001a little bit on top. May all of our interviews be wacky. All right. Should we start? Do we have one? You need one. You need one. Yeah. There you go. Wait. So, who's your We just have two doper though. Oh, no. We need more. I mean, you're not voting for a little while, so it doesn't matter. But all right. We have Angie should be coming. I mean, I only heard from Kate as far as someone not. So, Angie showed up at 5:30. I did. So, she Oh, no. No, she's coming back at 6:30. Yeah. Sorry, Daniel. Thank you. Thank you. Anywhere. Anywhere. All right. The world is here. It's a mix and mingle. Oyster. [Music] In Alaska. So nice to see. Yeah, I was in Alaska. The library is your oyster. Yes. That's not too
002much. Oh yeah, for you. That doesn't help at all, does it? No, it's good. It helps me now. Is it over this over there? If I yank really hard, does that help? No. Yeah. No, there should be a release. So, I know [Music] I proof can't move. I just worse. Better better. Yeah. If anybody's noticing the problem, it's the right person. Yeah. Kevin in the recording though you'll be like window shades by Monday even those two they must have cut off for some reason why you reise the budget make it worse the vitamin D one It's going to do that. Yeah. Couple minutes at least. You have a plug right behind you. That is Does that work? [Laughter] Yeah. Looking for a cord. It's a true point. Right behind that one. You have a long
003enough cord. I think we'll see how it works. Oh, yeah. Cuz you thought that long enough. Good thing I didn't go the other way, huh? That's good. Make sure that's one that works. Is that better? Yeah. Yeah. And who's going to get up and fix it next? Uh, I will. I need to get some steps in. So, yep. There we go. We got a light. Success. All right. Everybody settled. Yep. All right. Good evening, everyone. Welcome to the April 1st meeting of the Dover School Committee, Sherburn School Committee, and Dover Sherburn Regional School Committee. Uh my name is Jeff Cassidy and I call this meeting to order at 6:34 and uh we are live streaming um on DSCTV. Uh we are also recording this meeting for future reference. First on our agenda, as usual, we
004have community comments. Uh we do have a Zoom link open for those who could not make it. Uh do we have anybody on the Zoom Denny besides our school committee members? So okay, seeing none, uh we will continue on. There's nobody else here in person. Uh first order of business here is the superintendent comments. Okay, thank you. Good evening everyone. It's nice that it's at uh school committee meeting and it's still light out. Daylight. Spring is coming. Um so Denny and I will just provide some general updates and then obviously we'll give you updates about our um bigger picture work when we talk about my evaluations. But um first and foremost um would like to say congratulations to the crew and cast of Into the Woods. I'm not sure if anybody was able to see
005that, but another amazing high school production um that kept many of us singing throughout the weekend. So um congratulations to our high school students. Um on Friday, and I think this is exciting for all three committees to know as your students move through the schools, um Friday was high school seminar day, and this happens every other year where we ask community members, um parents and families, alumni to come and talk about their fields, um or their passions. And so students get to pick four seminars to attend during the day. They get an hour lunch, which they love. Um and the day actually starts with an induction. So let me back up and start with that. Um so seminar day begins with um the induction of an individual into the Dover Sherburn Hall of Fame. And
006this year it was a Miss Rebecca Vizilus who is a um retired Dover Sherburn teacher from the history department um who began our China um exchange program years ago and she was beloved by students and faculty. Unfortunately she passed a few months ago. Um she was due to get this award before that happened. um her family was present and it was actually an opportunity for the faculty to come together and have some closure around that. Um but it was a wonderful testimony to her and her love of kids and her passion for teaching. Um and then we transitioned into the seminar. So we had almost 90 people come um and present on photography and law enforcement and the medical field. Um here you see students and and the it's interesting because a lot of the
007presenters tried to make it interactive. So here is a presentation that was done by a nurse and she had given it a doctor um for a patient that was about to be discharged and then the nurse comes in and has to interpret the order and sometimes finds mistakes and then has to go back to the doctor and says this won't work because and so she had given them orders and they were trying to figure out the medications and kind of what the treatment plan was going to be when they got home. So um lots of great things. Um who else was there? The entrepreneurs. Um who did you want to see? Um Jake O A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A O A Oen Claus.
008Oh yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So he wrote the scores for Oppenheimer and several other um important films. Um but a special special special day and you heard it from the kids. They were just amazing as they always are. Respectful asking good questions, but they so appreciated the idea to explore avenues that they might not have other otherwise thought about or know people in those fields. So great success on Friday. Um looking forward to it again in two more years. excited for your kids to eventually um experience it if they haven't already. MCCAST season is underway, especially in the world of ELA and math will be coming around the corner in May. So, just a reminder that although it's no longer a graduation requirement for the state of Massachusetts, our third graders are eighth graders and our
00910th graders are still going to take the exam um so that they can show that their um competency and mastery of the Massachusetts state standards. So, the test is not going away. It just does not have to be passed for Massachusetts. However, the school committee policy for Dober Sherburn still has MCCAST as a graduation requirement. So, the regional school committee is going to have to come together with a subcommittee to look at that and see if that's something that you want to remain um or change. And so, that'll be a conversation coming up um this spring. We are also deep into the hiring process, which is exciting because we're getting to meet lots lots of new people um who want to come and join our team and work with our students. Um Mr. Conklin and
010Mr. Healey are part of the um the screening committee for our middle school assistant principal and they were together all day yesterday and all day today finding the the best candidates for for our leadership role. Um and I just want to thank all of our principles and teachers who sit on these hiring committees because it's a lot of work to screen the um resumes, hold the interviews, and then they have them come in um and do um mock lessons tasks you know that they would be expected to do in their role. So um it's exciting but it's timeconuming and at the end of the day we'll be excited to bring on some new folks in August um the budget process. So um thank you to Jesse and Mark who attended the um do warrant open
011hearing on March 17th. They presented the chering and regional budgets without many questions which was great. Um Christine, Kate, and Dawn all presented um to the Sherburn advisory hearing on Saturday, March 22nd, which was a bit longer than the Dover meeting. Um it lasted all day, but um we had presentations on the Pinehill budget, the regional budget, and then the um turf fields that we're hoping um to replace the one right behind you. So, just a reminder that Sherburn Town Meeting is coming up on Tuesday, April 29th at 7 p.m. and Dober Town meeting Monday, May 5th at 7 p.m. Both of those are important for all of the warrant articles that will be presented, including the school budgets and the turf fields. And there seems to be some concern um among the Sherburn um
012officials around supporting the financial aspect of the turf fields as well as the environmental component of it. And despite the presentation by Don and Mark about um the turf and what's real and what's not real, um there still seems to be concern. So if you are in favor of the turf field or not, um I encourage you to come to the town meetings and to show up at the polls because I think that's you know it's not a given that there'll be a new field and what comes after that is going to be um interesting. So Sherburn town meeting is April 29th. Dobertown meeting is Monday, May 5th, and then the elections um Sherburn May 13th and Dover May 19th. Hoping to see people out for that. Other items. Let me have our other items.
013Okay. Sorry about that. Um other items. We're kind of out of order. How did that happen? Hang on. Um Oh, I know what it is. Okay, so another example. Um I apologize this is out of order. Going back to seminar day, um for our students who take engineering at the high school and for those of you who know Nick Grout, the teacher, he's a fantastic individual, fantastic human. The kids love him and he's super passionate about engineering and technology. Um super innovative. He came up with a project this year working with Brandon Hall, who you all met, the director of technology. And the students designed video game arcade cabinets and built them from scratch and they work. And they were the first students to ever present at a seminar day to have a student strand
014um to talk about their process. So, here's the video. I apologize this is out of order, but it's unreal. [Music] Yep. [Music] Code of the game and everything. So cool. Code the game. So, they bought the games and they had to program it to work with the um the technology. I'll read you what he wrote. He said, "Our students picked a blueprint for an arcade cabinet, programmed our CNC machine to cut the parts. They assembled the parts, created decals, and applied them, laid out and wired a control panel, 3D printed parts, programmed a computer, and have been adding and testing ROM games this week. In the coming days, we'll be adding code to the computers for safe shutdown and custom loading screens, and also finishing some last minute details. Um, and there's a whole gallery
015of photos that I'm happy to share with you, but it is unbelievable what our kids can do. They can get all the quarters I put in those. I want my money back. I really believe you. So, they're trying to determine next steps for these for these arcade games and I'm sure there'll be probably some donated to various aspects of our community and it's perhaps a fundraiser that our kids can decide where the money um will go. So, super exciting. So that was seminar day, a highlight of seminar day cuz the kids got to present about the work and I mean you should see the teachers flooding down there and the classes flooding down there to see this. It's just amazing. Do has a new community center. So I know some of these. I already recommended
016that. I was like Don, you need to come see these. Um okay, so I apologize going back to updates. Um social media presentations. So, as you know, both Dober and Sherburn as communities um have done a uh a townwide or two townwide read of um the anxious generation. And coming out of that, I know that there was a panel presentation at uh the Pilgrim Church in Sherburn. Um we are partnering with the Pilgrim Church and other local um places of worship and community agencies to support um two additional presentations all under the theme of social media with kind of different angles. Um, tomorrow night is Tuesday, Wednesday at 6:30 at the Sherburn Community Center. Dr. Jill Walsh will be coming and I mentioned her at my January update. She's from BEu. And if you remember
017the example I gave that I stole from her about the kids watching '90s videos of us actually talking to each other in high school. That's her. Um so she will be talking about kind of the science and how social media affects the adolescent and child brain and what we can do as parents to kind of support and intervene um you know with this new world that we're entering. Um and then just announced as of yesterday there is going to be a presentation and a question and answer. Um we're calling it the paradox of parental controls and it's going to talk about um it's going to be informational. Uh Brandon Hall will be there and some of our health teachers. They're going to talk about the what you what your kids can do on social media
018that you might not know they can do or what others can do with social media involving your students. Um what sort of monitors and um tools can be used as parents at home. Um and what are some of the implications of all of this um within the community. So our school resource officers will be there as well. So, I encourage you to come April 30th at 6:30 if you want to hear kind of the practical side of how these things can play out in school and play out in the community. Um, another followup um is around the challenge success um information. So, in January uh you'll remember Kate McCarthy and Ellen Really came and presented the challenge success data 10 years into the program. Um and Colleen, I think it was you that asked us
019to go back and and look at subgroup data. Um, so we did a deep dive and Denny's going to present some of that information. Yes. Uh, before I say that, one other event that I'll mention that has happened recently is our Battle of the Bands. Um, it was a fantastic event that, um, I think nine different bands that played at the region um, benefiting JB's Keys. It was a great event, um, and very well organized and very successful. So, it was another great event. Um so again just to follow up on the last joint school committee meeting in terms of a breakdown by race and ethnicity of some of our challenge success data. Um so you can see here the breakdown in um this is students selected self- selected and selfidentified their race and ethnicity
020at the middle school and at the high school. Uh you might be wondering why are there so many more categories at the middle school than the high school. Um the high school is a survey that has been given for you know more than 20 years. um and to kind of preserve some of the comparisons that you can make in that survey. They've kept the demographic choices the same. Whereas the middle school survey is a newer survey. Um which is why you can see that there's a lot more options broken down for middle school in terms of uh race and ethnicity. Um so this is kind of the current breakdown of how students uh selfidentified. Um when we take a look at average hours of sleep by race and ethnicity, you can see that it's sorted
021by the most at the top. Um, so if you take a look at the middle school, you can see that it is our South Asian or Indian and our Asian students who are getting the most sleep. Um, an average of 8.6 hours a night. Um, then you can see going down the list, um, our white students getting an average of 8.2 hours a night. Um, and then at the bottom of the list, our Hispanic or Latinx students at 7.8 and our black students at 7.1. Um, at the high school, um, our white students are getting the most average amount of sleep per night, 7.3 hours. Um, and then you can see at the bottom, our black students are getting, uh, the least amount of sleep, uh, per night. Uh, so I know that there have
022been some questions about, you know, our Boston students and the impact that their commute has on their sleep. Um, and there's some other data here that will help make a little bit more sense about this difference in sleep as well. Um, that I'll get to. Um when we think about engagement, so we've talked about the different types of engagement. Um there is being disengaged, so really not having any connection to what's going on in school. Uh doing school, which is kind of just going through the motions, being compliant. Um purposefully engaged, so kind of a higher level, and then being completely fully engaged, understanding the meaning behind everything you're doing, applying it to multiple situations. Um this is the middle school data that you can see broken down by race. Um so you can see
023that in terms of our students being fully engaged um our South Asian or Indian students report being the most fully engaged. Um and then our black students or students that declined to answer um were showing the lowest amount of full engagement. Um and you can see the breakdown by purposely engaged, doing school, and disengaged. Um, and again, we can share these slides because it's hard to see up on the screen. Um, this is the high school data. Um, so again, it mirrors a lot of what we're seeing at the middle school with our Asian students saying um that they are the most engaged and then our black and African-American students saying that they have less uh levels of full engagement. Um, another area that we want to break down for you is extracurriculars. Um, so
024this is at the middle school level average number of hours that students are spending per week on extracurriculars. Um, and I think that if you look at these numbers, you can see their students are very, very involved. Like this is a ton of time. Um, you know, at the top are um, our white students spending an average of 6.9 hours a week on something extracurricularly. Um, going down the list, you can see the breakdown by race. Um, but then I think it's really interesting to look and this is the middle school at the percentage of students working a job at least half an hour a week. Um, so we have our Hispanic and Latinx students at the top of that list and our white or Asian students. Um, and you can go down. But the
025point that I was making earlier about when we see our black students at the high school level getting um lower amounts of sleep than some of their peers, I think some of it correlates to what we're seeing here. Um, so this is the high school percentage of students working a job at least a half an hour a week. 61 61% of our black students are working some sort of a job. So that is kind of taking away potentially from hours of sleep that they're able to get in addition to you know possibly um, you know, for our Boston students that commute into work. Um, but that's kind of something that I think is important for us to bring to um, our staff's attention, just the amount of students that are saying that they have jobs.
026And when we're thinking about workload and trying to create balance in our students lives, um, you know, I think for all of our demographics, this is a sizable amount of our students that are engaged in some sort of working paying job uh, for at least a half an hour of week a week. Is the extracurriculars tied to the school extracurriculars or just general? We don't know. I think I think it's just general. Yeah. Anything that is done out of school. So that could be like a Girl Scouts. It could cub scouts. It could be um a math club that they're a part of outside of school. Do we have a sense of the commute time, the average commute time or the the highs and um you know the range of commute times for our Boston
027students? So I think the first pickup is um for the bus monitor I think it's a five 45 45. Yeah, we we uh gained 15 minutes this year. And then the students arrive to their first stop in Dover Sherburn at the first stop is Chering at about 7:15, I believe. Um 7:20, then it's Pine Hill and then they come here and the school here, as you know, doesn't start till 8:40. Yeah. Um and you can talk also about some of the ideas that have been proposed to address some of these things that you've seen. But I say what we have done is that we don't have to have um before morning support really at the elementaryaries because we pushed that time. So they're getting there about at arrival time. There's like 20 minutes difference. Um
028but other than that they are we really took that um un unstructured time away and they're coming right in when when school starts for the most part. But the middle and high school students are, you know, potentially spending, you know, two hours, two, two and a half hours before school just getting to school. If they're picked up at 5:45, they're not getting to chering and I mean to the middle or high school until 8:30. Um, you know, that's a lot of time and the reverse is true on the way home. So, I think we need to be very clear about what the reality is for these kids. when they're doing homework, if they're able to do it on the bus, if there's Wi-Fi or not on the bus is a major consideration, if they have
029the space to do homework. Um, this is an incredibly long day for these kids. And there is an achievement gap between our MECO students and our our, you know, do students and we should be diving in. We owe it to these students. They go to all this trouble to come to our schools and to see that many disengaged is really disheartening. So I think they they would I'm more engaged when I've slept, you know, so I think we need to look at the actual effect of having that little sleep on students and if we want them to be able to thrive here, um I think we should we should really look at the transportation issue. You want to talk about the superintendence advisory? Yeah. So um and it'll come up again in my goals, too.
030So, as you know, I brought together the student advisory committee um with Denny as part of the student voice initiative and we have 20 20 to 24 depending on the day students 6 through 12 that come together. At the beginning, Denny and I really asked that group for input on our initiatives which were around um the instructional practices that are happening in the classroom that involve deep learning um and developing a survey um for students to give feedback to their teachers at kind of the January mark so that teachers can take that feedback and kind of inform their practices. And then we turned it back to the students and said, "What do you care about?" And they picked kind of three top topics. One was um graduation requirements and how much flexibility they have in
031um choosing their classes. The second was um more community building between the middle and high school because they had such a positive experience working together. It's not many times they get to be on committees together and they wanted more of that for everybody. And the third was a real concern about Boston transportation. Um and again within all three of those topics, there's things that are reasonable that we can do. And then for those of us who live in education or administration, unfortunately, you know, graduation requirements, you know, we have to remain competitive. So maybe there is some plate, you know, wiggle room, but but you know, there's not a lot. We can't just throw everything up in the air and change them. But relative to the Boston Transportation, um this the the students who kind
032of dug in and did some research and some thinking around that presented to Dawn and Denny. Um and that's what all three groups did. I I gave them the people that can make the change and they presented their proposals to them. Um and so they um you know, and it's interesting. It's it's with anything, right? When you get a new crop of students, it's a new topic for them. So, back in the day when we did the change in start time subcommittees, um I know Don and Andrew Kio, the superintendent at the time, did a lot of work with our Boston students and Mon'nique Marshall, the director, about looking at possible I mean, they rode the bus at different times to try to figure out what worked. Um, and they sat down with our Medco
033parents and our Medco students and said like, okay, what's the reality of this? Don, I don't want to speak for you, but at that point in time, that group of students at the high school, can you talk? was it was middle school and high school actually preferred to all come to to travel as a unit together. Um a lot of it too is parents are going to work and they drop you know our families here K to 12. So at that point it became not any kind of other issue other than at that point that cohort of students wanted to um travel with their cohort with their family members. Um, and that's when we started improving things that we could do here, creating the Metroco lounge at the high school, getting new furniture here at
034the middle school. So, Mon'nique enhanced what we could do in the morning programs, um, better breakfast. So, that's one thing I shared with those students is we need to, they didn't have really the voice of all the Boston students and I said that is important to gather that and see because there are family dynamics that made it them want to do that. And the only other issue we have and we have to see if it's changed that's why we are riding the bus traffic getting out of Boston. If you wait too long they would be late. So it's a it's a one of those problems that are not easy to solve because of all the other things that are happening. But don't think that we're never thinking about that and investigating that and seeing what
035we can do. Um we have worked tirelessly trying to figure it out um to see if we can enhance it. And I say we gathered 15 minutes this year which was great for the elementary students. They are getting there with their peers um and starting the day so they're not having that time having to wait and it's 15 minutes later here and we do provide um support here and breakfast uh for those students. So have you asked the MECO students themselves this cohort? So that's what that's what they were going to that was the next step. They walked away with next steps, right? and we're going to continue the conversation. Just because we made a decision in 2019 doesn't mean that needs that decision needs to stay in, you know, two 2025 or 2026. So,
036it's an opportunity to revisit it with new voices, new perspectives, perhaps new ideas um and really sit down and work through it similar to what we did with the calendar committee and and really dissect it. That's great. Yeah. And I think, you know, this is data um that we have um looked at as a leadership team and we're we're putting our heads together too about how to um approach the discrepancies with sleep with engagement. Um you know, obviously the achievement gap um it's an ongoing conversation. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your support. Yeah. uh the listening session when was that and how many students did you have um show up for that for the the one this year or back then following so this was just that group of 24 and so there was
037um a third of them that worked on Boston transportation um some of them were were METCO students and some of them weren't um so part of the next step is to go back and gather more information and data from METCO students and METCO families and bring together larger groups of people. So, that was just kind of a beginning of the conversation. Um, and between Don and Denny, they were able to give them some constructive feedback to say, "All right, this is how we're going to keep your question and your, you know, um, potential solutions going." Um, Beth, can I ask, are they planning to interview the um the families or ask ask for sleep quantities from the parents because a Metco parent that I spoke to said, "Well, they didn't ask me how much you
038sleep." So, I think it would be the self-report on sleep. Um, you might find different answers if you ask. Good point. I encourage you. Yeah. Thanks. Thank you. Do you have any general benchmarks of when Boston public school buses start running or their charter buses? Because I went to Boston public schools. My commute was over an hour as well. Like they started pretty early. So, I'm just wondering are other neighborhood buses going or are we the only buses going through town? I think we're hitting the lot we're think buses for all the areas um have the earlier start. You have to keep in mind too that they they c they cover a lot of ground. They're doing like it's not just a neighborhood in Boston. And that's one thing we talked about with the Mechco
039students. It would be great like if MECO would try to start doing neighborhoods that would make it so much easier on all of us. Um and so I think that's a recommendation that we can put back on MECO is how they assign students. So and to me they seem like they'd have their own community too, right? Yeah. Your neighborhood. So that would definitely enhance transportation issues because we all grapple with the right with the same thing. Are they all transiting to one place where the bus picks them up or does the bus do essentially a route through Boston? They it does a route through Boston and something that came up last week or two weeks ago uh it was MCCO advocacy day at the state house. Uh so we had a number of you know
040administrators from districts, parents, students, former Boston students, nonmetco students there. um just advocating to our state representatives um to continue to not only continue to fund MECO but to allocate additional funds. Uh, so when we had our smaller sessions with our more local representatives, that was something we brought up is how can Mechco maybe think more outside the box in terms of the transportation maybe having, you know, while we couldn't have just an elementary and a secondary bus at over Sherborn, what if we did like Westwood and, you know, kind of pulled with some of the local towns. Um, and we said like things like this cost money and it would be something that reason why we need our legislators to advocate for an increase to the metco budget as well. So some of it
041kind of rests in our legislators hands to advocate for the additional funding too. Okay. As for homework, I was assuming that most of it was probably done on computer or some sort of tablet. Is that correct? Yeah. Or essentially like middle school and high school kids. Does the bus have something like a hot spot on it for them to be able to access online? That was something that we explored this year with our new head director. And I think a lot of the feedback we got from the students is that they wouldn't be doing it on the bus that that's their time to unwind, be with their friends, listen to music, kind of, you know, some of them will take, you know, the nap on the bus. Um, but they didn't think that they would
042be productive doing homework um on the bus if we even offered that. respectfully. Um the student that is optioned with us, he has teachers who have times that they have to have he has to have the work in by 4:30. Um and they've not been lenient about the time that the work has to be um submitted and so he's been forced to do it on the bus or be late, which is generally what has happened and that's affected his grade. um you know that's just one story but yeah it's important and I think as we you know dive in we'll hear more stories and more examples and figure out what we can address. Yeah. Yeah. Come go come. So during co days we had Zoom um right in all the classrooms and all the teachers
043were doing it. So on an especially long day because they're playing sports and doing uh drama and stuff. So suppose if they're going back teaching back home really late and started have to start really early in the morning. What if they were not for everybody but for the high school students at least when their time sleep is so important. What if they could be connected on Zoom on some classes some days, not all classes obviously, not physics or something, but say history or English, they would get some semblance of learning staying home when they're responsible enough to stay home and catch on if that was an option. Mhm. For a few because I know they wouldn't be getting that extra one period of DR like some kids do, right? they'll have to be on the
044bus so they don't have that luxury as well. I know how much my kid wants to sleep in on the day of the year. So if they were to take a break, you know. Um yeah, that's worth looking into. And I think one of the proposals was looking at schedules and unfortunately the way the high school schedule is right now, they don't start with the same class every day. It was like, oh, can we give our Boston students all a DR first period so that they can then have a longer commute and not worry about missing class? not with our current schedule, but it's on the table to figure out like is there any flexibility. So, thank you for the Zoom idea. Great. Um, so extracurriculars. Um, and the last category we looked at was
045student support. Um, so teacher care and support that our students are getting as well as students reporting uh feelings of belonging by the middle school. It's hard to see. What is teacher Karen? like I feel cared and supported by my teacher or I'm receiving extra supports that they feel connected to teachers, have relationships with teachers, um feel supported by them. Um five or what's the Yeah. What is the scale? Oh, so this that's a great question too. So it's a scale from 0 to five. So five being the highest. Luckily not 10. Yes, that's good. Um so middle school and then the high school data. Um, again, as Superintendent McCoy mentioned, you know, we take this data along with the panorama data that we're getting from students, um, and kind of put it together to
046look at how it's all interacting. And I think that we see in both of our surveys that our black and African-American students are reporting kind of a lower sense of belonging. Um, so just continue conversations that we're trying to have with the leadership team and with building leaders on how we can continue to improve this Um, so you know, it's obvious that there is an issue and I think that we're all really committed to trying to continue to figure this out. Um, and to, you know, address the situation, but these data points are helpful in shining a light on the fact that we need to be doing a better job. And I think we are all committed to doing a better job on that as well. And you might have said this, I was just
047commuting from Boston. It seems brutal. um are are we getting their voice and feedback like the actual students who are experiencing this, not the individuals because it's anonymous, but making sure that we're not saying like here's a great solution, but we're actually engaging with them. That is part of the process. Yeah. And we're just starting um this process again, but yes, that'll be part of it. Yum. Before you went into um teaching and learning updates, there was one other update coming out of our January joint meeting, which I think it was Martha who brought it up and she was curious about staying up to date with any sort of um um executive orders or funding um news that was coming along. So, um Jeff asked me just before the meeting started and I just gotten
048a memo from the superintendent association asking our legislators for updates. So, this is like changing by the minute. Um what we can tell you at this point, Don, feel free to jump in, is that um as we know the um national department of education is being dismantled and um therefore it's now the states that will own own the educational system. I think that we are blessed to live in Massachusetts because we have a strong curricular framework. Whether you love it or hate it, the MCCAST does measure whether or not students to some degree are meeting and learning those standards. Hopefully, it's a work in progress. Um and so I think that in terms of teaching and learning and supporting kids, we're in a really good place. Funding, um the president did acknowledge that by law,
049um we still need to financially support special education students and at risk students. So that funding is not going to disappear. It has to come from somewhere. Um and it's just a matter of who's going to manage that. Uh and what stipulations are put on that in terms of you know what schools do, that's to be determined as well. Um, and the other piece that I just wanted to share is I'm I'm not sure if you've been seeing this in the news or if you get all of the same um mail that we get on the the inside of school, but um several of our Massachusetts officials have spoken up about what school will continue to look like in Massachusetts, including Governor Healey, Attorney General um Andrea Campbell, um uh Secretary of Education Pat Tutweiler,
050and former Commissioner of Education um Russell Johnston. And I just want to read a couple of pieces from uh their joint memo. Um Attorney General Campbell and I, meaning the governor, are issuing this guidance to send a clear message that Massachusetts is going to stay true to who we are. We believe that bringing people of different backgrounds and perspectives to the table, including women, people of color, and the LGBTQ plus community is a strength, especially um in our nation. We are committed to work closely with our incredible schools, colleges, and universities to support all of our students. Um, Attorney Campbell says, "I'm proud to partner with the Healey Driscoll administration and Secretary Tutweiler and in updating guidance to affirm that Massachusetts schools can continue efforts to ensure diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility. The laws have
051not changed and schools must continue their work to make sure that every student, regardless of background, can access educational opportunities in the Commonwealth." Um, the attorney general continues, "I am grateful for our administration's partnership." Um, I'm sorry, Lieutenant Governor Driscoll says, "I'm grateful for our administration's partnership with Attorney General Campbell and her team. Today's guidelines strengthen our commitment to ensuring that everyone knows equal access to our K to2 schools and institutions of higher ed. In our state, we will continue to collaborate with education leaders to break down barriers to education so that all students can succeed today and into the future." Um the article says this joint guidance reaffirms that these recent federal actions do not prohibit diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts in the admission and access to higher education or other educational settings. It
052also includes steps that K to2 schools can take to set their students up for success. Schools and higher ed institutions should continue to make affirmative steps within the law to create and maintain a positive school climate where all students feel safe, supported, respected, and ready to learn. This includes reviewing current practices to ensure they comply with all applicable anti-discrimination, anti-bullying, and civil rights laws. This country has long fought for all students to have equal access to a public education. The federal government is attempting to take us back decades, exacerbating real inequities that still exist today. Today's joint guidance reaffirms that Massachusetts will continue to acknowledge and address historical and persistent gaps in student access, as seen here, and achievement, including black and brown students, students with disabilities, low-income students, LGBTQ students, and other marginalized student
053populations. We remain committed to supporting schools and higher ed institutions within the law to build more equitable educational systems for all students. And that was the secretary of education. And lastly, the former commissioner um of ED says, "At DESIE, our educational vision calls for all students to be known and supported and for families to be known, respected, and valued for who they are. Our vision also calls for us to develop and sustain an educated workforce from pair professionals to superintendent that is diverse, culturally responsive responsive, and wellprepared because we know it benefits students. We remain committed to this work and to the principles reflected in our history and social science curriculum frameworks that effective instruction celebrates the progress of our country has made in embracing diversity while at the same time encouraging honest and informed
054discussions about both racism and racisms in the past and future. Um it is essential that schools should continue their support for marginalized students says the commissioner including LGBTQ students to reinforce they belong in the school communities. Research consistently demonstrates that when schools take proactive step steps to foster inclusivity through strong policies, affirming practices, and supportive educators, students experience improved mental health, academic su success and overall well-being. School and district leaders are strongly encouraged to continue implementing policies and practices that protect all students, including transgender and non-bin non-binary students. The Safe Schools program for LGBTQ students is available to provide training, technical assistance, and implementation support to help schools uphold these commitments. If your school or district would like assistance in continuing this essential work, please reach out for the contact information. So, that's the guidance
055that we're getting from our state officials. I just wanted to put that out there. Happy to take any questions. So, I have a question. Special education, but this comes from Department of Education. to our schools. I So if it's the department of treasury or if it's going to be redistributed to the state level. Does that go to desi and then desi just gives it to the schools that are needed based on their needs for special education? Don, do you want to talk about the intricacies of that? Yeah. So there are formulas that they use, but um it's more the the desi does determine how that is allocated. Desi made any guarantees that in the absence of federal funding that they'll they don't really have any funding other than what? Yeah, but state law still protects
056students with disabilities to access. It's a mandated it's a mandated funding um program that has to still there's the law still there for yeah for special ed and for low income. So those those like so that's the title one grants and our special ed grants will be there in some capacity. It's just where the who's going to oversee them. I mean, Desi will still oversee him, but it might not have the federal ties anymore. And can you remind us about circuit breaker? Circuit breaker is totally funded by the state, right? Representative like what how much of a gap there would be on on the fiscal year budget. Yeah. So, in your budget book, you have this um sheet in the back says summary of grants. So, you can see like what the 240 the 240
057is the most substantial grant that we have and that funds educational assistance for special ed. Um it's like the I think the region I want to say is like two no one a little over 200 maybe 240 um 240,000 it's much smaller at the elementaryaries it's like two or three EAS at the elementaryaries but it's like a4 million what you're looking at as far as out of a $29 million budget region. So yeah, I want to make sure like we worst case scenario 10% increase. We're so because a lot of it too is is it's um it's wealth and your special ed. So yes, if you look through those those budgets, not that we want to rely on any of our taxpayers more than we do, but they're not uh insurmountable amounts that we couldn't
058find. We're fortunate it's not going to we don't have as big a concern as as other cities and towns. Okay. So, just to transition to teaching and learning on a happier note, you you had the fun job. Okay. Let's hope so. Okay. Uh, so quick teaching and learning updates. Uh, like superintendent McCoy said, it is MCCAST season. Um, so I just want to thank our assistant principles who are doing a lot of work right now, organizers that are making sure that all of our students are getting the accommodations that they need for the MCCAST exam. Um, you know, the one thing that I will say, and I'll talk a little bit more once we get to June and some of the Dober and the um, Sherborn meetings is with the math MCCAST, we just want
059to set our expectations that we have a new curriculum and that there could be some growing pains as we're adjusting to the new curriculum. I have a lot of faith that our teachers and our students are doing a great job. U, but it's very normal when you're implementing a new curriculum to see a decrease um, in scores in that first year. um it's not what I'm anticipating, but I think it's important for you all to know and for the community to know that that is a possibility um with the first year of implementation. With that being said, though, I have to spotlight our two math coaches. So, Laura Howerin at Cherine and Lindsay Winer at Sherborn who were um asked by Desi and TNTP to present to the whole state about um what they've been
060doing with our math implementation. Um, so Dover Sherborn is going to be one of three districts that's highlighted at this webinar that's coming up on Thursday. Uh, so we're really proud of them and they have done so much work. Um, so to see them recognized and highlighted by the state is really really exciting and kind of speaks to how thoughtful um, their implementation process has been there. Um, and then just a couple quick updates. As I've mentioned, I think in January, we've launched our program review of our elementary ELA programs. So we now have a committee that's been formed. We took the feedback from the community and teachers. Um currently right now the committee is looking at research on early literacy and looking at some of the rubrics that have been put out by various
061organizations like the reading league. Um and we're hoping to at the June um school committee meeting with Dober and Sherborn um to present to you our findings of what are the criteria we're looking for in a um successful elementary ELA program. So, that got launched. Uh, we launched our program review of the elementary Spanish program. Um, so we've set out a timeline for what that's going to look like. Um hopefully by next January uh January 2026 um we'll have a presentation for all of you that gives a report on the goals of our elementary Spanish program uh whether or not the program is meeting those goals um and any recommendations um on any changes or um adjustments we need to make to the flesh program or the fles curriculum. Um I think all these have
062come handinhand with a study that we've been doing at both elementary schools in terms of instructional time. Um so for two weeks we had elementary teachers keep track of every minute of their day and what they were spending it on. Um, so currently that's in progress and we're looking forward to seeing that data and just to figure out what where time is going. Um, and to, you know, make some decisions. If, for example, we get to a point where we're going to be adopting a new elementary ELA program, the first thing is going to be, well, how much time do we have to all lot towards that? Uh, some programs are going to say 90 minutes. Some are going to say, you know, you want an hour reading block and an hour writing block. Um
063so h knowing where the time is being spent and if we need to make tweaks in several places uh will be really helpful in that process as well. Uh so that's in process. Um another thing that is just beginning um and the region will hear more about this um is kind of a reorganization of our middle school science curriculum. Uh so some of you know that currently our sixth grade curriculum I have to make sure I get this right. Our sixth grade curriculum is earth science. Our seventh grade curriculum is life science and our eighth grade curriculum is physical science. Uh we're looking at a reorg uh that is actually in line with Massachusetts frameworks. So it's not one specific science in each grade, but it's a combination of all of those three and a
064progression from sixth, seventh, and eighth grade. Um we've done a lot of studies about this. We've talked to neighboring districts um and some of our comparable districts. Uh we've had conversations with the high school science department. Um, we think that this reorganization is going to be beneficial, um, especially for a lot of our freshmen that take biology that will be having a closer glimpse at their unit on genetics in 8th grade rather than it falling a lot earlier. Um, so more updates for that to the regional school committee. Um, but that's something that wouldn't go into place next year. Next year would be a planning year and then it would unfold at a a rolling basis. So that would be the oh goodness the fall of 2026th grade would change seventh and eth would stay
065the same. The next year we would rolled up sixth and seventh grade. Uh so really looking at four years out before the entire sequence um has possibly changed as well. Um so that is the teaching and learning updates. Uh a couple more things. Uh recently we had our math consultant that we've been working with Dr. Alison Melo come in. Um this was such a great professional development opportunity for our teachers. Um she's an expert in math and also an expert uh with districts who are implementing reveal. Um she went into a bunch of different classrooms and she taught lessons and we were able to arrange it so we got coverage so that all the teachers in that grade level could come and observe the class. Um, and it was a really valuable PV experience for
066them just to have the opportunity to see somebody else teaching the math, modeling kind of good math practices, but then the discussions and the debriefs they had afterwards as great little teams um was really really powerful and just a nice opportunity for them to talk more about math. Um, so the pictures that you can see up here is she was in a fourth grade classroom at Pine Hill and she was doing a kind of kinesthetic movement activity around fractions. Um, so we had been talking about scientific research that shows kind of the difference between males and females and males different part of their brain activates with movement. So this was just a really cool thing that fell in line with what we were talking about brain research and um, getting students up and physically like
067making fractions with their bodies. Um, so that was a cool activity that we had. Um, our peer leaders at the middle school have been busy in classrooms um, working with the younger students and doing those lessons. Um, so that's been another great thing that we've been seeing is our um, eighth graders or seventh and eighth grade period leaders getting to flex their leadership skills um, and go in and talk to our younger students. And that is all for me questions. Quick quick question for me Denny on the evaluation of the foreign language in the elementary schools. Is there going to be uh a deeper look at how that transitions to the middle school as well? I think right now it's pretty obviously like disconnected from the five years of of language that they take um
068to then jump into the middle school. So, I can talk more about this at the um Sherborn and Adobe school committee meetings, but we have a whole set of metrics that's going to go into the evaluation and we're going to have some sort of kind of quantitative number um that we're seeing where students are coming out in their level of proficiency in Spanish. We're going to be sending surveys home to parents and caregivers to get their reflections on it. We're looking at data from our middle school students, our high school world language enrollment. Uh we'll be meeting with our world language teachers at the middle school and the high school to get their just anecdotal evidence of the impact that they've seen from the program. Um so there's going to be a lot of different
069metrics that we'll be collecting over the course of the next kind of five or six months that will lead us to the report that we'll give next January. Thanks. I just wanted to say how great seminar day was. Um I heard from a sophomore actually she's a junior now. she's in my family, but um she she actually came out wanting to be a nurse. So now I ask you why. And she's like, I actually really want to go into nursing. Do you know how much you can make? And this is this is what you do and you actually work with the people. And so I think it was really helpful to her um to have that hands-on and she said it was f it was her favorite day. She was like so excited about it.
070So anyway, I just wanted to say good job. My daughter who thought she might go into medicine now wants to be a DEA agent. Okay. still that's amazing. We'll see what sticks, right? Yes. Uh uh Denny. Yes. A lot a lot of work. I appreciate it. Um what So the elementary ELA, you know, I'm going to talk about it. So the program review potentially triing at that point. So it depends how far we get. Um, we'll give a presentation on the criteria that the committee has established on what they want from an ELA program and then we're going to take our existing programs and measure it up against that criteria. Um, so then it'll go one or two ways that our current programming of units of study and foundations integrity matches up with that criteria
071so we continue on or it doesn't match up with the criteria. That's when next year would be the process if we go down that route of looking at different programs. I I guess I think so on June when you come to us, you're just going to say where we currently stand when when what has the community um what have teachers and what is the research saying are the most important parts of a high quality literacy? Gotcha. When is where we're going to meet the road to bar like these are the curriculums we're going to trial sometime next year. Again, I don't I don't know what's going to happen. It might when we go through the process, it might say that units of study is meeting that criteria. Um, we'll kind of figure out that, but
072then next year it would be and we've kind of started poking around a little bit at other districts and seeing what programs they're using. Um, but we would do research on other programs in the fall and then um to the Dover and the Sherborn school committees next year. We would make some recommendations on programs to potentially pilot. Some of this could go faster. um it's kind of at the seeing the pace that the committee can work on because it's a lot that they're doing right now and I couldn't actually go to the first meeting. So, Superintendent McCoy stepped in and she let it for me. So, I'm very appreciative of that. You know, if you need uh CPAC, many other CPACs have written to the school districts on their students behalf saying that units of
073study should be removed in an expeditious manner. I would second that motion. I think the research is clear. We're not helping our students. The supplementation with foundations integrity is certainly barking up the right tree. And so, um, I would say any type of expedited review process would be in the best interests for all our students. And I know that, you know, I have heard from some people in the community that want the process to go a little faster than it's going. But in some ways I think that we have benefited by kind of being a little bit more judicious because we're seeing this play out in other districts and you know a lot of districts just dropped units of study very quickly and jumped on another curriculum and there have been a lot of growing
074pains and there have been a lot of issues in their implementation of curriculum. So I think we are learning a lot by watching that all unfold. even some of the districts right now that are piloting. I think in talking to different assistant superintendents, I've learned a lot about as we go down this road what to do and what not to do. So, I think that, you know, I understand the impatience that people have because it's their kids and they want their kids to get the best possible education, but I think we're going as fast as we can and I think we're going to make a good decision because of the way it's all unfolding. Thank you. I was like, I'm from Philly. Ben Franklin said, "Don't be the first. Don't be the last moderation. So
075don't be the first, don't be the last. Never do moderation. If I could just re reiterate what you said too is that we have been supplementing with kind of the science of reading through Hegardy and the foundation programs and K to2 we're using the revised units of study which are revised based on more of the science of reading and our a lot of our teachers have done professional development around the science of reading reading and both of our literacy coaches are um very careful. one who went to um learn about literacy at MGH for her program. I mean, she gets it. Um they have moved away from anything that is um harmful to kids or not advised. So, there've been a lot of revisions. It's been a lot of work. It's been very comprehensive. So,
076they have a lot of lesson plans now, particularly grades three through five where the the units of study aren't revised yet. And they work well with kids and kids are learning and and succeeding and and becoming fluent and um comprehending information and becoming, you know, continuing to be lepers of learning. I think the, you know, having chaired the first meeting, it it's just it it was a lot to get there and now there's a lot of different places with a lot of different lessons plans. If we could just kind of gather it into a few programs that, you know, did it well, that'd be great. So, just wanted to make sure everybody knows that we're doing the best we can with what we have and we've made revisions, but perhaps somebody else made better revisions.
077I just I have a comment on a question. Um, one about the class program, the se second grade Spanish teachers invited parents into the classroom two weeks ago at this point. And um, I just want it was a phenomenal opportunity for parents to get to see what the program was like. She gave an overview of the class of the kind of approach to the Spanish curriculum and then the um parents had an opportunity to watch the the kind of the standard um classroom experience for the kids and I think teacher uh uh parents sorry walked away from with from the experience just totally in awe of what the kids were learning. So if any way that could be expanded next year or shared amongst other um specials I think it was really really really appreciated
078by parents. um and answered a lot of questions about what the kids are learning. Um and my question was with regards to um your comment about the potential for there to be not the strongest MCAT scores with a new curriculum. Do you have data supporting that in other schools where perhaps they didn't do as well but then they they um course corrected and did well sort of in the longer term. Should that happen in the dober shoreboard, we just have the data to point to the fact that this could be sort of the baseline and students scores should are expected to improve. It's hard to tell specifically with reveal because not a lot of other districts have done reveal. I mean the big like trendy one has been illustrative which is the one that we
079didn't choose. And in those cases of implementation, we've seen a drop and sometimes the drop has stayed there. I mean, I'm not trying to bash illustrative at all, but there there's not a lot of experiences. A lot of the districts that are using Reveal are either in their first year like us or in their second year. Um, so I guess kind of we'll see where we're at. Um, you know, I would say from being in the classrooms and having taught some of it, a lot of the thinking and math practices that are really emphasized and revealed, I think are going to give our students a lot more tools and resilience when they do take the MCCAST. um you know we had you know some students it was a hard adjustment to the new curriculum and
080there was a lot more writing and reading as part of it but there also is on the endcast and I told some of the teachers like I would rather have them be frustrated in the care of your classroom where you can support them than for the first time on this big scary test that they're taking. So, I think we're giving them like better coping strategies and problem solving strategies that are going to serve them well if they even see a piece of math that is foreign to them on the MCCAST. I think they're going to be much better prepared. Um, so we will see. And it was a small sample size, but when we were doing the pilot, you did have students take MCCAST type uh or complete MCCAST type questions and exams. Can you
081speak to that a little bit? Yes. Yeah. Part of the pilot process was um looking at the three programs, Everyday Math, Illustrative, and Reveal, and doing common assessments between those three groups of students. Um, and one of the reasons why we chose Reveal is because our students in Reveal outperformed the other students. Um, so I'm just trying to set expectations. I I it would just be great to be able to advocate as advocate on behalf of you know the program and the community that if students don't do as well as we would expect or the community expects that there is a a longer term trajectory of good trajectory for them in um and the program so we can sort of support support you guys that's all and I think we will do a lot of
082looking at the specific units and standards on the math MCCAST because there's stuff that teachers spent a lot of time on at the beginning of the year that I would expect our students to do just as well on if not better. Uh but some of the units that are falling at the end of the year that you know we're trying to make sure we're getting to you know if our scores are lower in those standards then I would say like I completely understand because they didn't get the full unit. We kind of just tried to get them make some gestures at it before the MCCAST and you know we're trying to send the message to the teachers too that they should be teaching to the test. um while also wanting your students to do as
083well as possible. So I think we will have to look at you know where our students did really well and you know if there's the second or third unit that teachers spend a really long time on our students don't do well that'll be a red flag to look at but if it's like looking at measurement that that's the last unit of the whole year and scores come down a little bit on that then that would be expected. Um, so we're doing a lot of work over the summer thinking about our pacing of the curriculum for next year. And on top of that, you know, I I was reminded recently, and I don't know if you were with me, curriculum matters, but teachers matter more. So the curriculum is one thing, but the um expertise and
084the ability of teachers to reach kids and and teach them the math is also important, which is why our coaches are spending time in the classrooms teaching and supporting and coaching teachers to become better teachers. and while the why the when intervention block is so important is because when we see that students aren't meeting meeting benchmarks we have you know double doses of them. So, I think it's all of it together that we're hoping will help kids succeed on the MCCAST and, you know, in their mathematical lives. And it's a fascinating thing like I talked to other assistant superintendents about it like I it's hard to figure out if you know there's this big growth. Is it because of the reveal program or is it because of the fact that we have had intensive professional
085development for the past year and a half. Every early release has been math, coaching has been around math, faculty meetings have been around math. So just the teacher discourse and the conversations they're having around math are the strongest I think they've ever been. So like I think it is the program but at the same time I think it shows like when schools can really dedicate themselves to focusing on something just kind of really amazing things can happen. So good question. Thank you. All right. Uh thank you for that. Uh we're going to move on. We have uh superintendent evaluation which uh Mark's going to take us through. Yes. Thank you everyone. Um I think most of you have a blue folder that I handed out tonight but there could be one or two. Yeah. So
086this were um on the school committee last April. You would remember perhaps that um Maggie and Judy at the regional level and goalie for Sherborn and um Kristen for no goalie for do sorry Kristen for Sherborn had um represented the superintendent evaluation subcommittee and they did a lot of work um mapping out kind of how can we as a collective group reflect on um Miss McCoy, Superintendent McCoy's goals that were set and agreed upon September 10th of 2024. Um, and also on just her performance according to the state rubric. Um, so what you have in the blue folder is kind of a timeline for our broad committee's work in the month of April and also your um subcommittee representatives. So this year I want to thank goalie for continuing to represent Dover um for Christine
087Walsh for representing Sherbornne and for Angie for representing Sherborn and me representing Dover at the regional level. Um we are your point people if you have questions over the next few weeks. Um I also work you know in a school system so I'm quite familiar with the whole tool and process the ins and outs. Um, so I'm happy to be, you know, a son and board point person on that as well. Uh, I say that because I think we had a separate workshop last year. I'm willing to run it again if there's enough interest, but if we think there's enough kind of expertise in the room, then we may not need that. Um, it is kind of a busy month if you look at the memo. So what I wanted to um just walk through
088is uh if you just kind of skim this right here few of the dots this document here is going to be shared in a digital folder. It will be something you can just write on directly. Um it is the evaluation um tool that we each use. So it's like many hands making light work. I think what we should think about in this document is there may be areas which we can't comment on. We simply don't have enough um background on all right or maybe we have an intimate uh kind of a deep story because we had a encounter or experience that was unique and so we should comment collectively. We'll have um all of the information kind of put together and we'll also be highlighting a few kind of key elements here. Um you can
089see the rubric has many rows of um basically standards then indicators and key elements. We'd be highlighting on the ones that we see most reflected in the goals from this year as well as just the experience and items that were shared at our school community meetings or you know experiences we've had within the district and seen. Um, I think tonight reflected a beautiful example of the way that Beth, Denny, and Don work together as a solid team, well organized, welloiled machine. And, um, part of that is kind of the the leadership, not just on the individual, but how they bring in others for their skills. There are a few dates to be aware of, and that is on the second page. So today, Beth actually did share um the superintendent and goals and evidence. So
090even though the timeline says sometime this week, she's got it all in your email today. It's an eight-page document, extremely well organized. No surprise, but it is by um district goals and you can she'll talk about that a little bit in a minute, but I think that that will help. There are links to kind of supporting documents that may refresh our memory as well. I take my own notebook from these meetings and look through that um when I'm writing. But basically um again trying to um write where you feel you have something to comment. That would be most helpful. Don't try to force something if it feels stressful because that probably ends up being not reliable data for us. Okay. Um we have enough people that if we each are writing a little bit um
091then we'll get a nice hopefully reflective story of the year. Also, um it's just saying by April 15th, that's two weeks from tonight, that is when we all the subcommittee would hope that your writing is in to your um representative, okay, at the Dover, Sherborn or regional level because then the four of us will um schedule a meeting. will be um shared, but we will organize kind of how to synthesize into one feedback document. Sometime between the 15th and 29th, we'd want to have all of that thought organized. On Tuesday, April 29th, we have another joint school committee meeting here and that's where we get the opportunity to share out with Superintendent McCoy just the collective kind of experience we've had, the kind of feedback we have. Um I find in my own work this
092cycle of you know reflection and feedback and goal setting to be a pretty productive experience and um I know that superintendent McCoy is a very reflective and responsive person. Um, I think that our feedback will be helpful and hopefully we can kind of celebrate the things that have really gone well and still be able to kind of push as we always do kind of think of things that would help um for reflection and maybe goal setting for next year. So, this does do the overview. Um, any I thought these are the e best things to have a paper copy of, but I will send them digitally and I'll organize everything in one digital folder. When you submit your work, if you can submit digitally, that is much easier for us in terms of being able
093to read what you wrote. Um, we can check back if we need to if we don't understand a certain aspect of your uh work, but basically that'll be much easier for the group, the subcommittee to collectively express that. So, there's the beginning of the process. Um, I'll be in touch quite soon with an email just reiterating some of the key details. And if you ever have questions, you can ask the subcommittee members um or just forward it to me and I'll take the response. Mark, you might say this in your email, but my memory last year, we all made a copy, put our own notes in and then it was synthesized. Is that how you want us to for of this digital copy? You want us to do that again? Yes. Thanks. Perfect. This will
094be an editable PDF, so it could be just you submit your edited copy of this. Perfect. Perfect. But we're not all collaborating on a single sorry or whatever. Not at all. That would get messy and Yeah, absolutely right. You don't you don't also need to be swayed by anyone else's experiences. So, it's perfectly good to express yours. Great. Okay. Thanks. All right. Thanks, Mark. We have uh up next uh discussion items. The one discussion item we do have Sorry. Oh, sorry. Sorry. I'm part I'm part two. Oh, part two. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. This is Sorry. Um, I'm not going to go through the entire eight-page document because that would not be very engaging. Um, but I did mail it to you today. So, um, it goes through the three district goals around best practices, student
095voice, and, um, streamlined communication. And then my two goals around educator feedback, um, and professional networking. And then, uh, it goes through the four standards of leadership. So, just to highlight a couple things, um, district goals. The first is around best practices. If you um haven't seen this document before, I know that's not the case, but um we've been talking about it for three years and we're now at a point where we have defined what these things look like in the classroom K to2, what teachers are doing, what students are doing, um and what the task looks like and we're using this to provide feedback to teachers so that we have a continuum of these things happening K to 12. Um, as a reminder, Denny and I presented last summer at the Massachusetts Association of
096School Superintendent conference to 50 other superintendents about this work and many of them have been in touch since saying, "Can you share with us resources? Can you talk us through this?" So, I think that's an example of modeling this for other um, districts. Um and then school committee meetings aside um we try to model these practices um when we meet with our leadership team and our principles and they're then modeling with faculty so that faculty can see that we're all doing this work and that it needs to continue into the classrooms. We can try to be implementing these more often just this venue is not the easiest to you know have voice and choice and agency but perhaps we can work on that. any um student voice. Um I already talked about um the student
097advisory council and the work that we did. A reminder that last summer we had 30 students join us for our leadership retreats in the summer and that was super refreshing for all of our um districts administrators. Um our teachers and our administrators have been shadowing students for a day this year and that continues to work really well and is super powerful. um last two weeks ago. Over the last two weeks, Denny and I have been having lunch with our Chering and um Pine Hill friends to kind of mirror the student advisory council. We've gotten lots of positive feedback about things going well. They love the library. Um they love reading. Um we have lots of lists. Um and constructive feedback around Don, hold your ears. Food. Um and oh, rug time. We do have rugs
098in K to5 classrooms, but we need to realize that as students get bigger, they're they they take up more space, so the rugs actually feel smaller. And when you have a lot of students on a rug, the temperature really goes up from body heat. So, we need to start to think about moving away from rugs as they get older. So, um, but I'll I'll let you know what the other feedback is. Um, but that was that was great and breath of fresh air for Denny and I to get to spend time with the students. And then I linked in the evidence. Um, we're about to launch the IWish campaign. Denny and I made a launch video, so you can watch the launch video. Um, that's going to go out to every classroom and students will
099get two index cards and they'll say, "I wish my parents knew dot dot dot. I wish my teachers knew dot dot dot." And then we'll take all of that information, look for patterns, and that will then form future professional development and programming for teachers and for parents. So, um, we're excited for everybody to see our faces in their classrooms and give us some feedback. Do you have the Pinehill Kens in your video from last year? No, but I am in on what the talent show video is going to be like. Literally and figuratively, I know. I'm in that video. Um, and it's just going to be more amazing than last year. I promise you that. I'll take you to record. Um, okay. So, and then in terms of communication, I don't have to tell you
100anymore about parent square. We've launched that. I gave you examples of um the support that we have offered to all different stakeholders around that and what the the layout and the um roll out was like. Um we did the survey and I gave you um access to some of the takeaways. Um I've met with the Chering CSA, the Pinehill PTO, the middle school positive high school PTO and the guidance advisory council throughout the year to give them updates and get feedback. Um and then Denny and I are currently working on our second annual district report. You remember getting that in your mailbox last year? the next one, new photos and new articles will be coming your way hopefully in May if all goes well. Um, and then superintendent goals, we continue to um work with
101our principles about looking for the best practices, giving teachers constructive feedback and really moving them forward in their practice. Um, and we calibrate each other's observations when they come together as a team so that we're giving similar feedbacks in different buildings. Um, the second superintendent goal is around professional networking. Um, aside from my colleagues here, this can be a lonely job. So, um, I enjoy getting to work with superintendents both through the leading now cohort. I'm in the third and final year of the new superintendent induction program. Um, and, uh, it's been a pleasure to get to know all those superintendents. And then I have others. So, examples of my work with my colleagues and peers, um, are listed throughout that part. And then the four columns of instructional leadership. So, I'm held to these
10242 or so indicators. Um, I didn't give evidence of all 42 because um, that would take me several hours, but I will I did pick the six focus indicators that we had discussed that tie in with the goals. I gave you evidence of those. And I also want to just take the opportunity to mention that I, as Mark said, could not do any of these 42 things without Denny and Don and Kate and the principles and everybody. Um, so this is really just the culmination of a village coming together to support kids. So, I just want to be clear that I rely on all those people to make sure these things are done. Um, and that's it. And if there's anything else you want to see or would be helpful to you or a refresher,
103just, you know, let your subcommittee know and I'm happy to provide it. Is this rubric somewhere? Yes. So, this is in fact one thing I didn't mention, but I will express I'll share through an email. There's one link at the end of the first document you received. I added it in just has so much helpful information with this just from the state level, but it has the rubric and a few videos that might help as well if you're new to the process. So definitely before we move forward, can I say one thing? Uh thank you. I I feel like a lot of things I heard tonight were I mean I love the I wish campaign student focused like experience and feedback to help drive things like PD and decisions that we're making here at the
104district level. I think it's wonderful. Maybe we should start a I wish for parents too to communicate to the students. No, that's part of the challenge success campaign too. Other districts have done that. So once we get through this, we'll make another video send it out to parents. Good. But you can also leave them a note under your pillow. I wish you, you know, know how proud I am or how grateful I am. Anonymous. Oh, did my mom say that? next year. Thanks. All right. Any other questions, comments around valuations? All right. We have discussion items. Uh we have one discussion item uh update on the capital projects. Yes. So given some of the sensitive or not the sensitive but the urgent need to talk about this before your May meetings um some of it
105will be specific for committees but I think it's good for all committees to hear what's going on in the world of capital. I'm going to start with Pine Hill and this goes back to the capital project that was approved last year for three um HVAC units that were going to include air conditioning at Pineh Hill. Um well, we had approved $400,000 for that project to do all three. And the bidding world, if the region's used to rooftop units and how those bid last year, um did not fall in our favor. So the 400,000 uh worth of project cost um the lowest bid was a million1. Cool. Um and so we are at the point and we we had an indication of this during the design process and as the um Sherburn school committee remembers we
106built the bid with the base bid of the library unit, an alternate one with the cafeteria and an alternate two with the auditorium because we ranked it on u the priorities for us and by doing that it allows us more flexibility. So, had we uh bid this all out in as one, we probably would have had to walk away. But having it bid out in the three, we have options. Um and so, just to bring you guys up to speed and the and the Sherburn committee, um the first the um library one was about 475,000. So, we have the 400. The town right now is willing to appropriate another $75,000. And tomorrow night is that vote for that. that would allow us to be able to do the library unit. Um the school is hoping
107that we can use our school lunch revolving fund of about 125,000. We actually have a um an approval process going on right now with Desi to see if that can get approved. And then the remaining we are going to sort of pre-bill for rent um to be able to make up and that one was about 270,000. So, our hope is we'll be able to do the library and the cafeteria. Um, we just need a couple things to fall into place. Um, but it it's going to happen before um Sherburn School Committee meets again. There's no votes that you need to take necessarily, but I wanted to make sure you're up to speed and that's our hope and that um we have to move quickly too because we want to get it done this summer and
108we still have to be worried about the delivery times on those RTU units. Um, so want want to just bring bring you up to speed and I will um um communicate to you tomorrow night if the advisory votes for the 75,000 and then we're hoping to hear from Desi by tomorrow. We submitted the request last Tuesday. Um they had a few questions. At first it didn't look like they were going to support it, but then when we gave them more information, they realized that we weren't funding the whole project. It was just a piece of the project. they seem to be a little more um uh willing to say yes. So, I'm hoping we'll have that information to share with advisory tomorrow night. So, that's our hope. Um it's a little bit of pulling money
109together, but it's definitely we've just decided it's worthwhile and it's unfortunate that the world has made things cost so much. Um uh but that is that. Any questions from anyone on Sherburn? What time is advisory tomorrow? Uh 7 o'clock. Okay. What's the food thing? the the school revol the school uh revolving lunch sorry the school revolving fund. So that is so the school um your school lunch has its own revolving fun that we get from the state because it's free now or this is what people No, this is everything. So all of your all of your your um state federal and um parent student u revenue that goes to buy a lunch goes into that fund along with all the ex the expenses. Okay. And what's left is um usable funds to put back into
110food service. And with the increased participation from the free lunch, all school districts are seeing an increase in their revolving funds. And there's also a um sort of a a requirement to not hold on to more than three months of operating expenses. So we're at this point now where we have excess. We need something to do with it. this is a perfect thing to invest in. Um and so luckily we sort of held on to a big chunk of it that will use up um it will use up everything that we are required to use up at this point in time. We can continue to build but the 125 is what we have that's not spoken for with the three months. Do you anticipate needing any support ahead of advisory like parent? No, I think
111supports or anything like that. I think we're we're good with this. Um I think the key thing is for Desi to give us approval to use the school lunch. I think that um the um just for the select board at Sherurn's already voted for this. So they're sending that support to the advisory. Um and the majority of the funding is coming from the schools. Remember the 400,000 100,000 Yeah. was already from us as well. Um, so I think that uh um they I don't see any um any uh push back on that. They just don't want No. And we're grateful we're grateful that um they're willing to actually do the supplemental appropriation. So it's coming from their reserve. So their own town reserve out of their operating budget. They have money left. We're sorted at
112the end of March now. they know that they don't have, you know, ice removal, snow removal that needs to take up or any other emergencies that have come up. So, they have the funds available. So, it's already in this year's budget. Um, and so they're looking to um approve that and we'll we'll snack 75,000 of that. Great. Um, on the flip side, we have the region, and I think this is good for everyone to hear as well as Beth uh sort of mentioned to you that this is this is a large capital project that the region has brought forward. Um the good news is that the bids we have a lot of bids opening. This is the turf field. Yeah. Turf fields. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Um the the bid for the turf field. So the
113bid opening was um and you saw the memo that came out this afternoon was um March 27th. And with that, um, we were fortunate enough to get, um, so just to bring everyone up to speed, the estimated project cost for the turf replacement, the track upgraded replacement, fencing, and the lights was a million 95. Um, the bid came in at 1.53. However, during some of the discussions that we've had, we have three alternates that were also part of that bid. um one was to not have a red track but to have a blue track. Second one was to have the colored exchange um zones. So we had put those on for alternates because if um the athletic department if the region had decided to do that we were going to probably find that little extra
114money to do those two things. However, what has triggered this is our third alternate was and we've been the region's been talking about this, so this might be new for some of the um the local uh school committees, but right now we have crumb rubber bills of the little black dogs. We have we definitely are seeing opposition to that in the replacement. And so an alternative that has um as a more natural fill is this brock fill. And it really is like shaved um a special wood, a special tree that's grown in Georgia. Um so that is shaved and that is used in combination with sand for your fill versus the black pellets. Um so that was on his alternate three and that was 96,000. So in order when you have a bidding process in
115order to get down to alternate three you have to do one and two. You you can't select. Um, so because of what we found out when we presented this to Sherburn and some of the opposition to Crumb Rubber and there was lots of opposition but Crumb Rubber was one one of the things that we can't address. Um, we are moving forward with using the Brock fill. So with that we're looking at the base bid plus 151,500 for the alternates. So rather than a million 95 we're looking at the $1,681,500. Um, so it is less than what the towns thought they were paying initially, but it does have a few little extra uh is included. Um, so just reminder for the school committee, uh, with that 1,6815, you voted 350,000 already to fund that. And so
116the revised amount that we're asking the towns to fund is the 1,331500. So, I had to bring that forward tonight um because the regional school committee needs to vote that new funding number because these are the numbers then that will fall into the IMA. Um and that's the IMA for the two locals is how the two founds the two towns fund the capital projects for the region. Um so that is the number that both towns will present. Um, as Beth mentioned, we did have some lots of opposition in Sherburn. The um, select board actually on that Saturday um, open hearing voted one to four against um, the turf. The advisory committee is voting tomorrow night. Um, they did not seem to be as opposed to the turf. I think they were waiting to get more
117of the financials piece of it. obviously advisory finance um and I think there were some new concerns that they heard which is why we're going with the Brockville instead of the Crumb Rubber. So we feel like that is a um sort of a change in the project that could have a a material impact to those in Sherburn um who have some concerns with both the health and the environmental um situation revolving involving the crumb rubber. They also had issue with the Turk carpet itself, but the manufacturing of that has gotten so much better than where we were when we installed this in 2012 that we feel like um there's headway. We're adding the the safety pad underneath which is going to be extra safety for anyone using the turf. So the enhancements that we're making
118we feel should um outweigh in switching to Brockville should outweigh any of the negative concerns that um certain Sherburn residents may have. Um, so it will be um important for us to make sure people are educated and come to vote um just to make sure because it would be detrimental um to our program here and to the community in general not to be able to replace um the field and do the upgrades that we need to do. So the reality is if we can't use this field, we're going to start using the grass fields here and all around over in Sherurn, which means less access for our youth programs. I I will just say that whole presentation that you did was completely enlightening. Now, I feel that, you know, I had no idea exactly what
119you just said about how it's going to impact our younger kids. I had no idea about like how it could shorten the seasons if we It was really well done, very educational. Thank you very much. Quick question. I thought that the organic material freezes in the shoulder season and makes those fields potentially not usable. There is a slight there's a slight risk of that but it outweighs the not having a field at all. Right. And that was advisory committee voted down one to four. The select board select board went forward and it was it was a combination of um environmental um so the PAS is like the hot topic, right? So um part of that I think is still the unknown and so they had concerned about continuing to introduce materials that had unknown um
120composition. Um the crumb rubber definitely was a huge concern of theirs from a a health perspective for participants who are on it. I don't I think there's s there's studies to go both ways. I think when you have the ones that say there's negative impact, it's those um where there's extreme exposure. So, the true scientific where there's extreme exposure. There's even an article um on the Massachusetts uh public health site that basically says there is no there there really is low risk. I mean, that really says the high risk with exposure to crumb rubber is when there's high exposure. Um, and on typical use, it's it's not something that's going to be play out for um, most users. I mean, high high exposure meaning like 247 consistently exposed to um, like crumb rubber, which is
121t, you know, groundup tires. Um, so what but we feel that and I will tell you if you look at um some of the um field rehabs that are going on right now, Brockville is sort of a new um environmentally friendly uh fill that places are using. Um we're actually going to go see a school at Park at Park. We're going to see Park School in Brooklyn um who's had that for three years and Lexington now is their fields are moving forward with Brockville. So, Don, this Brockville um change was made after the meeting and the vote. Okay. So, then when the next vote happens, will there be another presentation that talks about the changes that were made? So, the select board won't revote, right? um the advisory but advisory well and then they'll be
122vote based on they'll know based on this because at that point on that Saturday we did not have the bid and so we were waiting for the bid to come and obviously to see um we went we went for with what we really wanted to do and then you sort of have you know you do that and then you see what you have to sort of um compromise on but it'll go to town meeting with a negative vote from select board right yeah but it will also have the advisory vote yes on there. Yes. And that's their opinion, right? It's really the town meeting where the the town's people decide whether or not it's going to go on the ballot, right? And it's probably education worth doing if I mean, I don't know anything about
123it, but especially on the regional committee, I'm sure people want it in. We should probably get parents to act to go to town meeting if they care. And we're we're going to start not directly through us because we really can't do it as a school, but um we have a meeting early next week with boosters, all the youth programs. they know what's going on. So, they will be our our support for um moving forward. Um Sherurn Capital, just so you know, voted 300 in support. Um and in Dover, do capital voted 50 in support. The warrant committee is in support. Select boards in support. Don't have their exact votes, but um they're moving forward. Uh what you always have to be careful about is that's their opinion. again um you know in the general dober
124population are there concerns? That's why we've always got to be ready and prepared because you don't know um you know what may show up on the floor at Dobertown meeting as well. So um we plan on having our consultant um who the region saw presents uh Mark Novak will do the presentation for us at both town meetings. So will he be talking about this brothel at the meeting? Yes. Yeah, he won't. Great. He mentioned it at the meeting, but at that point, we are still moving forward with the crown rubber. So, Don, what happens if one town passes it and the other doesn't? You're just stuck for another year or so. Half of it toll every time the other town wants to. I think the key thing is that um if it's I don't I
125don't know what a difference a year is going to make if Sherbet rolls it down. If that's if that's really their reasoning. Um and the other issue if it's financial we've got at the region we've got big capital numbers the next couple of years so there is no way to keep pushing it off for the financial reason. That's why we are very we were ecstatic at the bid opening um to sort of see the numbers come in because we felt like this is really good. I mean this is an unbelievable price. I don't want to miss out on this opportunity because this may not come along again. I mean, you saw that the bid prices range from the million5 all the way up to a million948. Um, the million948's in line with what we thought
126the cost assessment was going to be, although that had a pretty large contingency in it. Um, but I think this is a um a a great investment for us, huge enhancements to the existing facilities over what we have. Um and so we are going to do everything we can to uh gain the support um so that we get the meeting the approval not only at town meeting um but in Sherburn right now it's slated to be borrowed and when anything's borrowed it then has to go to the ballot um because it's the two and a half tax exempt um and so we've got two hurdles um to cover do I don't believe is borrowing so once they pass it at um do town meeting on May 5th that gober is done. Um, Sherber may take
127us until May 13th, I believe it is. So, our consultant will be at both town meetings. I believe the boosters are going to be vocal at both town meetings and our student athletes are going to be vocal at town meetings. So, if you can get your neighbors and friends there, they'll hear all the information from the consultant and those folks. I think you got to go after the young families who don't know like I read this and I was like I mean my kids will be here eventually but like it doesn't impact us but if it does right but that's my point like if they don't know they're not going to go to meeting I'm definitely not going to vote for it. That's where the youth sports being involved though um because they are like
128you know field hockey uses here with what will happen it's going to be a so basically the select board in Sherburn um and you could watch the tape wants us to do natural grass natural grass we're going backwards in our accessibility for um multiple things. It's not only our our high school athletics it is the community and the youth sports as well. Um, you know, that was one of the reasons why they invested in converting this to turf back in 2012 was for greater accessibility. Um, for everyone to have a suitable playing field, right? Um, so that's it. It it would be a a domino effect. But the issue other issues too, we cannot at this point in time pivot and put even if we wanted to a a natural grass field in the summer.
129we've lost that window. Um, and now we could be detrimental of actually having to close um the field because we're at that point. We we've gone three years past because we've tried to time this and I've I've reiterated this to you. We've timed this for the middle school debt to be paid off to give some financial relief to the towns when we're asking for a number like this. Um, and so we can't push it any further. So I don't I I would be questionable if we could continue next year with the the the um cracked track and the field being at the age that it is and still be safe. So this is the timing. There's really no possibility to push this off. They've also done the risers. It doesn't make sense to not do
130the field now. So right now well they say do the field but do it natural grass. I will say all all youth sports are starting their spring games without having had a practice unless they've had private access to a turf field outside of the towns, right? So, and that's what it would be. And you saw our our spring sports started on a rainy Monday day and none of those practices would have taken place without the turf. And that's the one turf field in the Yeah. And so I will say to to boost the regional school committee's stance on this um several years ago, probably more than five years ago now, the boosters came and wanted to uh put it into place a plan that would put two more um artificial turfs where our grass fields
131are. And the regional school committee at the time said no, one turf's enough. Um we can maintain our grass, still do the rotation. So there is that um that balance of not going overboard but having one field here that serves both towns um that allows that almost that not year round but almost year round um accessibility to a playable field. Is this why there was the desire to put the artificial turf at Laurel field also? Yes. That did not pass. Mhm. We just don't like, but I think it was close. Um, and I'm hoping a night meeting versus a Saturday morning meeting where the people who use the turf were not at the meeting will make a difference, but I think you're right. We need to get the word out. I'm sorry. So, 2012. So,
132we've had said this since 2012. So, as part of the presentation, is there things that are addressing their concerns from an environmental perspective since we've had it for 13 years? Right. So there's um you know there's no there's no testing we can necessarily do right now. We're not near a major um water um source where we are is um any of you don't may know we have Medfield town water here on this campus and the only sort of water that's on our campus is our irrigation wells. Um and we're not near anything where there would be a major runoff if there were if there were issues. um with we're very sens right and again I you know it's it's it's here in do versus in Sherburn and I I don't you know everyone I I
133respect opinions and I think it's just the composition of the select board right now um they they were very adamant about their their opinions um but I was very respectful in saying I feel like I can counter a lot of and that's what we plan to do um because the regional school committee, you know, wants to see this happen. And so we're going to do what we need to do to support that. And that's where I feel and I think it's going to go a long way with advisory tomorrow night that we've gotten rid of the crumb rubber as the fill and we've come with the Brockville. I guess tactically from at least those of us on the Sherburn Elementary School committee who have deep connections in the younger community, like how can we help?
134So we are going to organ So our athletic group is sort of organizing us right now to sort of get the word out. Um so it comes from the outside groups like we I guess my point though is like the boosters are probably not going to hit the people who have sports they're doing baseball coming together with us as well. Yeah. Will there be like a consolidated one pager describing the efforts and sort of benefits of the proposal that we could help Yes, certainly. So, we are we have a factual website being uh segment on our website right now about this that's all factual. Um and so our athletic trainer is putting that together now. So once that's available, it'll be a go-to place. Okay. Um we also plan to put the um presentation up
135on our website of the consultant presentation back on February 12th. um that has a good um presentation along with a lot of the questions and answers that came from advisory warrants regional school committee. Um it was a it was a a large joint meeting that night. So um we're working on we are waiting for the bid to come in so that when we went out we knew what our financial commitment was as well. Um so now we're at that point where things are going to start um being publicized. But tonight, I need the regional school committee to um go to the new number for the project and cost that will be funded by the town. Don, can I ask you one quick? Can you when you get the new website with the information, can you
136push that out to the committee leaders and then trickle down? Absolutely. So, one last question. So of the three alternates that you had added on the blue color and the what was the second one? The exchange lines for the relays. Oh yeah. So um the way that I've crafted this as well too. So we don't have a contingency. So if there are any little small issues that come up, we we are um not adding another layer of money to this. So, what I've explained to both towns is that we're using alternate one and alternate two um which is about uh $50,000 as our contingency. So, if things come up that we have we need funding for, that's where that money is going to go. And we might not do the blue track and the alternate,
137but we had to when we sign a contract, we have to include all three alternates because we want to get down to three. This actually gives us a way to have a contingency. Yeah. And these both decisions are something that can be done later in the process because it's really just the traffic the yeah surfacing. Um and so that's sort of how we're going to move forward with it. Um it's both um both alternate one and two the the track are were highly desirable by the athletic department. It does make a difference and I think you're seeing it more and more if you go to the high school athletic tracks more of that coloring. Um, and so that is it would be a great nice to have, but it's also from the town perspective, it's
138serving as a contingency. So, it's a dual purpose. Um, but I think that gave us a little more leeway to say we want this blue and gray. Um, but by by saying if we don't run into any issues, we can have that. But if we do, we've got money there to to cover that. That was also highly suggested by a shoe. It was Why? Why? If we're spending $2 million, why can't we do 20,000 for the color track? Yeah. Yeah. Um I made the difference between the frock sand and then the the uh crumble the crumb that is actually essentially the kind of artificial dirt and the turf. Is that okay? Gotcha. And so the first we were going to reuse everything that we have there. So we will we'll now have to remove that
139and we'll replace it with the rockail sand. So that's why the cost of that is also probably the cost to remove the old and to put in um the new. Okay. Uh so the next is action item. So we'll just move this to the first. Oh yeah. So just out of order so we don't have to go back. Yeah. Perfect. So but may I ask just so I'm clear on this. I'm asking a motion to approve the spending of 1.68. Yeah. So remember it was a two-part. Um so we're just changing it the the million 3315 it's it's written down there for you on that 315. So motion to approve remaining because this uh regional it's going to follow the other vote where you voted the 350. So your motion to approve the remaining fiscal
140year 26 capital project cost of the million 3315. Okay. To be funded oh go ahead to be funded um by member towns based on the fiscal year 26 capital cost assessment percentages. Dober 714,350 and Sherburn 617,150. Um, okay. Thank you so much. Okay. Yeah. Thanks. All right. So, may I have a motion to approve the remaining fiscal year 26 capital project costs of $1,331,500 to be funded by member towns based on fiscal year 26 capital costs assessment percentages. Do being 53.65% or 714,350 and Sherborn 46.35% at 617,150. Thanks. Motion to approve from the region. From the region. Yes. Kevin. Thank you. Um may I have a second? Thank youa. Any further discussion? No. All in favor from the region. Okay. Uh Kate's not here tonight. So we had five in favor. So thank you. I
141think this was actually beneficial to have both committees here because it is something as a community. Yes. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Don. Thank you, Mark. Thank you. So, we'll continue with some of the other action items which do require uh additional votes here. We have uh a vote to approve the bullying prevention intervention plan for the second read which is part of your package and any comments. Okay. So, if you remember, we had a first read at our January 28th joint meeting. Um and um changes that resulted from that joint meeting um I highlighted in yellow um including uh making sure that it was the language of target and aggressor. We added to the um the form that our administrators complete the fact that we want to make sure that the supports um provided
142to targets is separate from the uh supports or interventions provided to aggressors. Um so the first round of changes again are highlighted in yellow and then uh we thought we would do a second read soon after that and the first second read went to the region who had additional feedback. Um, and I wrote this in the memo that at that point the region said um they were hoping for um well th those those are in green. There's not many of them. Um but they had also requested that we be considerate of more comprehensive support measures for the target professional development for staff on pre the preventing and stopping of bullying the involvement of educators in the planning and provisions of support to students. I went back to make sure um that those things were in
143here and if they had not been I would have added them. Um, so to support that request, I made the the um highlights in blue. So, as you see it now is what you have for a second read. Um, I'm not sure if you're ready to take a vote to support it um or if there's a diff additional conversation um and discussion that you want to have. I will say a couple of things. Um the first is similar to you know curriculum is important, teachers are more important. I would say that the plan is important. Implementation and the people implementing the plan are also very important. Which is why it's more than just the plan. It's the student education and the curriculum that we provide in the classrooms. It's the training that we do annually
144with our staff um at the before school opens with every staff member pre-K to 12. Um every year we have a session as the administrators of the district with legal counsel. This year it focused primarily on bullying and harassment. Um and in February, um Kate McCarthy and our assistant principles um attended a workshop through Mass Partnership for Youth specifically on bullying. So we we really made a focus this year to make sure that we got into the nitty-gritty and um really worked around our processes and protocols. Um so Kate um while it's the principles and the assistant principles that investigate cases when they come up within the buildings, she is kind of the throughine um to make sure that everybody is implementing the policy um in a fair and equitable and similar fashion. Um so
145she's done a lot of work this year to make sure that it's happening um the same in each building. Um, and we've also worked with Desi to make sure that the the data that we're uploading to um, the portal is accurate. And I just recently sent you a memo um, in doing a deep dive into DESIE reporting, which that's a that's a whole job we have. One person in the district does DESIE reporting, period, because it's that comprehensive. That's a full-time job all year. Um, so when you look at our report cards online for each of the three districts, what you're seeing is the number of suspensions for bullying. That's not the actual number of cases that we have. Those are two different things. So, um we are aware of when building happens. So far
146this year, um K to 12, we've had four instances that have resulted in consequences and interventions and there's two currently um under investigation. Um to date, of those four, um none of them have resulted in suspensions. They've resulted in um other consequences and other education. As you know, a few years ago, state law changed and that there's really only three way reasons you can be suspended from school and it involves assault of an adult, weapons, um, and, uh, drugs. So, we've had to find other means for those four cases. And again, we still have two that are under investigation. Um, and next steps, again, would love approval of this or additional feedback. and um our principles, excuse me, our guidance counselors are all going to a workshop in April on trauma-informed responses um which will
147help them support both targets and aggressors moving forward or witnesses. Um we have an online reporting form that we're hoping to launch next fall that will be on our website super present where students, parents, friends, um faculty can report instances and then that'll go directly to the administrator of that building and they can um start the process of investigation and then as we have deser reviews for everything. It just so happens that next year we have a review of civil rights which will include bullying and harassment and they'll do a deep dive into our processes, our protocols, our data, etc. and if there's anything of concern, they'll certainly give us feedback. So, all of that plus the plan. Okay, great. Questions, comments. I do. Yep. Yeah. Thanks. Um I'd like to just add some um
148feedback or some background actually education for the committees um on the harms of the deep fake news that kids can make um pretty really easily these days. Um, uh, there's a study that I've been, um, looking into by Thorne, which is a nonprofit group that advocates for child safety online. Um, they conducted a survey of 1,200 young people, um, this past fall, and the report highlights the relative ease with which young people can create deep fakes. 71% of respondents who created deep fake imagery of others said they found the technology to do so on social media. 53% report they found tools through an online search engine. The Thorn report also re captured responses from a small subset 2% of people who have been creating deep fake images with a large majority of the creators. 74%
149targeting women. Over 30% of the creators indicated they had made nude imagery that depicted minors. More than half of this group of creators reported that they shared these images with their friends or people at their school. To mitigate the risks, school can start by clearly identifying deep fake nude imagery as a form of abuse and including it in their policies against bullying harass harassment. Um, while most young people understand that deep fake news are a form of abuse, the survey found that 16% of respondents targeted by a deep fake don't seek support to deal with the abuse because they fear being shamed, carry a sense of personal blame, or have concerns about not being believed. While the child safety ecosystem is just beginning to understand and analyze these harms, we must we must design our
150policy for safety. Um I do believe that this is a new frontier. I have also read that the trauma caused by deep fake um nudes on people who who are the targets is equivalent to actually being sexually assaulted. So this goes beyond sexual assault is not listed in our student code of conduct but this has the same impact can have the same impact and it does cause trauma. So I believe we need We need to to name it and we need to say what we stand for and how we're fighting for it. It's it has become a learning obstacle for girls in our school and it is our responsibility to identify the impact it's having on our students and deal with it on a policy level so that we can be effective. We can effectively
151keep our kids safe and if these students are preying on other students they should not be in our school. So that is um that's my feedback. I understand that we are trying to um that we're trying to pass this tonight. Um we can either pass it with the caveat that we will be looking into this issue more deeply and we plan to address it on a policy level once we have more information. I do know that we need this we need to survey the students. We need to find out the impact this is having. Um, and I do know that it is our responsible as adult responsibility as adults to be up on all of these things, to be up on what's what's coming down the pike, new ways of exploiting our children. Um, we
152need to be up on it and we need to be ready to respond on the policy level. I think we should be taking a firmer line with this type of um, cyber bullying and it should be an expulsion case. And I understand it's difficult to expel. I do. But we should have we should if we don't now we should have the ability to keep our students safe from kids who want to exploit them that they're for they're legally obligated to go to school with. So that's that's my piece and we can discuss it or so I just want to clarify to your points um I this is the plan which is different than the policy. So to your point, you could pass the plan and then revisit both the bullying policy and the sexual harassment
153policy, both of which allude to cyber bullying and sexual assault um and examples of them which don't yet include these newer examples. So you could certainly add those. I know that the terminology that um is being used in certain um new laws and acts is NCI, non-consensual intimate imagery. So if that's something that you want to add to bullying and your sexual harassment policies, you certainly can. that's different and that's you know a different level than the implementation of what happens when what happens on the ground. So we can certainly do both with with the things that are outlined with these behavioral issues outlined in in the plan. Mhm. Okay. Yeah. Would it not to make it more complicated, but would it be better to come up with a specific cyber bullying policy? Well, it's
154included. There's a whole section in here on cyber bullying as well as um it's alluded to in your policy um about what that entails. It gives examples of what it is and what it's not and certainly we can add additional examples as more things happen. I also do want to put in a plug that I'm hopeful not only are a lot of people coming to tomorrow night's session with Jill Walsh about the research and the science behind social media and technology. Um but the April 30th event which is a follow-up that is going to involve our health teachers and the curriculum that we teach all of our sixth and eighth grade teachers uh students excuse me. Um it's going to have um a principal there to talk about the implications at the school level. We're
155going to have our school resource officers talk about what they've seen in the community and how it's played out. So, um, it'll be great examples of how this continues to evolve. And I'm sure there'll be something new between now and April 30th that pops up. So, it's an educational opportunity for us as parents and us as educators to realize what's possible, you know, at that date, knowing more is possible and how we can work to prevent it. So I think that having policies that are up to date are important, plans that um our administrators and educators can implement with fidelity is important and education for our parents is important and I'm putting a plea to please come tomorrow and April 30th. We cannot do this alone. Option tomorrow and a recorded version as someone whose
156children will be home alone if I leave them. There's going to be a secret recording, but when we tell people that, nobody shows up. Okay. Tell people after. This is being recorded. I know. How many people are watching? [Music] I will say I did get an email from somebody who's watching the recording. So, some people do watch it. Probably not between tomorrow, tonight. Perfect. But to Colleen's point, I agree with revisiting the policy. But the way the this is written I think does cover what you mentioned. Um and then if we revisit the policy I need to go back and change a few words to be more explicit. It's really about having to carve out for this type of um exploitation and it's it's child exploit exploitation very clearly and um I believe that we
157need to it it needs to be addressed on its own because it is more severe. um the impacts are more severe. Academics are disrupted more so than with someone who's calling names on the bus. It's very different or calling in saying somebody calling someone a name on Snapchat. It is not the same thing. And I don't think we discuss expulsion in this. Yeah. So yeah, there I think there is opportunity there. It is very I know. My daughter is a social worker. She's works at with autistic and special need kids with Brighamin Women's Hospital and there is a case that she was mentioning to me that girl has got deep mental trauma because of probably what something similar to what you said. Yeah, it's real. I also think there's education for everybody involved on both
158sides to help understand the impact of the behavior. Right? These are children who we need to teach how serious this is on both sides um and the impact of their actions. And if we are moving towards expulsion, I think we have to make sure that we're setting the expectations and really clear on this is a big deal. It's very serious. The internet lasts forever. like a lot of things that maybe a 11 to 14y old child on both sides doesn't understand. And I do think that the work that our counselors are going to be doing around um trauma-informed practices will help on the school side and we just need parents to help on their side too with making sure that they have access to whatever additional supports they need um with experts. And I will
159say um unless the law changes in Massachusetts, suspension is hard and expulsion is impossible. Yeah. Y right the law hasn't caught up. Yeah. Is there any legislation I know you've u mentioned it before like fighting for more um fighting for the district's ability to set its own or this the Yes, they they've put something out there. I haven't read the details of exactly what that says. Um and I'm happy to do that and report back. Um I'm not sure how much wiggle room they're asking for, but I can imagine with these things popping up that um this is of concern. Yeah, for sharing this data with us. It's very important. I think this is new to everybody and it needs education for on both sides. Um, some kids when they understand the trauma they're going
160to cause, they might not do what's what they're trying to do. And I think it is important for us to protect our children and look deeper in this issue both educational and policy and plans. Yeah. Does it go from the school level to the law enforcement level? Are you done? If there is potential for criminal charge, then we inform the police department and they do their own separate investigation. If there is potential for child neglect or abuse, we file a 51A. I thought um specifically like middle schoolers, they weren't allowed to have phones in school. We were they aren't. And um you know, we'll speak to this on April 30th. We've definitely seen fewer instances that we've had to address of things happening during the school day, but after 3:10, the students leave us and
161they don't come back until 8:40 the next day and all of things that happen outside of school find their way back into the building because the kids are back together again. So, um, legally, would we be able to do something like this where something happens off school time, off school property? If it's bullying and it has an effect on how students are are uh their educational environment in the building, you can. Title N regulations, as you know, with the change administration has been a game of tennis. They changed, they changed again, and now they changed back. The new Title N regulations specifically say that unless that um if the event happens outside of school, there is no action the school will take. It has to happen during the school day. That's as of January something.
162I apologize for the question, but does that it just burrows down because then you're asking a question of is this dissemination or is this creation, you know, kind of thing and then which it turned kind of into a big I would assume a big legal ball of wax figuring out what our lack of a better word jurisdiction is on preventing or controlling something like this when it does come out and we see it it would fall under essentially bullying. But at the same time, could we be in a situation where our hands are tied even though we have a you a policy about this? Well, the good news is we don't do this work alone. And when things get um um complicated or especially at a level of the things that Colleen would talk about,
163you know, we as administrators aren't making this decision alone. We have um a law firm that we work with regularly and this year we've been on the phone with them just about every day about something around social media harassment bullying um which is a lot um and you know there's other experts Kate McCarthy has a title n person who is an expert in the field she reaches out to um so we certainly bring in the law we bring in the experts to help us figure this out and address it as comprehensively as we can and we can work to make our policies as as stringent as we can within the within in the rules to act as a you know another preventative measure for for people to recognize how serious that is too but I
164think yeah I think it's separate policies as they are we definitely seem to need to update them at almost probably monthly at this point new things are coming up but uh I think we have sort of a structure for the the plan here that uh I think we can move forward but I think it's pretty clear we want to bring that forward to look at our policies um figure out the timeline for how we want want to go about that. Well, this policy subcommittee, is there also is the handbook separate from a policy? So, the student handbook reflects um the will refer to the policy and then talk about the application that's either decided within the policy like our sexual harassment policy as it currently stands has the plan in it for how to address
165it whereas bullying it's a separate document. Um the handbooks would allude to this document if something happened around bullying. Yeah. I just wonder if there's an opportunity in the handbook to be really explicit about, you know, this isn't tolerated behavior and again be upfront, set expectations, and really come at it head on, even if to your point, like our hands might be tied on some of the uh behavioral consequences. Yeah. And I think again, April 30th, I'm going to say that over and over and over again, 6:30 in the high school library, um you know, our middle school health teachers will talk about the work that they did with kids in their three years here in this building. And then I know a lot of it's repeated in nth and tth grade at the high
166school. Um but they do have the school resource officers come in and talk to them. So it it be I think eye opening for people to know what the kids are taught. We just have to make sure it sinks in and it sticks. [Music] Okay. Any more discussion on this for tonight? Okay. I think we can move forward then with the with the vote to approve the bullying prevention intervention plan. Uh we'll need to do three separate votes. So if I can first start with the region. Sure. Uh may I have a vote to approve the bullying prevention intervention plan at the region level? Colle thank you. And may I have a second? Thank you. Any further discussion? All in favor? passes unanimously with Pete Potter absent. Thank you, Mark. Uh, do I have uh
167similar motion from Sherborn? Yes. Could I please have a motion to approve the updated draft of the bullying prevention and intervention plan? So, you Thank you so much, Becca. Do I have a second? Kristen, I really second. Thank you, Kristen. Is there any discussion? hearing none. Um could I have a vote for uh all in favor? Could all in favor? Okay. Uh passes unanimously. Thank you so much. Okay. Thank you. And for the Dover School Committee, uh may I ask for a similar motion uh to approve the bullying prevention intervention plan? Okay. Cot. Thank you. K. Do I have a second? Second. I see. Thank you. Second. Uh all in favor? Okay. Everybody who's here? That's four. All right. So, that has then um so we've all all committees approved that one. We have another
168action item here for vote to approve polic policies FHL for our second read. Am I passing it over to Andy for any comments? So, um ju just to kind of piggyback on what we talked about. So, we have um a policy for our whole district and that's what these are. These aren't your handbook policies because that's school building specifics. These policies we should by law actually review every 3 years. And the thing about these policies as is we have to vote on them as an entire group. Um so it means that anytime anything need to be changed. That's why some of these are overly broad that we've realized and we have these do or sherburn specific policies that really should have gone into just like our handbook or building policy because if not then I
169have to call all of you in to change it and if not we could be in violation of some other policy statewide. So this makes sure that we are in line with our state policy. So we work with Alicia Min. She's with the MASC and so she does a broad read and she says you're compliant. Well, this policy, I don't even know what it says. I don't know why you have it here and why you would state all these things. Why do you have it? I'm like, okay, well, we don't need it then. And then she'll say, you know, some of your languages off and so that's what these are. So, the policy F that we're dealing with, it's our second read. So, if you all have any questions, this is the broad discussion of
170it. This is about the facilities of Dober Sherburn. How appropriate because it talks about when to retire a facility when it's no longer maintaining its use. For instance, maybe when a chirp field is no longer safe. Um it talks about that the goal of the school committees is to provide adequate facilities from the number of students in the requisite schools and said facilities must provide the best support for educational programs. And the purpose also has to be mindful of the limited money we have as a district and the priorities to use the best available resources. The section also deals with the retiring of facilities when they are passed through useful purpose, how to address a new facility if one has to be procured and the procedures that must be followed. Additionally, it speaks to the
171naming of facilities and the guidelines that are to be followed. Um, if you look on that specifically, that's when perhaps you have a student who passed away, they they do not encourage, you know, like permanently naming on facility things that are already named. You don't go and take the name off, but there was just a kind of a statewide policy that it's it's not maybe to do with scholarship or something else in their name. Um, so those are those are the things in there. So you can see most of these you can see where we had to remove certain things because it's a redundant policy like section FA- E it was redundant. So there are certain ones that you can see we removed them for section FB1 and FBAA were removed because they were encompassed
172in another section. There was a lot of duality that happened. We'd address it in one section and it' be addressed again and again and again. And so it made our manual really large and it just didn't need to happen. So all of these are um reflected by the MASC version. So it's all covered. Um and then policy H is the next policy we have to address and it's about negotiations which is timely because we're coming up on that time again this next year. Um and so it's the process of negotiating with the bargaining units recognized by the school committees and authorized by state law. It just mandates that the committees may hire a negotiation negotiator and duties of the negotiator because we when we deal with um our teacher committee, they have a negotiator on
173their side and we also have a lawyer that helps our school committee representatives in negotiating policy. Generally that whole policy is fine. It's all aligned with the MASC guidance. Um the titles that were changed were just to reflect there in the policy and there were grammatical corrections that was made. Um there there was a lot of change on that with regards to it. So we did it as a total rewrite but if you read it, it's exactly in line with our MASC policy. And section L is the H education agency relations. um that's a policy to encourage the liaison with other educational agencies to broaden the scope and effectiveness of learning. So that's just essentially if you if you looked at it, it's it's how we um deal with different um different co-educational opportunities that
174we have. So, and there was not there was some overlap and so we took out some of the existing language that was in different policies and then we changed grammatical problems. Um, and that was that was about it. Um, this was just about how to organize and dedicate the the different educational learning ideas. Um and a lot of this is things the school committee we don't have a lot of impact into that unless it's you know for hiring for allowing another position to be added for our finance areas. Otherwise we don't we don't really give input into um how they teach what they teach. I mean, they give us a course curriculum for the high school that we always look at and approve, but um you know, we just have checklists that we make sure
175that we have. The the one interesting um the relations with non-public schools. That one kind of confounded me um for a bit because I'm like, what what we're a public school? I don't know why we're talking about a private school. But anyway, there are these things out there that are that are enjoined and we just, you know, that was it. So, do you all have any questions about what you read? Um, or any questions about how it was written? There's a lot of strikethroughs, but it's all covered if not in one section. Some of these were covered like five times, and it really did not need to happen. Is there any questions so far? I'm just surprised by how much overlap there was. There was a lot of overlap. Um, and it was interesting too
176because some of the grammatical stuff too, I think we stopped Alicia because we're like, "Oh, don't forget we're three committees." And she would write like, "No, we don't want it written that way. We want it to reflect this on the committees." And, you know, she said that we're not unusual because there are a couple other originals. But, um, but there is a lot of overlap and there's a lot of things that were just specific to us where we got very much down into the nitty-gritty of how we want things done. And it was really more of a a policy handbook thing that we needed instead of this broad-based to try to because it didn't even apply to all three schools. So we're so then we were having to write paragraphs. Paragraphs are written about this
177goes for this school, this goes and I was like this is a lot. What I mean we just need the broad-based we have to make sure we follow the law and then we we state what it is. But then we wanted to leave it up to each each building and up to our administration to say this is how we function because I don't want to get in there and tell them how they're going to teach their math curriculum. That's really not my forte ever. Just that they have to have the state mandate and make sure that we uphold it. So are there any questions otherwise? Thank all those. Um, and I've got some more finance for you. So, clean up then. Are we going to do that or how are we going to do that?
178Yes, we'll do that after. Yeah. Okay. So, we can take a vote then on uh uh approving policies FH and L on this second read. I'll do the same order. Can I have the region? Okay. Sure. Could I have a vote by the region to approve policies FH and L? The second read. Thank you. May I have a second? Colleen Barts. Thank you, Colleen. Um, any further discussion? Rachel. All in favor? Yes. Thank you. All right. Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, same for Sher. Can I please have a motion to approve policies FHL on the second read from the Sherborn School Committee? Yeah. Okay. Thank you, Mega. Could I have a second? Second. Thank you, Nathaniel. Um, any discussion? All in favor? Motion passes. Thank you so much. All right. Thank you. And on the
179do side, can I have a motion to approve policies FH and L as uh as described here? Thank you, Goalie. Do I have second? Second. Thank you, Kate. All in favor? All right. Is everybody? Thank you very much. Next, we have a vote to approve the transportation contract for 26 through 28. Yes. In your packet, um, you had a summary of the bidding activity. So, we did have six vendors request our bid specifications. Um, we had bid opening day with just one v vendor presenting a bid and that was Michael J. Connley, our existing um service provider, which I will say we were slightly relieved um at that. It would be an undertaking to switch transportation companies, especially one that serves us so well. Um the um uh so we bid a a five-year so
180it's a five-year contract that we put out. you will tonight approve a three-year contract with the opportunity um in year three to extend for the year four and five. We're only allowed to enter into three-year contracts. Uh it came in basically where we thought when we budgeted just because of the past experience that we've had. So the first year increase is at 15 a.5%. Year two is 5.32 and year three is 5.45. Over the five-year contract though, it is 30 30% which is up slightly over the last five-year. Um, and just to add some perspective on to that, the new buses are about 50% more than the last contract. And as you know, the labor market's continuing to increase and the the need to retain drivers means that there's constantly an increase in our driver
181um hourly rate. Um just to give you some perspective, the fiscal year 25 daily uh bus rate right now is 405. We're going up to 468 for fiscal year 26. So in line with previous years, we sort of see a little bit of a larger increase in that first year. And then um this this this five-year contract, we actually have a little bit more substantial in here, two, three, four, and five. But that's just the nature of um sort of the market right now. um you each will um approve your own separate contract and once I finalize a few more things each chair will sign the contract on behalf of uh their committee. So um the breakout you have by district is dovers, sherburns and regions. Again this is just the base for the to
182and from transportation for the 181 days. There are some ancillary services that are provided that I sort of highlighted um below really the special trip cost which um is something that we can negotiate and which I have continue to negotiate because I felt like those price increases were a little bit higher than I would have expected. Um and as of yesterday I did get another proposal. So I will um let you guys know it's the mainly the impact is at the high school for the athletic buses. Um and so we won't see as large of an increase as what I documented here. Um the other increase just to highlight is the fuel adjustment clause. So as we know we're finally we're seeing an uptick in what diesel fuel is looking. Our old contract had a
183base price of $3 and the new contract is a base price of $3.86. So that's another little bit of increase. We technically have been paying that because we have the fuel adjustment clause. So it's already in sort of your numbers. Um but now it's built into the base of the contract. Um are there any questions on this? I just wanted to know if there's been any updates on electric school bus um that being electric buses being an option. Yeah, they're still um in high you can't get them. Um, and I think the districts that are eligible for the grants are the ones that are like Boston, right, are getting them because they're getting actually those funded. I will tell you from the individual providers um like Connley when we speak with them, there are are
184still a lot of kinks to be figured out with the electric buses and one of the biggest drawbacks we or the stumbling blocks we have is the infrastructure, the charging stations. Um, so if you remember, we were part of a Metro West group that was looking at if there was any way we could do shared cross infrastructure and there there's really not. If you think about how our buses do to and from and then go out and do extracurriculars. Um, that's another issue that we have. We don't have a whole two sets of buses that can do both. So, I think uh it won't be it's obviously not this 5-year contract, but there's still hope that that will continue to evolve and it'll become more attainable um for um like just a normal school district
185to be. I will say that some of the school districts that have been sort of out there in the forefront, Conquer Carile has buses. I've heard though that they are in the parking lot. So it is it's hard to it it it makes it makes good environmental sense but from an operational standpoint in our environment it's still sort of difficult to match the need with um how the buses work. Um again it's also retraining the mechanics. It's all new training for the mechanics. It's the parts. There is a lot involved. So, it's it's a much more comp I've learned so much over the last year, but it's a much broader complicated um um endeavor than just saying we would like to get electric school buses. Where we can start making a difference is our handicap
186van that does a lot of school transportation probably is going to need to be replaced and we're looking at doing at least a hybrid for that when we do replacement. So it's those baby steps that we can take that we can manage um because that van stays local um for transportation. Um so that is where you'll see us probably try to take a step into that in that direction. Do we have any idea what the total cost for fuel is for the the year for our buses? Yeah, you can if I I could calculate that because there's um there is a base set of miles per day in the contract. Yep. Yeah. Okay. Do we just wonder what the savings? Sorry, I was just wondering what the savings would be. Well, there's but there's there's
187cost there's a different set of costs, right? Right. So, it's cost benefit. Yeah. Do we know if um with buses I'm assuming they're diesel? Yes. Do we know that if electricity would actually be more efficient than diesel miles per? Well, yeah. Well, it's comparing apples and oranges, but you know, considering the number of times it's going on to number of times it stops, it actually might be there is a case there's an argument where uh sticking with diesel might be more efficient than switching over to electricity. Even though electricity doesn't have you know as we see it the environmental impact from just the vehicle there's al all the other environmental production which I don't I think electricity production all those other things to you know get them in instead of just diesel you know right
188so I think there's still that's an evolving um uh sort of segment to sort of see but that's you're not seeing a lot of school districts even if they wanted to to convert because of the uh supply um chain and again it's the infrastructure that would stop us even if we could afford to get the buses. Um it's very costly to set up the infrastructure and you need to actually do the super duper charging ones because we don't have time to sit here and do that. So, um I think that was some of the information that we learned as being part of that grant. Um looking into that and understanding sort of the um the different um situations with what the charging stations can do, what we need them to do, and how you have
189the grid to support it. Right. Yeah. So, we need the, you know, the electrical companies need to get involved and make that investment because it's not something we can do. I see. On a row. Okay, good. Thank you. And if things did turn around in three years, we actually could up to continue. So, yeah. I will say that their plan is so we typically get new buses every contract. So, this spring, they've already actually purchased our buses. So, good thing they got the contract. Um, and so you will see those switching over. Um, they're going to start putting them on the road this spring. I do have a question about that. Uh, especially with it getting colder in the winter and warmer faster. Uh, are the buses heated better or air conditioned? Yes. So, the
190new buses actually have a preheating um mechanism that are allowing the the buses to um they explained to me and I I'm not going to do it justice, but there is an enhancement to the bus that they will be warmer faster. There's a preheating um setting that will be um activated on the buses. So, that was an enhancement. I have a question. It's a It's a wish, not a do we get our names at least printed the wish schools on the buses? No, cuz they're not really our buses. They're serving us because those buses go and do other things other Yeah. We sort of own them, but we don't fully own them. Just give it a sign while they're on or something like that or No, they they own them. Gotcha. Yeah. I will say
191though, a lot of times you don't really want to have the name. There's it goes both ways of what you're right. Do you want to display it? Um, but you'll see a lot of Michael J. Connley buses or apps. A lot. Exactly. That's the name of the school district. Donna, I've asked this question before. Um, I thought we were going to put uh out to bid how much it would be to add bus tracking. So, we don't have to put that in the bid. um that's software that we would purchase um separately and administer ourselves. That doesn't have to be part of the bid process. Um we did talk about we did talk about that with the um um our bus contact and uh they highly re they highly recommended not doing it. They have
192had other uh Conley um districts go down that path. It is a huge administrative task and if you don't have a particular reason why you want that information it almost creates another position because we own it. We own everything. We own setting up the system. We own setting up the parameters that every parent would have. A child changes the bus. We have to do all that and we'd have to man any calls that come. So he didn't recommend that we entertain doing that unless there was a real reason why. um a lot of districts he said have started it and have left it because of the administrative task that it is. So they don't make it simple enough to to that it was practical cuz I think from Chering's perspective the since the beginning of
193the not maybe the beginning of the year but as the year has gone on sort of morning drop off seems to have gotten worse and worse. Um, and I've talked to parents, I'm one of them, why I drive my kid is because the bus was very inconsistent. And you, kids would go out there and be like, I don't know if I missed it. And it starts to get a little bit later. And then you're like, all right, let's just go. Uh, and so most parents by this time of the year are just like given up a lot of them, especially in the morning. And that's just starting to hear to us like if we would know that, then we could talk to Connie and find out are they starting because the elementaryaries are the first
194runs. There should It's when there's It's when there's substitute bus drivers, which you never know when there's going to be a substitute bus driver and they literally come 15 minutes apart from each other at times cuz substitute doesn't know the route as well and starts maybe a little bit different. It's not like that's the the you know not the norm but the exception that we have substitutes because we you know our attendance is actually pretty good for our 19 buses. Um but that's kind the kind of feedback if we can get that they are very attentive to any uh constructive crit criticism or um improvements that we want because they are here I mean yeah very customer service oriented. Okay. Yeah. It's probably something I work with them with specifically on routes that aren't driving
195down the neighborhood streets. It's the pickups on the corner of the busy streets, whether you're on datam or center uh center or Walpole. Um because then you have little 8-year-old, six-year-old stand out there and busy busy street and stuff for maybe too long. So, okay. Well, again, I think um I'll let me know about that though because we can sort of get them to a little bit be a little bit more attentive to that. Okay. Thank you. But yeah, I didn't realize the it wasn't more of a plug-and-play system to track a bus. You can track everything this day system as to like what diameter or what bus um that you that you allow parents to track, right? It's it's like um specific to your student. Yeah, that makes sense for for safety. Yeah. Yeah.
196It's not just a while, you know. Yeah. Let me see where bus 15 is right now. We don't have bus. Okay. Sir, there is a motion on the back for each committee to award the um your district's public school transportation. And if you want to make it real exact, then you can throw in the amount. And I have the amount for the three-year contract listed for Do Sh, and the region. Okay. Uh it's on page 94. Okay. All right. So, I'll pass this to the region to for a motion for a vote here. All righty. Hold on. I'm making my way to page 94. Thanks. I'm getting a little too. All right. Okay. So, on the region, may I have a motion to award the um Durban public school transportation contract to Michael J. Connelly
197and Suns for the three-year term in the amount of uh what's the amount? Thanks. Holy moly. um region or yeah like $3,261,873 um for the annual base bid and all other related established prices for incidentals and transportation and the fuel adjustment costs as submitted in the bid form. Motion to approve. Colleen Bart, thank you. Um may I have a second, Angie? Thanks, Angie. Any discussion? All in favor? I believe. Yes. Okay. And I'll pass it over to Sherburn. Could I please have a motion to award the Sherborn public school transportation contract to Michael J. Honolulan Suns for a three-year term in the amount of $861,270 uh for the annual bid base bid and all other related established prices for incidental bus transportation and the fuel adjustment cost as submitted in the bid form. Kristen moved.
198Thank you, Kristen. Uh can I have a second? Thank you, Mega. Any discussion? hearing none. All in favor? Uh, passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. Thank you. And for Dover. Um, so can I have a motion to award the Dover public school transportation contract to Michael J. Honley and Suns for a 3-year term in the amount of $968,929 for the annual base bid and all other related established prices for incidental bus transportation and the fuel adjustment costs as submitted in the bid form. Okay, so thank you. Do I have a second? Second. Okay. Uh, all in favor? All right. We have everybody. Thank you. Thank you. When I have the contracts, I'll reach out to the three chairs. Thank you. Thanks. Thank you, Doc. And nice work on fighting the good fight on transportation. [Music]
199All right. So, that leaves us down to one last action item in vote, which is specifically for the region. Um, so I'll leave that over to the region for uh approval of overnight outofstate field trip for the high school. Okay. Um, may I have a motion to approve the overnight out of state field trip for the high school? That is Kevin Crowley. Thank you so much. A second. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor? I got it. All in favor? Perfect. All five who are here. Yes, the motion carries. Thanks. All right. Thank you. So, our consent agenda is one single item tonight. So, we have approval of the joint school committee meeting minutes January 28, 2025. That one we can do as a whole body. Correct. Mhm. Yes. Okay. Do I have a Well,
200that No, you can do that one item cuz you can do the whole consent agenda as one body, but it have to do individual committees. Okay. I didn't know because it was joint. Unfortunately, you're not getting the benefit of if it was joint school committee though. We are joint school. I thought we all right. So, I will pass it to uh may I have a motion of on the region to approve the joint school committee meeting minutes from January 28th, 2025. Thank you, Angie. And may I have a second? Oh, man was tough. That was I think it was Colleen. Thank you, Colleen Burke. Um, any discussion? All in favor? Excellent. All five who are here voted yes. Motion carries. Thank you. And Sherborn, could I have a motion from the Sherborn School Committee to
201approve the minutes from our joint school committee meeting um January 28th, 2025? So thank you, Becca. May I have a second? Kristen really second. Kristen, thank you. Um any discussion? Hearing none. All in favor? Passes unanimously. Thank you. All right. And now, can I have a motion from the Dover School Committee to approve the joint school committee meeting minutes from January 28th, 2025? Thank you, Goalie. Do I have a second? Second. Thank you, Jesse. Uh, all in favor. All right. So, moved and approved. Uh, informationational items in the package. We do have summary of uh the fiscal year 26 budgets. Not sure if there's any other comments that you want. You had to go with the town meeting. I thought it'd be good for all you've got to see all the committees together and the
202capital projects and where we landed, which I think we had three really good budgets this year. So, thanks. Thank you, Don. And do we want to discuss any future uh items for our April 29th meeting to make sure we put it on the agenda? So, that'll be out. Yes, that's be our presentation on the evaluation. It's also a 5:30 start because the Sherburn town meeting which all of our Sherburn members will walk over to it starts at 7 and that's the day before the April 30th presentation at 6:30. A lot of time at the reg. So, as a reminder, getting ready for April 29th, I'll send u information tonight or more likely tomorrow if that's okay, but just kind of an overview digital access to your copy of the PDF um with the highlighted standards.
203Um and I'll probably send like a friendly reminder in like a week or so, just seeing if you have any questions and how the writing is going because two weeks from tonight, hopefully your writing is into your um direct representative. Thanks. All right. Thank you, Mark. Any other items? And of course, in the meantime, if anything comes up, send a message to your chairs. We'll get it included. All right. Now, do I have a motion to adjurnn? Mark. Do I have a second? Christine will second. All in favor? All right. I