001Would you please remain standing for a moment of silence for Jeff Graves, father of Christine Zandcraft, a CBS teacher. Thank you. We call the order of School Committee meeting for Monday, May 18th, 2026. I motion a motion to approve the bills. So moved. I second. Any discussion or questions? All in favor? Aye. Abstain. I motion a motion to approve to review and approval of the minutes from May 4th or May 4th meeting. It's the pleasure of the board. I'm a motion. Any discussion? Any questions? All in favor? Aye. Abstain. That was me. >> All right. May is that time of year when you can't believe that how close we're getting and this is actually our It's the town meeting and election and everything. This is Uh tonight we're going to celebrate our retirees. We want
002to take a minute and try to recognize them. And uh we're going to start with uh Principal Sullivan recognizing the high school uh retirees. He's going to try his best. He's got a little bit of a voice volume issue, but we'll see how that goes. Again, like Dr. Myers said, I apologize for my voice. It's just Uh first I'd like to recognize Michelle Elliott. Um on behalf of CHS, I'm pleased to recognize Mrs. Michelle Elliott on her retirement. Michelle earned her Spanish degree from UMass Amherst and furthered her education by studying in Spain in the spring of 1983. She went on to work in Seville, Spain from 1984 to 1985 as an administrative assistant at the Center for Cross-Cultural Study. She began her teaching career in Leominster, Mass. where she taught for 18 years before
003joining CHS, which is 5 years after 11 years. Over her 20 years in the classroom, Michelle taught Spanish levels 1 through 4. She was known for her enthusiasm, innovative teaching methods, and genuine care for her students. During her career, she also took time away from teaching to raise her children before returning to the classroom. Mrs. Michelle Elliott, we thank you for your 20 years of dedicated service and we wish you all the best in your retirement. SO >> [applause] [applause] >> OUR NEXT RETIREE FROM THE CLINTON SCHOOL IS MRS. Blanca Russo. It is with gratitude that I recognize Mrs. Blanca Russo on her retirement after 37 years of dedicated service to the Clinton community. Mrs. Russo began her journey in our district as a paraprofessional, earned her bachelor's degree from the Bank Street College in
0041987, and later her Master of Education in Curriculum and Instruction from Bank Street College in 2000. Over the 37 years, she taught bilingual education and ESL across grades 1 through 12, and adult education in all three of our buildings, CPS, CMS, and CHS. And served as both EL Department Chair at CHS and EL Coordinator for the Clinton district. Blanca describes herself as empathetic, loving, and dedicated. And she has spent her career paying forward the kindness shown to her by the mentors who guided her along the Mrs. Russo, thank you for your unwavering commitment to the students and families of Clinton. The lives you've touched over these 37 years speak for themselves. This is what IT LOOKS LIKE. >> [applause] >> ON BEHALF OF CONGRATULATIONS ON BEHALF ON BEHALF OF MYSELF AND my fellow council and
005the Senator John Burton here is your citation to mark your amazing career. Congratulations. Oh, yeah, picture. I didn't turn on the politics in the room. No, we didn't. Congratulations. Thank you. Our third retiree from Clinton High School was Mr. Tobias Crawford. On behalf of CHS, I recognize Mr. Tobias Crawford on his retirement after 33 years of dedicated service. A moment that is for me, personally, truly bittersweet. Toby and I went to high school together. For the past 32 years, I've had the privilege to work alongside him and watch him shape the lives of the students in ways that will last a lifetime. He earned his Bachelor's of Arts and Master's degrees in Technology Education from Fitchburg State College. He began his career at CMS, where he taught, are you ready for this? Woodworking, metal fabrication,
006Spanish, that's both of us and Spanish. Physical Education, Social Studies, where he also volunteered to chaperone dances classroom and school dances. 1998, in 1998, he was here when CHS first opened its opened its doors. And over his 27 years at CHS, he built an impressive roster of courses including forensic production, construction technology, graphic arts, black and white photography, which is one of his favorites, and engineering the future with his construction tech students leaving a lasting mark on this very building. Toby, thank you for 33 years of hard work, dedication, and friendship. Enjoy the open water and let the next chapter begin. THANK YOU TOBY. >> [applause] [applause] >> NOW THAT WAS QUITE THE CURRICULUM. THAT'S QUITE THE REPERTOIRE. ON behalf of myself and Senator Vernon here at the institution, congratulations and your hard work is
007of course And this is probably being printed in your room. >> [laughter] >> Yeah, thank you. All right. Uh Mrs. Steffi couldn't make it today. Uh she's unavoidably delayed, so uh I'm going to read some remarks. Um so tonight we celebrate the retirement of Kirsten Coburn. Thank her for the tremendous impact she's had on the staff, students and staff at Cliff High School. Kirsten has always had a special ability to connect with kids, building relationships through her kindness, trust, and genuine care. Students knew she was someone who would always put her their needs first and support them however we could. Kristen also embodied what it means to be a true team player. She was always willing to step in wherever needed and finally doing whatever was best for students in the school community as a
008whole. Her flexibility, compassion, and dedication made a lasting difference in the lives of countless students and colleagues. So, Kristen's been an instructional assistant for 19 years, started 2007. Um I know most of my time Kristen's probably actually been at the negotiating table. Uh which is a very strong advocate for both students and her colleagues. Um one nice thing about Kristen I'd say though is we could sit at the negotiating table, but when we saw each other the next day we could we could smile and laugh together. So, uh you've been a positive influence on the Clifton Middle School and you'll be missed. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] [applause] >> I JUST WANT TO SAY CONGRATULATIONS ON BEHALF OF myself and State Senator Turner. Thank you for your dedication and congratulations on your remarkable career. Thank you. On
009behalf of the district, Thanks for the chair. Congratulations. Thank you so much. All right. The reason I had to step up and we couldn't delegate to Mr. Seed is because I don't want to read this next one. Uh tonight we honor a man whose impact on Clifton Public Schools community stretch as far beyond the classroom schedules or job sites. Mr. Seed's professional journey began in industry, but thankfully for generations of students and families he eventually wisened up and found his true calling in middle school education. What started as a career in math teaching quickly became a lifetime of leadership service. Over the years you wore many hats at North School, teacher leader, department leader, union leader, and ultimately assistant principal. Always bringing intelligence, perspective, humility, and unwavering care. What makes Mr. Steve so special is
010not simply his length of service, but his depth of impact. His influence has generated former students Former students now return as parents sharing stories of the teacher or administrator who believed in them, challenged them, studied them, and helped shape who they became. Uh families trusted him, colleagues leaned on him, students respected him because they knew exactly what they would get every day. Fairness, accountability, consistency, and genuine care. In a profession that can often feel chaotic, Mr. Steve was remarkably even-keeled. A calm voice, a quick smile, a steady presence in the room. He understood that middle school students needed adults who could balance high expectations with humanity, and he modeled that balance beautifully throughout his career. As Mr. Steve retires in June of 2026, he leaves behind far more than a resume of accomplishments. He leaves
011a legacy legacy woven into the fabric of the community and the culture of the school system. He retires not only as a respected assistant principal of the Two Rivers Public Schools. While the halls may feel a little quieter with his presence, his influence will continue to echo through the students he inspired, the educators he mentored, and the community he helped strengthen over decades of service. And uh I know Bob, I kind of echo the same thing. I think one of the biggest things is when I knew I could always count on you when it needed to be. If something needed to be done, a task needed to be done, you were going to be ready and have it. And that consistency, you know, that you were never going to get too high, you were never
012going to get too low, and that's what you needed to You needed that stability on the team to just say, "Hey, it's time to get the work done, and we're going to get the work done." And I always appreciate that. And then our little If I didn't talk enough golf at staff, I'd come over your office and we could sit and talk about golf a little bit, too. Uh but you've been on the administrative team since before I became superintendent. Uh so it'll be a new experience for me not you're going to be around next year, and I'll miss your calming presence and your no-nonsense approach to everything. CONGRATULATIONS. >> [applause] >> I KNOW, YOU DON'T LIKE THAT EITHER. I SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT THAT UP. Congratulations on behalf of myself and the Centennial Middle School
013administration on your incredible career. We did. Actually, that was a I was almost going to say that. I was almost going to say that. Thank you. Thank you. Congratulations to you. Thank you. To your moving Moving along. Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Dan. Enjoy the ranks now. As well. So, this first gentleman I just met about our last retiree, but when he actually was actually meeting our retiree, I'm going to be able to meet you. Um so, this evening, on behalf of the elementary school, we are honoring Donna McGown on her retirement. Donna has served the Clinton community as a kindergarten instructional assistant for 25 years. I've often heard the saying that teaching is a work of heart, and Donna truly demonstrated that every single day. She always worked in
014the best interest of students with dedication, consistency, and patience. She gave love and care in all the right places, helping our youngest learners feel safe and supported. Kindergarten students may be some of our tiniest learners, but the adults who guide them leave some of the biggest impressions. She knew how to offer love and care at all the right moments, but also provided that gentle push for students to support them as independent learners. Donna officially retired this year, and her absence will certainly be felt throughout the CSD. After 25 years, she has moved on to a new chapter, one with no more glue sticks, no more spilled milk, and no more mystery pops. Instead, we hope her days are filled with time spent with her beautiful grandchildren, relaxing moments in her garden, and all the joy
015that retirement can bring. We all wish her congratulations for moving on from the crayons to carefree days, and thank her for her 25 years of service. She is greatly missed at CES, and we wish her nothing but happiness. But, I did want to leave her with the message that stopping opportunities are waiting for her. Thanks again. And now, go get her. Yeah, WE'LL GO GET HER. >> [applause] >> SO, IF ANYONE WANTS TO ANYONE WANT TO SURE. PLENTY OF US. ALL RIGHT. DO you want to speak? Do you want me to speak? >> [clears throat] >> Huh? I'll join you up there then. All right. So, we have one other uh presentation, something that we've been uh doing. Um you know, this is I guess I'm finishing my ninth year as superintendent, because right when
016I first got appointed, this gentleman ran for school committee. So, he's successfully served uh Well, he's served. Successfully served his uh three terms, and I know now he's uh on the ballot for uh for selectman, so we'll most likely be saying goodbye to him, but we're always welcome to give back. So, we wanted to appreciate you, and uh give you this for your service. >> [applause] >> I'll I'll open it up to the committee if they have any wants or gratitudes for the moment. All right. Steve, I'll just open it up to any brief comments for Brendan. Yeah, that's okay. I just want to say thank you to Brendan for his guidance, his willingness to tolerate my presence here, and his being a constant source of good advice through my time I'm listening here, but
017I hope to observe him again sometime. And I just want to say thank you for your service, Brendan, and thank you for your patience. I really always appreciated your just common sense approach to problem solving, so We've had disagreements in the past, but we've always come to the table and shook each other's hands. Remembered what we were fighting for, so I appreciate working with you, and I wish you I wish you all the best. And But, I wish you the best of luck And maybe I'll come up and visit sometime. Brendan, thanks thanks for everything. You've always been a good source of guidance for us, and I think you know, education's a family business for you. You know, that's that's something that is not lost on me. You know, your dad served, your family has
018served, and uh you encouraged me to serve, so I appreciate you, and I wish you all the best. I was going to say something, but I'll wait till the end. I know people don't like to say anything around me. >> [applause] >> I don't know if you want to take a I don't know if you want to say something now, but I think there may be cupcakes and waters if people want to take a quick recess. Sure. Yeah, maybe 5 or 10 minutes or All right. And then you expect everybody to stay for the next 45 minutes. Yeah. I'll just hang that camera. >> Mhm. >> Commentaries. Do we have any public comment this evening? None. We'll close public comment. I don't see a student rep. Okay, good. CTA. CTA's not here. Thank you. CTA's
019not here. PTA. PTA's not here. Wow. Well, so call Rebecca and make sure she's okay. >> [laughter] >> Hold on, she needs to call in. Do you think so? I'm sure they're busy. C-PAC or L-PAC, anyone? Anyone? So Dr. Myers, it's over to you. All right. Uh we have a proposal for student travel. They try to get those April vacation trips. Uh they try to do those pretty in advance so the kids who want to go can go. Uh Captain Curry is proposing to be the faculty member running this April vacation 2029. They use EF Tours. I tried to get her to do more like a one-page document for your packet. Normally in the past they kind of give you the whole EF Tours thing, but it's kind of the same. So if you have
020a specific question, I could look it up for you, but uh this is basically the highlights. So uh they'll go to London, Paris, Italy in the open of the class 2029-2030. Basically what we do is we just try to get the school committee okay before they start advertising. Proposal for the board? I think one member of the school committee should chaperone that trip. I'm in. >> [laughter] >> Change Change the policy. One One school committee member must chaperone each trip. >> [laughter] >> You didn't say one. So we need to vote? >> On this school committee or Yeah, usually I ask you guys for it just so that I think in the policy it says before cuz we said our committee statement. fundraising or whatever they need to do. Yes. Yeah, and you know it's
021really nice that they do this so far ahead so that the kids can get on a payment plan to make it more affordable. I mean it's just a wonderful opportunity for our students. I'll make a motion to approve. Discussion? All in all favor? Aye. Good. All right. >> And then oh sorry, I guess I should say Kathy Curry was going to come to talk about the trip as well, but she is actually one of the track coaches and they have their meet over there because of the rain now. Which also gets us to the next item which uh I think Golden I thought our athletic director was going to come speak as well for the next one. She's also at the senior night track across the street on Monday. But uh she wrote a letter
022to the class of '76. We have it here. Uh dear members of the class of 1976, this is Patricia Corrigan. On behalf of Putnam Public Schools and the Putnam High School Athletic Department, thank you for your generous donation toward the new score table for the gymnasium. Your support will have a lasting impact on our students, athletes, and school community for years to come. We are truly grateful for this meaningful gift and especially especially appreciate the time, dedication, and collaboration with Patricia Corrigan in helping to bring this project to fruition. Your commitment to supporting Putnam High School and enhancing the experience of our students is sincerely valued. Thank you again for your generosity and support. And then there's a little drawing of what it will look like. Yeah. So that's that one that'll be, you know,
023kind of sits in between the the two teams in the gym. You get that donated by the class of 1976. So it's not not out not out all the time, but when it's out it's very visible. Sure. And they got the Putnam logo. Which is very useful for them. Yeah, it does. The logo looks great. Beautiful. >> [laughter] >> Colors look nice. Yeah, it looks even better. And the phone? Yes. And the phone? All right. Uh provided an end-of-year goals update to you. So we kind of do the mid-year goals update, end-of-year goals update. It's kind of uh adds on to that. Um we have uh you know, the first one was talking about technology in terms of AI. We did uh the AI working group did create that policy IJND A which you guys
024approved. We can just completed some documents to help guys students, staff, and parents. We will be sharing those right after this is next week. We're going to shoot right after Memorial Day. Also be doing another survey to our staff on AI use and screen time as we try to gather some end of year data on that. The goal We really try to push that document out probably at the beginning of the year to families and students, but we want to get it in the staff's hands before the summer so they can have an idea of an idea of it before they before they went off. Electronic devices, we haven't really made any cell phone cell phone policy changes this year. We've been kind of doing what we have been doing, but we have been monitoring.
025As you know, that there was a bill approved by the house to do the bell to bell ban. There's bill a separate bill approved by the senate. I think they're in the process of sort of reconciling those right now. We actually had Mr. Mack, Mr. Tahan and I were on a call today. It was a company that does sort of the geo fencing. More of an electronic mechanism of locking down the cell phones where you might be able to still allow like voice calls and emergency things like that, but not necessarily access to the the full phone. Um We're not, you know, it's one of those things where you don't want to uh We're trying to stay current on all our options and pricing things out and man and making sure as funding comes up
026where where cognizant of it. But we also are paying attention to what what they're doing with the actual law because how the law is worded. Right now it's worded that not only do you have to have a bell to bell policy, but you have to have a way to restrict use during the day. So whether that's like pouches or one of the things that they actually want to pilot in there is more of the geo fencing and electronic lock down. And I think the thought is if you do more of the electronic lock down, that should have some emergency override so you don't have to like take the device. And I think you would know what it is? So, More to come on that, but we're we're we are monitoring on it. Monitoring it. We
027just don't want to make too big of a jump in one direction and then have to uh pivot. Pivot cuz it will wind up being a little different. Uh goal two is looking at improving English learner outcomes. Um and the big focus of that was the elevation uh PD as part of our continuous improvement monitoring plan from our state review the year before. Uh so, we've had uh 148 teachers have done at least two of the modules, which is pretty good considering uh which is just about 200 teachers total in the CPA, but some of them are not necessarily classroom teachers. Uh and we've got uh you know, with about 47 of those, 49 waiting for, which was our our you know, kind of target. 47 completing more than four, so uh overall, I think
028it's been a really good week. Students done all that. It's just been pretty effective and I think the people who probably work with English learners the most have been the ones taking advantage of it. Uh so, we make progress on that. And then looking to continue working on our multi-tiered system of support. Um so, you know, the grade level material. Um CES really is looking for some uh piloting to stake turns on their uh ELA materials. Looking at working on a pilot for next year. And at the middle school, uh we've applied for moving into the investigative history curriculum for grade six and seven and the uh uh looking at going to the Eureka Squared for grade six. We previously stopped that at grade five, but they think it's worth continuing. So, Uh in terms
029of uh removing barriers, um continuing to work on just uh doing our UDL lessons, but one of the things with CES was awarded. Do you remember earlier this year 96 tutoring seats to the ignite tutoring? Um so they've had uh some individualized reading supports going on. Attached in the back of this is actually sort of a presentation. This was done by uh John Hopkins, but this is the data on the students who participated in the um in the ignite reading. So you can see a lot of uh kind of the gains that they're they're tracking when they look at the data. So definitely been beneficial to our students. That kind of falls under the same thing as individual supports and opportunities. Uh we are anticipating that we are going to have two new innovation pathways
030for 2026-2027 school year. Uh sorry. We will get 2027. That's just my stutter, right? I've been living in too many years like that. 2026-2027 is next year. Thank you. We will have two new innovation pathways for 2026-2027 school year. Uh a business pathway and a technology pathway. Uh I said we're anticipating we'll do that news. I can't officially say whether or not. You know all that, but I'm anticipating. So uh and then that'll add a couple more options. So that'll give us three with the advanced manufacturing. Uh we're also in the process of making some changes to the high school middle school schedules. Try to hopefully down the road maybe give more opportunities for the early college participation and the um like internships, career work type stuff. Copy of the high school schedule is in
031the back of the folder under John Hopkins data. The main difference is really this is a split rotation. So the first four in the morning rotate and the last three in the afternoon rotate. And that way really like a senior could take like their core courses in the morning and then they could actually leave and go take a college course on a campus or they could go uh to work for like an internship. Um and we also did I put it in here, too, that uh you know, we're talking about supporting students, uh CHS has also been designated a No Place for Hate uh as No Place for Hate for this year. Uh there's about 50 students and the faculty advisors that work to um plan some of the lessons and do the do all
032the uh things to support the No Place for Hate uh designation. So, that probably that's just good news. And I guess that's about it. And we're still working CHS is still working on the MTSS system. A lot of uh they've had participation in the dyslexia institute all um year. And looking at some of their um SPIRE as an intervention for reading and touch math for math. Um and then they'll be working with the facility dog. So, kind of a roundup of some of the key things as they relate to our goals. Uh I was wanting to just kind of check in on that at the end of the year with you guys to see that we'll talk about meeting and we didn't totally forget about. Um and then right after that, there's actually another thing
033there's a letter here from DESI. Uh it's a special education annual determination. Um so, the last year um probably right around this time last Actually, no, I think it was probably very early in the fall last year. I think we shared with you that we were needs uh needs assistance uh for our special education determination. Um a lot of it was more of some of the uh compliance things that we sort of just missed some deadlines or did some things on last year with some of our transition. Um but we cleaned all that up this year, so we are no longer uh we are now meeting requirements. So, we're fine. So, uh Jessica and her team uh took care of that, so that was good. And that's about it for those and then that rolls
034right into my superintendent evaluation where I kind of reiterated a lot of that stuff, but I then talked about the different things I felt like I did this year. As always, I just kind of do a draft evaluation. I sort of like I say self-evaluation, just try to tell you guys uh what we think what how I think we did this year and you guys are welcome to whatever you process whatever process you would you'd like to uh come up with something and uh and then we'll just need to know the ratings for the individual components of this. When did you do that last year? Uh I think when I talked to Christie last year we can actually it's probably if it's by the end of July it's fine, but so we have a we
035have a June meeting. Um and then the June meeting to finalize everything is probably in July the 15th meeting or something. We'll talk tomorrow on that, so I'll figure out that part of it. So usually what we try to do, at least what we did last year, which worked in the past for us, which I'll have Kelly send the soft copy of Steve's self-assessment to all of you. If you could do do it and then email me if you have anything specific as a callout, if there's anything you have questions about, and then I'll take all that information and I'll put through um evaluating your self-assessment to execute on this review that we'll then get back to you in its finished form for you quickly and then you will submit it to deadline. Does that
036Does that work for everybody? Yeah. Yeah. >> [laughter] >> Kelly, if you could make a note to get the soft copy of the team, that'd be awesome. Did you get I did send it to you. You sent it to me? Okay. I'll resend it now. I'll resend it everything. Thanks for the callout. But you sent it to me. It was probably that you also sent it to me and I forgot. I will forward it to my team. Thank you, guys. You're good. You're good. Yeah. >> Um all right. FY27 budget information. The There's a copy of the most recent cherry sheets in here. This is the Senate budget, so then that'll be the last conference committee budget coming out. And those Once again, there's no change to our chapter 70 when you're looking from house
037to Senate. The actually the biggest change was probably the unrestricted government aid for the town went up not hugely, but maybe an extra $100,000. But I know that was one of those pushes that the Senate had to try to give more aid to the towns directly. Um so that was the primary change if you're just looking at tracking that. Uh I have a summary in here just of the town accounts. Um Annette and I have actually been working on trying to spend a lot of time today sort of going through our budget again line by line just trying to make sure that we're catching as many of the little accounting changes as we can. Um we got some you know transfers of staff kind of between buildings for next year, so we're just kind of
038updating accounts and trying to look at what pulling money out for warrant articles would look like. But what we heard uh we got feedback from the finance committee um that they are in support of giving us the basically that full amount we had asked for, the 33,888,898. But the way they'd like to do it is by the way we the alternative that we had presented about moving 250,000 to specialized tuition as a warrant article, moving 100,000 for textbooks and technology as a warrant article. Uh once again, as Annette and I went through it, we think those are those numbers are fine um because we calculated that $250,000 number was trying to take into account that uh next year this should be FY27 should be the first full year uh that we have to pay that
039uh increase in the tuition which means our FY 28 uh circuit breaker reimbursement should be significantly lower. So, it's basically like we needed that more of that what we get away with that one time because it's kind of fronting the the year one uh hit of the of the year of the full year of those tuition. We should kind of inherit them but they've kind of been phased in a little bit this year but now we all fully So, sorry, 250 is a warrant article from our budget. There's another warrant article as well of 500 for the stabilization department. So, uh Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So, there uh so, they they kept the same version C. So, what we're asking for is if you guys are okay with it the but I would what
040I think is fair is if you guys are willing to support budget version C here which is a general fund amount of $33,530,898. It's also endorsing the two warrant articles and if you go on to the next page, there's actually a third warrant article uh is the 500,000 for the special education stabilization fund which they've also uh indicated to me that the finance committee is supportive of. So, uh if you guys are okay with maybe endorsing budget version C and the uh warrant articles like I said, we'll we'll get you the line by line, you know, at a future meeting but the our like these are what the total would be. So, it's just a matter of us just figuring out some of the minor changes as we went through and figured out exactly what
041lines we're going to pull from for the warrants. I'll make a I'll make a motion. Second. Just for purpose of discussion, Steve, the only thing I would say is it's it's always wonderful when the finance committee is supportive and I've been to a 20 town meetings and it's not often I see them decline. However, all they've done for the 350,000 is to say they're in support of the warrant articles which is being passed on the floor right now. If they didn't Yeah. What's our recourse for that 350,000 dollars that you're that we're basically using warrant articles for to help supplement the budget? Right, cuz that's where they got stuck at which is fine. And I don't think it'll be a problem, but I'm saying like if that were to happen we could we would we
042would be able Yeah, we would be able to get through the year with the circuit breaker that we have. Um what it would be doing is we'd just be creating a a larger gap for future budget years. Right? So, no matter what we would be able to we if these failed this year, we'd be okay. We'd be able to get through FY 27, but we'd be mortgaging FY 28 to pay I just want to ask the question just in case something happens. We just want to just want to know what happens if that happens. Okay. Um any other discussion or any other questions? All in favor? I. Any opposed? All right. Um building project, I don't really have uh much. It's just it's cruising along now. I don't know tomorrow's supposed to be a beautiful
043day. We got the meeting at uh 10:00. And normally right around the end of that meeting I take a walk with the um designers. So, around 10:45 11:00. So, if uh any of you are interested, let me know. We'll wait for you. We'll wait for you. But, it's just for those of you who are interested to see what's going on. Um but other than that, last I went through was walk everywhere. There's real floors everywhere and one in and wing C that was tested. There was framing, doorways in, plumbing, electric, HVAC. It's It's quickly becoming a real thing, you know? The stairwells you just walk up. There's no ladders. It's you know, it's exciting. It's moving. Yeah. So. Uh We uh we did actually have a meeting, too. Um I guess one of the things
044I'll share is that one of the things that obviously we know there's a transition uh happening with the town administrator. Um and Mike has been instrumental with all of the borrowing and funding for the project. Um so, we did actually have a meeting last week. Um it was with uh Jordan Wodrig and him, uh Mike, and Diane from Town Hall, me, and the treasurer, uh the town treasurer. And uh we walked through that process just to make sure um because we will probably will need to take out another round of borrowing. So, this summer is going to be kind of the the big summer. Um but they're planning on doing it. We want We don't want to do it now. We want to wait till beginning of next fiscal year for the timing of this.
045We won't actually borrow probably till like August 1st. Um and then what we wanted to just We're trying to just make sure we have all of our ducks in a row because we know it's going to be a transition and we don't want to feel like something's going to be something sitting on a desk and it only needs a signature or a vote. It just didn't know where it was. So, we were trying just to close that loop and make sure that that's that's seamless and everyone's been cooperating on that, so that's that's good. Um and I guess the last item I have is the Town School Committee calendar. I put this in here just to throw in a uh July 13th is what we're proposing as the uh meeting. Frank, you don't have to
046You can disregard this page if you want to. Uh but we've got the 13th we're proposing for the School Committee meeting that normally times up with the uh I'm going to the superintendent conference. We're know, I'm to go for 1 day this year, so I go with the think Tuesday. Um but then the uh and then throwing out the August 10th and August 24th dates. Building Committee meetings are just so you can see how those kind of landed and how those went well. Uh August 12th is on there, so traffic pattern meeting. We did one of those last year. I'm not going to say you guys have to come to this. You want to come, but that was when we had a meeting to try to before we started school just to make sure we
047look at the It will be changing some of the exterior um footprint as far as bringing that ring road around a little wider of the so it's in more of its natural position, so it'll be changing a little bit of how they go around the building. And we want to make sure that we clear all that. Last year we did that with the buses and everybody. Um and then that's about It's about it. So, if you guys are comfortable with that, we can proceed with that schedule. If you guys If you guys are good with that, we can just go with it and then what we'll probably do is try to get you a formal schedule for the year in the next meeting. Just wanted to get these on your calendar. All right. I think
048that's all I have. Anything out of the advisory and the subcommittees? Student wellness is coming up on the 10th. I don't know. Yeah, the 10th. So, keep that in mind till September. And the scholarship is probably right around this time. Where did it go? Locked and loaded? Amazing. If he shows up, he shows up. There's no question about that. Any other topics of commentary around the advisory committees? We did get a policy update from MASC, so I'm just kind of working on that but I don't want to put too much on their plate until they go over the summer and start getting everything in line but I'll try to prioritize those to give them to you sooner because they need the direct impact on the students. Well, thank you and there are no old business.
049New business. Good. I didn't come with any prepared so I had to come thinking about what I'm going to say here. the last 20 minutes. No, I just I've enjoyed this 9 years and I appreciate everyone I've served with on the board. I mean we've had board turnovers and I don't know if that's a good or Yes, Lee started the same time I did. You know, Matt I was saying my parents were educated but I did a lot more way better appreciation and insight to what what it takes to I don't I don't pretend to know anything about teaching but everything from the from the staff to the administration to the teachers and support staff to the community and the community work with reach with the district and how many amazing things have happened here.
050I know I said it on the teachers first day of school people they they criticize teachers and criticize schools but you couldn't do what you do without them. That's a fact. I have learned so much I have really I can't I can't thank people enough. I really have really opened my eyes to this and uh I don't know if my dad I don't know if my dad was alive if I'd be doing this. I don't know if he would have let me but uh if he had let me he would have been telling me how much to do it so I would have two superintendents that I listen to. But I really have appreciated but there's one person I I I I ran into him and I asked him if it was okay if I
051mentioned his name and he didn't want me to he's humbled by it but he said it was okay and that's Joe Becht. When I started Joe was the chair and I couldn't have asked for a better mentor I think. I mean I've never been in any elected office and and I think there's a phrase he used to use all the time that still sticks in my head is we set policy not procedure. And and anytime anyone at the board would kind of get down in the weeds they'd remind you hey we do the policy evaluate the superintendent and let them do their job and you know, we keep keep us from under everybody's business and and you get and we and I learned so much from him and then if I ever strayed a little
052bit, it had either Kelly or Marilyn or Mary, someone down the office remind me to They all Mary and Marilyn worked with my dad reminding me to knock it off, but it was I learned so much and I I'm going to miss it. It was a hard decision and then I anything I can ever do for the school system in the future, please let me know. And the last thing I'll say is to Meg and Tyler who's not here. I have grandkids in the school so you're going to see a lot of me. I know Meg I I'm usually down there once a week. I'm not going to stop. As long as you keep bringing mac and cheese, I'll let >> Yeah, yeah, you know, yeah, I bring I bring school and stuff. I have
053to pay everybody off. Yeah. Well, Scott, you'll have my granddaughter in 5 years so I'll see you in 5 years. In 4 years. I can't do the math. I wasn't good at math or anything, but anyway, thank you so much. I've had a blast. Appreciate it. On that note, I will entertain a motion to adjourn. My last one. So moved. Thank you everyone. Seconded it.