Dartmouth School Committee Meeting, March 1, 2021

001know well good evening everyone I'd like to call this meeting of the dartman school committee to order for uh Monday March 1st 2021 could I have a roll call please Miss ganther Chris Oliver here Shannon Jenkins Kathleen Amaro John noons y Mary wait hereo thank you very much everyone just so my colleagues and the public is aware uh Dr Jenkins could not be with us this evening uh she has another personal matter that she had to deal with so um we wish her well as a reminder Pro Governor Baker's order suspending certain provisions of open meeting launch uh chapter 30A section 20 the public will not be allowed to physically access this school committee meeting members of the public can access this meeting via live stream at youtube.com dhsv media in addition the event will

002be re be rebroadcast on DCTV channels 9 and 18 on the following days Wednesday and Thursday at 5:00 pm Friday at 6:00 AM Saturday at 800 am and Sunday at 2 pm the school committee reserves the right to implement additional remote participation procedures and will notify the public of these procedures as soon as practice with that uh I want to thank everyone for making the time this evening to car out uh here another Monday night to discuss two important topics uh that are on tonight's agenda uh one being the fy22 P budget presentation as well as uh uh the uh possible return to school in a covid-19 update uh with that if if if it's okay with the committee what I'd like to do is I'd like to flip-flop these two and I'd like to

003start because we do have our our public our director of Public Health and dmouth with us this evening uh Chris meot and I I know he is uh you know he time is of the essence for him and everything that he does uh right now so if it's okay with everyone else Mr Nunes Mr yeah Mr chairman just real quick on the agenda the approval of the minutes from February 22nd just to get those out of the way sure chair we'll entertain a motion to approve the regular session minutes of February 22nd 2021 I make a motion second motion by Mrs Amaral second by Mrs we on the motion any further discussion chair hearing none all in favor hi hi and if we actually roll call I'm sorry we're remote this evening roll call CH

004Oliver I will abstain Shannon Jenkins Kathleen Amaral yes Mary wait yes John noones yes perfect thank you Mr Nunes appreciate that as always and unless anyone else has uh anything that they disagree with with flip-flopping these I'd like to turn this over to uh Dr gford uh with a co9 update continue discussion and expanding inperson learning can I just interject Chris do we need to um open up to public comment have Kate uh you know what yes let's my apologies as um I'm getting back into the the remote swing of things here um and I've got a couple of thing I got papers spread out everywhere thank you um so at this time we typically aot 10 minutes for public comment anyone wishing to speak on any of tonight's agenda items can do so by

005emailing our recording secretary uh Kathleen gther Dartmouth schools.org uh typically what Kathleen will do or what Miss gther will do is she will acknowledge that she received them and she will forward them to to the committee um I know that uh there was a few this today uh Miss ganther have you had any other ones come through since we've started there were four received all were forwarded to the committee I have not received any since about okay thank you so as a reminder we will Circle back around at the end of the meeting if anyone wishes to comment specifically on any of tonight's agenda items uh we'll go back and we'll check in with Miss gther and they will become the U official part of the meeting minutes I don't think I'm missing anything else

006at this time uh I I miss one meeting I miss one meeting and uh throws throws me for a loop so thank you yes Mrs Amal I just wanted to clarify uh so that people you know uh know that we do get those emails from Kate and while they're part of the record we've been able to review them on our own it's not like we're dismissing them I just wanted to make that clarification for folks in person people can come up and speak remote they're part of the record and we we we access and read them for deliberation so I just wanted to clar that thank thank you uh Mrs Amal it's actually a very good point that yeah yes while uh in person's a little bit different uh when when we are remote yes

007uh they we do all the committee all five committee members receive anything that our recording secretary Miss gther receives um and I know personally I take the time I read each and every one of them I read them all Mr chairman and I even have them in a folder I have no doubt you still uh print out your papers all I in I don't print them out I have them in a folder okay put in a folder I learned how to put him in a folder I I'm happier to hear that Mr nudes uh Dr gford we're going to turn it over to you at this time okay thank you I know we have a big buildup here but um uh just as a little background to tonight's discussion as you remember um as we

008started this terrible journey through into covid and pandemic since last year in March um the district as required by desie created three plans and one of them was a full return to school plan so while we um never uh then went into complete detail on that plan knowing that we had to either do remote and hybrid at the time uh that plan is in place and at that time we had our principles uh along with our maintenance Etc do what it was a feasibility study and measure our classrooms uh using the six-foot social distancing requirement at that time and as you recall we made the decision at that time to um not we were not able to bring everyone in of course and went with um the plans that we did the remote and the

009hybrid since that time as you know um we had already started discussing how we were to start to return more students expand the in-person learning um a few weeks ago even prior to February vacation the administration had meeting we met with our building leadership to discuss the reexamining of our classrooms to really start taking a hard look at what would we need to start to expand iners learning get more and more kids into school that in involved not only me remeasuring classrooms uh but also taking inventory of furniture um I want folks to know that over the last few years our district has shifted to a lot of Collaborative Learning which required us to purchase many um desks and roundtables Etc so students could work collaboratively with that said that minimize the number of individual

010desks that we have people might think that's a a trivial point but it's a very important point when you're trying to create classrooms and maintain specific distances between students as we have done this entire year with a six- foot distance desks have been placed strategically to make sure that that happened so there were many things that have been going into our planning and our discussions about as we see the virus seem to be uh trending the the positive cases trending downward a little bit and um vaccines coming out Etc that the good time now would be the good time to start moving towards that direction of bringing more and more students back lo and behold last week our commissioner announced unannounced I happened to be watching the Board of Education meeting that morning and um

011saw her live as he announced that he was shifting gears and asking for a couple of things authorization which he will come forth to the Board of Education with a a specific plan to ask for authorization to take remote and hybrid eventually hybrid learning off the table relative to how districts are able to count um in per or on on Time learning that you know students have so many hours that we have to provide for uh various levels um that count for Learning and um that was like a little surprise out of the bucket like sh there it was but with that said there's also been a shifting to um as far as the transportation goes that for elementary level capacity has been limited the capacity limits have been eliminated as you know we've been

012using um distance ing on our buses students one student to a seat Etc so with all those shifts anyway we were in uh already in conversation about increasing student capacity in our classroom so we just continued on with that conversation and and there's going to be a lot of I'm sure back and forth questioning as we as we go forward with this um what I would say is that and I'll I'll offer um some dates and and a a draft timeline of what we're looking at of bringing our elementary students back at this time and I know that the commissioner was focusing on Elementary as well not so much middle and high right now in his if I recall they're looking at by April that we would have our elementary level um back into the

013buildings and then focus on middle and high later on um with that said any movement that we make and of course we have Mr misho here that uh we actually spoke with him again this morning we speak with him constantly but he'll be able to help you out with some questions you might ask the U mitigation strategies that we've been using maske wearing distancing in hallways Etc would remain we would be looking at a minimum of a three-foot distancing in classrooms in order to be able to bring those students in excuse me um we also spoke about contact tracing which I believe with our conversation this morning would remain at looking at that as a six-foot uh distance around folks if if a student was positive or A teacher Etc and also we would we

014have already asked our principles to take a hard look at how lunches would be served right now as you probably remember we've been serving lunches in the classrooms uh because we've maintained that six foot distance that would have to remain so the principles are looking at this point on how they might be able to um serve lunches whether it's a shifting kind of thing or whatever it might be so those are a couple of the details that again our building level folks are looking at um to try to make this happen with that said our proposal we've looked at a lot of things and unfortunately mcass is still in the in the mix and not that that's driving things that we're doing but we're trying to alleviate scheduling problems that for example if let's say

015we were able to bring all our elementary students in our three four and five would be taking the mcast our principles would know how to be able to schedule whether it's a hybrid mcast schedule or a full inperson schedule so that's important for them as we move forward on this draft proposal um the other thing I will say that at this point all students that are in Virtual learning at at this point such as our Virtual Academy at the elementary will remain in that in that um model of learning that wouldn't shift even though you know the commission is speaking about no um not getting credit for remote and hybrid that would be of course later on um next year students that were in Virtual would remain in Virtual um so anyway our thinking is

016at this point as I said we had two options one an earlier in March option but we uh after considering everything including having to purchase order desks um really think about the mcast etc etc hoping that vaccines move forward we would be proposing that on March 29th grades prek and K would begin their full inperson learning followed by April 5th grades 1 three and five followed by April 12th grades 2 and four the reason that we're trying to bring the older students in a little bit earlier than we had thought of before rather than go like prek K1 to right up the the line is once again even though the mcast is the ugly word if it is it is still on the table right now and if we would to still continue with that

017we would want those guys in school for a a bit before we just say oh by the way just come up to school and now take an mcast test so we wanted them to we wanted the older kids to get in get settled and and all of that and then be able to test currently the mcast dates um at Ela starts in April 5th to May 17th and math would start the window is April 26th through May 28th so that would give us time to be looking at that um I think that's a General overview and again you know I know we all want students back we are concerned about the mental health Etc but we're also concerned about maintaining safety there are a lot of logistics as much as folks might not want to

018think that there are there are a lot of things that are happening to try to get this happening um I will say I don't want to really talk about middle and high school tonight because I think our more focused on Elementary but at this point in time looking at we don't it as very feasible for middle and high school to shift into full in person at this time uh the purchasing of deaths is like 600 deaths at the middle school to make that happen the spacing is not like the the spacing is much more difficult to get a three to four foot spacing in classrooms I know Mr Kylie can certainly speak to that he went over and measured with the admin again and um there are many reasons at the high school you've you

019have all spoken about this prior uh cohort mixing um we are in all full synchronous at the high school at this point not to say that there's more that we can't and would be looking to do but right now we just like to focus on our elementary and if there's some way we can get them in school um we'd like to do that so with that thank thank you Dr Gord I appreciate that uh summarization of um trying to bring our students back in I'd like to take this opportunity to First um introduce and welcome uh our Dartmouth Health director Chris mad uh Chris uh I want to take this opportunity I'm sure I can speak on behalf of my colleagues that uh the outstanding job that you and your team have done um over

020this past year um it it is amazing what you what your department has accomplished um between the vaccination clinics the contact tracing the collaboration I'm sure not only with the dmouth public schools but with the other departments in town uh so on behalf of the do school committee thank you for everything that you've done um we really appreciate that with that being said I'm just wondering if you could uh just give us take this opportunity Mr Misha just to kind of go over what where Dartmouth is right now with numbers and Trends uh how you see it from a health point of view I guess um and kind of what your thoughts are if you have any concerns um and of of course this is our decision but we look to you as the health

021expert uh for the for the town of Dartmouth um any concerns that you would have as we look to bring more students back thank you Mr Oliver members of the school committee I first want to just uh go on the record and just thank you for the kind words um and again I know I've said it in the past and said it all too often during these clinics it's been a group f none of this would have been possible without all of the tremendous people that have come together work on this to protect the public health of the region first it started with the contact tracing and reopening plans and then it moved into the clinics and um I've worked for the town for 25 years plus now um hit my 25 year mark in

022December and um never have I seen the town pull together like this before um all sort of pull together with Westport UMass Dartmouth and work singularly with these clinics um to conduct a clinic that was unlike that of any other in Bristol County and for that matter anywhere else in I think our region of the state um with the exception being galette uh we pushed out a040 doses on February 13th out of the dmouth High School in total with our collaborative efforts we pushed out 1140 doses on that day we conducted two clinics on that day a second dose clinic for madna and a first dose for fiser so that wouldn't have been possible without the extraordinary help of everyone and um since I'm before the school committee tonight I just want to make sure

023that I thank all of those from the dmouth public school system that contributed across all of the various functions of the Dartmouth Public School System including maintenance Personnel the IT department and all of the support staff as well as clinical staff that work these clinics giving up a Saturday to come work nonstop is a hard thing to ask and everyone has been there making this happen everyone has had nothing but positive things to say about how well we have all done so um just want to make sure that the school committee is aware of all of the great contributions from the doou public school system Personnel um really moved by it um you know being on the general government side we never have a chance to work that collaboratively um as one and um for

024sort with the contact tracing um now seeing it with other staff as well so thank you and um you know you've got great staff so as far as where we stand on March 1st with co9 transmission in Dartmouth um you know was right around this time last year it was here in Massachusetts and then shortly after within I forget the exact day it was um sometime in early March that had ented I believe it was Easton the first town in Bristol County and then it was some time towards late March that it arrived with the first case in Dartmouth we saw the first initial spring Surge and a very delayed response to that surge to come down six eight weeks we actually saw the surge continue to drop as state reopened and then we saw

025the belly last for a prolonged period of time through July and August and then as we returned indoors we saw the cases start to increase and wasn't until Thanksgiving and Christmas that we saw the fall surge or winter surge Spike and that surge had an interesting response where it dropped off much faster than the initial surge we saw in 2020 as to why I can speculate but we've continued to see a decline in cases over the last couple weeks and one thing that I've always you know noted is I like to see Trends start to evolve um I also I believe I've noted in the past that I think that we can have influences on those trends that send them in the wrong direction so we have seen a very positive response to and I

026hate to say positive because that's with Co it seems to be a negative um so anyhow I we've contined to see this steady decline um from those holiday High case counts um I don't think that we are out of the woods with this at all where we can you know I worried that we can see somewhat of a ah it's all over no need to worry we can relax um a few weeks ago we had some conversations on those conversations you know I noted concern about Super Bowl and school vacation I don't think Super Bowl so much had the effect I'm still on the fence about school vacation last weekend we didn't see a whole lot of activity in case counts and I don't like to typically look at individual days for case counts because

027you have to see a trend days can Spike and fall um you really want to look at those 7-Day reporting periods and then look at them several weeks but my phone was very active last night I saw a lot of text messages on it I saw so many text messages in a short time I thought it was going to crash like the mass act site um last Thursday um we are about seven eight days out from school vacation so I still remain concerned um when I saw it as director in 2014 with the town we were facing the measles outbreak and one of my concerns about communicable diseases is that school vacation week is the jackpot is the lottery for a communicable disease because people go off the travel people return to school young families

028so you have um opportunity where it hits multi-generations or at least different cohorts different school districts different schools different workplaces so I would still like to see what results or hopefully doesn't result from school vacation and as we've seen that can take you know 10 12 15 days um so hopefully you know sometime around the eth or so um we'll start to establish whether what we saw over the weekend was just a fluke or whether it's going to be somewhat of a a response to um maybe some travel okay so very helpful uh Mr mishad and thank you for your kind words as well to the doth Public Schools I have no doubt that um I'm glad happy to hear uh how we accommodated you and your staff and the the residents in Dart so

029um thank you for that I guess from the committee's point of view um one of the things that we're looking at is like Dr gford said we're looking at a March 29th uh return date correct me if I'm wrong Dr gford but uh for K and after for prek and k um and we're still only one week out from school vacation so I think it's important to note that one way or the other whatever we decide to do it's important to really watch and correct me if I'm run um what you had said is really watch this next week and what the trend is over this next week in Dartmouth and to see if you know to see where our case count is in another another week or so is is that what I'm is

030that what I'm hearing that would be my recommendation it's you know it's the other concern I have is that um I haven't had with all of our involvement in activity with vaccination clinics um I haven't had a chance to really dissect the amount of testing going on in the area but even I am a little concerned as well with the amount of testing that it's not as broad across the population of Dartmouth as we would think by the number so the last time I checked the dashboard to see where we were in Dartmouth for our 14-day testing I want to say it was somewhere around 4,500 tests but we know UMass Dartmouth is back in session and there are some more CH there are some more students there and they have sports so some of

031the sports program don't do have a aggressive testing um so with that being said there are more tests being conducted at the University this time around than there was back in the fall semester and they may make up a very significant amount of the overall tests that are showing up in in the weekly dashboard that the state puts out on Wednesday on Thursdays now um we also know that we have a fair amount of surveillance testing going on um at our congregate living fac facilities so that'll further drive down the number of tests occurring throughout Dartmouth within the general population and as such we may not be getting the um the true percent positivity um it could actually be a little bit higher since we're so focusing on these um select locations um some of

032this is speculation I'd really like to look at it more um but UMass does contri contribute a significant number of those tests so um no that's that's that's really good that's really good information and I I could I could probably get better information uh for you on the exact number um of tests with the most current dashboard that's going to come out and then we can just back that out and know exactly how many tests are truly coming out of Dartmouth um you know I've been by the Wales tooth parking lot at least once in February and the place wasn't completely abandoned and it was open so I I can I can personally speak to that that I was there several times over February vacation and uh the appointments were uh readily available and there

033was really no waight at all um which which is concerning because there's the lack of testing um so so with that I have a couple of questions if you don't mind Chris um and then I'm going to turn it over to my colleagues just for the help and the they can ask any health related questions um that they may have before we um before we say uh goodbye to you and let you uh let you go back to your your life so couple of questions that I that I have gotten is that uh through emails and through parents in town is that they're hearing like we we know that and I know and everyone on the board knows that um you did a phenomenal job you even spoke about the clinic uh Municipal Clinic you

034held at Dartmouth High School and I actually several emails that I received talked about well why isn't dmouth doing more of these clinics like and I and of course there maybe some false information maybe some misinformation but they're saying like how oh I get they had me someone mentioned old Rochester Regional or the TR toown or F Haven but just so we just so it's out there this this is at the state level that they diverted vaccines away from the municipal clinics to the mass vaccination sites is that correct that is absolutely correct the uh state has diverted a lot of the vaccine supply to the um Mass vaccination sites and has set up a series of metrics that some of which hasn't even been published yet um as to what they will what they

035will allow for um clinics or providers to receive vaccine going forward I'm a bit troubled by some of it some of it's very arbitrary and I'm already starting to see some actions um by the state that contravene what they put out as requirements so I'm investigating it I'm asking I'm prodding um I don't take no easily for an answer uh especially in the county which has been most underserved with vaccine distribution and administration we're the lowest ranked in the state low lower ranking than Franklin County which is essentially it's kind of like a No Man's Land of Massachusetts we're lower than Mar's vineyard with a lower pop density lower than Nantucket with a lower density and even with all the chatter out on Cape Cod we're still lower than Cape Cod so wow no that's

036that's all that's really helpful that's extremely helpful data now now with that some of the things that we as a committee hear quite a bit and as well as not just a committee but Mr Kylie Dr gfed administrators is that when we're making decisions and when the when the Dartmouth Public Schools administration are making decisions we're not looking at there we're we're not looking at science we're not looking at data um and you know I I want to reassure the viewing public and anyone else that may watch the replay of this meeting that that is simply not true um and just with the fact that you're with us this evening speaks volumes in addition to I know for a fact that you you have at least weekly if not um you know multiple times a

037week uh conference calls with the uh school department Mr mad is that correct I that is correct and um as well as a lot of the staff at the schools uh the nurses uh Administration whether it's principals athletic director um Dr gford Mr Kylie um there there isn't a day that passes without multiple conversations I speak more to the staff B with public schools that I do in the and we we thank you for that but I I knew that was the case but a lot of the times it's important to get that out there and let the let the public know that we really do we're we're not just making arbitrary decisions in the school department we're looking to the experts in the health field especially the local health field as to what is

038best for Dartmouth and for our students our faculty staff and the residents of Dartmouth so in addition I have two more questions and then I'll turn it over uh to my colleagues right now correct me if I'm wrong we are in phase two group two that's what is eligible right now is for the vaccine distribution is that correct that is correct okay so group three which is not yet eligible and I'm looking at the Mas of site right now um puts Educators um in the group with a number of other categories of workers so based on what we know um right now the way the vaccination site uh the website is running and with 65,000 minute weight I think was the last that I heard they're saying originally they said that educators and and School

039staff would probably be they would be opening up phase two group three the some sometime in the middle of March do do you think just in your opinion do you think that's really possible um that that that could happen by the middle of March and I don't want to put you on the spot if you don't want if you can't answer it that's fine too well no I can I can just speak to the facts um so if we look back to the uh the phase roll out and when the governor has made the announcements about advancement to the next stages um or categories he always seems to be falling right in line with where those colors met those various lines on the month um have they always been appropriate to the amount of vaccine

040that we have on hand no um so a week ago Friday the state announced that about 251,000 people over the age of 75 had been vaccinated and they had already made I forget where they were but they were already rolling out the 65 plus and the comorbidities at that point we were depending upon where you were pulling the numbers from um 400,000 plus people in Massachusetts over the age of 75 you were just below 60% a lot of I heard some calls and there was a lot of accolades about the state's success in vaccinating that age group well now that I'm before the school committee um I ask if 60% is Success on a test um I don't believe that it is I think that it's a failure um I think they were a little

041too aggressive with it in Rolling that out to the 65 plus I still get a lot of calls from 75 and older residents throughout southeast of Massachusetts that are trying to get vaccine access now while competing against a younger age group uh comorbidities doesn't have any age exclusions unless they are under the age of 16 um the fiser has a cut off of 16 the madna 18 so where I'm going at that is based on his track record of seeming to follow that colorcoded timeline in the mid March if he does such again we're still going to be competing against an hundreds of thousands of people that are looking for access to the vaccine so if he puts the teaches into that chaos of the mass vax finder um it's just going to be like

042winning the lottery or seeking out that concert ticket or that Super Bowl ticket the governor did create a special means for certain um groups to have access or easier access to the vaccine uh most notably and most recently with the affordable housing initiative the most the affordable housing uh population uh such as housing authorities so what he allowed is for Housing Authority managers to find a clinical partner such as a health department Pharmacy so on reach an agreement by which the two would work together to vaccinate that population and I can say that based on my work with um one of these properties that we did that it will make it faster and easier for those residents um but some two weeks in we still have not received the vaccine yet in the overall scheme

043of things once we do receive the vaccine it still will make it easier for all of those residents um some may have been would have been lucky and been able to find the vaccine sooner but if we look at the whole population at that property they'll be better served with that process so so hopefully the governor recognizes that that is a model that would be best suited for those eligible workforces that he determines most need that type of access to the vaccine he certainly did it with the housing authorities and with the school teachers going back into you know with with gessie and their discussions and chatter about what they would like to see in the springtime ahead um to put them into a workplace that's going to be denser than any other workplace um

044in terms of people in a singular room and close together and needing those teachers in that setting um this seems to be the only way in which we can get teachers vaccinated um effectively otherwise you all have staff within the doth public school system that may never see access to the vaccine until after um the um close of the school year if this if this frenzy continues um so hopefully um with the efforts of lobbies and associations and school committees um reaching out crying out to desie the governor's office and other elected officials um that something like that can happen without that it's going to be chaos completely agreed and I got one more question but I think it's important to note I think this is a good time segue into and doing some research

045uh over the weekend this is right off of a PDF from the cdc's operational strategy for K12 schools through phased mitigation this is what they had to say about vaccination for educators vaccination for teachers and staff in in communities as soon as Supply allows teachers in school and this is directly from the CDC teachers and School staff hold jobs critical to the continued functioning of society and our are at potential occupational risk of exposure to SARS covid in in order to support safe School reopening State territorial local and tribal officials should consider giving high priority to teachers in early phases of vaccine distribution access to vaccine vaccination should nevertheless not be considered conditioning for reopening schools for inperson instruction even teachers and staff are if they are vaccinated schools need to continue the mitigation measures

046for the foreseeable future but they spell it out right in the CDC guidelines that education staff and as well as anyone in the education teachers Early Childhood Community should be prioritized and the state of Massachusetts has fallen far short of that one last question that I got from a parent I know we spoke briefly about this at one of our last meetings but uh one or two parents had asked would pool testing we decideded and I know that Dr GIF and Mr Kylie had this conversation with you Mr mishad would pool testing uh that was offered through the Department of Education help to get our students back in the buildings faster and Dartmouth opted to to not uh consider pool testing and I just I just want everyone to understand what was the rationale behind

047that so I'll just try to keep it brief you know I looked at pool testing I know that there is a local school that is um doing some form of pool testing and there are a lot of complexities to it it's not as easy as it sounds it puts another burden on staff and stress on staff because what pool testing is just really in summary for those that are listening is you take a cohort you sample you take all of those samples you run it as one if you get a positive hit now what which one of that five 10 or 20 so all pool testing is designed to do is to reduce the cost of testing but there's a human side to it because now you've got a positive pool and what are you

048going to do with that positive pool and what are you going to do with the staff at the Dartmouth Public Schools or any public school or any private school that you know ordinarily have a full-time job to begin with now they're going to have to be diverted whether that's a school nurse an administrator support staff all of the above are going to have to then say all right all of these kids now have to go home do we do contact tracing with them out of an abundance of caution get them retested it's a nightmare um what about kids that can't come in and get retested is this an exclusive cohort are there other cohorts like buses for example um I can't believe the amount of time that has been spent on watching Bus videos um

049by Administration and it is it's got a value to watching that it's been very protective of health of the public including you know not just the students but we also have you know drivers on the bus adults so um it sounds good but it really doesn't accomplish anything um I don't you know I've looked at it we've talked about it and I don't see what value it would hold to the dmouth public school systems I see a lot of stress that it would bring to staff and I I as you you well know we've had many conversations um I have a lot of concerns about staff stress I've seen it in the private sector and I've seen it in the public sector and that we have to be very cognizant of that um with the

050decisions we make thank you thank you Chris I appreciate your time I'm GNA open it up to any of my colleagues that may have questions uh for Mr mad uh Mr Nunes yeah thank you Mr chairman U Chris uh a couple of things number one again uh thank you very much for everything you've done with the clinics both at the high school and uh last week at the Council on agent I was one of the fortunate ones to get into the uh Council on agent last week and boy I'll tell you what it ran like clockwork no issues no problem everybody was very kind courteous you know check in go here go there go there got the shot didn't even realize I had gotten the shot go sit out there for 15 minutes you know

051the young lady you know going by everybody making sure everybody's okay time to leave got my appointment on the way out same thing with doit high school I thought that would ran absolutely great so again my my thanks to you I know you had to oversee everything and why uh the governor decided to change things from something that was really working well to blow it up that uh other areas is decides you know doesn't get doesn't make sense to me but that's that anyhow uh two questions I have for you Chris uh you know the you know I need your your input on this the uh of course the the uh Commissioner of education is talking about you know bringing everybody back and such but what does that do with you know he's wanted everybody

052at six now all of a sudden now we can go at three-foot and change everything with the busing you know what does that do you're you're looking for your opinion on that then I have one more question okay so I can answer that question so it definitely will add a lot more complexity to contact tracing because it will increase the number of close contacts not only in the classroom but also on the bus and depending upon where that student may be um it could include for example the bus driver or the teacher um we know that those are U very specialized positions and they're not you know you just can't replace them so you know the loss of those positions can have an impact on the functionality um and I also know that you know

053at the Town Hall early every morning watching the school buses Loop through it is an older age group that typically drives the buses um which is more at risk and you know if there was transmission um you know a risk of concern there so um I know that's not part of the question but it does definitely concern me um when you put that many people in an enclosed vessel um we've seen so much transmission cars and to essentially with the the transportation requirements that they're proposing um put children in these buses for all intents and purposes as densely um seated as they usually are um that's a pretty even with Windows um open uh it's still a pretty significant um opportunity for transmission risk of transmission thank you and in my last question in you

054know your opinion and not holding anybody's feet to the fire or anything of this nature but you know if all of a sudden you know the governor sits there and the poers to be say yeah you know what we're going to vaccinate you know all the teachers can get vaccinated and that type of deal would you recommend your thoughts on spreading That vaccine out over a couple of weeks so that you know not everybody's getting that that second shot at the same time so that you know you know there are people that have had minor reactions to it type of deal so that you know per se we didn't have to shut school down because everybody you know all of our faculty and staff and support staff got a a vaccine on a Wednesday and

055three or four weeks later they go back on a Wednesday and you know all of a sudden Thursday afternoon and Friday they're the weather just because of a potential you know reaction to one of the vaccines that's out there that everybody talks about that is uh definitely a concern there are some concerns around um holding vaccine um the governor has a a race to vaccinate and yes we do want to get vaccines as AR in arms as quickly as possible but should we be doing this on a race by the day or can we achieve the same at the end of the month and step around those issues like you mentioned um and then they also will penalize um sites for holding vaccine um if a fall below a certain metric but on if if

056they were to roll out something like the Housing Initiative then they wouldn't be that wouldn't be subject to a metric um but what you can also do when you roll out vaccine to a closed group um such as let's say if they said hey you can do the uh the Educators um you can coordinate the um the second dose with maybe either a long weekend um on a Friday afternoon and have the weekend to recover there in the younger population it is common for people to have side effects that make them want to stay in bed the next day um but that seldomly last beyond that day so if you could hold a clinic on a Friday for example uh you'd have the whole you'd have the advantage of the whole weekend and ideally um

057for a large school district such as um like Dartmouth Public Schools you know my my opinion would be is let's work with the fizer because we can shorten the time between the between the two doses to three weeks versus the four weeks with the madna um and get people that second dose complete the series and um start to move on thank you Mr chairman I'm good thank you Chris appreciate all your help thank you thank you Mr nun Mrs weit hi Chris I just want to Echo um what my colleague said and you know thank you for all the work that you've been doing you've been a tremendous resource for for us um you know my uh colleagues did ask them the same questions I'm concerned about the busing you know I thought that guideline

058just seems you know the free-for-all status of the elementary school just it's really concerning to me um you know just based on all the hard work we've done and just knowing the the simple work that you know Jim Kylie has put into you know looking at the bus videos I mean I can't even imagine how that's GNA you know play out but um one concern you know I'm disappointed you know in commissioner Riley that we we are not you know really prioritizing vaccinations for our teachers and you know we've talked about that um as we look at the risk if we're bringing in our elementary teachers you know there's been I've read a few studies and I'm you know but I I trust your judgment much more um about younger students not being as much

059of a risk factor to their Educators as you know our older you know post um say middle school and high school students um what can you talk a little bit about that like what do you see as the risk for Elementary Educators having students in the classroom um is it you know do we see a change at a certain you know roughly puberty what are your concerns there if we're reducing um the you know we're going down to to three feet you know necessarily we're going to have more exposure and kids you know can you talk about that that risk if we cannot get our those Educators vaccinated um by the time that they're returning to school with say the prek on the 29th but even on April 5th the fifth graders who are older

060um we're talking about some you know 10 11 year olds so so that's a tough question because um you know we got to look at the individual in the classroom um and you know as long as there is a risk to that individual teacher and that's going to be on on you know whatever their age is their profile is you know do they have any morbidities comorbidities um you know that's a concern um so you know getting that vaccine to the teachers you know I wish I was governor I you know I would have put the teachers in Phase One um with all the groups that they opened in Phase One the teachers should have been there um you know I if you've got a teacher that's in their you know their late 60s uh

061any complications I wouldn't want to create a uh a threshold to say that you know if there was a child in there that was asymptomatic of a certain age that would be fine whereas if the child was a little bit older then that wouldn't be fine uh risk is risk so okay um and you know not knowing the individual you know we just got we have to look at you know how do we protect everyone and all of this and and really bring them bring that set that bar High um the schools have done a tremendous job it been safest place for uh people during the worst of it um but um I do feel as though that commissioner Riley is being you know very aggressive you know especially with that school bus guidance that's

062you know you know I don't know if he's aware of how old a lot of bus drivers are but um you know that may drive some people back into retirement um you know I think you know again I I think we've covered a lot of it just you know the vaccine is just the key you know just hoping that that guidance can come through and we can prioritize those our teachers because I'm you know I'm I'm very concerned for the added stress you know we're coming to the end of this it's right in front of them um you know we're so close you know I just and we've done you know again and I have to credit all the work that you know Bonnie Jim you know everybody has done to keep our you know

063staff you know so safe um I guess my other question is uh you know we hear about these new strains that are coming have you had any indication that you know that you know from what I understand we're hearing about you know one in California New York how is that factoring into your thoughts on Dartmouth and you know how that's going to you know what are your thoughts there for how that might change our our reality I guess I don't remember when it was was it a month ago um might have been sometime in January when the UK variant first entered um the Northeast and we were talking about that and there's a lot of concern um I believe that entered our discussions about dart's transition out of the holiday uh schedule and you know

064so far um you know there's there's at least three other variants that they're now talking about right we have to wait and see um it's just too early to tell and you know the one thing that we've got on our side right now is is that it's March 1 and um hopefully we have a wonderful Springtime and people get outdoors and get out of the indoor and um we can get windows open and get people spread aart again um and use that as a tool as we wait to get vaccinated and get more people vaccinated um and then get to learn more about these vaccines and variants and what all of this means this is the vaccines coming in and how they respond to the variants or the variants respond to the vaccines um that's

065all going to take months to really um have any data on it to truly know uh there certainly can be some speculation so um you know it's a great question and you know we just we have our internal discussions we had us this morning in the office um myself at the nurse um or a rhyme and um just too early to know okay well thank you for you know trying to answer I really appreciate all your Insight I mean it's incredibly helpful so thank you thank you to my colle thank you Mrs we Mrs Amaral do you have anything to I I really don't have any everybody's asked uh some you know just the range of of questions that I have here on my on my um my notepad uh just you know I thank

066you Chris uh anything that you anytime that we're unfortunately due to covid it's it's a necessity but you're just a wonderful collaborative partner in this community and and you always and your staff look out for um you know the Greater Community always and it's just such a pleasure to have your expertise at our hands and all the work that you've invested and your team has invested in collaborating with us is so appreciative it's so important um I I don't have any additional questions everyone's touched upon all of them um and you know the it just like personally disgusted you know we're teachers aren't you know this isn't the only population of of people that um were overlooked uh as far as prioritization uh for for the vaccine you know um uh and uh you know

067caregivers of vulnerable people dis disabled people unpaid caregivers versus paid personal care you know so there's lots of communities that are really stressed out about the um the mishap with the prioritization of this vaccine um but specifically to to not prioritize like you said a a community of a Workforce that you know is so typically densely populated you know um my office I have about um working from home but in my office I have gosh like eight people total but you're talking about teachers with classrooms between 17 and and to 20 mid to high 20s in some cases and not prioritizing them in the planning not putting them first but then asking the board to not give credit for folks that are in remote and Hybrid next year asking for this you know just stating

068that a couple weeks ago it was sort of unexpected of course everyone wants kids back to school um my daughter's teacher seems to be so at ease with the way in which she's teaching but she's teaching two times double the work triple the work and it's just incredible that we don't give credit to the people and and to hear the commentary in the community that uh oh the teachers the teachers union they don't want to go back to school that is complete bull who wants to do their job two to three times right I mean who wants to sit and do the same thing two days in a row with two different cohorts double the work double the energy double the exhaustion double the stress so to those people that that want to comment about

069that it just really is disappointing to me um but I'll end with that it's just I I hope that something changes I hope that teachers are able to uh you know be prioritized soon and that um we get this you know past past us but um I just thank you for for your expertise and and spending the time with us uh tonight and always weekly daily like you said um I really don't have any other questions though just those comments thank you Mrs Amaral I appreciate that and uh Mr Misha thank you once again for your time it's truly appreciated uh do you have anything else uh for the committee um you're more than welcome to stick around um to to to continue listening but I'm sure you have other things to do that is

070all thank you Mr Oliver you thank you very much appreciate everything thank you very much take care have a good night you too thank you so that was indeed uh very helpful uh Dr gford and Mr Kylie thank you for arranging to have uh Mr mishar come in um I think it helped uh clear up a lot of questions that not only the committee has but as well as some of the community members that have reached out to the committee members um with some of those questions so uh with that I guess I guess I'll take the lead here I'll kind of start off with my thoughts and um opinions on this whole thing um and then you know we can open it up to for deliberations um so like Mr mad said I think

071it's important that um we really look at this next week as far as trends go and what data shows uh for the town of Dartmouth uh you know as well as specifically in the schools um we are looking at Dr gford is proposing right now to the committee a return a full return to school on March 29th for prek and k um couple of things about that um you know my my my first opinion is it makes me nervous um without the vaccinations um but I do know that those are some of our more vulnerable students are are younger our younger ones and I'd love to be able to see um some collaboration on trying to get more of those students back um I know it's it's not an easy task I know the logistics

072around it uh between even we talk about and I know I think it might forgot if it was who it was but I know I've had this conversation with Mr Kylie uh around desks we know that in the prek and the K levels that there's uh flexible seating we've migrated to flexible seating options and Collaborative Learning tables um and you can't use those right now right um so we I know that the dmouth public schools are are using desks at those levels we've moved them from other grades um so there's Logistics Around furniture um is that a fair assumption Mr Kylie that is Mr Oliver yeah we uh in preparation for half of the kids we had to move desks from all over the district to shuffle around to make this happen so even just

073with half of the kids we had to we had to do that so it is uh very challenging to think of all the kids um there's you know we're I've gotten a couple of quotes for desks there's a little bit of a lead time uh on those desks so you know we're looking at about a month um to get those desks so there's a lot of shuffling that needs to take place and you know to be able to provide a a learning environment that you know you can keep kids separate and and then you know ideally at some point we want get rid of the desks so we'd like to go back to Collaborative Learning I hope someday in the future so right no fair point and thank you for that Mr Kylie so while

074I am certainly in favor of of looking to how we can best bring our our PRK and K students back on the 29th I think that's this is just by opinion this is up for deliberation with the committee um that could be a target b but a Target date but that's certainly uh nothing is set in stone as I don't think the past year has nothing has been set in stone this whole this whole past year um some of the other things that I'm concerned about uh is transportation it it it concerns me very much the transportation on school buses to me um and I know you you can talk to one person and they'll say that there's been studies done that limits the exposure and there hasn't been bus transmission on buses um but

075I I I I personally and doing my own research you know there's another for every study that's out there there's another study that says something different now just keep in mind once again I'm looking at here I'm just pulling up um right off the CDC website you know it seems to me that all of a sudden the uh Department of Elementary and secondary education in Massachusetts um and on Governor we were so careful with with uh they they allowed local districts right they allowed local municipalities local school committees to develop in cooperation or approve in cooperation with the administration three three plans back in August and September that we voted on and we developed these plans we decided to we ultimately ended up with a hybrid plan plan after a brief remote start but it

076seems to me all of a sudden that because the commissioner Riley is saying we need need to get students back in and now I've heard this come up as well in the community I think it's important to note that there are tens of thousands of students across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and I believe I don't know if it was Chris that Miss Amisha that said that or if it was Dr gford that have not stepped foot in a school building since last March tens of thousands of students and that is simp that is not the case in Dartmouth I'm extremely proud of the job that Dr gford Mr Kylie the entire Administration the Educators in our district without our Educators we would be nowhere let's write down to our custodial staff our secretarial staff our

077P our our teaching assistants um everyone else if there's someone that I'm missing our bus drivers um and now with Transportation we're just going to throw caution to the wind and they're saying let's keep the windows down a little bit for more air circulation meanwhile the CDC is still recommending a six-foot guidance you know you know right it came right out of President Biden's mouth at a at a town hall meeting a couple of weeks ago that we should not be stacking buses and here is here's the department of Elementary and secondary education saying let's stack them and pack them now uh to me it just it just doesn't make sense so I have concerns around Transportation that's not to say that we it can't be done maybe look at some other different ways um

078but it's just it's it's another concern bus drivers I know Mr Kylie uh Dr gford and I had a conversation around our you know the concern and just tonight Chris mishad brought up about bus drivers about a fear of more students on the buses and whether or not we'll be you know that'll cause um more fear and anxiety for for bus drivers um so I do agree that we need to look at our starting with our prek andk I think that's a wonderful starting point Dr geord um just a couple of other thoughts before I turn it over to my committee members um I also think that we should be looking at some of our high need students are those students obviously we already are looking at some of our high need students but I'm

079referring to and um you know I'm sure I see this am all shaking her head you know those students that may have be may be failing class is um maybe having a a real hard time that I'm sure that the parents have reached out to our guidance staff at whether it's the high school the Middle School the elementary schools I think that's another area that we should be looking at in addition to um and I've had several conversations with um High School senior parents I think we really should be looking at a high school senior class and how we can um really really support them and try to make this as memorable of a year as possible and I think we're we're discussing this early enough um that there's some kind of potential out there

080um to make that happen and I would love i' be be more than happy to to sit down be part of that uh conversation and if I can help in any way um I think I think th those are the three areas um in closing uh I I will say this that I am against a full 100% return to in-person Learning Without teaches being vaccinated uh that's no if ands or buts about it I understand that the governor has went to the not the governor I'm sorry commissioner Riley at the last Board of Education meeting had said that he was going to uh sometime in March in the next week or so ask for the authority to take remote in hybrid learning off the table um to count towards learning and I say until that

081happens I am in not in support of returning Stu uh te students fully to the classroom I think what we're doing in Dartmouth we're doing a phenomenal job our kids are in school every other day I think I think the model that we have in place is working I'm concerned about disruptions regarding changing the model at this point and I already know that there's there's some people out there that are going to say well I know of teachers that are going to refuse the vaccine they're not or staff members that are going to not going to going to get the vacine well at that point that's on them I understand the vaccine is not 100% foolproof we know this right the science and the data says that both the F and the madna and now

082the Johnson and Johnson vaccine is even lower I think at what 76% Johnson and Johnson uh but the FIS mourer is not 100% effective we know that we know that if teachers are vaccinated and when any anyone not just teaches but once individuals receive that second vaccination two weeks after their second vaccination we know that their immunity has been built up however according to the latest guidelines that I read is that people still have to quarantine for 14 days after that second vaccination so there's so many unknown still and I think we owe it to our teachers and everyone that works in a public school system not just in dmouth but across the state of Massachusetts because I have friends that are in other states that are Educators and they've already been vaccinated that we

083can do better um until then I do not support 100% in-person learning I know that Dr gford you had mentioned regarding the Middle School really even struggling to get at three-foot distancing at the middle school um all the students back and then we also know about the high school situation with the cohorts and the mixing of the cohorts which that really when you bring everyone back with the different uh class levels and passing periods that really that really heightens it um so I think we should absolutely look at prek K our more of our vulnerable population as well as um doing some seeing what we can do for the high school seniors um I've taken up enough of uh everyone's time so I'll turn it over to my colleagues so Mrs Wade yes so um

084just kind of piggybacking on a little bit of what you know um Chris has said and I guess there a little bit of back and forth questions for you Dr gford um you had mentioned too that you've been in convers ations throughout um you know the past month or so talking about adding in those more vulnerable students and taking a look and it sounded like you were talking about that you know in relevance to the middle school and the high school and you know and I'm thinking of you know and I've had talked to staff who said you know hey maybe we can bring in you know the students of the high school who have you know failed two classes for the term or for the semester you know for example I'm sorting a cat

085is part of this conversation but um anyway so how what what are what are your current thoughts on that have you kind of looked at that as you know um Dr gford what are your thoughts there yeah I I I just wanted to mention something when Mr Oliver was speaking I'm definitely concerned about those students the ones that are not in programs specifically but are still high needs have so um we did meet with the elementary principles prior when we were looking at that and I know they've determined a couple of kids only a few I must say that um were coming in every day the high school did end up extending that accommodation if you will to um some students and they some of the students did take them up on it um what

086happened was sometimes the student is in class by himself but the student was happy to be there the parent wanted them there um Middle School we're still just really uh reaching out there are more scheduled times with them so we haven't really brought them in but I think especially if we're looking at the possibility of just bringing in our elementary which is again my focus as well as uh our leadership right now um not the middle and high that we will need to focus more on those Stu let's call them the we'll say high needs but not program students right right right so I agree with you um especially if we're going to extend that the middle and high stay out longer okay um I I think I mentioned in the beginning that the middle

087school was looking at they did send me three plans and after this I know they will be looking at more synchronous or live teaching so we will have more of a schedule for that um I just also wanted to mention I think going back to the whole commissioner thing if you recall we had to submit data for structured learning time for four grade four grade seven and grade 10 we submitted data on to what we were doing for each of those levels and we knew you know no good deed goes unpunished the minute you send data to desie so in my mind and my colleagues mind they were really going after those schools which you mentioned Mr Oliver that really have had remote learning from day one there are districts that haven't had students in

088person at all so now to make this blanket statement of everybody shift gears as much as we want to we want normality um I think again I'm I'm very pleased with what the district has been doing uh we were just talking to the elementary principles before all this started and they were working on more synchronous learning once again those those teachers you heard Mr Porter and and his colleagues speak about that at the last meeting so um to to Miss Wade's point you know I think we do have to have a bigger conversation about those students that are struggling a little bit more I do want to throw out a point for the high school parents that are listening because I had conversations with high school this morning about a particular student that was struggling

089had moved but as the senior we usually allow students to remain in the district to finish up the year um and I've also had a conversation with Miss um with Renee our Union president Etc um we really need to encourage High School parents to tell their students to come to school on their days to come to school I'm afraid that some of them are taking the easy way out and too often are just staying home needlessly I just want to throw that plug out there as our teachers are working hard to provide those inclass times students that that synchronous learning was an option for when you're not feeling well Etc but not to take advantage that's just a little plug I was thinking of as you were speaking about that um anyway so yeah we

090have more work to do but um if we can continue as we just spoke about getting a few students back in starting small that will be fine and then you know and again this is such a big discussion you know and I think all of us like are certainly aware you know of you know many of us parents grandp you know we grandparent you know just that is is challenging I mean you know and we know that kids are easily distracted at home and you know we we are all well aware and we are living this you know and certainly where aware of the realities um you know I guess what you know so many questions here but um I'll I'll try to narrow as we we think about the uh you know inperson learning

091there I I think what I want parents to understand I kind of get the impression that some of the parents again looking at social media think like we talk about full return it's like back to normal everybody's going in you know we're still doing our group work and everything else you know it seems to me you know as you kind of talked about it's not just the the physical space in the middle school and the high school one of my concerns is that there's certain classes that are simply due to limited materials you're talking about microscopes so for example in Labs space and Labs that will be difficult to run that you've still been able to maintain a high quality of instruction because you know largely because you're able to do it with a small

092group and you have half the class there um would you mind like talking a little bit about like how that is and do you have any concerns about that as we look at our you know Elementary School that they've been able to bring you know to do some special things because they have half the students that are going to be you know is that going to be more challenging once they have their full students back and now they're still dealing with trying to separate them they have less space I think about you the gym class that we saw when you know Potter was you know those are small rooms for gym and you're trying to now have all the kids back you know with ball you know so I'm curious about how you see that

093kind of playing out and um and and also I'll step into that you know the the full return model that we had you know and there's been kind of questions about that we did there was a plan that was submitted to be clear for everyone you know again we at that point we hadn't lived through covid you know a lot of it was really hypothetical we hadn't known you know Mass compliance the kids have been really above and beyond great with mass compliance I mean I had a concerns are these little ones going to keep their masks on I think they're better than adults but there's so much that was unknown that now teachers have learned I just wonder like at what point you know are the teachers being part of these plans coming to

094the table talking about like well this was working well you know are are they working with you and that you know and I know we have an upcoming date in service day on March can you talk a little bit about that because I've had concerns with staff kind of wondering like you know are we going to be brought into the plans and how is this going to play out and they are definitely the people who know the best how this is going to work so right right I would definitely say this you know it can't you can't say that there wouldn't be changes as far as people being able to move around a classroom uh use materials you think about not so much at the elementary but U Middle and High I mean been in

095those classrooms I was a couple of weeks ago and missed a um uh Sam brodsky's class with the Robotics and and and think about that work that goes on if you had the full class so it's or a lab situation for example the labs are small so yeah to get more kids in there I remember being in um another class science class last year even and how tight it was with so many kids so yeah there's definitely a difference when you bring more students in and what you can do with them um but as far as the the teachers being involved and that that you know goes back to our work with uh the leadership team we meet with the entire leadership team and then they go back to their schools where the the best

096work takes place because they're able to know the idiosyncrasies of their school the details and work with their teachers and each school might be a little bit different and you know so they definitely um do work with them to see what works best how to plan how to roll things out and our plan was which we will still do because our intention will be to at least focus in on bringing our students back to the end of the month March 8th we have the full in service so we will be um Elementary will be working together teachers together uh planning for that shift and adjustment in in their teaching their curriculum how their classrooms are looking Etc okay and I guess my last question is mcass you know we don't have any ability to push

097this off I mean can you can you talk about that that I just find that's so frustrating and and this is not on you I just again I go back to my disappointment with desie and I just think it's it's crazy but that you know to bring these students in I don't think it's a good diagnostic tool we've already talked about this we made a statement as a committee but I just wanted you know I just you know I I had some parents who were you know kind of not who said oh we're just bringing it back for mcast I absolutely don't believe that you know at all but it is an unfortunate fact that it's it's part of the reality right it's it's not the reason we're bringing anybody back if someone else has

098that alterior motive I'm not aware of it our Focus is you know again the entire goal for the entire year was to bring students in that's what we all want right um but it's a in the armor so to speak so to to think about scheduling and bringing students in we have to consider that and how to make that as less you stressful as possible and when does it occur and the principles actually brought that up that if we to kind of know a schedule of when kids were coming so they could plan for a hybrid mcast or a full insuran gas so it's it's um you know it's just part of the like I said it's a in the armor but it's not the end all be all it's certainly not the reason we

099were even looking that a few weeks ago we've been planning this for a few weeks um I do want to go back to that whole Furniture thing because I don't think people fully understand that when the district shifted over the last few years to collaborative and learning we we got rid of a lot of desks we brought in tables we brought in flexible seating the ideology the philosophy changeed change excuse me so to say that now in preparation for bringing students back because we know we would be in covid still in March and April so let's run out and buy a thousand desks is a ridiculous statement it's a ridiculous thinking so now that we know that we're preparing for it it's just one of the things we have been thinking about and and how

100do we go about it it's not that it's impossible it's just as it is it feasible and it you know so like you miss way I read all the stuff too and it's and um and sometimes I feel like we speak here and then people don't listen to what we say so I I think we Circle back and say it a hundred times oh my goodness and and then you know I I'll I'll Echo what you know Chris said to Mr Oliver said about our seniors you know I I feel like you know last year seniors we made such a big thing you know again but they really got to do everything until March you know as sad as it was missing graduation I just really hope that um you know I like what you

101know Mr Oliver said you know I really hope we can do something you know I I love to they've got a lot of money in their account from what I understand you know I have a junior not a senior I'd love to see them you know it'll be a different scenario hopefully by June maybe we can do a prom a masquerade ball outside you know but I'd like I'd like to see yes so maybe we you know I'd like to see those you know you know talking to some senior parents they've been reaching out about that they'd like to be involved and I I'm hoping that we have enough time that we give you know get them again I don't want to overstep here you know this is more you know High School territory you

102know with with Ross and everything but I really really want those kids to have that experience I mean it's been they they've missed you PR in graduation I you know they're not coming back into the school after you know it's typically that Thursday then graduation Sunday I I hope that we can you know do something for them right on a positive note and I know they're talking about it and and they're considering all things but I did see um they had some um their academic ADV their advisory schedule and uh Ross put out a statement that said you know let's um it was a time to inspire especially seniors to continue to stay the stay the course right stay focused and get their academics done because they would were thinking they're planning specific events but

103make sure you stay on track so that you're able to participate so I haven't touched base with him on what those that thinking is but I will reiterate and emphasize that it's important for some kind of special events whatever it might be whatever we can do yeah okay all right that's it thank you so much you're welcome thank you Mrs White thank you Dr gford Mrs Emeral thank you um I just have a qu one question uh like right now as it stands uh what what is our average cohort size in ele say let's stick with Elementary School up through fth grade yeah about eight or nineish somewhere in there I have explicit numbers um of what it would look but yeah they're they're kind of low because if I have the classroom numbers here

104you know I'm looking at just I'll just rattle some off quickly so class sizes for example um just across I'll just go across one one school um starting with kindergart 17 18 20 19 18 19 so a cohort is half of that and that's about average okay and so in in measuring um I'm personally not necessarily comfortable with but that's just my opinion I don't speak for the committee with going to three feet but with that three feet have those measurements been done and and we could conceivably fit all of the students in with abiding by 3 feet that measurement has been done to say for sure that that yes um and then my next question uh I read it all too the desk piece it's a problem but would we be able to I'm

105just thinking fiscally you know responsibly uh thinking of the budget um would we be able to utilize some of those desks for the younger Learners you know having two on each end and mixing in some desks I know that's not ideal but uh in order to still maintain three feet and fit all the students or would the measurement be um kind of relying upon the fact that we're assuming that each student would be in their individual desk I'm just as an artist I'm trying to visualize and spatially kind of recognize what we're working with here I don't know that's Mr Kylie maybe yeah I can I can speak to that so you know unfortunately a lot of those tables um that we've been using uh at the elementary level especially with the younger kids aren't

106sized to keep kids apart this distance so what happens is we really just wouldn't be able to fit the number of kids um and still maintain that three foot plus distance uh you know at those tables so they're really not of use to us um believe me it it the idea of um buying hundreds of desks to accomplish this and then not being sure what I'm going to do with the desks um you know there'll be new desks so they will replace old desks and obviously we'll we'll be thoughtful about what you know how we do it but um yeah it's it's not appealing to me but um but I I don't really see any way that the existing equipment that we have could be modified and accomplish what we're trying to accomplish oh thank

107you thank you for all that you do Mr Kylie um and my understanding and I don't know you can correct me if I'm wrong I'm wondering how 3 feet is going to work when thinking about say lunch unmasking in lunch my understanding is that still remains a six feet Pro uh requirement and so if we're thinking of bringing back prek through five how how are we going to how are we going to manage that what are some thoughts around how we're going to obviously we have to be creative I think if any of us sit and think oh this has been an easy day we're doing something wrong um nobody's had days like that I'm not even in the working for the district and I certainly don't have days like that but um yeah if

108you could if you could speak to that a little bit about lunch what lunch is lunch is one of the more difficult scenarios and in addition to lunch mask breaks right which you know it's it's sort of similar to lunch um you know at that three foot distance um students should not be without a mask on so we need to think about how we can accomplish do we have a space where students can go to eat lunch well we've already pretty much thought about that and that's going to be very challenging to actually um you know accomplish uh like a cafeteria for instance um that's that's probably not a viable option for us so you know we go back to the idea of kids eating in the classrooms and we look at shifts and trying

109to figure out you know how we could have um kids in the classroom meeting and some kids with masks on uh in the classroom sort of in like a checkerboard pattern is one idea that we're talking about where you know every other student essentially is eating and the other students are maybe reading or you know but with their mask on uh and then and then the other group eats and I mean you just have to get creative and and you know figure out ways to keep kids six feet apart um you know with masks so it's it's not easy it's one of the more difficult things and we haven't decided on any specific um solution and it might be different from school to school as well but um you know depending on the space in

110each building but yeah great um thank you I mean I don't mean to be flipped but it's almost like hey well throw it in the transportation guidance let them eat lunch and breakfast on the on the bus right all bets are off on the bus um sorry you know in some respects I feel like flexible and fluid you know I think we should take a step back we always should take take a step back um and reflect as you do about about you know practices and and glass half full I think of one thing that you know on on one level kids teachers parents Community we're we're we're at the end of our rope we're frustrated we we just um you know we're suffering pretty significantly all of us no matter if we put that

111smile on our face we are suffering um but in some respects I think if we think about you know for us you teaching an old dog new tricks it's not always easy but we've all been flexible and fluid and we've made the best of it and in some respects I think um that we're we're teaching our kids you talk about our our buildings we need new buildings that's conversation of the day our buildings might not be adequate for 21st Century Learning but I think the practices that we're that we're um modeling for our students and and having things kind of shift on a dime uh I think that the workforce I think in their generation the little our little guys moving up they're going to be able to kind of move on their feet and

112and I think that that's something that that we should uh remember and that we're we're they're gaining skills they're suffering um they're learning it's not ideal uh but they are gaining skills they're gaining skills about being creative about working as a team about following rules about caring for them for themselves their teachers and their classmates um so anyway I just thought I'd throw that in uh uh I'm the next thing that Chris and I think U Mary mentioned I've always sort of been talking about high needs yeah I have a I have a child with significant needs when I look at his needs I don't think of him I think of all Learners I think of the things that he benefits from I've always said that I've seen the things that he needs as a

113benefit to others talk about differential seating for kids standing sitting bean bags it's helpful for for if uh for all students at any given time no better time to illustrate that than during covid and some of those things aren't possible right now and everything with with keeping apart but I'm very concerned about you know my son is a clear clear example kids like my son they're a clear example of of being needing prioritization and that should be for sure but then we have our kids that you know are on Ed plans who we've brought a couple of them back in who are struggling um but I think that when we talk about you know we're complaining about the prioritization of vaccine I think that we really need to reflect on our own prioritization and I

114I would not feel comfortable struggling to get every single learner back until we sort of prioritize which of those Learners need to come back first um the younger kids absolutely um I'm I'm not so sure K through five um on person sort of feeling like a k to2 for different reasons when you talk about legal age limits of of grouping kids perhaps even for those kids in inclusion classes that may not have or or whatever expanding upon our own personal um definition of high needs uh and I think you've been doing that it's been evolving it's been developing but I know just from hearing from a lot of families there still are those kids um and I say k to to but I know that there are third graders and fourth graders um and and

115they're I mean all the way up of course of course uh who are some on Ed plans some not who aren't prioritized who I would love I would love for us to prioritize those students I think it is so so important that we prioritize those students and bring them in and catch them up um and then I think of I think of the freshmen who are in the high school and others in the high school but I just think about um or or those sixth graders who really didn't this year and those freshmen who didn't have don't have the luxury of having the staff unless the parents are like me and I send a book before my kids start school every year I always send a book this is how we grew up this is

116what he needs this is what he like but not all people have to do that I do because I speak for my son he doesn't he's not able to communicate but you know those kids that don't have the luxury of past years of teachers saying wow I've this kid is not a d student I need to do better so you've got those kids that are moving into a new building that like I said don't have the staff that understand their historical trajectory and who are struggling significantly um that's not to say sophomores and juniors and seniors but or eighth graders and seventh graders because there are those students whose parents haven't reached out or feel vulnerable to reaching out for whatever reason but I know that they're reaching out out to me and it breaks

117my heart and I hope that before we and we said we're not going to talk about middle and high even though we might not be talking about middle and high tonight and we've got the TR the timeline I hope that tonight we could make a decision around um digging a little deeper and identifying those students even if it takes reaching out to their previous teachers reflecting upon their School record and identifying those kids that might be getting C's and D's or might not be showing it on their face uh that they're struggling but breaking down at home um and the grades might be reflecting and sometimes the grades don't reflect maybe it's more of a mental health issue I really hope that we could put something in place where we're able to kind of dig

118a Little Deeper to find those kids um and again they exist in third grade they exist in fourth grade they exist in fifth grade whatever we decide today whether we decide to to go back in person okay through F through five or if like I said I feel I feel personally more comfortable not cutting anyone out but I feel more comfortable grouping and prioritizing those younger Learners 3K through two um but then also expanding Upon Our Own per you know getting a little bit closer to the ceiling like I desie says the guidance is the floor we can go to the ceiling I would love to see us go a little bit more to the ceiling and identifying um those students who who haven't met yet that threshold of of of um full inperson learning

119if at all possible um and I I I won't talk much longer because others have said so many good things um you know as much as we're hearing the loud noise of of all of us want our kids back all of us want our kids back uh but then there are those kids that and this is Middle School again but we've heard from and I don't know if the the committee I can't remember now I believe the committee fully heard this as part of our public comment or anyway it's in my notes there are there are families um there's been a theme of like some families that have come back from tekka because even though we kind of made some modifications to how we're dealing with the supporting students with Tekk um and with some

120that's worked and some some others who for health reasons have feared return to school uh they did change to hybrid because their kids were struggling just way too much and and and it wasn't working and so now they fear going back full in person and um and and just this concern about those families and the sensitivity around whatever we decide clearly we're going to decide something that brings a bigger group of students back at some Point soon and so even in those instances where families are are happy that their kids are going full in person those kids are probably going to have the anxiety or uh the lack of etiquette that they were used to kind of uh let me sum it up I I I want to make sure that we also have a

121uh a system in place where it's not punitive where kids who might be acting out for Behavioral reasons understanding and I know we are quite understanding as a district and we we're quite aware of our student social and emotional needs but an extra caution around recognizing that if a kiddo is acting out it might be that they weren't so certain about returning to school as much as Mom and Dad were having them come back full in person um because there's in other districts unfortunately and hasn't happened here but unfortunately um not all districts are as compassionate and and supportive of their students as we are um I hear it in my work and uh so I just want to be mindful of that because it could cause um some other you know manifestations of the

122anxiety that they're feeling and I think that's all I really have right now I'll pass it along to whoever sorry I've taken so long no please thank you Mrs Amaral I we appreciate uh your input a lot of well um a lot of really good points uh Mr noones thank you thank you Mr chairman uh a few things number one a simple easy question um Mr Kylie the uh you know talking about desks and you know if we were fortunate enough to procure some I'm going to assume that these are desks that are going to come understand in like a 2x4 box that you know open a box and they've got to be put together so somebody's got to put them together whether it's a maintenance or a custodian and I'm assuming that probably is

123going to be on a weekend because you're G can't have them do it because of everything else that they've got to do between 7 and 3:30 for discussion purposes that's correct there's yeah they will they would come with the body of the desk uh and then the legs separate um so the you know there are opportunities to um to um provide to that some of the companies that you can buy these from will do assembly uh obviously there's a cost associated with that um we can do assembly inhouse but like you said that has to be off hours there's no way we can do that within uh any you know now is just for curiosity sake because of the situation is that something the you know the K's Act and the co grants would cover

124or is that our budget yes sir I think I I I would I'm confident that act funding will cover okay that's good that's fine um a couple of couple of things and everybody's you know kind of really touched on a few things but I've got some notes that I did write down um you know we talked about a little bit of Transportation earlier type of deal I mean everybody knows I live near the Quinn School in the middle school and let me tell you and I'm going to make an assumption that all the other schools are the same way but it's an absolute nightmare okay uh I've tried to pull out of my street you know last Thursday or Friday even this morning going to work and I've got teachers pulling u-turns right in front

125of me you know they come halfway down and they pull a U-turn instead of you know I mean the amount of parents that we have dropping off and picking up students is is unbelievable I mean when I go by Quinn school at 10 minutes past two and there's already a parent there or Andor parents waiting to pick up students you know that are not getting out till 3:00 is is unbelievable and I'm assuming it's the same that you know I've been by the middle school at 1:00 and you know there are parents there so I mean we've got some Transportation issues that are you know unbelievable I mean in I know the transportation contract's up for Renewal but boy that's that bothers me uh I got to take my hat off to our Administration I

126if I've mentioned this before then I apologize but I'm going to mention it again I mean I remember sitting in on a negotiation session a while back in quarter P 5 on a Friday afternoon or Thursday afternoon and you know Mr Kylie gets a a phone call from a Elementary principal because there's been a covid discovery and you know everything switches from there into you know what do we got to do with these students the facult you know the faculty the administration the staff that type of deal I mean at quarter 5 on a in the afternoon so I mean thank you for what you guys are doing and I guess kind of my last because I did write all kinds of notes down when everybody was talking Believe It or Not uh in all

127seriousness uh I think we've all gotten the emails from The Faculty over the weekend with what's going on with the co and I've got to go back to our January 25th meeting when we authorized the chair to and I got Governor Baker's letter here it says Dear Governor Baker the school committee voted unanimously the urge the inclusion of teachers and School Employees in Phase One of covid vaccines and that's dated January 20 29th we got one going to the governor we've got one going to the commissioner of Department of Public Health one to our local Senator Mark Mony and one to our house representative Chris okay we've done our part if they're not moving off their backsides to vaccin teachers then maybe the teachers union and the MTA have got to reel in their sources

128and you know start stepping on toes and raising their voices type of deal but you know with all due respect yeah I want teachers vaccinated I want kids back in class no disrespect to Dr gford her and I had a discussion I voted against the plan that she put together in in August because I wanted everybody and I still want everybody back and I think what she's given us is a great plan I just would no disrespect to Dr gford I wish it included middle and high school I understand but I want middle I want you know all for argumentative sake 4,000 of our students back in front of their teachers okay I want done with tekka because I'm sick of hearing what's going on with you know and all the other issues that are

129going on I've had it I want the kids back in the classroom I want the teachers face to face with the students so that everything is good thank you Mr chairman I'm done vending you are very welcome Mr Nunes uh always appreciate your your thoughts I what's that tell it like it is nope I we appreciate that I I appreciate it all my uh fellow committee members um you know Ju Just a just a couple of things um after listening to what everyone had to say um I think it's important to note that um have we reached out I know at the beginning Dr gford we um you know we serve parents we put information out to parents have we done anything similar to that as far as getting the ball rolling on if they

130would send their student on their bus if they would feel comfortable sending their sending their students back um fully if we were to go back full-time I'm just curious if we have any data on any of that no we haven't done anything since no okay is that something that maybe I'm not saying it we need to but what are your thoughts do you think it's worthwhile just to get a a the just check the temperature lack of a better term check the temperature in the room for you know our our our parents our families I think it it would especially if we if we put in place like at least I'll say a tentative plan let's say we went with the the dates we proposed tonight again not knowing if something's going to happen along

131the way we can always back off of that but to know I think the bus transportation is really important we had a pretty good um Sense on that the last time although I think Mr Kylie also plans for everyone just in case but and to have a sense of my my thinking is no parent that is already in Virtual is going to want to now come back be now that we have more kids in um so I'm curious I'm curious about what that data might show sure uh Mrs Amaral I I also worry if we I mean surveying parents to some degree we surveyed out but um I think if we did anything like that it would be important to really emphasize um that it's to take the temperature because um if you we all

132mention we we know we've delete Facebook every other week or I do because I'm just so you you know frustrated with the comments but um it's it's just heartbreaking but I think that we um inadvertently sort of weren't clear about it when we surveyed parents the beginning of the of the year it was to take the temperature to know what we were working with and then Dy came along and said you need to do three pans and then you got to you got to do your six feet apart or then they said well 3 feet and then we wanted to air on the side of caution we went 6 feet I don't need to repeat history it's like bang heads against the wall but um I'm full of it tonight so um but I think

133that we if we did a survey we would have to be very clear because I think we're going to have a lot of people say oh yeah another one of their surveys and they're going to just do the opposite of what what we say and so we would have to be really clear that it it would be to take the temperature and to to Dr gord's Point um you know I'm I would I would wonder the value in the I mean any data is valuable but you know nobody in Virtual is going to you know we've heard a lot of people that want to go full in person we've also heard a lot from a lot of people who are appreciative of the fact that we have been airing on the side of caution um

134but if we did a survey my vote to to say to repeat myself three times uh is to just be clear about it being a taking the temperature and not a you know you got first place you got second place you got third place you know and and it's it's it's law no very fair point Thank you Mrs amiral on another note Dr gford um I know in speaking with some of my other colleagues in other districts other school committee members in other districts that um at least as far as I I'm concerned the the TR Town Mary and matap poit Rochester they are fully back K through two only right now um I'm not sure about um I know cushion it is also moving in that direction I'm not sure about Fair Haven are

135you aware of any districts that have already committed to and I know Freetown Lakeville did something funky with bringing back transition grades whether it was like five or six and then maybe eth grade and ninth grade are you aware of any districts in the area that um that have gone full in full door um yeah other than what you've just mentioned I also know that Berkeley actually started today with full um inperson uh similar to what we were speaking about transitioning over the next couple of weeks I don't have the exact uh data with me but that came through an email um he was just letting us know and I believe um Swansea has put out a notice to their parents that they're going to be moving in this direction as well Dr gford is

136that just Elementary when you say full in person I just clarify that okay that's what I know right now yeah but I know Berkeley started today with one or two of their grades okay um was that at Berkeley Middle School though or just at the elementary level guys yeah like like an elementary at the elementary level so so right now there's no other districts that you're aware of at the middle school and high school level um nobody's made any Outreach to me to let me know I inquire I I've reached out I've tried to do my research and speak to people uh Mr Nunes did you have a question and then Mrs wait yeah Mr chairman I'm going to make a motion that we approve the superintendent's recommendation of March 29th bring prek and K

137back March uh April 5th grades 1 three and five and April 12th grades two and four back full do I have a second Mary are you saying something you're I just I just want to ask a question real quick before we well we need we need a second then we have then we can have discussion okay I don't know how I feel about that you can vote against it you can just have yeah at this point uh the motion fails because we haven't had a second Mr NES sorry uh Mrs weit I just was um scanning quickly if you know so we've gotten some emails that have come in during our discussion not surprisingly but um one of the one of the thoughts I you know one of the points that or questions that came

138up I think you know is certainly something we can discuss quickly is you know have you seen you know we're talking about these schools coming back have you seen any schools every in person you know whether it's private you know that are let me start that are utilizing three feet social distancing have you been able to see any of those like in operational like guess that's that's kind of the question I'm trying to spit out sorry to stumble over that but the only one I saw was today when we went over to Stang because they were again it's a high school but you did visit there to see how the desks were set up Etc um so as far as an elementary school I haven't visited any and do they have as many does Stang

139have as many students per classroom typically that we would have in a typical say like ninth grade social studies course I mean do they have as many students per class I honestly don't know I do know looking at the schoool the classrooms are a lot bigger right and all those things are really important because we have you know when we talk about you know people say like well you know we need to look at other school I think that is important like the classroom size is critical to this you know and how many students that we're talking about trying to do in those classrooms so okay that was M thank you Mrs White Mr nin yeah in in all seriousness Mr chairman I mean you're talking apples and oranges in the sense of you're talking

140a a a public public school and you're talking a private school where parents are paying tuition so they with all due respect they the kids are going to have their no that of grindstone the parents are going to make sure that the kids and everyone and the staff is everybody is behaving themselves and doing what they have to do to keep you know social distancing and masks and such so that everybody can stay in school so I personal opinion your your apples and oranges between public and parochial and private schools no different than the CH schools or and you know the parochial elementary schools in the city of New Bedford thank you Mr Nunes um with with that um myself uh I'm only ready to to vote on and I don't even know do do

141we even need to take a vote is this is this a committee uh Vote or is this just uh based on uh you know Dr this under Dr gord's control I think with this important decision I mean normally we just do what we do but I mean a vote just to see or if you just want to have consensus it it it's helpful I guess I think we need to have I think it's a vote of the in all seriousness Chris at this point in time because of where we are and what's going on I think a vote of the committee to uh support the superintendent with what the administration wants to do to bring students back is is important I agree I I would certainly agree with that with that I'm going to say

142I will say this I I'm prepared to approve um PK and K uh for that March 29th um I'm I'm not ready to approve anything else at this time until we see how that roll out goes I think we need to look at long the long run I think we need to have a plan in place that if um staff and Educators were to get vaccinated say by the end of April um that we're we're ready to go to open fully um but I can't I cannot support and then also to um John's point I also in addition to the email addition to the letters that I signed on behalf of the do school committee I individually emailed uh Mark montigney Chris Mary I had a conversation with Mr Mary I've had a conversation with

143the president of masc Glenn coocher to get his feeling on the commission stance and what and everything that's going on um so with that you know I I still have serious reservations and concerns about student safety um staff safety um you I live it I live it every day and besides my my job here on my volunteer position here on school committee as many of you know I I do work in another school district um my family is extremely extremely careful around this virus um and it struck us both myself my wife and my daughter all came down with Co this is nothing to joke around with um this is extremely it's it's it's scary and it causes a lot of anxiety not not just to adults make no mistake about it that it's just

144adults it's students I started my own daughter so this is very personal to me um so that's why I just I I think I don't think that any one of us disagrees that we want we don't want every single student back in school I don't think that the teachers don't want every single student back in school we want everyone back in school it's easier it's easier for everyone to to teach it's easier for teachers to teach it's easier for all of us to do our jobs when the students are back in school um so I can only at this point in time I I appreciate that motion Mr NES but I can I can only support it and that's fine we can whoever wants to make make a motion uh we can see where it

145goes I'm only one vote uh Mrs Amaral I I I certainly don't want this to be this is not a kicking down the curve but we're meeting next week and we just had the director you know we just had Chris Mish show here talking about the next week and uh you know to John's point about you know being supportive of what is nothing's going to I would like to see high needs kids come back tomorrow but the uh the nothing's going to change in terms of you know planning is still happening is there a chance that the committee would be agreeable to sort of wait to see what the numbers do for the next week in terms of the I'm just putting I just thought of it I just coming out of my mouth as

146I'm thinking of it no so you're thinking it's not going to make I'm looking at faces if you want my with all du respect if you want my opinion the quicker we put this in motion right wrong or IND different the quicker we put this in motion everybody it gives them more time to get everything in place that again my opinion only okay yeah I go I go back to a year ago when Mr Oliver Chris and I had a had a conversation on a Thursday or a Friday afternoon I think it's next week per say a year ago and we were talking about covid and that type of deal and I said to him I said look I says I prefer to keep the schools open and let it ride and see what happens

147however whatever the superintendent wants to do I support but she's got to make the decision per se on Friday because she can't make that decision to shut schools down at 10 o'clock on a Sunday night for a week if you understand what I'm saying because of child care decisions of course the governor took that out of our hands don't get me wrong but understand what I'm saying the more time that we have to get this going and they have to get this working and get the plan in place the better off we are my op I do agree that we need we owe it to the parents and the families in this town to give them the time time to plan um any other thoughts I I person like I said I I'm I'm ready

148to approve looking to bring bring prek and K back to 29 as far as the next grades what is it um one and two um you know I'm just maybe we St we look to stagger them out I think you had set them up and I don't have the dates in front of me I can't find it in my papers Dr gford but are they backtack weeks or are there two weeks apart back to back weeks okay but it's April 5th is 1 third and fth coming in Chris and then April 12th is second and fourth so it's not you know first and second on April 5th it's you still bring in those you know that older grade of the fifth on the fifth helps so what if we do this what if we space

149out the the return two weeks apart instead of a week apart just to give us some just to give us some some room to make sure that because there's clearly there's going to be logistical challenges one way or the other bringing two grades back at a time that first time uh with prek and K and then the ne then the next week with the three grades there's going to be logistical challenges um so are we okay with trying I'm just trying to get something out there I agree with Mr noones that we need to we need to do something tonight um to get the ball rolling um I I would feel better I would feel better with a couple of weeks apart um and then hopefully in the meantime that educators are going to start

150getting vaccinated along with school staff yeah Mr Mr chairman yes Mr NES yeah I mean the problem you have is you've got the week you know if you space if you go to the the 29th with the prek and the K and then you wait till the 12th well okay those uh 1 three and five are only going to be in a week and then the week of the 19th is April vacation so now you're waiting till the 26 to the 26 so now you're you know basically going to May 3rd you're already into May before you're bringing back the way I would read it you know grades two and four and at that point in time you are just about dead in the water my opinion of bringing back middle and high school students

151what is would there would it be possible Dr one Mrs way would it be possible Dr gford to to maybe move up to would you be ready for prek and K in March 22nd I believe we are but uh Mr Kylie you know the number of deaths we would need at that point I think we can manage that I think maybe with just K and prek we could right accomplish that we'd have to yeah steal some and yeah figure it all out but we probably could do it I'm sorry Mrs wait yeah no I just wanted to go back though to Dr G and you know this is circling around to something really again I'm still frustrated about mcast you know still happening but think the the rationale also for staggering for those particular weeks

152was that the kids would adjust before they were you know forced to sit for that you know and that would be a you know a problem you know and again getting back to Mr nun's point that then we're hitting vacation I just you know it sounds like it you know it sound that we're not dealing directly with middle school and high school but I got the impression that they might that might not even be part of the conversation anyway that that's not what we're dealing with but um I just I I can see that as if if we're having these kids do it I'm stumbling I apologize but I I just I could see that that's you know that's an issue that we've gotta we've got to let them have some time to settle in

153before they jump into this so Mrs ameral you to your hand up I forget what my question is I would like though um with what you just said a reiteration of the timeline if you don't mind because I've written so many notes down yes I've lost myself I agree with you and if you could say uh adjust it to what Chris just said um say perhaps if we're able to bringing back prek and K what did you say Chris on the 202nd the 22nd yeah so you're saying establish a new timeline Mrs Amaral based on the 22nd I think that's what she said then are you thinking the 5ifth and the 12th and Skip wait a minute I'm looking at a calendar I don't think that same issue leave a week is that what you're

154saying yes so prek and K on March 22nd so and then two weeks out on April 5th 5th would be one three and five yeah so really the only thing that shifts is the pekk and that gives time in between to see how the how it's going I guess is what you're looking at Chris let me ask this do do we then bring two and four back on the 26 the week after vacation or we bring him back to 12th I'd like to see him back on the 12th yeah I don't know for that hoping that vaccines are in place [Music] and it's before the vacation mcast again without mcast we can we'll manage around it I mean we again go back to the 29th we had we had Chris signed letter the 25th and

155Chris wrote on the 20 you know the 29th and he signed the letters to to everybody that said put the you know put the mcast aside for this year yeah clearly the state only wants to listen to us when they feel like it amen Dr gford I'll I'll defer to you as the I'll defer to you and Mr Kylie on the call as far as what do you think um for the bringing back um second and fourth before or after April vacation I know the logistics involved it's huge I'd like to strive for before vacation and giving Mr Kylie a little bit he's already looked into the purchasing again I hate to keep saying about tasks but unfortunately it is a point of you know if we could pull everything we have out of the

156storage and just use it that's a different point of view but um I I think if we set those dates and if we have to when it gets closer move them a little bit forward it won't be a a deal breaker if you will um unless we I'm just looking at a calendar here pekk on the 22nd 1 and five on the 29th if we go right along and just bring fewer than we had Chris yes yeah I mean again are we looking at bringing 1 three and five back on the 29th or again going with that two we I i' like to I'd personally like to see two week you know and again all right so the 29 I mean you know bring look I'd like if we're doing that I mean I'd still

157like to bring two and four back on the 12th so that they're in before they at least get a week in before school vacation let's shoot for that we can always adjust our plans and we give people enough time to make plans if we say the 22nd we start with pekk 45135 for April 5th we do one three and five and the 12th we do two and four again we can shift our plans if something's come up we don't feel that it's right but it gives us something to shoot for you know we've already talked about bringing like I said furniture out of the storage getting classroom set up thinking about lunches all of that is in place already it's just to give a tentative date to parents I think and teachers we have the

158eighth set aside for teachers to plan um yeah that's fine maybe we'll all vaccines by [Laughter] then I will um I will I I will support that I'm reluctant to support it I know we need our kids back in school but we also you know yeah it's it's so it it's so tough It's so tough and you know obviously Dr gford and Mr Kylie if you feel as though you know some of these benchmarks can't be hit because of whether it's furniture or whether it's Staffing yeah um plea please let the committee know and keep us updated right because that's another Point you're right Staffing as well so I I think I I personally think you know there's there'll be a number of hurdles that we have to uh get over in order to make

159this all happen so um I don't know does anyone else have any any other thoughts before we uh yes Mrs Amaral just uh not to sort of just beat this over and over I I would like to see this return in these grades also include um a deeper dive into kiddos who really you know in our middle you know if we approve this those kids that are in the higher levels um you know yeah um prioritizing them for iners as well you know so is it would it be fair to say then with Mi uh with Kathleen's statement Dr gford that maybe by our next meeting we can have that conversation on the agenda about or just you can brief us quickly on what your thoughts are and plans are with after speaking with the

160Middle School and High School administration about getting those kiddos back um that would benefit from in-person learning um because for one reason or another yes we can do that yeah we'll see what I can dig up okay thank thank you uh welcome you're M muted Chris with that chair will entertain a motion to approve a return to school plan uh for prek and K uh starting on March 22nd followed by grades 13 and five on April 5th and followed by grades two and right am I yeah and yep and then grades two and four on April 12th I'll make that motion ear so I have so I have a motion by Mr Nunes a second by Mrs weight um on the motion any other discussion uh the only caveat that I'll add to this is

161I would just ask Dr Giffin and Mr Kylie that if you get word from um Mr Mard with dater obviously you know that those are published weekly anyway um so the public will be will be aware of changes in in uh covid positives so I would just ask you to keep an eye and as always like you like you normally do keep in touch with I'm just mean sure and I just like to say again that you know for all the parents in the community that's watching I just hope everyone reaches out and again it emphasizes that we need vaccines and we need to prioritize our staff I mean that you know we've done it we've we've sent a note you know I just hope that you know parents who want their kids back that

162they you know they see it's the you know we need to have our staff be safe and you know they are the they're on the front lines with our kids they make they make the experience for them so we need them to be protected and safe and so we it's a community effort to get that to happen here and and somebody please understand that we are doing we being the committee and administration along with Mr misho and everyone else are doing the best that we can do based on the information and everything that we have right no I I agree it's just it's it's extremely frustrating as we're all aware that the state as well as the Department of Education is is still um conducting their work as far as I'm concerned uh from home

163yeah yeah so with that roll call roll call yes roll call thank you no problem Chris Oliver yes Kathleen Amaral yes Mary weit yes John NOS yes motion passes unanimously 4 to zero and I know I've we've said it a number of times please get K12 public staff vaccinated Governor Baker and commissioner Riley please and again math the the teachers Mass teachers union has got to get you know their body to uh get to uh the executive branch up on uh up on the hill as they say no you hit you hit the nail on the head Mr NOS with that go ahead Mrs wait no Dr ke just a note came in you know again and and I'm we're all probably getting the same emails but a parent just asked and I think it's

164a good question if you are not comfortable and I know we touched on this before sending your child back you're comfortable with hyber you're not comfortable with the move can you switch to full online that was the question how can I let them figure full virtual that's that's a fair point this is wait there we go I think I I think the best thing would be for that parent the particular parent to I don't want to make a blanket statement because the way the curriculum is and where the student is you know if it's a high school student it might be different than I I assume I think it's an elementary student parent that that that's my impression so and I have to say our Virtual Academy is really at full capacity so if it

165was a number of students that would certainly be a big conversation okay thank you so piggybacking I know we need to get to the budget and I know we're running well over um our our anticipated time but really quick um I think it's important for our next meeting to have in the agenda um because we know there's going to be like Mary said those parents are not going to want to send their kids in at the elementary level so I think just something for you uh Dr gfin and your team to think about yes among a million things right yeah among that's right uh with that at this time I would like to turn the meeting over to uh assistant superintendent of finance and operations James Kylie for the fy22 budget presentation thank you Mr

166Oliver I think Dr gford is actually gonna start us off actually given the we did talk about this today but given the late time I I'm gonna allow Mr Kylie to just move it along you know the uh intro to what how we develop our budget Etc nothing new but um I'm going to let Mr Kylie dig right in okay I will share my screen here so um I guess first I just want to thank you all for the opportunity to discuss the uh fy22 budget with the the lateness tonight I was wondering if it really was going to happen um so you know again so every year we talk about this and you know we we we try and make all of these budget decisions thoughtful and um and in line with the district

167Improvement plan plan uh with the school Improvement plans with our mission and again our mission uh is to provide a quality education for all Learners we have um these haven't changed these are our strategic objectives in each of um you know the key areas of our strategic plan um and they are sort of set the backdrop for our school Improvement plans that that um you know ultimately drives the the school proposal in the budget process some of the key things that we look to in our process is obviously trying to maintain and improve upon what we're already doing um and that becomes increasingly difficult with um you know the pressure that we're under in terms of resources at this point and Staffing but um you know we're focused on on making sure that we provide

168the supports and and uh quality programs and continue to you know offer those to the community uh through this budget we are constantly trying to enhance the technology infrastructure and Equipment um it's never been more important than it is right now today um and you know that's been a process that I think has paid off and the support that we've had through the town Through The Years um has really allowed us to be successful in our remote learning stages and our um hybrid learning and synchronous learning and uh you know it's really it's been evident that that was a a major factor in the success that we have had through this crisis um in in addition to all the effort that we've made to enhance technology in teaching and learning through our instructional technology Specialists

169and Mr gashaw and his staff um and uh you know it's it's and obvious VI ly all the all the teaching staff it's made a big difference for us uh class size always a thing that we need to keep in mind um you know we we I I provided in your budget packets some enrollment information I wouldn't look too closely um you know in terms of comparing that to last year because obviously this year is uh an extremely complex um situation where you have more students doing other things than normally would in terms of homeschooling private school um virtual learning certainly um so it's it's it's been difficult um possibly delaying school and entering school late for the youngsters uh entering kindergart that's something that we're anticipating and and you know hopefully we'll do our

170best to be prepared for um we are always looking to enhance curriculum instruction and assessment uh increasing our support for all Learners you'll see some of our budget proposals directly clearly TI tied to that uh increasing our capacity for social emotional mental health support um also you know part of those proposals and um supporting professional development for you know for our staff so when you look at um when you look at our budget for fy2 2 we're proposing a budget of 47,3 38,6 65 so the big piece of the pie is the green piece on your screen uh is the instruction category naturally it's about 75% of our budget uh it includes teacher salaries principals um teacher assistants substitutes other instructional staff instructional technology professional development special education servic um books supplies lots and lots

171of stuff everything that happens in most everything that happens in the classroom uh is incorporated into that 75% piece of the pie the next biggest piece of the pie is other services so other services according to the Department of Ed classifications include things like Transportation um which is one of the most expensive individual items in the district attendance um health so um you know Spotlight on health this year for sure with our nurses and the amazing work they're doing um that's that part of the budget supports their work uh Athletics other co uh co-curricular activities like music um art and all clubs all of that is in other services then we have uh maintenance and so that's maintenance and utilities that's about 8% of our budget um so it's it's a substantial portion of what

172we do maintaining these aging buildings U that was brought up earlier tonight um and you know we do our best to do that within uh within the parameters between this funding and the capital Improvement planning process we have uh administrative expenses about 2% of the budget so that would be districtwide Administration um administrative technology is included in there that's sort of districtwide and um probably the other largest item in that would be legal services that's about 2% of our budget overall and the last piece of the pie there is tuitions for out of District um out of District students so students who can't be served in District um that's about 4% of our overall budget so you know in preparing this fy22 budget we we um we'll talk a little bit coming up on on

173some of the other slides about our thought process and what we were trying to accomplish but um really the in the end these proportions are consistent with what we've spent uh the last couple of years so this slide uh shows on the instruction side of the budget U an increase of about 3% so that increas is related primarily to contractual obligations for salaries um and negotiate negotiated items uh it also includes some reclassified expenses because the department of Ed likes to Monkey around with the chart of account structure uh periodically and switch things from one category to another which they've done with technology expenditures and some administrative categories so overall uh instruction up about 3% it's the by far the largest increase in in uh in terms of category and about a million dollar increase

174right there in instruction on the administration uh side of the budget we have a decrease um we've restructured couple of positions the assistant superintendent director of teaching and learning position we are proposing a restructuring as well as uh my assistant and the transportation reception position that um so those are both through attrition obviously Miss Roy retiring and um and my assistant uh resigned over the summer and we've made some restructuring moves there to help save some money in the district we um on maintenance and utilities that's basically stable uh on other services we definitely anticipate so Mr noones mentioned you know we're we're out to bid right now on Transportation we'll have some hard numbers um fairly soon I have a a pre-bid conference on Wednesday and a bid opening next week um hopefully if

175all goes well with that we'll have something to bring to you for a vote at some point in the near future um but we we'll definitely have an increase in transportation costs it's it's um it's pretty amazing what we've um we've had to do in transportation throughout this uh throughout this covid crisis and and and yeah I not to get back into the school reopening talk but um it definitely is in congruous the way this guidance suddenly shifted um so you know we'll we'll I don't know it doesn't make a lot of sense going from what we were doing to what we're doing uh in terms of in terms of Transportation but we'll you know we'll obviously do our best to keep kids safe and continue to do that um our transportation provider has been

176has been great working us with us on that so you know we um we're not quite sure what it's going to look like in the fall but um we are out to bid so hopefully we have some numbers for you in the near in the near future also the minimum wage increase um some of our staff uh like particularly our playground cafeteria monitors uh very closely tied to the minimum wage um that minimum wage increase uh you know is is built in to to those U positions in other services and then tuitions we expect an increase uh based on you know student needs as well as the fact that that uh annually um those those u schools receive a increase approved by the department of Ed so overall that brings us to the bottom line

177which is is a $1,751 th000 increase about 3.88% so what did we do within that um and you know the the sad thing is you'd look at 3.8% and say okay they must be doing some you know adding some great things and and I think we are adding some good things we're just not adding a lot of them um we have proposed adding an Outreach social worker uh there's a there's a part-time person at the kushman school we'd be expanding that position to full-time we are also proposing another social worker um full-time for the district it won't be that person will not be um allocated to one specific school but will'll be able to support several schools in the district and then a specialized reading program uh this is something that we really we really

178don't have a choice we have to do this um it's been something that uh that we need to support students with dyslexia so those are really the only things outside of the norm uh and Status Quo that we've added to the budget at this point so this uh there there's you know a lot of positions listed on here I I won't speak to every single one but I I think of particular note so this is sort of our plus and minus Staffing for the year um so overall we we've decreased positions four positions net in for fy22 in this budget um we have the 1.5 Outreach social workers that I discussed on the previous slide and and you know if there's ever been a time that we need to support kids social and emotional health

179this is the time and um you know there were proposals before now um that were presented pretty much on an annual basis by some of the schools and um and now it's just you know it's so obvious to us that we need to we need to focus on this and and make sure that as as we do come back um and bring kids back into school um more fully that that we're able to support them so we um also listed there are the positions that we have proposed that we've restructured at this point um so those are listed as well as some other pluses and minuses through the uh you know through that have either already taken place through the year that we've sort of had to adjust or um you know are are proposed

180down the road um for next year so the two restructuring that would be a net result of 1.7 FTE uh you know decreased on the on the administration side there budget requests not funded I this is not an exhaustive list I did not write every single budget requests not funded but um but I think the the one of the keys on this slide is to look at uh the Outreach social worker positions that while not funded directly uh the way schools might have wanted them um we are hoping to be able to support them nonetheless um some other requests not specifically funded on this list we hope to be able to support through school choice funding um as we have been able to do in the past that would be more the one-time purchases typically

181not Staffing we've you know we've tried everything we can to to not use that funding for Staffing as it might not be you know permanent source for us um we don't want to go in that direction but you know you're looking at $600,000 of other requests out there um so it's it's you know substantial um amount of requests and these are you know thoughtful thoughtful proposals for the schools many of which would I mean they all would have had a positive impact on students and unfortunately weren't able to be incorporated into the into the budget this year so um those are the factors that make up our fy22 budget proposal um I have provided you all with an electronic version of the budget um we tried to improve it this year it has the it's

182not just a regular PDF it has some tabs built into the PDF so if you download it and look at it that way you should uh it should be a little bit of a easier experience um and we and we still have extra Books available if anyone would like a a hard copy budget book I'd be happy to provide it um all the backup information is in there I'm available we you know our hope is that over the next uh couple of you know we have really now a couple of school committee meetings uh to be able to you know have have good thoughtful discussion with the school committee um about this budget proposal Our Hope would be to still have the public budget hearing on March 22nd but you know we could be flexible

183with that if the committee needs it um and we will go from there so I appreciate finally getting the opportunity to present this thing and uh look forward to talking with you about it I'd be happy to answer any questions you might have great thank you very much uh Mr Kylie I I always appreciate I know I speak for the committee when I say we always appreciate uh the level of detail that you do put into your budget not only your presentations but your budget binders uh that you share with the school committee to really look at uh the finite details of of the school department budget to help us uh get a better understanding of our uh fiduciary responsibilities uh that we have as a school committee um so I think that's really important

184um i' I'd be lying if I said I was not I was excited and I was not disappointed um but the the percentage which was I don't have it in front of me was 3.7 3.8 yeah three 3.8% and what we're really looking at getting for that um it's uh it's a little disheartening um I know that you've had conversations um I I know you're always in contact with Town Hall and what's coming out of there um so I'll be curious over the next couple of weeks as we continue the the committee continues to you know have discussions around the budget and with you um you know if anything changes or um I'm really curious as uh at the transportation bid as well um because that'll that'll be a big big key um I'll I'll

185open it up for any quick questions I know we're kind of I know we're all kind of burnt out right now it's almost quarter past nine um obviously the budget is a big deal um and at least we had the opportunity for Mr Kylie to present it I'd love for us to continue um you know maybe take this back digest it a little bit more and then be prepared of at the next school committee meeting um to ask questions um you know and or also if there's something that some data that maybe uh Mr Kylie wouldn't have uh readily available that you would uh email him your questions in advance if it's around finances that um so he could have that that information available um and ready to go um but I will open it

186up uh for for question questions for anyone that may have something right now um I'll start with Mr n your first on my screen thank you Mr chairman uh Jim thank you very much uh first and foremost what time is that uh pre-bids conference on Wednesday with the uh I believe it's at 10: just let me uh let me confirm that yeah I mean if you just shoot me a text or an email and confirm it I'm it's at 10 am here at Bush Street we've reserved the conference room obviously social distancing and yeah okay I'm going to try and pop in if that's okay okay uh number two uh thank you very much for this I again I haven't had a chance to dive into it but uh as you and I have talked

187a couple of times uh I will and I will sit down and give you a call to uh to go over things but uh thank you very much and and again my in all seriousness uh my thanks to all the administrators you know both the building and the and the special you know I think of uh Mr christop foly and uh as the Director of Athletics on heal and fette and uh Mr Flint who's the music director of music you know for putting things you know for putting you know together you know reasonable budgets you know I and I again I'm always one of those that I always like to see you know what did we get you know what did we not get and you know to you know to have you know the

188amount of money you know we're not too too bad this year I think it was 500,000 a little over $500,000 that we couldn't fund per se type of deal but again it's not things that you know they're not pie in the skies they're not uh you know it's not somebody looking for uh you know a Maserati or Alexus or you know something of of of that nature I mean they looking for you know Chevrolets and Hondas type of deal to uh just to keep their program going so I I appreciate everything that uh that they have and I guess my last comment is is well my next to the last comment is uh again my usual you know again if we were at where the state says we should be we'd have another $8.5 million

189dollars and we wouldn't have to sit here and have many of the these discussions type of deal but it is what it is that being said in all seriousness Kylie have you heard anything from town hall slash the state I know the governor's budgets outed when I looked at it I was not impressed but you know have you heard anything you know in conversation with uh Mr bonds and Mr mcginness as to where things are looking for the town I know they're kneed deep into putting everything together yeah I you know they they challenges for sure I think I think from you know the the one thing about the governor the governor's budget well not um not going to save us or be you know be this uh you know this this incredible source of

190uh you know fueling our success on the other hand it wasn't a decrease um you know there is an increase to the town in funding and um any increas is good I think at this point in time given the uncertainty that you know that's out there I would I would say anything but a decrease I can I can I can handle I I'll say that the town got some some very favorable information in terms of U health insurance which is always a big factor in the overall budget of the Town um so I I think although we don't have the specific information as to um our rate rating and why we got a good rate um it looks like the you know the town's health insurance is about going to be about a 1% increase

191um and then may also incorporate a u a payment holiday which would the net result of which would be a decrease for staff for next year um now that's also a decrease on the on the town side um you know or at least only a you know modest incre you very small increase so um certainly less than I'm sure what they were projecting so I I think that was really good favorable information um I don't think that's gonna that's going to um you know offset the difficulties of um tax revenue and and you know given the pandemic but but um there's a there's a lot of I think I think we're probably behind where we would be in terms of uh knowing where this budget's going that's probably no surprise to you Mr NS and

192probably not to anyone else but yeah we're we're a little behind schedule on that thank you Mr chairman I'm good I appreciate again my thanks to uh the administration and all the building administrators and the directors for their hard work and getting this and and all seriousness you know uh the budget subcommittee you know our budget subcommittee for uh for looking at this I appreciate the work you guys have put into this thank you Mr Nunes anyone else Mrs weit I was gonna toose you and say that I have about 20 questions to ask right now why don't we hold most of them till the next meeting no I I do want to you know say you know first of echo what again um John and have said that you know this is tremendous amount

193of work you know so thank you thank you everybody the budget sub committee um I also you know I know we're going to be revisiting this um Dr Jenkins is not here I think she you know all she often brings up the point that you know the amount that money Revenue that we in this town commit to our students is is not what we need to really and it's amazing what we're able to achieve given the the small budget that we have I I'm it's late I apologize but I think you know I it it's just incredible what we're able to do what our staff put out what they you know what our administrators are able to work with I mean and I'm you know I think every school you know gets certainly is dependent

194on you know for the enrichment programs on their PTO so I'm very grateful to you know those people who you put the hard work in raising money too um it's just you know really a a testament to the dedication of so many people but you know we we should have more to work with than we do and so I'm very impressed with what you know what you've put on the table and and again I and to you to your point you know underscoring and emphasizing that we need to have social emotional support for these kids and we know that's in front of us you know I know we'll be talking more about this next week but um yeah I just uh I get kudos overall and uh a job well done so thank you thank

195you Mrs we um anything else Mrs Amaral um yeah thank you for for uh this um a lot it's late I just I have more of a uh tongue and cheek sort of commentary on desie again sorry Department of Elementary and secondary education um I just wanted to mention I'm happy to see the dyslexia you know the the the um the money sort of put aside and some things that we have to do um but I just want to note that this has uh historically been an issue um but the department of Elementary and secondary Education First brought this up in 2016 uh and then there was the you know the the law in 2018 so I'm just really glad they gave themselves two years to put out guidance and and that's just my fresh

196commentary but I'm glad to see it coming to fruition but love how they gave themselves a lot of time to figure it out thank you Kathleen uh with that I do have a number number of questions uh Mr Kylie and Dr Gord but I will reserve them um for our next meeting I think that's fair to say uh but I do appreciate uh once again taking the time and um always being so thoughtful about the around the budget process so I look forward to continuing this conversation uh with with my colleagues I know we're all uh we're all burnt out uh We've uh it's been a long evening I appreciate the thoughtful discussion I know base I know that um we're not going to make everyone happy we clearly have we will never make everyone

197happy and that's the positions that we're in and it is what it is and for those of you them those of the viewing public that are watching if you know if you're if you're not happy and you're you're always frustrated I encourage you to run for elected office so a lot it's a lot different on this side than it is out there Mr chairman that you know what Mr Nunes uh you could say that more than anyone else from your tenure on the school committee uh but eight years ago me um sitting in the audience and watching school committee meetings and now sitting where I am now um it's it's a thankless job but I'm I'm dedicated I know that all of you are dedicated I have a vested interest with my my my High

198School freshman at dmouth high high that loves her that loves loves Dartmouth and bleach green and um you know we do this for them so uh I thank you all at this time I will um before before I adjourn i' just like to say uh the next regularly scheduled meeting of the Adas school committee is scheduled for Monday March 8th 2021 at 6:30 Mr n you had a question or you want comment real quick uh have we heard anything on the voke minutes I just happen to be catching a school committee a v school committee the other night and was just wondering if we've heard anything from them on the minutes um I have not um I do vaguely remember have I'm not sure in passing if I had a conversation with superintendent O'Brien about

199what what specifically you were looking for I believe I can find out for sure that this was because I know that you had brought that up several months ago yeah um so I can certainly look um try to follow up with either Mr O'Brien or one of our one of our reps to voke okay that's fine Mrs Amal I just had some announcement I wanted to share um that anybody that would uh you know uh would consider I think this is a great time to do so I love when we can uh acknowledge both our students our and our staff uh but the department of Elementary and secondary education is is currently um uh accepting applications to nominate a teacher of the year uh the teacher of the year award uh honors Massachusetts teachers who

200exemplify excellent teach teaching in the Commonwealth it goes on to give a little bit more in detail but anyone that's watching anyone that um that is really grateful uh for the learning although different although less than previous years in some respects uh I think that um it would be um really great if people could think about nominating the teacher you can just Google Massachusetts teacher of the year it'll come up um the deadline is March 8th thank you anyone else Mr chairman make a motion to adour Second thank you I have motion by Mr Nunes and second by Mrs we on to adjourn on the motion any further discussion typically this wouldn't be a roll call but since we're remote roll call please miss gther m Oliver yes Kathleen Amaral yes Mary weit yes John

201Nunes absolutely this meeting is adjourned to everyone thank you for your time and dedication good night everyone everybody thank you take care night