001[music] >> Come in. I call to order the school committee meeting of April 13th, 2026. Will you please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please, Ms. Gumpner. Kathleen Amaral? Here. John Nunes? Yeah. Chris Oliver? Here. Mary Beth Wood? Here. Miss Coughlin? Here. Uh this meeting is being recorded and it will be rebroadcast on DCTV and can be streamed on their YouTube channel at any time. Uh we now open the floor for public comment. Uh we've allowed 10 minutes for that. If anyone would like to speak on any topic on this evening's agenda, please approach the mic and uh keep your comments to
0023 minutes. Thank you. Um I'm Jody Carissimi. This is Jody Solomon. Jody, pull the mic down so we can Better? Yeah. Yeah, thank you. >> [laughter] >> Um so we are here to express our concerns regarding the reduction in teaching staff, particularly at the elementary level um in grades K through 5 over the past few years. We understand that declining enrollment has been given as a primary reason for these reductions. While it is true that enrollment has gone down, um the scale of the staffing reductions appears um disproportionate. In the 2022-23 school year, enrollment of students in kindergartens through grade 5 was 1,521 students. In 2025-26, enrollment of students in kindergarten through grade 5 stands at 1,466 as of March 1st. A decrease of 55 students. During that same period, however, nine elementary teaching positions
003have been eliminated. And with the proposed kindergarten cut, that number will rise to 10. At the same time, average class sizes have steadily increased. Four years ago, the average class size was 20 students. This rose to 21, and this past year it would it reached 22. Of course, those are just averages, as class sizes fluctuate. Some are smaller, some are larger. We understand the need to maintain a balanced budget and to be fiscally responsible when working collaboratively with the town. We also recognize the importance of the proposed positions, including additional ESPs, RBTs to help with the increase in disregulated students, a middle school guidance counselor, and a job coach for the ATLAS program. These are all important and very necessary roles. However, something Ms. Coughlin said recently at a school committee meeting continues to resonate.
004Once you lose ground, it's very hard to make it up. That is exactly how we view these continued reductions in teaching positions. It feels as though we are steadily losing ground. We acknowledge that in this instance, a staff member is not being directly cut due to this due to the loss of this position. But once again, a position is being lost through attrition. Even though it may feel less immediate, the long-term impact is the same. We are gradually reducing staffing levels and support for students. The proposal to cut an additional kindergarten position at Quinn is especially concerning. Cuts at Quinn are complicated because of how classes are structured across grade levels. Some grades have four sections, some have five, some have six, which already requires annual shifting to balance things out and maintain equity in
005terms of student support. We're also thinking about what's ahead. With new housing um developments in progress, it's likely that enrollment could increase in the coming years. If we continue reducing classroom teaching positions while class sizes grow, we risk creating a gap that will be very difficult to recover from. Rebuilding that capacity in staff and student support will not be easy once it's lost. Given these factors, we strongly encourage taking a different approach. Rather than cutting a position now based on projected kindergarten numbers, it would make more sense to keep the position in place until enrollment is finalized. That would give more flexibility to respond to actual student needs. If kindergarten numbers didn't ultimately need um support the need for a fifth kindergarten class, there would be 27 classroom positions to be allocated between first and
006fifth grade at Quinn. This would result in average class sizes of 21, which would be in line with the rest of the district. Please, do not vote yes to a budget that eliminates yet another teaching position. Thank you for your time. >> [applause] >> I >> Robin Della Fonte, I have kids at the Dartmouth Middle School. I just wanted to say thank you so much to all of you all the hard work you've put in. We applaud all of your efforts. Special shout-out to Mr. Oliver for getting on the socials and clarifying some misinformation topics that were shared in the community that just were simply incorrect. It's super important to make sure that the community has the right information, as we all know can be a little difficult these days. So, thank you. When it
007comes from the horse's mouth, it's a really big deal. I deeply encourage the continued transparency and education. Awesome. In any way possible that we can do it, the more folks are informed, the better. >> [clears throat] >> Your dedication to providing services that are essential to all the students is commendable. It's not a small task. It's exciting to learn about the student-facing positions you fought for and will receive the funding from the select board. However, it's not spending more, it's spending some to not fall further behind. Yes, these positions are in collaboration with the kindergarten funds, so we'll have to work our way out next year and find a way to replace those kindergarten funds, but one step at a time. Um and I as I have before would like to remind you all that
008you have the support of the parents and the guardians in this community. We've got your back as you continue to have the students and children of ours back. We've got yours. Thank you so much. >> [applause] >> Seeing no one else, um let's move on to approval of the minutes. So, I'm looking for a motion to approve regular [clears throat] session minutes of March 23, 2026 and March 31, 2026. So moved. Second. Uh move motion by Ms. Beckwith, second by Mr. Nunes. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Unanimously. Oh. I'm not opposed. I just have an abstention. If you're taking them together, I was not present for the virtual 11:00 a.m. meetings. So, I guess I will abstain if it's a Sure. That'll make it easy. I shouldn't have put them together. >> That's okay.
009And I'll do the executive >> I watched, but I So, we'll call that four in favor, one one abstention. Um and now I'm looking for a motion to approve the executive session minutes of March 23, 2026. So moved, Madam Chair, with the stipulation they be held until the matter that is complete. Second. Motion by Mr. Nunes, second by Mr. Oliver. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Uh unanimously passes. And lastly, uh motion to approve executive minutes of March 31st, 2026. So moved, Madam Chair, with the stipulation that they be held until the matter for which they were intended is complete. Second. So, motion by Mr. Nunes, second by Ms. Beckwith. All in favor? I. Any opposed? There's an abstention. Any There you go. So, we have four in favor, one abstention, no opposition. Terrific. Um
010Next up, we have our student representative report from Charlotte Alphonse. Good evening. My name is Charlotte Alphonse. I am here representing the Dartmouth High School Student Advisory Council. I would like to share some recent upcoming events happening at Dartmouth High School. On April 1st, Dartmouth staff participated in the annual Dartmouth Education Foundation Spelling Bee, which helps raise money to support educational grants throughout the district. Representing Dartmouth High was our team Permanent Records, made up of Mr. Shea, Mr. Martin, and Ms. Santos, who placed third overall. On March 27th, Dartmouth High also hosted TEDx DHS 2026 with this year's theme Making Waves for a Better Tomorrow. Student speakers presented in the auditorium throughout the day, and the event was live-streamed on DAHS TV media. Looking ahead, Dartmouth High will hold its third annual Day of Kindness
011on April 16th during all three lunches, hosted by the Black Student Union along with eight additional clubs. This promotes kindness, unity, and respect throughout our school community. Activities will include a Random Acts of Kindness Wheel and an American Sign Language Learning Table and many other interactive stations. Thank you. Thank you. >> [snorts] >> Um and I I hope you will stay for our next agenda item, but if you have to leave before then, that is fine. We understand. Cuz next up, we have spotlight on kids kids at Dartmouth High School, and I'm going to turn it on over to Principal Shea. Good evening, everyone. Um luckily, I don't have to speak much today cuz you're going to get to hear an amazing presentation, and our senior leadership is going to talk about all of their
012performances. But, um the origination [laughter] of this is we kind of start to think about what we want The spark of creation. >> [singing] [music] >> The spark of creation. >> [singing] >> I see a mountain, and I want to climb it. I see a river, and I want to leave shore. Where there was nothing, let there be something, something made by me. [singing] There's worlds waiting for me to invent them. There's worlds waiting for me to [music] explore. I [singing] am an echo of the eternal cry of let there be. >> [music] >> The spark of creation burning bright [singing] within me. The spark of creation won't LET ME REST AT ALL [singing] UNTIL I DISCOVER OR BUILD OR UNCOVER A THING THAT I CAN CALL MY celebration [singing] of the SPARK OF CREATION.
013>> [singing] [music] >> SHATTER ME. >> [applause] >> OUR NEXT song we will perform will be Beautiful by Christina Aguilera. In the story, we had previously performed Creep by Radiohead to showcase our misfit manner and how none of us belonged. Beautiful is to show that even if we are misfit, we still can rise together and celebrate our differences. Here is Beautiful. >> [singing] >> Every day is so wonderful and suddenly it's hard to breathe. [singing] Now and then I get insecure from all the pain. I feel so ashamed. [singing] I am beautiful [singing] no matter what they say. Words can't bring me down. [singing] And I am beautiful in every single way. Yes, words can't bring me down. [singing] Oh, no. So, don't you bring me down today. >> [music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing] [music
014and singing] [singing] [music] [singing] >> No matter what we do. No matter what we say. Yeah. [screaming] >> [singing] >> And everywhere we go the sun will always shine. We are beautiful [singing] no matter what they say. [music] Words won't [singing] bring us down. [music] We are beautiful [singing and music] in every single way. Yes, words [music and singing] won't bring us down. So, don't you bring me down [singing] today. Don't you bring me down [singing] today. >> [music] >> Yeah. [singing] Don't you bring me down today. >> [music] [applause] >> Our final song today is This Is Me from The Greatest Showman. Our soloist in the song isn't here today, so we're going to start where the ensemble comes in. In the song our characters are realizing that who they are is enough. Everyone
015is perfect just the way they are. We aren't creeps, we aren't weirdos or misfits. This is me. >> [screaming] >> I never have my hand out and ask for something [music] free. I got PRIDE I CAN ROLL out for miles in front of me. I don't need your help and I don't need your [music] sympathy. I don't need you to lower the bar for me. >> [music] [singing] [music] >> I'm broken and it's beautiful. [singing] When the SHARPEST WORDS WANT TO CUT me down >> [music] >> I'm going to send a flood, GOING TO DROWN THEM OUT. I AM BRAVE, I am bruised, I AM WHO I'M MEANT to be. THIS IS ME. LOOK OUT CUZ HERE I COME. [singing] AND I'M MARCHING on to THE BEAT I DRUM. I'M NOT SCARED TO be seen.
016I make no apologies. [singing] This is me. I'm broken and it's beautiful. OH. >> [singing] >> OH. THIS is me. When the sharpest words want to cut me down [singing] I'm going to send a flood, GOING TO DROWN THEM OUT. I am brave, I am bruised, I am who I'm meant to be. This is me. LOOK OUT CUZ HERE I COME. HEARTBROKEN AND IT'S BEAUTIFUL. [screaming] Heartbroken and it's beautiful. >> [screaming] >> I make >> [singing] [applause] >> I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me. >> [cheering] [applause] >> That was wow, a treat. Thank you. Thank you. On behalf of Dartmouth Dynamics, I hope you were as moved by our show as we have been through the process of creating it. Throughout the season this team has brought home
017four silver medals, making it the first ever full silver season, along with two best soloist awards and a best storytelling award. The people behind me have not only given the very best performances they can all season, but have also taken the time to understand the importance of the very lesson that we are preaching. Listen to your heart because you don't need to fit in to love yourself. >> [applause] >> Nice job. >> Thank you. Thank you. He is our first year, too. You would never know it and they've done a great job connecting. And can I set one record straight cuz the student rep is on file. That team that did the spelling bee was not Mike and I's contribution. It was all Miss Santos. Let's be real on that. So, she deserves [laughter] all
018the credit on that. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, Mr. Shay. Thanks, Mr. Shay. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um All right. And next up we have a presentation on the curriculum cycle review. Would you like to Sure. Let's uh welcome Mrs. Paveo and Dr. Thibault, our executive directors of teaching and learning, up to share the plan for district-wide mathematics curriculum review. Tough act to follow, for sure, but >> I'll say. Okay. Oh, here it is. I knew I had it in here someplace. All right. Well, pretty evening certainly is a tough uh act to follow, but I think everyone's probably thankful that Katie and I won't be singing tonight. Uh So, we will talk uh a little bit just about the curriculum review cycle, specifically the pre-K through 12 district mathematics review that's going
019to be uh starting um next school year. Um and so, we just want to start as we do uh with all of the important work that goes on in the district bringing us back to our strategic plan. Um you you hard to believe that we're already into year two of the strategic plan, um which we started in 2024. But uh at the start of our strategic plan, the very first initiative centers around teaching and learning. And that was um that was purposeful on the part of the uh strategic planning team. We wanted to make sure that we focused our work and grounded in the most important work that goes on in the district, which is the teaching and learning uh for our students. Um specifically though, under the teaching and learning um focus area, the
020very first uh strategic initiative speaks to creating um vertical and horizontal alignment. And one of the key parts of doing that is to establish a consistent, predictable curriculum review cycle. Um and so we're going to talk tonight a little bit uh a little bit more in detail about what a curriculum review cycle entails, uh how it works, and why uh it's important. Thank you. So, good evening. Um we always start with our why. And as Dr. Thibault said, we bring it back to our curriculum to our um strategic plan, and that acts as our North Star. But when we're talking specifically about our curriculum review cycle, why is it important? Why is this cyclical nature of uh reviewing our curriculum important? Um you know, I'm the pillars obviously are um making sure that we're using
021the data that we have in front of us to inform our instruction, looking at what our kids need, looking at how our kids are doing, and finding their areas of strength and celebrating those and growing those. And looking at our areas of weakness and making sure that we're reinforcing those. Um maintaining alignment with state state and federal mandates, those change, right? And so we it's incumbent on us to maintain um that we're staying current with the mandates and with the changes to things. Um ensuring that we have a culturally responsive and inclusive curriculum, ensuring that our kids can look into their textbooks and see themselves, ensuring that our kids can see you know, we talk about windows and mirrors, and making sure that we're seeing ourselves and extending what kids are able to see throughout
022what we're learning about. Um so budget, right? It's a very real thing we're going to talk about tonight and ensuring that we have um not we that we don't put ourselves in a position where we need to replace everything at once, um and that we are consistently and responsibly um looking at reviewing and updating as we need. And just really evaluating the whole purpose of this is to evaluate what we have, evaluate the efficacy of it, and look for updates or um replacements where needed. And so just to add to that, one area that uh we also want to address um because it comes up is why are we starting with mathematics? Why is that the first area? Because one of the things, if you look at a curriculum review cycle, it should take place
023over 5 to 7 years. That's really the length of time it takes from the time you examine what products or curriculums are out there to the time you pilot them, to the time you make uh some team decisions to adopt them and then implement them and monitor that. Um you know, that takes about 5 to 7 years. So for mathematics at the elementary level, we've used Bridges for the last 5 years. Next year will be year six. So it's uh at the elementary level, the time period where they would be looking um you know, to see what's out there. And certainly continuing with Bridges is a possibility. Um but you know, this is an opportunity for us to really achieve that vertical alignment piece, pre-K through 12, by making sure that we engage um you
024know, across uh the the district up and down the levels. Um and so that's that's why we find ourselves starting with mathematics. Um but as Katie alluded to as well, like it's important that we stagger the different disciplines so that we're not looking to um you know, we don't have the cost of any new programs all in one year. So that's kind of the idea there. In terms of that 5 to 7-year cycle, the work is what you see kind of on the screen here. You're always engaged in some phase of curriculum review, whether it is that first phase where you're looking at different you know, programs that are out there, or whether you're um piloting, or whether you're um you know, implementing it or monitoring it. Um but one of these phases you're always
025kind of engaged in over that 5 to 7-year um period. And each of the phases is extremely important, right? When we're first looking uh at what curriculums are out there, it's important that we find a a program that's going to work for us, that's going to support our our students and our teachers. Um you know, but along you know, throughout that 5 to 7 years, it's important that we're continuously monitoring and making sure that the intended learning outcomes are are being achieved. And so that's kind of um you know, how that works. The other piece that's important to note, and Katie's going to talk about it in much more detail in a couple of slides here, but there is a defined process um that we use in the district. Um it's outlined in our um
026district uh curriculum and instruction materials adoption plan, which is on our website uh for anyone who wants to um take a look. Um but that's all pretty outlined um for us, and Katie will speak more to that. Now. This slide should look familiar because we've talked about it um with the adoption of CKLA, and that's really what Dr. Thibault was alluding to, that we have a defined process that we go through when we're looking at either updating or replacing a curriculum. And so um very similar to what we went through with the process of uh of adopting CKLA at the elementary level, the thing to of importance to note is that it's not a short process. So we don't make a knee-jerk decision about bringing a curriculum material in. Um and so our proposed timeline
027for math it is you'll notice it goes across two school years. So looking next school year um first to survey our staff. So we have as part of the curriculum adoption document, a rubric that goes over a lot of what I'm going to talk to about in the next slide about high-quality instructional materials, but it's also important to hear from our staff. What are they looking for? What what aspects of the programming that they're using already do they like? What do they find that's working? What is the data telling us? Right? So that's that more specific and that more personalized piece about our students and the kids right in front of us. Um and then we use that when we vet through different publishing companies, right? And so um we hear from our staff, we
028hear from the survey data, we hear from our data what is what we're looking for. It helps us when we're looking at programs to decide whether that's a possible fit for us or not. Um and then once we do that, we are able to narrow it down to uh no less than two programs that we would pilot. Um it's important that our pilot teachers are supported and given professional development around that programming so that they can launch that pilot. Um as that's happening, we're obviously we're looking at the data, they're meeting on a regular basis, they're looking at how their students are doing. Um and all of that is happening at the same time that um they're doing this pilot, making a decision, an informed decision. And one of the things that we did um
029with with ELA that we've talked about doing again with math is we took that original survey data and we created a rubric to go along with the one that comes in our curriculum adoption. So it's not just around the actual program, it's around did it meet what we identified as our needs. So in that first piece, it's making sure and you know, in our strategic plan we talk about honoring the MDC. So we'll have a finite number of teachers who are piloting, but it's really important to have the voice of all the people who are involved, who will be implementing the selected program. So that's where that survey piece really comes in. It's not just the program pilot teachers rather who are participating in that survey, it's all teachers. So to have that voice, to
030have that piece um is is certainly an integral part of it. Once a decision has been made about a program to move forward, it is really important that we support our teachers before they launch to students, right? And so um in the spring of 2028, I know it sounds like it's a long time away, but it will not be that far. Um we will front-load some professional learning around whatever programming is decided upon, so that in the fall of 2028, we are ready to do a full implementation. And then as Dr. Thibault alluded to, you get into that review cycle again, right? So an implementation year is just that. And I think what's really important is that it's continued professional learning and support. It doesn't go away just because we've selected a program or just
031because we've given some front-loaded professional learning. Um you know, as again, I'll lean into what we've done with CKLA, our folks from Amplify have been involved all school year, and we will continue to talk about how to best support our folks going forward with years two and beyond. Um and this is just you know, when we talk about high-quality instructional materials, right? There are our um strategic plan talks about adopting high-quality instructional materials. And what does that really mean if you don't work in the education world? It means it hits these these bullet points, right? So standards-based. A program is a program. Um with very few exceptions, programs are not written state-specific. So it is important that we look at our state standards and look at the programming that we're bringing in to find places
032that it's fully aligned, to find places that it's partially aligned, to find places that it may not be aligned, and then what are we going to do to address those gaps? But as much as we can, obviously we would like any program that we we bring in to be aligned to our standards. Um and that alignment piece that Dr. Thibault alluded to before, the horizontal alignment obviously across a grade level so that our students are receiving equitable learning experiences regardless of the classroom that they're in. But then that vertical trajectory piece, so that our students from pre-K to 12 are on this journey, and that journey is aligned and it makes sense and it builds upon what they've learned in one grade level to the next. Equity is a is a huge piece. We need
033to as we said before making sure that our kids can see themselves in the things that we put in their hands every day and that we can also grow their view to the world beyond them. And then our student learning is really only a part of it. Our teacher learning is is just as important. So providing that professional learning for our teachers so that they feel equipped to teach with a with the materials we put in their hand. And then of course as we talked about budgetary the budgetary piece of it. The other piece that I just want to add on there is that the other reason that a cycle is so important and I I'm going to advocate for my elementary people is they teach all all subject areas, right? And so it is
034really important that we can't we can't put all new things in the hands of our educators all at one time and expect them to do it well. So making sure that we map that out, making sure that we give them time to learn something new, to implement something new, to work out the kinks, to feel like they're doing a good job. Our teachers want to do the best they can for the kids in front of them every day. And it's it's really our responsibility to make sure that we're supporting them to be able to do that work and to give them the materials that they need to be able to do that work. So that's it. So if you have any questions for us I'll just say I appreciate you coming to the committee with
035the timeline so we have an idea of you know, it's the three-year process essentially when you look at it. So it's a big commitment and it's certainly a big financial commitment as well. So I I really appreciate that we have a curriculum cycle moving forward and um presentations like this certainly help. Do you review the the key elements of high-quality? Do you also take into consideration if they're in if they are in curate as to So that was the one point I was going to was that the tools the primary tools we use in addition to the rubrics that uh Mrs. Pavao spoke of is um EdReports which is a national um vetting of the quality of of curriculum materials as well as Curate which is done by Massachusetts teachers and then obviously the benefit
036there is that that is more aligned to our state standards. Um but those are the two primary tools that we'll we'll use. Thank you both. Thank you. >> Thank you. So I just had a question about um so the teachers who pilot they volunteer? They do. Um do you ever have more volunteers than you want? I mean you could do do you ever have all the grades doing pilots or you just have a certain number of slots or do you have trouble finding teachers that want to pilot? I don't think we have trouble finding I mean so prior to this presentation I was able to meet with all of the grade levels at the middle school level. So all of our math teachers for grade six, seven, and eight and the math all of the
037math teams here at the high school as well. I think there's a lot of interest. Obviously these tools impact them on a daily basis. So I don't think finding volunteers is uh is an issue at all. It is a lot of work and I think that I appreciate Katie elevating that and certainly this opportunity to kind of elevate that cuz even at the secondary level where you're not teaching all of the subjects necessarily, you are teaching you know at the high school level you might be teaching algebra one and algebra two or algebra one and geometry or you know there are multiple courses within the discipline of math. So it takes on the same kind of a of a heavy lift. Um you know and it's it's particularly challenging. We you know we're very fortunate
038in Dartmouth to have a veteran teaching staff. But to implement any new curriculum for a veteran teaching staff can be challenging because it creates that unease of you have a new tool and you're trying to use that for the first time. And that's challenging work. So I'll say you know we have our curriculum teams and Dr. Tibo has his sort of discipline teams at the high school and there are curriculum teams at the middle school. And so if we have holes we will purposely try to fill them and it is important for us to get a cross-section of of educators. Make sure that we have special ed folks that are on this team. Um I've been very fortunate to have the some of the interventionists and the coaches be really involved with this work as
039well. So um it is it is very important that we have a representative cross-section of folks who are making that decision. Um the other the other thing that we try to do we were able to do and I I would hope that we would be able to do is we went to visit um Barrington, Rhode Island who was implementing one of the programs that we piloted actually the program that we didn't end up going with. Um and I think part of the reason that folks were I think it just was really really eye-opening for them about the using the program um above and beyond what you hear from a publishing company who is trying to sell you something, right? So making sure that we are talking to folks that are using the programs that they're
040you know and and getting that insight from people who are doing it is also very important. The only other piece I would add um to your question Beth is um I almost caught one. Is that there's genuine excitement or genuine enthusiasm I think for the opportunity for our middle and high school folks to also engage with elementary folks around the same curriculum area. Um that's not always easy to accomplish um and it's and yet it's extremely important to making sure we have that coherent progression from pre-K all the way up through 12. So as I speaking to different um teams that was a consistent question that came up. What when we're doing this are we going to be able to be in the same room and on the same teams with our elementary colleagues. Great.
041Mr. Nunes? Yeah, thank you Madam Chair. Thank you very much. A great presentation. Question that I have just in general is how do you determine you know how many vendors and publishers out there and how do you determine who you're going to you know which ones you're going to try and whittle down and pilot and that type of deal? So I think we're going to start with what Dr. Tibo talked about with Curate and EdReports. We we want to make sure that what we bring in are high-quality materials and then um again so I'll say for Bridges, right? We've used Bridges for the last five years. Our kids our data really has trended in the in a good direction. So sometimes it's it's things that you've used or that some of our educators have used.
042It was really some of our educators who have brought programs to us that they've they have colleagues who use or they have friends who use or um I'm sorry if you wanted to add on to that. >> No, I was going to the starting point would be EdReports and Curate for sure. Thank you. Oh, sorry. No, I just wanted to say thank you and we'll be very interested to hear um as you go through the the timeline um just to see how it's coming along. So thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So next up we have a couple consent agendas uh first for the 2026 summer sports camp which we all got information in our packets. Um Mr. Kelly, did you want to say anything about it or Just um you know
043the the summer sports camps are very successful camp that is available to students um grades uh two through nine. Um it's going to run from June 29th to July 31st 9:00 to 12:00 daily. Last year we had 444 participants. Um so very successful. We uh the fee is remaining the same as it was last year which is $65 for the four-day week and $80 for the five-day week. So we like permission to run that camp again. It's an I think a good bargain. A great bargain. >> [laughter] >> Mhm. Yeah, 100%. Yeah. Um great. Any questions or discussions on this? Motion to approve. Second. So motion by Mr. Nunes second by Ms. Beckwith. All in favor? Aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed? That passes unanimously and we'll move on to the Dig Green Volleyball Camp um
044which we did last year. Any comments on that or Similarly um very successful camp. It's a one-week camp August 10th through the 14th 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. It's $200 per player. Um we maxed out at capacity last year um with just over 120 players and we're going to probably do that again this year. Great. Any questions? Yeah. Motion to approve. Second. Okay. Motion by Mr. Nunes second by Mr. Oliver. All in favor? Aye. >> Aye. Aye. Any against? That's another unanimous approval. Um and then we have SMEC request authorization to lease one classroom in the Dartmouth High School and office space as well as two additional classrooms at the Quinn School for the 2026-2027 school year which is very similar to last year. I don't think there was a change in the price or
045anything. Uh 3% increase. >> 3% so Yeah, SMEC Board of Directors voted to approve a 3%. Great. Any questions? All right. >> And just to just to confirm Mr. Kelly it is my understanding that that money that you take in would go into the revolving of facilities revolving Correct. Yep, the use of facilities revolving account for Um, use anything related to the building and supplies for the facilities. Right. Motion to approve. Second. Okay, we have motion by Mr. Noons, second by Ms. Emerald. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Unanimously um passes. And um next we have our annual organization of the committee. Um and we are going to have Mr. Kylie um take over now for nominations or procedures to reorganize. >> Sure. So so we're seeking tonight uh nominations for chair of the school
046committee. Met. Mr. Kylie, I make a motion that we nominate Mary Beckworth as chairman for the Dartmouth School Committee for uh school balance of school year 26 and 20 into 27. Do we have a second? >> I'll second that. Okay, Mr. Oliver. Is there any discussion? Does Ms. Beckworth accept? >> favor? I accept. >> [laughter] >> All in favor? I. I. Yay. Turn it over to our new chair. >> Okay. So I'm just going to take that out and you can put your name there. And I'll be moving. >> I'll just >> Just move the Just move the signs. >> Just the signs. That's where we are. Okay. Oh, no. Oh, I did the wrong thing. >> Yeah. >> [clears throat] >> I did the wrong thing. There we go. I'll put yours in. >>
047[snorts] >> Madam Adam chair. >> [sighs] >> Awesome response. >> [laughter] >> Elk a bong. Hold this. Okay. So you are in charge. Boys are us. Uh-huh. Yeah. So this is the only one you do and then I do the rest. >> That's it. I All that power is no longer mine. So >> [laughter] >> Okay. Um I will seek nominations for vice chair. A motion? Uh >> For vice chair? >> I nominate Mr. Noons for vice chair for the 26-27. I accept. And I'll second that. All right. >> Okay. Motion by Ms. Coughlin, second by Mr. Oliver. And Mr. Noons accepts. Vote. All in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Unanimous. Madam chair, I guess we both have to start working on speeches. >> [laughter] >> You for the You for the high school and
048me for the middle school. Yes. Congratulations to you both. Thank you. Congratulations. Forward to it. Okay, now I call for um the election of a secretary. Um Is there a motion? Madam chair, make a motion that we even though she's not here and that's what happens when you're not here is uh we nominate Dr. June Saba Maguire as chair as uh secretary to the Dartmouth School Committee. Do I have second? Second. Okay, motion by John Noons, uh second by Chris Oliver. Um all in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Unanimous. And then we have to um talk about subcommittees and we have our assignments current assignments in our materials. Yep. Yep. Um Does anyone want to make any um changes to their committee assignments? Or is or are folks happy with them as is? I'm happy.
049I'm good where I am. >> I'm good. I'm happy where I am. >> Okay, and I'm okay with where I am. So um all committees will remain the same as listed on the attachment we have. Perfect. I like that. That was easy. That was very easy. Appreciate it. Okay. Um we now move on to old business. Uh the FY27 budget uh for further discussion and a vote. I'm going to turn it over to Mr. Kylie to discuss um what he provided to us uh this week in terms of um a revised budget. Thank you, Ms. Beckworth. So uh we were thankful to hear from the town administrator um that uh following our last our last School Committee meeting that uh he is advocating for $100,000 of the collective bargaining reserve funds be allocated to Dartmouth
050Public Schools to help solve our budget gap. So um that >> [clears throat] >> brings the town projection to 4.68%, which I think is a is a positive development for us. Um that transfer from the collective bargaining reserve fund to our operating budget would require a 2/3 vote at town meeting. Okay. So there is another hurdle, but um >> [clears throat] >> the town administrator is prepared to have that uh on the warrant for consideration of of uh town meeting members. So uh this is what that means in terms of our current budget situation. So you'll note that um as of our last meeting our budget request was $58,204,287, a 5% increase. Uh the town's projection as I mentioned is 4.68% now. Uh so the amount unfunded would be 0.32%, which is $178,309. We had
051had some discussion discussion at our several of our previous meetings regarding how to resolve that and um it had been brought up that uh we would we should consider using the kindergarten stabilization funds to bridge that gap. So the kindergarten stabilization fund has about $367,000 in it. Uh so if we were to utilize $178,309 to bridge this gap, we'd have about $190,000 left in the kindergarten stabilization fund. Now if if the committee elects to take that route, um it will also require a town meeting vote. Uh so we would have to um certainly the committee would have to vote to take that action, but they would also have to request that the select board place that item on the on the warrant for the annual town meeting. Um so so not that we've decided to
052do it yet, but for if we decided to use just $178,309 from the stabilization stabilization fund, we would just be asking for that amount to be taken out and then when in a following year when we needed more we'd have to ask again. Is that right? That is one option, yes. >> Okay. Available to you. Um or we could take it all out and find other places to use it. Hopefully not in recurring needs. Correct. Mr. Oliver. So I think obviously we have two choices here. We have a few choices. One being we we look to this kindergarten stabilization fund or we look to school choice, in which I'm not comfortable doing especially with that money in kindergarten stabilization fund sitting there. Um I think we we request My personal opinion is that we request
053the $178,309 from the kindergarten stabilization fund to balance this budget and then we leave the remaining amount in there um for next year or years after that uh when we're in the same predicament that we may be in. I'm certainly thank very thankful for it seems uh that the the work with that the central office, Mr. Kylie, uh the superintendent's doing with uh working together collaboratively with the town hall and um Cody and Gary uh it seems to be uh you know, working out extremely well. Um I haven't seen this type of collaboration uh with the town in quite a while. So I'm very thankful for that. I'm thankful to uh to everyone over on the town side. Uh we we certainly uh working together nicely at this point. Um so my my recommendation, just
054my humble opinion, would be to uh take the 100 make a motion to take I'm not making a motion, but the motion would be to take the $178,309 from the kindergarten stabilization fund. Mr. Noons. Thank you, Madam Chair. Congratulations, by the way. Um through you to Mr. Kylie. I might have missed something, but this at their meeting, not the one that they had with us, but before that, uh the Board of Selectmen closed the warrant. Are they going to are they going a motion or a request from us to reopen that warrant? Y- Yes, so we we inquired with the town administrator. They actually took a vote, and I I went back and listened to it, cuz I I had seen it initially. Um and it is it was to close the warrant to citizens
055to citizens' petitions. Um and but yes, they are prepared to um to consider our request. Yes, and they know that it it may be on its way. Okay. So. I just before we >> [clears throat] >> go down this road >> this road, yeah. >> Before we before we go down this road, and all of a sudden, you know, we spend however much time discussing it and feeling really good, and the Selectmen go, "No." I wanted to make sure that we were in some type of uh We do have an understanding. That's that's part of the >> we have an understanding, I'm good. And you know, seriously, I you know, thank [clears throat] you and Dr. Saver Maguire and you know, uh Gary and Cody and everyone for uh all their help and collaboration getting
056this thing hammered out and and put together, you know, as well as it can be, Mhm. type of deal. So, I mean, I kind of still stand by my previous comments, but that's you know, I'm ready I'm let it go. So, I'm good. Ms. Amaral? I stand by your previous comments, too, John, and I'm not ready to let it go. Um I just if I may, um if we could just speak to I I get this was sort of the I appreciate the town. I appreciate the collaboration. Um and I appreciate your efforts, and I don't have a metaphor story as good as one of our public speakers with the squirrels in the oven. Um But I've had nightmares about it since I heard it. It was great. Um at any rate, this represents the
057student like the student-facing um positions is the is sort of the effort. If you if you wouldn't mind just reminding me uh the positions that were not you know, the funding that were not supporting with this modified Sure. So, E um as you know, our original budget proposal was 6.85%. So, i- included in that uh original budget proposal were several things that are not here today. Um so, the sort of the key factors that we cut in terms of the 487,000 were additional support for the athletics program, the music program, and the maintenance program, right? So, those were the 487,000 dollars that we removed. We also removed the human resources director, the maintenance position, the technology positions uh from the budget that we had originally proposed. So, a significant amount, obviously, to get to remove
0581.85% of the budget is a is a significant amount. So, um it did, you know, certainly diminish our request, um but you know, in order to in order to move forward in attempts to um compromise and collaborate, it was necessary to do that. The other the other thing that I failed to mention was the special ed team facilitator and the athletic coordinator stipends. Um so, those those also were removed. Thank you. Um Ms. Coughlin? Um so, I would say we've come a long way, and um clearly we're not getting if if we go with a 5% budget increase, we're not getting everything that we wanted, and what we wanted would help us progress, help our students progress. What? You said want. I would I would just interject need. Need. Well, need. So, what I'm saying
059is definitely, if we had stuck with our original budget, we would move forward faster. And our students need to progress. Um I am so appreciative of the town uh working on better health insurance, which is saving the town and saving our um teachers and staff money, um and thankful that we have um the kindergarten fund to rely on. Um but I just want to say that clearly, even though we might come to some degree agreement about the budget a budget today, is we have some structural deficit deficits, and in the past, every year it seems like we spend not as much as we want. Um so, the town has to understand that eventually we have to come up with more money. Um and definitely in 2 years, because that's when our school choice money ends.
060Um if we haven't solved the problem before then, it's going to be catastrophic. Um it's the proverbial cliff. Um I would say in our own home budgets, if we saw that coming in 2 years, we'd want to solve it before we got there. Because we want to know ahead of time so we can plan. So, I just want to plant the seeds for the community to know we need to do something really in the next year, not in 2 years. Um and I personally support the 5% increase. I'm 5% increase budget, and I support using the kindergarten stabilization fund to fund the um 178 and 309,000. Yeah. Um anyway, I just want to say that I I wish we had more, and um I think that we'll be okay this year. Um but we would
061be better if we had more. That's it. Thank you. Mr. Oliver? I just have another follow-up to the point that was made earlier about the kindergarten position at Quinn. I certainly, one of the things that I first did was uh when that was uh up for discussion is that I requested our current and proposed projections for kindergarten enrollment across all three schools for next year. And I'll be the first one to say that if uh you know, enrollment gets to be too much for next year, I want to see that position put back. Um uh that that's the bottom line for me. Um so, that is that was certainly taken into consideration. That data was shared uh with the committee um as far as our what we currently are at for averages and what we
062are projected to be. So, thank you for bringing that up, and uh certainly uh was not uh forgotten. And I know what that I asked the same question, as well, and feel exactly the same way as you do, Mr. Oliver. So, I imagine everybody does. Any more discussion, Mr. Nunes? No, it's somebody want a motion on some money? Well, there is the motion sheet. >> No, I'm not that I'm talking about that one. Oh. I think I think we need um two motions. One is for this proposed Three motions. Three motions? Yeah. This proposed Oh, uh kindergarten stabilization and Um to separate Potter School out from >> Oh. Okay. >> Yes. All right. Um so, I could make a motion to approve the FY27 budget appropriation for Potter School classroom teachers in the amount of
0632,190,357 dollars. Second. Motion by Ms. Coughlin for the to approve the Potter School budget. Second by Mr. Nunes. All in favor? I. I. Uh opposed? I will abstain. And one abstention. So, four um in favor, one abstention. Madam Chair, make a motion to approve the FY27 budget appropriation for the total budget, excluding the item voted individually in the previous motion in the amount of $56,013,930. Second. Uh motion by Mr. Noons to approve um the entire budget um as proposed and uh seconded by Ms. Coughlin. All in favor? I. >> I. Opposed? Ms. Amaral? So, four in favor, one opposed. Been there, done that. Madam Chair, I make a motion that we request the Board of Selectmen to put a warrant article for the school department to appropriate $178,309 from the full-day kindergarten stabilization account for
064the Dartmouth Public School budget for school year 26-27. Do we have a second? >> Second. Motion to uh take $178,309 from the kindergarten state stabilization fund and make a request to the Select Board. >> Select Board um to do so um seconded by Mr. Oliver. All in favor? I. I. I. Unanimous. Good job. Thank you all for your support. I appreciate it. >> well done. >> Yeah. Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for your hard work on this, Mr. Kyle. Uh we move to new business. Uh for a superintendent update, I'm going to ask Mr. Kyle um to um share with us anything that you may have for the superintendent update. Thank you, Ms. Beckwith. So, we have a few things. Uh MCAS testing is happening at all levels. ELA uh MCAS will be wrapped up
065this week. We are participating in the biliteracy online testing for high school students now. Um we also just had our third in a series of five professional learning strands in the district for safe and supporting safe and supportive schools. Um we had High-Five Friday on Friday, April 10th, and we just wanted to thank our first responders for their collaboration and efforts to you know, build a positive relationship with our kids and um and it's always it's nice to to have them with us um as a partner. Um we've also completed an audit of all of our phone numbers and IP phones in the district. We're getting ready to convert to uh cloud-based telephone service in the future. So, we're busily uh preparing for that. The other thing that I I did want to share was
066that um last Monday, Senator Montigny's office contacted us asking us to submit a request. Um so, we we got the we got the message at 9:30 in the morning and we had to submit a request by 1:30 in the afternoon on Monday uh to submit something for the state Senate's supplemental uh budget bill. Which this is the first time that I've had that type of request. Um so, it it was great. Um they're utilizing the Fair Share Amendment millionaires tax um funds on transportation and education. So, they're they're using the supplemental budget bill to do so. Um he had requested $200,000 of of requests from Dartmouth. Um so, we submitted the school bus replacement and athletic and music equipment to um to Senator Montigny's office. We received word from the senator that um it was
067included in the budget, the state supplemental budget bill, and actually he amended it to be $270,000. Uh and the Senate voted to approve the amendment on Thursday. So, that's great. Um we'll have to see what happens with the rest of the legislative process, but uh the bus is about $150,000. That would leave about $120,000 for athletic and music equipment, things that we had on our capital improvement plan. So, we uh you know, we're we're incredibly grateful to be included in part of that process and and hopefully we uh we actually see that funding in the final version of the state budget. Um so, the the only other thing uh in terms of budgeting capital improvements that I wanted to mention is that we had received unanimous support by the Select Board to submit the statement
068of interest for the Dartmouth Middle School to the Mass School Building Authority, and we have done so. Everything's submitted. Uh they had an April 17th deadline. Uh so, we arranged everything and and uh that's we're in the queue now. So, we'll we'll find out more uh as time goes by as to our our chances and participation. That's it for my report. Any questions for Mr. Kyle? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Kyle. >> Thank you. And um next is report of the chair, and since I didn't know I would be chair, I do have no report um prepared other than to thank you for your confidence in me or just your thankfulness that I would do it. So, none of you >> [laughter] >> have to step up. Um I know I'm the last one to do
069it. So, um uh I'm ready and hopefully able. So, uh I want to say that our next meeting, regular meeting of the School Committee, is scheduled for Monday, May 4th [clears throat] at 6:00 p.m. right here in the Dartmouth High School Library Media Center. Um next, I'm looking for a motion to adjourn into executive session to conduct a grievance hearing pursuant um to the collective bargaining agreement between the Dartmouth School Committee and the Dartmouth Educators Associate Association, and then not to reconvene this evening. So moved. Second. Uh motion by Mr. Noons, seconded by Ms. Coughlin. Um And can we get a roll call? Kathleen Amaral? Yes. >> John Noons? Yes. >> Chris Oliver? Yes. >> Ms. Coughlin? Yes. Mary Beckwith? Yes. Um I call this meeting adjourned. Good job. Good job. >> Thank you. >>
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