Dartmouth School Committee Meeting, May 15 2023

001foreign [Music] foreign [Music] foreign [Music] I would like to call to order the school committee meeting for this May 15th um please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance [Music] who lost the flag I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States thank you Improv so um as as usual beginning of our meetings we allot 10 minutes for public comment and so I welcome any oh I'm sorry roll call Jeepers Kathleen Amaral here Chris Oliver here thank you Elizabeth Coughlin here Shannon Jenkins here John Nunes yep um so with being in meetings we allow 10 minutes probably comment and I just asked that when you come up but identify you know your name and then um with it being on the agenda for 10 minutes just be mindful that there might be other people that

002want to get up and and speak and um try to be as current as possible but come on up I am a 18-year resident of Dartmouth I am a parent of four children who have come through the Dartmouth public schools and I am a third grade teacher for the last 15 years at the Demello School in light of the fincom and the select board fully funding our budget at 4.4 percent we are seeking further classification about a line item in the school budget that is available online there is a line for classroom staff separate from the Administration staff with a percent change of 5.5 percent resulting in an extra 1.5 million dollars the DEA has rallied to support a fully funded budget and we are asking for more transparency as we continue to hear that

003our Cola increases are at a standstill at the negotiation table thank you thank you hi my name is Donna Costa I'm a secretary at the Dartmouth middle school and I am representing the secretary's unit we feel as a unit that the district does not seem willing to pay the secretary's a fair wage do you not believe we are worth the 8 000 a year we are asking for for the next three years eight thousand is the difference in the salary pay of Dr Gifford and the new superintendent Dr saber Maguire Union secretaries are paid less than their non-union counterparts we were told that fincom and select board have fully funded the school budgets for twenty four thousand the district can pay the union secretaries what they deserve for the next three years we are worth

004investing in collectively we have 278 years of experience in this District providing Collective support for all administrators in this District we have given you our loyalty we are asking for respect in terms of a fair wage thank you thank you good evening my name is Jillian Bond and I am a lifelong Dartmouth resident I was privileged to attend grades K-12 within the Dartmouth public school system I received an enriched education from passionate and inspiring teachers that afforded me many of the opportunities I've had throughout my life when my husband and I were deciding where to buy a home and start a family 10 years ago this was the primary reason we chose to stay in Dartmouth I am the proud mom of a Quinn's second grader all of the teachers assistants and support staff we've

005encountered over the past three years have been incredible my son feels loved and supported every day at school through remote kindergarten and on our son has received the highest quality education that we've come to expect from Dartmouth however as a fellow educator in a neighboring District I worry what the next 10 years of my son's education May hold if we don't start valuing our teachers and giving them what they deserve Dartmouth is losing its Competitive Edge in recruiting and retaining highly qualified Educators surrounding districts are offering higher pay and better benefits teachers have the ability to be more selective about the jobs they apply for and ultimately select as the number of Education job vacancies has increased due to teachers leaving the profession at an unprecedented rate since the pandemic anyone who has ever worked

006in education for more than a few years will tell you that this is truly a calling this profession is so much more than a job your kids become our kids and we often spend more time with them than our own families these Educators aren't here for the money but that doesn't mean it's right to pay them peanuts people should be able to afford to live in the community that they dedicate their lives to even the most amazing students and supportive staff won't pay the bills we come tonight to sa to ask you to fully support our teachers a fair wage in Affordable Health Care seem a low price to pay for the exceptional teachers we have in this District we have heard the new superintendent saying she wants us to be the best in the

007state and the best in the country we won't get there if you chase away amazing teachers because a poor pay and a horrible Insurance split give our teachers what they deserve so we can keep them in our district with our children thank you [Applause] thank you I am Jody Parisi I'm co-president of the Dartmouth Educators Association and I work at Quinn School over the past few months several of my colleagues have come to speak about the elementary 845 to 905 time the school committee's position is that going directly to the classroom is what is best for students I would like to add context to this topic prior to 2011 for over 30 years students went outside as soon as they arrived at school in the morning in 2011 this changed the argument being that it

008was taking kids too long to get to classrooms after the bell ring rather than attempting to streamline the process or ring the bell earlier students were instead assigned to designated areas in the building from 845 to 95. The Motto was 905 pencils in hand time on learning this changed from playing outside to waiting inside was not the decision of teachers but that of superintendent Riley in fact Educators were upset by this change although their Duty schedule remained the same on a rotating basis they were upset because they knew fresh air exercise and socializing is good for kids unfortunately at the beginning of the 2019-20 school year superintendent Gifford further restricted the socialization of Dartmouth Elementary students students who went to the building at 8 45 are not interacting with their body of peers but going

009directly to class where they may be the only student for several minutes prior to being joined by other classmates according to the American Academy of Pediatrics their policy on the role of unstructured play in school includes four critical benefits greater levels of physical activity and fitness improved attentiveness in class improved cognition and learning and practice of peer-to-peer social emotional skills the latter often overlooked is cited by Child Development experts as a fundamental skill set laying the basis for social success later in life in Dartmouth we are in the bottom in terms of per-pupil expenditure in the state allowing students that very valuable time in the morning would come at no cost to the district we urged the school committee to reconsider this decision thank you foreign thank you very much so uh I'm actually going

010to skip approval of minutes um actually I'm sorry the recognition where um one of the students who's being recognized is not going to be timely so I'm going to push this down and what I would like to propose is that we hear from Phoenix if you know an update and then move into do you want to do the minutes quickly okay all right we'll do the minutes and then I'll ask you for your update if that's okay so I will entertain a motion for the um regular and Joint meeting for the April 24th so moved second okay we have a motion any discussion all in favor aye and so now I will entertain a motion for the executive session minutes of that same meeting of April 24th you want to do May 2nd and adding

011the executive session minutes for May 2nd as well so move Madam chair with the stipulation to be held until the matter for which they were intended is complete thank you any discussion all in favor bye thank you for that and so Phoenix thank you for being here and you can update us on what's going on at the high school sure good afternoon evening at this point um so the school year is coming to a close for seniors which you know I like personally uh this is probably my second or last meeting I'll aim to still come to the June 4th meeting and provide any update I can at the last meeting I said I'd be trying to put out a survey to students and so what I tried to do is I tried to wait

012until the agenda released and that did not leave nearly enough time so I wasn't able to get that out at all but honestly if I did I imagined it'd be about three responses wouldn't be very helpful so I think instead when I'm going to try uh is putting out a just a constant common box as like in the form of a Google form which should hopefully populate with you know meaningful comments uh that I can voice to the school committee or you know the student advisory Council as a whole by the next meeting but I'm not sure if there will be enough proactive students I I think that'll be something we're going to find out I think that it'd still be interesting data to report back is that we're not getting very many responses it's

013you know not as helpful as that hope but it's still something so we'll see how that goes thank you no worries anyone have any no thank you so much I just have one question did you get the the materials for this meeting before the meeting I did get the materials before the meeting I just want to make sure thank you I'm trying to put it out an hour ago don't we thank you thank you great and so um next I would um start with our presentation Spotlight on kids the Potter School well that's fine with me we're gonna go with the Quinn School so we'll welcome Mr granfield Miss Thomas Mrs yermolovic to the podium with some special guests tonight foreign good evening can you hear me with this yes good evening thank you very

014much for having us tonight Quinn so tonight we're very excited we have four of our fifth grade peer leaders here that will actually be facilitating our entire presentation um a little background we had a PowerPoint that we were going to do first which was talking about our new mascot that we have this year at the Quinn school that we were talking about with previous couple of years to our school Improvement plan um these students on their own wanted to present that and on top of that actually made a second PowerPoint on their own that they'll also be presenting tonight as well too so other than introducing Mrs Thomas Mrs euromillovich and myself I'm going to turn it right over to our students my name is Olivia Sorensen my name is Emma Delgado my name is

015Tristan Michael Mears my name is Dustin Cabral how it started and the spring students voted on a mascot the four choices were Queen captains Queen Stars Quinn rockets and Quinn Lions Lions won with other 300 votes then we voted on a name Quinn Lionel Rory Leo and the winning name was Leo and now to honor our mascot we have coins or lion loot so if uh an adult sees a kid doing something good they were they will receive the lion loot if you're in grades three to fifth then you will put it in a pocket chart but if you're in kindergarten to second grade put it in a balls and um obviously we won't let we won't just make you do good work without having a reward so the class that has the most coins

016would get a special reward that's right food the top three students in all classes in how many coins that each student have collected or or if they if the teachers recognize that they were good and any of our four character traits response responsible organized accepting and respectful they will earn one of the a brag tag and a certificate of excellence in the topic for that trimester I pledge today to do my best and reading math and all the rest I promise to obey the rules in my class and in our school I'll respect myself and others too I'll I'll expect the best in all I do I'm here to learn all I can to try my best and be all I am my destiny all I am [Applause] so the students are going to explain

017in their own words with their own presentation what Roar means to them we just need one minute just to get their presentation ready they created this all by themselves [Applause] this is why being responsible can help you safe and help you learn oh wait wait that's what that's how being responsible helps well oh my being responsible helps keep you safe and help you learn I thought that was the title because the top part was cut off I don't know why oh wait no I still have another sign this is how to be responsible you shouldn't be late you should be direct when moving from class to class you should walk together you should wash your hands you should not eat within your mouth open you should use equipment properly you shouldn't stand on the bus

018you should be and you should be kind and you should not lie this is how to be organized one clean out your locker two have a place for everything like your books folders homework assignments and your Chromebook three go through everything to see if there's anything that you don't really need for every minute spend organizing and hours earned Benjamin Franklin how to stay organized because once you start it can't stop write it down on a piece of paper to remind yourself two put sticky notes to where things go three don't take so much stuff out at one time four do at least one cleanup each week or two and my final thing for organized is how being organized can help one there won't be as much of a mess for you or the custodians to

019clean up two it will be much more easier to get your stuff three you'll be able to get your items faster for you won't lose things so often slash so quickly and five if you have a clean and organized area then you'll have more me time how be how being accepting helps how to be accepting when you are at recess you include others to play with you compromise when other people don't agree when changes happen even though you might not like them you have to accept them how being accepting helps it helps you to be a nice person it helps make you more empathetic it helps it helps you understand kids differences the only way to have a friend is to be one Ralph Waldo Emerson foreign [Applause] how to be respectful say please and

020thank you walk on a line with your hands by your side close your lockers quietly be polite and wait your turn take care of school property and listen to your teacher and peers why is it important to be respectful it is important to be respectful because respect means that you accept somebody for who they are even when they are different from you or you don't agree with them respect in your relationships builds feelings of trust safety and well-being thank you and the students each student has a brag tag for each of you that has our Roar on it two people give them out to who doesn't get one so everyone gets one gets one yeah see if anything else doesn't have one thank you any questions so thank you very much and thank you very

021much to our fifth graders for being here tonight we'd be happy to take any questions or comments it's as simple as that so I just want to say I had the messiest Locker in middle school and I can attest that I did not have a lot of me time because I had to spend it cleaning out my locker so good advice about keeping your locker clean speaking from experience and I'm just impressed with how well you did in such a big crowd like breathe good job yeah what a great job with your presentation I love the power points I love the shirts this was just a very uh well done presentation of how you came about with your uh with your mascot so great job to all of you yeah fantastic I'm really impressed with

022you know your leadership and the way in which you presented and took the initiative and created this and and you know shared this with you with all of us and thank you for the tag and I would just appreciate it good job excellent so we're going to move forward and um introduce um so the Potter School Spotlight on kids will welcome Mr Porter and Mrs McHenry and and their special guests from Potter Street [Applause] good evening and on behalf of all the Potter students we thank you for the opportunity to talk to you all tonight so this is my third year as principal presenting Potter's Spotlight on kids now due to covid-19 for the last two years we have been unable to bring students to this presentation well tonight is different and I could not

023be happier this evening you're going to hear from six amazing grade five students who are going to tell you why Potter School is special to them a recurring theme that you will hear from these children is not necessarily about the academic learning that has occurred during these years of Potter although they will mention how prepared they are for their future endeavors you'll hear about the importance of relationships I have been with the Dartmouth Public Schools as a teacher and administrator for 33 years so I feel well versed in knowing what makes our school system special the legacy of the Dartmouth schools is about how staff invest in kids in a most meaningful way that leaves a positive impression on those youngsters for years to come and that Legacy is alive and well today I see

024it every morning when I see kids coming off the bus and heading to their classrooms whether it's the music teacher in the hall brightening their day with Happy Tunes while he's playing his guitar or it's a beloved educator who connects with a child to assist them with a division challenge before the official start of the day at 905. it can be a staff member who greets a student at 8 45 who is in their classroom every morning who remembers to ask the kid how their sick pet is doing it could be the custodian who has known some of these kids since kindergarten and sees them in the hallway before the start of the day who offers them words of encouragement it is how we treat each other that has made all the Dartmouth schools a

025home away from home for many of our students so last week we celebrated staff appreciation days and on behalf of all of us see it tonight I would like to take my hat off to all the staff at the Dartmouth Public Schools but being there for kids and always knowing what's best for children I think they deserve a round of applause lastly when you hear these essays you'll be reminded that as we as adults need to remember that sometimes it takes a kid to find the silver lining and even the most difficult times but enough for me now you need to hear from the experts so Cameron will you lead us off tonight hello my name is Cameron Leverett my time at Potter School is extraordinary because it is like no other school it is

026a very special place the lunch ladies are Master cooks and their lunches are yummy part of school does a great job getting all fifth graders ready for Middle School Potter School is special because the catch me at my best slips if the school gets enough slips then we have a school-wide activity also on morning and afternoon announcements Mr Porter and Mrs McHenry called out to announce two people that have learned earned a slip to pick out a prize they have many good lunches at Potter my favorite lunch is the chicken spaghetti meal is 10 out of 10. I'm not being biased because I'm Italian but it is really good two of my friends also said it was a 10 out of 10. the Lunch Ladies make the pasta perfectly and the chicken is mmm so

027good like I said oh no the chicken pasta is 10 out of 10. like I said in part of school part of school gets you ready for Middle School the fifth grade teachers give you a bit of sixth grade work so you're repair the work may be hard but it really will help you out when you start sixth grade all in all Potter School is a great school they prepare you for the next grade they have great food and they have really cool activities When You Get Enough catchment by the best slips [Applause] hello my name is Chloe Tripp Pottery school is so amazing many things make it special just just a few things that make it make pottery school special is the way it made me feel when I first came to Potter also

028how the teachers made it fun during covet lastly the many things Potter School has taught me my first year at Potter was in first grade Mrs filoso was a big part in why my first year was so special she was kind and always made learning fun another reason why my first year was so special was the friends I made because I did not have a lot of friends because I moved school so my sister was basically my only friend when I came here the girls in my class were very welcoming and kind so that helped me with my conference because I knew I could make friends at the end of second grade covet hit and we all had to stay home and do school from home it was hard to do school from home but

029the second grade teachers made it fun for us with the second grade play then when we went into third grade we were still online for one and a half months then in October we came back and cohorts A and B Mrs Oliver helped us with everything from computer problems to teaching us how to multiply my favorite part of third grade was when we would play around the world with our multiplication facts then at the end of third grade year we got to get rid of all the cohorts but we still had mask on that is how we finished our third grade year then we came back to fourth grade still on mask on for some of the year then we finally got to take our the mask off and it was almost back to normal

030Potter School has taught me a lot of things how could I possibly write everything down to name a few I learned how to be kind and treat others how you want to be treated I also learned how to be a good student and listen to the teacher I also learned about the moon phases in multiplying fractions one of my favorite things I learned how to do is to read this is my favorite Rhythm because I read all the time and if I do not if I do not have this scale I would not be able to read all my favorite stories in conclusion Potter school is so amazing many things make it special just a few things that make Potter School specialist the way it made me feel when I first came to Potter also

031how the teachers made it fun during covet lasted many things Charter Schools taught me foreign I thought about only one thing the fact that my school accepted me so fast hello my name is Rafael gargas and I'm a student at George H Porter school I am in fifth grade I first came here in kindergarten I'm about to tell you why I always wondered about this and why I was so important part of school was special to me because I made good memories everyone was so kind and finally because I spent a majority of my elementary schools there the first reason Porter school is special to me is because I made good memories when I first arrived on the bus I was lost everyone was talking on the bus I didn't know anyone but when I

032stepped foot into this the school building I immediately felt like I was at home with a warm welcome and some kind Hearts from the teachers I felt good I walked into the classroom and suddenly I froze when even when my heart was frozen I still felt good at recess I didn't meet my friends right away I met them on the fourth or fifth day everyone at the school was very nice my first friends were Landon Eckstrom and Nathaniel irovitsky they were very nice to me and I made memory many good memories with them which means I also made good memories in the school I remember making many games outside at recess those were some of my greatest memories the second reason Porter school was so special to me is because everyone was so kind to

033me in first grade I knew most of the people and everyone was nice to me I had made a good relationship with everybody and everyone accepted me as a student every time I wasn't happy they would comfort me and make sure I was okay hmm my friends were now very nice to me and they comforted me they always asked for my opinion before theirs I had many more friends such as Avery Ben and Isaac nobody on the bus seemed like a stranger to me not all of them were my friends but I still knew most of the people on the bus that was the same year I was introduced to a kindness plan to prevent bullying these were the many ways that my school was so kind the final reason Potter School was so special

034to me is because I spent most of my elementary school years in this school in fourth grade I felt like I knew everything about the school the way to the classroom the teachers I even felt like I knew every single classmate in the whole grade and on the bus I knew almost everyone in the whole grade and I noticed something in my ears every year I had made more friends in fourth grade I had new friends such as Isaac Parsons and Ryan Reilly at the same time I was making a better relationship with my original friends these are the reasons why Potter school is so special to me because I made good memories everyone was so kind and finally because I spent a majority of my elementary school years there okay [Applause] hi my name

035is Olivia Berry and I've been at Potter School since kindergarten and both my parents went to Potter school too you might think it's hard going to school if you're shy because you have to talk and answer questions but at Potter School it's different Potter School is special to me because my teachers make me feel at home we have a big space at races so we can have more fun and there aren't too many rules Potter School is special to me because the teachers always make me feel welcome and kindergarten my teacher Mrs Heller never made me talk when I didn't feel comfortable talking in first grade when I was sad my teacher Mrs Martino always comforted me and made me happier in third grade my teacher would let me go up to her when I

036had a question and my fourth grade teacher Mrs Porter would also let me go up to her instead of saying it across the class also my fifth grade teacher Mr Nutra let me go up to the teacher table to ask a question Potter School is special to me because we have a big space at recess so we can have more fun when I went to my cousin's school they only had a little bit of space for recess and we have two playgrounds called Bigfoot Littlefoot Bigfoot is bigger than Littlefoot and we can also play at the picnic tables or in Mrs Goodman's Garden Potter's school is special to me because there aren't too many rules the three main rules are called P to the three and they're Paws to be kind posed to be a

037learner and pause to be safe at recess an example is there's a buddy bench for if you have no one to play with and you cannot jump off the slides Potter will always be special because the staff are kind we have room at recess and there are not a million rules [Applause] my name is Catherine Ramirez I'm in the fifth grade with the most amazing teacher Mr Anne I've been a student here for about two years I moved here in second grade left and came back in fifth honestly I couldn't be more happy about my decision these are three of the many reasons why Potter school is so special to me one is the amazing staff members next are Potter traditions and finally how Potter has prepared me for middle school every morning I'm always

038so anxious to get ready as fast as I can to catch the bus at 8 30. even if that means sometimes I have to tie my shoes on the bus just so I can get just so I can greet Mr Lena my bus driver as we get dropped off at the doors of school almost every day I see Mr Nick the custodian and wave a hello his way as always he waves with his blue latex gloves on and says either hey hon or hey sweetie this always makes my day I could never forget about my fifth grade teacher Mr Anne let me tell you she's awesome especially when she put it especially when she put up with my at times Behavior at the beginning of the year in second grade I was so lucky to

039be in Miss Lawrence's class in 2019 and 2020. let me tell you one thing I love Potter Traditions they're all so fun and so fun and exciting for example the Halloween parade it's so fun but also kind of embarrassing walking in your Halloween costume in front of everyone but that makes it more exciting in second grade I was a blow up dinosaur and I needed help getting on the stage because I almost fell and oh the Super Bowl this one's not embarrassing but whatever class brought in the most canned goods holds the Beloved Super Bowl trophy my class Miss Duran had it until this year Miss pimento won it over and even at the end of the year the fifth grade recognition night you come with your parents in your car and their streamers balloons

040people honk everybody's clapping Etc it's basically a fifth grade graduation let me tell you fourth graders you're in for a treat next year the final reason Potter is so special to me is that it's prepared me so well for Middle School especially Mr and for teaching me so many new things and helping me this year as she would say we're in the year of the sixth grader even though it's gonna going to be really hard moving on to middle school and leaving all of my elementary teachers behind in the friends I have that might go to different middle schools I think I'll be able to move on even if it takes time this is why Potter school is so special to me and how I will never forget my awesome time here at Potter Elementary

041School [Applause] thank you beep beep and there's bus 11 coming to pick me up for my first day of school I walk on the bus I see Becky my favorite bus driver ever I step into the aisle look to my right I see Raphael sleeping I look to my left I see Dominic staring out the window that's how it all started my name is alecuff and I'm at Potter Elementary School for my sixth year and I'm still loving it but the but these are just three reasons why Potter is special to me first of all I've made lots and lots of friends here at Potter I almost I also love Potter traditions and last but certainly not least Potter just wouldn't be the same without all the great staff memories the first reason why Potter

042Elementary School is special to me is all the friends I've made my friends at Potter have helped me make so many great memories if it wasn't for Potter I would be lonely and bored every day of the week I also would probably have about two friends my friends just make school so much more fun I couldn't imagine it without them most of the time they even make hard projects fun I guess School wouldn't be so bad without them but they're just the cheese on my pizza I couldn't go without them the second reason why Potter is special to me is all their tradition one example is the Super Bowl although I've never won it's always fun competing with the rest of the school another fun part of tradition is the second grade geography play even

043if I had to do it online this was still found a way to make it fun it's always been very fun the last it's also been very fun the last few years watching the play the last part of tradition I'm going to mention is the Halloween parade it's all you could ever ask for you get to show off your costume and walk through the whole school and look at all the other creative costumes and finally the last reason why I love Potter School is the great staff I've never had a teacher that I don't like I'm going to horribly miss all the staff memories when I go off to middle school they all do their job perfectly I look at them as a teacher while I'm in the class but when I move up a

044grade I look at them as a friend all my teachers have made school so much more fun with their great activities but Mr Porter has taught me more lessons than any teacher that's just three reasons why Potter Elementary School is special to me but I couldn't go but I could go on and on I don't know what I'll do without this place [Applause] so now for a few thank yous and let's start with the students first thank you for your hard work and your bravery in coming out tonight and sharing all of your wonderful memories with all of us so can we give them another round of applause and thank you to their parents who took time out of I'm sure a very busy home life schedule to bring them here tonight we appreciate you

045and we love that you we get to share every weekday with your children so thank you thank you to our staff and we'll start with the fifth grade teachers uh Mr Dutra Mrs Durant and Mrs Goodman and the teacher assistant in fifth grade Mrs Braga for their guidance and the time that they took to have our students work on this project so thank you and to all of our staff that have created the memorable experiences that the student so eloquently shared with all of you tonight it is obvious that they value the importance of building relationships with students Beyond just academics so we thank you and lastly thank you to the school committee for giving Potter School another opportunity to share our happy place with all of you and we'll we'll be happy to take

046any feedback or any questions and I'll have the students Perhaps Perhaps answer those questions [Laughter] in all services It's a Wonderful presentation the students great job you were very articulate and very well versed the teachers and that helped you out I appreciate it great job keep up the good work and good luck in middle school next year yeah I'll agree they were great presentations you all did a great job and it's also it's clear the quality of instruction that went into writing those essays you all did an awesome job and your teachers did as well and getting you here so thank you uh yeah I would like to say the writing was exceptional and I loved that each of your personalities shown through you are all individuals wonderful wonderful presentation all very different lovely so

047this is why I enjoy being on school committee for nights like this between this presentation and the presentation by Quinn earlier what a great job to each and every one of you like some of my colleagues in school committees said very very articulate very creative and I just love the presentation and there's certainly some things to be said about what's going on over at Potter school so great job to all of you and to the to the Educators at Potter as well as you too yeah I think my colleagues said it all I um I just will add that assuming you're all moving up to Dartmouth Middle School um you've got something to look forward to because uh there's a wonderful group of teachers and Educators and programs awaiting you so I look forward to

048see how you move forward and thank you for you know your staff and and your leadership and and helping you know facilitate these you our future so thank you very much and so I received word that are we're ready for that next item on the agenda I'm going to turn it over to you Mr Kylie wait a sec just well everyone's leaving okay you too you too thank you hub [Laughter] really great job yeah a little future leader I know those were great yeah yeah almost as good as my budget discussion I don't know why they're taking so long to file out here yeah so they can't get it yeah they're only opening window and they open the boat now keep walking I know right a good thing there isn't a fire there's a very

049slow accident [Music] it was fun that was very nice enjoyed that so tonight we're going to welcome Mr Shea to the podium to present us with two outstanding winners of the superintendent certificate of academic excellence there's a reason why the high school lights usually go first just so we all know I'm not gonna be that cute [Laughter] I thank you everyone I have really really the honor and the distinction and the pleasure to introduce or reintroduce to students on Sean and Serena um you know and just to take a step back without the efforts of those Elementary School efforts and the Roar and the relationships I don't know if all of our students would be here so we are truly grateful of the process that gets our students to the high school um I want

050to um introduce you to Serena today Serena is is fresh off a track meet so talk about dedication talk about school not ending at 2 30 that this is two students that define it the term unsung hero is fitting for Serena she's a student who continues to meet expectations placed on her while never seeking attention for her efforts Serena has maximized her experience at DHS thriving in both academics and athletic leadership she has earned a 4.23 GPA out of a potential 4.3 she has done this while participating in rigorous coursework she has taken a total of six AP classes earning the distinction of AP scholar Serene has the passion for stem coursework and has served as the impetus for her success attention to math and sciences have helped her achieve her goal of entering the

051world of Medicine not only is Serene and academic scholar she's also a three-season athlete Serena was a member of the cross country team as well as Captain of winter and spring track Serena leads by example and respected by her peers in Meet she'll often run the one mile turn around run a two mile or a four by four which I don't know if anyone wants to run the 400 but that's okay um depending on what is best for the needs of the team her coaches describe her as responsible student athlete she often leads the distance Runners on her own she is always willing to do whatever it takes to support the team outside of support outside of sports Serene is a member of the Medical Careers Club she has been a lead organizer for this

052year's Blood Drive organizing is a massive task it includes but not limited to working with the Red Cross prior to the event recruiting volunteers and Gathering students and teachers to donate blood her involvement at DHS has modeled her as a leader and paved the way for future success when talking with Serena's teachers the most common terms to describe are hard-working and kind in terms of hard work it's not evident through the only her transcript and track accomplishments it's also the little things that teachers have noticed Serene is constantly trying to learn from her mistakes she's always willing and wanting to do rework redo her work even with minimal errors she doesn't want to just fix the era she wants to know the why she is focused on improving always in addition to her dedication to

053Excellence in learning Serena's kindness and compassion for others separate her from the rest it is difficult to see Serena leave DHS however she will succeed and represent Dartmouth well and she continues her education at UMass this fall um this fall congratulations Serena [Applause] the next student I get to introduce is Sean Martin is the example of what it means to take advantage of all that DHS has to offer he embodies the definition of academics leadership and service he has earned a GPA of 4.27 out of a potential three 4.3 meaning in his entire career DHS he's earned an A-Plus in every class but two he earned it a instead at the end of his career at DHS Sean will have taken a total of 12 AP classes in which he excelled Sean has earned three

054College Board Awards and a Capstone diploma in his sophomore year he was identified as an AP scholar with honors by surpassing the average AP score of 3.25 with a 4.25 then not to be outdone his junior year he kicked it up a notch Sean was named AP scholar with distinction by earning an average AP score of 4.5 out of 5. Sean has been an active member of the school Community a school Community he has t he has been a member of the football and basketball teams as well as unified track as class president for all four years Sean is leaving a lasting Legacy he challenges me every day he was in my office today challenging me he challenged me to take risks and Trust in the student body often times when we meet he ensures

055the administrative team that the student body will make the right decisions his peers respect him listen to him and make decisions that better that benefit the entire School experience Sean understands the effect of the pandemic and he continuously strives to make sure his class has the best experience coming out of it I look forward to all the wonderful things for Sean as he enters the next educational career coming September Sean will enter Harvard's class of 2027 studying Finance where he will make a difference congratulations Sean [Applause] I can let these two talk if you want but um please go ahead I Just Want to Thank You Mr Shea so much coming in this year especially after covid years before he made a huge impact on my senior year especially unifying um Dartmouth with the one

056Dartmouth slogan it really unified us and brought us together and I really do appreciate him I also want to thank one of my favorite teachers here like my favorite teacher here at Dartmouth High School Mr Reed he like he had a huge impact on my whole experience I took u.s2 honors with him and AP Psychology and they were the two best courses ever um I'm a stem person but Mr Reed make me made me love history and psychology so I just want to thank him so much [Applause] hello everybody um I'd like to start off by thanking the school committee for hearing us out spending some time I know you only meet every two weeks or every week so this is uh extremely special for you to give us this time um I'd also like

057like to thank Mr Shea and the administrative team for um considering me for this scholarship I know truly what an honor it is to be one of the two people selected out of such an amazing class um I think during our time here we've gone through a lot we've we've gone through a pandemic we've I've walked in Halls marked off that tell me which side I can walk on which side I can't I've worn The Masks um I've seen two different principles about to be two superintendents and I think with Mr Shea coming in he's done a great job of communicating as the class president I've had the honor of being able to talk with him very often about issues and making sure that the student body is represented in their best interests so I

058just like to thank Mr Shea the administrative staff for as we kind of return to normalcy continuing to prioritize communication and allowing us to set the smoothest return possible and ensure that both the interests of the staff and the students are represented it's been a real honor thank you [Applause] just congratulations I think Mr Oliver said a perfect uh when part of school was up here this is why we do what we do and we get the opportunity to see what our students are doing and it never ceases to amaze me and it's just wonderful and I wish you and the senior class nothing but the best in the years to come yeah I'll just say uh congratulations you also did a great job and Mr Shea put you on the spot to speak without

059notes so super impressed by that and good luck next year um yeah super impressed and I know that you will represent Dartmouth very very well yeah what a great accomplishment to you both Mr Shea had some wonderful things on behalf of the uh your teachers and Educators and staff here at the Dartmouth High School to say about both of you so you should both of you as well as your family should be extremely proud of your accomplishments so I wish you nothing but the best in college so congratulations yeah and congratulations I'll just Echo what my colleagues have said you know really impressed and look forward to seeing what else your uh unfolds for you in the future so congratulations [Applause] you may want to say you may want to turn around and see everyone

060standing behind you [Laughter] excellent um so next on our agenda goodness we are in Old business we're going to talk about the towns indigenous people's history and culture committee can I turn it over to you Mr Kylie to give us an overview and and step proposed steps forward sure thank you Mrs Amaral so it's been such a good night um we're now going to talk about the town's indigenous people history and culture committee that the select board voted a charge and have now forwarded that charge to you folks for your consideration so I know you've all had the charge there are a few steps that I think the committee could take with this charge if you find the charge acceptable in its current format you could vote it and then um discuss membership of the

061of the voting members of the group um if there's anything that you want to consider for revisions um you could also you know proceed in that direction um and forward those back you could forward those back to the select board for their consideration um I do know I noticed that we have Mrs Waite here tonight who has actually uh you know actively served in the school committee capacity on on that group as well so I've not been a part of that group but I know she's represented the committee in that in that so you could certainly um ask her to share her thoughts as well her official capacity would you yeah thank you Mary if you don't mind coming up just to give a people like all those amazing presentations just remember it's a lot

062easier out there than it is back here [Laughter] our committee has been um you know just to keep you up to date you know we started really as a working group with uh David tattlebaum and I like first meeting I'm talking about you know what this would look like what our like charge was um certainly we wanted to make you know since the talent voted overwhelmingly and we did as a group we voted to maintain the Indian as well as a logo we wanted to move forward and make sure that we're educating the community and that was like our main charge so David and I started meeting and then we like reached out to see what other committee members you know who else was interested in like throughout the community as well as in the

063schools so to that expanding committee it was like I said it was Dave and myself as well as Sean McGinnis then Heidi Brooks had joined Sally Aldrich who came in as a you know really a member of the historical society and then we have a number of our school folks of course we have Ross and Katie Dr Gifford attended those first initial meetings as well and then in addition Mike Martin Lily Chamberlain and Beth NATO so I feel like had a really productive like group meeting and in those meetings you know our as a group our mission was really to support the schools and the educational side the curriculum is certainly not within our purview as of course you all know like from a school committee lens but on the other side the mission is

064to educate the town at large um so we did you know reach out to a number of various in you know folks within like the aquina so in particular David tattlebaum met with those folks to try to like get their input involvement we also met with Peter Crawley in anawan from the Wampanoag experience so we found out a little bit of what they're doing they're the ones who erected the the we too over around the bend farm so we talked to them and they like provided some of their like you know ideas and we also more recently met you know under and I have to give Miss Chamberlain back there like certainly a tremendous amount of credit for organizing the meeting with the members of the cassett who we met to talk about um here

065within Dartmouth to talk about erecting a display case to really like right in the central like uh Lobby to really show like an honorable history and the current culture of um the um our unique history with our Mass well I was just say like logo and our name and so we talked at Lanes with those folks as well to get their input and that was a very productive you know strong meeting so you know so you know again on the town side while we've you know been supporting the schools and the town side we've been talking about you know what our next steps are and again um the select board themselves like moved to make this a formal committee which again entails formal um appointments with voting members that have to be residents of the

066town with that said you know the lens forward is that this is a three-year commitment for each of the members um the goal is that starting this fall we will have erected some kiosks around town at like different spots that are really like critical um to the cultural history as well as the the history itself of those indigenous folks who are first here are certainly places like Russell Garrison would be one at the stadium we're also talking about in a relationship opening with the YMCA I know that Katie Pavel has been working on that Beth NATO as well to talk about working with like share the harvests enjoying our Three Sisters as well as having some kiosks there and possibly even doing a we too so we've looked at some other sites as well we're

067also hoping to do a land acknowledgment coming up at you know ideally it would be initiated at the fall town meeting and then you know go from there and that would be opening up all of our you know meetings throughout town I know David talked about Mr tattlebaum talked about having those open up you know Town meetings select board meetings particularly Finance you know all the meetings throughout town is starting with the land acknowledgment and we have a model that you know we we spoke to the picasset um looking on model that was used at the Russell's Middle School House is one like possible start so again I feel like we have had a you know a lot of you know really good Movement we also have Aaron kadu who has done a bit of

068documentary work going back to the um the celebration for dartmouth's anniversary and so with that you know he looked into King Phillips war and I believe he started having conversations with um Rob perrotti as well so they're working on kind of expanding that documentary so again I feel like there's been a lot of great traction now it's the question of like you know where we go next and again the lens from what I understand like this was again outside of this happened on select board to like formalize this so my understanding is that they're looking at and you probably have the specifically the charge as well as a membership there is that they're having a member that would represent the school committee as well as a members of the select board and then you know

069two at large members hopefully someone from the historical commission and so forth um I would say like I would love to see the membership largely for those folks who are interested that are still in the committee continue I think we've made you know have a lot of people who are very dedicated and have made a lot of good Headway and trying to make good on this you know on educating the two the folks in Dartmouth about you know what does the Indian name and what does this you know symbol really mean and put some true history around it so that's uh that's about it have a question for Miss way before we yes oh I have some comments but I don't have a question for Miss wait okay does anyone have any other questions and

070then I guess well just comments okay so thank you thank you Mary um at this point so I guess what we'll have to do is uh deliberate on um uh uh how we're going to move forward and I I miss Dr Jenkins you had your hand up and then so I I have you know um I kind of have a problem with the first bullet on the charge here this is a committee that's made up of two members from the schools um and we're talking about providing assistance and instruction instruction is the purview of the schools it should report only to the schools and I know they're not talking about you know dictating what curriculum and instruction is but I have a problem with a committee that is reporting to two places providing feedback or

071providing any sort of oversight about or about instruction so all of the other things I don't have a problem with but I my recollection of our discussion of this was this gonna was going to be the town side and the schools were going to develop something internal that was comprised of our of teachers right we have no no teachers on here right you know our our curriculum people right members of the community can be on that to provide input but I don't feel comfortable with the committee that is a minority of school committee members providing input onto curriculum instruction in the schools if I could just clarify so I I don't believe that the charge first bullet is to advise curriculum it says instruction in the schools I am not comfortable with that language and

072I cannot vote for this with that language in this charge we can't have the select board telling our teachers or giving feeling like they have the ability to give our teachers and our staff input about instruction that's just not acceptable Mr Oliver thank you madam chair see I see this a little bit differently I see this I I can certainly appreciate uh your point of view Dr Jenkins I see this as this group meeting with the curriculum directors with the curriculum team weren't we just recently invited uh where we talked about the the curriculum Advisory board or whatnot I see them meeting with that I I I don't have a problem removing um what you had spoke where is that uh the instruction piece um you know if it's that if if that's what's bothering

073you but I see this as an opportunity for them to meet with representatives from the school department and I'm fine with that it's just the providing a d ideas and assistance in the instruction in the schools like that language is a bridge too far I'm happy with them providing input right I even you know ideas but I don't I don't I worry about that charger on instruction like what if the committee decides that the school should instruct on something that's antithetical to our charge from the state government but that's not their position I guess that's not their position to make right and so that's why I would like to have the instruction in the school's piece taken out of this charge they're welcome to meet with groups in the school and they're welcome to talk

074that's totally fine but again what I remember when we talked about setting this up this was going to be the townside committee and the schools when we talked about curriculum we were going to do our own thing and and that having a group of teachers of staff and even some community members working on instruction understanding the Massachusetts curriculum Frameworks right that group I'm fine with them providing guidance and input about curriculum I think ultimately that's going to be the group that does right yeah so I don't have a problem if we want to remove instruction I'm okay with that I don't know if anyone else how anyone else feels I mean I'm agreeable to that as well I see your point um and so how would this work we you know that's just one bullet

075but we then would send this back for their review upon I mean I know we have other things to discuss but is that oh yeah okay yeah Madam chair thank you Saint Ronald I mean I agree with what Dr Jenkins I understand what Mr Oliver was saying and said I'm going I'm looking at the membership seven members I'm good with that I'm not one that likes big committees things of that nature anyway but um uh where it says this the select board May appoint additional resident voting members of the committee upon request I'm just concerned that this thing mushrooms out and then you you know and you you go from Seven members which is you know easy to you know to work with to how many you know what what becomes the limit and such

076I mean you could have you know 25 people because everybody wants to get involved you know God bless them for wanting to but then could in some instances get a little bit and I don't mean it in a disrespectful way unruly and unmanageable I guess is the is the proper term to use to uh to do something of that nature so you know I think this personally there's got to be some some tweaking or some uh uh you know some Maximum that that the select border gun if we put in there you know yeah two or four maybe I can live with but you know it almost to me sounds like there's an you know that could be an unlimited number of people and then it becomes you know unmanageable may I may I recommend

077we add the select board and school committee hour and the salt and select surprisingly probably since they wrote this but they get to appoint both of the at-large members and they get to a point the additional members and so I think if we're gonna change the size of the committee I think they need to come back to us too I agree yeah and and the way I'm understanding standing is understanding it is um that that issue aside is that you know we misweight you know is is so invested and has done so much work and the website and all of that in our comment about um hoping to see that the folks the other dedicated Miss Chamberlain and Miss Neto to be on it you know to continue on it now she miss way sat

078as a Committee Member um do we have to reword if we were to I mean my thought is to have Miss weight continue it does say one designee yes from the I mean could we does it could our designee be a non school committee member or would we have to revise to if we were in agreement uh I yeah to propose Miss Wade if she's so is interested in continuing I'm sure she is because of the time and effort would we have to then reword this a little to be more specific to have it not be a or does a school Committee Member want to sit in yeah I mean I would like to see him this way continue if it's helpful to clarify is that and again like your point around like the select

079award wait can you talk in that oh yeah yeah I apologize of course so the uh I will say this it was a working group and then select board and I was my understand that it was going to be a formed it and then select board did you know for in between meetings did decide to formalize it from the select board as as a meeting um I mean as the command excuse me but it was my understanding that the intent and again I think the language it you know again could be tweaked but the intent is that the schools still meet as a separate entity to work on this as and they and again with led by um miss paveo Mr Tebow you know again they're still working within that and again this as it

080was again and the language may not speak to that and then I haven't seen that language but I will say that the intent was that this group would be supporting the schools but we would not be at any point dictating the curriculum or developing curriculum it's more the support network the task of the group is to support the schools and then educate the town so that is that is why I you know again that was the mission and the Mandate from what I understood as discussed at our last meeting and I know there's like Miss Chamberlain there's some other members that are here Mr Martin there with that last meeting but again that was how it was uncertain I did not get a copy of the specific language but I just wanted to clarify from

081like you know what how we understood it and how it's been developed and on that Committee of course the bulk of that committee has been teachers and administrators with a few select other folks meaning now myself and and David and Heidi of course who was an educator and Miss Eldridge but everyone else has been is a teacher and we have put out multiple as far as like it being overwhelmed we've had multiple calls for folks and have not had folks coming up so again just I just want to provide that background I appreciate that but moving forward this group cannot continue to operate this per the language here right right the people that you've mentioned cannot serve on this committee right and so we have we can establish something else but because of that because

082all of those people who are involved in this cannot be on this committee I I will not vote for this with the word instructions I mean everyone else can but I will not I'm not comfortable with that I'm not comfortable with the committee that is a few people outside of the schools regardless of who's done this previously this is the language the second thing I would so that would be my first sort of proposed amendment following up from what Mr noons has said I would propose that the select board appoints a Community member and we appoint a Community member and that any additional resident voting members has to come by both boards right otherwise it puts I mean it says it reports to the school committee and the select board but does it really report

083to us if everyone's appointed by this you know what I mean most of the people are appointed by the select board I agree I would agree so you would propose amending to suggest we appoint someone a Community member and so there are two community at large members my proposal would be that we would appoint allow the select board to point one and we would appoint one if this board is to report to the both of us then we both need to have power here and to Mr noon's point that latter one about appointing additional voting members there's going to be a cap or it should be the select board additional voting members may be appointed to the committee upon upon the request of the committee and approval of the select board and the school committee

084with a with a cat also I agree well we can cap it right I'm happy to cap it yeah but I think we by our vote we went captain yeah could I just thought for a suggestion regarding that first bullet I was wondering if the committee might consider the part where it says develop appropriate Commendation commemoration sorry of indigenous pupils and act an advisory capacity to the schools on the culture history and diversity of indigenous peoples that's fine yeah that way they could be a resource correct but they don't have any say in instruction or curriculum yeah okay that's good that's fine yeah okay any other um defense or so now we would then I mean just go ahead I would think now this you know with these adjustments this has to go back to

085the okay to the to the select point so this is going to bounce back unfortunately sounds good excellent thank you thank you Mary yeah thank you for your effort Mary thanks Mary thank you okay so that'll come back to us all right good next um turn it over to you Mr Kylie the fiscal year budget thank you speaking of bouncing back and forth the fiscal year 24 budget so I guess first I'd like to say that I appreciate the support of of the select board and finance committee for voting in favor of the budget that was presented to them I also want to convey that I do appreciate Mr McGinnis and Mr carrero's um speaking with me and and ultimately adjusting their proposal I also you know would be remiss I think if I didn't

086thank the staff for their support in this budget process and I think that they made a difference um you know supporting what we do and I think it was noticed by other boards and I think it was significant so all that said we still have a deficit which I mentioned at the select board meeting but nobody really paid much attention to so the the current problem is that the budget that was voted by the select board and the finance committee is 99 275 dollars less than our budget that you all voted for now it's not an insurmountable amount I think there's options available to us but I do think that we should talk about those options and try and figure out how we're going to do this um I I when I so I discovered

087the variance when I was watching the finance committee meeting in which they voted the budget and I took screenshots of of uh of the of what they were presented with on DC TV and realized right away as soon as I looked at it I said okay that doesn't look right and it was a series of numbers that I had to add up in my head real quick and then I said okay we're still off I don't understand why who prepares those numbers for them um so the town Administration prepares those numbers so uh I immediately contacted the Town Administrator and the finance director and alerted them to the fact that what had just been voted was not our budget um so I know that they've communicated that they adjusted the budget into to its you

088know to the point where there was no deficit but that's not accurate so our budget was adjusted uh let's see 489 233 dollars we needed it to be adjusted 588 508 dollars I spoke with I've got to say you know I've spoken a couple of times since then with Mr Carrero and he has he's been making an effort um it's his his first time through this process and I think that may be part of the part of the issue so one of the things that he pointed out was that early on in the process when they calculated our um our budget they used a percentage increase on top of the um on top of the FY 23 budget so they said oh it's a 5.1 percent increase and they took the FY 23 budget and

089increased it by 5.1 percent however the increase is actually 5.1234 percent so it is rounded to 5.1 so that variance is twelve thousand dollars again not insurmountable and if that's all it is you know we can figure something out I guess but it's more than that and I don't know what what the rest of the variance is I don't understand it so um I will say that Mr Carrero has made an effort to um Lobby for us in terms of um maybe there's another way to approach this and maybe they could give us some Capital Improvement money at the next town meeting um that was an offer that I don't think is a sure thing offer but I think that was a way you know to to try and help with gap at this point

090both boards have voted I don't think there's any intent from the town side to to change what's going to be on the schedule a at town meeting so um that's kind of the start of this discussion but the other part of this is how the budget Gap was was resolved and the largest first of all we have done the bulk of the work on this obviously we we reduced the budget 361 thousand dollars on March 27th we meaning the school committee and me um on on March 27th we then the proposal was made by Mr McGinnis to eliminate our 200 000 amount that is in the operating budget but not directly in our operating budget so the town's operating budget for technology purchases each year so that's been done what that means is that we

091have to it's not a it's not an increase for us it's just something that we then have to absorb and we do need technology we can't go without we can find a way to minimize that for a year and kind of try and Bridge a gap but it's not a long-term solution for us so um the other way that was presented at the select board to bridge the gap was a discussion regarding less capital projects for the schools so I just want to remind everyone that we have millions and millions of dollars of capital projects in our in our five-year Capital Improvement plan that I think ultimately are necessary and um I think the town has historically been quite supportive of the sort of Maintenance projects that are necessary to keep these buildings in good

092operating condition not so much big projects right we haven't haven't really accomplished a lot in terms of big major projects more maintenance related projects I'll remind you that the things that you've already voted for for Capital Improvement projects that I think are necessary for this year are Roofing repairs for this building which we know we talked a lot about that we need to string along this roof until the mass School building authority begins operating their accelerator repair program again we have no idea when that's going to happen no sign that it is and we really need to extend the life of this roof as best we can we have technology secure and Technology security and infrastructure that needs to get done we have for that we have e-rate funding of which we are eligible and

093will get but we need the townshare to be able to complete those projects and um that's it's really critical that we do that we have a vehicle for the new 18 to 22 program we'll find a way to work without that for the short term But ultimately that transition program should have a vehicle it's something that you know we have high on our list we have bathroom Renovations that are related to accessibility concerns um we have fire system upgrades that I get calls from the fire chief annually where is it are we are we there yet did we get funding yet one of our fire chiefs so um we have high school track reconstruction we're fixing it it's crumbling on the edges needs to get done we have opportunities to do some energy efficient lighting

094projects that we don't have money for that actually would save us money and we need new schools let's well I was going to get there we need news to get there I had a bunch more on my list but I'll skip ahead um but but ultimately we need the big picture projects which are going to shape what education looks like in this community moving forward agreed and we do have to tackle it um so the way to fix this can't be ultimately just like not doing the these things right so so I'm a little concerned that that's the way this is being solved but at the same time it was nice not to send out pink slips on teacher appreciation week last week so that was good we avoided that it was very good um

095but it's you know still not a great situation I guess in terms of the the you know ninety nine thousand dollars that uh you know is still a gap I see a few options certainly would want the committee to discuss this but one option is that we could do something on town meeting floor so we could move if if we thought we had support we could attempt to to amend the budget on town meeting floor if we're going to proceed in that way I think it would make sense for me maybe others to have discussions with just about everybody involved right I don't want that to be a surprise so I'd want certainly the town Administration the select board and the finance committee to understand that this is still a deficit we need to figure

096it out and we're prepared to do that if that's if that's the strategy we could cut we've already cut we could cut some more um I don't like that but it's an option we could consider rolling with what we have not cut and then next year potentially seek a transfer for for funds from fincom um not sure how that would work because it's really supposed to be unanticipated and so I'm not sure but it could be something that we could have discussion with I think and and um we could ask and I might be a little late but we could ask for funds from a reserve fund like the kindergarten full day kindergarten Reserve fund be transferred over might be a little late for the warrant so I'm not sure that that um to tackle

097that or not yeah yeah that would have to be in October which it could be I was going to say we could do that in the fall right so so that's a solution I mean it's a one-time again one-time fund solution for a permanent problem not the best but it's something we could consider and there's probably other options that I haven't thought of yet but but um none of them are good but that's sort of where I am with this so certainly would be interested in what the school committee thinks about those options and the situation in general thank you can I open it up Mr Oliver so first of all thank you Mr Kylie uh for the details so it's very helpful to have the oversight in the high level um synopsis of our

098budget situation to me uh that it's while it's certainly unfortunate and I'm still trying to understand how we how the town ended up ninety nine thousand dollars short and the Committees voted on that and that's what's going to be put pasted on the warrant um you know I certainly want to think that I'm a team player um and I think the the easiest and the most logical thing to do is that I I would be in um favor of tapping the the kindergarten stabilization fund for the simple reason that we're never going to use it anyway this is this is a one-time um a one-time expense because I don't expect this to happen again next year I am a little bit concerned with the direction that the town seems to be taking um with with

099the school department and the while I can certainly appreciate the oversight by the finance committee um but the barrage in the Redundant request for information seems to be getting uh to be quite a bit and I think what they need to understand and maybe this is something for this committee is that for every request that the school administration gets Mr Kylie I'm in the business department that is time taken away to compile while some of it's readily available right a lot of it's readily available there are specific numbers that they're looking for and some of this is readily available on the Department of Education school and profiles website all the finance data enrollment data most of that's there so I am concerned about that the long the shot of it is though I'm willing to

100tap if we need to in the fall go after that money uh the kindergarten stabilization fund I will leave on this note we certainly do need to look um next year we're going to have some serious problems with the budget we all know this we've been talking about this for a long time and as a member of the budget subcommittee I think we need to start having these conversations sooner rather than later like sooner like maybe August September um because I'm very worried about what's what's going on as well as I do think that we need to take take a good hard look at enrollment this committee should be looking at enrollment numbers and Trends and seeing where we're at and under the reality is you know we need to make sure that we're keeping

101our enrollment up we need to be doing more Outreach to our and I know Mr Shea has been done in a little bit of it this year to our Middle School um kids keeping them in District but there there's a lot to be done and I will uh resign the floor thank you Mr Oliver start up with a question for Mr Kiley based on the comments that we had earlier this evening and there are some implication that we were being not transparent about our not implication it was stated that we are being not transparent about the increase in classroom staff but if I am correct that increase represents um proposed salary increases along with step increases is that correct sure so so the FY 24 budget in the classroom staff lines includes their existing salary

102it includes the a provision for collective bargaining for fiscal year 23 and fiscal year 24 because we're not settled in either right right it includes any contractual increases like the steps increase or longevity Milestone and so forth it also includes we increased in in ell staff member in our budget this year we increased the preschool staff member in our budget we then adjusted other things when we cut um so we also have the 18 to 22 program so there's a number of things that make up actually classroom staff went up 5.9 percent um I can tell you that I'm not going to talk about collective bargaining directly however I can tell you that my goal is to give all we can and um so I I just I just want to clear that out because

103uh you know because of because of what it was a good point um I don't think we're not trying to be transparent we've been not transparent we've had discussions about this that's what that represents um so thank you for for clarifying that um you know I I agree with Mr Oliver you know I'm I'm concerned about sort of where this is going you know as as we were sitting here thinking about this and thinking about how the proposal to meet our right our needs is well we'll take it out of your Capital right and the the insinuation was at the nutsinuation the statement was at our joint meeting that will they turn all this money back for Capital and we don't turn any yeah we run a lean budget right we budget for what our

104needs are right so we don't have anything to return back for Capital and so I'm not really sure why we're being faulted for only asking the town for what we need could we Pat our budget sure we could Pat our budget so that we're turning back a bunch of money to get Capital but we're not doing that and so that's why we have to look right because this community hasn't really sort of made a viable plan for addressing Capital needs aside from sort of fluffing you know some budgets and budging with some estimates to make sure we have enough for Capital we you do a great job in developing our budget it's a tight budget that reflects what our needs are and that's why we don't turn back in capital and so to say well

105because you don't turn anything back we're not going to give you we're going to take from your capital that really bothers me that it goes to Mr Oliver's point about the tone and the approach to the needs of the school and so I I also sort of have a problem with how this has been like we've been treated like some sort of Problem Child right um and I don't appreciate that that having been said I also agree with Mr Oliver that that we are where we are and we have to try to do the best we can my only concern about relying on full day kindergarten is it's not really a one-time need because next year we're going to need what we requested this year plus right so they're going to have to find that

106hundred thousand in next year and then some so I am a little bit concerned using a you know a non-recurring revenue to to close that Gap um so I guess my preference would be I know Mr Nunes has some ideas and I think he's been studying it's for us to maybe try to address this on town meeting floor and if that doesn't work then we come back to the plan b that's my two cents uh thank you madam chair Mr Kylie great job with everything that's going on having watched a couple of those fincon meetings and been at a couple of them type of deal uh in my 30 plus years on this committee no disrespect somebody's got to do that's the worst that's I've ever seen from the finance from a finance committee personal

107opinion my opinion only so before everybody goes flying off the deep handle they way overstepped what they needed to do type of deal when I get asked at a meeting oh can we have the new superintendent's contract why well the town accountant is going to have a copy of it get it from there get it from her that type of deal by Statute type of deal you know to sit there and pull apart school choice and you know without accurate numbers and say you know well those 140 students that you have kind of probably cost you a district 875 thousand dollars give me a break okay the schools are open you know I mean we're here the lights are on the lights are on if there's 10 students or you know 5 000 students in

108this building so you know get with the program sorry I'm ranting I apologize Jonas is what I do okay so correct Jim correct me if I'm wrong in all seriousness so we're actually shot four hundred and sixty thousand dollars okay that being the 361 that we cut because they didn't give us that back am I correct right they didn't give us that back plus the 99 so wish off 460. yeah plus the 200. yeah so really we don't have the 200 we don't have the 200 so we'll shot 660 000 so my game plan is once you know and I know that everything's kind of put to bed because I guess they've got to get that out the door the the clerk has to get it out the door everything out the door this week

109and then what I'm going to do in all seriousness is once I get once I once I get it I'm going to take a look at it and I'll let everybody know and we'll let Mr Kylie know and uh I'll see what I can find for uh six hundred thousand dollars in uh cuts and get it amended on the floor for that six hundred thousand dollars that's my game I've said that before that's my game plan and that's what I'll do I may lose but I'll go down fighting [Applause] necessary I'm not saying anything different than I haven't said all year thank you thank you Mr Nunes can I just say can I just request that we perhaps have I don't know maybe maybe we have a plan for just the 99 000 but I'm

110not going to tell you what to do so that's fine if you're going to do what you're going to do and go for it yeah yeah no Mr Nunes I really appreciate you bringing that up that we're actually in the whole all of that amount right we've done a lot of uh collaborating we've been in a lot of um giving giving in in that respect and uh and the questions that we've received and that have been asked of um the data that's been asked of Mr Kiley and thank you very much for the the incredible job that you did on multiple occasions to really articulate um the value that we get um on the backs of of everyone involved and and the implications of that and and are um you know uh in reality are

111having such a low tax base and and leading to this and and and really um the questions seem to come from a place of not understanding the work and it and I'm sorry but also it seems that a lack of valuing what education brings to a community and the direct correlation or the implication of of the value of our homes down the line if we continue on this trajectory of of uh of of you know having such a low tax rate you know I work with families and they're moving in from other districts and they're saying well you don't have XYZ I was talking to to Dr saber about this today we had a nice conversation but you know we weren't able to provide the the extras we're very very lean and we do a

112lot because a lot of people come to the plate and offer their time and and and they value what this experience is for the kids in this community but if we keep going down this way this path it's not going to be what it is now it's it's not going to be we're not going to have the quality we're not going to have the the people people don't people can't move into this community right now because of the expense of the houses and uh therein lies the commentary Mr Oliver well what what implication is that going to have if we don't have young families moving in because they can't afford to live here who are we what are we doing I mean Dartmouth one Dartmouth I guess we're just going to be one Dartmouth and

113and we're not going to have you know what we have it's it's really frustrating to see the questions that seem to to seem to be coming fundamentally from a place of not valuing public education and what that means for our future so I support Mr Nunes what you're saying there in town I'm a town meeting member um I give you credit uh you know there hopefully we move through this and I appreciate um you know everyone's work on this Mr Nunes one one last thing too I know it's probably not lost on a committee but just on the people out there too with the 361 that we cut and what we've done and everything else and we've taken fifty thousand dollars from school choice for next year for supplies for right per se paper pencils

114books that type of deal so yeah use on a one-time source so we've got some proverbial potholes coming yes we do they're not bottles that are sinkholes and I think you're gonna need some buckets and new roofs and all kinds of things but does anyone else have anything to um add I'm good I'm good yeah I've said my piece thank you so next we have finally new business I'm gonna I'll ask you to uh to introduce the next topic although you know I do wear a hat but we have a CPAC annual survey results sure so so we're excited uh to learn some more about the CPAC survey results and talk a little bit more about what we do to support students with uh with special needs in the district so we have uh Miss

115Townsend is going to come up and start us off [Laughter] foreign members for having us share this information today so I wanted to start just by giving a little bit of an overview of the CPAC and and the slides actually go into this a little bit as well um but as part of our process the Dartmouth CPAC does annually conduct a survey which goes to all students All Families of students who have IEPs in the district and the purpose of the survey like I said the slides will go into more detail but what we really want to get out of it is to just hear from parents all of their experiences kind of what their thoughts are every year regardless of how many parents participate we always have a really good cross-section of the six

116buildings who which are part of our district as well as parents who have students who are in out of District placements so even in surveys that you know we might have wanted a little more overall participation we've always been able to get some really good data because we're looking at really that ages 3 through 22 and all of those services so um so in terms of you know how we got here we put the survey out and left it open for about a month actually a little over a stayed open a little bit past um it closed the first week of April and we had 65 responses and parents providing those responses um in addition to their feedback answering specific questions on a likert scale there was also an opportunity for parents to there was

117an open response section where parents could provide their feedback on any topics that were not specifically asked and then um probably the greatest part about the survey and the thing that I just is so wonderful about the survey is that we have a special section for nominations where parents who filled out the survey are asked to recognize a staff member or student who has gone above and beyond to serve our students with disabilities and so while you will hear Deb present Deb and I present the names at the end of our slides I just wanted to let the whole school committee know that we are actually supporting all of those nominees and those winners tomorrow at our last CPAC meeting which is at 6 pm at the Quinn Elementary School it is an open meeting

118so we invite all members of the public to join us where we will formally recognize and provide kudos to all of those who were nominated in the survey so I am going to ask Deb August to join me here at the podium to present those survey results and then at the end she and I will talk a little bit about the recognition and some donations that have come through for the CPAC thanks Beth all right so I'm going to start off with the survey here so this survey was conducted yearly for parents guardians of children who reside in Dartmouth and received special education services the goal of this survey is to help the Dartmouth CPAC which stands for a special education parent advisory Council advise the school committee and School administration regarding parents thoughts and

119feelings about the special education services that children receive I am the treasurer of the CPAC so one of the offices along with Kathleen there so each School District shall create a kind of the model for the CPAC district-wide parent advisory Council offering membership to all parents of eligible students and other interested parties the parent advisory Council duties shall include but not be limited to advising the district on matters that pertain to the education and safety of students with disabilities meeting regularly with school officials to participate in the Planning Development and evaluation of the school district's special education programs the parent advisory Council shall establish bylaws regarding officers and operational procedures and in the course of its duties the parent advisory Council shall receive assistance from the district without charge upon reasonable notice and subject to

120the availability of staff and resources um below here the district shall conduct in cooperation with the parent advisory council at least one Workshop annually within the school district on the rights of students and their parents and Guardians under the state and federal special education laws and Beth always does that of efrs role of the CPAC cpacs are State mandated local networks of parents of children with special education needs who work collaboratively with special officials to improve results for students cpac's act as advisors to school district administrators and also participate in the Planning Development and evaluation of school districts education programs CPAC members meet regularly with the local director of special education and other appropriate School personnel as needed to participate in matters pertaining to the education health and safety of special needs students CPAC members

121promote Communications and programs within the community to encourage understanding acceptance and inclusion of special needs students CPAC members communicate with local state and National organizations as well as councils and groups that support children with special needs by becoming involved in the CPAC parents can improve their children's learning opportunities by working with school officials to identify issues research programs and develop procedural and policy Solutions so all are welcome whenever we have the meetings to join us why encourage parents to connect peer support peer encouragement information common purpose build relationships with both parents as well as direct personnel widen circle of understanding for all build trust open doors to opportunities when families communities and schools work together students are more successful and the entire Community benefits services that were received IEP Services um from the total that

122into this 84.6 percent receive IEP Services 16.9 percent receive 504 plan accommodations um and 1.5 I'm in the process of going through uh through the two systems there uh School student attends I'll do the major ones here so at uh Dartmouth High we've got 18.5 percent Dartmouth middle fifteen point four percent Quinn 27.7 percent um Potters 9.2 percent and uh Pre-K Cushman or Potter is 15.4 percent uh the rate referral process uh one being terrible uh six being excellent there were 61 responses um 3.3 percent uh responded with a one terrible um 1.6 responded with a two nine point eight percent respond with a 3 16.4 percent respond with a four eighteen percent with a five and uh 50.8 percent uh with uh six being excellent evaluations reported explained in a clear easy to understand

123way they were 62 responses 1.6 responded with a one again be in no way 3.2 percent respond with a 2 9.7 percent responded with the three nine point seven percent respond with a four 27.4 percent respond with a five and uh 48.4 percent responded with a six being strongly agree opponents of the IP 504 were explained in detail 1.5 percent responded with one four point six percent responded with a two seven point seven percent responded with a three thirteen point eight percent responded with a four twenty three point one percent responded with a five and forty nine point two responded with a six meaning strongly agree parent Guardian concerns were addressed during the team meeting uh one being a no and six being strongly agree 1.5 percent responded with the one three point one percent

124respond with two six point two percent respond with a 3 13.8 percent respond with a four thirteen point eight percent responded with a five and uh 61.5 percent respond with a six being strongly agree parent Guardian concerns prior to slash after meeting addressed in a timely manner 3.1 percent uh responded with a no being the one 6.2 percent um responded with a two 3.1 percent respondent with a 3 12.3 percent respond with a 4 23.1 percent respond with a 5 and 52.3 percent uh respond with a six being strongly agreed that things were addressed in a timely manner do you believe your child's placement and Service delivery is appropriate one being closer to no and six being strongly agree 3.1 percent uh responded with a one 1.5 percent respond with a 2 10.8 responding with

125the three seven point seven percent respond with a four eighteen point five percent respond with a 5 and 58.5 respond with a six being strongly agree um question here does your child experience bullying as a result of their disability um we've got I'll start with the top twelve point three percent uh respond with the yes um 18.5 percent not applicable and 69.2 percent respond with a no I think Dartmouth has a pretty good um hold on Unified being unified with it with that so you want to join me all right so the 2023 nominees nominees uh we have students and staff I'll start with the students okay so the students um from Dartmouth High School uh Evan Moniz Piper Harrison and Jillian Hughes congratulations because we are being live streamed I want to just plug

126again um all of the staff and students that are recognized on this slide will be at the CPAC meeting tomorrow Quinn School six o'clock we'd love to see everyone there and your other plug is that they were all nominated from the survey from the survey yes so these are all named as part of the survey itself and so um so for the staff I don't know if you want to we'll alternate do you want to do the DHS I'll do the DHS sure got it right so from Dartmouth High School we've got Peter Banks Sandy Fernandez Melissa Fitzgerald that's got nominated twice Sherry cool Kristen Johnson Ashley I'll say KP uh Jessica Lassie [Applause] I'm from DMS Rachel Lassie was recognized from Quinn Lindsey Perry Michael Capello Kim Carrero and Ashley Couture raposo and from

127the Potter School Trisha Weaver and Melissa McHenry [Applause] I'm from Demello we have Heather Noyes Fred Freddy Fredette thank you Anna Paula would you give me all lazan all right Marianne Sorensen Sorensen Sorensen yeah you doing okay you get the names Marianne Sorensen from Quinn Melissa Sullivan from Quinn Lindsay vafidis was nominated three times from Quinn from three different parents Lindsay ribbing from Cushman nominated twice two different parents and Elizabeth de Barros from Cushman the last one and while we are on the topic of recognition while not directly related to our survey I did want to just share a little bit we we both have um some really good news that we wanted to publicly recognize so I wanted to just come on the podium and thank Stan and Paul's um local appliance center here

128in Dartmouth who really Rose to the occasion in donating appliances for our Atlas program as you know our transition program a large piece is to have all of the tools we need to practice life skills many of those occurring kind of with you know making and preparing food and we did need some updated appliances and I just want to say that Santa Paul's really answered the call and so thank you um you know they're a local business who really did a lot for our students or our incoming Atlas students and so I just wanted to recognize them [Applause] in addition to the atlas program uh the CPAC we had our resource Fair two weeks ago it's already been two weeks um and we raise money through that resource Fair slash craft fair to find some

129of the programs that we do have at the high school and one of those funds we wanted to donate 400 to the atlas program so I don't know where the camera is [Applause] yeah okay yeah stay still thank you Mr Oliver you're welcome perfect I'll spend it all in one place [Laughter] or so I'll be paying you um a couple more things okay so we also that's all right we also want to um say that we're going to be donating to the unified Bowling Club to best buddies so that's the other couple programs that we want to put some money towards that our best buddy program has like it's really really grown yeah we've we've been doing some great stuff I run it so we uh we have a good time we just had our

130best buddies friendship ball uh this past Friday it was Carnival themed we had such a great time it was amazing it really was amazing also a little plug to Phoenix Sun to fly for giving us a really generous donation at the resource Fair they were the food the food truck there and then after they did all their business they came in and gave us a hundred dollars towards our um and the food was delicious the food was delicious for Phoenix on the Fly okay you want to come up or you want me to do it on my own yeah if it's okay I can come up there too but um we also wanted to acknowledge that this is um Beth's last meeting with us and so um as representative of the CPAC we just had

131um we wanted to um recognize your time we have a little certificate and a little gift for you um because you know I wear two hats and Deb is my partner in crime along with Miss Mello as a liaison and others who are have graduated out of the CPAC who still participate in all of our good work and Miss Townsend has spent uh countless time meeting with me at least bi-monthly and checking in with the CPAC and has never said no to us and has always been supportive of our really wild ideas and suggestions and she has been wonderful to the CPAC and a friend I can say and has offered her ideas as well and pitched in in coordinating whether it be um I child care for our CPAC meetings making it easier for

132families to come or offering ideas of adding sort of a bingo component to our resource Fair making it more lively and fun for people to check in at every table and win a gift you know if they if they do that and it has been a pleasure over the years to get to know you and work with you and on behalf of the CPAC we want to read this out loud here so recognition of support water to Elizabeth Cabral Townsend pupil Support Services administrator Dartmouth public schools in recognition of your years of support of the work of this Dartmouth CPAC your ability to partner with and offer assistance as needed has not gone unnoticed we wish you the best as you embark on a new and exciting future career Endeavor with gratitude thank you so

133much [Applause] thank you you're welcome thank you that's all right all right sorry I did not prepare to be a mess tonight um thank you so I will say the collaboration with Deb and with Kathleen have been some of the most amazing moments I've had in the past nine years I agree Kathleen I just think you know we we gelled early and often and um you know our our Collective three heads have always been you know better than one um it's been such an honor and I just want to thank you thank the CPAC um thank the students families and staff um you know it's bittersweet but I do thank you all I really appreciate this grow up together I know Deb just said we saw our kids grow up together when I started my

134oldest was two and a half and now she's going to middle school and I've got one who's almost three and a half so my youngest so it's just um yeah it's been a wonderful Journey thank you thank you to school committee thank you so much I do appreciate it thank you very much thank you thank you any questions yes where where can I find past uh surveys so that I can see trends of uh how parents yeah we have those I can I can get those to you unofficially but they're within yeah and I could I can contribute yeah yeah easily for you yeah yeah it's been good to see because um there have been themes that have emerged over the years that have tripped planning and and things um you know uh for instance

135the transition program I mean there one year there was a definite obvious response to say something to the effect of a lack thereof already on the radar and so you know planning towards that end you know I'm sure I know uh the results have have helped move things forward in in different ways so um yeah but I can get that too absolutely anyone else nice job to both of you good job thank you Deb UT yeah you better you than me and so um knit without further Ado I'll move it on to superintendent's update Kylie thank you Mrs Amaral so a few things um last week again was teacher appreciation week I know Mr Porter acknowledged that and a few people have said something about that and I just wanted to continue to express our

136gratitude for our staff that does so much for our kids so we really do appreciate that it was also a school lunch superhero day since our last meeting and just wanted to say thanks to those outstanding cafeteria staff I know one of our one of our young friends tonight was particularly pleased with yeah he's Italian so he knows [Music] so uh we're entering in terms of Athletics we're entering the final weeks of the sports season most of our teams are qualifying for the state tournament and have great great Seasons um it was the FCC outdoor track Championship tonight at New Bedford that's where Serena came from I think she ran the one mile in the two mile and then came to school committee and looked it looked pretty composed so she she's uh obviously pretty

137talented um we uh we had a great showing of The unified outdoor track South sectional at Middleboro last week and I think they're looking forward to the state meet we have the Special Olympics coming up so May 19th at DHS if if anyone wants to stop by 8 45 rain date is May 22nd um we we've had so much participation that we've actually split it into two days so um that will be at the high school on May 19th and then there will be an event on May 25th at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium with a rain date of the 26th so that's that's how successful it's been which is which is fantastic um National Honor Society induction is this week Thursday at six at DHS here proms next week graduation June 4th so we've got a

138lot of a lot a lot of things happening before our next meeting on June 5th so a lot of activity thank you um I I just add I was looking at um my text because I I was able to particip well I was able to attend the Dartmouth High School day of no hate a couple weeks ago and I was actually invited there through um I'm on the Rotary Club so uh they were in um you know conversation with oh gosh I'm forgetting her name now one of the staff at the high school gosh sorry I can't think of her name anyway I thought I heard it but anyway um and so I was you know it was it was mentioned and I stopped by and I just wanted to look at my notes from

139one of my colleagues on the rotary where I said you know it was super interactive it was set up outside with a bunch of tables and games of information it was a proud moment I wrote to see these kids rising to the occasion and truly approaching this topic in in just a great positive way um and uh they were so mature and they were so independent so inclusive it made me really proud and so that was my response to Mr owls on the rotary when he was asking me how the event was um and it was just beautiful to see uh it was during lunch and I was really glad to be part of it and the kids just that your community Mr Shea was it was really impressive to see the inclusivity and the

140acceptance and the pride that the students took in whether they were the different clubs that that they represent or um it was just really beautiful and and the way that they made it so interactive and fun I still have my green heart glasses and I just really think that it just was a proud moment just to see that event come to fruition so I just wanted to mention that I don't know if my committee has anything else to add Mr Nunes anything no no I mean just uh I was tied up Thursday night I had a meeting but I popped in uh Wednesday afternoon and caught pot of the yacht showed that they had here again as always what our students do is I can't draw a straight line with a straight edge and what

141what they have in there is just unbelievable and congratulations to all of them how the judges judge I can't I no clue so I'll just leave it and have a congratulations to them and then just the uh the DHS theater company for uh I was here with uh Friday Thursday night for Mamma Mia and great show but they did an unbelievable job you know and talking to the students I saw them later on in parents you know after I got back as I was out of town but they said you know Friday and Saturday was just the same so it was great great to hear that so congratulations to uh Dennis and Shirley and everybody there that's all I have great so our um the next meeting of the school committee is scheduled for June

1425th at 6 30 here at the library media center and if that is it unless somebody has something else to add I will um entertain the motion that we adjourn into executive session for an update on Union and non-union negotiations so I'm not returning to open session not returning to open session so moved second roll call Kathleen Emerald yes Chris Oliver yes Coughlin you're Shannon Jenkins yes yes I'm here oh we're Jordan [Music] thank you [Music] foreign [Music] [Applause] [Music]