this is only invoicing through January and reference in reference to my except expense spreadsheet this is under the category of instruction and structural support we're also

062going to be over in our insurance line item we learned earlier in the year that we had to purchase a multi-factor authentication for all of our devices if we didn't purchase this we were going to lose our cyber security coverage so this wasn't budgeted for so cost wise for BMS and Bes that it's gonna it was an additional 3 000 and into Hondo 6000 so in these I'll follow under the categories on the spreadsheet of Maintenance and operations so looking at the schools quickly individually under BMS under instruction and structural support we currently have the savings of approximately a hundred thousand dollars I anticipate the savings to decrease this these line items are not encumbered there's some line items that are not encumbered like professional development supplies and materials and now we know that legal

063is going to go over budget the overage should be able to be made up within this line item since we're forecasting to have a savings due to a teacher being currently on leave under maintenance and operations we currently have assistance in BMS of approximately 29 000. I anticipate the savings decreasing exercise line items that aren't covered like above with supplies and materials as the committee is aware this past Friday our elevator broke so we recently reported three thousand dollars just for the company to come out and diagnose the repair so once the diagnosis come back I'll make sure I come back and update you and we'll have to look at it and see if it's worth processing an insurance claim or moving forward depending on how much it costs under Boylston Elementary in structural support

064we currently have a savings of 69 000. again I anticipate this decreasing for unencumbered funds such as professional development and supplies and materials and the legal that I mentioned and one thing to note is we have an ongoing Personnel matter that has not been resolved so the forecasted savings amount is unpredictable at this time we are forecasted to have Savings in special education transportation and also in our benefit line item these savings will be helpful and offsetting repairs repairs keep seeming popping up at Boylston Elementary and we're actually just about over that line item so it's good that we have these savings to help with that and lastly in Toronto under instruction and structural support we currently have a savings of 150 000 again I anticipate this dropping due to unencumbered expenses in the legal

065we have savings we also have savings due to the beginning of the year we had we had a large difficulty in finding Personnel especially in structural assistance other services show a savings of 157 000. this isn't accurate this is because athletic coaches are not encumber Ed but we do have a quite a decent savings and special education transportation so right now we're fortunate to have Savings in the areas at Toronto as there's a large as we have had a large number of repairs and we're currently over budget on the repair line item by seven hundred dollars we've had a lot of repairs electrical plumbing and HVAC Carol and I spoke earlier and we would like to invite Dan our facility manager to a future meeting and review all the repairs at all of our buildings

066so you can kind of see where we stand overall I think we're in a good position as we currently have enough funds in blind items to cover some of our overages at this point in time fiscal year is money for our budgets so in the fiscal year 24 budget we have received the recommendations recommended budgets from both of our towns so you'll see that there's two spreadsheets there's one spreadsheet that says at the top of Berlin and there's one spreadsheet that says the town of Boylston start with Berlin so you will see that Berlin's recommended budget for BMS came in short by 732 715 dollars came in short by 7 328 dollars when I say short I'm referring to the budget that you approved on March 18th yeah after reviewing these details and speaking a

067lot to Kristen the Town Administrator over there and Carol and I speak into the chair we asked if we could propose the following we proposed taking an additional 225 000 from school choice to BMS taking an additional 7 328 from school choice to Toronto and taking an additional a hundred and twenty five dollars from circuit breaker we went back to the town and went back to Kirsten and asked if with doing this would they consider helping us fund the remaining 382 715 the fincom from Berlin and the school board met last night and they voted to agree with the proposed budget amendment including the 382 715 in free cash contingent upon a vote in favor by the school committee meeting they also would like this to be the final change that you make to the

068budget so if you look at the spreadsheet it breaks out everything that I just stated I know it's a lot sometimes ask me any questions and on the bottom you'll see I forecasted out school choice for BMS for Toronto and circuit breaker that will show you with the additional allocations where we will stand so just to briefly tell you for at the end of fiscal year 24 with increasing our allocation we will have a balance of 256 000. in Toronto with increasing our allocation we'll have a balance of approximately 396 000 and circuit breaker will have a balance of approximately 355 000 . does anyone have any questions for Berlin so by doing that you decrease our ability to react to unforeseen expenses within that next budget a year yes yeah we're definitely um lowered

069our our own funds wheat loader revolving funds two things to keep in mind the forecasted amount that I have in here for circuit breaker is 488 000. that's based off of the 75 reimbursement forecasted out all the current tuitions that we have for this year based off of the Civil same level service funding for circuit breaker that was used in fiscal year 22 and it does not include a reinforcement for transportation because that's still unknown if we got the same amount that we got last year that could vary from anywhere from 65 000 to probably 8 000 additional and we did apply for Extraordinary relief for this school year um which would have to be used for this school year but it would help offset the budget for next year that hasn't been returned back

070to us at this point in time it's a very difficult one because you get one lump sum and it depends who applies for it and it's the whole thing maximum we could get from that is a hundred and sixty thousand so those are two Revenue sources that are out there that haven't been confirmed are not included but are possibilities and circuit breaker so anyway from zero to 220 000. yeah and school choice is based upon the recommended school choice enrollment figures that will be presented to them or approved on hopefully we'll give us um right so that's my my concern there is the BMS number yeah I mean that in two more years so this is like uh emergency situation one time in the shop there's no doing this again next year at least not

071this way yeah and you're kicking the candle yeah I mean it's bad science yeah who was the other option right what's exactly right here you guys are moving were you guys at the meeting last night yes do they understand that this is uh like a like we're using up the majority of these ones they know that they do so what happens next year you still deserves next year so we can't deplete the whole okay so what do you do next year the other options I don't want to hide during the afternoon we could fill the investment school choice I mean we've already got 22 kids in the classroom and they're built for 18 but [Music] um so this is um this is something we would need to vote on to accept or to adjust our

072so how it would work if you know the budget's done yeah everything's been processed the words the overall number is just this doesn't change the overall approval that you approved on the 18th it changes the outline of it of the allocations that we will be using it doesn't change the total figure right but yeah yeah it will help the talents people to see that the school is meeting yeah a bit right oh yeah yeah and I think I'm precedented time sometimes with recommended Solutions like it's not like we're draining it down to zero should we hear about um should we perform this now or here's first right okay so so Boylston recommended budget came in short by 256 880 for Boston Elementary and came in short by 13 887 for tejanto and seven thousand eight

073hundred and twenty four dollars for our Capital at tohonto we made a similar proposal I spoke to defend comp chair over there to use additional funds from school choice for sixty three thousand eight hundred and eighty seven dollars and an additional hundred thousand dollars from the circuit breaker to bring the deficit down to a hundred and six thousand eight hundred and eighteen eight hundred and eighty dollars the um declined the proposals so how I see it in Boylston this the school committee you know saying it the way it is has three choices on how to proceed you keep the budget as is according to how you approved it on May 18th this total deficit of 270 700 and 270 767 versus the town's recommended budget you use additional funds to allocate the budget that was

074presented as a proposal to Boylston and eliminate 106 880 to clear the deficit or you eliminate positions that total the deficit of 270 767 dollars well pretty much what you're down to in Boylston the spreadsheet shows you the forecasted amount for school choice and circuit breaker with the changes of the allocations that were post so the 270 000 that's from the bcba The Three A's and part of the 60 of the vice principle is that what that is um yeah it's it's that and that's something it's that and then a little bit more awesome so I I did about a consent and uh Finance please to come play if you want us anything to be using essentially the circuit breaker money and the school choice funds and use and free cash to reduce to fund

075your budget because it's unsustainable next year you have to come up with those funds plus whatever your additional increase is going to be and that just means that next year you'll be getting your excuse me you're looking I love you we don't feel comfortable going down that path okay tonight so so the meeting that I attended to begin originally you had to funded the you look like more comfortable with the app level budget so is this so then if you've changed your mind then I just I'm trying to understand I'm sorry so we had that joint meeting with your Canadian activity in the Berlin minus committee and the level funded budget you presented at that time the budget that we ran them and we are comfortable with and that we are built into we have

076built-in and improved and subsequent to that I understand is you have revised your budget but the budget that he's referring to is the budget from March 6. when we all met minus yeah minus the Three A's CBA 65 for Boylston and 65 I yeah I'm not positive 270 000 sees high for those three dishes though well we had three IAS at 50 000 each that's 150 and I and then a quarter of a bcba three thirty five oh yeah Plus 0.65 at the top 100 principle yeah you're right so this leaves us with yeah it's just those three yeah 15. 380. yeah that's the three positions so it's the three dishes it's the additional position yeah so school choice funds at the elementary school they're going to run out in two or three years anyway

077we don't do this even if we do nothing without Elementary yeah has anybody looked forward to three years from now versus two years from now [Music] can we set more kids in PES yeah [Music] do like a full-time preschool there in charge of daycare raise yeah [Music] you could probably only pick put 20 kids in it um I don't really wanted that he's not Dr Ace all the time I'm curious though like if so if we were to you know we've already the warrant townhorn's out so how was that well well it depends where you're going in you've got positions it's done on the floor she would have been the movement there's nothing you can do now as far as the warrants concerned I don't think I could be wrong it's not true at the

078Wilson war will be finalized until um basically Monday to 10. so that's oh okay so it's different specifically okay just just after that so whatever you finalize tonight at least the Boylston side it'll be right at 10 meeting would be yeah the policy finance committee has not yet voted to approve or disapprove any budget we met last night decided to wait to hear what comes out of this meeting tonight is what we recommend to our select them what we are or are not agree with oh so it's a verbal support okay I I misunderstood um yeah we both misunderstood because that was not what I understood where we agreed we were all in agreement that you're local service budget from March 6th whatever that date reading was that we were all they were approving that

079if that's the direction you go if this committee goes into a another Direction where it's higher than that we're less likely to do a group budget but the vote has not been addicted because budget I understand okay but if we cut something so if we cut up the principal or the the bcba without affects Berlin as well yes that's the problem right so yeah which they have already said you can't change this again so the only thing you could touch more like it's like a maze and I can't get out long ago with Berlin with what the whole proposal the only thing that's on the table are I is I was in kindergarten today and there was me and and a pair I came in town like I just don't even know how they can

080do 20 with no I went in to help my daughter's class is lucky that there's a last day of the moms or moms that work part-time that can come in and help but like we can't rely on them and just have a really hard time supporting cutting aids for kindergarten especially you know when I'm like glitter Queen going in and helping and seeing what it's like okay and those are the cheapest positions as well they are I mean could we get away with two maybe I don't know I think it depends on Final enrollment but in those classes are bigger than 20 kids I just don't even know this year they're like 16 17 kids foreign positions [Music] well the way I have it worked up right now we're short 106 880. that's tipping into

081school choice though [Music] 50 000 from school choice at b e s and an additional 100 000 from circuit breaker an additional 13 800. we can't take 50 000 from school choice from Bes year over year so this would be literally a Band-Aid for this there's not enough funds to even fund that 106 000. I mean this is just right but if you'll take 50 this year we can't take 50 next year and year after right to my point in two years this this runs up it's done 20 it's done next year yeah what do we spend on after next year it's a hundred right so that just extends US based on the trends here in a year or two I mean like the final solution but yeah my problem with dipping into the school

082choice budget is what happens if so we can't do this here over here so if we don't get funding from the towns in upcoming years for these things and then when we fire the positions yeah or do we have to eliminate something else right I mean kicking the bucket down the road because right like you're solving him for this year but you're not right you know and we just heard the full-on foundation so we want our kids to be competitive right no no not just saying we just heard them say that so we can't fund the schools are we competitive I think the hardest part about the kindergarten piece is that that's like the foundation so everything that happens that year the first three teachers build on the second grade teachers built on and we've

083talked to I mean if you've seen it they're like feral cats like you're basically trying to get them to sit in the circle keep your hands to yourselves friends you're like while you teach them their letters and it's more than just you know what that need was someone who could monitor those kids and help them it's really tough because we're we're stuck between a rock and harvest and that's really what I don't know if anybody else feels this but yes our job as a school committee it's supposed to be to advocate for what is the best with the needs of our students are but at the same time a residents of a town that's hurting financially and we don't want to take all the money from everybody so it's like God I feel like I'm

084going to voting who's like oh I don't like this one but I don't like this one um it's like one of those things where it's really really hard to decide what's important and what's not and it's those 80s I just don't I'm worried about do we have any data but we wouldn't have tonight but um what the difference is in the test scores from the kids I suppose too yeah but I mean to the other point too is we don't know how many kids we're going to have next year in kindergarten you know you sometimes you do have a small year I know there's a lot of building and apartments going in so it's probably less likely but you never know what next year is going to run out I think what we're looking at

085is just I agree it's fiscally irresponsible but at the same time God I think about those 57 kids and what their years can be like and yeah the risk is maybe some of those kids might not be able to learn how to read in first grade because they're not learning their letters I mean I go in when I go into Health in kindergarten I go in for literacy so she can work one-on-one with some kids and I mean so not to get too graphic back in October there was a child that pooped himself and I had to take him to the nurse because the teacher can't leave the class I mean that's what you're dealing with when you have five-year-olds if you have 20 of them in one room with a teacher and there was

086there's nobody else in there obviously if there's a special that kid they might have a one-on-one but in the in my daughter's class that's not the case it's just really hard because so we have two things the Berlin numbers that are adjusted it sounds like maybe you can get on board Berlin town is in agreement the finance commission agreement there's still a number it was in this one moment it doesn't sound it's up in the air if we make the adjustment that Nancy's proposed here it leaves a difference for 106 000 or we can cut 106 000 of all the traditions of Wilson Elementary or we can cut 270 000 of the positions at lowest information um so Carol I don't know if you guys know this and I know Dawn Marie's not here um

087how many paraprofessionals do we have in Boylston Elementary and how many are one-to-one specific versus how many are General oh General sorry do you know that I do I just need a moment to pull that yeah yeah I wasn't expecting anyone to answer today but it was kind of in the back of my head lately worse comes to worse can we reallocate some of these cells um professionals are specifically for special education and they're paid for our special education so we don't have any other General Affairs in the building we do new ones I mean how their budget is according to this according to right Special Education Service delivery um depending on how much time a particular student or group of student needs services in a particular classroom so Boylston elementary school has 14 paraprofessionals

088and they're all dedicated to this service I don't have a breakdown in front of native one to one so that is a mix of either one-to-one paraprofessionals or paraprofessionals that are supporting more than one student at a time I mean it can change day to day it can it um right because then kids have to go out of District in a year and then I notice like I've seen some paraprofessionals subbing but then I'm thinking if a kid if there were one-to-one and their child is out sick then they're free for the day right um right in the event that a one-to-one's um the child that they typically are working with is out then that paraprofessional is when you're allocated for the day either into a classroom or they may substitute for a teacher or

089they can do General they can help with stuff but yeah deployed right and we redeployed very quickly yeah but that's only if somebody's out sick yep so we have no General and in Berlin how many general fact one and I don't know do other towns usually have paraprofessionals like in for Kinder first and second or how does that work I don't know what other districts and generally have but I mean it depends on the industry yeah right right no I know for a fact she was pretty asparas in their kindergarten General Harris because I have a friend that does that but I don't know if they have other grades because I've even heard of teachers saying I could use a para in first or second grade [Music] that has anything else I mean if you

090delete the bcba and then also the vice principal that should hypothesis you down to 150 000 which would be 50 000 possible choice and 100 from starting breaker which is not sustainable but here and so there wouldn't be a deficit in my mind but that Berlin so we have the two options right now so if you want to take this from town by town so in Berlin you can choose to do nothing go as it is or we can choose to vote to adjust it to what Nancy's proposed here I want just to use use the funds yes and if we don't do that then if we don't do that 750 000 yeah they won't use their free cash so if we're going to cut 15 teachers at 270 000. how many of them can't

091even imagine school because so I mean does anyone have more specific questions from Nancy yeah I mean if Hayden roads or 35 of the btcba and then also um [Music] what is that 740 000 turn into it I don't know but it should be less right but not a lot but then we're giving up I don't know I I can rerun it because that would have been that level foreign school committee members of student achievement um and the can has been kicked not to use that phrase again for so many years in this District it just has it's nobody's fault it's just is what it is and the school has been very fiscally conservative I think here over here um I have friends that teach kindergarten and they think it's insane there's no AIDS in

092kindergarten classes in our district um we have one bcda or we're coming off of covid um that's that's just not acceptable for our kids it's just not any town um we were middle in a high school year and even though it's been in the high school forever there's different needs in the school these middle school kids are 6 7 and 8th grade um if we went to other districts they have a middle school that has an administrative there that they have a high school information student believes so he's positioned while they might seem like they're not needed here they're so needing there's so needed so we'll do a responsibility to be to take care of all our Town's people we have a massive responsibility of taking care of our kids so I would advocate for

093maybe everything else and making it to the town's people putting it on the floor having the discussion with your townspeople is not enough no except burla's offer no I would say with Oklahoma okay yeah it's a hundred thousand right that is less take our chances and Boyleston Julie that almost sounds like yeah because I think that I mean we're all we're all different boards here and everybody different philosophies and I know we've made great progress but through storage um but I think we need to hear from the townspeople investment where do they stand and there can always be a motion on the floor to lower the budget right that's been proposed to then shine back so do you want to start with the Berlin proposal I think yes yeah it's okay yeah um so the

094first thing I want to say is I think it's really important we you know we keep everything in perspective um first of all I don't envy you know everybody's position here these are very top choices and I certainly applaud everybody and I agree you know we want to create the best educational environment uh our children um it's also important like I said though we keep perspective right because yes these are hard decisions but the other things we have going on on the on the town side as well is for example you know our Town's growing we all know these are these are the things that are putting strains on our schools um but it's putting strange strains on other departments as well we have a police chief who needs new officers wants a new new

095lieutenant um you know that's been pushed aside temporarily our fire department needs to do fire truck um the town's gonna have to finance a big portion of that because a big chunk of the free cash that would have been used for that um is being is I believe allocated to the school um seniors in town have been asking for stuff for years that's been pushed aside for the time being so I I just think it's and again I'm not saying that to necessarily persuade anybody one way or the other but I think it's you know it's opponent but really holistically um when we make these decisions um the second point I would say is you know the the finance committee has said and boils down at least that they would support a level service um

096budget uh at the beginning of this meeting everybody's saying you know the last thing we want to do is cut teachers I'm under the impression of the level service budget there wouldn't need to be any Cuts tonight I think that's that's why they support it right and I think I think that's presumably why you know why it's the library of support that as well because again we all we all believe in having a strong educational system um I think you know the other point is if if you go to town meeting floor um there's no there's no saying what happens at that point if you have the town proposing one budget School Community proposing another budget um at that point I mean anything's possible and anybody knows anything about um town meeting knows that you

097know anything's possible like I said and nothing's predictable and you know the last thing I think anybody wants to see is to have town meeting go totally in the opposite direction and the budget ends up going you know getting past it far below what would be level level service spending um again I know those companies probably won't make anything any easier for anybody but I think it's important to kind of have you know all the all the pieces there you do great little reminder actually about the police officer with the sros because we were gonna imagine that and that yeah that's just one more component to just make it a little bit more complicated for everyone but yeah so as far as sros go I think it is part of the police budget not the

098school budget because of the way those officers are employed and managed is that correct yes yeah that's my conversation I had with the chief I've been talking with the superintendents in other districts to find out about how that they're paid for another districts but it is currently on this Police Department because they supervise they allocate them for the year then they take them back when we're not will read applications some education holiday vacations they utilize them for additional services and so I don't I wouldn't evaluate them so it's really not under our umbrella to have this because they don't understand that it makes sense to me I have certainly would want to supervisor police officer or what if a job like to supervise a petition I think it was part of the budget the budget

099yeah yeah sorry I was part of the buddy request the fines committee basically kicked it back because we realize something needs to be talked about between the slight board the police department and the school committee because while it is part of the school the police budget obviously it affects the school in the you know different people in the town might feel differently about having armed officers on the property so the finance we didn't feel like it was our place to say whether or not there should be an SRO assigned um they don't have a problem with the finances it's a finance inside but that's a discussion that we think needs to happen between uh the school the police and the select people and I take part of going forward how we're talking about all three

100groups both towns like me starting the summer maybe you know whatever the date ends will be talking more year round but I think that'll be maybe prior to the Moana that talk uh but back to this situation so could I make a motion to approve the um God dancing I'm talking to Kristen maybe like two minutes okay I'm just I just sorry okay well does anybody have any questions [Music] I have a question so if it goes to town floor as is both both communities um and in on the town floor there is a conversation being had and it seems like the community in Boyle San Jose for example is um doesn't seem like it's they're in favor um because it hasn't been recommended by this uh fidcon or a sweat board um and through

101discussion it maybe is too much at that point if there's an amendment or at that point the finance committee stand up and recommend the amendment without those three positions yeah I was wondering if someone from Finance community at that point supported or would at that point it's gone that nobody would do that understood it EMS well if they I don't know that they could answer because it's really one remember um right well she just said no that's what I'm saying so as we got to that point he was making the money so I just so you know anyways we're here I asked Kristen you know they said no changes but if you guys have decided that you wanted to eliminate the position go back to a full level service budget they'll still be lower because

102they didn't give enough funds for a level service budget but and they would still help us but but it's in their favor because they're taking less from free cash so would they be against that change that's not the students I'm nuts yes but I'm just I'm just right she's looking at financial institutions yeah looking at it financially where I know they said no changes but it's kind of in their favor so she's calling Scott real quick if you guys even want to consider that but it's just going to help more like free cash all right it's not going to help our school choice fund there will it wouldn't help us but it would help them all right that's fine it wouldn't it would have changed I mean we're going to have a huge problem the

103only thing that would help you do is and then I'll stay out of it is helping the boils inside if you want yeah right that's what I'm saying yeah but there's no guarantee budget he recommends ultimately it's up to the town so we have we have a budget we have approved it's going that question tonight is do we want to make a change based on what we've heard from Burlington so as Megan you're about to make a motion you still want to do that I don't know about how I feel about jumping into school twice but I feel like it's been a long way go ahead Lauren it's breaking down oh yes so just just kind of back me up now how tonight started with the conversation on engaging the community at all and businesses

104and Foundations and all that you know a kind of a collecting a better term on The Showdown on town meeting floor is not going to advance that like I can guarantee you that um in fact it's probably going to bring it the other way so just I just want to put that up there to keep that in mind that all of us here want a sustainable budget and meaning that we're going to be able to continue to to add what you guys need as we you know as the years go fast but you know going in this this first year when we're saying hey look we're all working together oh man not really no um it's not going to have a good good look you know to the townspeople and we'll address I don't know

105probably but does that mean next year you're going to be able to do it again in a year after that be able to do it again I'm going to go probably not and you're going to see your businesses when their taxes continue to go up say yeah well I'm probably not going to be given more of the schools when I pay more taxes every year anyways so just another you know another one all right any more questions do we know what's going to happen next year with special ed funding no we don't so this might it might not be in the situation at all next year I cut the green the five positions are there um assistance full-time like with benefits and everything the system existence is there any way to change it so that

106there are part-time positions for like a busiest time of the day or something like that so there's not much benefits and just producing the just so you know Kristen said if you did eliminate the positions they would still support yep okay all right this is so hard I just I don't know meditate us yeah and the kindergarten does anybody want to fight anyone I don't but I don't want to show down on Town floor I don't know where it has to be yeah why can't people discuss why does it have to be a showdown so let's do that then that's what I think I think if people are is there a motion no don't tell me and I have a motion to approve the Berlin proposal of spending additional funds as presented in Nancy's spreadsheet

107someone okay just a second okay any discussion on that specifically from I just want to know what we're going to do next year Nancy I don't know you tell me I have no idea so this is literally like a Hail Mary like we're throwing it up there we're going to take this money we're gonna play with Cash There's also there's also potential legislation changes right okay there's letter cameras ongoing right now not just with our districts but with a lot of districts so no we don't know what's going to happen next year going forward we're responsible to the districts and to the students so that's what we have we don't know anything else yeah so I guess this is pretty much the only way that we can in Maryland let's go inside for a minute

108for Berlin this is where we get what we want what we need the schools and what the schools need and the additions that we feel are 100 necessary and don't and have the support of this income people through Berlin that we hope this then we have to vote through oil system the same number is only a deficit correctly no more before we drop the eighties we can't because once we well right they said you caught them but you got something else so if we cut like the bcba say we cut that well how much that was like a hundred thousand she said twenty three thousand 37.50 from each Elementary School in 47.5 so that's again that's filling up a good chunk of that 100K deficit in Boylston so he takes 600 kcba doing right now

109is she stressed up yeah I remember she's spread very she's still working does she still work here did she give her notice we cannot discuss it yeah she's stressed out yeah you can't have one person with that case though on here between three different buildings yeah four different schools going between three buildings motion on the floor right now is to accept the proposal for the Berlin Roberto proposal as presented by Nancy is there any more discussion or would you like to go all in favor hi yeah all right as well okay so we'll adjust it for the additional funds from the school choice in the progress presented by Nancy you're still processing yeah the boys the boys their emotion to approve the proposal as Nancy's presented here the additional allocation school choice and circuitry yes

110Laurie 's discussion Julian okay so a hundred thousand dollars is like fifty dollars in taxes out of 500 000 house is it about [Music] yeah I know it's given to take that number which foreign [Music] is down floor that's what I don't see a lot of people getting up and arguing over 50 on a 500 000 house so for people that's a 500 000 house so I'm talking people that have like three hundred thousand dollar house would be twenty dollars yes twenty dollars could be a lot of money on the end will be um but I just don't see that being a fiery argument versus a thousand dollars or five hundred dollars do you know what I'm saying that the smaller we get that increase I think the less it becomes a fight and the

111more it becomes an understanding and I don't think it's something that we can ask for every year um and I I don't know how we're gonna again I look at the Boylston school choice fund we are literally going to deplete our fund so is there an emergency we don't have a bcba which we definitely need or we don't have those AIDS in kindergarten like that's the hard part is that you it's really hard yes oh my God I know the vice principal s yeah and that's all the way but well 65 yeah sorry thank God yes yes sorry Gary says right here all the hard work this community does we don't think it likely we certainly don't know the ins and outs of all the numbers but we do all the deal with we thank

112you for that and so when you say we don't support everything you want we don't do that like um but I think it's really important to listen to Nancy when you say what do we do next year and she says I don't know I mean if you improve the budget or the deficit this year what are you going to do for your budget next year how are you going to pass Europe talking over nine percent increase on your budget this year you passed out with deficit increasing even more and then next year budget goes up to 90 by the nine percent plus your deficit from this year it's not just about fabricating for the kids it's about being the Judiciary responsible and responsible to your community as well and I I have a business school

113system I want to have the best school system that we can act as well but part of advocating for the school is also negotiating to come up with the compromise for the entire town and I think that's an important thing to understand the other point and to reiterate that those matters matters that said that every year at the time I've been down for 13 years I've been a Spanish committee for four years never in the 14 years have I been found meeting has anybody that even a question or comment about the overall budget which is the last vote could ever be however fifteen thousand dollar trailer for the speed truck to the police department that was like a 45-minute discussion about the finance committee actually had to improve on which I didn't think what the

114discussion is going to sound like on a school busy growth and be very dangerous to an offer our account and uh that that take that to heart I think that's to make it a point we're already going in with a close to 300 000 deficit this will be having is bringing that down I think is what you're trying to say yeah so I I don't know I need to respond to that because here's the deal yeah that's Boylston but in Berlin we're still keeping away on our reserves or we fire teachers those are our choices we fire teachers or we eat into our reserves because that's what their fidcon is asking us to do that is not a rock and a hard place that's an impossible decision do you know what I mean because I

115know the reserves are going to get depleted I I used to do corporate budget budgeting for a living so I totally understand that it makes me nervous if we have an emergency what are we going to do um but it's just that it's like an impossible decision to say you know so yes it boils did if we say all right we're just going to do level we're going to let those kindergarten teachers suck it up and maybe they can get a volunteer program going yeah there's definitely ways to but that's not the case in Berlin so we'd have to go completely back to the drawing board with Berlin if we're going to take that approach which I don't disagree with but I just don't think they are willing to play that type of ball like

116you guys are and that is the other hard piece for anyone listening out there is that it's not just us it's we're working with two tabs and two different populations of people look at 65 of a vice principal positions 81 250 and so that would take away the most of the deaths that we're looking right now is 106 000. the vice president please so the motion right now is to improve the the numbers that's presented by Nancy you could make an amendment we just approved the volunteer Union side we did and that includes the vice president but we can make another motion and within 10 minutes can we um [Music] if there's something you want to discuss but I actually thinks and I know I know and you know on a okay no more discussion

117and we have to have to be sustainable you know yeah I don't love any I don't like eating into the school choice funds so I mean we're already we're already this is Justice additions it's it's from the deficit no I I totally yeah but it's this you can't sustain taking was it sorry it was 15 000 a year Nancy he has to say 14 increases in the district you can't sustain nine percent of inflation you can't sustain additional unfunded mandates from the state you can't sustain increasing insurance and increasing electricity and you can't sustain it no I don't I think this entire State and Country I think is in world of shape well here we are this is what's important yeah we're like it's got to be crisis mode I don't know that people understand

118what's going to happen in our schools it's just I'm in those bath I'm cutting one teacher my I don't I don't know that I'm comfortable going against what's in Boylston I don't I I'll put it out there I think I've been to two Town meetings I've lived in town 12 years so I don't have that knowledge of how town meeting runs um I went one year to vote for the schools one of my neighbors said everyone get out and you're going to vote for the schools it was a school budget year and it passed but I believe fincom approved the budget so I'm concerned about not being in lockstep with income on the bulldozen town floor so if we don't approve this that is presented right here then we'll go to town meeting is the

119deficit of 275 so I think we'd have to make a motion to approve this and then make an amendment yeah all right so let's look yeah so this is the discussion so if you want to do a vote no no what would you what would you amend ment be this budget without this consistent principal um a Circle of Death problem for the next four hours that happened in the spring meeting so there's a motion on right now to accept it as presented is there any other discussion or um yes [Music] all right so move to make an amendment to eliminate the vice principal position foreign I think our Middle School is wandering because of we don't have great teachers because we do um we need leadership there and it can't be the leaderships at the

120high school which is camping they're managing High School too for those problems at the high school are big these little kids in middle school just need to have middle school and they leadership to community leadership just driver I've been saying this since I came here I mean we lose kids and I know in Berlin we can make the argument well I go to Aspen they're still on kids but they're not we can't make a JV basketball team but you can't get Girls JV basketball team during the drama club we'd all have right now we don't even have a middle school baseball team we don't have enough kids but they're playing JV aren't playing the right one of these so we have these 12 year olds playing with these 16 year olds that said it's safe

121in the world they do Sports um the same situation with music music trauma Arts yeah we and it's not the teacher's fault it's not the administration's confidence we have to we have to these are needed this is the need this school and I know people that have been here have said we didn't have it why we need it well time is insane in the elementary school yeah six was in the elementary school that's true times have changed so times have changed so the needs are different and they're greater we have to just take a look on the orange so there's an amendment of motion right now to eliminate those two positions we can discuss positions yes that's okay all right so the amendment is there any more discussion no what is the assistant no assistant

122sorry um and [Music] then you know it's like when Katie's like well you know you know the school needs it all but if we're gonna already drain or well significantly deplete the school choice in the circle record just to me I don't know 106 a thousand deficit is huge and if we can't get the fin come to agree we're not going to get it and like so you know I I'm just not just saying that should be anytime fish ing I love to Hondo I loved Sports in the theater and you know I lived in I want my kids to live too and I want to be a good strong School um but we also have to to you know present a budget that people will feel is fiscally responsible as well as supporting our

123kids okay I have a question I just have a question one more question I promise right so I'm thinking in my head we had the Fullers come in and they said they didn't say a number but they gave his number in my lap say that number I don't know so let's say we're able to get this committee up and running and we're able to get some donations so we get 75 000 from them there's 75 000 that's already in the capital budgets there's two separate it's contingency worked out in the next so I don't think we should that's free cash yeah the vote right now is to eliminate the assistant principal position the yes vote eliminates the assistant position from the oil stuff inside of it I don't know we'd have to then deal with

124the problem side a Novo would bring us back to the discussion about the numbers can I just ask a question so if we do get the assistant principle how quickly would all these things happen drama club and you know the baseball team and all of that is that like in years or is it like yeah you know like this will be an ongoing program yeah it's hard it's the most expensive position or the five positions and then is that the whole hundred no it's what no 250. so we still have a deficit of something 20 years I don't know so the vote is to eliminate the assistant principle yes bill would do that and no vote would bring us back to the original motion all in favor of eliminating the assistant principle all against eliminating

125the assistant principle um yeah so we're gonna vote no or yes on eliminated and I'll start again all in favor of eliminating the assistant principle oh yes yes one in favor of not limiting or no no right I I feel like I need to abstains this morally difficult for me I have to abstain I don't know okay I will go numb with it so two two one to two states how does that works no pressure at least no pressure it really is hard because I think that we are bleeding students and that's how we're losing money we're not getting money from the state they're all taking off sixth grade seventh grade eighth grade and it's not the fault of the administration it's not the fault of the teachers it's the fault of the it's just

126a different age group they need to feel a connection successful it's very complicated right I'm serious okay we're gonna start this again because it seems like there's some confusion we have an amendment to the motion which would eliminate the assistant principle the yes vote will eliminate the assistant principle we would then have to go back and have another discussion on the Berlin numbers because the Berlin numbers include the system principle so yes vote for limiting the assistant principle all in favor of eliminating the assistant principle yes okay against no again I'm coming now I'm gonna say no Lisa I'm gonna say now okay the amendment does not pass we're back to the discussion now the original motion to accept the numbers as proposed to financing with the additional school choice of certain response it would

127be in a deficit of 106 000. if we improve this motion we would submit the budget with these adjusted numbers would show a deficit of one six eight eighty that we do not approve the motion or what it stands with a deficit of 270 thousand seven six steps is there any more discussion yes can I I just don't know if I can see it on here what's left in school choice after if if buying 25 on that with this proposal uh yes at the end of fiscal year 24 Bes will be left with 50 997 to Hunter would be left with 382 929 so we literally can't even do this for two years yeah we're allocating from Toronto next year 983 dollars to give to just kind of fiscal year 22 we allocated 293 700

128fiscal year 23 586 500 it's a week it's increasing 22 to 23 it almost doubled so 23 to 24 about 50 not even protests from that for 25 I have it forecasted at 500 000 which would drop us to 223 000. yeah so we can't do that we'd have to do the same thing to keep what we did these are positions so in 26 it's dropping to 400 000 which brings us down to 193. but Nancy if you put that 757 983 and again for fy25 we're below zero right right you can't do it so we can only do this for a year before we open up well after a year I guess we'll know if the is the assistant principle is worth keeping or not I mean [Music] I mean because that would be

129the argument at the end of the year did we see a change do we not I mean I don't like I don't I don't like the way it happens but so March 18th so marching team the committee approved a budget which leaves a deficit of 270 000. okay that's if we do nothing that's what it goes the deficit from what we discussed yeah this change this uses more Reserves which different opinions on that to the deficit only 1006. okay so we've already approved 270. so we'll have a couple hundred thousand go back down to see what's left if there's like an emergency there's 50 Grand Prix models if we don't do this oh sorry um because we're only taking 50 out of the week we always fill up a school choice foreign [Music] doesn't sound

130like there's much more discussion so if you're in favor of this motion we will approve the budget as presented here by Nancy with the additional spending from the reserve funds if you are not in favor of the motion we will leave it as is with a deficit of 270 000. all in favor of this motion prevented as it is to leave a deficit of 106. Lori um if you vote in favor of this motion you're we're gonna yeah I okay all right so the motion passes so we will accept both proposals from Nancy and that will be our budget excuse me [Music] sorry um that brings us to business items we have first read scholarship Julie do you want to say anything about that the scholarships it's the first read on the business items so

131it'll be in the drive yeah um we're going to vote on is the approval of a white activity we have transportation and bring the permission slips and then they'll have it we'll have information slip um and okay so basically what we normally do is we get the big yellow bus and it costs available I just want you guys to understand the people Transportation normally when they go on a field trip they get a big yellow bus it's very expensive yeah so the teachers that are doing the Cape Cod trip are asking if they can drive a white van themselves which they would try that they would there would be six actually six kids very small field trip so a couple of teachers was it really needed that would be driving yeah and six kids in

132each one um they would they would have to provide their driving records and all the other teachers at that to Hondo um and this would save a considerable amount a lot of money and they'd also be able to drive around while they were on Cape because they would have the vehicle safe am I correcting them yes absolutely and they had we had the criteria yes they would have to show their driving lesson on driving driving records and things like that um Washington safety video we will be driving the adults are the teachers already certified or a person here in Tallahassee before so if they're not certified um two of them coach so they have that backup they've got that Journey please particular teachers um so where it also it enables them together it saves a

133strawberry amount of cost in order to run these trips a couple of years ago this wasn't um larger and more lessons [Music] safe driving history and then we would have that in the permissions list so the parents could decide if they wanted to go up with their children across on the bank but the money savings was still considerable I'm just curious how much would they say for the Vans I'm just curious like approximately how much will they save in the Vans compared to going out to go in town from Boylston Elementary it's also overnight stay plus meals correct yes so they would have a driver right foreign [Music] all right motion to vote to approve the white activity and transportation written permission slips uh for the Cape Cod field trip someone Laurie Jess all favorite

134yes all right that motion passes uh the next one is uh the background check policy uh is to just update this policy it currently includes a query check but uh to also include story which is uh Sex Offender Registration uh question uh motion to update policy DEA to include sorting backgrounds yes Julie any discussion on favorite um all right that morning passes um Laurie can you tell us what this first reading policy yes so the if this is the non-discrimination policy including harassment or Italian Julia voted that through um and what we were going to review is the suggested agreements policy for acap I'm not sure [Music] was actually sent along with us with the acap um and so we were going to vote on the grievance process but I see that um I think

135we still have that Society Carol on who is the Title IX coordinators with me two Janelle in the afternoon yeah so those are the so there would be yes there would be two um so this is the grievance process that comes along with the Title IX complaints um which is it explains who you know what the interns are what they would do and it is compliant with policy acav so it matches up it's just basically policy acap which we approved it now puts it into action steps all right so that's our first read okay so we'll be voting on that next time so the reading the agency that listed Janelle three times yeah so we'll have to go back I think that would be a change yeah I just want redundancy so like historically there

136was someone in charge that was the issue and so it's really important to have redundancy and not reporting trying to remember there's some way to say within the policy it has to be two different reporters yeah I think it's in the policy we'll just update the names uh and then kcd was that separate report of that um Google there's a an email from Dorothy from the Massachusetts Association of school committees we were confused with the update of the policy but the the updated the policy just the language um to fit with hairstyles and different things with that but then we looked at it and thought in accordance with state law all grants and gives the district shall be reviewed and accepted by the school committee before expenditure use so the question was should we be

137approving every single brand and everything that comes our way Dorothy replied by saying basically we don't have to approve them individually we do it through the budget process so I just wanted everyone to be aware that we were in compliance there we go all right um a motion to approve the program of studies Jess any discussion okay I have a discussion it's on page 30. uh under face coverings that doesn't fit what our current policy is so we might want to just adjust that to our current policy is that's a handbook on YouTube with the handbook Business program studies shoot sorry yeah excuse me [Music] so yeah yeah [Music] this is just a program that studies yeah has everyone looked at it enough to have a vote on it yeah I mean it's gonna be

138really foreign [Music] it's just it's 102 get shot here [Music] any more any questions from last time all in favor yes all right that passes and uh motion to accept school choice recommendations yes this this woman in the drive was it yeah it was everything was in the agenda in the agenda I had that same issue yeah thank you I remember looking at it earlier a discussion on the school choice numbers okay so these are recommended so the fourth column is the recommended numbers to add per grade so just a general question about a school choice Nancy and Carol you're giving us the current residence students the current school choice students and then I'm recommending school choice somewhere and then total number per class even after the recommended numbers the numbers per class are sort

139of all over the place 95 82 71 80. why not just I mean we're in a budget situation why not just fill them up to be equal numbers of classes to 100 per class hey whatever the number is but not I mean you have a difference of 25 24 kids in some of these we could do that I want to purchase Sally and how they came up with those numbers that which comes and those are just average numbers that we've had over the years and that's composed historically what they look like sure you can't do that so what so let's talk about school choice a little bit so school choice is we open up a number of spots for class per graduating class I guess two students from other towns so students from other towns

140have become made to be educated by us and once they're in there's no suddenly back there are students and we receive how much per year per student five thousand and where so when I brought it if it's at the Hondo was anywhere what is it 18 19 20 000 for students were spending and we're collecting five and so that helps the budget and we just have that long conversation about running those numbers down what does it do to the school to the teachers to taxpayers as you have here residents and students I mean I like money but if we so for example sixth grade you have 95 students and seventh degree you have an 82. so what if we added 13 students to seventh grade made two classes of 95. get another 85 000 per

141year what does that do to the seventh grade class of Berlin Wilson students is the best do you have a number I don't even know if you know that if there's a number that works better like in the 80s or in the 90s for the the amount of staff that you have in the united possibly teach I can tell you from hand scheduling all the middle schoolers every year that when we have a smaller sixth grade class that comes in everybody has the elections they want the last assessments are smaller we could use them out better the greater they are then [Music] in the high school I mean in terms of like his ninth grade 71 and 84 and 12th grade I mean is there I guess that's true there's a smaller electives is there

142less of a risk in high school does that help the classes um you know the high schools classes actually because they convinced the grades right right so it actually that kind of thing impacted the Middle School foreign it would be yeah I guess 11th grade would be one short because it would be 76 instead of 75. yeah I guess concern is that a lot of our electric teachers a lot of different things today you know and just looking at how things so continue to look at ninth grade so you're proposing 10 additional school choice plus it is already 13 there in that class so that's 23 school choice students who which come from any Town Worcester Clinton Hudson is there only limited on the talents let me take and also any town in the state

143so that's 23 students from out of the district versus 61 current residents so that's a that's over a third over a third of that class would not be even Berlin or what is that how many current eighth graders do we have that will become 61 9th graders next year I I don't know how many kids okay um seven applications were received that was probably three weeks so out of that 61 you have seven is my readings right the current the ninth grade 61. those are our current eighth graders is that right those are our eighth graders right now yes 97 are passive applicants right okay we're doing the same number there's a question on the 9th grade yeah I think that I think 71 is wrong is it 10 around the 13 or the 61.

144because of the numbers I have 61 plus 13 plus 10 is not 71. 10 suggestions the total numbers all right I just want to make sure that the suggested number is correct yeah all right okay so for ninth grade so for ninth grade you've got over a third of a class is from out of town so most of us and so we have a problem right now with the towns in the Hawaii to fund our own kids yeah but now we're asking the fund the third of other countless kids right it's filling empty seats but it's still taking resources and detention and time for teachers away from Resident students and I don't know what types of services those kids need or if not we'll need anything or what when it comes to taking School choices

145students in is there a selection process or is it just random whoever applies somebody is there a lot yeah is it a lottery is it who's taking it yeah I'll answer to everybody it's a lot there's no sort of selection criteria whatsoever you can't take too long enough we have two men oh yeah so more advocates you could have like 50 kids question can you get in other District places yep sorry yes oh that's a really important question however we we would not be fiscally responsible for another District policeman yeah not even if it was a new place if your school choice we get five thousand as a minimum the they have a special ed increment which basically covers their costs and so so if they come in we're getting 5 000 if tomorrow they

146go out two days later they go on out of this replacement which is replacement is going to be an increase to our school choice money we're going to pay the bills by starting school choice the other town is going to pay or we're going to pay we're going to pay it for the optical Choice funds will be reimbursed once a year late it's yeah so it's a cash flow issue so is it a one for one reimbursement in that case or is it the threshold in the 75 percent sure so it's not guaranteed if you get a child that is special education you can have increased funds and it is not always covered that is not 100 I saw this happen in advance is there any way to know that before making the decision no

147okay [Music] you will get additional organizational funds but it is not entirely covered because you don't always know the needs until the child comes into play it can be a little risky can I have your suggestion to decrease that number the recommended school choice number there it doesn't read right anyway at the total so it's 84 right yeah should be more of nine total it should be 84 not 71. okay great great night yeah so that's uh 25 additional school choice recommended next year out of um I mean the hard part is not even a number the hard part is you never know what you're going to get so you might pull 11th grade yeah I mean it's still a swings great and great so this brings in strings like in 125 000. oh yes

148that's the current numbers it's a school choice buckets are all separate but yet learned Aboriginal District so seeing that we're not adding at the elementary levels like is there a consideration like making that school choice bucket a district document UK so for the elementary schools you cannot do that but for Toronto you could oh interesting I won't ask why so yeah meaning to Hondo's school choice funds could be allocated to a different town or emergency for emergency use if needing if need be not right now gotcha so we have a motion to accept the school choice recommendations any further discussion 11th grade is five short of fighting the average one thank you so why don't we put five in there Sally if we were to add five more to 11th grade but does that make

149you panic no okay is that more like if you get like AP Bio or one of the smaller classes but not kids to run that class or that doesn't work that way anymore added to that grade level she's a little low so yeah did kids I mean do they apply to that I don't know if you know that but like did a lot of the graders come in uh I I I actually never seen the the whole you know the whole I couldn't tell them to be honest with I mean I can tell you after this year so for these are these numbers here it ranges anywhere from 15 to 40 of each class is not brown boys and students at these numbers just throwing that out there for I mean I wish we could

150get uh so the cost to educate a school choice game I'm sorry is not the same so that are going into the per people expenditure so whether we have a thousand kids in the building well I guess this building we have 750 kids in the building or 650 kids the cost to pay the heating bills the same the cost Financial cost yeah there's huge costs that are the same right you might need more books you might need one or two more teachers hopefully not but if High School class kids swing like it could have like five kids or it could have like 35 kids and I would think a high school class of 35 kids would be okay I don't know I don't know I don't have anything else you need to get those 25

151new kids Chromebooks okay well all right so yeah yeah anything you get a resume um but it's an increment what I'm saying is I don't think the cost is 20 000. I think it's probably like is it more than five or less than five I don't know financially the teachers already paid for they're there it's a teacher has 10 kids in class she gives one tenth of her attention to each kid you can get free kids to the class she's no longer giving it's not a one for one example but you're taking we're claiming that we already have a problem with our students being able to compete After High School and after graduation getting into doctor universities why is that I don't know does this help I don't know maybe I think you're saying it

152does help but if the kid is not trying to get into an Ivy League school where the kid is struggling it needs extra attention from the teacher and we don't five additional kids into that class can that kid get the attention that you use or she needs right well with those kids would fund the vice principal at the middle school thus eventually the only thing on fire High School population right now yeah because I mean if that's the only way that we're going to be able to tap in and get things that we want us by dipping into the school choice so on that track then using that logic why not jump every class up to 100. yeah I mean it's certainly the facts have been like 67. 67 75 we've got 95 right here

1535 84.80 so let's just add the 5 and 11 to call it a day somebody want to make an amendment I'd like to make an amendment to the motion um so the motion was to approve the school choice to approve 25 School choices kids right so I'd like to make an amendment the motion and approve 30 school choice kids with the five years is there a second oh second anyone discuss it I'll enable that Amendment that Amendment passes so number is 30 so we need to improve now the motion the ferry any more discussion on that on behavior of improving 30 School choices all right that motion passes as well um the next one here uh it looks like it goes under the choice but it's actually a separate business item to uh could have

154a motion to accept the high school student council check for 150 donation and pass it to the power elbow Tampa Gardens from the Clinton Savings Bank Laurie seven okay very poorly first anyone want to discuss this thank you give some background to it thank you all in favor all right all right that motion passes or anyone against it I didn't say anything is really I want to say it's during the discussion they're really good to us yeah very good to us um motion to approve the 2023-2024 school year calendar exploring second Julie anyone want to discuss it there seems to be a lot of TV in the spring which doesn't seem historically true I used to know that's because I was half days um didn't they say that they didn't like having all their professionals

155we're gonna have another conference and instead of Justin before we're having a conference that's why in March yeah we added that that was part of the teacher's contract oh that's right it's just one extra half day I think right yeah it's because New Year's Day falls on a Monday but there's a PD in January before we always had a PD in January and won March if the only add-on is the half day in February I think we just have one that's more interesting and we try to avoid them because there's something oh it was like a week ago with the testings yeah all right any more special on that one else is good I do like the start time I will say like is it like four days four days and then five days teachers

156all right that passes uh all right so the boy was an Education Foundation Bingo nights um they're looking for information to serve alcohol at their bingo night events and they are if we do approve it they will make sure they get uh a permit and everything Carol before we make a motion on this do you have any concerns reservations comments um make a nice book about this early on and I I definitely don't want the alcohol in the school building but I had a little bit of reservations I had reservations about it outside but I think it is manage well and that's a key to this I think we have to see how it goes this year I think this has Mr controls around it who's who's serving you know what they're serving I don't

157know yeah no so I can yeah so I can talk to it a little a little bit so I got a little bit more information so I'm I'm going to speak on behalf of the bef um because I'm part of the group so um and I'll be really quick so uh we're looking to hire a dog father he's going to do a food truck for the hot dogs and he also is in the process of getting his license from the state to serve alcohol he doesn't have he has the license he has tips started by people but he doesn't have the permit from the state so if he doesn't get it now obviously we would never have him here without he wouldn't do he doesn't want to do in this um so he's confident he's

158going to have it by the data video but because this is the last school to remaining before Bingo and then I got it almost left board on Monday so um he would have a separate truck we were thinking of doing tickets so that nobody would be over served um absolutely the alcohol would not be allowed inside the building in the event of rain we would have a tent we'd either cancel the truck or we'd have a tent and like a little beater Garden outside and people who if they wanted to go out and have a drink um it depends on like it was a total washout or if it was just a little drizzly out um but we also have an attorney on the EF and she's already looked into obtaining uh secondary insurance policy

159so that we have insurance for serving alcohol as well so the idea behind it just so people will be we're really feedback we got from previous years Bingo is always great but it was loud it was very kid-centric and we're trying to make it more family Centric so you come out on a Saturday afternoon you have a drink with your friends and the kids can run around and play outside we try doing it outside last year for the first time we got fairly positive feedback um because you could kind of it wasn't so uptight it was a lot more relaxed so the kids could go funny and parents could enjoy themselves and we just figured you know we have slushies for the kids maybe have beer and run for the parents hopefully entice people to

160stay a little longer more people to come and make it like a family activity and at the end of the day what all we're trying to do is raise money for these brands are you gonna do a bit go outside the circus weather for me that's exactly what we're doing yeah it's not going to be inside because we've allowed up the alcohol inside yeah so yeah again it's a plan for outside we don't have a rainy day just because there's I think it's that's Mother's Day weekend that we have Bingo um so if it rains it would be inside and either we'll cancel the truck we got a great deal from the dog father he's not charging us a minimum so um so as far as the alcohol yeah a lot of motion I think

161you should be condition on making sure everyone involved as an old necessary state and town permits yes the group make sure they have a secondary insurance policy in place covering the alcohol which you just said yes yes and the Dog Father sent me his insurance policy he has an insurance policy for his alcohol and then it doesn't need an area which is absolutely outside the building maybe even in a broke up area or be regardless you said he said he could put up a camp again we could do that but then we usually have tables set out in the parking lot so it might be tough to just stand there because hey who's going to check and make sure all of these documents are in place so I have the insurance policy right now the

162board of selected it requires that their policy from the Dog Father um I guess the BDF would be responsible for checking so should we say that we need to get copies of all this on file in central office would you like that I would like to do that yeah yeah right so we could we could either if we're gonna give tickets and I don't know how to work because we want the people to pay directly but I'm sure we can work things out with Mark so you said the services they're awesome certified I mean they also have those bracelets that have the one two three tabs on them so we that's a great idea Jess so we we've already been thinking about doing trying to do something like that so that nobody will be over

163served to make sure that was adults only and um all right well how's this promotion if you have a motion to uh Grant permission to the boys and Education Foundation I'll say this slowly to get it correct a motion to Grant permission to the voice and Education Foundation to serve alcohol at their bingo night event on in April 2023. sorry in May 2023 I've intended on all parties having all necessary permits in place bef having their necessary Insurance in place that the alcohol server has his food permits that there'd be a designated area for drinking which is outside only no alcohol in the building and then all necessary paperwork for copies of all necessary paperwork should be given to central office a week before the event three days before the events yes yeah and I'll

164be there yeah that'll be the responsibility of the bef so it can come from yeah I'll make sure you have it but yeah do you have that whole thing are you allowed to make motion um I asked for the motion I'm so moved thank you so should I abstain from voting okay Lord Glory because I've made the moment second Julie Laurie Julie all right any more discussion all in favor against us and Education Foundation yeah good job uh okay that's all of our business items future agenda items before anybody asks for anyone I just want to remind everybody we do need to set the set the committee calendar for next year um so we talked about two things that they have possibly changed in the day and possibly changing the time um I don't know

165how to handle this I really don't want to get a little long discussion about it right now but we do need to get it done before June um is that on the agenda for next month it should be yeah yeah so I'll put a 10 in the calendar out there and then we can discuss it next meeting maybe we should I don't know if somebody could like I don't want to assign Lisa anything else but or maybe I don't know maybe if I have time out of taxis that I can do it like just pull people like what's it no that's not doing nothing [Music] it would be for next school year same but honestly you can't even plan for that because it's going to change season season why doesn't the policy committee take a

166stab at it and uh all right we'll put something out there all right and then um yeah it's only going to be once a month oh yes the other thing uh we're going to go into an executive session soon and then we're going to come back but I want to get this the upcoming meeting date is May 16th this is going to be our next meeting however top meetings are May 1st if the budget doesn't get approved we're going to need to go through that process that we discussed with notice periods additional meetings additional meetings additional needs so I'd like to propose that we set right now a meeting for May 2nd as our budget hearing if needed in our regular meeting for May then we can make sure we get the necessary notices out

167beforehand in case it's the because there's a seven day window uh 45-day window essentially it's convoluted is that okay with everybody yeah so you'd have to post on Friday yeah with post I mean it's over it's just about a month away so there's plenty of time to get the postings out and it's a seven day newspaper to notice and all that end up on um or it could be earlier or later I mean well no this would be to react to a budget not faster oh no because as a meeting goes for Tuesday night could we hypothetically well if the budget hasn't passed or not passed by that point there would be no point I think Joseph suggest me having a later meeting time for us for us well so I'm saying like if you

168post a meeting for 6 30 on Tuesday May 2nd but say the meeting goes through Monday and then continued on Tuesday is there any penalty or whatever the galley issue to just postponing the meeting to the end no because period you need no experience yeah yeah you're right so who we should we meet on Wednesday May 3rd all right let's do it we could do Tuesday and then Wednesday as needed or whatever yeah yeah to cancel all right that's good uh is anybody have any future agenda items and non-union Personnel Carol Costello and to return back to open session so second Julie and Megan uh Jess e sorry there's a motion to head to exactly the session all right Glory bye thank you okay we're going into protective session yes