001okay good evening everyone I'd like to call to order the school committee meeting for tonight Monday May 18th 2020 roll call please Kathleen Amaral here Chris Oliver here Carol Carrodus here Shannon Jenkins here John Nunes yeah great we all know by now because governor Baker suspended certain provisions of the Open Meeting Law that our School Committee is allowed to conduct our meeting remotely members of the public can access the meeting via livestream on YouTube on Dartmouth high school TV media YouTube channel in addition this meeting will be rebroadcast on TV TV channels 9 and 18 on Wednesday and Thursday 5:00 p.m. Friday 6:00 a.m. Saturday 8:00 a.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. in regards to public comment members of the public can send comments related to an agenda item via email to Kate Gunther she's
002our recording secretary and please include your name her case email can be found in the description of this YouTube video and it is Kathleen ka th le en g en th and ER at Dartmouth schools Oh Archie and we will be opening public comment a little bit later in the agenda closer to 7:00 to allow time for people to email any comment to Kate but first on our agenda I would like to ask dr. Gifford to do an introduction for us I'll turn it over to you okay thank you so I'm hoping she's coming in but tonight we'd like we're very happy to introduce the person who will be our early education childhood director over at Cushman school taking the place of Melissa McHenry of course so we're happy to have dr. Justine Dale coming
003to us from Falmouth Justine is a longtime educator and has been a principal at one of the elementary schools in Falmouth so I'm hoping she's here he let in and is we've asked her to be able to say a few words to the committee and so the committee can get to know her hi everyone can you hear me okay yes we can hear you great great so thank you for giving me the opportunity to attend the school meeting tonight allowing me to share with you just how excited I am to be joining your you know district in your dynamic team I'm excited to be working professionally again with dr. Gifford in my new role is early childhood director and I come to you with a genuine desire to just use my years of experience as
004principal to take over mrs. McHenry's reins as she takes on her new challenge early childhood education is one of my passions and I've always said to myself and to my colleagues that you know if we can only get to the families earlier and this opportunity will give me the chance to do that this is my opportunity to support and nurture and transition pre-k and kindergarten families into the public education setting well at the same time I'll learn the strengths and the areas of improvement in this early learning environment at Cushman school so I've had experience in all facets of Education from early education to the college level I enjoy working with teams that hold children most important in their decision-making as I know that Dartmouth does that currently I've been working remotely with some of
005the staff at Dartmouth and I can already feel that there's a connection there and I feel that it'll be a team that will be a wonderful one to work with and I hope to contribute to it as much as I possibly can right now I've been really busy as I'm sure all of us in the country have been doing all educators it's just preparing a safe and secure way to get folks back into the building and bring children into the schools and whatever kind of hybrid or you know model remote model we might need so I've been working really hard here in Falmouth and at the same time trying to you know do as much as I can now to start learning names and eating you and and seeing I this is an interesting situation
006I'm very lucky to uh to be taking on a position where I you know I haven't been in a school yet I haven't met anybody face to face yet except through zoom and and to feel the way I feel already I'm just I'm really excited about it so I am I don't want to take up your time tonight but I am willing and able to answer any questions that you might have of me or anything I can do to help with the transition process it'll just let me know great great crit yeah guess I'll set off first and foremost welcome to Dartmouth we are very happy to have you I speak for myself anything for the rest of the committee that we are very proud of the Dartmouth public school system and the the set
007of individuals that doctor gifted has put together over the years and I look forward to I sure we all look forward to you coming on board and bringing our expertise expertise I'm just curious um what brings you to Dartmouth whoa what did you see in darkness that I really draw that really drew you to Dartmouth I I have to tell you strategic plan is very similar to the treaty to plan that I helped build here in Falmouth I believe in access and equity and reaching all children and being it supports that provide everybody the access that they need to be able to appreciate the teaching that's done by our professionals and and I know that you know our populations are similar with regards to children and their social emotional needs and that variance working with
008children that have some deficits in those areas and I feel that I could you know bring a lot to Dartmouth in that area but also you have safety and security I believe was a primary aspect of your strategic plan and that too I've been it's very very important to me for children to be safe and secure I believe in partnerships and they can come in forms of PLC's within a school building or they can come within the building's they can come within the district at different levels and also from the community and the families so I really AM excited about you know just building partnerships and that dynamic because you know together so much more can be done excellent well you really are joining a great team I think and I wish you nothing but
009success great thank you I'm excited about I really am all right John thank you madam chair Jeanine walk Justine welcome aboard thank you question I have for you is what do you see is some of the challenges with early in this day and age with early childhood education yeah I'm sorry so some of the challenges that I see yeah and how do you tackle them okay so I believe that some of the challenges are that some of the majority of the families can be younger though they're coming into you know first time situations with many of the children coming into preschool or kindergarten it just the challenges sometimes to bring the families along to believe that we are all in this for the betterment of the child and to have them have trust in us
010and to believe that we have the same priority which is the health and welfare of their child and some of the challenges are just you know some some families may have come through public education and not have had the great experiences that many of us have had and hold on to that and now they're bringing their babies back to that same setting that they once you know maybe didn't have such every morning time with and there's a lot of I think anxiety and and maybe just a to be supported in a way that can really you know have them believe what we're doing and know that we're a team and we're working together pretty good thank you I appreciate that you're welcome Erin yes hi Justine I just wanted to welcome you I was reviewing
011your resume and it's quite impressive and I think you have a lot to offer Dartmouth and um as someone who's been in the Dartmouth system for a long time I know you're gonna be very pleased with the different personnel what you need and I just want to wish you the best in your new endeavor oh thank you so much I really appreciate that you're welcome dr. Jenkins I just also want to welcome you and I don't know if I'm ELISA has scoped out like what everyone on the board where we're coming from but if she did she'll probably tell you that for early childhood education I am play is the magic word for me you know I I think it's just so important for our youngest kids to have fun at school right because what
012we're teaching them when they start is to the love of school and that's the most that they can learn so that's music to my ears just so you know I love to hear talk about the fun that they're having and it sounds like you have great background and great variance I'm sure you're gonna create and create a positive learning environment for those kids great I believe in play you know it's primary that's how we all began to learn to to be I don't know just to be personable to be people to navigate those conversations I mean play is learning as well so I don't see a real clear gentle delineation between play and teaching and learning you can make everything I mean we can be playing in the fourth grade right and still be learning
013at the same time so it's all in the approach and the messaging I think and the opportunity to to let the expectation be that play is learning echo I just want to welcome you you know as you're learning through this remote you know time you've got a great team that you'll be working you know alongside and learning from and and and teaching as well in John you know my fellow colleague out here so it was talking about challenges and what a challenge yeah you have right now you're like living it and so you know with turning 3 and all of that stuff that you know is yet to kind of be kind of ironed out and and kids coming back and then and the feelings around feeling safe and so I'm sure you'll reading your
014resume I'm sure you'll rise to that occasion and I guess my advice is just realize oh shucks in with those that are mentoring you here in the district the great team and I have you know the staff that's there and Melissa as well and they'll lead you and help you so just don't feel like you're you're at it alone you know in this remote time so right thank you I'm looking forward to meeting the Cushman staff tomorrow mom Melissa's invited me to her staff meetings so that will be happening I know there's so much I'd like to be doing and I know I don't really officially start till July first while I still am here at my school doing our district and having the challenges here it's just I wish there was two of me
015right now one that could be working in Dartmouth and one could be doing Falmouth you know but I'm really trying to just meld the two together and try to learn from both districts at the same time because we're all dealing with similar challenges it's just you know particular time I guess I am looking very forward to meeting the the staff and Cushman's well thank you thank you one else no well thank you for taking time to stop in to this meeting and introduce yourself it's been a pleasure and I look forward to getting to know you more bye wonderful okay so actually I'm going to turn it right back over to you dr. Gifford you have a presentation to make to to deserving Dartmouth high school seniors so the courses are absolutely so and I
016know we're going to have mr. Tebow I'm bored here as well as the two students they'll be coming into our meeting but tonight we are very excited to be able to award two of our excellent seniors Sabrina Pires and Victor Gonzalez each with the Massachusetts Association of school superintendents certificate of academic excellence these students were selected by and recommended to me were selected by the high school are recommended to me as students who have excelled in their studies as well as being acknowledged as peer leaders and the to boot tonight we have an extra special announcement to make and then I'm going to ask mr. Tebow to speak about our students and and give a little bio about both of them but we have been informed by the high school that mr. Richard Gill as
017you know one of our assistant principals has volunteered to sponsor two scholarships for these students so these scholarships will be funded by the gill Family Charitable Trust Fund in mr. gills father's name for $1,000 each so we are so appreciative to mr. Gill for again coming on board last year and just wanting to do something for our students and I can't thank him enough and I'm sure the students will be very appreciative of that so with that I'll turn it over to mr. Tebow to speak about our two students thank you dr. Gifford so I just want I wanted to talk about our two students so the first recipient of the superintendent's Excellence Award is a young man who has taken the most rigor coursework offered at Dartmouth high school completing seven advanced placement courses
018during his four years of study which has placed him at the top of our graduating class you know he didn't do that great in those courses he did have you know his lowest grades were an A with several a pluses in those seven AP courses Victor's a young man who emigrated to the United States from Brazil in 2003 and he became an American citizen last year he's the class of 2020 s vice president he's the mellah phone section leader in the national championship Dartmouth high school marching band in addition to that he's a member of the Jazz Band and an integral member of the 75-71 robotics team at Dartmouth high school where he handled all of the programming responsibilities Victor's been keeping himself busy during the quarantine this exceptional young man is passionate about researching
019diabetes which is motivated in part by his 10-year dealings with diabetes as a type 1 diabetic and so he's looking forward to researching diabetes as he continues his studies and during quarantine he's already programmed an application that allows him to collect in-stores blood sugars for the next year after which time he plans to analyze those results and focus his research on how best to stabilize and treat blood sugar later I can think of no one more deserving of the recognition tonight Invicta gonzalez and i don't believe i've mentioned but he'll be continuing his education in the fall at harvard where he'll attend on a full-ride scholarship so we are very proud of Victor and offer him congratulations as one of the two recipients this evening the second recipient of the superintendent's Excellence Award is a
020young lady who has demonstrated herself to be an exceptional member of the Dartmouth high school community in her own right she too has taken many of most rigorous courses offered at Dartmouth high school during her four years as a student including five advanced placement courses and in fact just today we're very proud of her she sat for the AP biology exam and we're positive she did very well on that she's a member of the National Honor Society she has served this class secretary for the past two years she's a member of the principal's Advisory Council and she's served she served as all as one of the captains of the girls soccer team Sabrina Pires is very deserving of recognition tonight and she will be continuing her education in the fall in the Honors Program at
021Emmanuel College studying neuroscience so congratulations to Sabrina as well wonderful yeah I would like to turn it over to my colleagues on the committee who have to go John first and foremost Victor congratulations you I I can I can I can let the community know this about Victor what-you-see-is-what-you-get I've had the privilege of having him in the band being under my tutelage and everything for the past five years and a nicer young man you will not meet I mean he's always very pleasant very very kind you know doesn't until I saw this today in all seriousness I had no idea he was that kind of a student he doesn't run it out there or anything of that nature and is always looking to help people so Victor congratulations I'm very proud of you thank you
022mrs. Sabrina congratulations you know to take you know going into honors it and a manual for neuroscience or that type of deal is something you know listen I you know I have no idea of science and math were not my two strong I can I can assure you of that but I just you know being as involved as you are and Victor it's you know people don't realize what's what students do in high school these days and congratulations and wish you nothing but the best you muted okay I'm gonna go next Sabrina and veteran extreme extremely proud of both of you want be first the two students your age what a set of achievements that both of you have done during your four years in high school I myself cannot be prouder of the two
023of you I wish you nothing but success in college this is what an awkward time we're in you know looking at where we've come and where we're going but I have faith that the two of you you no matter what you set your set your goals to be that you will achieve those goals I think there's no doubt in my mind so once again congratulations on this very impressive award and it sounds like the two of you are just very modest about it so you know take this and enjoy this time in your life so congratulations thank you dr. Jenkins so I will just echo my colleagues comments and say you know congratulations to the both of you serving on the school committee can be a bit of a thankless job but when you hear
024stories like the two of you or I think we're all reminded of why we do this you make us all very proud everyone on the committee I think and everyone in this district and I wish you both the most success in the next few years as you head off to college congratulations Carol I don't know what I can add to that other than it's amazing what you both have accomplished and I know it took a lot of hard work and a lot of effort on your part and with the support of your parents and your family and friends and teachers you have so much to be proud about and I I know your future is bright and you know where we're depending on you the new people coming up are students that are graduating going
025on to college you're a future leaders so I'm so happy for you it's so proud of you and wish you nothing but the best so thank you yeah I just echo my colleagues lots of pride you know you should be proud of yourselves and you have so much to look forward to and it will be fun to kind of watch you along the way to see what you achieve so congratulations great thank you they have anything to say Kathleen yeah if either one of you and you you're muted but Victor I mean it's been such an honor thank you my I don't know why going through high school I mean it definitely was tough like I never knew like what could really happen you know what I'm saying it's kind of like that thing we're
026like I don't know never thought that what I could do was possible until like whatever like junior year whatever like then you get thing you're like wow you you really look back you're like wow this is like I'm very honored and it's been an experience that I will never forget and I'm going off to college and I look to be or whatever I pursue as long as they come happy as possible and as long as I'm really having a good time because I know everything along side of that will come and even in quarantine rightly I don't know I guess it's what you make of it right obviously it's not a time that any one of us could have really expected but to say that I don't know I've found happiness and passion within quarantine
027right with my with my research project for diabetes and I guess like I don't know going through Highschool i just do a bunch of class and stuff and you never really look at the meaning behind or i feel like a lot of students don't always look at the meaning behind some of these classes what you can do with it and even in quarantine like to pursue what makes me most happy i've found a really good time doing what I want to do I've used and it's funny because like everything that I've learned in school but you never think like oh I'm not gonna be I'm not gonna use this and then to find like a project we're all kind of merged itself together into something awesome so I'm super excited to see what college has
028for me and I'm super excited to know the people that I'm gonna meet in the experience that I'm gonna have and I really thank all of you for giving me such an honor it's been such a pleasure to go together I almost had to leave because I actually am and it was um I have to go through this school of choice that was kind of scary not gonna lie but glad everything worked out awesome and it worked out perfectly fine and I really can't say that Darwin or any other school could have provided me such an awesome opportunity than normal that's a great perspective so much better no problem um I don't really know how I really like just being in a class I'd like such amazing and educated like people and like it's just
029like been an honor just to learn from others and learn from Victor and like he's like kind of like I kind of look up to him a little bit like he's like very positive and smart and like I don't know nothing stops him so like I'm just thankful that I could even be considered next to him like it's really crazy that I could even like stand next to him at this point so yeah I'm just thankful for all the opportunities I've been given and even just being thought of for this I've never mind chosen this is crazy so yeah thank you very welcome thank you gratulations yes congratulations thank you for popping in to this meeting to let us honor you great thank you [Laughter] wonderful thank you let's say so we move on next
030on our agenda we have public comment so I at the beginning I think I overheard or I don't know if people want to continue with public comment at this point maybe check in with Kate to see if anyone has submitted comment I have not received any testing okay so how does the committee feel do you want to push this to the end of the meeting and to see if anything comes or I'm fine without - all right so let's do that then you the contact information so yep so let me just repeat so anyone who is watching and wants to comment on any item that's on our agenda you can do so by emailing Kate Gunther who is our recording secretary she'll be checking her email her email is listed on the bottom of this
031video but I'm gonna fill it out now as well it's Kathleen with a k and Gunther so ka th l e en g en th and ER at dartmouth schools o RG so an F at the end of school so please if anyone has any comments feel free to I just lost everyone feel free to email Kate and she will when we revisit public comment at the end of the meeting so we'll move on to the next item for agenda is the approval of minutes and so we have we have a few so I don't know you want to take these the regular session together or separately I'll entertain a motion to approve minutes as you so choose so we the regular and executive session minutes of our April 27th meeting and then we also
032have the minutes in your packet for the May 11th meeting which was we were in executive session but then we also were in a joint session with the Flex board and the Finance Committee that's your regular session first okay the regular session minutes of April 27th so moves okay any discussion all in favor aye okay and so next thank you John for the May 11th joint session make a motion we approve the joint session minutes of May 11th what they were I'll second that okay all right any discussion all in favor all right great and so now I will entertain a motion for the executive session minutes of April 27th so madam chair with the stipulation today be held until the matter for which they were intended is completed thank you john ii Thank You
033Shannon okay okay and then finally we have the executive session minutes for the May 11th meeting so move madam chair with the stipulation that they be held until the matter they were intended as complete I'll second thank you sir any discussion all in favor okay thank you so next on our agenda we have the organization of of committee and so with that I just want to go ahead I'd like to make a motion to nominate mr. Oliver just herb as chair or the Dartmouth School Committee for the next year I'll second that any discussion all in favor aye okay great thank you I would I would like to make a motion to however were we supposed to nominate right no man I want to make a motion to nominate Shannon dr. Shannon Jenkins for the
034position of vice chair of the Dartmouth School Committee I'll second that I'm realizing now we probably were supposed to ask Chris if he accepted the nomination but big Roque I didn't I didn't say no and I think now I'm supposed to ask for nominations for a vice-chair right all right so Kathleen made the motion to nominate Shannon Jenkins as the vice chair and dr. Kara photos you second at that yes I did any other discussion Chair hearing none all in favor aye do you accept Shannon I got out of it last year you covered for me because I was in Japan but I will step up and I just like to thank Kathleen for the great job she did you Kathleen you were courageous and I was I stepped back when it was time to
035be a chairperson you know you went forth good for you if I may Chris absolutely yeah I know Thank You Shannon thank you everyone you know it's been my pleasure to serve on this committee as chairperson over the past year you know we've it's been quite a year we've you know worked through some pretty complex issues and you know it's been really an honor to serve and to see all of you in sort of a different light more directly and you know all of us I feel all of you are so committed to you know you look at other districts you hear things in the paper and being on a school committee might be some sort of political move and in a certain way and and each and each of us comes to this and
036serves in with you know diligence and you know just a real focus on what's good for the kids and and what works for our staff and its really been it's been a pleasure to to work with you we all have our own perspectives we we do our own research and but we come to the table with respect and teamwork and it's it's been it's been a pleasure but I'm happy to pass the torch to Chris Thank You Kathleen and I'm happy to accept it and with that being said you know I think it's really important to thank you for the job that you did this year and I do agree with Kathleen and I hope my colleagues will agree with me as well is that in some communities and then some school districts people do
037come to the table work with agendas whether it's for you know personal reasons or whether it's for big broader reasons but but I'm really happy you know that I think this is my seventh year now on the committee and I'm really happy to serve with the five of you I think we all bring a unique perspective to the table we all have our strengths and weaknesses and I think really most importantly is that we all respect the the role of the superintendent of schools in which we allow I think and I at least want to believe we do we allow dr. Gifford and her staff to operate the school district like they're supposed to on a daily basis and do what's best for the school come I'm not for the school committee before the school
038department as a whole and really look to you know we really stay within I think we do a really good job staying with our bounds and reason of you know doing the responsibilities given to us under Mass General law overseeing policy budget you know and obviously the role of the superintendent so I think we've done a great job to five of us given you know given dr. Gifford that freedom to run and operate the district as she sees fit I'm hoping we can continue down that road and you know they're definitely going to have some unique challenges coming up in the fall that's for sure we have some unique challenges we're facing now and the Senate is summer school is going to school ends we have summer school to look at and then we look
039at what what is fall going to look like in the down public schools so I think that I think we all have a lot on our plate however I'm very optimistic that now that this committee will continue to do what's in the best interest of our students and staff in town so just like to say I'm I'm thankful for the committee that we have in the relationship we have and in looking to do what's best for our students risk thank you that being said it's going to take me a minute here to get back into some kind of routine all right so the next stop is the organization of these of the school committee know of the where the school community member assignments correct dr. Gifford a secretary I don't think any of us wants
040to take notes she might have been hoping skip that different I believe is who officially serves as our as the recording secretary thank you for that catch that advice yeah I'm not going to accept by acclamation second end so there's no escaping is there any discussion on that motion of making dr. Gifford the Secretary to the School Committee nope no hearing none all in favor aye any opposed motion carries unanimously thank you dr. Gifford all right so the next up is the let's see school committee assignments so let me bring that up here and first up we have the Dartmouth education foundation that has previously been dr. Shannon Jenkins pleasure I'll do that that's fine okay the next one it sorry Chris can I just say one thing yeah of course I think right now
041Carol I think you you're on that board although you'll be rolling off of this committee but Mary weight is also on that board and so maybe that might be something that she does presuming no write-in campaign occurs to knock her out cuz we're both on the board right now so she may be the official but we may want to revisit that after the election but I'm fine perfect the next up is the southeastern Massachusetts educational collaborative I've been serving on that for a number of years now I'm happy to stay on that we're actually in the middle of contract negotiations with the collaborative director Katherine Cooper and I am on that negotiations subcommittee so unless someone has read some one would really like to step up I'm happy to stay there yes we'll have you
042ahead I know so I'm more than happy to stay mass association of school committees mr. Nunes I'm good with this seriously you're okay without negotiation representative for the soup is this for the superintendent's contracts my understanding yeah John Nunes and Kathleen am are all is back up yeah one of yours what's your pleasure folks if Bonnie wants me I'll stay yeah same I'm fine with that I'm okay with that as well uh school assignments we decided last year that we weren't going to specifically assign anyone to specific schools thoughts comments questions on that you'll be okay with continuing no specific assignments or would you rather be assigned personally I'm fine the way it is the administrators need to talk to us and they you know they call us or we need to talk to them
043we can you know let them know we'd like to talk to one vennett that works for me anyone else dr. Jenkins dr. Kara photos okay next up we have policy committee policy subcommittee with this assistant superintendent miss Roy Kathleen emerald dr. Jenkins and John Nunes to cover until dr. Jenkins return so I guess it would be a kathleen in dr. Jenkins so Chris yes I know I'm skipping ahead a little bit I'm happy to stay on this and again maybe this might be a good one to roll the news policy seems to me is not super complicated sorry Michelle would probably agree but it's me forward that was the first committee I served on and that might be a good new one I'm happy to stay on there until all right so my new comes
044on and then if they want to go into that role oh I have some interest in serving on the Budget Committee though I know dr. Kara photos will be rolling off I'm so I don't know I take and I do budget but I'm fine with whatever all right so we'll get there in a second so yeah I agree why don't we why don't we look to whenever the new person is their first meeting we'll come back to this Pete if you could just make him know if we could just come back to the the assignment so we could just go over this with the new person because this is typically something they're involved with but because this is such a unique year um let's plan on circling back to that if that's okay with the
045committee that's fine and then the Technology Committee is currently dr. kay and myself I am happy to stay on it with the background that I have does someone want to jump in for dr. kay is should we just leave that as is till after the election why don't we leave that where it is right now until after the election see if you know the new person wants to pop in and of course would with my computer experience I'd be no good fair enough feels and Facilities Committee with the superintendent is that still is that still happening with John Nunes and Kathleen Amer all time and but you know there is certainly the possibility that we could need to okay so what's your what's your guidance mr. Kylie should we keep it on there so just
046just for the sake in case we need it doesn't hurt okay is mr. Nunes mr. Amaral are you both okay with that I'm good and then we have the the Budget Committee with dr. kay and myself I know dr. Jenkins has expressed interest I am happy to step aside with that if someone else would like to UM to give that an opportunity or I'm more than welcome to stay on it as well so just let me know if anyone else wants to jump in there I would be happy to but also open to waiting for our new member and you know with to do it John hold have a sigh jump miss the news Thank You mr. Jim in all seriousness I mean if if Shannon wants to do it with you or if Shannon
047and Kathleen wanted to do it and then I can back them up you know I can be the backup if necessary I'm good with that we don't know we the committee wants to handle it I'm good okay is that something you want to you want to swap with me Kathleen on the budget subcommittee yeah I would be interested in that okay I'm fine given that up and so be Shannon's it'll be Shannon and Kathleen then I'll pack them up sure that sounds good if Jim will have me of course and I believe that is it so once the new member comes on board we can revisit this just to get them acquainted with the assignments you know we can go from there does the does the board have any other questions about this welcome back
048mr. chairman Thank You mr. Nunes I don't know if that's a I don't know if I should say thank you [Laughter] good it'll be a fun year and one way the other we're gonna make this a good year I'm gonna be we're gonna be fine we're gonna be fine absolutely I'm I'm with you on this so next up we have seven to body almost right on right on the money at 7:16 year under new business discussion of school transportation contract mr. Kylie Thank You mr. Oliver so I don't have a contract tonight for you to consider but last Monday it did come up at the joint meeting mr. Harun brought up the question of whether or not we're paying our transportation providers so like to fill you in on where this is where this has
049developed we originally in week one of shutdown began talking about this and when I say we myself my colleagues throughout the state began to wonder okay so we have a contract with these people we tell them that we are requiring a certain service and they agree to provide it and they make arrangements significant arrangements there our largest contractor and their most districts largest contractor so the state at that time over the first couple of weeks began to talk about it too and and we were hoping that would they would provide us with some guidance as to how to proceed well here we are a couple of months later and we don't have anything definitive yet there's a bill that is in the legislature regarding payment for available services so we're the law currently says you
050can only pay so if services have been provided there is there is the the notion that you should in case pay should be able to choose to pay for services that may need to be provided in the future obviously these companies ranged in size there are some national companies that provide school transportation services to school districts our vendor trembley's is based locally and is sort of a small to medium sized provider big concern several years ago we had a we in the state we had a bankruptcy of a transport of a transportation provider and they went out of business and it caused an unbelievable nightmare of how how are we gonna get all the districts that that company served how we're gonna get the kids to school so this is a much larger scale obviously
051and the risk is that as we lose you know providers throughout the state to bankruptcy and you know they'll be the chance that it's gonna really impact our service moving forward either our vendors ability to provide the service or the cost of the service so I am of the opinion that if that contractually we have some obligation while the contract is silent as to this scenario because nobody's ever dealt with it before I I think that if this were to be litigated there would be an obligation on our part to provide some level of payment to these folks so all of my colleagues I I think most the majority of districts in the state agree with that so then comes ok but what do you pay and that is a difficult question to answer these
052contracts are often very there's there's proprietary information that vendors are very reluctant to release in that would give competitive advantage to their competitors and in the bidding process and and so to like look at audited financial statements and be able to determine exactly how much a provider should be paid is not realistic the state recognized that early on and started to ask us to get together in groups so we've done that and we are working I'm working with several other local districts to negotiate with the providers in the area to determine to come up with some proposal on their part that we could support I originally early on heard that some districts are paying as much as 80% of the cost for for transportation which to me doesn't seem quite right there are a lot
053of variables obviously labor being a major one some companies are paying their full staff some companies are paying their partial staff and some companies are paying not many people and relying on the unemployment system to support those folks so that's a big variable from district to district labor makes up about 30% of the we estimate anyway about 30% of the cost of of these bids so it's a big big portion of the cost then there's gasoline that obviously is not being incurred and smaller items like maintenance on the on the buses and so forth however there is also a lot of cost that is incurred on our behalf in terms of buying the buses leasing the buses insuring the buses and so forth so make a long story short we are in in negotiations discussing
054something in the range of 50 to 60 percent of the cost of being paid so would result in a significant savings to the town which obviously you know our intent through discussions with with the town administration they recognize that you know we'd likely have some savings through this horrible time and we you know we recognize that while it's important that we prepare for next year and and what we're doing for the rest of this year we very well might turn some light back to the town as a result of something like this so I really just wanted to inform you and certainly seek your feedback and hopefully because ultimately will require your support to move forward with something something in this in this general plan dr. Jenkins thanks thanks for that update mr. Kiley one
055of the things I was trying to convey in the joint meeting I'm not sure they really got that point or anything from us in that meeting but one of my concerns is that we don't quite know what next year is gonna look like for us ideally it will look kind of like a normal year right where where kids are going to school the whole day but there is some possibility you know I hear lots of states talking about let school days and kids going on different days and so there is some possibility for us next year that we have actually significantly increased right busing and cost because we may be running different routes or more routes in a good day and so I don't wonder if there's some way that if we are giving back
05640 to 50 percent of our you know to need that portion if that could be earmarked in some way for next year if we could request that from the town you know just as a stabilization if we have a period where we our bus costs are going up but that could be earmarked for that money and then rolled in later because my concern is is that they're gonna tear it is across the board 5% cuts but that our costs are going up so that ends up being like a significantly bigger cut for us if our costs are going up so I'm hopeful that we could maybe request that in some ways I mean I don't know that we create a Stabilization Fund but in some way we earmark that to guard us against future loss
057or increases in that lesson contract it's a very legitimate concern we have no idea yet as to what school bus transportation is gonna look like obviously we don't know what school is gonna look like and we certainly don't know how to get them there and get them home and obviously you know if social distancing on a bus is is necessary that is a real game changer you know I I don't know I we would need if we're still transporting all of the kids every day yeah we need we might triple all right so maybe you could propose that that whatever savings were giving back or looted that somehow again earmarked or against that potential issue I can certainly relate that to the town side and start it off absolutely it would at least provide a
058good buffer if anything else yes what mr. Nunes Thank You mr. chairman mr. Kyla correct me if I'm wrong the anything that we save and we turn back to the town is gonna quote unquote go into cash surplus revenue so that's come out of that town pot whether it be as a special Town Meeting we have in September depending out things our with the actual you know October Town Meeting so it all would be part of that one part of funds if I'm correct you certainly are I I think what we could ask for and maybe the committee wants to formally act on this suggestion would be for them to have some sort of a commitment an acknowledgment and a commitment that they support the uncertainty and that we recognize that we're returning this money
059but because I I don't think a stabilization account I don't think that's gonna happen for it but any acknowledgement on their part or we you know we seek their support in that regard I'd be good with that I can make that motion if you like mr. chairman I talked to Carol Otis did you have something good first of all I would certainly support that motion mr. Kiley when you said you're in negotiations who are you negotiating with the bus company or a group of other business managers throughout the state are you talking with them about what's fair yes what we are doing is sharing our information amongst each other in that way we have some leverage and it's not a one-to-one you know negotiation when we speak to our providers I'll say I you know
060I have a great relationship with our provider they are a wonderful you know a wonderful company for us I have no complaints with them this this situation is unfortunate for everybody and I'm hoping that you know we can come to a resolution and with with them but it is a negotiation and takes two parties to agree with that and it's and it's it's a significant impact on everybody involved so certainly in a major impact on their business which and a major impact on the town so so we're trying to come up with something amicable and I think we will I think that our hope was that the state would take a little more leadership in it so that there would be more consistency across the state but I I don't first of all I don't
061think we can wait any longer for them and and I doubt that they will if you come to it a group an agreement with the bus company because I have to go through the approval of town or is that just within the school department yes within the school department but I intend to bring something to your to a school committee meetings for your approval thank you anyone else I guess I'll just say that I don't think anyone in the committee wants to strike a deal with them though it's gonna put them out of business I think that would be that would be the catastrophic of you know affect him I don't think you know that hurts everyone in this aspect so I know that mr. Naren said he was sworn to make a motion so
062you still so willing to mr. Nance oh heck sure absolutely and make them make a motion that mr. Kiley notified Town Hall that he would like any funds that are returned in school transportation to be earmarked to be set aside once they are certified for potential shock Falls in the school transportation account for a school year 2021 second that motion is that clear enough mr. kylie to bring to Town Hall you think I think it is perfect so we have a motion by mr. Nunes a second by this is Amaral on the motion any other discussion dr. Jenkins I just add one thing and I know this is the intention of mr. Nunes mr. Nunes is motion but I just want to make it clear that this may be necessary but not sufficient to cover
063any shortfalls right I think that we need to vacate that clearly I know it's like I just want to make sure that everyone in our audience hears this this may just be a down payment on what on what we need and I think we need to be I was nervous about this at that joint meeting that they were talking about well let's tell us what you're gonna cut what you're gonna cut what you're gonna cut and it's like well yeah but our situation is a little bit different because while we made hope for the state to be this refrain of the pandemic we hope the state would take more leadership they may perhaps at some point decide to do that and again impose significant cost increases you know mandates that increase our cost and so
064I think we just need to continually I'm sure you do mr. Kiley and dr. Gifford does but I think we all need to continually reiterate that to the other boards that there's there may be some different things going on on this side of the house they just need to be reminded of that at all times doing our part to try to turn some back but they're gonna have to realize that things may be different over here excellent point any other discussion mr. Nance I just I mean just the kind of agree with you know say what agree with what Shannon said - is the fact that you know and I've kind of said this before a number a lot of years ago is you know you we're a people we're in a people business so
065I mean yeah we can cut out a ream of paper and a box of paperclips but you know when we start to have to make major cuts it comes down to people and you start cutting you know teachers and aides and everything else you know you get the flip on the other side with you know you know larger class sizes and everything else so it's a double-edged sword that we on this side of the town budget have to face and get through anything else all right Jerry none all in favor of mr. news motion say aye aye aye aye opposed motion carries unanimously thank you mr. Nance thinking mr. Bailey yes one other thing that we haven't talked about the Select board asks us to forward a copy of that contract stated Thomas tano what's
066the situation there that was an unusual request so to speak so I'm wondering what the status of this is and what everyone's thoughts are I'm sure mr. Nunes has thoughts on that we're on live television so I'll be very nice but my answer is that's what we pay council for no need for anyone else to look at it now have a nice day no I agree anyone else you just want to make sure we state that early so you know mr. Kylie or dr. kipper does asked for that they can say our committee was pretty clear about what they think about that request let me think about that for a second no I am in agreement with all viewers well we have our own counsel that can be handled within the school department besides the
067dr. Jenkins school the town would probably send us a bill for having Anthony look at it no thank you alright is that do you have anything else under the transportation contract mr. Kylie I do not thank you for your support no thank you i something I do just want to mention quickly I know that was with trembley's what about our smaller contracts with special education we we actually currently use trembley's for our special education okay as well and across the state that's a similar topic of discussion so it's it's really being treated very similarly okay so I wasn't sure if we had any other vendors besides trembley's respect no no we provide some of the transportation ourselves but we've we've sort of reduced that to be on a fairly limited basis but just other than
068that it's they are providing both right now okay thank you mrs. Amaral just one comment when you talk about people - I just like you know everyone knows my my you know my son is in a special adding full disclosure he's he's out of district and when you talk about people and you talk about company you know working with a small bus company like trembley's the people that support those kiddos like my son are so valuable and really part of what makes or breaks a child having a good experience it sets the tone in an our personal experience we did some social distancing and the monitor on the bus that my son drives to school on brought me some flowers for Mother's Day and so it's you know you talk about people and you talk
069about staff and you talk about what makes our community I mean trembley's is a big part of it right now a - so I want to make that point what No thank you so much for sharing that and that that's actually a really good point that it takes time to build relationships like that what you just mentioned so thank you right next up we have the superintendent's update dr. Gifford thank you mr. Oliver so just a couple of things as you know we're still proceeding with our remote learning and things are going as well as can be expected but coming up to the end of the year I just wanted to let you know that all of our schools are planning various virtual events as best as they can especially for those transition years and
070I did let the elementary principals know this today's Monday Friday when we met that Cindy Marlin from DC TV is offered to help any of the schools do that set up a virtual show etc etc but we do have some information from the middle school some of the ceremonies that they'll be conducting and the orientation that they'll be having the virtual tours of the building for the incoming sixth grade etcetera all of this is happening very soon within the first week or two of June and rather than go through all of those details it's just easy to keep posting those that schedule of events and I know the individual schools are sending them out via email to their families but I just wanted you to know that you know that is all in the works
071and none of the kids will be one of the kiddos are left out as far as scrambling of what am I going to know how am I going to know about the school etc etc so those dates will be posted and either some of them will be live via DC TV etc and especially I will give you that the eighth grade promotion will be a virtual stream live and that will be on June 11th at 6 p.m. that's the eighth grade group and they'll be sending out more details on that and you all received and we've posted and sent via email etc the high school's newsletter that mr. Tebow sent out really detailing all of the events that have been in the works and and the details have been ironed out on many for many
072of those I have to say that all of this comes with a lot of hard work and scrutinizing the details scrutinizing the data to try to do the best we can for the students we know how hard this is for everyone but not a you know not an event goes by that folks are not really putting a lot of thought into planning and for example we met again with the police department just be a zoom this morning to finalize some of the details for the parade that we're planning for those seniors so other than the actual virtual graduation that is being planned that we the kids will have that chance to wear their gown they will be going to the podium they will be able to receive their there's a certificate their diploma take their
073pictures with their immediate family etc we'll also be having a parade on June 7th in the morning at 9:00 a.m. and the route will be pretty much from the middle school excuse me the high school to the middle school the police have been wonderful to help us with that so a few but we're just happy to say that it's going to happen so that's a good thing as far as let's see the graduation gown pickup that's happening as well coming up and also the closeout of the school for the senior so it's just important for folks to know that a lot of thought is going into along with the Board of Health Chris Michou came to the high school with us last week mr. Kiley myself and Ross walked through what we were proposing and
074to just get the go-ahead from them so I think that's all we will continue to post those details hoping nobody misses out and and doesn't catch that that's that's what I have thank you dr. Gifford I that's how honest you can imagine um do you have any idea when the signs are gonna be available for my high school seniors I have it here somewhere let's see they would be yes they were customized thought long sighs whose it says the week to be delivered to the high school the week of May 25th okay I was just going to say I've seen them around um you know other schools Westport in this day and I think it's a wonderful idea that maybe not just for this year but something to consider in the future I mean it's
075one way to acknowledge our graduating seniors and what they have accomplished and I don't think it can be that expensive that an out way well from my point of view I just the first time I saw them I said that's a great idea why don't we just do this all the time well my two cents more come on narrow focus more to come okay dr. Jenkins no I just want to really give a big round of thanks to everyone in the district is helping out and planning these events I know this is a really hard and the people are upset because we can't as I predictive and talking about know how many people give him but we can never make everyone happy with us and people feel very strongly about it and I know it's
076hard particularly I know I saw Sabrina posted a video I'm social media and I know even at the high school level to in particular there's a lot of kids so put a lot of thought and effort into this and they're trying they're trying really hard so I know that we are all I think very thankful for that effort both their kids and the people working in the district um but I would also ask people in the community to show everyone a little bit of grace right everyone is trying their best and so just be kind to everyone who's doing this we're trying people are trying the best they can just take a deep breath and you know if you got to go offline and and but just try to be kind because everyone's just trying
077to make the best out of a bad situation and so I would like to I hope you can convey for all of us doc differ to everyone on the staff as well um how much we really appreciate all the work and thought and effort that they put into this I'll be sure to do that because I know I know some of the emails that come especially to mr. Tebow at this time but I will definitely and he might be watching right now but definitely share that and you're right I mean and we partnered with the various community organizations as I said the Board of Health the police department folks have been so helpful and DCTV just try to help us organize these events for for the kids so we can celebrate them as oh and
078and I have to say tomorrow night is the showing of the National Honor Society so that's one thing that we've been working on and Tuesday May 19th at 7 p.m. so on DC direction let's see oh there's a link on that smores so make sure but anyway thank you dr. Jenkins because you're right folks have really put a lot of thinking into that and and thought and actually brought just texted me he said thank you so he is watching yes watching thank you for us yeah no I guess that brings me up next so you know I I think I'll just echo what dr. Jenkins was saying just say this is a you know this is clearly a team effort and we're I know everyone's getting tired of hearing unprecedented times I know I have
079but I'll I'll say it one more time that it is and you know we're day-to-day right now as the information comes in and as the company makes announcements um but but I think everyone in Dartmouth overall I think the gamma the public school system has a lot to be proud of with its staff stepping up to the stepping up to the plate I really do you know you look at our neighboring district Westbourne who said no had to furlough over a hundred staff which it's unpalatable to me and I don't know how that's going to operate but that's not for me to get worried about but I do know that um you know what we're doing here and Dominus I think is making a difference and while we can't get to all our students you
080know that those students that are reluctant to maybe join those zones or participate I think we're all for the most part of doing our doing the best we can so that being said Carol do we have Carol for one more meeting I don't have the schedule in front of me one more time one more time all right so if we have to have a you know a virtual cake personal cake with you or something we'll definitely we'll celebrate you know you you being on the committee and being such a you know a wonderful committee member and colleague okay thank you my other question not so much of a notice but my other question is just under what is with the governance new announcements what's the plan for building work for summer projects for I would
081keeping the offices closed and also just so the general public knows what's going on and I don't know if dr. Gifford you want to take it or mr. Kiley I'll just speak to one thing mr. Kylie can certainly speak we haven't had a chance to chat about his ideas for cleaning etc but just tentatively as of listening to the governor today opening up offices etc 25% capacity so we'll be setting up a schedule of for folks to come in and out of our office you know keeping folks a distance as much as possible but being able to open the office up or the for everybody to get their work done we have been in and out folks have been keeping digital absolutely but we'll have a little bit more of a firmer schedule starting probably
082next week and again I haven't spoken to mr. Kiley about it but he might have some more to say about cleaning etc okay hmm sure so you know our plan is to proceed with some of the projects that we already have funding for obviously we won't be doing a major can major project the construction at Dartmouth Memorial Stadium this summer but we are continuing to plan for that so we'll have the ability to move forward with plans in the future to proceed with that project and complete the project some of the other things that we're gonna focus on this summer we're gonna continue on we've been redoing classrooms at the Middle School for some time you've heard me talk about this before basically we go top to bottom and replace the ceiling the lighting with
083energy efficiency lighting we paint the room we do the floors brand new floors so we basically just renovate the entire room and makes a huge difference and it's a very old and worn building especially in certain spots so it makes it makes a huge difference educationally hopefully we'll be able to use it in full force in the fall so that's probably our biggest project but we also are expecting funding at Town Meeting for some capital improvement projects that you know include the bleacher replacement at the at the Middle School in the Quinn school so the middle schools bleachers are just so far gone beyond their useful life that they're not really safe to be used so we we hope to move forward with those projects and hope that we can you know proceed with with
084timelines like for instance one thing we're concerned about that top to bottom middle school classroom replacement obviously the health of everyone in the buildings is of paramount importance and and maintaining a good clean safe environment for them to do their work is important but we also don't know if we can get supplies manufacturers have been closed there's a backlog of supply orders very basic things so so we're gonna you know take take a day by day like we're doing with everything else right now and but we are planning on proceeding and we'll be you know cleaning the buildings obviously as we as we usually do as well so we'll be proceeding with that in the future right now we're still focused on return of student belongings so that is that is gonna be happening in
085all the schools in in the upcoming weeks it'll be in a very organized and safe way for everyone providing social distancing protective equipment use and limit in the limit contact obviously still at this point so well thank you for that update mr. Pendley all right Kate do we have anything on public comment before we wrap up no haven't received anything okay well thank you thank you very much I believe we yes couple of quick questions here for you too mr. Kiley usually somewhere around this time you look for authorization to open a budget up so you can do what you need to do with year-end and again I know this is an entirely different year do you still need that authorization I I would anticipate I was planning on asking you that at the next
086school committee meeting so I think I can wait till then but but yes it's it's a necessary part of what I got totally understand what I mean and that kind of leads me to my next question to humans the Chairman is our next meeting is scheduled for June 22nd which is like five weeks from now and with everything going on and again and I realized when we put this meeting together scheduled together back in you know December this was not on our radar you know do we need to meet before then or should we just play it by ear and see what goes on I think that is a long period of time and my personal opinion is I think we should try to get something on the books we're all together here and then
087between now and then I'm sure dr. K would love to be around for another meeting yeah thanks very much Chris I mean you know what the 22nd so I mean if we split it and met the I think the 8th would be a good time I know everybody's busy and everything else but I just my calendars open okay no I agree I think this is you know where this is a really important time that we're going through right now I think it's important to stay especially as we're closing one school year and per state kind of almost getting ready to start to open a new school year you know with I mean the fluid information hopefully coming from the state Frank South Lena you okay with these yeah works for me Shannon okay and Carol's
088wide open all right so we will schedule our next meeting on Monday June 8th thank you thank you mr. Nunes does anyone else have anything to share so at this time I will entertain a motion to adjourn into executive session for the purposes of an update and negotiations with union personnel not to reconvene the motion by mr. Nunes a second by dr. Jenkins on the motion any discussion roll call vote Chris Oliver yes Shannon Jenkins yes Carol Carol focused yes Kathleen Amaral yes John Nunes yes all right thank you everyone thank you thank you bye thank you anyone the flipside all right